Worldwide, Germany is the leading country in the use of wind energy. Since sites for the erection of wind turbines became scarce on land, ambitious plans for the offshore regions have arisen. There have been applications for 33 sites within the German Exclusive Economic Zone in the North and Baltic Seas, some of which entail several hundred individual turbines. Eleven pilot projects are approved, and two others rejected. As several hundred million birds cross the North and Baltic Seas at least twice every year, the Offshore Installations Ordinance says that licensing will not be given if the obstacles jeopardize bird migration. Birds are potentially endangered by offshore wind farms through collisions, barrier effects and habitat loss. To judge these potential risks, the occurrence of birds in space and time as well as details on their behaviour in general (migration, influence of weather) and their behaviour when facing wind farms (flight distances, evasive movements, influence of light, collision risk) need to be determined. Furthermore, the influences of construction and maintenance works must be considered. Since 2003, we have investigated year-round bird migration over the North Sea with regard to offshore wind farms. The main objectives were to assess data on the aforementioned aspects of bird migration over sea. These data can contribute to, for example, estimations of collision risks at offshore wind farms, the possible impacts on bird populations and possible mitigation measures. Results from measurements with different techniques, including radar, thermal imaging, and visual and acoustic observations, were compiled. The findings confirm that large numbers of diurnal and nocturnal migrants cross the German Bight. Migration was observed all year round but with considerable variation of intensity, time, altitude and species, depending on season and weather conditions. Almost half of the birds fly at 'dangerous' altitudes with regard to future wind farms. In addition, the number of individuals in reverse migration is considerable, which increases the risk of collision. We demonstrated that, especially under poor visibility, terrestrial birds are attracted by illuminated offshore obstacles and that some species collide in large numbers. Passerines are most frequently involved in collisions. Even if the findings regarding collisions at a research platform cannot be directly applied to offshore wind farms, they do show that on a few nights per year a large number of avian interactions at offshore plants can be expected, especially in view of the number and planned area of projected wind farms. We suggest abandonment of wind farms in zones with dense migration, turning off turbines on nights predicted to have adverse weather and high migration intensity, and actions to make wind turbines more recognizable to birds, including modification of the illumination to intermittent rather than continuous light, as the most appropriate mitigation measures. We further conclude that a combination of methods is necessary to describe the complex patterns of migration over the sea. The recordings are to be continued with the aim of refining the results presented here, and of developing a model for 'forecasting' bird migration over the German Bight. We expect more information on avoidance behaviour and collisions after the construction of a pilot wind park.


Despite the importance of workplace innovation, the adoption of creative ideas at workplace level has received little attention owing to a lack of measures for idea adoption. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale that measures the process of idea adoption. More specific, the scale assesses the behavior of supervisory leaders in terms of idea openness, selection and application. Three studies were conducted to develop the idea adoption scale and investigate its psychometric properties (Study 1, n = 326); establish concurrent, convergent and divergent validity (Study 2, n = 334); and assess test-retest reliability over a three month period (Study 3, n = 189). The findings showed that the full idea adoption scale and its subscales have good psychometric properties: the three factor structure was supported and scales showed internal consistency and retest reliability. Furthermore, the scales' associations with other variables provided initial evidence for concurrent, convergent and divergent validity. Several recommendations are made for the application of the scale in research and practice.


A large-scale artificial neural network, a three-layer perceptron, is implemented using two phase-change memory (PCM) devices to encode the weight of each of 164,885 synapses. The PCM conductances are programmed using a crossbar-compatible pulse scheme, and the network is trained to recognize a 5000-example subset of the MNIST handwritten digit database, achieving 82.2% accuracy during training and 82.9% generalization accuracy on unseen test examples. A simulation of the network performance is developed that incorporates a statistical model of the PCM response, allowing quantitative estimation of the tolerance of the network to device variation, defects, and conductance response.


Introduction Emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of the culprit lesion for patients with acute myocardial infarctions is an accepted practice. A majority of patients present with multivessel disease with additional relevant stenoses apart from the culprit lesion. In haemodynamically stable patients, there is increasing evidence from randomised trials to support the practice of immediate complete revascularisation. However, in the presence of cardiogenic shock, the optimal management strategy for additional non-culprit lesions is unknown. A multicentre randomised controlled trial, CULPRIT-SHOCK, is examining whether culprit vessel only PCI with potentially subsequent staged revascularisation is more effective than immediate multivessel PCI. This paper describes the intended economic evaluation of the trial. Methods and analysis The economic evaluation will be conducted using a pre-trial decision model and within-trial analysis. The modelling-based analysis will provide expected costs and health outcomes, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio over the lifetime for the cohort of patients included in the trial. The within-trial analysis will provide estimates of cost per life saved at 30 days and in 1 year, and estimates of health-related quality of life. Bootstrapping and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves will be used to address any uncertainty around these estimates. Different types of regression models within a generalised estimating equation framework will be used to examine how the total cost and quality-adjusted life years are explained by patients' characteristics, revascularisation strategy, country and centre. The cost-effectiveness analysis will be from the perspective of each country's national health services, where costs will be expressed in euros adjusted for purchasing power parity. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval for the study was granted by the local Ethics Committee at each recruiting centre. The economic evaluation analyses will be published in peer-reviewed journals of the concerned literature and communicated through the profiles of the authors at www.twitter.com and www.researchgate.net. Trial registration number NCT01927549; Pre-results.


Recently, with the rapid growth in the smart phone market and advancements in wireless communication environments, mobile devices are being considered as resources for the processing of fine-grained tasks. However, mobile devices have several problems such as unstable wireless connections, low communication bandwidth, and frequent location changes. As resource providers, mobile devices can join and leave the distributed computing environment in an unpredictable manner. This frequent movement interrupts the operation in progress, and the delay or failure in completing the operation may cause a system failure. Therefore, we should consider volatility, one of the dynamic characteristics of mobile devices, for reliable resource management. In this study, we define a resource availability model for reliable resource management, and we propose a monitoring system and a fault tolerance technique based on the proposed model. In our proposed monitoring system, we determine the operation availability state dynamically according to the operation availability state of predicted resource information. We define a set of patterns of operation availability states, which describe the state of mobile devices. Our proposed fault tolerance technique creates checkpoints and replications according to the patterns of operation availability states.


Background: Pre-eclampsia is a common complication of pregnancy constituting major cause of maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality. It develops in 4% 5% of pregnancies. Altered renal function is an essential component of the patho-physiology of pre-eclampsia, which could lead to acute renal failure. The kidneys play a significant role in the turnover of low molecular weight substances like Urea, Creatinine, Uric acid and Cystatin C. Aims and Objectives: To study serum cystatin C in pre-eclampsia and compare it with serusm Creatinine. To assess whether serum cystatin C is an early and better marker than Creatinine of renal dysfunction in pre-eclampsia. Materials and Methods: A Case control study comparing 30 pre-eclampticprimigravida inthe third trimester with 30 normotensive primigravida of same gestational age from Vani Vilas Hospital, Bangalore. No history of Hypertension, Diabetes mellitus or Renal disease in cases and controls. Results: Serum Cystatin C was found to be increased in pre-eclamptic patients when compared to controls. Serum Creatinine was within reference range in both cases and controls. Conclusion: Serum Cystatin C is an early and better marker of renal dysfunction in pre-eclampsia compared to serum Creatinine.


Abstract. Contrary to current readings of Rushdie's poetics in postmodern terms, we propose a modernistic approach to Rushdie's short story collection East, West. This paper considers the internal coherence of this collection as well as its ellipsis and internal tensions. Through such concepts as Deleuze and Guattari's "deterritorialization of language" in "minor literatures" we set the migrant diasporic subject against the modernist mode of subjectivity par excellence: the citizen. Our close reading of Rushdie's stories plays the hybridity characteristic of the migrant subject - usually articulated in a poetics of addition and coordination of traits from different cultures - against a subjectivity structured by a constitutive gap, an unsolvable antagonism, an irreducible fracture - graphically represented by the comma in the title - that is somehow misrepresented in discussions about hybrid, multicultural subjectivities. This irreducible antagonism is seen not only as the constitutive gap of subjectivity, but as the central locus of difference from which language and the writing subject emerge.Keywords: subject, poetics, modernism, postmodernism, postcolonial, Rushdie, short story.When I started thinking of calling the stories East, West, the most important part of the title was the comma. Because it seems to me that I am that comma - or at least that I live in the comma. "Salman Rushdie. "Homeless Is Where Art Is"The Citizen as MigrantThe aim of this chapter is to highlight the modernist poetics underlying Salman Rushdie's collection of short stories East, West (1994). This is arguably a problematic issue since Rushdie's oeuvre has generally been discussed within the postmodern paradigm for good reasons, given his iconic role as a media figure in the context of the difficult contemporary transactions between European universal notions of citizenship and the acknowledgement of new and different communities of subject peoples, notably and more specifically in Britain, Islamic peoples. Furthermore - and very emphatically - the 1989 fatwa declared against his work and the horrific series of events it triggered demand a political reading of his works within the present conjuncture of global postmodern hybridisation (Hanne, Akhtar, Ruthven, Todorov, Appignanesi and Maitland, Bilgrami, Spivak, Said, Brenan). Finally, the terms "East" and "West" have acquired new and different configurations of meaning since 1989, remapping not only the conceptual opposition that underpins Postcolonial Studies, but also impinging stubbornly and bloodily on contemporary history, as the various wars and conflicts in the Near and Far East, as well as on the southern coasts of the Mediterranean testify.When Rushdie's Midnight 's Children was published in 1981, the voice of this experimental Asian writer was hailed as a victory of the periphery over the centre; the Empire was at last writing back against the blandishments of an English novel that didn't seem to find its voice. Today, the accomplished fictional and creative voice of Rushdie has become an "accomplished" popular "persona" and occupies a hegemonic position in the literary and cultural centres of power: he has been President of the Pen Club, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2007 and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2008. No longer a marginal figure, he seems to have incorporated some of the defining features of the normative liquid and weak subjectivities of the postmodern world. He can engage in the political issues underlying the partition of England in Midnight's Children, launch a devastating criticism of Thatcher's England in The Satanic Verses (1988), or address the media images of Bollywood and the rhythmic bangs of rock and roll music in The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999). He could be described as a walking postmodern ghost: a thrice-removed migrant (from India to Pakistan, to England, and to the U.S.) and a relevant voice in the excruciating political debates surrounding Islam and Islamism, as well as the topical issues of assimilation and/or recognition. …


Urbanisation is demanding for construction of high-rise buildings. Different materials are the essential components of construction. Energy is the basic requirement during the life cycle of a building. High-rise buildings are energy intensive. Impact of embodied energy in high-rise buildings is assessed through the concept of 'Figure of Merit' (FoM), an exclusive nondimensional parameter. FOM parameter represented as ZC accounts for two important engineering properties namely Modulus of Elasticity and Density of materials used in the construction process along with unit cost of material and cost of construction per unit area. This FoM equation is further integrated with other energy indicators including embodied energy, embodied carbon (CO2e), transport energy and other derived coefficients to give rise to a set of dimensionless interaction values designated as I1, I2 and I3. The complex interaction phenomena between the Construction Materials, Embodied Energy footprint and Global warming (CO2e) are simplified as: I1-Construction Materials and Embodied Energy interaction; I2Embodied Energy and Global Warming Interaction; I3Global warming and Construction materials Interaction. Three interaction phenomena results in the net outcome of Sustainability Development Index (SDI) enabling use of FoM as a tool in assessing the energy impact of construction materials on natural environment in the pre-construction and construction phases of building's life cycle. The aim of this paper is to formulate a Sustainability Development Index which can be applied to assess the levels of sustainability of materials. SDI is expressed in terms of percentage of sustainability. SDI model has been developed based on three interaction factors. A case with SDI model has also been presented for formwork system.


Stresses applied to ductile alloys or pure metals may induce severe plastic deformation with multiplication of defects and dislocations in their crystal networks. Such a disorder in the microstructure can influence the surface reactivity of the alloys, with consequences for their behaviour in corrosion. Here, cast pure iron, pure nickel and pure copper were elaborated by high induction melting, and some of the obtained samples were plastically deformed by compression.As-cast samples and plastically deformed samples were prepared as electrodes and tested in H2SO4 solution, added or not with a corrosion inhibitor, according to the Stern-Geary and Tafelmethods. Polarization resistances, corrosion current densities and corrosion potentialswere measured. The electrochemical characterization of the corrosion behaviour was completed by performing cyclic polarization experiments. Globally the plastic deformation improved the corrosion behaviour of iron but inversely decreased the corrosion resistance of nickel and of copper.


The history of research on species of Pachycordyle and related genera is discussed. A description and differential diagnosis of a new species, Pachycordyle kubotai , is presented. Hydroid colonies, hydranths, and gonophores of this species are described in detail. Peculiarities of medusoid development and oocyte maturation are analyzed. The genus Pachycordyle is rediagnosed and an identification key to species assigned to it is provided. Clavopsella is regarded as congeneric with Pachycordyle . Thieliana is established as a new genus for species subsequently and erroneously assigned to Clavopsella . The taxonomic status of species referable to Thieliana is discussed. Justification is provided for our position that these genera belong to the family Clavidae. Characteristics of genera assigned to the family Clavidae are summarized. Data on the geographic distribution and ecology of the species of Cordylophora, Pachycordyle , and Thieliana , referred here to the subfamily Cordylophorinae, are presented.


This history of the discipline of public law in Germany covers three dramatic decades of the twentieth century. It opens with the First World War, analyses the highly creative years of the Weimar Republic, and recounts the decline of German public law that began in 1933 and extended to the downfall of the Third Reich. The author examines the dialectic of scholarship and politics against the background of long-term developments in industrial societies, the rise of the interventionist state, the shift of state law and administrative law theory, and the emergence of new disciplines (tax law, social law, labour law, business administration law). Almost all the issues and questions that preoccupy state law and administrative law theory at the dawn of the twenty-first century were first pondered and debated during this period. Stolleis begins by emphasizing the long farewell to the nineteenth century and then moves on to examine the doctrine of state law and administrative law during the First World War. The impact of the Weimar Constitution and the of the Versailles Treaty on the discipline is discussed. Here the famous 'quarrel of direction' that occurred in the field of state law doctrine (1926-1929) played a central role. But equally important was the development of state law and administrative law theory (in both the Reich and its constituent states), administrative doctrine, and the jurisprudence of international law. Part two of the book is devoted to the impact of National Socialism. The displacement of Jewish scholars, the change of direction in the professional journals, and the shutdown of the Association of State Law Teachers form one aspect of the story. The other aspect is manifested in the erosion of public law and in the growing sense of depression that gripped its practitioners. In the end, it was not only state law that was destroyed by the Nazi experience, but the scholarly discipline that went with it. The author tackles questions about the co-responsibility of scholars for the Holocaust, and the reasons fwhy academic teachers of public law were all but absent in the opposition to the Nazi regime.


BACKGROUND
Malignant melanoma (MM) is increasing rapidly in Northern Europe. To reduce incidence and mortality through earlier diagnosis, public awareness of MM is important. Thus, we aim to examine awareness of risk factors and a symptom of MM, and how awareness varies by country and socio-demographic factors in Denmark, Northern Ireland (NI), Norway and Sweden.

METHODS
Population-based telephone interviews using the 'Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer' measure were conducted in 2011 among 8355 adults ≥50 years as part of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership Module 2. Prevalence ratios (PRs) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated.

RESULTS
In these four countries, lowest awareness was found for 'sunburn in childhood' (63%), whereas awareness was high for 'use of sunbeds' (91%) and 'mole change' (97%). Lack of awareness of 'sunburn in childhood' was more prevalent among respondents from Norway [PR = 1.38 (1.28-1.48)] but less prevalent among respondents from Northern Ireland (NI) [PR = 0.78 (0.72-0.85)] and Sweden [PR = 0.86 (0.79-0.93)] compared with respondents from Denmark. Lack of awareness of 'use of sunbeds' was more prevalent among respondents from Norway [PR = 2.99 (2.39-3.74)], Sweden [PR = 1.57 (1.22-2.00)], and NI [PR = 1.65 (1.30-2.10)] compared with respondents form Denmark. Being a man, age ≥70, living alone, and having lower education, were each independently associated with lack of MM-awareness.

CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate relatively low awareness of 'sunburn in childhood' as a risk factor for MM, and important disparities in MM-awareness across countries and socio-demographic groups. Improved and more directed initiatives to enhance public MM-awareness, particularly about 'sunburn in childhood', are needed.


One effect of the interdependencies fuelled by globalization and new communication technologies is the disappearance of a stable sense of the size of the world and our location in it. This article looks at a number of attempts to cognitively remap the world by scaling it down to more manageable proportions, drawing on examples from anthropology, cosmopolitan discourse, Hollywood film and 'small world' theory. My focus is on how these new world maps transform the role of the stranger. Focusing on six degrees of separation chains in which individuals form connections with randomly encountered strangers across the world, I argue that this type of global networking reveals the many ways there are of not knowing other people and provides a useful counter-narrative to the paranoid cosmopolitanism fostered by the contemporary war on terror.


This paper reports a small-scale study of wider reading
at Key Stage 3 in current English classrooms in
secondary schools in the south of England. Six English
teachers, three of whom were relatively new to
teaching, were interviewed on what they thought
about wider reading. The findings indicate that
because of a lack of time and absence of demand for
such reading in the current English curriculum, the
more experienced teachers felt ambivalent about
encouraging and assessing wider reading. The less
experienced teachers were uncertain about how to
encourage it and whether to respond positively to
students' preferred reading patterns, such as the serial
reading of books by a particular author. In several of
the schools concerned, it appeared that school librarians had taken over the role of encouraging wider
reading, as the English teachers focused on the
technical skills required by the National Literacy
Strategy. Where teachers did initiate wider reading,
this was sometimes against departmental practice, a
semi-illicit addition to their workload and could thus
be seen almost as a form of 'bootlegging'. In addition to
wider educational effects, the lack of support for this
practice has implications for students' future success in
English at General Certificate of Secondary Education
and Key Stage 5 (16–18) as both require students to
read whole texts widely and confidently. The paper
argues that it might be more productive to prepare
students for this than to expect such reading to develop
spontaneously as a 'happy accident'.


Ferrets have had a long association with man. Originally used as a working companion in the elimination of agricultural pests, in particular rabbits and rats, they have become increasingly popular as pets and more latterly as a show animal. Regardless of the reason why they are kept, owners need to be knowledgeable of the behavioural needs of ferrets. This is not only a requirement under the Animal Welfare Act, but will reduce the likelihood of problem behaviour developing. Problem behaviours can adversely affect the human-animal relationship and can lead to animals being given up for rescue or even euthanized. In order to minimise the development of behaviour problems one needs to have an understanding of the species and its natural behaviour and environment. The ferret is first and foremost a predator. The ferret's role as pest controller was based on its behaviour and characteristics; being agile, small and supple and prepared to fight and kill either rabbits that can kick or bite or mobs of rats. These features have been preserved for many hundreds of generations of domestic ferrets. Though there is a trend for selecting for looks in the show ferret world, little has changed with respect to behaviour and little from its ancestral species the European polecat. The ferret is sociable and can be kept in groups, which have a hierarchical structure. Ferrets, like cats and dogs, need to be socialised to people, other ferrets and other species they are expected to live with. Whilst the socialisation period is not known, it is likely to occur around the age when kits become exploratory and more independent, between 14-56 days of age. Ferrets also need to be introduced to environments they may need to cope with as adults. For the pet ferret kept indoors this will include everyday household noises and objects. Like most predators the ferret is not an active animal. Though lively when awake, this may be for as little as 3-4 hours a day, around dusk and dawn, and overnight. They are extremely curious animals and very playful both with objects and with people and each other. Toys that relate to the hunting and eating behaviours, such as cat fishing toys and activity food balls, are appropriate as are new objects to explore, and destroy, such as cardboard boxes. Ferrets have a good spatial sense and require complex environments which include tunnels and resting places. Their eyes being adapted to low light levels they must have the opportunities to avoid bright and direct light. Ferrets are intelligent animals and can easily learn tricks using training methods such as clicker training. Providing secure and interesting environments, appropriate handling and opportunities to be mentally stimulated can mean that owners can look forward to a companion that can live for 8 – 10 years.


The optical polarization properties of staggered AlGaN-AlGaN/AlN quantum wells (QWs) are investigated using the theoretical model based on the k·p method. The numerical results show that the energy level order and coupling relation of the valence subband structure change in the staggered QWs and the trend is beneficial to TE polarized transition compared to that of conventional AlGaN/AlN QWs. As a result, the staggered QWs have much stronger TE-polarized emission than conventional AlGaN-based QWs, which can enhance the surface emission of deep ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The polarization control by using staggered QWs can be applied in high efficiency DUV AlGaN-based LEDs.


The word predator often invokes a vision of a fierce and cruel animal the world would be better without. However, predation is a major ecological process controlling both the structure and function of communities. Predation affects the distribution and abundance of species, the strength and direction of energy flow within a system and the diversity and composition of communities. Predators play an essential role in evolution. Traits that decrease the likelihood of being predated and traits that increase the efficacy of the predating are under strong selection. This process has resulted in a vast array of prey defences and predator counter-defences. Also, according to recent studies of the fossil record, predation has played a central role in determining the history of life on earth. Thus, predators are not to be viewed as cold-blooded killers; instead, predation is a critical process for maintaining species diversity in both ecological and evolutionary time.

Key Concepts

Predators are animals which actively catch and consume other animals.

Predators may be limited in the type of prey they consume; these limitations may be extrinsic, due to factors such as prey abundance, or they may be intrinsic, where the predators' physiological, reproductive or ecological requirements result in specialization on certain types of prey.

Predation is a crucial ecological force because it moves energy through the system.

Mathematical models and empirical research illustrate how predators and their prey coexist and should cycle through time.

Prey species evolve defences that reduce their vulnerability to predators whereas predators evolve adaptations to counter the defences of the prey.

Predator–prey interactions structured ancient, fossil ecosystems and played a role in determining the history of life on earth.

Keywords:

population dynamics;
community dynamics;
prey defence;
predator counter defence;
predator–prey interactions;
coevolution


Capybaras-the largest rodents in the world-show little resemblance to their guinea pig relatives. Robust and agile, they reach the size of a small pig and weigh upward of 100 pounds at maturity. This natural history details all aspects of the present body of information about their anatomy, ecology, behavior, biology, conservation, management, and taxonomy. Capybaras range throughout South American tropical wetlands. Largely extirpated from their former haunts through agricultural practices and poaching, they have adapted well to human management and conservation efforts and are frequently raised on ranches as valued sources of both meat and leather. The herbivorous rodents play a vital role in the ecosystems of natural grasslands, wetlands, and gallery forests and are commonly prey for caimans, anacondas, jaguars, and pumas. Rexford D. Lord draws on the extant literature and many years of personal experience in their habitats both north and south of the Amazon region-including his own ten-year study at a Venezuelan ranch-to provide detailed descriptions of capybaras' known history; the diseases, parasites, and hazards they face; and their population and behavioral characteristics. He discusses how they interact with predators and other animals and explains their long-running and growing commercial importance to humankind-including key information about their current value and future potential as an ecotourism attraction. Featuring dozens of photographs, comprehensive tables illustrating key traits and population information, and practical explanations of current ranch management methodology, this volume is the most extensive reference work on capybaras that has ever been produced.


Hypervolume approaches are used to quantify functional diversity and quantify environmental niches for species distribution modelling. Recently, Qiao et al. (2016) criticized our geometrical kernel density estimation (KDE) method for measuring hypervolumes. They used a simulation analysis to argue that the method yields high error rates and makes biased estimates of fundamental niches. Here, we show that (a) KDE output depends in useful ways on dataset size and bias, (b) other species distribution modelling methods make equally stringent but different assumptions about dataset bias, (c) simulation results presented by Qiao et al. (2016) were incorrect, with revised analyses showing performance comparable to other methods, and (d) hypervolume methods are more general than KDE and have other benefits for niche modelling. As a result, our KDE method remains a promising tool for species distribution modelling.


The majority of anthropogenic CO2 emissions are attributable to urban areas. While the emissions from urban electricity generation often occur in locations remote from consumption, many of the other emissions occur within the city limits. Evaluating the effectiveness of strategies for controlling these emissions depends on our ability to observe urban CO2 emissions and attribute them to specific activities. Cost-effective strategies for doing so have yet to be described. Here we characterize the ability of a prototype measurement network, modeled after the Berkeley Atmospheric CO2 Observation Network (BEACO2N) in California's Bay Area, in combination with an inverse model based on the coupled Weather Research and Forecasting/Stochastic TimeInverted Lagrangian Transport (WRF-STILT) to improve our understanding of urban emissions. The pseudo-measurement network includes 34 sites at roughly 2 km spacing covering an area of roughly 400 km2. The model uses an hourly 1× 1 km2 emission inventory and 1× 1 km2 meteorological calculations. We perform an ensemble of Bayesian atmospheric inversions to sample the combined effects of uncertainties of the pseudo-measurements and the model. We vary the estimates of the combined uncertainty of the pseudoobservations and model over a range of 20 to 0.005 ppm and vary the number of sites from 1 to 34. We use these inversions to develop statistical models that estimate the efficacy of the combined model–observing system in reducing uncertainty in CO2 emissions. We examine uncertainty in estimated CO2 fluxes on the urban scale, as well as for sources embedded within the city such as a line source (e.g., a highway) or a point source (e.g., emissions from the stacks of small industrial facilities). Using our inversion framework, we find that a dense network with moderate precision is the preferred setup for estimating area, line, and point sources from a combined uncertainty and cost perspective. The dense network considered here (modeled after the BEACO2N network with an assumed mismatch error of 1 ppm at an hourly temporal resolution) could estimate weekly CO2 emissions from an urban region with less than 5 % error, given our characterization of the combined observation and model uncertainty.


Closed-loop power control is considered as an important component in the management of radio resources in cellular radio systems. The algorithms are typically based on feedback information, which for practical reasons is outdated. These time delays in the system, hamper the performance and might even result in unstable systems. Several power control strategies have been proposed in order to improve the capacity of cellular radio systems, but time delays are usually neglected. Here, time delay compensation is introduced as a means to improve the dynamical behavior of power controlled cellular systems, despite time delays. The improvements are validated both in theory with respect to global convergence and stability and in some illuminating simulations.


Background: In modern anthropometry of such complex structures as the face, three-dimensional scanning techniques have become more and more common. Before establishing them as a criterion standard, however, meticulous evaluation of their precision and accuracy under both ideal and clinical circumstances is essential. Potential sources of error need to be identified and addressed. Materials and Methods: Under ideal circumstances, a phantom is used to examine the precision and accuracy of the 3dMD system. A clinical setting is simulated by varying different parameters such as angle, distance, and system reregistration, as well as data evaluation under different levels of magnification. Results: The handling of the system was unproblematic in matters of data acquisition and data analysis. It was very reliable, with a mean global error of 0.2 mm (range, 0.1-0.5 mm) for mannequin head measurements. Neither the position of the head nor that of the camera influenced these parameters. New referencing of the system did not influence precision and accuracy. Conclusions: The precision and accuracy of the tested system are more than sufficient for clinical needs and greater than those of other methods, such as direct anthropometry and two-dimensional photography. The evaluated system can be recommended for evaluation and documentation of the facial surface and could offer new opportunities in reconstructive, orthognathic, and craniofacial surgery.


The violation of local uncertainty relations is a valuable tool for detecting entanglement, especially in multi-dimensional systems. The orbital angular momentum of light provides such a multi-dimensional system. We study quantum correlations for the conjugate variables of orbital angular momentum and angular position. We determine an experimentally testable criterion for the demonstration of an angular version of the EPR paradox. For the interpretation of future experimental results from our proposed setup, we include a model for the indeterminacies inherent to the angular position measurement. For this measurement angular apertures are used to determine the probability density of the angle. We show that for a class of aperture functions a demonstration of an angular EPR paradox, according to our criterion, is to be expected.


A simple device is described, consisting of 12 weighted 23 gauge disposable needles (0.2 to 5.2 g), for testing sensation in busy diabetic clinics. The pinprick sensory threshold (PPT) is the lightest weighted needle which consistently elicits a sharp sensation. The subjects were 48 healthy controls (hospital staff), 44 diabetic patients without neuropathic symptoms, and 35 diabetic patients with chronic painful neuropathy. In the controls, the mean PPT from the right hand and foot obtained on two test occasions a week apart did not differ significantly. In diabetic patients without symptomatic neuropathy, the mean PPT in the right hand and right foot were significantly higher than in the controls. The diabetic patients with painful neuropathy had clearly increased mean PPT in the right hand and foot compared with controls. Marstock thermal limen in diabetic patients with painful neuropathy correlated significantly with PPT determinations. PPT and thermal thresholds probably give comparable information on small fibre dysfunction in diabetic patients with symptomatic neuropathy. Compared with thermal threshold determinations however, the weighted needle apparatus is inexpensive, simple, and rapid to use.


The Asian flu appears to have been cured. Foreign investment is rising again and Japanese equity derivatives are now in demand. With the growth in electronic trading and the deregulation of derivatives markets, the restrictions to global trading are being eroded and dealers predict that interest in global equity derivatives will continue to build. Although derivative instruments on Japanese stock indexes first became popular in the 1980s the market has developed in a peculiar way, contrasting sharply with the general evolution of equity derivatives in the West. The Japanese financial 'big bang' has fostered a spectacular surge in transactions and a dramatic increase in the number of local participants, competing with all leading European and US investment banks. Aimed at both Japanese and Western readers familiar with the basic concepts of financial derivatives, Japanese Equity Derivatives analyzes the Japanese equity derivatives market successively from the point of view of end-users and professional players. It highlights the stark differences between Eastern and Western markets and reviews the key aspects of Japanese equity derivatives, including risk management and deregulation. It investigates what has actually happened in Japanese equity derivatives, the local regulations, the abnormal profitability of derivatives trading activities, the various products available and the differences in market psychological behaviour. Philippe Avril has accumulated ten years of experience in this market, working both for top foreign players and a major domestic institution in arbitrage, trading and structuring activities. This has allowed him to provide an insider's point of view of past developments in the market as well as current and future trends. Japanese Equity Derivatives is an invaluable read for personal investors looking for alternative savings strategies, fund and portfolio managers, traders, active managers, risk managers, and heads of equity derivatives desks.


Background: Research and development (R&D) facilities are dependent on knowledge to develop new and improve existing technologies. R&D employees' perceptions of the use and management of knowledge are important as these individuals are the source of the innovation needed to generate and develop new processes and services. Objectives: This study aimed to understand Sasol R&D employees' perceptions of knowledge management (KM). The study also assessed the attitude of Sasol R&D management towards KM. Method: The target population for this research included different levels of seniority and education in Sasol R&D. A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 150 employees in R&D and 50 more who work closely with R&D in support functions. Results: It was found that the importance of KM is understood by Sasol R&D employees and management. It was established that Sasol R&D management regard KM as important, but that their commitment to KM initiatives is not necessarily evident for employees. A concern highlighted by the study was that employees were not aware of the duties of the identified KM champions within their facility. Conclusion: It was suggested that Sasol R&D employees should be made aware of the duties of KM champions. It was also established that Sasol R&D management needs to be more visible in their support of KM initiatives. Recommendations based on the findings of the study can assist Sasol R&D, and other facilities attempting to implement a KM strategy, to gain insight into the perceptions of employees and the role management needs to play in the facilitation of this process.


As schools seek to improve learning, many are moving towards sophisticated and high-stakes testing regimes. What isn't tested doesn't matter. To sharpen the focus on the competencies demanded by tests, schools are devoting an ever-greater share of resources to a few, basic subject areas, while reducing ‐ even eliminating ‐ time spent on subjects not tested. A casualty among these has been physical education. This brief summarizes the evidence against this trend. It presents concrete evidence that school-based sports and physical activity during the school day can improve learning and test scores. There is a positive association between mental and physical fitness. Although evidence is drawn from the United States, the conclusions can be adapted more universally. To date, there are no rigorous studies on the impact of sports and physical activity on learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. Summary:


The analytical dependence of sigma(n) and sigma(k) on related experimental uncertainties when conventional reflectance-transmittance methods for the determination of optical constants of thin films are used has been found. Two kinds of singularity appear. These are responsible for the loss of solution in these methods. From the properties of the derivatives of n and k with respect to the measured thickness, a new method has been developed without loss of solution. Different derivative behaviors for physical and nonphysical solutions were found. The film thickness is also determined by this method with an accuracy better than 0.2%. The method has been applied to thin films of amorphous germanium.


POWER IN THE LAND is an initiative (established in 2014) in North Wales that brings together a group of 10 artists to engage with issues of nuclear energy and the land. The work comes to fruition just as the last nuclear power station in Wales, Wylfa in Anglesey, shuts down at the end of 2015. The research project addresses both the local and the wider world, and the resulting artworks are created in video, sound, performance, sculpture, installation and in graphic and photographic forms.

The works form a touring exhibition that will be seen in several venues across Wales before travelling to England and Europe. There is also a book publication, as well as a series of public engagement events.

Researching, recording and working together, the artist's interactions with each other have stimulated the work as each artist attempts to come to grips with the conundrums of nuclear power. The impact made by the arrival of Wylfa in the 1960's on the language and culture of this corner of Wales falls within the scope of this show together with the legacy of a major power institution on the landscape of the future.


This paper examines compliance with federal minimum wage laws in the U.S. apparel industry and analyzes the impact of new methods of intervention designed to improve regulatory performance. Drawing on data from a randomized survey of apparel contractors, the author evaluates the impact of agreements between manufacturers and the government used to monitor contractor behavior as a means of improving compliance outcomes. Several non-regulatory variables predicted by theory to be important influences—the level of work skills, for example, and product market factors related to the elasticity of labor demand—are indeed found to be correlated with compliance. Nonetheless, stringent forms of contractor monitoring are associated with substantial reductions in violations of minimum wage standards. The results suggest that well-designed public/private monitoring efforts can lead to significant improvements in compliance with labor standards.


The economic value of weather forecasts for airports for commercial aviation is investigated by introducing financial data into the decision-making process for fuel carriage by aircraft. Using specific operating costs for a given flight, an optimal decision probability threshold can be calculated that identifies whether that flight should carry extra fuel, in case of adverse weather conditions and subsequent diversion. Forecasts of these adverse conditions can then be applied to a critical threshold to make a real-time decision regarding the carriage of additional fuel. This study focuses on forecasts of low ceiling and/or reduced visibility and their corresponding impact on forecast value for flights arriving at three major airports in the United States. Eighteen daily flights by American Airlines were examined during a 14-month period, a total of approximately 7500 flights. Using operating cost data from this period, a critical decision threshold was derived for each daily flight. Two sets of forecasts, statistically derived probabilistic forecasts and National Weather Service terminal aerodrome forecasts (TAFs), were then applied to each flight's fuel carriage decision-making process. The probabilistic forecasts, which utilize regional surface observations, were generated for the destination airport with a lead time appropriate to the airline's flight planning time. If the forecast probability of adverse weather was greater than the critical decision threshold for a given flight, then additional fuel was deemed necessary for that flight. The categorical TAFs that corresponded timewise to the developed probabilistic forecasts were obtained for each location. For this study, a categorical "yes" forecast denotes the expectation that the visibility and/or cloud ceiling conditions are such that extra fuel is required, while a categorical "no" forecast does not require extra fuel. The analysis presented herein indicates that by using statistical, probabilistic forecasts rather than categorical forecasts, a significant saving is made in operating costs. This is probably because of a more optimal balance between false alarms and misses for each flight, rather than more "accurate" forecasts per se. This is the mechanism by which probabilistic forecasts create value, rather than increasing the number of hits and correct rejections and/or decreasing the number of false alarms and misses. For each of the flights investigated in this study, the total cost of using probabilistic forecasts was less than that of using TAFs. An average of $23,000 is saved per flight during this 14-month period. Projecting these figures over all American Airlines flights, a potential annual savings of approximately $50 million in operating costs would be realized by using probabilistic forecasts of adverse landing weather conditions instead of the traditional TAF.


This paper is intended as a guide to building insurance risk (loss) models. A typical model for insurance risk, the so-called collective risk model, treats the aggregate loss as having a compound distribution with two main components: one characterizing the arrival of claims and another describing the severity (or size) of loss resulting from the occurrence of a claim. In this paper we first present efficient simulation algorithms for several classes of claim arrival processes. Then we review a collection of loss distributions and present methods that can be used to assess the goodness-of-fit of the claim size distribution. The collective risk model is often used in health insurance and in general insurance, whenever the main risk components are the number of insurance claims and the amount of the claims. It can also be used for modeling other non-insurance product risks, such as credit and operational risk.


The S. cerevisisae Rho GTPase Cdc42p localizes around the entire plasma membrane, but is only activated at sites of polarized growth in a cell cycledependent manner. This spatial and temporal control ensures that Cdc42p is inactive within the cytoplasm and outside of the polarized cortical domain, and is active at sites of polarized growth. This dissertation addresses spatial control of Cdc42p by examining complex formation with its sole guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor (GDI) Rdi1p and its sole guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) Cdc24p. Rdi1p is not essential; however, when overexpressed, it is lethal, suggesting that it does have an important negative regulatory function. To study complex formation and localization, the technique of bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) was used to study in vivo Rdi1p-Cdc42p complex formation and localization, and how mutations to Rdi1p's two functional domains, the regulatory arm and the geranylgeranyl binding pocket, affected the complex. Rdi1p and Cdc42p interacted diffusely throughout the cytoplasm of cells at all stages of the cell cycle and their interaction was enhanced at incipient bud sites, the tips and sides of smalland large-budded cells and at the motherbud neck region. Mutant Rdi1p was still able to interact with Cdc42p; however, the complex was absent from the cytoplasm. The Cdc42p Switch II domain mutation has the same phenotype as the Rdi1p mutations and, surprisingly, Cdc42p without a geranylgeranyl modification can still interact with Rdi1p in the cytoplasm, although with decreased affinity. These results are consistent with Rdi1p extracting Cdc42p from sites of polarized growth, which is dependent on both of its functional domains, and sequestering Cdc42p in the cytoplasm, where it is inactive. Cdc42p is also activated at incipient bud sites, tips of small buds and the mother-bud neck by the precise targeting of Cdc24p. This research also sought to identify protein(s) and regulatory mechanisms that function in targeting and maintenance of Cdc24p at polarized growth sites. The GFP-tagged targeting and anchoring domain of Cdc24p (aa 647-854) was used to screen haploid deletion mutants for localization to polarized growth sites. boi2Δ, ent2Δ, hua1Δ, and rsc2Δ mutants did not target GFP-Cdc24-647-854p to sites of polarized growth; therefore, Boi2p, Ent2p, Hua1p and Rsc2p have direct or indirect roles in targeting and maintenance of Cdc24p to sites of polarized growth. skg6Δ tos2Δ mutants abnormally localized GFP-Cdc24-647-854p preanaphase to the mother-bud neck. The same abnormal localization of GFPCdc24-647-854p was seen when potential CDK phosphorylation sites were mutated. This indicates that Tos2p, and its homolog Skg6p, and phosphorylation of the Cdc24p targeting and anchoring domain, are important for the maintenance of Cdc24p at sites of polarized growth. This dissertation research contributes to our understanding of how Cdc42p regulators affect its localization and activity by studying the spatial and temporal localization of the Cdc42p-Rdi1p complex and by identifying protein(s) involved in targeting and maintenance of Cdc24p at sites of polarized growth.


Italy is a multi-level polity where policymaking and implementation involves both public and private actors. Both territorial and functional decentralisation have an impact on the final results of policy making. In fact, territorial decentralisation implies the delegation of functions to wide multi-purpose tiers of sub-national governance, which has been a central dynamic of Italian governance. Furthermore, functional decentralization stresses the assignment of functions, vertically and horizontally, to single-purpose quasiautonomous agencies. Multi level governance (MLG) aims at understanding the nature and explaining the structure of governance networks, their interrelationship with control, capacity, accountability and efficiency of political systems (Bache and Flinders, 2004 ; Piattoni, 2010 ). To date, only a limited use has been made of this important instrument of analysis, at least in Italy, in transport policy, in general, and in the road sector, in particular. Research in various domains such as political geography (Shaw et al., 2009), regional and urban studies (Kern and Bulkeley, 2009) and institutional economics (Marsden et al., 2009) have all stressed the crucial role governance plays in the transport sector notwithstanding the lack of a common framework of analysis. The paper synthetically reports the definitions of MLG proposed, describing their characteristics and clarifying their implications for the transport sector, as well as discussing the implications of a specific MLG for the transport sector regulatory system and for the role of local public authorities. Management and programs of the local road sector in Italy are discussed with a particular focus on the different types of solutions adopted and on the level of integration among different governance levels. Finally, a critical discussion of the situation of the local road sector in Italy, its governability and some suggestions for the future are reported.


We study embodied reference understanding, the task of locating referents using embodied gestural signals and language references. Human studies have revealed that objects referred to or pointed to do not lie on the elbow-wrist line, a common misconception; instead, they lie on the so-called virtual touch line. However, existing human pose representations fail to incorporate the virtual touch line. To tackle this problem, we devise the touch-line transformer: It takes as input tokenized visual and textual features and simultaneously predicts the referent's bounding box and a touch-line vector. Leveraging this touch-line prior, we further devise a geometric consistency loss that encourages the co-linearity between referents and touch lines. Using the touch-line as gestural information improves model performances significantly. Experiments on the YouRefIt dataset show our method achieves a +25.0% accuracy improvement under the 0.75 IoU criterion, closing 63.6% of the gap between model and human performances. Furthermore, we computationally verify prior human studies by showing that computational models more accurately locate referents when using the virtual touch line than when using the elbow-wrist line.


This note derives the dynamic programming equation (DPE) to a differentiable Markov Perfect equilibrium in a problem with non-constant discounting and general functional forms. We begin with a discrete stage model and take the limit as the length of the stage goes to 0 to obtain the DPE corresponding to the continuous time problem. We characterize the multiplicity of equilibria under non-constant discounting and discuss the relation between a given equilibrium of that model and the unique equilibrium of a related problem with constant discounting. We calculate the bounds of the set of candidate steady states and we Pareto rank the equilibria.


In the 1930s, migrant labour became the prime determinant of emerging infectious diseases, particularly tuberculosis, in the Bechuanaland Protectorate due to the repatriation of infected workers from neighbouring South African mines. The mining boom had led to an unprecedented increase in migrant labour and this in turn resulted in a high rate of tuberculosis infection and mortality. This article examines local perceptions of tuberculosis in the eastern Bechuanaland Protectorate from 1932 to 1964, when rates of infection and mortality were reduced with the help of medical breakthroughs in antibiotic therapy. While studies of migrant labour in Southern Africa have addressed political, social, and economic aspects of disease, nothing has been written about the multiple ways in which rural communities drew from their cultural repertoire to negotiate this emerging pathology. This article mines the extant medical records housed at the Botswana National Archives and juxtaposes them with oral testimony to examine and illuminate the culturally specific arenas in which the socio-ecological beliefs, values, and meanings of tuberculosis were created and contested among communities of eastern Bechuanaland.


Purpose: To quantitatively evaluate differences in prostate volume measurements via transrectal ultrasound(TRUS) and computed tomography(CT) used for dosimetric planning in prostate brachytherapy.Method and Materials: Prostate volume measurements were made in 83 prostate brachytherapy patients. One to two weeks prior to implantation, patients were placed in the dorsal lithotomy position, and prostate volumes were measured via TRUS. Immediately afterward, patients were rescanned using CT to allow for comparison of CT and TRUS measurements. On treatment day, patients were rescanned via TRUS before and after implantation and were rescanned by CT within an hour after procedure completion. The prostate and urethra were delineated by the same physician on all scans, and prostate volumes were calculated. Results: Substantial correlation was found between pre‐/post‐ implant prostate US volumes (R2=0.7998), pre‐/post‐ implant CT volumes (R2=0.7872), and pre‐implant US and post‐implant CT volumes (R2=0.8352). However, it was found that the difference between pre‐ and post‐implant volume measurements varied with the combination of modalities compared. For pre‐ vs post‐implant TRUS, post‐implant prostate volumes averaged 26.1% larger than those measured prior to treatment. For pre‐ vs. post‐ implant CT, post‐implant measurements averaged 58.9% greater. Post‐implant CT measurements averaged 23.8% greater than post‐implant TRUS measurements. Conclusion: While it would be ideal to use the same method to measure pre‐ and post‐implant volumes, this is not generally practiced. Prostate volumes measured using TRUS and CT show a distinct relationship, but it is important to note that this does not mean that the modalities provide the same values for the same prostate. In addition, the relationship between pre‐implant TRUS and CT is not identical to that between post‐implant TRUS and CT. Therefore, it is not possible to state that accurate comparison of pre‐ and post‐implant dosimetric plans can be accomplished when different imaging modalities are used for each.


John Henry Schlegel recovers a largely ignored aspect of American Legal Realism, a movement in legal thought in the 1920s and 1930s that sought to bring the modern notion of empirical science into the study and teaching of law. In this book, he explores individual Realist scholars' efforts to challenge the received notion that the study of law was primarily a matter of learning rules and how to manipulate them. He argues that empirical research was integral to Legal Realism, and he explores why this kind of research did not, finally, become a part of American law school curricula. Schlegel reviews the work of several prominent Realists but concentrates on the writings of Walter Wheeler Cook, Underhill Moore, and Charles E. Clark. He reveals how their interest in empirical research was a product of their personal and professional circumstances and demonstrates the influence of John Dewey's ideas on the expression of that interest. According to Schlegel, competing understandings of the role of empirical inquiry contributed to the slow decline of this kind of research by professors of law.Originally published in 1995.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.


This study provides evidences on the determinants of the quality of rule of law in Europe. The selection of the determinants were made based on the criteria used by Alonso and Garcimartin in identifying these factors. Dataset for 17 countries of the Nordic and Western Europe were employed. The results obtained in the estimated model using pooled mean group (PMG) allow us to pull some remarkable inferences. Firstly, education attainment appeared to have positive influence on rule of law. Secondly, income inequality and economic growth revealed significant effects on the quality of rule of law and finally, trade openness deteriorates the quality of rule of law. Keyword: Rule of law; Determinants of the rule of law; Pooled mean group; Nordic; Western Europe


Patents are the main source of data on innovation, but there are persistent concerns that patents may be a noisy and biased measure. An important challenge arises from unobservable variation in the size of the inventive step that is covered by a patent. The count of later patents that cite a patent as relevant prior art – so called forward citations – have become the standard measure to control for such variation. Citations may, however, also be a noisy and biased measure for the size of the inventive step. To address this issue, this paper examines field trial data for patented improvements in hybrid corn. Field trials report objective measures for improvements in hybrid corn, which we use to quantify the size of the inventive step. These data show a robust correlation between citations and improvements in yields, as the bottom line measure for improvements in hybrid corn. This correlation is robust to alternative measures for improvements in hybrid corn, and a broad range of other tests.We also investigate the process, by which patents generate citations. This analysis reveals that hybrids that serve as an input for genetically-related follow-on inventions are more likely to receive self-citations (by the same firm), which suggests that self-citations are a good predictor for follow-on invention.


I am responding to the letter of Ali et al. (1) The total number of babies (1598) and number of culture positive babies (1003) in our article represent the number of cases after removal of patients meeting the exclusion criteria. We did find isolated cases of Streptococcus sp, Salmonella, and Enterococci, but they happened to fall in the excluded group. These organisms accounted for < 0.5% of the spectrum as a whole. This is similar to the findings of Maryam et al in a public sector institution with a population of similar socioeconomic, cultural, religious, and climatic background. Their study was carried out in the same time period as ours but completely independently and blinded from ours. In their series of 284 cases, they grew Escherichia coli (130 cases; 45.7%), Klebsiella (49 cases; 17.2%), Pseudomonas (46 cases; 16.2%), Staphylococcus aureus (39 cases; 13.7%), Staphylococcus epidermis (18 cases; 6.34%), Strepococcus sp (1 case; 0.3%), and Salmonella (1 case; 0.3%). The numbers are slightly different among the studies from south of Pakistan. This is not surprising as neonatal sepsis is known for the temporal and regional variation of the spectrum of its organisms even in different hospitals within the same city. (2) The basic message from the majority of studies from Pakistan is the same: Gram negative organisms are the main cause of neonatal sepsis in Pakistan, followed by S aureus. This group of organisms is responsible for > 99% of the spectrum, and unfortunately the grave situation of multidrug resistance is emerging among these organisms. That is where research needs to be concentrated, instead of on the organisms responsible for < 0.5% of the spectrum (Salmonella, Streptococcus sp, etc), which do not carry any significance for overall neonatal mortality and morbidity. (3) Out of 296 cases of S aureus in our series, ampicillin was tested on 285 cases, with 171 (60%) sensitive to it, and 279 were tested with augmentin, with 75 (26.9%) sensitive to it. I agree with Ali et al that this pattern of sensitivity looks unusual as far as S aureus is concerned, although this phenomenon is known to occur with β lactamase-producing E coli. It may be due to the various strengths of augmentin discs available, the known biochemical instability of clavulonic acid, or the difficulty of interpretation when a combination of two antibiotics is used in one disc using the disc diffusion technique. However, I would be interested to hear more expert opinion on this. Our series did not exclude hospital acquired infections. (4) The longitudinal analysis of our data shows an increasing sensitivity to penicillin and decreasing sensitivity to cephalosporins, particularly cefotaxime, over the last half decade. This is consistent with the change in antibiotic use in Pakistan since the early 1990s when penicillin/gentamicin was replaced by cephalosporins/amikacin as the first line antibiotic treatment. Most of the Gram negative organisms in Pakistan maintain a very high degree of sensitivity to amikacin 4 but not to gentamicin. I feel that penicillin/ amikacin may be a very good choice as the first line antibiotic in neonatal units in Pakistan. It is high time that we reviewed our antibiotic policies and at the same time approach the government to rationalise antibiotic marketing in this country.


The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information, anywhere on or near the Earth. The GPS provides critical capabilities to military, civil and commercial users around the world. This paper presents a Service oriented architecture (SOA) based Global Positioning System (GPS). In case of military and civilian applications of GPS, exchange of information is not that easy as it becomes perilous. There should be a qualified and well standard approach that can be used for the secure communication. A detailed architecture has been used to justify the essential need for the proposed architecture. Service oriented architecture provides communication with flexible, secure and independent platforms and standards making it a strongly viable option for secure communication when needed.


Neighbourhood private security patrol as a crime control strategy demonstrates society's increasing demand for security and assurance- factors which the public police provide ineffectively. Private security's function of preventative surveillance is likely to be aligned more closely to public needs than is the public police's post-event priority of detection. Street patrol by private security personnel symbolizes an attempt by some citizens to re-create the preventative aspects of traditional policing. But it predominates only in the residential areas of the economically privileged. This demand for target-hardening, by the surveillance of whole groups and categories of people, is test described not as part of a contemporary shift from individual to collective social control, but rather as a trend away from collectivism towards active individualism. Although social and emotional influence is apparent in the rationale for this strategy, its creation also concerns the institutionalization of the classical concepts of self-help and choice - principles which are actively accede! to and encourage! by the state. In order to react to crises individuals require social confirmation for their beliefs about the reality of crime and its control. The Home Office, Police and other interesting agencies, including the Private Security Sector, provide this confirmation and they come together with communities as joint creators of new institutions. Thus, as classicist forms of control become marketable, lay-persons may participate more in policing their own neighbourhoods. This heralds the end of policing provision as fate- for as modem capitalism pluralizes it allows in private policing agents and strategies. However, while this form of control may be effective for those who choose to purchase it, there is a tendency for it to fragment rather than integrate surrounding neighbourhoods. Furthermore, it deflects crime into areas with inferior levels of surveillance. These negative aspects are not conducive to the requirements of quality and equity of justice, so crucial and intrinsic to the association policing should have with a democratic, equal and free society.


In this article a multichannel information system to build and deliver rich user experiences in exhibits and museums is presented. The system was designed to use information about a particular exhibit or museum while delivering a wide user experience based on different distribution channels. The overall information is used to build different solutions that can be delivered simultaneously on different media from touch-screen installations to portable devices like smart phones. Moreover, all the devices signed in the environment are able to communicate to each others to increase the level of the usability of the system. A case study and analysis of experimental results are also provided.


Gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a four carbon non protein amino acid, and the pathway that involves its production and degradation is called the GABA shunt. The GABA shunt is a short enzymatic pathway that involves three enzymes: glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), GABA transaminase (GABA-T) and succinic semi aldehyde dehydrogenase (SSADH). GABA shunt is conserved almost in all organisms studied so far. The pathway starts in the cytosol and finishes in mitochondria in higher organisms like plants and mammals, whereas, in yeast it is exclusively cytosolic. The presence of GABA in plants has been known since over half a century ago. The induction of its accumulation under biotic and abiotic stresses has been well documented. However, the specificity of the response and the role of GABA and the GABA shunt under stress conditions have been elusive. Several Arabidopsis GABA shunt mutants have been studied and were shown to have defects in vegetative growth, reproductive growth and response to stress. To describe some, gad1 mutant was shown to have a reduced root growth. The pop2-1 mutant, defective in the activity of GABA-T, accumulated a very high level of GABA in the flower and that led to a pollen tube elongation defect. Arabidopsis ssadh mutants exhibited a severe growth phenotype, accumulated high -hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and H2O2, and were sensitive to high-light conditions.
In this work, several mutant lines have been generated and investigated to answer a range of questions; these include study on the specificity of the GABA response during abiotic stress, identifying the reasons for severe ssadh growth phenotype and suppression of the ssadh phenotype. Arabidopsis gad1/2 mutant is depleted in GABA and is unable to induce GABA synthesis under drought, salt and osmotic stress. Hence, the mutant plants were oversensitive to these stresses, indicating that GABA accumulation during abiotic stresses was a specific response. In an attempt to identify the cause of ssadh phenotype, exogenous GHB was fed to wild type and ghbdh1/2 mutants. The GHB application, however, did not elicit the severe ssadh-like phenotype. But, treatment of wild type and ghbdh1/2 mutant with SSA re-produced the ssadh phenotype, suggesting that SSA, but not GHB, was the cause of the severe ssadh phenotype. To suppress the ssadh phenotype, the potential accumulation of SSA was blocked by simultaneous mutation of Gad1/2. This, indeed, partially suppressed the ssadh phenotype. Suppression of ssadh phenotype mediated by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) induced mutation was also successful. Based on the range of phenotypes obtained in GABA shunt mutants, further studies on the role of the GABA shunt in plants is important.


Section 188 of the Companies Act, 2013 talks about the approval required in order to enter into related party transactions. The section provides for the various transactions which cannot be entered into by the company without the consent of the Board of Directors. Meaning thereby unless the Board of Directors have given their consent by way of a resolution at a meeting of the Board, the company cannot enter into the prescribed transactions. But by Companies Amendment Act 2015 it is liberalized and no special resolution required. Omnibus approval will be granted by audit committee for all kind of related party transactions than ordinary resolution will be passed by the board of directors for the validity of the related party transactions of a Company. In this article, the provision of related party transaction is discussed.


Background Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is a growing approach to treat skin and mucosal infections. Despite its effectiveness, investigators have explored whether aPDT can be further combined with antibiotics and antifungal drugs. Objective To systematically assess the in vivo studies on the effectiveness of combinations of aPTD plus antimicrobials in the treatment of cutaneous and mucosal infections. Materials and methods Searches were performed in four databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library databases, ClinicaTrials.gov) until July 2018. The pooled information was evaluated according to the PRISMA guidelines. Results 11 full-text articles were finally evaluated and included. The best aPDT combinations involved 5-aminolevulinic acid or phenothiazinium dye-based aPDT. In general, the combination shows benefits such as reducing treatment times, lowering drug dosages, decreasing drug toxicity, improving patient compliance and diminishing the risk of developing resistance. The mechanism of action may be that first aPDT damages the microbial cell wall or membrane, which allows better penetration of the antimicrobial drug. Limitations The number of studies was low, the protocols used were heterogeneous, and there was a lack of clinical trials. Conclusions The additive or synergistic effect of aPDT combined with antimicrobials could be promising to manage skin and mucosal infections, helping to overcome the microbial drug resistance.


After the Bologna agreement and the Lisbon Agenda, reform of European university systems has been higher on the political agenda. This is necessary, since most European universities have been suffering from stifling blankets of government regulation, having to make do with much less funds than their North-American counterparts and do not appear high on the various rankings of top universities in the world. Furthermore, the booming economies of China and India will nurture and boost world-class universities in the coming decades. Also, universities are essential in their links to business and society to make the European economy more innovative and competitive, especially as European industries approach the world technology frontier. We argue on the basis of the stylized facts that foremost European universities need more autonomy to select students, reward staff, design new programmes, attract more funds and compete better in an increasingly tough environment. Although the general principles of the policy reform agenda are clear, the details are not. The link between governance, funding and performance is not obvious and needs still further data and research. We conclude that reform of European universities should much more be based on the best available empirical analysis. (JEL code: I23)


This study is undertaken to ascertain the perception skill
of Heads of Departments, to find out the strategies used by Heads
of Departments to lubricate the communication flow in schools and
to determine whether Heads of Departments possess team building
characteristics.
Two sets of questionnaires were distributed to thirty three
Heads of Departments and ninety six teachers from nine Grade A
secondary schools in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. One set of
questionnaire was designed to determine the perception skill and
the managerial communication skills and the team building
characteristic of the Heads of Departments. The respondents to
this questionnaires were Heads of Departments. Another set of
questionnaire was designed to determine the motivating language
scale of Heads of Departments. The respondents to this
questionnaire were the teachers from the various Departments.The findings indicated that majority of the Heads of
Departments have low perception skills, high managerial
communication skills and a high level of characteristics of team
building spirit. The Heads of Departments also use a high level
of motivating language in direction giving, empathetic language,
mean making language and in communication satisfaction when
communicating with the teachers in their Departments.


CD4-CD8- (double negative [DN]) alpha/beta T cells are a largely uncharacterized subpopulation of unknown function. To investigate whether these cells are selected to recognize particular antigens or antigen-presenting molecules, DN alpha/beta T cells were purified from the peripheral blood of five normal donors and their T cell receptor (TCR) alpha and beta chains were examined. Random cloning of TCR alpha chains by single-sided polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification identified an invariant rearrangement between V alpha 24 and J alpha Q, with no N region diversity, which was expressed preferentially by DN alpha/beta T cells from all donors. Random cloning also identified a precise V alpha 7.2-J alpha (IGRJa14) rearrangement, with two variable amino acids encoded in the V-J junction, which was enriched in the DN alpha/beta T cell preparations from some, but not all, donors. Analysis of TCR beta chains by quantitative PCR amplification demonstrated that the expression of four V beta gene families, V beta 2, 8, 11, and 13, was markedly increased in these DN alpha/beta T cell preparations. The expression of particular TCRs by DN alpha/beta T cells from multiple donors indicates that these cells, or at least a subpopulation of cells with this phenotype, recognize a limited spectrum of antigens and suggests that they may use nonpolymorphic antigen-presenting molecules.


Purpose
The present study aims to demonstrate that providing a free gift upon purchase may induce consumers to devaluate the main product promoted with the offer. The mediating role of persuasion knowledge and the moderating role of consumer shopping orientation are also examined.

Design/methodology/approach
Three studies with between-subject designs are conducted to test the influence of product–gift fit on evaluations of the promoted product.

Findings
When a low-fit gift (vs a high-fit gift) is provided as a promotional offer, consumers' evaluations of the promoted product are undermined. These negative effects are driven by consumers' activation of persuasion knowledge on the company's ulterior motive to entice consumers to make a purchase. Such devaluation effects occur especially for consumers with a task-focused shopping orientation, whereas they are mitigated for consumers with an experiential shopping orientation.

Research limitations/implications
This research extends the conceptualization of product–gift fit and challenges the common claim that free gift promotions maintain the value of the promoted product. By instigating a mechanism underlying consumers' objections toward low-fit gifts, this research implies that consumers may think of an implicit cost to a free offer based on their knowledge of companies' tactics.

Practical implications
Marketers should be aware of the fact that a certain gift may come at a cost for companies and bring about negative inferences regarding the main product. They need not only to select a gift that drives sales but also to be cautious about the gift's influence on perceptions of the main product. Marketers should ensure that the gift has a good fit with the product while trying to discover a unique gift for consumers. Marketers should also provide an offer that matches shopping orientation of the target consumers.

Originality/value
This research reveals counterevidence to prior research claiming that free gift promotion does not hurt the perceived value of the promoted product. It enhances a theoretical understanding of devaluation effects and provides useful implications for designing and targeting free gift promotion.


Abstract This research examines ways to build adaptive capacity to climate change, through a case study of organisations that participated in the response to Queensland's major flood disaster in Queensland in 2010/11. The research applied a network governance approach, including social network analysis and qualitative investigations, to the communities of Rockhampton, Emerald and Brisbane. The study was designed to compare social networks across a range of different geographical; functional; and institutional and regulatory contexts. Primary data were obtained from organisations involved in disaster management and water management, through a telephone survey conducted March – September 2012. The network analyses examined collaboration and communication patterns; changes in the network structure from routine management to flood operations; similarities and differences between the geographic regions, and whether collaboration was correlated with trust. A cultural values analysis was then performed to identify the key values of the network actors in each region. Two workshops were conducted in Rockhampton and Brisbane to disseminate the findings to stakeholders, as well as to obtain feedback through group activities. A total of 63 organisations participated in the study. As the network analyses and visualisations indicated that the Rockhampton and Emerald networks were tightly interconnected, a single 'Central Queensland' (CQ) network was used for all subsequent analyses. In both Brisbane and CQ, slightly higher levels of collaboration amongst organisations were recorded during flood periods compared with routine operations; and organisations tended to provide, as well as receive, information and/or resources from their collaborators. Overall, both networks appeared to feature high trust, with only a low level of difficult ties (problematic relationships) being reported. The cultural analyses identified patterns of common values amongst participating organisations. In Brisbane, respondents placed a high value on shared information systems and resources; shared communication and language; as well as on collaboration and flexibility. In the CQ network, there was a greater emphasis on local solutions, community wellbeing and longitudinal issues (such as post-disaster supply chains for recovery). The workshop activities suggested that the current structure of Local Disaster Management Groups was heavily influential on broader network participation; and that defining an 'effective' disaster response was a complex issue. This study has demonstrated that a network governance approach can provide new ways of understanding the core elements of adaptive capacity, in areas such as enablers and barriers to adaptation, and translating capacity into adaptation. The key implications for policy and practice include the need for stakeholders to drive adaptation to climate change through collaboration and communication; the need for stakeholders to share a common goal and language; the need for better engagement with community, diversity and Indigenous organisations; the need to establish collaboration outside of disaster events; and the need for network governance systems to play an important role in helping to facilitate climate change adaptation. The areas identified for future research included further methodological development and longitudinal studies of social networks, understanding effective modes of communication, and the influence of the changing nature of regional Australian communities on climate change adaptation. Please cite this report as: Kinnear, S, Patison, K, Mann, J, Malone, E, Ross, V 2013, Network governance and climate change adaptation: collaborative responses to the Queensland floods, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, pp. 113. This research examines ways to build adaptive capacity to climate change, through a case study of organisations that participated in the response to Queensland's major flood disaster in Queensland in 2010/11. The research applied a network governance approach, including social network analysis and qualitative investigations, to the communities of Rockhampton, Emerald and Brisbane. The study was designed to compare social networks across a range of different geographical; functional; and institutional and regulatory contexts. Primary data were obtained from organisations involved in disaster management and water management, through a telephone survey conducted March – September 2012. The network analyses examined collaboration and communication patterns; changes in the network structure from routine management to flood operations; similarities and differences between the geographic regions, and whether collaboration was correlated with trust. A cultural values analysis was then performed to identify the key values of the network actors in each region. Two workshops were conducted in Rockhampton and Brisbane to disseminate the findings to stakeholders, as well as to obtain feedback through group activities. A total of 63 organisations participated in the study. As the network analyses and visualisations indicated that the Rockhampton and Emerald networks were tightly interconnected, a single 'Central Queensland' (CQ) network was used for all subsequent analyses. In both Brisbane and CQ, slightly higher levels of collaboration amongst organisations were recorded during flood periods compared with routine operations; and organisations tended to provide, as well as receive, information and/or resources from their collaborators. Overall, both networks appeared to feature high trust, with only a low level of difficult ties (problematic relationships) being reported. The cultural analyses identified patterns of common values amongst participating organisations. In Brisbane, respondents placed a high value on shared information systems and resources; shared communication and language; as well as on collaboration and flexibility. In the CQ network, there was a greater emphasis on local solutions, community wellbeing and longitudinal issues (such as post-disaster supply chains for recovery). The workshop activities suggested that the current structure of Local Disaster Management Groups was heavily influential on broader network participation; and that defining an 'effective' disaster response was a complex issue. This study has demonstrated that a network governance approach can provide new ways of understanding the core elements of adaptive capacity, in areas such as enablers and barriers to adaptation, and translating capacity into adaptation. The key implications for policy and practice include the need for stakeholders to drive adaptation to climate change through collaboration and communication; the need for stakeholders to share a common goal and language; the need for better engagement with community, diversity and Indigenous organisations; the need to establish collaboration outside of disaster events; and the need for network governance systems to play an important role in helping to facilitate climate change adaptation. The areas identified for future research included further methodological development and longitudinal studies of social networks, understanding effective modes of communication, and the influence of the changing nature of regional Australian communities on climate change adaptation.


A one-hour symposium entitled 'New research and solutions to postoperative wound care challenges' was held by Molnlycke Health Care on Thursday 29th September at the fifth congress of the World Union of Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS) in Florence, Italy. The overriding aim of the session was to focus on the challenges of postoperative wound care, i.e. blistering, surgical site infection (SSI), and their associated costs. The
importance of clinicians being able to select appropriate dressings was addressed with a discussion surrounding potential benefits associated with the use of a new, advanced postoperative wound dressing


We study the impact of politicians' tenure in office on the outcomes of public procurement. To this purpose, we match a data set on the politics of Italian municipal governments to a data set on the procurement auctions they administered. In order to identify a causal relation, we apply two different identification strategies. First, we compare elections where the incumbent mayor barely won another term, with elections where the incumbent mayor barely lost and a new mayor took over. Second, we cross-validate these estimates using a unique quasi-experiment determined by the introduction of a two-term limit on the mayoral office in March 1993. This reform granted one potential extra term to mayors appointed before the reform. The main result is that an increase in the mayor's tenure is associated with ``worse' outcomes: fewer bidders per auction, a higher cost of procurement, a higher probability that the winner is local and that the same firm is awarded repeated auctions. Taken together, our estimates are informative of the possibility that time in office progressively leads to collusion between government officials and a few favored local bidders. Other interpretations receive less support in the data.


Speech analysis requires substantial computation. It is desirable to run this analysis only when needed and at other times to go to a low power state. Here we propose a self-biased low power speech detection wake up circuit which interfaces directly to standard electret microphones. The speech detector includes a microphone preamplifier, a power extraction squaring circuit, a bandpass filter passing power of the modulation spectrum in the speech band from 2–12 Hz, a half rectifier which extracts this phoneme band power, and a PFM silicon neuron which emits spikes indicating phoneme-rate modulation of the audio spectrum. The output of the speech detector circuit is an asynchronous stream of digital spikes at a rate of 1Hz to 20Hz whose temporal structure indicates the presence of speech. A subsequent conventional processor will go to sleep between spikes and only wake up for full power speech analysis when the temporal structure indicates speech. The circuit is built in 1.6um 2P-2M CMOS and consumes 500uW with a 3V supply when attached to a standard electret microphone.


This paper describes "blebs" protruding from the surface of the nucleus into the cytoplasm. The "blebs" are separated from the cytoplasm by 2 membranes which are continuous with the outer and inner nuclear membranes. The "blebs" contain 3 structurally distinct substances. Two of these substances (β and γ substances) are similar to extranucleolar karyoplasm and nucleolar material. The other substance (α substance) is present in every "bleb," but it cannot be readily compared to a recognizable nuclear structure. Cytoplasmic vesicles are described that are apparently different from the Golgi vesicles or the vesicular component of the ergastoplasm. It is suggested that these vesicles may be of nuclear "bleb" origin. A dark karyoplasmic zone extending from the region of the nucleolus into the nuclear "bleb" is shown. This zone may be similar in some respects to the preformed pathway ("Leitbahn") described by Altmann (3) and Hertl (28) and could reflect movement of nuclear material from the nucleolar region into the cytoplasm. The "blebs" are thought to be homologous to structures described by many light microscopists, but they are considerably larger than the nuclear "blebs" described previously by electron microscopists.


The model of conceptual change in science describes the process of learning as a complete restructuring of knowledge, when learners discover or are shown more plausible, intelligent alternatives to existing conceptions. Emotions have been acknowledged as part of a learner's conceptual ecology, but the effects of emotions on learning have yet to be described. This research was conducted to examine the role that emotions have on learning for thirteen high school students, as they dissected cats in a Human Anatomy and Physiology class. The project also investigated whether a student's emotional reactions may be used to develop a sense of connectedness with the nonhuman world, which is defined as ecological literacy. This study utilized a grounded theory approach, in which student responses to interviews were the primary source of data. Interviews were transcribed, and responses were coded according to a constant comparative method of analysis. Responses were compared with the four conditions necessary for conceptual change to occur, and also to five principles of ecological literacy. Students who had negative reactions to dissection participated less in the activity, and demonstrated less conceptual change. Two female students showed the strongest emotional reactions to dissection, and also the lowest amount of conceptual change. One male student also had strong negative reactions to death, and showed no conceptual change. The dissection experiences of the students in this study did not generally reflect ecological principles. The two students whose emotional reactions to dissection were the most negative demonstrated the highest degree of ecological literacy. These results provide empirical evidence of the effects that emotions have on learning, and also supports the opinions of educators who do not favor dissection, because it does not teach students to respect all forms of life.


Abstract The paper describes recent developments in modeling formation of plasma-spray coatings. This is a stochastic process in which particle-impact conditions, thermophysical properties, substrate topology, and temperature all play important roles in determining the structure of coating. Specific attention is paid to the simulation of droplet impact and solidification under plasma-spraying conditions. Results of 3-dimensional models show that on a flat surface solidification may cause splashing and break-up of the impacting particle. Undercooling effects result in faster solidification and, thus, smaller extent of spreading. More recent works investigate the effect of surrounding gas on dynamics of impact. It is shown that this could result in entrapment of a bubble under the droplet.


A novel integration method for III–V semiconductor devices on a Si platform was demonstrated. Thin-film InP was directly bonded on a Si substrate and metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) growth was performed by using an InP/Si template. A void-free 2-in. InP layer bonded on a Si substrate was realized, and a low interfacial resistance and ohmic contact through the bonded interface were observed. After the MOVPE process, the as-grown structure was optically active and we observed photoluminescence (PL) intensity comparable to that from the same structure grown on InP as a reference. Furthermore, almost no lattice strain was observed from the InP layer. Then, the epitaxial growth of a GaInAsP–InP double-hetero (DH) laser diode (LD) was demonstrated on the substrate and we observed lasing emission at RT in a pulse regime. These results are promising for the integration of InP-based devices on a Si platform for optical interconnection.