Abstract The Donald Hunsberger Wind Band Transcription of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Variations for Brass Band: Historical Profile, Performance Practice, Conducting Considerations, and Corrected Edition Gary Thomas Brattin Chairperson of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Timothy O. Salzman School of Music As one of the final works from a career lasting six decades, Ralph Vaughan Williams' Variations for Brass Band (1957) is a tremendous composition remaining in some obscurity relative to his works in other genres. Although it is widely accepted as standard repertoire in brass band circles, this composition has largely been passed over by scholars of Vaughan Williams' art music. The focus of this dissertation is Donald Hunsberger's transcription for wind band of Vaughan Williams' Variations for Brass Band; Hunsberger's transcription was made in 1988 and published ten years later. This transcription is an especially clear case illustrating the need to oversee all facets of a publication. The published score and parts of the transcription reveal an unusually high number of errata and printing discrepancies, totaling over 900 separate items. The ultimate goal of this research is to produce a new critical edition of the score and parts of Hunsberger's Variations for Wind Band. Several chapters are dedicated to this, with an overview of the types of errata, listings of the actual errata, and additional necessary editorial refinements. The corrected parts and score are included in a format for academic use only, produced using Finale® 2012 music notation software. This dissertation also provides historical and performance context for this work. It includes interviews with Donald Hunsberger (Eastman Wind Ensemble) and Paul Hindmarsch (British brass band authority), analysis of Vaughan Williams' other music for brass and wind bands, and examination of ten recordings in three versions of Variations (for brass band, orchestra, and wind band) to show the influence of tempi inserted into the music by editor Frank Wright. The consideration of tempo indications is particularly important because Vaughan Williams' original manuscript does not contain any metronomic tempi. Timed measurements of each variation in the recordings are compared with computerized default timings of the versions for brass and wind band, with the conclusion that a reconsideration, and even an outright removal, of some tempo indications might be appropriate in a new and corrected edition.


This paper examines the nature and extent of farmers' indebtedness in India using the unit record data from the 59th round of the NSSO, provides a comparative picture of the major Indian States and an in-depth analysis of Karnataka. In terms of access to credit, seen through the extent of indebtedness, Karnataka is better placed than many Indian States, however, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Kerala are ahead of Karnataka. Ironically, almost half of the credit is still provided by the informal sector in Karnataka (on an average). Poor farmers with lower land holdings are much more deprived of formal sources of credit than the comparatively richer ones. Thus, they also pay a much higher rate of interest with modal value of 36 per cent. Nevertheless, it is heartening to note that loans are taken mostly for income generating purposes; but it also indirectly implies that the poor are not getting access to formal sources of credit even for the income generating purposes.


Observations of the Sun's corona during the space era have led to a picture of relatively constant, but cyclically varying solar output and structure. Longer-term, more indirect measurements, such as from 10Be, coupled by other albeit less reliable contemporaneous reports, however, suggest periods of significant departure from this standard. The Maunder Minimum was one such epoch where: (1) sunspots effectively disappeared for long intervals during a 70 yr period; (2) eclipse observations suggested the distinct lack of a visible K-corona but possible appearance of the F-corona; (3) reports of aurora were notably reduced; and (4) cosmic ray intensities at Earth were inferred to be substantially higher. Using a global thermodynamic MHD model, we have constructed a range of possible coronal configurations for the Maunder Minimum period and compared their predictions with these limited observational constraints. We conclude that the most likely state of the corona during—at least—the later portion of the Maunder Minimum was not merely that of the 2008/2009 solar minimum, as has been suggested recently, but rather a state devoid of any large-scale structure, driven by a photospheric field composed of only ephemeral regions, and likely substantially reduced in strength. Moreover, we suggest that the Sun evolved from a 2008/2009-like configuration at the start of the Maunder Minimum toward an ephemeral-only configuration by the end of it, supporting a prediction that we may be on the cusp of a new grand solar minimum.


The present work considers a two-fluid mathematical model for the gas-liquid flow in PEM fuel cells. One fluid represents the continuous gas phase flow through the layers of the fuel cell. For this fluid, the governing equations of momentum, energy, mass continuity and species mass fractions, are considered with additional inter-fluid exchange source terms. The second fluid represents the dispersed liquid phase that is formed from the condensed water vapor inside the layers of the PEM fuel cell. For this fluid only the momentum and mass continuity equations need to be included, as no electrochemical reactions are essentially possible. The dispersed fluid is made up of small droplets in the gas channel. The mean droplet diameter can be computed from a balance equation of the forces acting on the emerging liquid water from the pores of the GDL into the gas channels. The droplet diameters are found to range between 150 and 170 microns for the present PEM fuel cell at 0.8 V. In the present work, the full momentum conservation equations are invoked, in the layers of the fuel cell, for the two fluids. The resulting governing equations for u, v, T and species mass fractions together with the electric potential and mass continuity equations are solved iteratively, using a modified SIMPLE algorithm, for the two fluids. One solution domain is superimposed over all the layers of the fuel cell. Special care is devoted to the electric potential, 'Poisson-type', equation boundary condition to prevent any escape of protons through the two gas diffusion layers and simultaneously insuring a non-singular matrix of finite-difference coefficients. The obtained two-fluid and single-phase numerical simulations are compared with the corresponding experimental and numerical data available in the literature. The 2-fluid model shows that the blocking effect of the liquid phase starts to dominate, for cell voltage less than 0.65 V; in this case, the flowing 2-phase flow produces faster drop in cell voltage as the loading electric current increases. This phenomenon was partially hindered by previous LHF model results and essentially completely bypassed by the single-phase simulations.Copyright © 2006 by ASME


The term 'limb‐girdle myasthenia' (LGM) was first used to describe three siblings with proximal limb weakness without oculobulbar involvement, but with EMG decrement and responsiveness to anticholinesterase medication. We report here that exome sequencing in the proband of this family revealed several sequence variations in genes linked to proximal limb weakness. However, the only mutations that cosegregated with disease were an intronic IVS7‐8A>G mutation and the previously reported 3′‐UTR c.*22C>A mutation in GFPT1, a gene linked to LGM. A minigene assay showed that IVS7‐8A>G activates an alternative splice acceptor that results in retention of the last seven nucleotides of intron 7 and a frameshift leading to a termination codon 13 nucleotides downstream from the new splice site. An anconeus muscle biopsy revealed mild reduction of the axon terminal size and postsynaptic fold simplification. The amplitudes of miniature endplate potentials and quantal release were also diminished. The DNA of the mildly affected father of the proband showed only the intronic mutation along with sequence variations in other genes potentially relevant to LGM. Thus, this study performed in the family originally described with LGM showed two GFPT1 untranslated mutations, which may cause disease by reducing GFPT1 expression and ultimately impairing protein glycosylation.


Question and Answer (Q&A) services, such as Stack Overflow, rely on a community of programmers who post questions, provide and rate answers, to create what is termed "crowd knowledge". As a consequence, these services archive voluminous and potentially useful information to help developers to solve programming-specific issues. Programmers tap into this crowd knowledge through web browsers. This requires them to step out of their integrated development environments (IDE), formulate a query, inspect the returned results and manually port the solution back to the IDE. We present an integrated and largely automated approach to assist programmers who want to leverage the crowd knowledge of Q&A services. We give a form to our approach by implementing Seahawk, an Eclipse plugin. Seahawk automatically formulates queries from the current context in the IDE, and presents a ranked and interactive list of results. Seahawk lets users identify individual discussion pieces and import code samples through simple drag & drop. Users can also link Stack Overflow discussions and source code persistently. We performed an evaluation of Seahawk, with promising results.


The accurate description of the growth or dissolution dynamics of a soluble gas bubble in a super- or undersaturated solution requires taking into account a number of physical effects that contribute to the instantaneous mass transfer rate. One of these effects is the so-called history effect. It refers to the contribution of the local concentration boundary layer around the bubble that has developed from past mass transfer events between the bubble and liquid surroundings. In Part 1 of this work (Peñas-López et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 800, 2016b, pp. 180–212), a theoretical treatment of this effect was given for a spherical, isolated bubble. Here, Part 2 provides an experimental and numerical study of the history effect regarding a spherical bubble attached to a horizontal flat plate and in the presence of gravity. The simulation technique developed in this paper is based on a streamfunction–vorticity formulation that may be applied to other flows where bubbles or drops exchange mass in the presence of a gravity field. Using this numerical tool, simulations are performed for the same conditions used in the experiments, in which the bubble is exposed to subsequent growth and dissolution stages, using stepwise variations in the ambient pressure. Besides proving the relevance of the history effect, the simulations highlight the importance that boundary-induced advection has to accurately describe bubble growth and shrinkage, i.e. the bubble radius evolution. In addition, natural convection has a significant influence that shows up in the velocity field even at short times, although given the supersaturation conditions studied here, the bubble evolution is expected to be mainly diffusive.


The aim of this study is to develop a measurement scale of health-based relationship quality (H-RQ) for doctorpatient- based services in Turkey. Four steps in the scale development procedure were applied: developing initial statements, administrating purifying measures, data collection, and evaluating the validity and reliability of the scale. The data were collected from a convenience sample (1179) of patients at private hospitals (746) and the largest dental hospital (433) owned by the state in Eskisehir, Turkey. Both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to test validity and reliability of the scale. The results of EFA and CFA indicated the satisfactory fit values about validity and reliability. The results of the study revealed six dimensions, which are: 'satisfaction', 'recognition and affinity', 'informing', 'emphatic customization', 'trust, and 'reciprocity'. The study has significant implications as to how well dentists and health managers design relationship strategies.


An investigation of the tube hydroforming process is conducted in order to understand the effect of prebending operation on formability in tube hydroforming and assess the application of the newly developed Extended Stress-Based Forming Limit Curve (XSFLC) method to the prediction of failure in tube hydroforming. Two sets of experiments on straight tube hydroforming and pre-bent tube hydroforming were conducted on tubes manufactured from three steel grades, namely DDQ, HSLA350 and DP600, which represent mild steel, high strength steel and advanced high strength steel, respectively. All tubes had the same outer diameter of 76.2 mm and the same nominal wall thickness of 1.8 mm, which enabled direct assessment of the effect of material strength on formability in tube hydroforming. For pre-bent tube hydroforming the tubes were bent to 90 degrees before hydroforming. The effect of the increased axial compressive load, termed the end-feed load, on tube formability in hydroforming was investigated. All experiments were simulated using the explicit dynamic finite element code LS-DYNA in order to investigate the accuracy of numerical predictions in the tube hydroforming process. The numerical simulations, validated using the experimental data, were then utilized to investigate the prediction of necking in straight and pre-bent tube hydroforming using the XSFLC method. The formability, burst pressure and corner-fill expansion in hydroforming of the pre-bent tubes was considerably less than that exhibited in hydroforming of the straight tubes. In both straight and pre-bent tube hydroforming, the application of the end-feed load postponed failure and significantly increased internal pressure and corner-fill expansion at burst. The finite element models accurately predicted the results of the tube bending and tube hydroforming experiments. The straight tube hydroforming simulations, validated using the experimental results, enabled accurate prediction of the failure location and tube internal pressure at the onset of necking using the XSFLC method. In order to obtain the XSFLC for each alloy, strain-based FLCs were calibrated using the results of tube free expansion tests. The results of the tube free expansion tests and corresponding numerical simulations also served to validate the tube material properties for the FE models. Straight tube hydroforming simulations were utilized to investigate the effect of friction between the tube and the die on the hydroforming process parameters and necking predictions using the XSFLC method. The validated pre-bent tube hydroforming simulations captured the trends in the increase of tube internal pressure at the onset of necking with the increase of end-feed load using the XSFLC method.


As retail choice states reach the end of their transitional, rate-cap periods, state regulators must decide what type of default supply service to provide to customers that have not switched to a competitive retail supplier. In a growing number of states, regulators have adopted real-time pricing (RTP) as the default service for large commercial and industrial (C&I) customers. Although this trend is driven chiefly by policy objectives related to retail competition, default service RTP may have the added benefit of stimulating demand response. To evaluate the potential role of RTP as a means to both ends--retail market development and demand response--we conducted a comprehensive review of experience with default RTP in the U.S. and examined the emergence of RTP as a product offering by competitive retail suppliers. Across the ten utilities with default RTP in place in 2005, between 5% and 35% of the applicable load remained on the rate. Based on interviews with competitive retailers, we find evidence to suggest that a comparable amount of load in these states has switched to hourly pricing arrangements with competitive retailers. Many customers on default or competitive hourly pricing are paying prices indexed to the real-time spot market, and thus have no advance knowledge of prices. Because the price responsiveness of customers under these conditions has yet to be formally analyzed, and relatively few efforts have been undertaken to help these customers become price responsive, the actual demand response impacts from hourly pricing in retail choice states remains largely an open question. However, we find that policymakers and other stakeholders in retail choice states have various strategies at their disposal to capture the potential demand response benefits from hourly pricing, while simultaneously supporting retail competition.


The concept of species‐level heritability is widely contested. Because it is most likely to apply to emergent, species‐level traits, one of the central discussions has focused on the potential heritability of geographic range size. However, a central argument against range‐size heritability has been that it is not compatible with the observed shape of present‐day species range‐size distributions (SRDs), a claim that has never been tested. To assess this claim, we used forward simulation of range‐size evolution in clades with varying degrees of range‐size heritability, and compared the output of three different models to the range‐size distribution of the South American avifauna. Although there were differences among the models, a moderate‐to‐high degree of range‐size heritability consistently leads to SRDs that were similar to empirical data. These results suggest that range‐size heritability can generate realistic SRDs, and may play an important role in shaping observed patterns of range sizes.


Forty years ago, Congress passed many of the nation's federal environmental laws. Congress and state legislatures recognized the growing environmental damage occurring in the country and passed laws restricting the actions of businesses, individuals, and government entities. One of the hallmarks of these environmental laws is the growth of permitting programs. Acknowledging that a halt to all pollution and development was both impractical and undesirable, governments developed programs to minimize, monitor, and mitigate environmental harms. Over the past forty years, private organizations have been increasingly involved in these permitting programs. For example, through conservation easements and mitigation banks, private businesses and nonprofit organizations have taken on the responsibilities of monitoring and enforcing environmental permits.This article examines the increasing privatization of environmental law by looking at the example of mitigation programs. Concerns regarding democracy and accountability arise when government agencies hand off their mitigation duties embodied in permit obligations to private organizations. It is not clear that the private organizations have adequate oversight and there are no clear mechanisms for stepping in when these organizations fail to perform (or inadequately perform) their conservation duties. This increasing privatization has largely occurred without a public debate regarding who is the appropriate entity to carry out and enforce environmental law. The privatization has gone unnoticed and underexamined. This article argues that environmental conservation is a public duty and examines concerns that should be addressed with the increasing privatization of that task.


Want to build Facebook applications that truly stand out among the thousands already available? In addition to providing easy-to-follow recipes that offer practical ways to design and build scalable applications using the Facebook Platform and its new profile design, this Cookbook also explains proven strategies for attracting users in this highly competitive environment. With plenty of examples and practical solutions, Facebook Cookbook answers some of the hardest questions Facebook application developers contend with -- including how and where to get started. This Cookbook will help you: Learn to build an application that scales to accommodate a sudden influx of users Explore changes from Facebook's old profile design to the new look and feel Take advantage of new integration points in the new profile design Get tips for designing applications with hosting and deployment costs in mind Discover which widgets and controls to use for building the most attractive user interface design Learn the differences between standard HTML, JavaScript, and SQL, and the versions used on the Facebook Platform Target large, defined groups on Facebook, including those who want to find jobs, hire employees, market a business, advertise, and more If you can build simple web applications with HTML, Facebook Cookbook will help you build applications with the potential to reach millions of users around the globe. Learn what it takes to design applications that stand above the rest.


Learning of low dimensional structure in multidimensional data is a canonical problem in machine learning. One common approach is to suppose that the observed data are close to a lower-dimensional smooth manifold. There are a rich variety of manifold learning methods available, which allow mapping of data points to the manifold. However, there is a clear lack of probabilistic methods that allow learning of the manifold along with the generative distribution of the observed data. The best attempt is the Gaussian process latent variable model (GP-LVM), but identifiability issues lead to poor performance. We solve these issues by proposing a novel Coulomb repulsive process (Corp) for locations of points on the manifold, inspired by physical models of electrostatic interactions among particles. Combining this process with a GP prior for the mapping function yields a novel electrostatic GP (electroGP) process. Focusing on the simple case of a one-dimensional manifold, we develop efficient inference algorithms, and illustrate substantially improved performance in a variety of experiments including filling in missing frames in video.


The regression discontinuity (RD) design is popular because it provides a design-based estimate of the incumbency advantage. However, the RD estimate is "local": it only identifies the effect in hypothetical elections with a 50-50 tie between the Democratic and Republican candidates. There is significant uncertainty and disagreement over the incumbency effect in safer districts away from this threshold. Indeed, mirroring the competing arguments in the theoretical literature, a survey of political scientists reveals that roughly equal numbers of respondents predict the effect to be either larger, smaller, or the same in less competitive districts. We employ a new method based on a validated conditional independence assumption that allows us to estimate the effect of incumbency in districts in a window around the threshold as large as 15 percentage points—that is, elections in which the winning candidate secured as much as 57.5% of the two-party vote. We find that the incumbency advantage is no larger or smaller in these less competitive cases.


With the rapid development of wireless network, the integration of cellular and multi-hop networks is the trend for next generation mobile networks (NGMN). And vertical handoff is really an open and challenge issue in this area. Consequently, in this paper, a multi-step vertical handoff mechanism (MVHOM) is proposed for a cellular multi-hop network (CMN). The mechanism comprises three steps, getting location information based on arrival time in conjunction with radio signal strength (RSS), then dealing with access network selection by weight of QoS factors calculated by an integrated analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and grey relational analysis (GRA) algorithm, and finally triggering a forced vertical handoff to sustain service continuity. Simulations reveal that the proposed MVHOM can effectively improve the quality of service and performance in CMN.


The expression of two or more discrete phenotypes amongst individuals within a species (morphs) provides multiple modes upon which selection can act semi-independently, and thus may be an important stage in speciation. In the present study, we compared two sympatric morph systems aiming to address hypotheses related to their evolutionary origin. Arctic charr in sympatry in Loch Tay, Scotland, exhibit one of two discrete, alternative body size phenotypes at maturity (large or small body size). Arctic charr in Loch Awe segregate into two temporally segregated spawning groups (breeding in either spring or autumn). Mitochondrial DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis showed that the morph pairs in both lakes comprise separate gene pools, although segregation of the Loch Awe morphs is more subtle than that of Loch Tay. We conclude that the Loch Awe morphs diverged in situ (within the lake), whereas Loch Tay morphs most likely arose through multiple invasions by different ancestral groups that segregated before post-glacial invasion (i.e. in allopatry). Both morph pairs showed clear trophic segregation between planktonic and benthic resources (measured by stable isotope analysis) but this was significantly less distinct in Loch Tay than in Loch Awe. By contrast, both inter-morph morphological and life-history differences were more subtle in Loch Awe than in Loch Tay. The strong ecological but relatively weak morphological and life-history divergence of the in situ derived morphs compared to morphs with allopatric origins indicates a strong link between early ecological and subsequent genetic divergence of sympatric origin emerging species pairs. The emergence of parallel specialisms despite distinct genetic origins of these morph pairs suggests that the effect of available foraging opportunities may be at least as important as genetic origin in structuring sympatric divergence in post-glacial fishes with high levels of phenotypic plasticity. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, ••, ••–••.


Having organized as a local of the Mine Workers' Union of Canada (MWUC) only a few days previously, the miners ot the Souris coalfield walked off the job on September 8, 1931 to reinforce their demands for increased wages and improved working conditions. The seasonal and fluctuating nature of the Saskatchewan industry, the reduction in realization by operators from the sale of lignite, wage reductions in late 1930 and early 1931, and certain unsatisfactory working and living conditions may be identified as underlying causes of the dispute. Three factors ultimately precipitated the wildcat strike: the absence of any established grievance mechanism, the coal operators' refusal to recognize the MWUC, and the refusal of James Sloan, MWUC president, to accede to demands for the establishment of a conciliation board under The Industrial Disputes Investigation Act.

On September 29 some 300 to 400 striking miners and their families clashed with police on the streets of Estevan, Saskatchewan in a bloody riot resulting in three deaths, a number of injuries, and the conviction of several participants on charges arising out of the confrontation. The tragic events of "Black Tuesday" helped bring about a settlement, but not an altogether desirable one. The authorities, it would seem, beginning in early October, launched a campaign
aimed at placing the bulk of responsibility for affairs on "outside agitators," at depriving the miners of the support and assistance of anyone from outside the district, at undermining unity among the miners, and at bringing the parties together under their scarcely impartial auspicies. The result was a settlement which, while granting some concessions to the miners, was violated in varying degrees at once by the operators. Not surprisingly, before a royal commission set up to examine the causes of the strike had completed its report, there was talk among miners of further strike action. It is also not altogether surprising that there was no official inquiry into the riot itself.


This article evaluates the methods and ideological positions that define the critical movement known as the New Modernist Studies (NMS). It treats the NMS as characteristic of recent attempts to politicize aesthetics within the corporate university. The piece argues that the NMS has consolidated its brand by strategically making anachronistic and shopworn claims for the relevance of modernist aesthetics for postmodern politics. The methodological hallmarks of the movement include the liberalization of previously radical political thought, the reduction of past theoretical interventions into portable dualisms and reified fixed principles, and the substitution of homological equivalences between aesthetics and politics in the place of mediating, dialectical, and/or constellating thought. While the NMS's self-branding impulse has generated popular, ready-to-apply models for new scholars in the humanities, it has also ironically brought many of its arguments closer in form to the positions of the neoliberal and neoconservative orthodoxies it positions itself against. In particular, its tendency to reduce politics to clashes between oppressive state powers and individuals seeking personal freedom limits its ability to push beyond the commonsense framework of the status quo.


This paper considers multiple linear stochastic control systems whose feedback loops are closed over a shared communication medium. A threshold-based event-triggering rule is used to transmit control commands from the controllers to the actuators, and network access is arbitrated using a static priority mechanism. Under these conditions, we study dead-beat control laws and compute the expected linear-quadratic loss of the closed-loop system as a function of the event-thresholds of the individual loops. Also, we present analytical expressions that quantify the trade-off between the communication cost and the control performance of such event-triggered control systems. Using a multi-dimensional exhaustive search method, we determine the set of event thresholds that attains the minimal expected linear-quadratic loss of the closed-loop systems. Simulation studies highlight the trade-off between the communication and control cost.


In this paper, we propose Geometric Neural Network (GeoNet) to jointly predict depth and surface normal maps from a single image. Building on top of two-stream CNNs, our GeoNet incorporates geometric relation between depth and surface normal via the new depth-to-normal and normal-to-depth networks. Depth-to-normal network exploits the least square solution of surface normal from depth and improves its quality with a residual module. Normal-to-depth network, contrarily, refines the depth map based on the constraints from the surface normal through a kernel regression module, which has no parameter to learn. These two networks enforce the underlying model to efficiently predict depth and surface normal for high consistency and corresponding accuracy. Our experiments on NYU v2 dataset verify that our GeoNet is able to predict geometrically consistent depth and normal maps. It achieves top performance on surface normal estimation and is on par with state-of-the-art depth estimation methods.


The demand for indoor navigation is increasingly urgent in many applications such as safe management of underground spaces or location services in complex indoor environment, e.g. shopping centres, airports, museums, underground parking lot and hospitals. Indoor navigation is still a challenging research field, as currently applied indoor navigation algorithms commonly ignore important environmental and human factors and therefore do not provide precise navigation. Flexible and detailed networks representing the connectivity of spaces and considering indoor objects such as furniture are very important to a precise navigation. In this paper we concentrate on indoor navigation considering obstacles represented as polygons. We introduce a specific space subdivision based on a simplified floor plan to build the indoor navigation network. The experiments demonstrate that we are able to navigate around the obstacles using the proposed network. Considering to well-known path-finding approaches based on Medial Axis Transform (MAT) or Visibility Graph (VG), the approach in this paper provides a quick subdivision of space and routes, which are compatible with the results of VG.


The problem about the synchronization of a finite deterministic automaton is not yet properly understood. The present paper investigates this and related prob- lems within the general framework of a composition theory for functions over a finite domain N with n elements. The notion of depth introduced in this connection is a good indication of the complexity of a given function, namely, the complexity with respect to the length of composition sequences in terms of functions belonging to a basic set. The depth may vary considerably with the target function. Not much is known about the reachability of some target functions, notably constants. Synchronizability of a finite automaton amounts to the representability of some constant as a composition of the functions defined by the input letters. Properties of n such as primality or being a power of 2 turn out to be important, independently of the semantic interpretation. We present some necessary, as well as some sufficient, conditions for synchronizability. We also discuss a famous conjecture about the length of the shortest synchronizing word, and present some results about universal synchronizing words.


We tested the relative effects of nutrient loading, reduced predation, and reduced grazing on eelgrass community dynamics in Chesapeake Bay and found evidence supporting the "mutualistic mesograzer model" in which small invertebrate grazers control accumulation of epiphytic algae, buffer eutrophication effects, and thus facilitate seagrass dominance. Experimental reduction of crustacean grazers in the field stimulated a nearly sixfold increase in epiphytic algae, and reduced seagrass biomass by 65% compared to controls with grazers. Nutrient fertilization generally had much weaker effects, but an interaction with mesograzers was key in changing the sign of fertilization effects on the system: aboveground eelgrass biomass was reduced by fertilization under reduced grazing, but increased by fertilization under ambient grazing. When protected from predators in field cages, these mesograzers limited epiphyte blooms even with nutrient enrichment, and nutrients instead enhanced grazer secondary production. Crustacean mesograzers play a key role in maintaining macrophyte (seagrass) dominance in Chesapeake Bay, in buffering eelgrass against eutrophication, and in efficiently transferring nitrogen to higher trophic levels. Yet, these crustacean grazers are also highly sensitive to predator abundance. Reducing nutrient pollution alone is unlikely to restore seagrass meadows where alterations to food webs have reduced populations of algae‐feeding mesograzers. Integration of both water quality and fishery management will be more effective in restoring and maintaining healthy coastal ecosystems.


The precision measurement of position has a long-standing tradition in physics. Cavendish's verification of the universal law of gravitation using a torsion pendulum, Perrin's confirmation of the atomic hypothesis via the precise measurement of the Brownian motion, and, the verification of the mechanical effect of electromagnetic radiation, all belong to this classical heritage. Quantum mechanics posits that the measurement of position results in an uncertain momentum; an idea developed to full maturity within the context of interferometric searches for gravity waves. Over the past decade, standing at the confluence of quantum optics and nanomechanics, cavity optomechanics has emerged as a powerful platform to study the quantum limits of position measurements. The subject of this thesis is the precision measurement of the position of a nano-mechanical oscillator, the fundamental limits of such measurements, and its relevance to measurement-based feedback control. The nano-mechanical oscillator is coupled to light confined in an optical micro-cavity via radiation pressure. The fluctuations in the position of the oscillator are transduced onto the phase of the light, while quantum fluctuations in the amplitude of the light leads to a disturbance in the momentum of the oscillator. We perform an interferometric position measurement with a sensitivity that is 10^5 times below what is required to resolve the zero-point motion of the oscillator, constituting the most precise measurement of thermal motion yet. The resulting disturbance -- measurement back-action -- is observed to be commensurate with the uncertainty principle, leading to a 10% contribution to the total motion of the oscillator. The continuous record of the measurement (performed in a 4 K cryogenic environment) furnishes the ability to resolve the zero-point motion of the oscillator within its decoherence rate - the necessary condition for measurement-based feedback control of the state of the oscillator. Using the measurement record as error signal, the oscillator is cooled towards its ground state, resulting in a factor 10^4 suppression of its total (thermal and back-action) motion, to a final occupation of 5 phonons on average. Measurements generally proceed by establishing correlations between the system being measured and the measuring device. For the class of quantum measurements employed here - continuous linear measurements - these correlations arise due to measurement back-action. These back-action-induced correlations appear as correlations between the degrees of freedom of the measuring device. For interferometric position measurements, quantum correlations are established between the phase and amplitude of the light. In a homodyne measurement, they lead to optical squeezing, while in a heterodyne measurement, they appear as an asymmetry in the sidebands carrying information about the oscillator position. Feedback is used to enhance sideband asymmetry, a first proof-of-principle demonstration of the ability to control quantum correlations using feedback. In the regime where amplified vacuum noise dominates the feedback signal, the disappearance of sideband asymmetry visualises a fundamental limit of linear feedback control. Using a homodyne detector, we also characterise these quantum correlations manifested as optical squeezing at the 1% level.


The difficulties to decompose organic waste can be handled naturally by pyrolisis so it can  decomposes quickly that produces charcoal as the product. This study aims to investigate the characteristics of activated carbon from urban organic waste. Charcoal results of pyrolysis of organic waste activated with KOH 1.0 M at a temperature of 700 and 800 o C for 60 to 120 minutes. Characteristics of activated carbon were identified by Furrier Transform Infra Red (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). However, their quality is determined yield, moisture content, ash, fly substances, fixed carbon, and the power of adsorption of iodine and benzene. The identified functional groups on activated carbon, such as OH (3448,5-3436,9 cm -1 ), and C=O (1639,4 cm -1 ). In general, the degree and distance between the layers of active carbon crystallites produced activation in all treatments showed no significant difference. The pattern of activated carbon surface topography structure shows that the greater the pore formation in accordance with the temperature increase the more activation time needed. The yield of activated carbon obtained ranged from 72.04 to 82.75%. The results of characterization properties of activated carbon was obtained from 1.11 to 5.41% water, 13.68 to 17.27% substance fly, 20.36 to 26.59% ash, and 56.14 to 62.31% of fixed carbon . Absorption of activated carbon was good enough at 800 o C and 120 minutes of activation time, that was equal to 409.52 mg/g of iodine and 14.03% of benzene. Activated carbon produced has less good quality, because only the water content and flying substances that meet the standards. Doi : 10.12777/ijse.5.2.89-94 [ How to cite this article : Haji, A.G., Pari, G., Nazar, M., and Habibati.  (2013). Characterization of activated carbon produced from urban organic waste . International Journal of Science and Engineering , 5(2),89-94. Doi: 10.12777/ijse.5.2.89-94 ]


The KsgA/Dim1 family of proteins is intimately involved in ribosome biogenesis in all organisms. These enzymes share the common function of dimethylating two adenosine residues near the 3'-OH end of the small subunit rRNA; orthologs in the three kingdoms, along with eukaryotic organelles, have evolved additional functions in rRNA processing, ribosome assembly, and, surprisingly, transcription in mitochondria. The methyltransferase reaction is intriguingly elaborate. The enzymes can bind to naked small subunit rRNA but cannot methylate their target bases until a subset of ribosomal proteins have bound and the nascent subunit has reached a certain level of maturity. Once this threshold is reached, the enzyme must stabilize two adenosines into the active site at separate times and two methyl groups must be transferred to each adenosine, with concomitant exchanges of the product S-adenosyl-l-homocysteine and the methyl donor substrate S-adenosyl-l-methionine. A detailed molecular understanding of this mechanism is currently lacking. Structural analysis of the interactions between the enzyme and substrate will aid in this understanding. Here we present the structure of KsgA from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii in complex with several ligands, including the first structure of S-adenosyl-l-methionine bound to a KsgA/Dim1 enzyme in a catalytically productive way. We also discuss the inability thus far to determine a structure of a target adenosine bound in its active site.


This book is the first on the topic and explains the most cutting-edge methods needed for precise calculations and explores the development of powerful algorithms to solve research problems. Multipoint methods have an extensive range of practical applications significant in research areas such as signal processing, analysis of convergence rate, fluid mechanics, solid state physics, and many others. The book takes an introductory approach in making qualitative comparisons of different multipoint methods from various viewpoints to help the reader understand applications of more complex methods. Evaluations are made to determine and predict efficiency and accuracy of presented models useful to wide a range of research areas along with many numerical examples for a deep understanding of the usefulness of each method. This book will make it possible for the researchers to tackle difficult problems and deepen their understanding of problem solving using numerical methods. Multipoint methods are of great practical importance, as they determine sequences of successive approximations for evaluative purposes. This is especially helpful in achieving the highest computational efficiency. The rapid development of digital computers and advanced computer arithmetic have provided a need for new methods useful to solving practical problems in a multitude of disciplines such as applied mathematics, computer science, engineering, physics, financial mathematics, and biology. Provides a succinct way of implementing a wide range of useful and important numerical algorithms for solving research problems Illustrates how numerical methods can be used to study problems which have applications in engineering and sciences, including signal processing, and control theory, and financial computation Facilitates a deeper insight into the development of methods, numerical analysis of convergence rate, and very detailed analysis of computational efficiencyProvides a powerful means of learning by systematic experimentation with some of the many fascinating problems in scienceIncludes highly efficient algorithms convenient for the implementation into the most common computer algebra systems such as Mathematica, MatLab, and Maple


Non-declarative sentences such as interrogatives, imperatives and exclamations are analyzed together as a single class. The author gives a general characterization of all three types and shows that there are no other types of non-declarative sentences. Definitions are offered for the notions of declaration and presupposition. These definitions are applicable to all types of sentence, both declarative and non-declarative. A defining characteristic of non-declarative sentences is that only strongly intensional operators can apply to them to form complex sentences. It is shown that this property of non-declaratives implies that such sentences do not have declarations. A particular case of the relation between questions and conditionals is studied in more detail.


A pattern recognition algorithm is described that learns a transition net grammar from positive examples. Two sets of examples -- one in English and one in Chinese -- are presented. It is hoped that language learning will reduce the knowledge acquisition effort for expert systems and make the natural language interface to database systems more transportable. The algorithm presented makes a step in that direction by providing a robust parser and reducing special interaction for introduction of new words and terms.


Abstract: A search for squarks and gluinos in final states containing high-p jets, missing transverse momentum and no electrons or muons is presented. The data were recorded in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment in (Formula presented.) TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, with a total integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb. Results are interpreted in a variety of simplified and specific supersymmetry-breaking models assuming that R-parity is conserved and that the lightest neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle. An exclusion limit at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the gluino is set at 1330 GeV for a simplified model incorporating only a gluino and the lightest neutralino. For a simplified model involving the strong production of first- and second-generation squarks, squark masses below 850 GeV (440 GeV) are excluded for a massless lightest neutralino, assuming mass degenerate (single light-flavour) squarks. In mSUGRA/CMSSM models with tan β = 30, A = −2m and μ > 0, squarks and gluinos of equal mass are excluded for masses below 1700 GeV. Additional limits are set for non-universal Higgs mass models with gaugino mediation and for simplified models involving the pair production of gluinos, each decaying to a top squark and a top quark, with the top squark decaying to a charm quark and a neutralino. These limits extend the region of supersymmetric parameter space excluded by previous searches with the ATLAS detector.[Figure not available: see fulltext.].


GaN nanowires (NWs) were grown selectively on Si(111) substrate without catalyst by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy under N-rich conditions. The selective growth was obtained using regular arrays of holes patterned in a silicon oxide layer on top of a thin AlN buffer. The optical properties of the selectively grown GaN NWs have been studied using cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy. Both, CL spectra measured on NW ensembles and spatially resolved monochromatic images were investigated. From a comparison of morphology and CL studies it emerges that NW coalescence is responsible for the appearance of the defect related emission.


The purpose of the paper is to study, from a business model perspective, value creating activities taken by SMEs when making a transition to an online multichannel context by adopting and adding e-commerce and/or m-commerce. 16 SMEs in Sweden are studied using a basic qualitative research approach and an e-transit business model configuration. Main results of the study are the existence of primary and secondary transition activities and the existence of a discrepancy between actions taken and their perceived degree of importance. One main conclusion is that the combination of value creating activities an SME should focus on during different stages of an online channel expansion differ depending on transition category and will change over time.


The transitional economies of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) have enjoyed an extraordinary period of growth and poverty reduction between 2000 and 2007 and this occurred in concomitance with significant increases in private and public transfers to households. The paper assesses the relative importance of these transfers for welfare and poverty in Moldova, the poorest country in Europe. A longitudinal analysis based on panel data reveals that private transfers and social insurance transfers are effective in improving welfare and reducing poverty whereas social assistance transfers have little or no effect. Social insurance and social assistance seem to have swapped roles. Social insurance is most relevant for lifting people out of poverty while social assistance - if anything - has a small role in protecting the non-poor from falling into poverty. We also find that the different types of transfers do not crowd-out each other and that social insurance may in fact reinforce the capacity of private transfers to reduce poverty. Such findings have several policy implications for the near future: a) Poor households in FSU transitional economies remain highly vulnerable to shocks in public and private transfers; b) the 2008-2009 recession is likely to expose this vulnerability and result in a surge in poverty larger than expected and c) the social assistance systems remain in great need of pro-poor reforms and cannot currently provide an adequate protection from economic shocks.


We consider the problem of learning the structure of Ising models (pairwise binary Markov random fields) from i.i.d. samples. While several methods have been proposed to accomplish this task, their relative merits and limitations remain somewhat obscure. By analyzing a number of concrete examples, we show that low-complexity algorithms systematically fail when the Markov random field develops long-range correlations. More precisely, this phenomenon appears to be related to the Ising model phase transition (although it does not coincide with it).


Engineering students are educated to become problem solvers. We teach them the art of analysis and synthesis. During their time at the university they acquire abilities for analyzing problems by breaking them down into smaller problems, they identify and implement solutions and then synthesize them. In most countries this is not enough if they want to become successful entrepreneurs and innovators. Higher engineering education, however, should be the ideal environment for nesting highly advanced technological and scientific entrepreneurship. Little success has been reported of engineer entrepreneurs coming right after school, mainly because of relatively low motivation amongst students and teachers but also due to social, cultural and legal barriers. In today's world, enterprise sustainability and employability are uncertain, thus the task of successfully creating a new enterprise requires the best knowledge, application of good practices and the mastery of the most advanced methodologies in enterprise management and development. It becomes essential to develop abilities and skills and to deliver tools, adequate to the necessities of these entrepreneurs. Better prepared engineering graduates with appropriate training are more eager to start their own business, which can spur economic development. Training, however, should be more than teaching courses; hands on prototype development and support via simulation has proved effective in exposing students to the entrepreneurial world and in enhancing skills and knowledge. In this paper we present tools we have developed and practices we have implemented to motivate our engineering students to become innovators, to develop their ideas and to establish their own businesses. The first tool is the Nursery of Ideas, which enables students who have an innovative idea to proceed, under guidance from mentors to utilize laboratory equipment of the University, and to build a prototype, which can prove or disprove their idea. Formal support is given to the student in terms of monetary assistance for building their prototype and with mentoring through the whole process. The second tool is the utilization of a virtual environment, which integrates four training platforms that altogether aim toward providing entrepreneurship training based on business simulation.


This article is motivated by the question whether television should do more than simply offer interactive services alongside (and separately from) traditional linear programs, in the context of its dominance being seriously challenged and threatened by interactive forms of screen media entertainment. It suggests: yes. Interactive narrativity, that is, the ability to interact with (and influence) stories whilst they are being told, represents one clear development path for interactive television. The capabilities of computing technology are ripe for exploring this new form of storytelling, from creation to commercial distribution. The article starts by looking at the relationship between narrativity and interactivity in the current context of screen media, and identifies clear signs of interest from certain European public broadcasters in interactive TV narratives. It then presents in detail four recent experimental interactive TV productions in the genres of drama, news, and documentary, developed in collaboration with public broadcasters, which illustrate the potential and richness of this new form of storytelling, but also highlight new technological capabilities necessary for such productions. A number of essential technological requirements are then discussed in more detail in the final part. The article suggests that the ShapeShifting Media Technology, employed in the implementation of the four productions, has made significant advances both at the technological and the creative ends in supporting the development of interactive TV narrativity, but, however, that further developments are required before being able to answer questions such as "Would end users want such a form of screen media entertainment?" and "Would it be effective for both end users and producers?"


Abstract In this paper, two-phase-flow oscillations at the natural-circulation CIRCUS test facility are investigated in a two-riser configuration. These oscillations are driven by flashing (and to some extent by geysering). For a given range of operating conditions of the facility, the oscillations exhibit erratic behavior. This study demonstrates that this behavior can be attributed to deterministic chaos. This is proven by performing a continuous wavelet transform of the measured time series. Any hidden self-similarity in the measurement is seen in the corresponding scale-space plane. The novelty of the present investigation lies with the multifractal approach used for characterizing the chaos. Both nonlinear time series analysis and wavelet-based analysis methods show that the dynamics of the flow oscillations has a multifractal structure. For the former, both Higuchi's method and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) were used, whereas for the latter, the wavelet-transform modulus-maxima method was used. The strange attractor corresponding to the dynamics of the system can thus be described as a set of interwoven monofractal objects. The global singular properties of the measured time series is then fully characterized by a spectrum of singularities f(α), which is the Hausdorff dimension of the set of points where the multifractal object has singularities of strength (or Hölder exponents of) α. Whereas Higuchi's method and DFA allow easily determining whether the deterministic chaos has a monofractal or multifractal hierarchy, the wavelet-transform modulus-maxima has the advantage of giving a quantitative estimation of the fractal spectrum. The time-modeling of such behavior of the facility is therefore difficult since there is sensitive dependence on initial conditions. From a regulatory point of view, such behavior of natural-circulation systems in a multiple-riser configuration has thus to be avoided.


We consider a very simple competitive economy with infinitesimal agents and asymmetric information. We define a Common Knowledge (CK hereafter) Equilibrium as a price distribution compatible with CK of market clearing and rationality. At equilibrium, expectational mistakes and incorrect information revelation by price are possible. But, whenever unique, the CK equilibrium is a fully revealing Rational Expectations Equilibrium. Hence uniqueness of equilibrium means market informational efficiency. We give different conditions of uniqueness of equilibrium bearing on the information structure. The first ones emphasize that many informed agents are required for market efficiency. Agents need not be perfectly informed, but each "piece" of information has to be known by a large enough proportion of the population. The main result is a characterization of the information structures allowing for local uniqueness: multiplicity of equilibria obtains when all the agents have to extract information from the price to obtain information about the same event. We show that this result holds in an exchange economy with finitely many goods and generic preferences. Finally, we provide a simple market game in which the CK-equilibria obtain through infinitely repeated elimination of weakly dominated strategies.


In this work, an automated image analysis procedure for the quantification of microstructure evolution during creep is proposed for evaluating scanning electron microscopy micrographs of a single crystal Ni-based superalloy before and after creep at 950 °C and 350 MPa. scanning electron microscopy-micrographs of γ/γ′ microstructures are transformed into binary images. Image analysis, which involves pixel by pixel classification and feature extraction, is then combined with a supervised machine learning algorithm to improve the binarization and the quality of the results. The binarization of the gray scale images is not always straight forward, especially when the difference in gray levels between the γ-channels and the γ′-phase is small. To optimize feature extraction, we utilized a series of bilateral filters as well as a machine learning algorithm, known as the gradient boosting method, that was used for training and classifying the micrograph pixels. After testing the two methods, the gradient boosting method was identified as the most effective. Subsequently, a Python routine was written and implemented for the automated quantification of the γ′ area fraction and the γ channel width. Our machine learning method is documented and the results of the automatic procedure are discussed based on results which we previously reported in the literature.


This chapter investigates Paul Auster's novels The Brooklyn Follies (2006) and The Book of Illusions (2002) from a cognitive stylistic and corpus stylistic perspective. The first section shows that, following Fauconnier and Turner's (2002) approach to blending, the blend of writing is medicine, and some variations on it, structure the main characters' mental lives as well as the readers' inferencing processes. In the second part of the chapter, I test to what extent the blend of writing is medicine has a textually foregrounded base. Drawing on corpus stylistic methods, I demonstrate that the input spaces of writing and medicine both implicitly and explicitly show up in the lexico-grammatical structure of The Brooklyn Follies. Finally, I stress the need for using a cognitive stylistic approach in conjunction with text-based methods to measure and describe in detail the lexico-grammatical character of a text.


Adopting a back-to-the-basics approach, this bestselling little Mac classic has been revised and overhauled to introduce users to Snow Leopard, Apple's newest version of its operating system. In the gentle, friendly, funny style that generations of computer users have come to know and love, author Robin Williams shows readers how to dive in and start working with the Mac and OS X Snow Leopard. This full-color little book walks readers through all of the key new features in Snow Leopard. Using straightforward, jargon-free explanations delivered in logical, easy-to-follow sections, Robin is a new user's personal guide, coaching and encouraging readers as they learn their way around the magic of the Mac.


Objectives: This study aimed to predict the binding pose of bufadienolides from Kalanchoe pinnata on Na+/K+-ATPase using molecular docking in comparison with a known inhibitor, and to determine the important functional group of bufadienolide that is responsible for good binding. Material and methods: Docking was performed on the receptor file (PDB ID: 4RES) using AutoDock 4.2. Before docking, the complex structure of ligand-receptor was minimized using AMBER 14. The physico-chemical properties were predicted using Biovia Draw. Results: The sterical hindrance of Glu117 to the 1,3,5-orthoacetate moiety was removed after minimisation. The docking energy, Polar Surface Area (PSA) and A Log P showed good correlation with the experimental data. The 14-OH of all bufadienolides formed a hydrogen bond with Thr797. However, the energy breakdown analysis of docking result demonstrated that C1 has the highest ligand efficiency with the strongest hydrogen bond and electrostatic energies, followed by C2 and C3. The hydrogen bond from the 10-OH and the orthoacetate ring in C1 was stronger than that of 10-CH2OH in C2 and 10-OH in C3. Conclusion: The best activity of C1, as compared to C2 and C3, was due to the presence of 1,3,5-orthoacetate moiety, 10-CHO, 11-OH, and 14-OH. In addition, the 11-OH group appeared to decrease the toxicity of the bufadienolide by improving its selectivity to the receptor. This result is expected to be useful in the further development of bufadienolide-based inhibitor for anticancer. Key words: Bufadienolide, Kalanchoe Pinnata , Anticancer, Na+/K+-Atpase, Molecular Docking.


Documented health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities exist in the United States, and health injustices frequently have deep historical ties, especially in the South. Therefore, it is critically important for students to understand root causes of both historical and contemporary public health issues and their effects on population health. In spring 2018, 15 undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham participated in a six-credit-hour travel course by touring throughout the Deep South to learn more about the ways in which history and place interact with programs, policies, and practices to influence population health. Students saw firsthand how the social determinants of health frequently affected access to health care and discovered the value of a multidisciplinary approach to public health and health programs in addressing health equity. The purpose of this article is to describe student experiences with the travel course through an exploration of students' reflective journal entries, blog posts, and student presentations. Additionally, the authors report results of a self-assessment designed to measure student interest and level of comfort in working with, or on behalf of, medically underserved populations. The article concludes with implications for public health and best practices for offering place-based courses across academic majors.


Artificial intelligence ("AI") has attracted significant attention and has imposed challenges for society. Yet surprisingly, scholars have paid little attention to the impediments AI imposes on patent law's disclosure function from the lenses of theory and policy. Patents are conditioned on inventors describing their inventions, but the inner workings and the use of AI in the inventive process are not properly understood or are largely unknown. The lack of transparency of the parameters of the AI inventive process or the use of AI makes it difficult to enable a future use of AI to achieve the same end state. While patent law's enablement doctrine focuses on the particular result of the invention process, in contrast, this Article suggests that AI presents a lack of transparency and difficulty in replication that profoundly and fundamentally challenge disclosure theory in patent law. A reasonable onlooker or a patent examiner may find it difficult to explain the inner workings of AI. But even more pressing is a non-detection problem—an overall lack of disclosure of unidentified AI inventions, or knowing whether the particular end state was produced by the use of AI.

The complexities of AI require enhancing the disclosure requirement since the peculiar characteristics of the end state cannot be described by the inventive process that produced it. This Article introduces a taxonomy of AI and argues that an enhanced AI patent disclosure requirement mitigates concerns surrounding the explainability of AI-based tools and the inherent inscrutability of AI-generated output. Such emphasis of patent disclosure for AI may steer some inventors toward trade secrecy and push others to seek patent protection against would-be patent infringers despite added ex ante costs and efforts. Utilitarian and Lockean theories suggest justifications for enhanced AI patent disclosure while recognizing some objections. Turning to the prescriptive, this Article proposes and assesses, as means for achieving enhanced disclosure, a variety of disclosure-specific incentives and data deposits for AI. It concludes by offering insights for innovation and for a future empirical study to verify its theoretical underpinnings.


This paper compares the level of uncertainty widely reported in climate change scientific publications with the level of uncertainty of the costs estimates of implementing the Kyoto Protocol in the United States. It argues that these two categories of uncertainties were used and ignored, respectively, in the policy making process in the US so as to challenge the scientific basis on the one hand and on the other hand to assert that reducing emissions would hurt the economy by an amount stated without any qualification. The paper reviews the range of costs estimates published since 1998 on implementing the Kyoto Protocol in the US. It comments on the significance of these cost estimates and identifies a decreasing trend in the successive estimates. This implies that initially some of the most influential economic model-based assessments seem to have overestimated the costs, an overestimation that may have played a significant role in the US decision to withdraw from the Protocol. The paper concludes with advocating that future economic estimates always include uncertainty ranges, so as to be in line with a basic transparency practice prevailing in climate science.


The extrusive and intrusive members of the St. Helena rock suite (SHRS) are formed in an intra-oceanic plate tectonic setting as part of two shield volcanoes. The SHRS vary from picrobasalts to phonofites. The former represent mantle
derived melts, whereas the remainder of the suite have undergone differing degrees of crystal fractionation. A stratigraphic framework is developed to illustrate temporal geochemical variations over 2 Ma of subaerial activity. This is accomplished in conjunction with a detailed field study of the SHRS by Baker(1968) which is shown to be largely accurate. It is demonstrated that ascending magma batches are substantially modified by crystal fractionation and subsequent alteration processes. Petrogenetic modelling shows that the genesis of the SHRS is consistent with small degree (1-10%) melting of an olivine - clinopyroxene - orthopyroxene - garnet source containing a residual K-rich
phase. Combined Sr-Nd-Pb isotope and fractionation corrected trace element data for fresh rocks enable consideration of changing thermal and chemical fluxes impinging on and interacting with the base of the lithosphere over a period of at least 2 Ma. The existence of two geochemically distinct components in the
source region is indicated. A H/MU (high 238U /104Pb)c omponent has extremely radiogenic Pb isotopes (206Pb/104Pb> 20.8) with 143Nd/'44Nd and 87S8r,6 Sr displaced below the mantle array. The complementary depleted component has
less radio genic Pb and Sr isotopic compositions and more radio genic Nd compositions. The limited variation of geochemical compositions in the SHRS (caused by mixing of these components) is attributed to the dissimilarity of the
components in terms of their trace element abundance and their similarity in terms of ratios of highly incompatible elements. Coupled trace element and isotope variations are evident during the activity of each volcano. During shield
development an increase in incompatible trace element enrichment occurs. This is coupled to a decrease in 143Nd/'44Nd, whilst Sr and Pb become progressively more radiogenic. The time dependent variations are thought to be consistent with mixing and melting processes occurring at the base of, or within the lithosphere. A decrease in the signature of the depleted component at the end of activity of the NE volcano and SW volcano is the inferred result of a decreasing thermal flux acting on the base of the lithosphere. With lower heat input less fusion of the depleted component (from the asthenosphere or lithosphere) occurs resulting in an increased H/MU signature in the erupted products through time. Previous explanations for the development of the dominant HIMU component are
critically reviewed by considering shared isotope and trace element characteristics for HIMU OIB. U-Th-Pb systematics suggest the HIMU component has remained discrete from other mantle components for approximately 2 Ga. The fractionation event producing the H/MU component is shown to cause an increase in U/Pb and a decrease in Rb/Sr and Th/U.. This is
thought to be consistent with a model suggested by Hofmann and White(1980,1982). in which HIMU represents ancient recycled altered oceanic crust. It is demonstrated that other models are less tenable. It is thought that the
HIMU characteristics necessitate modification of oceanic crust in subduction zones in addition to the geochemical changes caused by hydrothermal alteration of oceanic crust.


The Maximum Likelihood method estimates the parameter values of a statistical model that maximize the corresponding likelihood function, given the sample information. This is the primal approach that, in this paper, is presented as a mathematical programming specification whose solution requires the formulation of a Lagrange problem. A remarkable result of this setup is that the Lagrange multipliers associated with the linear statistical model (regarded as a set of constraints) is equal to the vector of residuals scaled by the variance of those residuals. The novel contribution of this paper consists in developing the dual model of the Maximum Likelihood method under normality assumptions. This model minimizes a function of the variance of the error terms subject to orthogonality conditions between the errors and the space of explanatory variables. An intuitive interpretation of the dual problem appeals to basic elements of information theory and establishes that the dual maximizes the net value of the sample information. This paper presents the dual ML model for a single regression and for a system of seemingly unrelated regressions.


Within the agriculture sector the use of digital technologies is rapidly expanding. There is a growing shortage of skilled people considering a career within this sector to support the uptake of agricultural technology. The GPS Cows program is designed to improve secondary school student's knowledge and skills of emerging agricultural technologies. It highlights a range of opportunities and potential career options available to students in agriculture. This collaborative project combines the expertise and passion of researchers, industry professionals and educators in both Australia and the USA. A pilot workshop was run with ten teachers from nine Queensland and New South Wales secondary schools. Teachers participated in lectures and practical workshops, developed data analysis skills and took part in a World Café style focus group. The focus group findings highlighted that for the GPS Cows program to be implemented in secondary school classrooms, excellent resources from the GPS Cows team are needed, combined with ongoing support and guidance. Nevertheless, the participating teachers felt that their students would both engage and enjoy participating in the GPS Cows program and realise the opportunities the agricultural sector offers.


Research suggests that individuals' personality traits are uniquely related to the patterns of their social interactions. This study addresses whether and how personality traits condition the social interaction patterns when people discuss politics in their immediate social environment. We explore the interactive relationship between discussion partners' personality traits, disagreement, and expertise when they discuss the economy and immigration. Combining a multilevel approach with a propensity score analysis, this examination of a nationally representative sample of Austrian citizens finds that, although political agreement may motivate individuals to frequently discuss politics, not all citizens are equally affected by expertise, nor is such influence identical for different discussion topics.


When linked data applications communicate, they commonly use messaging technologies in which the message exchange itself is not represented as linked data, since it takes place on a different architectural level. When a message cannot be verified and traced on the linked data level, trust in data is moved from message originators to service providers. However, there are use cases in which the actual message exchange and its verifiability are of importance. In such situations, the separation between application data and communication data is not desirable. To address this, we propose messaging based on linked data, where communicating entities and their messages are represented as interconnected Web resources, and we show how conversations can be made verifiable using digital signatures.


The author's first encounter with Jacques Monod was over forty years ago when he gave the Dunham lectures at the Harvard Medical School. In 1965 that Monod and the author published their joint paper with J.- P. Changeux on what has come to be known as the M–W–C allosteric model. This paper, which appeared in the Journal of Molecular Biology, grew out of a seminar the author gave in Paris in 1964; and in turn was the result of a talk given the preceding summer at Cold Spring Harbor. The underlying linkage principles, in accordance with which ligand-linked conformational changes can give rise to both homotropic and heterotropic control, had already been laid down, and it was this subject that formed the basis of the talk the author gave in Paris. The introductory part dealing with the possible role of symmetry in the assembly of oligomeric proteins was largely due to Jacques. Although the author had introduced the concept of symmetry, pointing out that insofar as site interactions were the reflection of the spacing of the sites, symmetry of function as represented by symmetry of the binding curve implied a certain geometric symmetry in a macromolecule. The rest of the paper was based largely on the sure principles of classical thermodynamics. In the talks by Jacques and the author, Jacques stressed the geometric symmetry concept; the author stressed more on abstract thermodynamic ideas, taking the occasion also to introduce the closely related concept of the binding potential.


A paired‐watershed approach was used to compare the quality and fluxes of dissolved organic matter (DOM) during stormflow and baseflow in two lowland tropical rainforest streams located in northeastern Costa Rica. The Arboleda stream received regional groundwater (RGW) flow, whereas the Taconazo stream did not. DOM quality was assessed with absorbance and fluorescence and stable carbon isotope (δ13C‐DOC) values. RGW DOM lacked detectable fluorescence and had specific ultraviolet absorption (SUVA254) and absorbance slope ratio (SR) values consistent with low aromaticity and low molecular weight material, respectively. We attributed these properties to microbial degradation and sorption of humic DOM to mineral surfaces during transport through bedrock. SUVA254 values were lower and SR values were higher in the Arboleda stream during baseflow compared to the Taconazo stream, presumably due to dilution by RGW. However, no significant difference in SUVA254 or SR occurred between the streams during stormflow. SUVA254 was negatively correlated to δ13C‐DOC (r2 = 0.61, P < 0.001), demonstrating a strong linkage between stream DOM characteristics and the relative amounts of RGW flow and local watershed runoff containing soil and throughfall C sources. Mean DOC export from the Taconazo stream during the study period was 2.62 ± 0.39 g C m−2 year−1, consistent with other tropical streams, yet mean DOC export from the Arboleda stream was 13.79 ± 2.07 g C m−2 year−1, one of the highest exports reported and demonstrating a substantial impact of old RGW from outside the watershed boundary can have on surface water carbon cycling.


In this chapter, we provide an overview of recent advances in data-driven and theory-informed complex models of social networks and their potential in understanding societal inequalities and marginalization. We focus on inequalities arising from networks and network-based algorithms and how they affect minorities. In particular, we examine how homophily and mixing biases shape large and small social networks, influence perception of minorities, and affect collaboration patterns. We also discuss dynamical processes on and of networks and the formation of norms and health inequalities. Additionally, we argue that network modeling is paramount for unveiling the effect of ranking and social recommendation algorithms on the visibility of minorities. Finally, we highlight the key challenges and future opportunities in this emerging research topic.


In this paper we report results of IBIS-AMI based link analyses of realistic 56G PAM4 channels. Systems under investigation are represented by channel S-parameters and SerDes AMI models that capture actual chip designs, including impedance, equalizations and embedded tuning. 4-level time-domain input waveforms are processed by Tx and Rx models, which return output waveforms along with sampling times and slicer thresholds. Eye diagram and SER are calculated individually for each eye to measure link performance. Results of upper, center and lower eyes at various data rates are presented. Crosstalk and jitter impacts are investigated.


Masking is said to occur when a mask stimulus interferes with the visibility of a target (test) stimulus. One widely held view of this process supposes interactions between mask and test mechanisms (cross-channel masking), and explicit models (e.g., J. M. Foley, 1994) have proposed that the interactions are inhibitory. Unlike a within-channel model, where masking involves the combination of mask and test stimulus within a single mechanism, this cross-channel inhibitory model predicts that the mask should attenuate the perceived contrast of a test stimulus. Another possibility is that masking is due to an increase in noise, in which case, perception of contrast should be unaffected once the signal exceeds detection threshold. We use circular patches and annuli of sine-wave grating in contrast detection and contrast matching experiments to test these hypotheses and investigate interactions across spatial frequency, orientation, field position, and eye of origin. In both types of experiments we found substantial effects of masking that can occur over a factor of 3 in spatial frequency, 45 degrees in orientation, across different field positions and between different eyes. We found the effects to be greatest at the lowest test spatial frequency we used (0.46 c/deg), and when the mask and test differed in all four dimensions simultaneously. This is surprising in light of previous work where it was concluded that suppression from the surround was strictly monocular (C. Chubb, G. Sperling, & J. A. Solomon, 1989). The results confirm that above detection threshold, cross-channel masking involves contrast suppression and not (purely) mask-induced noise. We conclude that cross-channel masking can be a powerful phenomenon, particularly at low test spatial frequencies and when mask and test are presented to different eyes.


[1] We use data from the Meso-America Subduction Experiment to detect and locate low-frequency earthquakes (LFEs) in the Mexican subduction zone. We use visually-identified templates to perform a network waveform correlation search that produced ~17,000 robustly detected LFEs that form 15 distinct families. Stacking an LFE family's corresponding detections results in seismograms with high signal-to-noise ratios and clear P and S wave arrivals; we use these travel times to locate the sources. The resulting locations superpose a previously identified region of permanent non-volcanic tremor (NVT) activity. Husker et al. (2012) called this region a Sweet Spot, suggesting that the local conditions are adequate to continuously generate NVT. The LFE hypocenters have been located at a depth of 40–45 km in an area that is surrounding the upper slab-plate interface. We characterize their focal mechanisms by comparing their stacked seismograms to synthetic seismograms. This analysis reveals a common low-dipping focal mechanism.


Desalination is one of the most promising technologies to mitigate an emerging water crisis. Thermal desalination and reverse osmosis are two of the most widely employed desalination technologies in the world. However, these technologies are energy intensive. In countries like Singapore which lack natural water and energy resources, it is imperative to develop innovative energy efficient technologies to strengthen the energy – water nexus. Clathrate hydrate based desalination (HyDesal) is one such technology. Clathrate hydrate based desalination (HyDesal) process is based on a liquid to solid phase change by employing a suitable guest gas/ gas mixture for the phase change. In the HyDesal process, water molecules form cages around a guest gas/liquid component effectively rejecting salts present in the brine solution at temperatures slightly higher than normal freezing temperature of water. These crystals when dissociated or melted are essentially fresh water and the guest component can be re-used for the process again. While HyDesal process was proposed almost 70 years ago, it was never commercialized primarily due to the high energy requirement for low temperature operation, slow hydrate formation kinetics and inefficient hydrate crystal separation from brine. Recently, we reported an enhanced hydrate formation kinetics in fixed bed reactor with silica sand as porous media when hydrate is formed from gas mixture consisting propane as co-guest. Based on the ability of propane to draw dispersed water from sand bed towards the gas phase for hydrate growth, we proposed a conceptual hydrate based desalination (ColdEn-HyDesal) process employing fixed bed reactor configuration to minimize the energy requirement. The ability of propane as a co-guest to draw water from the silica sand bed can be effectively used for the HyDesal process to address the slow kinetics and effective separation of the hydrate crystals. In this presentation, our state of the art prototype design and optimized process conditions will be presented. With our innovative reactor design, we carried out water recovery experiments to find the suitable guest gas mixture containing propane as co-guest. The other constituent in the gas mixture employed were methane, argon, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Further kinetic experiments were carried out to optimize the silica sand particle size, bed height. Our recent knowledge on enhancing the kinetics of hydrate formation and innovative approach to offset the refrigeration cost for the HyDesal process can be applied to efficiently desalinate seawater to produce potable water. With our innovative reactor design and utilizing waste LNG cold energy, HyDesal can be a sustainable solution for desalination. The ColeEn-HyDesal process utilizing waste LNG cold energy will have a huge impact globally as well due to the expanding number of LNG terminals and the potential to mitigate the potable water issues.


Introduction: Midface fractures represent a significant amount of the traumatological load handled by the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery (MFS), University Hospital, Zurich (USZ). Various fracture classifications have evolved from early descriptions of general patterns to modern, reproducible and computerised schematics. Although the modern classification systems are advantageous, particularly when it comes to statistical analysis and exact fracture recording, older systems prevail because of their simplicity. This is particularly true for the Le Fort and Rowe classification systems which are still in everyday usage. Objective: To quantify and analyse the number of
midface fractures with associated facial fractures from 1990 up to and including 2001 operatively treated in the Department of MFS USZ as well as various social and
general injury determinants. Materials and Methods: The hospitals databases and patient files were searched for relevant information and this was entered into a
computerised dataset. Using SPSS software descriptive statistics and logistic regression were performed. Results: 591 patients suffered from 1588 fractures
equalling 2.7 fractures per patient. 106 (17.9%) patients additionally suffered from 188 (11.7%) mandibular and 72 (12.2%) patients from a total of 83 (5.2%) supraorbital
fractures in addition to their midface fractures. The fractures were split into categories defined in literature, fracture distribution to each other and to injury mechanisms were analysed and neural trauma, polytrauma and panfacial trauma reviewed separately.
The average age was 39.4 years with a SD of 16.6 with a male peak at 25 to 30 years of age and a female peak slightly earlier at 20 to 25 years. The male to female ratio
was 3:1 overall. The most common cause of injury was traffic accidents, followed closely by sports accidents and assault. Discussion: Our midface fracture population
had more and more serious injuries than average according to literature. The results are discussed in detail.


Microgrid concepts are gradually becoming more popular because they are expected to interface with renewable energies, increase end users' reliability and resiliency, and promote seamless integration of distributed generators (DG) and energy storage units [1]. Most units are connected through power electronics interfaces, such as ac-dc, dc-dc, and dc-ac converters. The converter design and control are critical to the stability and efficiency of a microgrid. A microgrid may operate in either gird connected mode or islanded mode [1]. In terms of stability, the grid connected mode is less challenging compared to the islanded mode of operation due to the nearly infinite ac bus having a very small equivalent impedance. This results in negligible interference between multiple converters. High power converters [2] operating in islanded mode encounter stability problems due to their relatively small impedance. One of the aforementioned instability cases is demonstrated in a microgrid testbed built at the University of Arkansas. To mitigate the instability, modeling and control methods of high power voltage source converters are reviewed. Traditional methods of designing low power ac filters may not expand to high power design directly. Most academic papers designed ac filter inductors which have a fixed inductance value. This dissertation proposed a variable inductor whose inductance value changes by a factor of three from low current to peak current. The variable inductor approach gives many benefits with regard to high power microgrid applications. The design process of the inductor is described and simulation tools are used to verify the feasibility before final prototyping of the inductor. A start-up control algorithm is important for a high power ac-dc converter, otherwise inrush current caused by the dc capacitor bank may trigger over current protection, induce system oscillation, or even result in a system collapse. The reason of inrush current is analyzed in details. An improved soft-start control algorithm is proposed and the inrush current is greatly reduced which is validated in both simulation and experimental results. A microgrid hardware testbed prototype is proposed and tested successfully. The rating of the power converter described here is greater than 1 MVA.


In this paper, performance of centrifugal pump as turbine (PAT) is investigated numerically. Three different specific speeds are considered and three pumps are designed using diagrams from catalogues and CFturbo V.9 software. Next, models are analyzed by Ansys CFX 16 software and results are compared with those of CFturbo software. Also, a mesh study analysis for one case is performed in order to show the effect of grid size on the solution. In addition, three different flow rates of 75%, 100%, and 125% of best efficiency point (BEP) are considered for extracting head-flow rate diagrams and comparing results of CFX and CFturbo software. In next step, using relations between pump and turbine modes (PAT formulations) and by changing boundary conditions in CFX, turbine mode is investigated and efficiency is compared with pump mode. Finally, by an economic analysis a comparison between PATs and turbines with same nominal output powers are performed to distinguish which case is more profitable. Results showed that PATs have lower payback time in comparison with turbines with equal output power (in low capacities), although they have lower efficiencies.


Why not actively incorporate the natural climate into the design of a building? Why not exploit the potential of natural ventilation? Why not use sun blinds to collect solar energy? Intelligent climate-engineering aims to design aesthetically pleasing buildings with low energy consumption, economical maintenance and reduced production costs. One of the most successful climate engineering firms is Transsolar Energietechnik in Stuttgart, who have acted as consultants to prominent architects such as Ben van Berkel, Murphy / Jahn, Frank O. Gehry, Auer+Weber, Behnisch & Partner, and James Carpenter. This book provides an aesthetic overview of Transsolar's integrated building and energy concepts covering aspects such as load-bearing structures, heat and ventilation systems, light planning, and facade construction. It includes contributions by architects who have made use of Transsolar's concepts and an extensive glossary of technical terms.


Introduction: The symbol digit modality test is a reactive which provides great support in neuropsychological evaluation. Its execution permits to evaluate brain functions such as visual perception, stimuli recognition, attention (focal, selective and sustained), task supervision, interference control among others. Object: The purpose of the current research study was to analyze the normative percentiles of the execution of the test, to identify the performance activity of the reactive according to age group and gender; applying the test in a sample of college students. Method: The sample included 250 university students,142 (56.8%) males and 108 (43.2%) females. The age range of the participants was between 18 and 34 years old (M=21.53, DE=2.25). A transversal, nonexperimental, quantitative research model with a correlational scope was used. Results: The correct answer average for the test was 52.83 (DE=13,60) and for percentile P5 31,55 right answers were found; for percentile P75 60,00 right answers, P25 had 46,00 right answers, and for P95 74,45 right answers were found. No significant differences were found for the mean of errors in the test in terms of age group f(3, 246)=0,67, p=0,57 and gender t(248)=0,68, p=0,49 of the participants as comparison factor. Conclusions: Results were discussed based on prior research pointing out the importance of counting with a first statistical parameter of the test as ground for neuropsychological clinical practice in Ecuador.


The generally scant attention paid to autobiographical writings in Iranian literary tradition extends to Iran's religious seminaries. In fact, a review of the factors that have inhibited Iran's Shi'ite leaders from engaging in autobiographical writing may shed some light on the reasons for the near absence of this genre in Persian literature. This article elaborates on two main inhibiting factors in Iran's Shi'ite seminaries. The first concerns the religious perception of man and his relationship to God. Writing an autobiography, it is assumed, affects one's relationships with others. In Islamic thought the special relationship between God and man may also affect an individual's relationship with others. The author suggests that Islamic tradition does not condone writings and reports that dwell on one's personal life or mundane and worldly events. Such a realm belongs solely to God. Indeed, autobiographical writing seriously disturbs the assumed traditional relationship between man and his creator.
The second factor is related to Shi'ite seminarians' perception of the act of writing itself. The author claims that in Iran's Islamic tradition logic dictates that written word emanate from oral culture and be based not only on the sacred text but, more importantly, on the Islamic interpretation of the language. In other words, the Shi'ite linguistic methodology should supercede all manners of writing. Thus, the Shi'ite seminarians have generally lacked linguistic tools to create the forms and meanings appropriate for autobiographical writing.
A number of other factors, according to the author, have also contributed to the reluctance of Iranian religious leaders to engage in autobiographical writing. Among these factors one should include the prevailing economic and financial underpinnings of the Shi'ite clerical hierarchy, the relationship between this hierarchy and other centers of social and political power and the imperatives of the relationship between the clerics and their followers.


Purpose: Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is characterized by the t(11;14)(q13;q32) translocation leading to cyclin D1 overexpression. Cyclin D1 is a major cell-cycle regulator and also regulates transcription, but the impact of cyclin D1–mediated transcriptional dysregulation on MCL pathogenesis remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to define a cyclin D1–dependent gene expression program and analyze its prognostic value. Experimental Design: We integrated genome-wide expression analysis of cyclin D1–silenced and overexpressing cells with cyclin D1 chromatin-binding profiles to identify a cyclin D1–dependent transcriptional program in MCL cells. We analyzed this gene program in two MCL series of peripheral blood samples (n = 53) and lymphoid tissues (n = 106) to determine its biological and clinical relevance. We then obtained a simplified signature of this program and evaluated a third series of peripheral blood MCL samples (n = 81) by NanoString gene expression profiling to validate our findings. Results: We identified a cyclin D1–dependent transcriptional program composed of 295 genes that were mainly involved in cell-cycle control. The cyclin D1–dependent gene program was overexpressed in MCL tumors directly proportional to cyclin D1 levels. High expression of this program conferred an adverse prognosis with significant shorter overall survival of the patients. These observations were validated in an independent cohort of patients using a simplified 37-gene cyclin D1 signature. The cyclin D1–dependent transcriptional program was also present in multiple myeloma and breast tumors with cyclin D1 overexpression. Conclusions: We identified a cyclin D1–dependent transcriptional program that is overexpressed in MCL and predicts clinical outcome.


Abstract The evaporative light scattering detector enables the detection and quantitation of all relatively non-volatile lipids. The mixtures of polar and non-polar lipids were separated in one run, in 20 to 25 minutes on Silica Si-100 columns, using consecutive gradients of pentane to diethylether, to chloroform, to methanol containing a large concentration of ammonia. The flexibility of the method is illustrated by the change in elution patterns following the treatment of the packing material by ammonia. For example, the elution order of phosphatidyl inositol and phosphatidyl choline is reversed and the separation of the former compound from phosphatidyl serine, which is generally difficult, is now accomplished readily. The weak dependence of the detector sensitivity on the nature of the analytes permits an easy quantitation, as illustrated by the results of the analyses of lipid classes in blood serum, amniotic fluid, beef brain and other natural samples. The method is particularly useful for the analy...


According to Business Software Alliance statistics, four out of every ten software programs is pirated in software business, world wide. Global piracy rate has increased 40% over the past years and nearly $11 billion is lost. This is definitely a clear threat for software producers and thus to global economy. Over the years, several software protection techniques have been developed, code obfuscation is one of them and it is very promising. Code obfuscation is a form of software protection against unauthorized reverse-engineering. In this paper we discuss software protection techniques in general and provide a broad overview of known obfuscation algorithms. We also address the issues related to implementation of obfuscation algorithms. Finally we propose JHide, an obfuscation tool kit for protection of Java code. We conclude our paper identifying the need for reviewing the performance of the algorithms as the future scope of our work.