Recognition of elevated concentrations of aciniform soot in Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-P) boundary sediments worldwide led to the hypothesis that global-scale forest wildfires could have been generated by the K-P boundary bolide impact and might have contributed directly to the extinction event. The wildfires are estimated to have injected 10 13 t of CO 2 into the atmosphere, resulting in an interval of greenhouse warming. Yet minimal amounts of charred plant remains and abundant noncharred material occur in various K-P boundary locations across North America. This refutes the inference that wildfires occurred on a global scale, and requires an alternative explanation for the aciniform soot. Here we describe significant concentrations of carbon cenospheres in K-P boundary sediments from New Zealand, Denmark, and Canada. Carbon cenospheres are thought to derive solely from incomplete combustion of pulverized coal or fuel-oil droplets, which suggests that the impact may have combusted organic-rich target crust. The Chicxulub impact crater is located adjacent to the Cantarell oil reservoir, one of the most productive oil fields on Earth. This indicates that abundance of organic carbon in the Chicxulub target crust was likely to have been above global mean values. But even if we discount Chicxulub9s organic-rich locality, the global mean crustal abundance for fossil organic matter is more than adequate to account for observed concentrations of both carbon cenospheres and aciniform soot, therefore making the global wildfire hypothesis unnecessary.


At the University of Huddersfield, we were awarded a pot of "innovation" money for a small-scale project to develop good quality online information literacy materials in the light of fewer library staff available for information skills sessions coupled with increasingly large groups of students. This poster will tell the story of the project, complete with its highs and lows. It demonstrates that often it is the process rather than the outcome that can be an equally valuable learning experience for all involved. Work done so far includes:

Mapping the relevant strands of the ANCIL framework to our current materials in order to decide where there are gaps in our provision.

Location and evaluation of OERs in the field of information literacy with a view to quality and re-usability.

The purchase, training and use of Articulate Storyline as the preferred medium for creation and re-purposing of materials.

Some of the issues we cover are:

OERS are often difficult to use as they are "branded" and are relevant to specific institutions. It is not always possible to change them. Additionally, licences can restrict the nature of their reuse/repurposing

Fragmentation of the ANCIL framework strands due to the "academic skills" aspects being located elsewhere in the structure

Our attempts to reconcile the generic and the subject-specific aspects of the project

Sustainability and who will update the materials when the initial project is complete.

How to gain "buy in" from academic staff given that there is a great deal of material out there that they can already use if they wish to do so


Large housing estates: for some people these three words symbolise all that is wrong in urban planning. Large is wrong, because many people prefer a living surrounding that reflects the human scale. Housing as a single function is wrong, because mixed areas are livelier. And estates are wrong, as these refer to top-down planned areas which the residents themselves have no say in. Although many such estates function well, others have proved to be in serious problems. The question is how to deal with this legacy. For these estates to recover, an integrated solution is needed. Large-scale problems require large-scale interventions. The Amsterdam Bijlmermeer area has been the most deprived and stigmatised area in the Netherlands for at least a quarter of a century, despite its glorious design in the 1960s. The Bijlmermeer can now be considered as a leading case for area regeneration. The author has followed this fascinating neighbourhood for years and provides an analysis of its construction, fall and recovery. Moreover, he compares the Bijlmermeer with many other large housing estates in the Netherlands and abroad, and analyses what conclusions may be of use for other areas.


ABSTRACT Between 1956 and 1959, amid far-flung residential and industrial suburbanization and with the joint backing of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Twentieth Century Fund, an interdisciplinary coterie of scholars from Harvard partnered with New York's Regional Plan Association to produce a widely read ten-volume 'projection' of what the physical plant, political economy, and everyday lives of that metropolis would look like in 1985. This paper considers the New York Metropolitan Region Study as a peculiar, consequential exercise in how postwar urbanists recast urban temporality. Rejecting both the certainties of prophecy and the hazards of mere prediction, the Study sought to establish a new tense for urbanism and a newly disciplined set of methods for making inferences about the urban future on the basis of the past and present. The constituent volumes of the NYMRS garnered various degrees of influence in isolation. The sum total both furthered acceptance of a regional scale of operations for planning and decisively chastened hopes for political intervention on urban and regional futures.


Taken from Introduction: Disasters have a major impact on the living conditions of the population, the economic performance of the countries or regions affected, and on environmental assets and services, with consequences that go beyond the short term and in some cases even irreversibly impact economic and social structures and the environment. In the case of industrialized countries, disasters caused huge damage to the large stock of accumulated capital, whereas losses of human life are limited thanks, among other factors, to the availability of effective early warning and evacuation systems as well as better urban planning and the application of more strict building codes and standards. In developing countries, on the other hand, the number of deaths is usually high because of greater vulnerability brought about by the lack or inadequacy of forecast and evacuation programs; and although losses of capital might be smaller in absolute terms when compared to those in developed countries, their relative weight and overall impact tend to be very significant,1 even affecting sustainability.
Disasters may have natural origins or be man-made. However, their consequences derive from a combination of both processes; that is to say, from human interaction with nature and her cycles or systems. Not only do disasters occur frequently around the world, but it would seem that their incidence and intensity have been increasing in recent years. They cause the loss of many lives, directly and indirectly (primarily or secondarily), affect large segments of the population, and cause significant damage to the environment and large-scale economic and social harm.


ABSTRACT Synchrotron X-ray laminography was used to examine the time-dependent evolution of the three-dimensional (3D) morphology of micropores in sintered iron during the tensile test. 3D snapshots showed that the networked open pores grow wider than 20 µm along the tensile direction, resulting in the internal necking of the specimen. Subsequently, these pores initiated the cracks perpendicular to the tensile direction by coalescing with the surrounding pre-existing microvoids or with the secondary-generated voids immediately before fracture. Topological analysis of the barycentric positions of these microvoids showed that they form the two-dimensional networks within the ∼20 µm of radius area. These observations strongly indicate that the microvoid coalescence could occur on shear planes formed close to the enlarged open pores or between closed pores by strain accumulation and play an important role in the crack initiation.


Documentary video is regularly used to support user research in user-centred design, and many researchers are familiar with this medium. There is strong research evidence that video can contribute substantially to human-computer interaction and interaction design. But the question what role the video camera actually plays in studying people and establishing design collaboration still exists. In this article we argue that traditional documentary film approaches like Direct Cinema and Cinema Verite show that a purely observational approach may not be most valuable for user research and that video material can be used in a variety of ways to explore, understand and present the everyday. Based on a comparison of several video studies of similar activities, but shot by different researchers, we develop the concept of 'styles' in video studies, and define three camera styles that may be a help for researchers in organising user research: Not only in making decisions about camera techniques, but in relating how the researcher interacts with the person(s) in front of the camera to the purpose of the shooting.


High strength geopolymers were produced from coal combustion fly ashes. These matrices reached compressive strength values over 100 MPa, much stronger and denser than obtained by using Portland Cement binders. Size fractions were obtained by size separation techniques and the relationship between strength and particle size was investigated. The differences in compressive strength measured in the geopolymers made from fine fractions, the original fly ash and a coarse fraction of the same ash, were not significantly higher than the variation found for a reference geopolymer material. Therefore, a direct size-strength relationship could not be proven. Moreover, the chemistry and the pH of the fractions also varied, and this might as well has played a role in the strength development.


The neural crest is a dynamic progenitor cell population that arises at the border of neural and non-neural ectoderm. The inductive roles of FGF, Wnt, and BMP at the neural plate border are well established, but the signals required for subsequent neural crest development remain poorly characterized. Here, we conducted a screen in primary zebrafish embryo cultures for chemicals that disrupt neural crest development, as read out by crestin:EGFP expression. We found that the natural product caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) disrupts neural crest gene expression, migration, and melanocytic differentiation by reducing Sox10 activity. CAPE inhibits FGF-stimulated PI3K/Akt signaling, and neural crest defects in CAPE-treated embryos are suppressed by constitutively active Akt1. Inhibition of Akt activity by constitutively active PTEN similarly decreases crestin expression and Sox10 activity. Our study has identified Akt as a novel intracellular pathway required for neural crest differentiation.


Some Hustling This! Taking Jazz to the World, 1914-1929. By Mark Miller. Toronto: The Mercury Press, 2005. [207 p. ISBN 1-55128-119-8. $19.95] Bibliography, index, photographs. This is the latest in an impressive series of books by Mark Miller, the jazz critic for the Toronto Globe and Mail. His earlier monographs include The Miller Companion to Jazz in Canada and Canadians in Jazz (Toronto: Mercury Press, 2001), Such Melodious Racket: The Lost History of Jazz in Canada, 1914-1949 (Toronto: Mercury Press, 1997), and Cool Blues: Charlie Parker in Canada, 1953 (London, ON: Nightwood Editions, 1989), among others. Miller has also written for Down Beat, Coda, The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, and other publications. Four years of research and writing went into this project, which Miller describes as "the product of a much longer interest in the lost, the forgotten and the overlooked in jazz history" (p. 9). As he explains, The theoretical implications [of] early exposure to, and contact with, American jazz musicians [abroad] have become a popular subject for critical analysis, bringing together . . . the interrelated cultural and sociological themes of modernism, primitivism, exoticism, racism, identity and "otherness." . . . Missing from this body of writing, however, is a basic account of who went where, when, and did what. (p. 11) Beginning with the first trip of singer-drummer Louis Mitchell to Europe in 1914 with the Southern Symphony Quintette (a ragtime ensemble), and closing with the precipitous demise of a night club Mitchell opened in Paris in 1929 and his subsequent return to the United States, Miller covers the intervening fifteen years, later known as the Jazz Age, during which many American musicians followed Mitchell abroad, bringing their talents and the nascent jazz genre to the far corners of the globe. This is an account of the sojourns by those musicians, only some of whose names are still widely recognized, including Sidney Bechet, Freddie Keppard, "Jelly Roll" Morton, and Willie "The Lion" Smith. Meticulous research, incisive writing, and clear layout are hallmarks of all of Miller's books. For this project, in addition to checking the normal historical, biographical, and autobiographical print sources, Miller viewed microfilms of many newspapers from around the world, some long defunct. One wonders about the state of his eyes after four years of such research, but these sources proved invaluable. For example, many letters from the musicians them-selves were published in the Chicago Defender and other stateside newspapers, giving first-hand accounts and impressions of their experiences abroad. These provide a significant counterpoint to the reviews published in contemporary newspapers and periodicals. Puzzled, even hostile, reactions to jazz were a common journalistic theme from the early years. The book's chapter headings cite numerous examples, such as "Fearsome means of discord" (p. 22), "Hellish disharmony" (p. 87), "Noisy antics" (p. 40), "Half a dozen cacophonists" (p. 105), and "Squirmy cerulean harmony" (p. 118). Another theme the book explores was the marketing of, and reporting about, "race artists" (p. 166), i.e., black musicians. The book's title derives from a laudatory 1917 review of Louis Mitchell's drumming with the second band he led in London, the Seven Spades. As Miller points out, the racial inference [of the band's name] was direct, unlike the subtler geographic allusion, for example, of 'Southern Symphony Quintette.' . . . [F]ew black jazz bands working in Europe even in the 1920s announced their ethnicity so explicitly. At this early date, though, 'Seven Spades' may well have been chosen to celebrate the group's race as one of its defining attractions, (pp. 34-35) Coverage of, for instance, the opening of the Five Jazzing Devils in Kristiana (later Oslo) in 1921, and of Thompson's Jazz Band in Copenhagen in 1923, was typical of that found in many foreign newspapers in its "pointedly racist rhetoric," including "simplistic allusions to . …


Because of the small size and the fragility of ceramic fibres, noncontact methods are highly advantageous for their thermal characterisation. The development of such a noncontact method for the direct measurement of the thermal conductivity of fibres and wires is described. The presented measurement method uses a high-power laser diode emitting in the visible spectrum as a line-shaped heat source and a high resolution infrared camera as a spatial temperature sensor. The latter detects the stationary temperature profile adjacent to the locally heated fibres as a result of heat losses by radiation and convection. An evaluation of this temperature allows the derivation of the thermal conductivity in the direction of the fibre axis. Variation of the heating power and of the sample geometry by investigating single fibres or bundles of fibres can be used to check the consistency of the results and to improve accuracy. The noncontact method was applied to fibre samples with diameters in the range of tens of micrometres at ambient temperatures. Tests were performed with glass fibres of known thermal conductivity. Hereby a light-absorbing layer was deposited on the samples by spraying. The method was also applied to ceramic fibres of the Si/B/N/C system. In this case there was no need for any coatings because of the small reflectivity in the infrared spectrum. A thermal conductivity of (1.1 ± 0.3) W m -1 K -1 was obtained along the axis of the Si/B/N/C fibres. The presented measurement method, which is also applicable to foils and plates, stresses simplicity of preparation and wide applicability rather than accuracy. However, it offers the possibility of being easily extended to dynamic measurement procedures and different heater and sample geometries, which leads to a reduction of the uncertainties in the determined thermal conductivity.


Teaching can be distinctly rewarding and abundantly frustrating. From the teacher's perspective, selecting the right school setting and pursuing the correct professional development path--one that supports the potential for financial as well as professional advancement--are the keys to a sense of reward and fulfillment. That's why at Park Hill School District in Kansas City, MO--which serves 9,500 students in nine elementary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools--our ability to attract and retain the finest teachers and other educational staff is a top priority. It's not surprising, then, that automating our job application and professional development programs was high on our technology wish list, since we employ 650 certified teachers and more than 600 staff members. Despite the steady advance of technology, however, too many districts still languish in the paper-based hiring process, which relies on that infamous paper file traveling from desk to desk. Once on board, teachers are then subjected to the ongoing challenge of professional development. But it is critical that teachers' professional development courses--whether in-house, online, or part of an external degree program--are reviewed and approved, with results tracked and progress counted toward this certification and advancement. On a district-wide basis, the smooth administration of a professional development program can be a daunting, time-consuming, and labor-intensive task. So when faced with this challenge at Park Hill, we used technology to meet it head-on. Selecting a Technology Partner Park Hill strongly believes in the value of technology to drive process, communication, and overall operating efficiency. Our superintendent and school board carefully assess each technology request, then set high standards for information flow and process integration across our network. Any new application must have the ability to interface with existing HR, payroll, and other critical databases. Increasingly, we're a Web-based, data-driven school district, and we've realized significant efficiencies by taking this approach. Still, while we have a superb IT staff, we were not naive enough to believe that it was best to build applications from the ground up. When you add an application to an established network, all parts of the infrastructure need to communicate and integrate effortlessly. Thus, driving application development and integration in-house would have put a severe drain on our IT resources and prevented us from moving ahead with other important projects. So instead, we chose to select a qualified technology vendor who could work with us to design and build the software, while our internal team handled implementation. We also knew that we needed a vendor flexible in approach and willing to work with us as a partner from the design phase forward. There was no plug-and-play technology answer to our situation, and rarely do two companies work well together when one is promoting an out-of-the-box solution to a complex challenge. Based on these selection criteria, we chose to work with Netchemia (www.netchemia.com), a Kansas-based technology company that specializes in software solutions for the K-12 market. From past experience, the company had shown they were wilting to truly partner with us in the design, integration, and rollout of new Web-based software. Managing Web-Based Staff Development Our professional development tool is thorough in managing the training process. It gives teachers online access to all professional development options available--whether Web-based, instructor-led, in-house, or external. It even moves teachers through the sign-up and approval processes. The tool also automatically checks to determine whether a teacher has an adequate number of hours allocated for development, then routes the online request form to the correct HR executive for review and approval. …


Poor corporate governance practices in Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) have been blamed for being significant causes of the Indonesian financial crisis in 1998. A significant number of SOEs went financially bankrupt at that time. Currently, the effort to organise the SOEs by the Government of Indonesia, as the majority shareholder, is still ongoing. This study is concerned with corporate governance practices in Indonesian SOEs.

The research examines the behaviour of internal stakeholders of the SOEs in question. These included members of the Boards of Directors and members of the Boards of Commissioners in a state-owned bank, a state-owned power company, and a state-owned airline. There have been previous studies of corporate governance in Indonesian private companies but little research focusing on SOEs. This study investigates management and directors' behaviour in the three SOEs using a qualitative research approach. This differs from previous research studies that primarily employed quantitative methods.

In-depth interviews were conducted with thirty-eight respondents from the managerial level upward in the three SOEs. In addition, to make the study more comprehensive, interviews were conducted with two respondents from the Office of the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, and one respondent from the Anti-Corruption Commission. Most interviews were conducted in 2005, a few in 2009, and these were updated in 2013.

Qualitative analysis was used to analyse the data from the interviews and archival data in the form of publications from the main Indonesian mass media, and journal publications.

It was found that the boards of directors and the boards of commissioners were not properly implementing good corporate governance (GCG) practices. They do, however, practise what is known as KKN or Korupsi, Kolusi, and Nepotism (corruption, collusion, and nepotism). Most of the time, SOEs are subject to significant intervention from the ruling government including politicians who have their own self-interest in SOEs. As stated by respondents, and supported by data in the mass media, SOEs have become "cash cows" or "automatic teller machines" to serve the government of the day. The government is interested in the performance of SOEs, because the government itself is a major shareholder. This is different from the private sector where people are the shareholders who hold the boards and management to account.

Another significant finding is that the adoption of wholesale corporate governance practices from the West is difficult to implement due to differences in the culture and legal structure of Indonesian SOEs. Indonesian society is mostly influenced by prevailing Javanese culture that has also been embedded in these SOEs. Another relevant factor is that the first two Presidents of Indonesia were Javanese. These factors have hindered the implementation of GCG.

Another finding is that the adoption of the concept of independent directors (independent commissioners in SOEs) from a Western based one-tier governance structure has been adopted blindly and unquestioningly in Indonesian SOEs.

A range of recommendations to ensure sound GCG are also presented in this thesis. For example, the establishment of whistleblower protection mechanisms, and appropriate GCG guidelines.

This study also finds that the shareholders' approach arising from the agency theory is not suitable for GCG in Indonesian SOEs. The stakeholder theory approach is the more appropriate base from which SOEs should operate. This is because according to Indonesian law, the SOEs are the backbone of the Indonesian economy, and therefore, SOEs should satisfy the needs of the Indonesian public, a major stakeholder.


i»?Financial safety nets in Asia have come a long way since the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) of 1997–98. Not wanting to rely solely on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) again, the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) was created in 2000. When the CMI also proved inadequate following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), it was first multilateralized (CMIM), and then doubled in size to $240 billion, while the IMF de-linked portion was increased to 30%. A surveillance unit, the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), was set-up in 2011. These are impressive developments, but are they enough to make the CMIM workable? Without clear and rapid-response procedures to handle a fast-developing financial emergency, it is unlikely that the CMIM will be used even as a complement to the IMF. To serve as a stand-alone option however, its size or the IMF de-linked portion of funds needs to be further increased, as does its membership to add diversity. But if AMRO could develop into an independent and credible surveillance authority, then it could lead the next rescue.


Memorialisation is experienced by victims of traumatic events as a form of
 justice. Victims' and society right to memory is mentioned in the Basque Law
 4/2008 on recognition and protection of terrorism victims and the Spanish Law
 29/2011 on recognition and integral protection of terrorism victims. Drawing
 from critical victimology and memory studies, this contribution aims at
 addressing current criticism by some victims' organizations with regard to
 memory public policies in this field. It particularly addresses ways of
 restoration through memory linked to the meaning of spaces of victimisation
 by examining the work of different photographers on making aspects of those
 victimisations visible for the contested purpose of remembering. First the
 conceptual framework on space, victimisation and memory is presented. Then it
 is related to the results of qualitative research by the Basque Institute of
 Criminology. At the end the micro, meso and macro aspects of local
 intervention proposals on restorative memory, including ethical remarks are
 commented.


A lot happened even before the perceived beginning of this crisis in 2007, so although the events are recent, I will give an overview from a US perspective of the period from 2001 to date, in our search for the lessons to be learned. Much of it is probably familiar, but worth revisiting.I will break this necessarily simplified account into 3 stages: First, a look at the key factors that led to the increasing riskiness of US home mortgages; second, how those risks were transmitted as securities from US housing lenders to institutional investors around the globe; and third, how those risks led to huge losses and created a credit crunch that moved the impact from the financial economy to the real economy and produced a severe recession. Then we will have a factual foundation for deriving the lessons that ought to be taken away from this very expensive experience.


Evaluation of pleural fluids for metastatic cells is a key component of diagnostic cytopathology. However, a large background of smaller leukocytes and/or erythrocytes can make accurate diagnosis difficult and reduce specificity in identification of mutations of interest for targeted anti-cancer therapies. Here, we describe an automated microfluidic system (Centrifuge Chip) which employs microscale vortices for the size-based isolation and concentration of cancer cells and mesothelial cells from a background of blood cells. We are able to process non-diluted pleural fluids at 6 mL/min and enrich target cells significantly over the background; we achieved improved purity in all patient samples analyzed. The resulting isolated and viable cells are readily available for immunostaining, cytological analysis, and detection of gene mutations. To demonstrate the utility towards aiding companion diagnostics, we also show improved detection accuracy of KRAS gene mutations in lung cancer cells processed using the Centrifuge Chip, leading to an increase in the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic from 0.90 to 0.99. The Centrifuge Chip allows for rapid concentration and processing of large volumes of bodily fluid samples for improved cytological diagnosis and purification of cells of interest for genetic testing, which will be helpful for enhancing diagnostic accuracy.


The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) responses of a polypyrrole (PPy)-coated platinum electrode were investigated during N$_{2}$-reduction to ammonia in aqueous medium. Kinetic parameters such as film resistance, pore resistance, and double layer capacitance were analyzed as a function of applied potential and polymer film thickness. The relation between kinetic parameters was discussed by combining electrolysis results. It was found that the optimum film thickness of polypyrrole was 0.73 $\mu $m and optimum potential for ammonia synthesis was -0.150 V under 60 bar N$_{2}$-pressure. The impedance responses under these conditions presented the lowest pore resistance value of ca. 2 $\Omega $ cm$^{2}$. The electrolyte resistance was also 2 $\Omega $ cm$^{2}$ and the film resistance was ca. 5 $\Omega $ cm$^{2}$. Tafel slopes calculated from the Tafel curve and EIS-Tafel diagram gave corresponding results: 0.121 V dec$^{-1}$ and 0.128 V dec$^{-1}$, respectively; $\alpha $-transfer coefficient of 0.49 and an exchange current density with a value of 3.17 10$^{-3}$ A cm$^{-2}$ were characteristic for H$_{ad}$ formation in acidic aqueous medium.


'Held' depicts a locket containing tiny female porcelain figures and human hair being held. It comments on the need to support, protect and care for the self and others. This video was shown as part of 'Lass Struggle', FiLiArt: Feminism, Class and ART exhibition at FiLiA Conference 14th-15th October 2017. FiLiA is an international annual feminist conference, it addresses a wide range of issues from feminist history to women's human rights. FiLiA focuses on networking, activism, and policy as well as academic discourse.


This paper describes a clinical case study, including psychological assessment and treatment, based on a cognitive model, of a 32-year-old woman who showed fear of flying. The assessment and diagnosis were carried out by means of a clinical interview employing DSM-IV criteria, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Measures of pre- and post-treatment were obtained. The techniques used in the treatment consisted of the following: information, relaxation techniques, behavior tasks, systematic desensitization in imagery, identification of cognitive distortions, discussion of irrational ideas, and self-exposure in vivo. The therapeutic objectives were achieved after nine weekly therapy sessions and usig a therapeutic program of bibliotherapy as a complementary activity. The therapy resulted in positive changes and in an improvement, which remained stable at the two to four month follow-ups after the end of the treatment.


ABSTRACT Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) sensors have been used to inspect carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP)-reinforced concrete structures exposed to a variety of laboratory test conditions (salt fog, alternate immersion in fresh water, alternate immersion in salt water, 100% relative humidity, 50% relative humidity, elevated temperatures, and below-freezing temperatures). Other specimens were used to investigate the detection of delamination between the CFRP and the concrete using a wedge test. External electrodes, coupled with the embedded rebar, provided the best results. Equivalent circuit modeling was used to analyze the impedance spectra. Several circuit parameters, especially the capacitance and constant phase element (CPE) magnitude, correlated very well with both bonded area/delamination and moisture. The different relationships between the different circuit parameters and moisture uptake or bonded CFRP area should allow these two material characteristics to be separately determined. Differences in the different exposure conditions were seen and explained. Coupled with a commercially available portable potentiostat, these measurements can be made in the field to facilitate inspection of concrete structures reinforced with CFRP, such as bridges.


Poverty eradication has been identified as a prerequisite to sustainability. Developing Africa's poverty is intense and increasingly concentrated in the cities, which are capturing most population growth. Economic research indicates that improved urban access can contribute materially to higher levels of economic growth, and thus more rapid reductions in poverty. The largest urban areas in developing Africa (herein defined as sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa and Botswana) are described. Much of the present research is unfavorable toward mass transit developing African urban areas. Yet, for all of the criticisms, people have often chosen informal transport over formal transport and that for all of the customer service difficulties, the systems are strongly patronized. This paper would seek to synthesize the research on urban transport in these urban areas. The focus would be on the consumer preferences, needs , and indicators of consumer access. There would be emphasis on minimizing travel times, which economic research indicates is important to urban economic growth. Urban access indicators are proposed that can be used to fashion output based policies to improve mobility. Subsidy intensive alternatives are not unlikely to be sustainable. Further, motorized urban mobility needs to be affordable so that people captive to walking can access economic and other opportunities throughout the urban area. Finally, if the ultimate focus is on improving urban access, economic growth is likely to be improved and the principal objective of poverty reduction is likely to be better served.


The inclusion of technology in the school curriculum has been a concern in many countries following the 1990 Jomtien World Conference on Education for ALL (Jenkins, 1996). However, there are different perspectives and views about technology education. As a result technology has been included in the school curriculum in varied ways.

In recognition of the importance of technology in economic development, Lesotho has attempted to include technology in the school curriculum by incorporating science and technology. This study evaluated the Lesotho science curriculum which incorporates technology. The evaluation study is based on the framework first proposed by Stake (1967). Stake's model addresses the relationship between the intended curriculum and the implemented curriculum (Stenhouse, 1988). In this study the intended curriculum is defined as the curriculum plan as depicted in the curriculum materials such as the syllabus, the examinations questions papers and the textbook which was used as an exemplary material for teaching the science-technology curriculum. The implemented curriculum is viewed as what actually happened at school level as teachers tried to interpret the curriculum developer's plan. Although Stake's model served as a guide in the collection and analysis of empirical data, other theoretical areas supported it. These included Gardner's (1990) approaches to the incorporation of science and technology; the constant comparative approach (Merriam, 1998); and some aspects of curriculum theory, particularly curriculum development and curriculum evaluation as espoused in the works of certain scholars (e.g. Ornstein and Hunkins, 2004; Stenhouse, 1988). The study was designed as a multiple-site case study (Merriam, 1998). The sites where in-depth study of the implemented curriculum was done were four high schools in Lesotho. The intended curriculum was mainly examined by analysing the curriculum materials such as the syllabus, the examinations question paper and the textbook. The methods that were used for collecting the data were interviews, classroom observations, document analysis, and the achievement tests.


Abstract There is an incipient debate as to whether courts across jurisdictions are embracing new forms of judicial review characterized by greater scrutiny of the political process that accompanies the adoption of the contested act. This article responds to Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov's theorization of semiprocedural review as a 'new, distinct model of review' that, by merging procedural and substantive review, could do justice to this mounting trend. While this article recognizes the emergence of a global 'procedural trend' towards greater rationality review in the case law of several national and international courts, it contends that this phenomenon cannot be straightforwardly captured under an autonomous model of judicial review. Rather, after contextualizing this 'judicial trend' within a broader process of 'rationalization of law-making' that has gradually been occurring, this article demotes this phenomenon as an inevitable and not intrinsically controversial development. In particular, by connecting it to the rapid expansion of regulatory reform programs and the progressive emancipation of the social sciences within the legal system, this article suggests to apprehend the everincreasing judicial attention towards the rationality of the policy process within a less ambitious and more nuanced categorization: the 'evidence-based judicial reflex'. As soon as this new judicial trend is understood and downgraded from a 'distinct form of judicial review' to a mere (evidence-based) judicial reflex, the idea that courts may examine the legislature's decision-making process as part of their determination of the substantive constitutionality of legislation appears less problematic and may entail positive implications for the judiciary and the entire legal system.


Heritability is essential for understanding the biological causes of disease, but requires laborious patient recruitment and phenotype ascertainment. Electronic health records (EHR) passively capture a wide range of clinically relevant data and provide a novel resource for studying the heritability of traits that are not typically accessible. EHRs contain next-of-kin information collected via patient emergency contact forms, but until now, these data have gone unused in research. We mined emergency contact data at three academic medical centers and identified millions of familial relationships while maintaining patient privacy. Identified relationships were consistent with genetically-derived relatedness. We used EHR data to compute heritability estimates for 500 disease phenotypes. Overall, estimates were consistent with literature and between sites. Inconsistencies were indicative of limitations and opportunities unique to EHR research. These analyses provide a novel validation of the use of EHRs for genetics and disease research. One Sentence Summary We demonstrate that next-of-kin information can be used to identify familial relationships in the EHR, providing unique opportunities for precision medicine studies.


In recent years, base-isolation has become an increasingly applied structural design technique in highly seismic areas. The state-of-the-art practice is to use active or passive magneto-rheological (MR) dampers to limit the base displacement. The crucial effect of likely faults in the base-isolation system on the top superstructure requires that the resulting nonlinear hysteretic system to be monitored in real-time for possible changes in the two most important structural parameters: stiffness and damping. This paper develops a simple fault detection and diagnosis technique based on comparing the internal dynamics of the base-isolation system with those of a healthy baseline model to detect faults. Three different cases of stiffness, damping, and combined stiffness and damping faults are studied, in silico, on a realistic base-isolated structure subjected to the Loma Prieta earthquake with a passive MR damper. The simulation results show that the proposed fault detection and diagnosis algorithm is well capable of detecting the existence, determining the type, and quantifying the severity of faults in the system in real-time as the faults occur.


Both timbre and dynamics of isolated piano tones are determined exclusively by the speed with which the hammer hits the strings. This physical view has been challenged by pianists who emphasize the importance of the way the keyboard is touched. This article presents empirical evidence from two perception experiments showing that touch-dependent sound components make sounds with identical hammer velocities but produced with different touch forms clearly distinguishable. The first experiment focused on finger-key sounds: musicians could identify pressed and struck touches. When the finger-key sounds were removed from the sounds, the effect vanished, suggesting that these sounds were the primary identification cue. The second experiment looked at keykeyframe sounds that occur when the key reaches key-bottom. Key-bottom impact was identified from key motion measured by a computer-controlled piano. Musicians were able to discriminate between piano tones that contain a key-bottom sound from those that do not. However, this effect might be attributable to sounds associated with the mechanical components of the piano action. In addition to the demonstrated acoustical effects of different touch forms, visual and tactile modalities may play important roles during piano performance that influence the production and perception of musical expression on the piano. VC 2014 Acoustical Society of America. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4896461]


The evolutionary tree of mammals is being resolved quickly. Complete mitochondrial DNA sequences are valuable data for deep mammalian phylogenetic relationships. From this study, the use of long-range PCR followed by short-range PCR and sequencing was proven to be a successful strategy for sequencing complete mt-genomes. This method is more efficient and cheaper than current cloning approaches. This method is also able to avoid most of the nuclear mitochondrial copies. Long branch attraction is a problem confusing the deep mammalian phylogeny. By sequencing complete mt-genomes of key taxa (2 marsupials, 2 bats, a pika, a gymnure, a rodent and a shrew) to break up long branches, this study resolve some ambiguous relationships in mammalian phylogeny. The 8 mammalian mitochondrial DNA sequences from this study give additional support for the 4 groupings (Xenarthrans, Afrotheria, Supraprimates and Laurasiatheria) of placental mammals from current molecular studies. Some of the ambiguous relationships of higher mammalian relationships also get improved resolution. Bats are a monophyletic group but megabats may be paraphyletic. Eulipotyphla is a monophyletic group and deepest in the Laurasiatheria. Rodents are monophyletic and apart from a problem with the tree shrew, are sister to lagomorphs (Glires). With the new gymnure complete mt-DNA available, the aberrant hedgehog mt-genome is returning to its traditional position in the placental tree and joins other Eulipotyphla (mole, shrew). This monophyletic Eulipotyphla is observed for the first time in the mammalian mitochondrial tree. The Erinaceidae (hedgehog and gymnure) and murid rodent seem to be under different processes of evolution and are attracted to the outgroups. By comparing trees without outgroups (unrooted trees) and with outgroups (rooted trees) and by constraining group(s) with unstable positions, the influence of marsupials/platypus outgroups on Erinaceidae and murid rodent can be investigated. The results from this study suggest that there is a long branch attraction problem between marsupials/platypus outgroups and murid rodent and Erinaceidae; the basal postions of Erinaceidae and murid rodent found in previous studies may be long branch attraction artifacts. The resolved mammalian tree will be the basis for further molecular studies for estimating the time of divergence of extant mammalian orders, for the prediction of protein secondary structure, for the processes of transition of nucleotides and amino acids sequences in the tree, etc. Having a resolved mammalian tree is not the end for this research, rather a pivotal step for understanding evolution in molecular level.


The advantages that satellite communications can bring to telemedicine include instant access to broadband services, particularly in remote areas where telecommunications are poor or nonexistent, and swift response in many situations where speed is essential. The technical advances being made in telecommunications are opening up more and more exciting possibilities. Wireless and satellite transmission capabilities have increased while costs per unit time have decreased. All of this makes telemedicine more feasible. The authors describe the preliminary results of European HERMES research project to develop and evaluate an online integrated web-based platform with the implementation of satellite communication technologies, related to multimedia services in telemedicine and tele-education fields. Telemedicine can play an important role in improving health services.


Exports and export growth are cornerstones of South African economic development policy, although they are not explicitly mentioned in ASGISA. One implication of an export-orientated economy is that many of its exporters must, of necessity, conform to the technical requirements in export markets. Here, it is shown that local exporters, particularly smaller firms, often incur export delays associated with meeting foreign technical requirements. The research, therefore, supports policies aimed at increasing the use of local conformity- assessment activities and improving information availability for local firms looking to meet foreign technical requirements.


Abstract. Rainfall-runoff models that adequately represent the real hydrological processes and that do not have to be calibrated, are needed in hydrology. Such a model would require information about the runoff processes occurring in a catchment and their spatial distribution. Therefore, the aim of this article is (1) to develop a methodology that allows the delineation of dominant runoff processes (DRP) in the field and with a GIS, and (2) to illustrate how such a map can be used in rainfall-runoff modelling. Soil properties were assessed of 44 soil profiles in two Swiss catchments. On some profiles, sprinkling experiments were performed and soil-water levels measured. With these data, the dominant runoff processes (DRP) were determined using the Scherrer and Naef (2003) process decision scheme. At the same time, a simplified method was developed to make it possible to determine the DRP only on the basis of maps of the soil, topography and geology. In 67% of the soil profiles, the two methods indicated the same processes; in 24% with minor deviations. By transforming the simplified method into a set of rules that could be introduced into a GIS, the distributions of the different DRPs in two catchments could be delineated automatically so that maps of the dominant runoff processes could be produced. These maps agreed well with manually derived maps and field observations. Flood-runoff volumes could be quite accurately predicted on the basis of the rainfall measured and information on the water retention capacity contained in the DRP map. This illustrates the potential of the DRP maps for defining the infiltration parameters used in rainfall-runoff models.


Introduction: Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignancies diagnosed worldwide. Despite therapeutic options, prognosis is unfavorable, particularly when dealing with an advanced stage carcinoma. Similarly to other malignancies, the development of gastric cancer is associated with increased macrophage infiltration. Monocytes are peripheral blood precursors of tissue macrophages. In the relation to the expression of CD14 and CD16 receptors, human peripheral blood monocytes can be divided into: "clasical monocytes" CD14++CD16–, intermediate monocytes CD14++CD16+ and non-classical monocytes CD14+CD16+. However, little is known about monocytes involvement in the regulation of immune response in patients with gastric malignancies. Material and methods: In this study, the phenotype of peripheral blood monocytes was determined in patients with gastric tumors by flow cytometry. We also analyzed the level of interleukin 10 (IL-10) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) production after 24 h stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with lipopolysaccharide. The results obtained in group of gastric cancer patients were compared to those of age-matched group of healthy individuals. Results: We observed a significant decrease in percentage of monocytes in the peripheral blood of gastric cancer patients as compared to healthy donors. Moreover gastric cancer patients shows a significant decrease of CD14++CD16– monocytes subpopulation and an increase in CD14++CD16+ and CD14+CD16+ monocytes subpopulations as compared to healthy volunteers. In stomach cancer patients we also have observed increased production of IL-10 as compared to controls. Conclusions: In summary, this study has revealed that gastric malignancies significantly modulate the phenotype of peripheral blood monocytes giving them anti-inflammatory properties. Therapeutic targeting of anti-inflammatory monocytes in the peripheral blood could modulate the complex activities of macrophages in tumor environment.


It is difficult to overstate the everyday importance of home in law. Home provides the backdrop for our lives, and is often the scene or the subject of legal disputes. In addition, in recent decades there has been growing academic interest in the meaning of home, which has promoted empirical studies and theoretical exploration in wide range of disciplines. Yet, while the authenticity of home as a social, psychological, cultural and emotional phenomenon has been recognised in ither disciplines, it has not penetrated the legal domain, where the proposition that home can encapsulate meanings beyond the physical structure of the house, or the capital value it represents, continues to present conceptual difficulties. This book focuses on the competing interests of creditors who lend money against the security of the property and the occupiers who dwell in the property, in the context of possession actions. By mapping the concept of home as it has evolved in other disciplines against existing legal frameworks, Conceptualising Home examines the possibilities for developing a coherent concept of home in law.


Introduction The discipline of sociology is replete with historical data citing theoretical formulations, methodological advancements, and other significant contributions by some of the founders, advocates, and innovators of the discipline. Men such as Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx are canonized classical sociologists that every student of the discipline is required to study because their scholarship, presumably, exemplifies sociological excellence. Now included within many discussions of influential, yet historically overlooked, sociologists and social scientists are women such as Harriet Martineau, Ida B. Wells, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Jane Addams and the women of the Hull-House settlement (Cannon, 1997; Deegan, 1988; Macionis, 2001; Riedesel, 1981; Ritzer, 2000; Sheth and Prasch, 1996; and Terry; 1983). The ideas of these women and men represent a vast continuum upon which a variety of sociological concepts, theories, methodologies, and investigations have contributed to the relatively young discipline. Many of the individuals who participated in the construction of sociology through their theoretical and empirical research efforts did not do so in a vacuum. Institutions of higher learning were very instrumental in the development and maturation of sociology. Schools such as Kansas University, Columbia University, University of Nebraska, University of Michigan, and the University of Chicago are locations where many American social scientists received institutional support and guidance and were afforded the intellectual freedom to develop sociology into the area of study that it is today. These American institutions, through advancements in sociological theory and methodology, seemingly, replaced Europe as the central locations of innovative sociological developments during the late 1800's and early 1900's. One American university rose above the rest to become a leader in sociological developments, in part, because of tremendous institutional support that resulted in, supposedly, groundbreaking theoretical formulations and methodological techniques. The Chicago School of Sociology, 1913-1930 In 1892 the University of Chicago established the first "named" sociology department in the United States (Harvey, 1987). Founded through the philanthropic efforts of John D. Rockefeller, the University of Chicago, from its inception, placed an immense importance upon an extensive and ambitious research agenda. Research, as defined by the University of Chicago Committee on Development (1925), is ... the employment of human curiosity for the purpose of enlarging the field of human knowledge in the interest of human progress (1). To that end, the Committee on Development proclaimed: `Here is to be found intellectual freedom.' [The University of Chicago] established as its official motto, and has kept it: `Let knowledge grow, that life may be enriched.' By setting up lofty ideals of scholarship, by recognizing research as one of its primary aims, and by encouraging freedom of investigation as a prime condition of success in research, [The University of Chicago] began on a plane to which many other institution has been slowly ascending (9). One beneficiary of the ambitious research agenda of the University of Chicago was the newly formed sociology department. Albion Small was chosen to lead this new department through its formative years. University of Chicago officials thought so highly of Small upon his hiring that they declared, In Sociology, the name of a man like Professor Albion W. Small, Head of that Department of the University, stands for pioneer work in organizing a subject that belongs to the present generation and has made for a broader view of human society (39). Despite the lavish praise bestowed upon Small, the sociology program at the University of Chicago did not become the school of American sociology until Robert Park, Ernest Watson Burgess, and the second generation of University of Chicago sociologists entered the department and pioneered extensive urban research investigations. …


McCoy and Singh rightly comment on how extraordinary it is to need to spell out the political nature, actions and motivations underlying global health policy (1), which articulates where they (and we) are coming from. Yet without such commentators, it would be easy for the global health community today to forget how political and macro-economic decisions in the 1980s and 90s gave oxygen to the social determinants that undermined the health of populations, especially in low-income countries. These fuelled the diseases that are the focus of today's global health partnerships; and some of the same organisations played leading roles in setting the global health agenda then, as today.


Emotions and Human Mobility-Maruška Svašek 2013-09-13 This book provides insights into the emotional dimensions of human mobility. Drawing on findings and theoretical discussions in anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, philosophy, linguistics, migration studies, human geography and political science, the authors offer interdisciplinary perspectives on a highly topical debate, asking how 'emotions' can be conceptualised as a tool to explore human mobility. Emotions and Human Mobility investigates how emotional processes are shaped by migration, and vice versa. To what extent are people's feelings about migration influenced by structural possibilities and constraints such as immigration policies or economic inequality? How do migrants interact emotionally with the people they meet in the receiving countries, and how do they attach to new surroundings? How do they interact with 'the locals', with migrants from other countries, and with migrants from their own homeland? How do they stay in touch with absent kin? The volume focuses on specific cases of migration within Europe, intercontinental mobility, and diasporic dynamics. Critically engaging with the affective turn in the study of migration, Emotions and Human Mobility will be highly relevant to scholars involved in current theoretical debates on human mobility. Providing grounded ethnographic case studies that show how theory arises from concrete historical cases, the book is also highly accessible to students of courses on globalisation, migration, transnationalism and emotion. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.


The simulation of dynamical systems involving random coefficients by
means of stochastic spectral methods (Polynomial Chaos or other
types of orthogonal stochastic expansions) is faced with well known
computational difficulties, arising in particular due to the
broadening of the solution spectrum as time evolves. The simulation
of such systems thus requires increasing the basis dimension and
computational resources for long time integration. This paper deals
with systems having almost surely a stable limit cycles. It is
proposed to reformulate the problem at hand in a rescaled time
framework such that the spectrum of the rescaled solution remains
narrow-banded. Two variants of this approach are considered and
evaluated. The first relies on an explicit expression of a
time-dependent, uncertain, time scale related to some distance
between the corresponding solution and a reference deterministic
system. The time scale is adjusted at each time step so that the
distance from the reference system solution remains small, mimicking
"in phase'' behavior. The second variant achieves the same
objective by borrowing concepts from optimal control theory, and
yields more precise time-scale estimates at the price of a higher
CPU cost. It is thus more appropriate for uncertain systems
exhibiting a stiff behavior and complex limit cycles. The method is
applied to the case of a linear oscillator with uncertain
properties, and to a stiff nonlinear chemical system involving
uncertain reaction constants. The tests demonstrate the
effectiveness of the proposed approaches, at least in situations
where the topology of the limit cycle does not change when the
uncertain system parameters vary.


Nils Christie in Crime Control as Industry has suggested that our spiralling prison populations, particularly in the United States, represent a move `towards gulags western style'. In much the same way that Zygmunt Bauman sees modernity itself as creating the possibility for the Holocaust, so for Christie the current `gulagization' of the West is not an aberration of modern society but is something that occurs naturally within it. While sympathetic to Christie, this article seeks to extend some of the themes of his book. In particular, it suggests that we may already be moving into an area of penal control that takes us `beyond the gulag'. The gulag itself may no longer be a sufficient modality of punishment to absorb the punitive sentiments now at work in modern societies. What we thus find is the supplementation of modern penal sanctions by new forms of legal and extra legal punishments that privilege community involvement and interests over those of bureaucratic rationalism, leading to an uncertain and fragmented penal terrain. While, for Christie, there is the hope that at some point the basic good sense of ordinary people will prevail and counter the trends that the forces of modernity have made possible, it is argued that there is no essentialized goodness to human values and public sentiment: unleashing them may only add to the spiral of penal control.


We performed optical image propagation experiments in an image resonator consisting of a Fabry-Perot resonator in reflection geometry. Two-dimensional images encoded on optical pulses of 32ns were stored, and either advanced, -6.0ns, or delayed, 10.9ns, using the dispersion relation relevant to the image resonator, in the under- or over- coupling condition, respectively. The overall images are propagated through the resonator clearly, while the diffraction effects were analyzed both in real-space and in k-space.


Catchment classification strategies based on easily available physical characteristics are important for extrapolating hydrologic model parameters and improving hydrologic predictions in ungauged catchments. In this study, we conduct an experiment of catchment classification and explore the feasibility of characterizing hydrologically similar catchments using certain physical characteristics in upstream regions of the Huai River Basin. The similarity metrics of hydrologic response factors (high flow, low flow and average annual runoff) and physical factors (topography, shape, soil and vegetation) are fed into the K-means algorithm for catchment classification. All the catchments are classified into two classes regardless of the types of metrics used. By comparing the overlap coefficient (η) and Rand index ( RI ) between any two classification results, we found that the topography classification displays the highest concordance with the high flow classification (η = 79.2% and RI = 0.66) among all metrics. Including more metrics would not produce consistently better classification results. The optimal combination of metrics, with η = 87.5%, is the high flow metrics ( Q10% , SFH and MAX90 ) with the topography metrics ( AS and HI ). The results indicate that the physical metrics adopted for hydrologic classification should be determined carefully in terms of specific hydrologic characteristics.


Over-potential or hipot tests have been applied for many decades to rotating machine windings to assure that the electrical insulation in windings is fit for service. Hipot tests are used universally as acceptance tests for new windings. However, a rotating machine maintenance engineer often faces plant managers reluctant to approve hipot tests. The managers ask, 'Do hipot tests damage rotating machine insulation?' This paper tries to answer this specific question. The authors discuss experience of industry experts from an extensive literature review carried out under an EPRI project. Some quasi-theoretical arguments are used to quantify possible damage to the insulation system by a hipot test. Results from recent hipot test experiments on a large number of stator coils performed under another EPRI project are analyzed. There emerges a compelling conclusion that hipot tests do not appear to cause any significant damage to the insulation system of a rotating machine stator in a serviceable condition.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To elucidate parents' experiences when caring at home for their child with incurable cancer and to show how parents give meaning to their experiences throughout the end-of-life (EOL) phase.

RESEARCH APPROACH
Interpretative qualitative study.

SETTING
Five academic pediatric oncology centers.

PARTICIPANTS
42 parents of 22 children with incurable cancer, cared for at home.

METHODOLOGIC APPROACH
An inductive thematic analysis of single and repeated open interviews using phenomenological techniques.

FINDINGS
Four EOL stages were identified: becoming aware of the inevitable death, making the child's life enjoyable, managing the change for the worse, and being with the dying child. The essence of parenting during those stages was captured by the notion of being meaningful to the child and preserving the parent-child relationship. Parents were able to cope better with the EOL phase and to sustain their parenting role because of their ability to postpone grief, enjoy their child's expressions of happiness, see the child's identity despite physical impairment, and enjoy the rewards they experienced from being there for their child.

CONCLUSIONS
Parenting while losing a child brings parents to the point of an existential crisis. The child's deterioration forces parents to redefine their traditional parenting role. Although the way parents give meaning to their caregiving experience helps them cope, it can decrease their ability to acknowledge the child's needs.

INTERPRETATION
Nurses can help parents to face the reality of their child's situation and redefine their role accordingly, such as by providing information and alternative perceptions that fit the child's changed needs while preserving the parent-child relationship. Attention to signals indicating stress disorders is needed.


In Europe, scatterometer product development is organised through the EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facilities. SeaWinds developments are focussed on using the data for Numerical Weather Prediction and short-range weather forecasting. The former is well suited by the products as currently produced at KNMI at 100-km resolution (see http://www.knmi.nl/scatterometer/qscat_prod). For short-range forecasting or in semi-enclosed sea areas such as the Mediteranean, however, higher resolution is desirable. KNMI attempts to improve the spatial filtering properties of the wind retrieval by using prior information on the expected meteorological balance, e.g., favouring rotational structures in high-latitude regions. Moreover, we use solutions in all wind directions, but weighted by their inherent probability. We anticipate that the 2D-VAR method has the advanced filtering properties for maintaining small-scale meteorological information in SeaWinds, while reducing noise. This is tested by comparing the spatial covariance structures of the KNMI products, with those of the NOAA SeaWinds product, and, for reference, those of the ECMWF model. The methodology leads towards a high-resolution scatterometer wind product.


More than 35% of Thai households either give or receive remittances, and remittances account for about one-third of the income of the receiving households. Remittance relationships may be an important source of protection against adverse events for the individuals involved. This paper provides evidence that remittances behave in a way that is consistent with insurance: they are sensitive to shocks to regional rainfall and they respond to household level events. The paper goes on to consider how the quality of insurance that is offered through remittances affects household risk taking behavior. Specifically, we show that the likelihood and the amount of gambling increase with the quality of informal insurance. The findings suggest that households who are more insured shift their portfolios toward riskier investments.


The sequence of a small heat shock protein (sHSP) gene CaHSP24 was obtained by homology-based candidate gene method and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The cDNA sequence of this gene is 920 bp in size (GenBank: HM132040) and contains an open reading frame (ORF) of 636 bp, which was predicted to encode a protein with 211 amino acid residues. The phylogenetic tree showed that CaHSP24 was quite similar to mitochondrial sHSPs from other plants but was distantly related to sHSPs of pepper cytoplasm and chloroplast. Semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) showed that CaHSP24 was hardly detectable at 32°C, but accumulated markedly at 40°C. The gene was expressed 0.5 h after exposure to heat stress and the expression reached a peak in 1.5 h; the expression level in heat-resistant cultivar B35 was higher than that in heat-sensitive cultivar B6. The gene was also expressed weakly under salinity, heavy metal, low temperature and oxidative stresses; the expression levels under these conditions were remarkably lower than those under heat stress. Cell viability experiments showed that the heterologous expression of CaHSP24 could enhance the viability of Escherichia coli under heat stress. To sum up, CaHSP24 may play an important role for response to heat stress condition.


Imazethapyr is registered for weed control in pure alfalfa and in established alfalfa-grass mixtures. Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) and timothy (Phleum pratense L.) tolerance to imazethapyr during establishment was examined in the greenhouse and in mixtures with alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. ) in the field. Imazethapyr was applied following grass emergence at rates ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 oz ai/acre at three different stages of forage grass growth. In the greenhouse, application of imazethapyr to seedling timothy was more injurious than to seedling orchardgrass. Imazethapyr application to timothy reduced grass growth 19 to 48% in the greenhouse, while orchardgrass growth was reduced no more than 26%. Imazethapyr reduced 2-leaf timothy yield more than 4- or 7-leaf grass in the greenhouse study, while both 2- and 4-leaf orchardgrass yield was less than 7-leaf grass. In the field, injury from imazethapyr to timothy was greater than to orchardgrass when the herbicide was applied following the first harvest, especially during a drought year. Imazethapyr reduced both orchardgrass and timothy growth in the field by as much as 34% on average regardless of application rate. Weed control was best at the early postemergence application timing and less effective at the mid-post timing due to excessive weed size at application. Weed control after first harvest was not needed. Application of imazethapyr to mixed forages the year of establishment can reduce the grass component of the forage and could reduce total forage yield.


Interactive inventions are systems and processes that can be used by multiple actors at the same time. Many interactive inventions are the product of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things that allow billions of everyday devices to communicate with each other via the Internet. Other interactive inventions are prevalent in the emerging fields of personalized medicine and FinTech (new financial technologies). Unfortunately, the law concerning how to determine liability when a patent directed to an interactive invention is infringed is dissonant across classes of inventions. Specifically, what it means to "use" an interactive system is different from what it means to "use" an interactive method. Why does the law treat these acts differently? Should it?

This Article attempts to answer these important questions. Specifically, this Article contends that the current framework for what it means to "use" an interactive system is problematic. Interactive inventions are different than traditional method and system inventions. Unfortunately, courts have too often applied, especially in recent cases involving interactive systems, an outmoded framework to interactive inventions. When interactive inventions are analyzed under the proper framework, it allows for the application of sound legal principles to solve multi-actor liability problems. Specifically, this Article argues that a direct infringer "uses" an interactive system when it controls the system and obtains a benefit from it. This approach is also more consistent with the recently broadened standard for infringement of interactive methods.


Among the many differences between classical and p-adic objects, those related to differential equations occupy a special place. For example, a closed p-adic analytic one-form defined on a simply-connected domain does not necessarily have a primitive in the class of analytic functions. In the early 1980s, Robert Coleman discovered a way to construct primitives of analytic one-forms on certain smooth p-adic analytic curves in a bigger class of functions. Since then, there have been several attempts to generalize his ideas to smooth p-adic analytic spaces of higher dimension, but the spaces considered were invariably associated with algebraic varieties. This book aims to show that every smooth p-adic analytic space is provided with a sheaf of functions that includes all analytic ones and satisfies a uniqueness property. It also contains local primitives of all closed one-forms with coefficients in the sheaf that, in the case considered by Coleman, coincide with those he constructed. In consequence, one constructs a parallel transport of local solutions of a unipotent differential equation and an integral of a closed one-form along a path so that both depend nontrivially on the homotopy class of the path. Both the author's previous results on geometric properties of smooth p-adic analytic spaces and the theory of isocrystals are further developed in this book, which is aimed at graduate students and mathematicians working in the areas of non-Archimedean analytic geometry, number theory, and algebraic geometry.


High-efficiency perovskite solar cells typically employ an organic–inorganic metal halide perovskite material as light absorber and charge transporter, sandwiched between a p-type electron-blocking organic hole-transporting layer and an n-type hole-blocking electron collection titania compact layer. Some device configurations also include a thin mesoporous layer of TiO2 or Al2O3 which is infiltrated and capped with the perovskite absorber. Herein, we demonstrate that it is possible to fabricate planar and mesoporous perovskite solar cells devoid of an electron selective hole-blocking titania compact layer, which momentarily exhibit power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of over 13%. This performance is however not sustained and is related to the previously observed anomalous hysteresis in perovskite solar cells. The "compact layer-free" meso-superstructured perovskite devices yield a stabilised PCE of only 2.7% while the compact layer-free planar heterojunction devices display no measurable steady state power output when devoid of an electron selective contact. In contrast, devices including the titania compact layer exhibit stabilised efficiency close to that derived from the current voltage measurements. We propose that under forward bias the perovskite diode becomes polarised, providing a beneficial field, allowing accumulation of positive and negative space charge near the contacts, which enables more efficient charge extraction. This provides the required built-in potential and selective charge extraction at each contact to temporarily enable efficient operation of the perovskite solar cells even in the absence of charge selective n- and p-type contact layers. The polarisation of the material is consistent with long range migration and accumulation of ionic species within the perovskite to the regions near the contacts. When the external field is reduced under working conditions, the ions can slowly diffuse away from the contacts redistributing throughout the film, reducing the field asymmetry and the effectiveness of the operation of the solar cells. We note that in light of recent publications showing high efficiency in devices devoid of charge selective contacts, this work reaffirms the absolute necessity to measure and report the stabilised power output under load when characterizing perovskite solar cells.


We present a design for interacting with a prototype device combining a large, high-resolution wall-mounted display and an optically tracked laser pointer. Interactions are supported by an object-based multi-layer open-GL-based graphic system, Millefeuille. We focus here on use-based design considerations for an experimental interface based on visual instruments, currently being implemented.


Bundles of 3–10 live fast fibres were isolated from the abdominal myotomes of cod ( Gadus morhua L.) 13–67 cm in length. The preparations performed work under conditions simulating their activity during swimming: sinusoidal length changes were imposed about in situ fibre length, and the fibres were stimulated at a selected phase in each cycle. Strain amplitude, and the number and timing of stimuli were chosen to give maximum power output over a wide range of cycle/tailbeat frequencies. For each preparation power output was maximal at a particular frequency, although the peaks were rather broad. As the size of the fish increased the cycle frequency for maximum power output (f opt ) decreased, from 12.5 Hz (13 cm fish) to 5 Hz (67 cm fish) (f opt = 1.67 L −0.52 , where L is body length).


When most people enter a sport facility, they are usually unaware of the host of decisions that have been made before and during the event to ensure an enjoyable experience. Sport facility managers make these decisions, which range from ordinary maintenance issues to more critical issues such as how much staffing is necessary for various events. Unique in its complete coverage of the profession, "Managing Sport Facilities" will help future and current sport facility managers make the proper decisions in all areas of facility management. The book contains a comprehensive, reader-friendly examination of the various responsibilities of facility managers, and it covers the essential knowledge and skills required for operating a sport facility: -Facility planning, site selection and design, and construction-Facility systems, operations, and maintenance-Facility administration, including marketing and sales, finance and budgeting, human resources, and legal issues-Event planning, security, and proceduresTo help students learn the material and prepare them to apply it to real-world situations, "Managing Sport Facilities" includes "Behind the Scenes" sidebars that demonstrate how professionals have applied theory to practice to solve various facility management dilemmas. The text also features chapter objectives, summaries, discussion questions and activities, and a glossary as study aids to highlight the most important discussion topics to reinforce understanding. "Facility Focus" boxes throughout the text feature interesting facts, trivia, and statistics associated with well-known sport facilities. Numerous photos, figures, and tables capture readers' attention in a visually appealing manner as well. "Managing Sport Facilities" is the ideal resource for students desiring to gain a working knowledge of all aspects of facility management. It will help sport facility managers make all the right decisions--from developing a facility and operating it to planning, promoting, and managing events in a facility.


Abstract. The 23 February 1956 ground level enhancement of the solar cosmic ray intensity (GLE05) is the most famous among the proton events observed since 1942. But we do not have a great deal of information on this event due to the absence of solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field measurements at that time. Furthermore, there were no X-Ray or gamma observations and the information on the associated flare is limited. Cosmic ray data was obtained exclusively by ground level detectors of small size and in some cases of a non-standard design. In the present work all available data from neutron monitors operating in 1956 were analyzed, in order to develop a model of the solar cosmic ray behavior during the event. The time-dependent characteristics of the cosmic ray energy spectrum, cosmic ray anisotropy, and differential and integral fluxes have been evaluated utilizing different isotropic and anisotropic models. It is shown that the most outstanding features of this proton enhancement were a narrow and extremely intense beam of ultra-relativistic particles arriving at Earth just after the onset and the unusually high maximum solar particle energy. However, the contribution of this beam to the overall solar particle density and fluency was not significant because of its very short duration and small width. Our estimate of the integral flux for particles with energies over 100 MeV places this event above all subsequent. Perhaps the number of accelerated low energy particles was closer to a record value, but these particles passed mainly to the west of Earth. Many features of this GLE are apparently explained by the peculiarity of the particle interplanetary propagation from a remote (near the limb) source. The quality of the available neutron monitor data does not allow us to be certain of some details; these may be cleared up by the incorporation into the analysis of data from muonic telescopes and ionization chambers operating at that time. Keywords. Interplanatary physics (Cosmic rays; Energetic particles) – Solar physics, astrophysics and astronomy (Flares and mass injections)


The hypothesis of the copy theory of movement forces us to look at mismatches between syntax and LF on the one hand, and syntax and PF on the other in particular ways, often revealing new insights. Through such a lens, we examine the syntactic expression of pejorative mood through echo reduplication, focusing on shm-reduplication in (varieties of predominantly American) English. It is argued that the two elements in a reduplicated structure form a chain of two left-peripheral positions that, due to a distinctness requirement within a Spell-Out unit for the Transfer to PF, cannot be mapped onto linear order. A number of seemingly unrelated facts are derived rather naturally: (i) English shm-reduplication cannot appear in an argument position; (ii) the two copies involved in shm-reduplication are strictly adjacent; (iii) the phonological phrasing of the two copies is not the intonation of a compound; (iv) the discourse context felicitating shm-reduplication is not out-of-the-blue; (v) no echo reduplication process yields the reverse order (e.g., with the echo reduplicant preceding the base); and (vi) echo reduplication is never the exponent of a Case- or wh-feature. One of the more general issues advanced in this paper is an investigation of the clausal realization of pejorative mood expression, whether expressed through shm-reduplication or by other means.


In this study, experimental and numerical analyses were carried out for determination of cohesion values of different types of rock materials using double shear jaws (DSJ) which can be practically used with the conventional compressive test equipment, to make shear planes in the rock core specimens. Effects of various parameters like jaw dimensions, gaps between triple blocks of the DSJ and contact conditions of the jaw on the results and validity of the cohesion test were investigated considering failure mechanisms of rock core specimens. Instead of a failure induced due to the shear stresses, tensile failures are mostly seen from conventional shear testing conditions. For a valid failure under the control of shear stresses, a DSJ design was suggested to be used in cohesion determination tests according to the results obtained from this study.


Quantifying Computer Vision Model Quality Using Various Processing Techniques Samantha Anna Ruggles Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, BYU Master of Science Recently, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has increased in popularity across several industries. Most notable, however, is the impact that this technology has had in research at academic institutions worldwide. As the technology for UAVs has improved, with that comes easier to operate, more accessible equipment. UAVs have been used in various types of applications and are quickly becoming a preferred method of studying and analyzing a site. Currently, the most common use of a UAV is to monitor a location of interest to a researcher that is difficult to gain access to otherwise. The UAV can be altered to meet the needs of any given project and this versatility has contributed to their popularity. Often, they are equipped with a type of remote sensor that can gather information in the form of images, sounds, heat, or light. Once data has been gathered from a site, it is processed and modified, allowing it to be studied and analyzed. A process known as Structure from Motion (SfM) creates a 3D digital terrain model from camera images captured through the use of a UAV. SfM is a common method of processing the vast amount of images that are taken at a site and the 3D model that it creates is a helpful resource for analysis. These digital models, while useful, are oftentimes created at an unknown accuracy. This research presents a comparative study of the accuracies obtained when different parameters are applied during the SfM process. The results present a comparison of the time required to process a particular model and the accuracy that the model had. Depending on the application and type of project, a desired level of accuracy can be obtained in the presented amount of time. This particular study used a landslide as the site of interest and captured the imagery using a helicopter UAV.


In the interpretation of structures from fragmentary subsurface geological data, the modelling attribute most commonly employed is that of model geometry or form. Other model attributes can provide insights to exploration-related problems associated with a structure. The nature of these attributes depends on the modelling approach (i.e. materials, boundary conditions, initial conditions); several are unique to a particular approach. The integration of data from several modelling approaches, each aimed at specific attributes, allows the most complete understanding of a structure. This leads to the development ol conceptual models of the origin, evolution and expression of structures as a function of initial conditions and boundary conditions. Such models provide 'rules of thumb' that guide interpretations in structurally complex areas. Laboratory and mathematical modelling attributes have been used here to improve our understanding of the deformation of the hanging wall above a thrust ramp.


Growing bandwidth demands are driving the search for increased network capacity leading to the exploration of new wavelength ranges for future communication systems. Therefore, we consider two technologies that offer increased transmission bandwidths by virtue of their high carrier frequencies, namely optical wireless and millimeter-wave transmission. After highlighting the relevant electromagnetic (EM) spectrum region, we briefly describe the applications and properties of each approach coupled with a short history of their development. This is followed by a performance comparison in two possible 5G links: outdoor point-to-point and indoor hotspots. We find that in both cases, there are regions where optical wireless communications (OWC) are better, but others where millimeter waves are to be preferred. Specifically, the former outperforms the latter over distances up to approximately 50 meters outdoors and a 10-meter hotspot radius indoors.


How climate warming is going to affect the multidecadal climate variability in the North Pacific remains an open question. Here we present a record of this type of variability inferred from carbon productivity and sea surface temperature (SST) proxies in high‐resolution sediment records from the Southern California Current System (CCS). The reconstruction covers ~1,800 years of the Common Era and is associated with the latitudinal migration of the CCS tropical boundary at multidecadal timescales. Inorganic carbon proxies and a Globigerinoides ruber Mg/Ca summer SST reconstruction are associated with the intrusion of the tropical waters in the Southern CCS and organic carbon proxies with the strength of the California Current (CC). From these and other sediment components, we derived a principal component that captures the balance between tropical and subarctic waters in the study region. This principal component record shows further connections with land moisture records, which suggests a link with Pacific basin scale climate reorganization. The results show periods of reduced Pacific multidecadal climate variability associated with cold periods in the Northern Hemisphere (NH). We propose a mechanism related with the southward migration of the westerlies during relatively cool periods in the NH and a southward shift of the North Pacific Current, which could have reduced the advection of subarctic waters to the subtropical region.


Created by the interactions of living organisms with their environment, ecosystem services support our society by providing clean air and water, decomposing waste, pollinating flowers, regulating climate and by supplying a host of other benefits. Yet, with rare exception, ecosystem services are neither prized by markets nor explicitly protected by the law. In recent years, an increasing number of initiatives around the world have sought to create markets for services, some dependent on government intervention and some created by entirely private ventures. These experiences have demonstrated that investing in natural capital rather than built capital, can make both economic and policy sense. While markets for ecosystem services hold great potential, they also create challenges. This paper identifies the different types of service markets and examines the challenges created by each, focusing on moral hazards, rent-seeking, free riders and perverse incentives.


A few days before leaving for Philadelphia I was asked to read over a manuscript written by Don Davis, professor at the University of Texas at Austin, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and one of his doctoral students at Texas, Jon Aho, in which they were kind enough to mention my name, identifying me as a "library historian." I had never really thought of myself as a library historian and am really not sure of exactly what that means—I presume someone who does histories of libraries as opposed to real history. I am not a real historian. I was an English major. The only official course work I have had in history consists of a course taken as an undergraduate at the University of Florida (UF)—a survey of English history—taught by an elderly gentleman who was a holdover from the days before 1947 when UF was a male school. His entire series of lectures quickly degenerated into a series of dirty jokes about Henry VIII, which he told while carefully watching the reactions of the women in the class. This experience, plus a short course in historical methods taken at the insistence of my major professor at Florida State University (FSU) during my doctoral work there, of which I can remember nothing, accounts for my entire academic background in history.


The classical low rank approximation problem is to find a rank $k$ matrix $UV$ (where $U$ has $k$ columns and $V$ has $k$ rows) that minimizes the Frobenius norm of $A - UV$. Although this problem can be solved efficiently, we study an NP-hard variant of this problem that involves weights and regularization. A previous paper of [Razenshteyn et al. '16] derived a polynomial time algorithm for weighted low rank approximation with constant rank. We derive provably sharper guarantees for the regularized version by obtaining parameterized complexity bounds in terms of the statistical dimension rather than the rank, allowing for a rank-independent runtime that can be significantly faster. Our improvement comes from applying sharper matrix concentration bounds, using a novel conditioning technique, and proving structural theorems for regularized low rank problems.


Both the magnitude and the urgency of the task of assessing global biodiversity require that we make the most of what we know through the use of estimation and extrapolation. Likewise, future biodiversity inventories need to be designed around the use of effective sampling and estimation procedures, especially for 'hyperdiverse' groups of terrestrial organisms, such as arthropods, nematodes, fungi, and microorganisms. The challenge of estimating patterns of species richness from samples can be separated into (i) the problem of estimating local species richness, and (ii) the problem of estimating the distinctness, or complementarity, of species assemblages. These concepts apply on a wide range of spatial, temporal, and functional scales. Local richness can be estimated by extrapolating species accumulation curves, fitting parametric distributions of relative abundance, or using non-parametric techniques based on the distribution of individuals among species or of species among samples. We present several of these methods and examine their effectiveness for an example data set. We present a simple measure of complementarity, with some biogeographic examples, and outline the difficult problem of estimating complementarity from samples. Finally, we discuss the importance of using 'reference' sites (or sub-sites) to assess the true richness and composition of species assemblages, to measure ecologically significant ratios between unrelated taxa, to measure taxon/sub-taxon (hierarchical) ratios, and to 'calibrate' standardized sampling methods. This information can then be applied to the rapid, approximate assessment of species richness and faunal or floral composition at 'comparative' sites.


The Post-9/11 GI Bill allows service members to transfer generous education benefits to a dependent. We run a large-scale experiment to test whether active choice framing impacts US Army service members' decision to transfer benefits. Individuals who received email messages framing GI Bill use as an active choice between own use and transfer to a family member are more likely to pursue information about the benefit than individuals receiving outreach that does not frame the decision as an active choice. While we find no overall effect of framing on transfer, active choice increases transfer among service members with graduate degrees.


Leg 115 of the Ocean Drilling Program recovered basalts from four locations along the hotspot track that leads from the Deccan flood basalts in India to Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean (Sites 706, 707, 713, and 715). The drilled basalts range in age from 35 Ma (Site 706) to 64 Ma (Site 707), and including the Deccan basalts (66 to 68 Ma), Mauritius Island (0.2 to 8 Ma), and Reunion Island (0 to 2 Ma), seven sites are provided for sampling the volcanic record of the 5,000-km-long hotspot track. Chemical and age comparisons indicate that Site 707 lavas correlate with basalt units near the top of the Deccan flood basalt sequence. The lavas of Site 715 (55 to 60 Ma) are most similar to the islands of Mauritius and Reunion. Site 713 basalts (48 Ma) are similar to the earliest lavas of the Deccan province, and Site 706 basalts are intermediate in chemistry between those of central Indian spreading-ridge basalts and Reunion. Differences in lava compositions along the hotspot track can be related to variable mixing of plume and asthenospheric mantle, depending on the changing position of spreading-ridge segments and the hotspot during the opening of the Indian more » Ocean. Alternatively, time-dependent changes in the composition of hotspot melts may be due to a decrease in partial melting of a heterogeneous plume or to intrinsic changes in the composition of material supplied by the plume. « less


In recent years cell therapies have evolved and matured, moving from academia to industry. Scale up of a process is the natural path of any product evolutionary development and maturation, this process not only allows higher manufacturing capacity to meet demands but rather to increases the yields and reduces cost of goods. Cells are living things that react to the environment and conditions in which they grow, therefore process changes should be done as early as possible. The traditional 2D culturing systems can be truly up scaled, therefore there is a need to advance to bioreactors that will influence the product. Additionally, in order to make cell therapy a viable one, the cost of manufacturing is critical. Cost drivers such as media, serum, footprint, human resource and infrastructure must be optimized without changing the cells critical quality attributes. The paper analyze the main cost drivers on the cost of goods and is based on the experience of cell manufacturing in both traditional 2D and three dimensional (3D) bioreactor systems produced in Pluristem therapeutics GMP site. Furthermore, the paper discussed possible process development steps to insure cost efficiency emphasizing the need and benefit of early process development investment.  Â