A novel process was developed to fabricate polymer/ceramic composites for bone tissue engineering. The mixture of polylactic acid (PLA), calcium metaphosphate (CMP), and NaCl were compressed and subsequently heated. After dissolving the NaCl salts, porous biodegradable polymer/ceramic composite scaffolds were formed. The characteristics of the scaffolds were compared to those of scaffolds fabricated using a conventional solvent casting method, in terms of pore structure, pore size distribution, and mechanical properties. The scaffolds were seeded by osteoblasts and cultured in vitro or implanted into nude mice subcutaneously for up to 5 weeks. Cells were better grown to form tissue-like structures on CMP/PLA composites fabricated by the Press-and-Baking method. In addition, the alkaline phosphatase activity of and calcium deposition in the scaffolds explanted from mice were enhanced significantly for the scaffolds by Press-and-Baking compared to them by solvent casting. Taken together, these results suggest that CMP promote cell differentiation and proliferation via direct interaction with cells in the CMP/PLA composites. This novel PLA/CMP composite will be applicable for bone tissue engineering to support and cell differentiation and growth.


Purpose: To demonstrate the usefulness of the Maculogix AdaptDx for assessing rod-mediated visual function in ageing and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).Methods: 22 young healthy individuals (mean age 23 yrs), 34 older healthy individuals (mean age 71 yrs) and 17 individuals with intermediate AMD (mean age 76 yrs) were recruited as part of a study looking at the influence of macular pigment on rod-mediated performance. All individuals were assessed on the Maculogix AdaptDx which is a commercially available clinically friendly, short-duration dark adaptometer instrument. This instrument allows measurement of a significant amount of the rod portion of the dark adaptation curve to be measured within a reasonable testing time. The instrument uses the "rod intercept" as an estimate of dark adaptation speed rather than the slope of the curve as this provides a uniform method across individuals. The rod intercept is the time after photobleaching when the patient's sensitivity recovers to a criterion light level where sensitivity recovery is completely rod-mediated. Results: There was a significant increase in the rod intercept time with age from a mean of 4.61 (±0.69) mins in the younger group to 9.8 (±4.6) mins in the older age group (p 12.3 min), indicating a significant rod-mediated visual function defect in some individuals with a normal fundus and ocular coherence tomography appearance. Individuals with intermediate AMD had a significantly higher rod intercept time (mean 32.4 ±12.8 min) than the age-matched older normal group (p 0.5 log units) had faster rod-mediated recovery (n=10, mean 29.1 minutes) than those with below average levels (n=7, mean =37.1 minutes), but this did not reach statistical significance (p=0.22).Conclusions: The AdaptDx can differentiate between younger and older individuals and those with age-related macular degeneration. The instrument has great potential for early identification of those at risk of AMD, stratifying AMD patients in the clinic by function and as a primary outcome measure in medical retinal clinical trials.


Misunderstanding and denigration of postmodern feminism are widespread Elizabeth Flynn's Feminism Beyond Modernism comes to its defense in a cogent and astute manner by first distinguishing between postmodern and antimodern feminisms and then reclaiming postmodern feminism by reconfiguring its relationship to modernism. Too often postmodern feminism is unfairly identified as opposed to modernism and associated with subjectivism and relativism. Flynn addresses these problems by provisionally defining postmodern feminism as problematizing and critiquing modernism without directly opposing it. Flynn also suggests that feminist traditions that reject modernism, such as radical and cultural feminisms, are antimodern rather than postmodern. In this interdisciplinary study, Flynn defines feminist traditions broadly, situating her discussions within the contexts of literary studies and rhetoric and composition while simultaneously exploring the troubled relationship between these fields. Departing from accepted definitions of modernism, Flynn distinguishes between aesthetic modernism and Enlightenment modernism and uses the work of John Locke, Sigmund Freud, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Michel Foucault, Donna Haraway, and others as benchmarks for historical placement. In addition, rereadings of works by Virginia Woolf, Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker, Louise Rosenblatt, and others demonstrate the complex ways in which they respond to modernist pressures and tendencies. From this context, Flynn's Feminism Beyond Modernism reconfigures feminist traditions by defining postmodern feminism as a critique of modernism rather than as an antimodern opponent.


The use of evaporation ponds is one alternative to direct disposal of desalination brine. Evaporation ponds are shallow basins that expose their contents to the environment, reducing liquid volume by means of evaporation. As they resemble traditional salt works that customarily use seawater, evaporation ponds were analyzed for their use for brine desalination management. In order to numerically evaluate this modification, a comparative study of the evaporation rate achieved in both traditional salt works and in evaporation ponds was carried out. Two equations were obtained for each estimation. The numerical expressions are specific for high salinity water as opposed to those available for low salinity water. These equations show the influence of fluid nature, the effect of wind and the lower brine evaporation capacity. It was observed in this study that the difference in brine evaporation capacity through the use of seawater is low enough to indicate that the use of brine in traditional salt works allows an increase in salt production without necessarily multiplying the surface required for evaporation.


Improved integration of cycling and transit has the potential to overcome the fundamental limitations of each mode by combining their opposite strengths of flexibility and action radius. The benefits of such integration potentially extend beyond user benefits and the trip level. We present seven conceptual mechanisms that lead to synergies, understood as benefits not attributable to cycling or transit in isolation, but to their integration only. As an illustration, we analyse and allocate such synergies by a case study of the Dutch cycling-transit system. Where the practical absence of cycling has limited such potential in many locations elsewhere, the recent resurgence in cycling practice and culture, especially in urban agglomerations, enables new opportunities for improved cycling-transit integration. Urban agglomerations are also the locations where land-use and mobility related issues seem particularly pressing and where we claim cycling-transit synergies are strongest. The article concludes with a discussion of implication and application.


Through her work, the Dorset-born Mary Butts (1890-1937) expresses a quintessentially modernist tension between a deep sense of attachment to rural England and the allure of cosmopolitan modernity. This article argues that the adventure and power promised by the latter inform Butts's attempts to articulate a posthuman relationship with rural place. Her marginalization of the human supports a posthuman ethics by expressing coexistence and interrelation between human and nonhuman entities. Consequently, Butts explores a mode of engagement with landscape that moves beyond anthropocentrism and has significance for environmentalist ethics. This article traces the stylistic and formal influence of cosmopolitan and metropolitan experience upon Butts's evocations of rural Dorset before looking at her work's ethical implications in more detail. It examines some of the tensions that arise as a result of her reactionary tendencies and concludes that despite Butts's intuitive sensitivity to the nonhuman energies that permeate human society and culture, her work betrays an elitist resistance to the inclusion of all sociocultural groupings within an idealized English community.


The AMMA (African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis) program is dedicated to providing a better understanding of the West African monsoon and its influence on the physical, chemical and biological environment regionally and globally, as well as relating variability of this monsoon system to issues of health, water resources, food security and demography for West African nations. Within this framework, an intensive field campaign took place during the summer of 2006 to better document specific processes and weather systems at various key stages of this monsoon season. This campaign was embedded within a longer observation period that documented the annual cycle of surface and atmospheric conditions between 2005 and 2007. The present paper provides a large and regional scale overview of the 2006 summer monsoon season, that includes consideration of of the convective activity, mean atmospheric circulation and synoptic/intraseasonal weather systems, oceanic and land surface conditions, continental hydrology, dust concentration and ozone distribution. The 2006 African summer monsoon was a near-normal rainy season except for a large-scale rainfall excess north of 15° N. This monsoon season was also characterized by a 10-day delayed onset compared to climatology, with convection becoming developed only after 10 July. This onset delay impacted the continental hydrology, soil moisture and vegetation dynamics as well as dust emission. More details of some less-well-known atmospheric features in the African monsoon at intraseasonal and synoptic scales are provided in order to promote future research in these areas.


Leeches, fed on swine infected with hog cholera, contained virus for as long as 87 days after their infective blood meals. In three instances, infected leeches apparently transmitted hog cholera virus to susceptible swine in the process of normal feeding. Myxoma virus persisted in leeches for as long as 154 days after the ingestion of a blood meal from rabbits with myxomatosis. Leeches fed consecutively, first on swine with hog cholera, and later on rabbits with myxomatosis, acquired both viruses. In such dually infected leeches, the hog cholera virus persisted for as long as 122 days and the myxoma virus for as long as 110 days, the longest periods tested. Leeches fed consecutively, first on rabbits with myxomatosis, and later on swine with hog cholera, acquired only the myxoma virus. Hog cholera virus could not be demonstrated in such dually fed leeches. Myxoma and hog cholera viruses appeared to be present in about equivalent amounts in the anterior and posterior thirds of the bodies of infected leeches. Myxoma and hog cholera viruses were present in the bloody gut contents of infected leeches but were not demonstrable in the body tissues of these leeches. It seems from the findings presented that leeches are not biological carriers of either myxoma or hog cholera virus but instead carry these two agents mechanically in their gastrointestinal tracts. In doing this, they appear to protect the viruses from various deleterious chemical and physical influences to which they would have been exposed in the open. It is speculated that leeches could play a role in nature in perpetuating the blood-borne viruses of certain diseases in which close association with bodies of fresh water is of epidemiological importance.


We performed ab initio path integral molecular dynamics simulations for the hydroxide-water cluster, OH(-)(H2O)2, at 50 K, 100 K, and 150 K to investigate its flexible structure. From our simulations, we found that nuclear quantum effects enhance hydroxide hydrogen atom inversion and the conformational change between isomers occurs by simultaneous rotation of the free hydrogen atom. We propose the importance of including the transition state conformer with C2 symmetry, for the description of this system at temperatures realized in predissociation experiments. Temperature dependence of relative populations of each conformer along with multidimensional vibrational calculations were used to simulate the vibrational spectra and compare with the experimental spectra of Johnson and coworkers. We assign the doublet peaks seen in the experiment at 2500 to 3000 cm(-1), as the mixture of the ionic hydrogen bonded OH stretching overtone, ionic hydrogen bonded OH bending overtone, and the combination band of the ionic hydrogen bonded OH stretch and bend, which are modulated by the van der Waals OO vibrations. We concluded that for OH(-)(H2O)2, the vibrational couplings between the ionic hydrogen bonded motion and floppy modes contribute to the broadening of peaks observed in the 2500 to 3000 cm(-1) region.


1954: Perhaps no single baseball season has so profoundly changed the game forever. In that year--the same in which the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled, in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education, that segregation of the races be outlawed in America's public schools--Larry Doby's Indians won an American League record 111 games, dethroned the five-straight World Series champion Yankees, and went on to play Willie Mays's Giants in the first World Series that featured players of color on both teams. Seven years after Jackie Robinson had broken the baseball color line, 1954 was a triumphant watershed season for black players--and, in a larger sense, for baseball and the country as a whole. While Doby was the dominant player in the American League, Mays emerged as the preeminent player in the National League, with a flair and boyish innocence that all fans, black and white, quickly came to embrace. Mays was almost instantly beloved in 1954, much of that due to how seemingly easy it was for him to live up to the effusive buildup from his Giants manager, Leo Durocher, a man more widely known for his ferocious "nice guys finish last" attitude. Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Bill Madden delivers the first major book to fully examine the 1954 baseball season, drawn largely from exclusive recent interviews with the major players themselves, including Mays and Doby as well as New York baseball legends from that era: Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford of the Yankees, Monte Irvin of the Giants, and Carl Erskine of the Dodgers. 1954 transports readers across the baseball landscape of the time--from the spring training camps in Florida and Arizona to baseball cities including New York, Baltimore, Chicago, and Cleveland--as future superstars such as Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and others entered the leagues and continued to integrate the sport. Weaving together the narrative of one of baseball's greatest seasons with the racially charged events of that year, 1954 demonstrates how our national pastime--with the notable exception of the Yankees, who represented "white supremacy" in the game--was actually ahead of the curve in terms of the acceptance of black Americans, while the nation at large continued to struggle with tolerance.


: The research presented in this article attempts to capture the views of teachers of elementary education about the advantages, disadvantages, difficulties and obstacles in the application of the portal as a rating and self-evaluation tool by the students. The survey, which constitutes the second part of a major research within the context of master thesis, was conducted in the second semester of 2016-2017 school year using anonymous written and electronic questionnaires, filled in by 215 elementary education teachers of all specialties from the first educational area of Athens. Most respondents are cautious about the benefits of using eportfolio, drawing attention to caution, lack of culture as barriers to its implementation, as well as basic problems such as lack of appropriate classroom infrastructure and the absense of eportfolio-related training.


We hereby report a case of a 28 year old female who presented to us in the outpatient Department of Dermatology, STD and Leprosy SMHS hospital (associated teaching hospital of Govt. Medical College Srinagar) with complaints of appearance of multiple painful skin coloured swellings over the heels and lateral borders of both feet since the last 8 years (Fig. 1). They became progressively more painful on walking or standing for long periods. These swellings used to disappear on lying down, and lifting feet of the ground. There was no other significant medical or surgical history. On examination the patient was obese with a body weight of 83 kgs,with normal systemic and cutaneous examination. Tender skin coloured papules and nodules (0.5×2cm) were appreciated over the heels and lateral borders of both feet in standing position, which disappeared as the patient was made to lie down. Piezogenic pedal papules is a condition that occurs in individuals after prolonged standing or running and is presumed to result from herniation of fat through connective tissue defects. Patients are usually males. Lesions commonly occur as bilateral flesh-coloured, asymptomatic papules over the medial and lateral aspects of the heels. They become apparent only when the body weight is borne by the heels. Lesions are also reported to occur on the wrists. Sometimes they may be painful. Biopsies show fragmentation of dermal elastic tissue and herniation of subcutaneous fat into the dermis. Treatment consists of weight reduction, use of foam rubber footpads or foam-fitting plastic heel cups, avoidance of both long periods of standing and excessive trauma, and surgery. PIEZOGENIC PEDAL PAPULES IN A YOUNG FEMALE


In this work we explore how close the artificial intelligence community has come to model the human mind regarding representation and processing of sequences. We analyse results produced by cognitive psychologists, who explore real minds, for features exhibited by human short- and long-term memory when representing and processing sequences. We compare these features with theories and models from the AI community divided into two types of theories: intrinsic and extrinsic theories. We conclude that the intrinsic theories have managed to explain most of the features, whereas the extrinsic theories still have a lot to do before exhibiting all features. We also present several suggestions for continued research to the AI community within the area of sequence representation and processing in the human mind.


Blendshapes (linear shape interpolation models) are perhaps the most commonly employed technique in facial animation practice. A major problem in creating blendshape animation is that of blendshape interference: the adjustment of a single blendshape "slider" may degrade the effects obtained with previous slider movements, because the blendshapes have overlapping, non-orthogonal effects. Because models used in commercial practice may have 100 or more individual blendshapes, the interference problem is the subject of considerable manual effort. Modelers iteratively resculpt models to reduce interference where possible, and animators must compensate for those interference effects that remain. In this short paper we consider the blendshape interference problem from a linear algebra point of view. We find that while full orthogonality is not desirable, the goal of preserving previous adjustments to the model can be effectively approached by allowing the user to temporarily designate a set of points as representative of the previous (desired) adjustments. We then simply solve for blendshape slider values that mimic desired new movement while moving these "tagged" points as little as possible. The resulting algorithm is easy to implement and demonstrably reduces cases of blendshape interference found in existing models.


PURPOSE
To identify the causative mutation leading to autosomal dominant macular dystrophy, cone dystrophy, and cone-rod dystrophy in a five-generation family and to explain the high intrafamilial phenotypic variation by identifying possible modifier genes.

METHODS
Fifteen family members were investigated by detailed ophthalmic and electrophysiologic phenotyping. Mutation screening was initially performed with microarrays that detect known mutations in genes associated with retinal degeneration. Furthermore, the patients' genomic DNA was analyzed by sequencing analysis of PRPH2, ABCA4, and ROM1.

RESULTS
Heterozygous mutations were identified in three genes and showed five different combinations within the studied family. All clearly affected family members carried the heterozygous PRPH2 mutation p.R172W. Patients with heterozygous sequence alterations only in ROM1 (p.R229H) or ABCA4 (p.V2050L) showed a mild ocular phenotype and were otherwise asymptomatic. The phenotypic severity of patients carrying the PRPH2 mutation increased with an additional mutation in ROM1. Patients carrying all three mutations were the most severely affected.

CONCLUSIONS
Features of a PRPH2-associated phenotype might be modulated by additional mutations in other genes (in this family ABCA4 and/or ROM1) accounting for intrafamilial variability and resulting in a cumulative effect worsening the phenotype. Families showing a variable macular dystrophy phenotype caused by mutations in PRPH2 should be tested for additional mutations in ABCA4 and ROM1, as they may alter the progression of the PRPH2 phenotype. This testing will influence genetic counseling, as patients with additional mutations may be confronted with a faster progression of visual loss.


Background Medical staff members are exposed to the risk of sharps injuries, which may result in contracting blood-borne infections. The objective of this quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test research study was to examine the effectiveness of an intervention designed through a participatory process to improve knowledge and safe work practices, as well as to reduce sharps injuries among nurses. Methods The study population was surgical nurses from 16 randomly selected hospitals in north-western Poland. Data were collected between 2009–2011 with the use of self-administered, ano-nymous pre-intervention/post-intervention questionnaires containing records of demographic cha-racteristics, self-reported sharps injuries, knowledge (12 items) and practices on injection safety, before/1 year after the educational intervention which included a 2 hour lecture. Results Of 91 participants (mean age 42.8, range 24–59 years) for whom the pre-intervention and post-intervention questionnaires could be directly matched, 20.9% worked at teaching, 15.4% – at other urban, 63.7% – at provincial hospitals; 64.8% were employed at surgical, 24.2% – at gynaecological wards, 11.0% – in the admitting area. The mean level of knowledge on injection safety before the intervention was 3.09, it increased to 4.12 after (p < 0.001), including the improvement of the knowledge of the post-exposure prophylaxis (p < 0.001). Before the intervention 48.4% of respondents had had a needle-stick injury in the previous year, the number decreased (20.9%) after the intervention, p < 0.001; before intervention 47.5% reported recapping needles after use, and 30.0% – after, p < 0.05. Conclusions Despite a high risk of contracting a blood-borne infection due to unsafe practices at work and numerous sharps injuries, surgical nurses had alarmingly low knowledge on injection safety. Educational intervention can have a long-term positive impact on the improvement of knowledge and safe work practices and reduce sharps injuries.


The consciousness about the environment plays an increasingly important role for companies nowadays. Also SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) need to rethink their business concept and can use the benefits of a more environmental friendly marketing strategy by considering Corporate Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. But here the question arises, how an SME, often missing important resources like money, can develop an efficient strategy in order to be more sustainable. By investigating parts of the concept of the Triple Bottom Line, it has been found out that the answer lies in the resources, an SME already incorporates: its employees. This research paper aims to show which practices an SME can use to develop Environmental Commitment on the level of internal stakeholders, hence employees. Therefore Dutch and German SMEs of the IT-Consulting industry have been investigated in terms of their applied practices to become or to stay sustainable and finally to activate Environmental Commitment within the firm. This can lead to better performing employees and to a better reputation of the whole firm, which will finally lead to better firm performance. This paper helps SMEs to rethink their marketing strategy and their position vis-a-vis the environment. The practices most often used by the investigated firms of the two countries, can in combination be used by SMEs as a broad guide line to rethink the already existing environmental friendly marketing strategy or to start thinking sustainable in terms of the internal stakeholders.


Recent research has explored the growing 'financialization' process in the U.S. and other advanced economies. The term is a catch-all phrase used to denote important changes in the structure of nonfinancial corporations' balance sheets, including the growth of income from financial subsidiaries and investment as well as growth in the transfer of earnings to financial markets in the forms of interest payments, dividend payments and stock buybacks. This paper seeks to empirically explore the relationship between financialization in the U.S economy and real investment at the firm level. Using data from a sample of non-financial corporations from 1973 to 2003, I find a negative relationship between real investment and financialization. First, increased financial investment and increased financial profit opportunities may have crowded out real investment by changing the incentives of firm managers and directing funds away from real investment. Second, increased payments to the financial markets may have impeded real investment by decreasing available internal funds, shortening the planning horizons of the firm management, and increasing uncertainty. These two channels can help explain the negative relationship I find between investment and financialization.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to perform a 5-year follow-up of a 7-week multidisciplinary rehabilitation program focusing on pain, physical disability, anxiety and depression as well as stress and sick leave and to compare the results from the baseline, a 2-year follow-up and this 5-year follow-up.

PARTICIPANTS
Out of 60 participants of the original rehabilitation program 54 were followed-up after 5 years.

METHODS
The rehabilitation program was individually adapted and consisted of physical activity in several forms as well as theoretical and practical education. At baseline (start of study) and 2 and 5 years after completion of the rehabilitation program all participants were evaluated in terms of sick leave, pain rating (Visual Analogue Scale), the Disability Rating Index, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Stress Test.

RESULTS
Between the start of the program and the 5-year follow-up pain rating (P< 0.017) and the rate of full-time sick leave (P< 0.0005) decreased. Physical disability, anxiety, depression and stress were maintained from the 2-year follow-up until the 5-year follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS
The rehabilitation program seemed to have had an effect on the participant's ability to manage with symptoms long after the end of the rehabilitation program. Most participants had returned to work, and reported less pain. The improvements made in physical disability and mental health prior to the 2-year follow-up were maintained at the 5-year follow-up occasion.


Growing population and technological advancement are continuously putting a strain on the environment and on country's natural resources. Over-exploitation of the country's resources like land, water, fuel etc. has resulted in degradation of resources mainly due to industrial pollution, soil erosion, deforestation and urbanization. Hence, it is utmost important to conserve and promote the natural resources and environment. Women have direct contact with natural resources like fuel, food and fodder, forest, water and land especially in rural areas where 70% of Indian population reside and directly dependent upon natural resources. Women are also responsible for using these resources to satisfy the basic needs of their families. Before 18th and 19th century, it was considered that women have no role in environmental conservation and promotion, as well as they were avoided in all major sphere of social life. But after spreading awareness about their rights and duties and taking cognizance of their surrounding they consciously tried to raise voice against environment degradation. Women play a critical role in managing natural resources on family and community levels and are most affected by environmental degradation. Besides, that woman even played a leadership role for conservation and enhancement of environment. In communities around the world, women manage water, sources for fuel, and food, as well as both forests and agricultural terrain. From the high level to the grassroots, the 1992 UN Earth Summit, India's Chipko movement and Kenya's Green Belt Movement all highlighted the role of women's voices and perspectives in sustainable development. Similarly, nowadays Medha Patekar, a social worker, Menaka Gandhi, an environmentalist and politician, are playing key role for the conservation and promotion of the environment. Therefore, conservation of natural resources and promotion of environment cannot be done without involving the women in planning and training for promoting the values for conservation and promotion of environment.


In this paper, a new strategy for discrete optimization of a function F(x) is presented. Let A be the region in the n -dimensional parameter space, where F(x) is less than some constant. First, A is located and characterized by a Gaussian search process, called Gaussian adaptation. This makes it possible to approximate the behavior of F(x) . over A by a quadratic function Q(x) . Q(x) is then optimized for the N best discrete solutions using a branch and bound technique. Finally, these points are evaluated for the best F(x) points. By various digital filter examples it will be demonstrated that the new method is more capable of finding good solutions than methods presented so far.


An investigation was initiated to examine the effects of carbon soot collected from exhaust tube of 15 years old petrol and diesel operated vehicles on gram seed germination and biochemical changes of seedling. In view of the widespread cultivation of gram seed in India and long-term impact of black carbon is the warming of the atmosphere as per the recommendation of IPCC (2007). Black soot were separately treated with different doses and the effects of these treatment had on seed germination, seedling vigor, chlorophyll and carotenoid content, root and shoot growth, protein, sugar, phenol and proline estimation were studied. The treatment T6 significantly affected on seed germination (84%) as well as seedling vigor and chlorophyll content. But other treatment promoted both seed germination and seedling vigor along with enhancement of other biochemical constituents. On the other hand micrograph study revealed that treatments T1 and T4 both showed negative effects on stomata rather than the ultra-structure of xylem and phloem.


Several classifications are required to describe sediment-transporting flow. The flow may be turbulent or laminar, Newtonian or non-Newtonian, and may also have a uniform or nonuniform concentration profile. As sediment concentration or transport increases, the character of flow changes. Generally, fall velocity and effective fall diameter decrease. The viscosity of the mixture increases. The flow becomes non-Newtonian when particle interaction becomes dominant. In the lowest concentration ranges, flows are Newtonian, generally nonuniform by concentration, and almost exclusively turbulent. Mudflows are non-Newtonian and usually laminar flows of a nearly uniform concentration. In the interim ranges are found transitions to non-Newtonian and laminar flows and uniform concentration profiles.


We present a new approach to the logical design of relational databases, based on strategic port graph rewriting. We show how to model relational schemata as attributed port graphs and provide port graph rewriting rules to perform computations on functional dependencies. Using these rules we present a strategic graph program to find the transitive closure of a set of functional dependencies. This program is sound, complete and terminating, assuming that there are no cyclical dependencies in the schema.


A strategy for reduction of CO2 is described that produces formic acid from CO2 (ca. 80% formic acid yield) via the oxidation of a zero-valent metal under hydrothermal conditions. The oxidized metal can be regenerated using glycerin, which produces lactic acid. Hydrogen production is demonstrated through metal oxidation in the presence of CO2 with zero-valent Fe, Mn, Zn, and Al metals under hydrothermal conditions, where it is found that a maximum hydrogen formation yield of ca. 99.4% was achieved. The metals, once oxidized, could be readily reduced (ca. 100% for Fe) to their zero-valent state by contact with glycerin. The results demonstrate that a carbon cycle can be driven by the oxidation and reduction of commonly available metals.


In this paper, a novel no-reference image visual quality metric is proposed based on fusion of statistical and human visual system based metrics using ε-Support Vector Regression. Different order polynomial regression was also examined as an approximation that has lower computational complexity. Compared to existing image quality assessment metrics, the proposed fused metric is able to better quantify the image quality regardless of the type of degradation. We furthermore improve the image quality assessment by training a separate regression model for each degradation type. The latter degradation specific approach yields near perfect correlation with subjective scores, however, it relies on prior knowledge of the degradation process.


The net influx of L-arginine (JARG) was employed as an indicator of the membrane potential in human fibroblasts. Cell depolarization, obtained by increasing [K+]out, decreased both JARG and the net influx of the lipid soluble cation tetraphenylphosphonium (JTPP), a probe of membrane potential. JTPP, but not JARG, was influenced by the mitochondrial potential and exhibited a component dependent on intracellular and/or extracellular binding. JARG was sensitive to changes in the membrane potential induced by Na+-dependent transport of L-proline or by the activity of Na+-K+-ATPase. In the presence of 50 microM valinomycin, JARG was markedly influenced by the distribution ratio of K+ in a range of [K+]out from 1.5 to 100 mM. In this range of [K+]out, membrane potential (Em) varied from -90 to -23 mV, and calibration of JARG vs. the membrane potential yielded a linear relationship. These results indicate the following: 1) that the net influx of TPP+ is not a reliable indicator of membrane potential in cultured human fibroblasts; 2) that in the same cells the net influx of L-arginine can be employed as an index of membrane potential; 3) that in a range of Em from -23 to -90 mV the activity of system y+ (the membrane agency devoted to L-arginine transport in cultured human fibroblasts) exhibits no saturation of potential-dependent activation of transport.


With each passing year the peer-to-peer lending becomes more popular. The increased numbers of users and provided loans through the P2P platforms led us to write this paper to clarify what peer-to-peer lending is and what are the benefits and the flaws of using such platforms. Are they just peer-to-peer or they have evolved in something more complexed with the participation of more "players" like institutional investors, banks and venture capital funds? We shall examine the connections between peer-to-peer lending and other widely discussed terms, such as crowdfunding, social marketplace and finance 2.0. As a conclusion we will give our prediction about the mutual future of technologies and lending.


: A numerical and an empirical method for calculating nonlinear load-settlement curves for shallow foundations on sand are examined and used in a new methodology. Both methods have merits and drawbacks. The drawbacks are overcome by the methodology proposed and verified in the paper. This methodology combines the merits of each method. For this purpose, a modification of the empirical method is proposed that accounts for the finite initial soil stiffness at very small strains. Computer programs with sophisticated nonlinear stress-strain relationships, such as Hardening Soil Small in Plaxis 2D, which are versatile in solving complex foundation problems, can cover strains from very small to large. When the foundation soil is layered, it is proposed to fit such a numerical load-settlement curve against the modified empirical relationship for each sand layer separately. This requires cone penetration tests, measurements of the shear wave velocity, and basic laboratory tests. The methodology is described and applied at two locations where load tests on footings were carried out. At one location there was a top layer of clay, which was also taken into account. The results of the application of the proposed methodology are very good.


This article assesses the impact of legal practice upon the enforceability of employment restraints of trade. Post-employment restraints range from those prohibiting use of confidential information acquired through employment (non-disclosure clauses), or the solicitation of previous customers (non-solicitation clauses), to wider clauses imposing an obligation on the employee not to compete with the employer for a defined period after the termination of the employment (non-compete clauses). The empirical research reported in this article demonstrates that there is much uncertainty in the operation of the law around the use of restraint of trade clauses in employment contracts. While most usefully nuanced, the evidence suggests that to a significant extent, this uncertainty weighs more heavily on the side of any dispute that is least able to bear it – the employee. In light of our findings, we have introduced a limited number of reform options (ranging from the radical to the limited, and from the substantive to the procedural) that would assist in reducing the over-enforcement, or over-observance, of restraint clauses.


U-Pb geochronology of single grains of zircon and monazite has been used to date an episode of intense postimpact metamorphism in the core of the deeply eroded Vredefort impact structure of South Africa. Results from two basement units exposed in the uplifted central region indicate that the impact and a later pyroxene hornfels metamorphic event were penecontemporaneous at 2020 ± 3 Ma. Discovery of a synimpact to postimpact dike of norite that intruded at 2019 ± 2 Ma is the first recognition of mafic igneous activity related to impact. The dike is either derived from a Sudbury-type impact melt layer (since eroded) or is the product of decompression melting of Kaapvaal mantle in response to the ablation of >15 km of crust at the center of the crater. The combined heating effects of the shock wave and impact-triggered magmas are thought to have created the 300 km 2 thermal imprint of the asteroid collision with Kaapvaal craton, and account for the nearly coeval timing relationship between core metamorphism and shock revealed by this study.


In the last 30 years, whilst there has been an explosion in our ability to make quantative predictions, less progress has been made in terms of building useful forecasts to aid decision support. In most real world systems, single point forecasts are fundamentally limited because they only simulate a single scenario and thus do not account for observational uncertainty. Ensemble forecasts aim to account for this uncertainty but are of limited use since it is unclear how they should be interpreted. Building probabilistic forecast densities is a theoretically sound approach with an end result that is easy to interpret for decision makers; it is not clear how to implement this approach given finite ensemble sizes and structurally imperfect models. This thesis explores methods that aid the interpretation of model simulations into predictions of the real world. This includes evaluation of forecasts, evaluation of the models used to make forecasts and the evaluation of the techniques used to interpret ensembles of simulations as forecasts. Bayes theorem is a fundamental relationship used to update a prior probability of the occurence of some event given new information. Under the assumption that each of the probabilities in Bayes theorem are perfect, it can be shown to make optimal use of the information available. Bayes theorem can also be applied to probability density functions and thus updating some previously constructed forecast density with a new one can be expected to improve forecast skill, as long as each forecast density gives a good representation of the uncertainty at that point in time. The relevance of the probability calculus, however, is in doubt when the forecasting system is imperfect, as is always the case in real world systems. Taking the view that we wish to maximise the logarithm of the probability density placed on the outcome, two new approaches to the combination of forecast densities formed at different lead times are introduced and shown to be informative even in the imperfect model scenario, that is a case where the Bayesian approach is shown to fail.


Oppression manifests itself in various ways, such that intersections between different forms of oppression can be identified. This is also true for women living in South Africa, a country that has for years been plagued by many forms of oppression (racism, sexism, classism, etc.). Women are, amidst various forms of oppression, often left with few alternative options but to bargain with various forms of gender relations as a means to obtain basic human rights (like education). Recent student protests have highlighted the discriminating ways in which black students are kept from obtaining higher education. The so called "maidens bursary", awarded to underprivileged girls who vow to stay virgins throughout their studies, will be used as a case study that examines an alternative route to which underprivileged women may resort in order to obtain a quality education. The notion of patriarchal bargaining will then be used to illumine the often unrecognized, complex and interwoven relationship between subordination and agency/resistance that operates within the South African context.


Physiologicaly Based Bioavailability Extraction Test (PBET) was tested at eight soils differing in their physicochemical properties to assess the potential bioavailability of risk elements (As, Cd, Pb) via ingestion of the soil. The results showed that the simulated human gastrointestinal tract fluid is able to extract heavy metals fixed in soil matrix in considerable portion of the total element content. Significant differences were observed between the extractable element contents with simulated gastric fluid and simulated duodenal fluid. Comparison of PBET method and soil extraction with 0,01 mol l–1 solution of CaCl2, the extraction method simulating approximately the plant-available portions of risk elements showed higher mobility of soil elements by using the PBET test, especially in the case of As and Pb. For instance, arsenic belongs to the elements characterized by limited plant-availability and its extractability with 0,01 mol l– 1 solution of CaCl2 did not exceed 1 % of total content whereas the soil extraction with simulated gastric solution reached up to 4 % of total arsenic content. Therefore, potential risk of direct soil ingestion in contaminated areas should be taken into account and investigated in further research.


Background Previous studies suggest that alcohol-use disorder severity, defined by the number of criteria met, provides a more informative phenotype than dichotomized DSM-IV diagnostic measures of alcohol use disorders. Therefore, this study examined whether alcohol-use disorder severity predicted first-incident depressive disorders, an association that has never been found for the presence or absence of an alcohol use disorder in the general population. Method In a national sample of persons who had never experienced a major depressive disorder (MDD), dysthymia, manic or hypomanic episode (n=27 571), we examined whether a version of DSM-5 alcohol-use disorder severity (a count of three abuse and all seven dependence criteria) linearly predicted first-incident depressive disorders (MDD or dysthymia) after 3-year follow-up. Wald tests were used to assess whether more complicated models defined the relationship more accurately. Results First-incidence of depressive disorders varied across alcohol-use disorder severity and was 4.20% in persons meeting no alcohol-use disorder criteria versus 44.47% in persons meeting all 10 criteria. Alcohol-use disorder severity significantly predicted first-incidence of depressive disorders in a linear fashion (odds ratio 1.14, 95% CI 1.06–1.22), even after adjustment for sociodemographics, smoking status and predisposing factors for depressive disorders, such as general vulnerability factors, psychiatric co-morbidity and subthreshold depressive disorders. This linear model explained the relationship just as well as more complicated models. Conclusions Alcohol-use disorder severity was a significant linear predictor of first-incident depressive disorders after 3-year follow-up and may be useful in identifying a high-risk group for depressive disorders that could be targeted by prevention strategies.


How to select the most cost-effective sustainable option for a sanitation system in the context of an urban or suburban area in a developing country? What expertise is available? Where to begin? In fact, the challenge is not in selecting the right source separation technology or recovery option but in applying it efficiently in the field. The technologies need to be combined with adequate financial and social structures in order to improve sanitary conditions and finally to achieve sustainability and the goal of the sanitation millennium (MDG sanitation target, 7). The article reviews the existing expertise and draws lessons from past experiences in the private sector (management contracts and projects).


Detecting unknown malicious code (malcode) is a challenging task. Current common solutions, such as anti-virus tools, rely heavily on prior explicit knowledge of specific instances of malcode binary code signatures. During the time between its appearance and an update being sent to anti-virus tools, a new worm can infect many computers and cause significant damage. We present a new host-based intrusion detection approach, based on analyzing the behavior of the computer to detect the presence of unknown malicious code. The new approach consists on classification algorithms that learn from previous known malcode samples which enable the detection of an unknown malcode. We performed several experiments to evaluate our approach, focusing on computer worms being activated on several computer configurations while running several programs in order to simulate background activity. We collected 323 features in order to measure the computer behavior. Four classification algorithms were applied on several feature subsets. The average detection accuracy that we achieved was above 90% and for specific unknown worms even above 99%.


Carbon fiber velvet material provides exceptional sputtering resistance properties exceeding those for graphite and carbon composite materials. A 2 kW Hall thruster with segmented electrodes made of this material was operated in the discharge voltage range of 200–700 V. The arcing between the floating velvet electrodes and the plasma was visually observed, especially, during the initial conditioning time, which lasted for about 1 h. The comparison of voltage versus current and plume characteristics of the Hall thruster with and without segmented electrodes indicates that the magnetic insulation of the segmented thruster improves with the discharge voltage at a fixed magnetic field. The observations reported here also extend the regimes wherein the segmented Hall thruster can have a narrower plume than that of the conventional nonsegmented thruster.


Chaturvedi, Himanshu, "Virtual humans and Photorealism: The effect of photorealism of interactive virtual humans in clinical virtual environment on affective responses" (2015). ABSTRACT The ability of realistic vs stylized representations of virtual characters to elicit emotions in users has been an open question for researchers and artists alike. We designed and performed a between subjects experiment using a medical virtual reality simulation to study the differences in the emotions aroused in participants while interacting with realistic and stylized virtual characters. The experiment included three conditions each of which presented a different representation of the virtual character namely; photo-realistic, non-photorealistic cartoon-shaded and non-photorealistic charcoal-sketch. The simulation used for the experiment, called the Rapid Response Training System was developed to train nurses to identify symptoms of rapid deterioration in patients. The emotional impact of interacting with the simulation on the participants was measured via both subjective and objective metrics. Quantitative objective measures were gathered using skin Electrodermal Activity (EDA) sensors, and quantitative subjective measures included Differential Emotion Survey (DES IV), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and the co-presence or social presence questionnaire. The emotional state of the participants was analyzed across four distinct time steps during which the medical condition of the virtual patient deteriorated, and was contrasted to a baseline affective state. The data from the EDA sensors indicated that the mean level of arousal was highest in the charcoal-sketch condition, lowest in the realistic condition, with responses in the cartoon-shaded condition was in the middle. Mean arousal responses also seemed to be consistent in both the cartoon-shaded and charcoal-sketch conditions across all time steps, while the mean arousal response of participants in iii the realistic condition showed a significant drop from time step 1 through time step 2, corresponding to the deterioration of the virtual patient. Mean scores of participants in the DES survey seems to suggest that participants in the realistic condition elicited a higher emotional response than participants in both non-realistic conditions. Within the non-realistic conditions, participants in the cartoon-shaded condition seemed to elicit a higher emotional response than those in the charcoal-sketch condition. iv DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this to my parents who have always believed in me. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge my advisor, Dr. Sabarish Babu, who has immensely supported me throughout this project. My amazing experience of working in the Virtual Environments group and doing great research would not …


X-ray crystallographic studies have shown that DNA binding by human polymerase beta (pol beta) occurs primarily through two structurally and sequentially homologous helix-hairpin-helix (HhH) motifs, one in the fingers subdomain and the other in the 8-kDa domain [Pelletier, H., Sawaya, M. R., Wolfle, W., Wilson, S. H., & Kraut, J. (1996a) Biochemistry 35, 12742-12761]. In that DNA binding by each HhH motif is facilitated by a metal ion, we set out to determine the identity of the metal ion that most likely binds to the HhH motif in vivo. Crystal soaking experiments were performed on human pol beta-DNA cocrystals with Mg2+, Ca2+, Na+, and K+, the four most prevalent metal ions in the cell, and in each case a data set was collected and the resulting structure was refined. Under the conditions tested, the HhH motifs of pol beta have an affinity for these biologically prevalent metal ions in the order Mg2+ < Ca2+ < Na+ < K+, with K+ displaying the strongest binding. Crystals soaked in the presence of Tl+, a commonly used spectroscopic probe for K+, were too X-ray-sensitive to establish the binding behavior of Tl+, but soaking experiments with Ba2+ and Cs+ resulted in relatively stable crystals that gave evidence of metal ion binding in both HhH motifs, confirming that larger monovalent and divalent metal ions are capable of binding to the HhH metal sites. Although Mn2+, which has been categorized as a potent polymerase mutagen, binds to the HhH motifs with a greater affinity than Mg2+, Mn2+ does not bind to the HhH motifs in the presence of equimolar concentrations of Na+. These results suggest that in vivo, where Mn2+ is present only in trace amounts, Mn2+ probably does not have a large effect on DNA binding and may instead manifest a mutagenic effect on pol beta primarily by distorting nucleotide binding or by directly affecting the catalytic step [Pelletier, H., Sawaya, M. R., Wolfle, W., Wilson, S. H., & Kraut, J. (1996b) Biochemistry 35, 12762-12777]. Crystal soaking experiments with 31-kDa apoenzyme crystals show that, in the absence of DNA, the HhH motif in the fingers subdomain binds metal ions with either much lower occupancy or not at all, indicating that metal ion binding is dependent on the presence of the DNA substrate.


The effect of acidity factors of two Ultisols and one Oxisol on yield and foliar composition of cabbage was determined. On all soils, cabbage responded markedly in yield to liming, but response was stronger on the ultisols. All soil acidity factors correlated significantly with yields. On the Ultisols, yields increased with decreasing acidity up to the highest level of limiting, pH 5.6. Only 50% of maximum yield was obtained at 12-13%. AI saturation of the CEC and essentially no yields were produced at pH values below 4.5 with 50% Al saturation, a level of acidity common in Ultisols. About 50% of maximum yield was obtained at pH 4.7 with 25% Al saturation on the Oxisols compared with about 22% of maximum yield obtained at this level of acidity on the Ultisols. Density of the cabbage heads correlated positively with soil acidity on all soils. Soil acidity had no apparent effect on foliar composition of the basal leaves. Calcium content of the head leaves correlated negatively with soil acidity factors on the Ultisols. Basal leaves had a higher Ca content than head leaves and both had a higher Ca and a lower P content on the Coto soil than on the Corozal soils.


We consider stochastic second-order methods for minimizing smooth and stronglyconvex functions under an interpolation condition, which can be satisfied by overparameterized machine learning models. Under this condition, we show that the regularized subsampled Newton's method (R-SSN) achieves global linear convergence with an adaptive step-size and a constant batch-size. By growing the batch size for both the subsampled gradient and Hessian, we show that R-SSN can converge at a quadratic rate in a local neighbourhood of the solution. We also show that R-SSN attains local linear convergence for the family of self-concordant functions. Furthermore, we analyze stochastic BFGS algorithms in the interpolation setting and prove their global linear convergence. We empirically evaluate stochastic limited-memory BFGS (L-BFGS) and a "Hessian-free" implementation of R-SSN for binary classification on synthetic, linearly-separable datasets and real datasets under a kernel mapping. Our experimental results demonstrate the fast convergence of these methods, both in terms of the number of iterations and wall-clock time.


 Abstract—As IT service providers are adoptingmore comprehensive approachestowardsIT Service Management (ITSM), they increasingly need to rely on ITSM software solutions in their dayto-day operations. However, when wishing to integrate ITSM software from one vendor with that of another vendor, the lack of underlying standards becomes woefully apparent. Without a standardized information model for ITSM processes, efficient and integrated ITSM will remain a vision. While in the telecommunications sector, a lot of work has been invested into developing the Shared Information/Data Model (SID), a companion model for the industry-specific process framework Enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM), no equivalent for the more general process frameworks of ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000 is in sight. This paper introduces an approach towards an information model for ITSM processes. The presented method leverages work done for SID, by adapting and complementing SID concepts and content to produce an information model compliant to ISO/IEC 20000 requirements and ITIL recommendations.


Even though active learning forms an important pillar of machine learning, deep learning tools are not prevalent within it. Deep learning poses several difficulties when used in an active learning setting. First, active learning (AL) methods generally rely on being able to learn and update models from small amounts of data. Recent advances in deep learning, on the other hand, are notorious for their dependence on large amounts of data. Second, many AL acquisition functions rely on model uncertainty, yet deep learning methods rarely represent such model uncertainty. In this paper we combine recent advances in Bayesian deep learning into the active learning framework in a practical way. We develop an active learning framework for high dimensional data, a task which has been extremely challenging so far, with very sparse existing literature. Taking advantage of specialised models such as Bayesian convolutional neural networks, we demonstrate our active learning techniques with image data, obtaining a significant improvement on existing active learning approaches. We demonstrate this on both the MNIST dataset, as well as for skin cancer diagnosis from lesion images (ISIC2016 task).


The placement of the extreme thermophile Aquifex aeolicus in the bacterial phylogenetic tree has evoked much controversy. We investigated whether adaptations for growth at high temperatures would alter a key functional component of the replication machinery, specifically DnaG primase. Although the structure of bacterial primases is conserved, the trinucleotide initiation specificity for A. aeolicus was hypothesized to differ from other microbes as an adaptation to a geothermal milieu. To determine the full range of A. aeolicus primase activity, two oligonucleotides were designed that comprised all potential trinucleotide initiation sequences. One of the screening templates supported primer synthesis and the lengths of the resulting primers were used to predict possible initiation trinucleotides. Use of trinucleotide-specific templates demonstrated that the preferred initiation trinucleotide sequence for A. aeolicus primase was 5′-d(CCC)-3′. Two other sequences, 5′-d(GCC)-3′ and d(CGC)-3′, were also capable of supporting initiation, but to a much lesser degree. None of these trinucleotides were known to be recognition sequences used by other microbial primases. These results suggest that the initiation specificity of A. aeolicus primase may represent an adaptation to a thermophilic environment.


Increasingly, state and local governments are promoting intergovernmental coordination, cooperation, and/or outright consolidation (3Cs) based on the perceived economies of scale advantages of such joint actions. However, the growing public finance and political science literature on interregional cooperation highlights the fact that transactions or other cooperation costs may preclude the realization of economies of scale benefits. Despite this evidence, some proponents go as far as to view such collaborative actions as effective policy tools for enhancing regional economic development and competitiveness. The role of cooperation costs and their relationship to economies of scale are not well documented in the literature. This paper develops a framework for evaluating the implications of cooperation costs for the effectiveness of intergovernmental collaborations. A simple cost function model is used to explain the costs and challenges associated with managing coordinated, cooperative, and consolidated relationships and the dynamic nature of such costs The analysis highlights the importance of such things as degree of complexity, inter-party diversity, and the relative sizes of collaborating partners.


The second part of this paper is given over to the role of the hydroinformatician in creating sociotechnical environments in which the transmutations necessary to provide states of social justice can be catalysed through the creation of appropriate web-based environments. Some recent exemplifications of these processes within the second paradigm case that is used here are provided in conclusion. In particular, the ways in which the objects presented by the user interfaces to the different classes of stakeholders become transmuted into symbols in the minds of these stakeholders through the active exercise of their imaginations are exemplified and further analysed. This work has proceeded concurrently with the design, writing and development of the software necessary to realise its aims and ambitions, with special attention being given to the new kinds of user interfaces and viewing facilities that are then required. This work will be described separately by other authors involved in this initiative. It is emphasised at various junctures that enterprises of this kind carry substantial risks and must be approached with much care and understanding; and indeed the primary reason for writing this paper is to communicate not only the risks, but also the corresponding level of understanding that is necessary to overcome these risks.


In the middle of both recessionary financial constraints and new developments in what are often called "neoliberal" global economics, a number of high-profile North American universities are creating new campuses in locations around the world. Conceptually different than an older model of study abroad sites, they are also helping to create a new geography of "area," that includes shifting conceptions of citizenship, sovereignty, and cultural difference. The claims being made about them are large: they are being described as central components within a historical "inflection point" in the very nature of humanity; the reorganization of the university is thus at once part of the reorganization of human geography, and of the categories by which we conceive of social life. This article examines both the new kinds of global social space that these universities are helping to define, and the restructuring of the "global university" itself; both are placed within the context of the neoliberal principles that are motivating the construction of these new world spaces. Indifference is a key element of these principles; this article considers the varied implications of neoliberal indifference. [area studies, neoliberalism, globalization, cities, difference, citizenship and sovereignty, social form]


Consider the problem of estimating a price-sensitivity parameter in a demand model. Depending on the context in which the estimate will be used, traditional squared-error loss may be inappropriate. We consider the situation in which the estimate will be used by a manufacturer to set the price. Effectively, the manufacturer's goal of profit maximization induces a loss function that turns out to be asymmetric. Estimators that perform well with respect to such loss functions are obtained. A real example is considered in which, compared to traditional estimation under squared-error loss, this approach leads to smaller price-sensitivity estimates, suggesting higher optimal prices.


Abstract In low-cycling countries, cycling is not evenly distributed across genders and age groups. In the UK, men are twice as likely as women to cycle to work and cycling tends to be dominated by younger adults. By contrast, in higher cycling countries and cities, gender differences are low, absent, or in the opposite direction. Such places also lack the UK's steady decline in cycling among those aged over 35 years. Over the past fifteen years some UK local areas have seen increases in cycling. This paper analyses data from the English and Welsh Census 2001 and 2011 to examine whether such increases are associated with greater diversity among cyclists. We find that in areas where cycling has increased, there has been no increase in the representation of females, and a decrease in the representation of older adults. We discuss potential causes and policy implications. Importantly, simply increasing cycling modal share has not proved sufficient to create an inclusive cycling culture. The UK's culturally specific factors limiting female take-up of cycling seem to remain in place, even where cycling has gone up. Creating a mass cycling culture may require deliberately targeting infrastructure and policies towards currently under-represented groups.


Abstract: In this article, we carefully examine two important implementation issues when estimating propensity scores using generalized boosted models (GBM), a promising machine learning technique. First, we examine which of the following methods for tuning GBM lead to better covariate balance and inferences about causal effects: pursuing covariate balance between the treatment groups or tuning the propensity score model on the basis of a model fit criterion. Second, we examine how well GBM can handle irrelevant covariates that are included in the estimation model. We find that chasing balance rather than model fit when estimating propensity scores yielded better covariate balance and more accurate treatment effect estimates. Additionally, we find that adding irrelevant covariates to GBM increased imbalance and bias in the treatment effects. The findings from this paper have useful implications for other work focused on improving methods for estimating propensity scores.


The paper studies the conditional risk premia and volatilities in the Real Estate Investment Trust sector. In particular, the conditional correlations of REITs are estimated against a variety of equity and bond series. The paper builds upon recent work in the REIT literature to have examined the dynamics of the sector. A growing number of papers have examined the volatility characteristics of the sector. The data used in this paper consists of daily returns for the period January 1 1990 through December 30 2005 totalling 4175 observations. During this time the popularity of REITS has expanded dramatically with massive growth in investor awareness and interest focusing in on the return and volatility characteristics of the sector. The analysis is conducted using a bivariate GARCH framework. The risk premia for REITs are estimated and the conditional correlations against a variety of equity and bond sectors. Domestic equity sectors representing large cap, small cap, value and growth stocks are analyzed together with international equity markets. In relation to bonds both the Treasury and corporate markets are analyzed, with a variety of maturities analysed.


Productive capacity can be defined as the "ecological effect" end of a habitat change → ecological effect cause-effect pathway. Determining whether and how a habitat manipulation, either inadvertently or deliberately, will affect productive capacity is the key analytical step of habitat management. We describe a process to ensure that this step is conducted in a manner that is rigorous and relevant. The process has four components: (1) determination of management objectives, (2) identification of indicators, (3) analysis of cause-effect pathways linking habitat changes to ecological effects, and (4) determination of strategies to effect desirable habitat change. The core of the process is the third step, in which we propose the use of hypotheses-of-effect, a network of cause-effect linkages leading from habitat change to ecological effects, to ensure rigorous assessment of possible effects. We illustrate the process using examples of timber management effects on migratory brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and urbanization effects on littoral warmwater communities. We argue that this process, in addition to providing a rigorous means of assessing the evidence relevant to a particular issue, also provides an effective tool for examining uncertainty. We advocate the adoption of this process by management agencies as a method for adaptive habitat management.


This study examines the users of electronic journals published in a hosting system called EJUM (Electronic Journal of the University of Malaya) and their perceived satisfaction with the electronic journals as well as their preferred features in electronic journals and problems they face when using the electronic journals. The Malaysian Journal of Computer Science (MJCS), Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science (MJLIS) and Journal of Problem Based Learning (JPBL) are being hosted by EJUM. These three electronic journals constitute 3 out of an estimated 17 electronic journals published in Malaysia. Users seem to use the electronic journals to mainly support research and teaching needs. About 50% of respondents rated the journals as "good", 20.6% rated "fair". Respondents seem to find out about the journals mainly serendipitously as they were browsing the Internet or "found out from a conference paper" or "saw information about it in an article". Keywords (28.9%) and title (24.3%) searches were chosen by a third of respondents respectively. The majority of respondents (70%) indicated preferring retrieving articles in PDF or HTML. About 41.8% of respondents access the electronic journals while making searches on Google or Yahoo. The next most selected option was "from specific journal hosting system" (21.8%), followed by "from my library web portal" and "from citation links found in another resource". Most respondents scan the abstracts first to check relevance and then download the articles. Most respondents believed that electronic journals will co-exist with print journals (46.2%). The rest believed that electronic journals will replace the print journals (25.5%) or will supplement (25.5%). The list of functions and features preferred by electronic journal is provided.


This communication proposes a new hierarchical functions set to predict flexural motion of platelike structures in the medium‐frequency range. This functions set is built from trigonometric functions instead of polynomials as classically encountered in the literature. It is shown that such a trigonometric set presents all the advantages of a classical hierarchical polynomials set and additional ones which are of interest if very high‐order functions are desired to be used. It is stated that this new trigonometric set can be used at very high orders, up to 2048, without taking care of computer roundoff errors, while the polynomials set fails at order 46 because of the limited numerical dynamic of computers. This trigonometric set can be easily implemented on a computer. It does not require quadruple precision precomputed arrays. Only a very low number (which do not depend on the function order) of basic operations is needed when calling such functions. Moreover, it is shown that this trigonometric set pres...


Currently the European Union (EU) consists of a group of nation states that exhibit an array of constitutional systems, ranging from the unitary to the fully federal. Among the EU member states, the United Kingdom (UK) has traditionally been regarded as an example par excellence of a unitary state. However, since taking office in the late 1990s, Labour Governments have pursued a programme of constitutional reform. This has included the decentralisation of decision-making powers through a process of devolution to bodies in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English Regions. One policy area that has been devolved as part of this process is environment policy. However, it could be argued that even before the formal 1998 Acts of devolution that environmental policy was already highly decentralised. Crucially though, one policy area that has been 'reserved' to the UK Executive in Whitehall and the Parliament in Westminster is international relations and EU matters, and UK environmental policy is one policy area that is deeply affected by EU level policy making. These circumstances, therefore, raise some important questions about British environmental governance, which this paper seeks to address. Crucially, what are the likely or potential implications of devolving environmental policy, whilst at the same time reserving EU relations to London (Whitehall and Westminster)? In reflecting on these issues, this paper draws on theories and concepts derived from governance and historical institutionalist literature.


The conversion of fixed nitrogen to N2 in suboxic waters is estimated to contribute roughly a third to total oceanic losses of fixed nitrogen and is hence understood to be of major importance to global oceanic production and, therefore, to the role of the ocean as a sink of atmospheric CO2. At present heterotrophic denitrification and autotrophic anammox are considered the dominant sinks of fixed nitrogen. Recently, it has been suggested that the trophic nature of pelagic N2-production may have additional, "collateral" effects on the carbon cycle, where heterotrophic denitrification provides a shallow source of CO2 and autotrophic anammox a shallow sink. Here, we analyse the stoichiometries of nitrogen and associated carbon conversions in marine oxygen minimum zones (OMZ) focusing on heterotrophic denitrification, autotrophic anammox, and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to nitrite and ammonium in order to test this hypothesis quantitatively. For open ocean OMZs the combined effects of these processes turn out to be clearly heterotrophic, even with high shares of the autotrophic anammox reaction in total N2-production and including various combinations of dissimilatory processes which provide the substrates to anammox. In such systems, the degree of heterotrophy (ΔCO2:ΔN2), varying between 1.7 and 6, is a function of the efficiency of nitrogen conversion. On the contrary, in systems like the Black Sea, where suboxic N-conversions are supported by diffusive fluxes of NH4+ originating from neighbouring waters with sulphate reduction, much lower values of ΔCO2:ΔN2 can be found. However, accounting for concomitant diffusive fluxes of CO2, ratios approach higher values similar to those computed for open ocean OMZs. Based on our analysis, we question the significance of collateral effects concerning the trophic nature of suboxic N-conversions on the marine carbon cycle.


Two centuries after the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, at least 12.3 million people continue to be subjected to modern forms of forced labour characterized by coercion and exploitation. The original field research presented in this volume shows that the victims include not only indigenous workers in Andean countries or people of slave-descent in Niger, but also migrant workers trafficked into Europe and the U.S and vulnerable members of the labour force in Brazil or Pakistan. The book highlights some of the measures that can be taken to combat these unacceptable practices. The authors argue in favour of a labour market approach, which includes the regulation and monitoring of labour intermediaries, the strengthening of labour inspection systems, as well as a stronger involvement of trade unions and employment tribunals.


Two new heterobimetallic phenylmercury(ii) dithiocarbamate complexes incorporating the ferrocenyl moiety (C(5)H(5))Fe(C(5)H(4)) (Fc), namely PhHgS(2)CN(CH(2)Fc)CH(2)C(5)H(4)N, (1) and PhHgS(2)CN(CH(2)Fc)CH(2)C(4)H(3)O, (2) have been prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, UV-Vis, IR, (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopies. The crystal structures of 1 and 2 showed a linear core at the Hg(ii) centre of the molecule, bound by the sulfur atom of the dithiocarbamate ligand and carbon atom of the aromatic ring. Weak intermolecular HgS interactions form "head-to-tail" dimers in the cases of 1 and 2. The observed quasi-reversible cyclic voltammograms of the complexes have been corroborated by calculating gross natural electron population and gross natural electron spin population at each atom for the neutral as well its oxidized species obtained at density functional level (DFT) of theory, which suggests that the delocalization of electron spin population can affect the magnitude of ΔE(p). The electronic absorption bands of both the complexes were assigned with the help of time dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations. The light harvesting properties of both 1 and 2 in conjunction with our previously reported compound PhHgS(2)CN(CH(2)Fc)CH(2)C(6)H(5) (3) have been reported.


The study highlights the new trends in public social policies of preventing marginalization risks for vulnerable groups and individuals, concomitantly with shaping social/community responsibility for a programme of sustainable social change and development. On the background of some theories about the interdependency and complexity of human needs, these new policy directions attempt to mitigate major issues regarding the social development and normal community integration requirements for the members of the society. The present analysis focuses on the political and ideological principles required for promoting some integrated public social policies required for increasing quality of life. A synthetic review is made as regards the profile of social policies in Romania after 1990. The analysis of 30 years of transition highlights a distinct profile of social policies in the framework of the "selected models of country". The evaluation of the governmental strategies will pursue the impact of public social policies on some vulnerable categories with high marginalization risk. The analysis attempts to identify actual types of risks in relation with the profile of the beneficiaries and their approach by the governance depending on the political options. A long-term time horizon will be considered along with a short-term one for emphasizing the distinct profiles of the public policies, specific to the post-December governments. During the last years, a new trend of social development emphasizes increasingly more frequently in Europe the need of major objectives for a programme of economic growth in agreement with the social and human requirements. Thus, those stages of "economic development per se" by disregarding "human presence" could be exceeded. Therefore, the new EU direction for sustainable economic development is centered on "socially inclusive economic growth". As such, the new trends within public policies take account also of a wide sphere of non-economic social factors, corresponding proper to the multidimensional profile of the quality of life and human development.


Mathematician and popular science author Eugenia Cheng is on a mission to show you that mathematics can be flexible, creative, and visual. This joyful journey through the world of abstract mathematics into category theory will demystify mathematical thought processes and help you develop your own thinking, with no formal mathematical background needed. The book brings abstract mathematical ideas down to earth using examples of social justice, current events, and everyday life – from privilege to COVID-19 to driving routes. The journey begins with the ideas and workings of abstract mathematics, after which you will gently climb toward more technical material, learning everything needed to understand category theory, and then key concepts in category theory like natural transformations, duality, and even a glimpse of ongoing research in higher-dimensional category theory. For fans of How to Bake Pi, this will help you dig deeper into mathematical concepts and build your mathematical background.


When reporting on well-conducted research, a characteristic of a complete and proper manuscript is one that includes analyses and interpretations of all interactions. Our purpose is to show how to analyze and interpret interactions in agronomy and breeding research by means of three data sets comprising random and fixed effects. Experiment 1 tested wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) at two N and four P fertilizer rates in two soil types. For this data set, we used a fixed-effect linear model with the highest order (three-way) interaction considered first and then worked down through the lower order interactions and main effects to illustrate the importance of interactions in data analysis. Experiment 2 evaluated maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids under four rates of N for 3 yr. For this data set, we used a linear mixed model and partitioned the four N rates into orthogonal polynomials. Experiment 3 evaluated genotypes in six environments where the objective was to show how to study genotype × environment interactions. Researchers must analyze all interactions, determine if they are due to changes in rank (crossover) or only to changes in scale, and then judge whether reporting on significant main effects or interactions would best explain the biological responses in their experiments. In an experiment with more than one factor, complete and correct analysis of interactions is essential for reporting and interpreting the research properly.


A two-and-one-half-dimensional electrostatic particle simulation model has been developed to study neutral gas release experiments into the ionosphere. The electrons are assumed guiding center particles, while the full dynamics of the ions (with real masses) are followed in time and space. Ionization processes of the neutral gas by charge exchange and electron impact are included by means of the Monte Carlo technique. It is shown that the model can be used to simulate the neutral gas interaction, with the ionosphere using realistic experimental parameters. The model was applied to study the critical ionization velocity (CIY) tests recently conducted as part of the ATLAS-l [Geophys. Res. Lett. 20, 499 (1993)] xenon gas releases from the space shuttle. The simulation results show suprathermal electrons produced by an ion beam-driven lower hybrid instability, create a xenon ion population much more rapidly than the production by classical processes, indicating the prevalence of a CIY -type mechanism.


The mechanical properties of the substrate upon which cells are cultured have been shown to influence a variety of cell properties including cell adhesion, spreading, protein expression and differentiation. The work presented here examines how the nonlinear mechanical properties of biopolymer gels affect the cellular responses to substrate stiffness. Cell spread area decreases with decreasing substrate stiffness when cells are cultured on linearly elastic polyacrylamide gels but display no spread area sensitivity when cultured on fibrin gels of various moduli. Fibrin gels, and other semiflexible biopolymer networks, exhibit strain stiffening, whereby the elastic modulus of the gel increases with increasing applied strain. Mechanosensitive cells and strain stiffening gels engage in a mechanical feedback loop with cells increasing their applied force and the gel modulus increasing as a result until the cells reach their maximum spread area. Cell applied forces locally induce anisotropy in an initially isotropic matrix providing a mechanism for cell/cell communication over a distance of ~5 cell lengths. This results in alignment of adjacent cells and formation of ring-like multicellular patterns. Finally, due in part to its mechanical properties, fibrin is an appealing scaffold for neural tissue repair. Initial animal studies confirm that salmon derived fibrin mitigates pain and inflammation after injury to the central nervous system. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Bioengineering First Advisor Paul Janmey


Certificates of confidentiality (COCs) are a tool to protect researchers from being compelled to release identifying information about their subjects. Whereas institutional review board (IRB) review and informed consent procedures are mandatory tools to protect human subjects, COCs are voluntary. There are limited data about who procures COCs and why, and whether they are useful. Three Institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provided data on 114 research projects that had received COCs. Eighty-three researchers had procured a single COC and 11 researchers had procured 31 COCs. One hundred and four (91%) of the COCs were obtained by researchers at academic sites, and 17 institutions collectively accounted for 82 COCs. The most commonly cited sources of information about COCs came from colleagues (n = 18, 35%) and previous experience (n = 17, 33%). The most common reasons for procuring a COC were that the research involved genetics (n = 28, 54%), the research could lead to social stigmatization or discrimination (n = 22, 42%), or the research could damage an individual's financial standing, employability, or reputation (n = 21, 40%). These findings show that COCs are often congregated within institutions and by particular individuals. This may be because others are unaware of COCs or because others do not believe they are necessary or useful.


Obesity and diabetes are associated with increased fatty acid availability in excess of muscle fatty acid oxidation capacity. This mismatch is implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiac contractile dysfunction and also in the development of skeletal-muscle insulin resistance. We tested the hypothesis that 'Western' and high fat diets differentially cause maladaptation of cardiac- and skeletal-muscle fatty acid oxidation, resulting in cardiac contractile dysfunction. Wistar rats were fed on low fat, 'Western' or high fat (10, 45 or 60% calories from fat respectively) diet for acute (1 day to 1 week), short (4-8 weeks), intermediate (16-24 weeks) or long (32-48 weeks) term. Oleate oxidation in heart muscle ex vivo increased with high fat diet at all time points investigated. In contrast, cardiac oleate oxidation increased with Western diet in the acute, short and intermediate term, but not in the long term. Consistent with fatty acid oxidation maladaptation, cardiac power decreased with long-term Western diet only. In contrast, soleus muscle oleate oxidation (ex vivo) increased only in the acute and short term with either Western or high fat feeding. Fatty acid-responsive genes, including PDHK4 (pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4) and CTE1 (cytosolic thioesterase 1), increased in heart and soleus muscle to a greater extent with feeding a high fat diet compared with a Western diet. In conclusion, we implicate inadequate induction of a cassette of fatty acid-responsive genes, and impaired activation of fatty acid oxidation, in the development of cardiac dysfunction with Western diet.


Copper(I)–thioether complexes have been extensively studied in the literature due to several qualities, including the diversity of coordination structures and the convenience and low-cost of preparation. In this work, acrylate-based block polymers containing thioether moieties were successfully coordinated with copper(I) to form thermally stable hybrid materials. The block polymer phase, poly(methyl methacrylate)-b-poly(methyl thioethyl acrylate-co-butyl acrylate) (PMMA-b-P(MTEA-co-BA)), was effectively reinforced by copper(I) bromide to give excellent mechanical performance (breaking strength of 7.5 MPa and breaking strain of 500%). Meanwhile, the hybrid materials were endowed with self-healing capability because of the copper–thioether coordination. Notably, the melt-compounded films of copper(I)–thioether block polymers exhibited a very fast response towards hydrochloric acid vapor, reflected as a color transition within 10 seconds upon exposure. Additionally, the hybrid polymers also responded rapidly to hydrogen peroxide solution (color change within 1 minute). These unique characteristics grant possibilities to the hybrid materials to be utilized as flexible and cheap sensors for hydrochloric acid and oxidants. Fundamentally, this study expands the territory of metal–thioether coordinated block polymers and also sheds light on the fabrication of multifunctional hybrid materials for smart device applications.


The purpose of this study is to investigate the notion and practice of judicial review in Anglo-American constitutional systems and to consider its potential and possible pitfalls in a new South African order. The discussion is approached from a comparative perspective and an attempt is made to benefit from the trials and errors of judicial review in other nations - particularly independent African countries. The questions to be addressed include the reasons advanced for, and the different scope of judicial review. Independence of the judiciary is an important clement in protection against arbitrary action on the part of officials of the state. The composition and historical role of the present South African judiciary is investigated to highlight the potential problems that judicial review in terms of the Anglo-American model pose for a new South Africa. The challenge for a future South Africa is not merely to replace the present judiciary (appointed by the apartheid order) with a new set of judges appointed by the new order, but rather to devise an alternate, more democratic judicial structure, better suited to the realities of the South African situation. The article will provide a model judicial struction and define the scope of judicial review based on the European models which, it will be argued, are better suited to the realities of South African society.


This paper surveys the required mathematics for a typical challenging problem from computational medicine, the cancer therapy planning in deep regional hyperthermia. In the course of many years of close cooperation with clinics, the medical problem gave rise to quite a number of subtle mathematical problems, part of which had been unsolved when the common project started. Efficiency of numerical algorithms, i.e. computational speed and monitored reliability, play a decisive role for the medical treatment. Off-the-shelf software had turned out to be not sufficient to meet the requirements of medicine. Rather, new mathematical theory as well as new numerical algorithms had to be developed. In order to make our algorithms useful in the clinical environment, new visualization software, a virtual lab, including 3D geometry processing of individual virtual patients had to be designed and implemented. Moreover, before the problems could be attacked by numerical algorithms, careful mathematical modelling had to be done. Finally, parameter identification and constrained optimization for the PDEs had to be newly analyzed and realized over the individual patient's geometry. Our new techniques had an impact on the specificity of the individual patients' treatment and on the construction of an improved hyperthermia applicator. AMS MSC 2000: 49M05, 65N30, 65N21, 92C50


The reflections on the nature of time in Relativity Theory will be hinted in reference to the new bridges recently proposed by Connes and by Rovelli's "perspectival" approach, two major steps towards a unification of quantum, thermodynamical and relativistic times. The so called "time of philosophers", a time of the cognizing ego, from Saint Augustin to Husserl and Bergson, is based on a different, but relevant perspective and it has been traditionally opposed to the "time of physicists". In between these two approaches, we discuss a proper time of phylogeny and ontogeny, in biology, with their own rhythms and specific irreversibility. On the one side, biological time needs to be scientifically objectivised as an invariant of the knowing subject and thus move, as in physics, "from the subjective-absolute to the objective-relative" (Weyl's approach, extended to time). On the other, we propose a "geometry" of life's rhythms and an "extended present" that radically differ from the prevailing spatialization of physical time that Bergson soundly criticizes. The proper irreversibility and the central, "operatorial", role of time in biology will be stressed, as nothing in biology can be understood except in the light of a temporal perspective, both evolutionary and organismal. In particular, today's eco-systemic changes bring to the limelight some disruptions of the evolutionary fine-tuning of biological rhythms and physical clocks that may be better understood by highlighting their theoretical differences as well as their environmental interactions. « It is to the credit of Bergson's philosophy to have pointed out forcefully this deep division between the world of mathematical concepts and the immediately experienced continuity of phenomenal time ("la duree"). »


Within the COST action EMBOS (European Marine Biodiversity Observatory System) the degree and variation of the diversity and densities of soft-bottom communities from the lower intertidal or the shallow subtidal was measured at 28 marine sites along the European coastline (Baltic, Atlantic, Mediterranean) using jointly agreed and harmonized protocols, tools and indicators. The hypothesis tested was that the diversity for all taxonomic groups would decrease with increasing latitude. The EMBOS system delivered accurate and comparable data on the diversity and densities of the soft sediment macrozoobenthic community over a large-scale gradient along the European coastline. In contrast to general biogeographic theory, species diversity showed no linear relationship with latitude, yet a bell-shaped relation was found. The diversity and densities of benthos were mostly positively correlated with environmental factors such as temperature, salinity, mud and organic matter content in sediment, or wave height, and related with location characteristics such as system type (lagoons, estuaries, open coast) or stratum (intertidal, subtidal). For some relationships, a maximum (e.g. temperature from 15–20°C; mud content of sediment around 40%) or bimodal curve (e.g. salinity) was found. In lagoons the densities were twice higher than in other locations, and at open coasts the diversity was much lower than in other locations. We conclude that latitudinal trends and regional differences in diversity and densities are strongly influenced by, i.e. merely the result of, particular sets and ranges of environmental factors and location characteristics specific to certain areas, such as the Baltic, with typical salinity clines (favouring insects) and the Mediterranean, with higher temperatures (favouring crustaceans). Therefore, eventual trends with latitude are primarily indirect and so can be overcome by local variation of environmental factors.


The main research question addressed is how the perceptions and experiences of people with disabilities around what is termed 'quality of life' are enhanced or modified by differing service delivery systems. This approach is based on the assumption that people with disabilities have unique knowledge about services, providing a core understanding of the power around decision making and its effects on their lives. The perspectives and methodology used are underlined by concepts of user autonomy, social control, independence, interdependence, advocacy, respect and citizenship. The case study methodology provides an in-depth focus on both 'positive' and 'negative' ethics in social science. The research area was examined within a multi-professional framework and aimed at a triangulation of perspectives from participant observation, user and professional interviews, tailored vignettes and organisational documentation from services formally designed to empower their users following the latest government policy. The research, following the principles of grounded theory, examined to what extent care management and advocacy, residential support and service brokerage and a more traditional day centre system were achieving these primary aims. The qualitative data generated by the research gives rise to a socio-organisational power analysis of 'service forums'. The service forums are constructed from 'service postures' and 'service cultures'. Service posture refers to the set of formal values and beliefs owned by an organisation. The service posture for the residential consortium is summarised as 'normality', the day centre's as 'respect' and the care management organisation's as 'advocacy'. The organisations' service cultures are the unofficial presentation of the service, shown to come from the service posture, either being complementary, its antitheses, or quite separate. It is clear that the behaviour of the workers and the structure of the three organisations studied have both distinct and profound effects on their users' senses and experiences of power. The conclusion explores the elements of disability, choice and decision making which make up the socio-organisational power structures with respect to each organisation. Finally ways in which a participatory service delivery system could be constructed are considered in the context of training, policy and organisational structure.


Because of their large output strain, dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) have been proposed for tunable optics applications such as tunable gratings. However, the inherent viscoelastic drift of these actuators is an important drawback and closed-loop operation of DEAs is a prerequisite for any accurate real-world application. In this paper, we show how capacitive self-sensing can be used to drive a DEA in closed-loop without the need for any external sensor. The method has been demonstrated on a DEA tunable grating based on a VHB acrylic and silicone membrane. The results show that the widely used VHB presents a time-dependent drift between the capacitance of the electrodes and their strain. The silicone-based grating does not exhibit such a drift, and its strain can be stabilized by regulating the capacitance of the device to a constant value. We also report on an new fabrication method for thin deformable gratings based on replication on a water-soluble master and a 27% change in the grating period has been obtained on a VHB-based device.