Subterranean clover mottle virus (SCMoV) is a positive sense, single-stranded RNA virus that infects subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum) and a number of related legume species. The ultimate aim of this research was to investigate aspects of SCMoV that would support its use as a gene silencing vector for legume species, since RNA (gene) silencing is now a potential tool for studylng gene function. The ability of viruses to induce an antiviral defense system is being explored by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS), in which engmeered viral genomes are used as vectors to introduce genes or gene ii-agments to understand the function of endogenous genes by silencing them. To develop a gene silencing vector, a number of aspects of SCMoV host range and molecular biology needed to be studied.

A requirement for a useful viral vector is a suitably wide host range. Hence the first part of this work involved study of the host range and symptom development of SCMoV in a range of leguminous and non-leguminous plants. The aim of this work was to identify new and most suitable hosts among economically important crop and model legumes for functional genomic studies, and also to study symptom development in these hosts for comparison with host responses to any SCMoV-based viral vectors that might be used in later infection studies. A total of 61 plant genotypes representing 52 species from 25 different genera belonging to 7 families were examined for their response to SCMoV infection, including established and new crop legumes, established pasture, and novel pasture and forage legumes, and 12 host indicator plants belonging to the families Amaranthaceae, Apiaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Cruciferae, Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae. Following mechanical inoculation, plants were examined for symptoms and tested for primary and secondary infection by RT-PCR andlor ELISA after 2-3 weeks and 3-9 weeks, respectively. Thirty-six legume hosts belonging to eight different genera of legumes were identified as suitable hosts of SCMoV, 22 of them systemic hosts and 15 were infected locally. Only two non-legumes were infected with SCMoV-P23, one systemically and one as a local host, so confirming that SCMoV is essentially a legume-infecting virus. This work considerably expanded knowledge of the host range of SCMoV.

To provide the information needed to modify the SCMoV genome to develop gene vectors, the virus was characterized in detail. The complete genomes of four isolates, SCMoV-AL, SCMoV-MB, SCMoV-MJ and SCMoV-pFL, were sequenced using high fidelity RT-PCR and molecular cloning, and compared to the first sequenced isolate (SCMoV-P23) to give a complete picture of the genome organisation of the virus. The 4,258 nucleotide (nt) sequence of SCMoV RNA is not polyadenylated. The 5' non-coding region (NCR) is 68 nt in length and the 3' NCR is 174 nt. The coding regon contains four overlapping open reading fi-ames (ORFs). The first, OW1 (nt 68-608), encodes a putative protein containing 179 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass (Ma,) of 20.3 kDa. It overlaps with the next ORF, ORF2a, by four bases. ORF2a (nt 605-2347) encodes a putative protein of 580 amino acids with a Ma, of 63.7 kDa and contains a motif characteristic of chymotrypsin-like serine proteases. The ORF2b is probably translated as part of a polyprotein by -1 ribosomal fiameshifting in ORF2a. The transfiame product (Ma, = 107.5 kDa) is made up of 966 amino acids. A GDD motif typical of RNA virus polymerases is present in ORF2b. The 3' terminal ORF3 (nt 3323-4084) encodes the 27.3 kDa coat protein (CP).

Nucleotide variation between the complete sequences of the isolates was two to three orders of magnitude larger than base misincoporation rates of the polymerases used in RT-PCR. Molecular relationship analysis between all five isolates, undertaken with the complete nucleotide sequences, clearly separated them into three groups. These groups reflect similar significantly diverse groupings based on the symptoms and their severity in subterranean clover. Intra-isolate sequence variability is therefore a possible cause of the differences in symptom severity. The analysis also showed that there were more nucleotide substitutions at the 5' terminal half of SCMoV than at the 3' end. This observation was confirmed by the higher value of nucleotide diversities at nonsynonymous versus synonymous sites (dN/ds ratio) estimated for the ORF1, compared to the near conservation of sequences of the other ORFs. These results, together with functional and comparative sequence analysis with other sobemoviruses, implicate the ORFl gene product in pathogenicity of SCMoV, possibly as a severity determinant or as a viral suppressor of RNA silencing in plants.

Because more information on SCMoV genome function was required, the possible involvement of the ORFl gene product (PI) and the CP in movement of SCMoV was studied in cells of grasspea (Lathyrus clymenum L) and chickpea as C-terminal fusion constructs with jellyfish (Aequorea victoriae) green fluorescent protein (GFP). A transient expression vector, pTEV, for in planta synthesis of reporter gene constructs was developed. The vector was based on pGEM-T with 35s RNA transcriptional promoter of Caulzjlower Mosaic virus (CaMV) and nopaline synthase gene transcription terminator signal (T-Nos) separated by a multiple subcloning site. A custom-made particle inflow gun was used to introduce the constructs into plant cells. The bombardment conditions were fxst optimised for efficient delivery of DNAcoated particles. Transient gene expression of GFP was monitored 24-96 hours after particle bombardment. Fluorescence from GFP alone, GFP:CP and GFP:Pl constructs was observed in the nucleus of single cells, cytoplasm and cell periphery of neighbouring cells. There was limited spread of these fusion proteins from one cell to another 36-48 hours after transformation. These results indicate that the P 1 and CP cannot move independently from cell to cell. Other viral/cellular components might be needed to form a complex with these proteins to transport the viral genome. Putative nuclear export signals in the P1 and CP sequences of SCMoV were identified by sequence comparison. These could be tested by mutagenesis using full-length infectious clones.

To determine the possibility of gene expression of vectors based on SCMoV, three forms of a full-length cDNA clone of SCMoV-pFL were developed: one with no heterologous transcriptional factors (pFL), a second under the control of only 35s (p35SFL) and a third with 35s and T-Nos (pTEVFL). Fifteen day-old in vitro-cultured chickpea, grasspea and subterranean clover seedlings were inoculated by particle bombardment using gold particles coated with plasmid pTEVFL. In vivo-transcribed RNA transcripts were detected by RT-PCR after two weeks in grasspea but not in subterranean clover and chickpea.

Experiments were undertaken towards developing the SCMoV genome into a VIGS vector. Three forms each of five major GFP chimeric constructs of pFL (the full length SCMoV cDNA clone) were generated from which in vitro- and in vivo-transcribed RNA transcripts could be derived. The rationale used in developing these constructs was gene insertion andlor replacement with d p , and duplication of the putative subgenomic RNA promoter (sgPro) of SCMoV. The major constructs were as follows:
* pFLCPgfp, pFL with the d p gene fused to the 3' end of the CP gene
* pFLP1gfp, pFL with gj27 gene fused to the 3' end of the ORF 1,
* pFLCPsgprogfp, pFL with a putative sgPro sequence and a translatable and gene cloned in tandem between the CP gene and the 3' NCR of SCMoV,
* pFLCPVsgprogfp, pFL with a putative sgPro sequence and a translatable gfp gene cloned in tandem between a truncated CP gene and the 3' NCR and
* pFLREPsgprogfp, pFL with the ORF2b, a putative sgPro sequence and a translatable gfP gene cloned in tandem between a truncated CP gene and the 3' NCR

These constructs were all made, but a detailed assessment of their vector potential could not be done because there was a delay of about one year whilst the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator processed the application for permission for glasshouse testing. Although additional work needs to be undertaken to complete development of a final RNA silencing vector, this study has contributed to new knowledge in terms of extending understanding of SCMoV host range, symptoms, sequence variation and control of gene expression. The constructs made have also laid the groundwork for development of a legume gene silencing vector based on SCMoV.


Abstract West Nile virus (WNV) spread to the US western plains states in 2003, when a significant mortality event attributed to WNV occurred in Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). The role of avian species inhabiting sagebrush in the amplification of WNV in arid and semiarid regions of the North America is unknown. We conducted an experimental WNV challenge study in Vesper Sparrows (Pooecetes gramineus), a species common to sagebrush and grassland habitats found throughout much of North America. We found Vesper Sparrows to be moderately susceptible to WNV, developing viremia considered sufficient to transmit WNV to feeding mosquitoes, but the majority of birds were capable of surviving infection and developing a humoral immune response to the WNV nonstructural 1 and envelope proteins. Despite clearance of viremia, after 6 mo, WNV was detected molecularly in three birds and cultured from one bird. Surviving Vesper Sparrows were resistant to reinfection 6 mo after the initial challenge. Vesper sparrows could play a role in the amplification of WNV in sagebrush habitat and other areas of their range, but rapid clearance of WNV may limit their importance as competent amplification hosts of WNV.


ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to characterize sedentary time (ST) and sedentary bouts among young children, across a typical week and by day type (childcare days, non-childcare days and weekends), over a 12-month period. ST % (ST/accelerometer wear time*100) and number of sedentary bouts/hours were assessed using accelerometers at two time-points 12-months apart in 153 toddlers and 74 pre-schoolers. Differences between baseline and follow-up according to the whole week and the different day types were calculated using linear mixed models with adjustment for age, sex, socio-economic status and zBMI. During the weekend, toddlers had more 20–30 min/h sedentary bouts at follow-up than at baseline (MD: 0.03). In pre-schoolers, ST % (MD:-8.4), the number of 1–4 min/h (MD:-1.45), 5–9 min/h (MD: −0.46) and 10–19 min/h sedentary bouts (MD:-0.11) were lower at baseline, compared to follow-up, on non-childcare days; as were the number of 5–9 min/h sedentary bouts on weekends (MD:0.40). P < 0.05 for all. This study found that longer sedentary bouts (20–30 min/h) tended to decrease among toddlers and pre-schoolers, whereas ST and shorter sedentary bouts increased over 12-months, particularly among pre-schoolers on non-childcare weekdays. Non-childcare days, and home environment may be targeted for intervention to reduce ST and sedentary bouts among pre-schoolers.


FIN 6253 Valuation, Investment and Financing (2 semester credit hours) Executive Education Course. This course provides students with the opportunity to master corporate valuation concepts, gain required skills in corporate investment analyses and understand relevant issues related to corporate financing. The course is designed as a continuation of financial management and is built heavily around case studies. Prerequisite: FIN 6301. (2-0) Y


The Red Sea exhibits complex hydrodynamic and biogeochemical dynamics, which vary both in time and space. These dynamics have been explored through the development and application of a 3-D ecosystem model. The simulation system comprises two off-line coupled submodels: the MIT General Circulation Model (MITgcm) and the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM), both adapted for the Red Sea. The results from an annual simulation under climatological forcing are presented. Simulation results are in good agreement with satellite and in situ data illustrating the role of the physical processes in determining the evolution and variability of the Red Sea ecosystem. The model was able to reproduce the main features of the Red Sea ecosystem functioning, including the exchange with the Gulf of Aden, which is a major driving mechanism for the whole Red Sea ecosystem and the winter overturning taking place in the north. Some model limitations, mainly related to the dynamics of the extended reef system located in the southern part of the Red Sea, which is not currently represented in the model, still need to be addressed.


An 18-gene panel distinguishes patients with bacterial and viral infections as well as those with inflammation not caused by infection. Making a gene list, checking it twice Sepsis, a severe inflammation caused by infection, is a common and deadly medical condition. Sepsis therapy combines supportive treatment with interventions directed at the underlying cause of the illness, especially antibiotics for bacterial infections. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to distinguish patients with noninfectious inflammation from those with bacterial and viral infections, and only those with bacterial sepsis derive any benefit from antibiotics. Sweeney et al. have previously analyzed large numbers of patients across many cohorts to derive a blood test identifying which patients with sepsis-like symptoms have an underlying infection. Now, the authors expanded their analysis to create an integrated score that not only identifies infected patients but also classifies their infection as bacterial or viral, suggesting appropriate treatment. Improved diagnostics for acute infections could decrease morbidity and mortality by increasing early antibiotics for patients with bacterial infections and reducing unnecessary antibiotics for patients without bacterial infections. Several groups have used gene expression microarrays to build classifiers for acute infections, but these have been hampered by the size of the gene sets, use of overfit models, or lack of independent validation. We used multicohort analysis to derive a set of seven genes for robust discrimination of bacterial and viral infections, which we then validated in 30 independent cohorts. We next used our previously published 11-gene Sepsis MetaScore together with the new bacterial/viral classifier to build an integrated antibiotics decision model. In a pooled analysis of 1057 samples from 20 cohorts (excluding infants), the integrated antibiotics decision model had a sensitivity and specificity for bacterial infections of 94.0 and 59.8%, respectively (negative likelihood ratio, 0.10). Prospective clinical validation will be needed before these findings are implemented for patient care.


Laramide structures that are exposed along much of the Laramide porphyry copper province of southeastern Arizona have been dismembered and tilted by superimposed Cenozoic normal faults, such that the overall style of shortening (e.g., thin-skinned, low-angle thrusts versus basement-cored, moderate-angle reverse faults) is unclear pending a compelling reconstruction of superimposed extension. This study integrates new geologic mapping in the Romero Wash–Tecolote Ranch area with earlier work and utilizes palinspastic reconstructions of structures related to extension and shortening to determine the geometry of structures in this segment of the Laramide orogenic belt and their relationship to local products of magmatism and hydrothermal alteration. Geologic mapping indicates that multiple generations of Cenozoic normal faults can be identified through crosscutting relationships. Near both ends of the study area, the oldest synextensional strata dip vertically, indicating that the area has been tilted 90° eastward during extension. Structural reconstructions of normal faults reveal two reverse faults within the area, the Romero Wash fault and the Tecolote fault. Once restored, both faults originally dipped in opposite directions at moderate angles and demonstrate clear evidence for associated fault-propagation folds. As a result of 90°E tilting by Cenozoic normal faulting, the Romero Wash fault became an overturned reverse fault, whereas the Tecolote fault became an apparent normal fault. Constraints from the surface geology and forward models indicate that the Tecolote fault has ∼2.8 km of displacement on a fault that had an initial dip of 55°E, whereas the Romero Wash fault has ∼0.75 km of displacement on a fault that had an initial dip of 58°W. Considering their relative displacements and orientations, the Romero Wash fault is interpreted to be a backthrust to the Tecolote fault. These results are consistent with the interpretation that Laramide shortening in southeastern Arizona was dominated by basement-cored uplifts. Based on reconstruction of a cross section, the amount of Laramide shortening ( e  = Δ l / l i ) in the study area was 1.8 km or 20%, and the total amount of subsequent Cenozoic extension ( e  = Δ l / l i ) was 14.6 km or 200%. Two stocks of granodiorite, with associated porphyry dikes and related hydrothermal alteration, occur within the study area. Sericitic and propylitic alteration and sparse quartz veins are present without observed potassic alteration. A barren porphyry dike (65.9 ± 0.7 Ma, U-Pb zircon) cuts the Romero Wash fault, limiting the upper age of the fault. Similar dikes nearby are sericitically altered, suggesting that alteration postdates shortening, similar to interpretations reached at the nearby porphyry copper systems of Ray, Resolution, and Kelvin-Riverside.


Text-based games (TBG) have emerged as promising environments for driving research in grounded language understanding and studying problems like generalization and sample efficiency. Several deep reinforcement learning (RL) methods with varying architectures and learning schemes have been proposed for TBGs. However, these methods fail to generalize efficiently, especially under distributional shifts. In a departure from deep RL approaches, in this paper, we propose a general method inspired by case-based reasoning to train agents and generalize out of the training distribution. The case-based reasoner collects instances of positive experiences from the agent's interaction with the world in the past and later reuses the collected experiences to act efficiently. The method can be applied in conjunction with any existing on-policy neural agent in the literature for TBGs. Our experiments show that the proposed approach consistently improves existing methods, obtains good out-of-distribution generalization, and achieves new state-of-the-art results on widely used environments.


Barbie represents an aspiration to an ideal and also a never-ending mutability. Barbie is the perfect woman, and she is also grotesque, plasticized hyperreality, presenting a femininity exaggerated to the point of caricature. Barbie's marketplace success, combined with (and likely related to) her overlapping and contradictory meanings, also allow her to embody some key exceptions to copyright and trademark law. Though Mattel's lawsuits were not responsible for the initial recognition of those exceptions, they illuminate key principles and contrasts in American law. Mattel attempted to use both copyright and trademark to control the meaning of Barbie, reflecting a trend towards such overlapping claims. In order to ensure that their combined scope is no greater than the sum of their parts, both trademark and copyright defenses ought to be considered together. The Barbie cases highlight the problem that overlaps between the two regimes can challenge the very idea of IP boundaries, unless robust defenses exist against overclaiming.


This book is the most current and comprehensive analysis of the state of Internet security threats right now. The review of current issues and predictions about problems years away are critical for truly understanding crimeware. Every concerned person should have a copy and use it for reference. Garth Bruen, Project KnujOn Designer Theres a new breed of online predatorsserious criminals intent on stealing big bucks and top-secret informationand their weapons of choice are a dangerous array of tools called crimeware. With an ever-growing number of companies, organizations, and individuals turning to the Internet to get things done, theres an urgent need to understand and prevent these online threats. Crimeware: Understanding New Attacks and Defenses will help security professionals, technical managers, students, and researchers understand and prevent specific crimeware threats. This book guides you through the essential security principles, techniques, and countermeasures to keep you one step ahead of the criminals, regardless of evolving technology and tactics. Security experts Markus Jakobsson and Zulfikar Ramzan have brought together chapter contributors who are among the best and the brightest in the security industry. Together, they will help you understand how crimeware works, how to identify it, and how to prevent future attacks before your companys valuable information falls into the wrong hands. In self-contained chapters that go into varying degrees of depth, the book provides a thorough overview of crimeware, including not only concepts prevalent in the wild, but also ideas that so far have only been seen inside the laboratory. With this book, you will Understand current and emerging security threats including rootkits, bot networks, spyware, adware, and click fraud Recognize the interaction between various crimeware threats Gain awareness of the social, political, and legal implications of these threats Learn valuable countermeasures to stop crimeware in its tracks, now and in the future Acquire insight into future security trends and threats, and create an effective defense plan With contributions by Gary McGraw, Andrew Tanenbaum, Dave Cole, Oliver Friedrichs, Peter Ferrie, and others.


This report is the user's manual for a package of MATLAB  scripts and functions, developed for recursive prediction error identification of nonlinear state space systems. The identified state space model incorporates delay, which allows a treatment of general nonlinear networked identification, as well as of general nonlinear systems with delay. The core of the package is an implementation of an output error identification algorithm. The algorithm is based on a continuous time, structured black box state space model of a nonlinear system. The software can only be run off-line, i.e. no true real time operation is possible. The algorithms are however implemented so that true on-line operation can be obtained by extraction of the main algorithmic loop. The user must then provide the real time environment. The software package contains scripts and functions that allow the user to either input live measurements or to generate test data by simulation. The scripts and functions for the setup and execution of the identification algorithms are somewhat more general than what is described in the references. The functionality for display of results include scripts for plotting of e.g. data, parameters, prediction errors, eigenvalues and the condition number of the Hessian. The estimated model obtained at the end of a run can be simulated and the model output plotted, alone or together with the data used for identification. Model validation is supported by two methods apart from the display functionality. First, a calculation of the RPEM loss function can be performed, using parameters obtained at the end of an identification run. Secondly, the accuracy as a function of the output signal amplitude can be assessed.


Whale-watching activities are known to induce behavioural changes that are compatible with anti-predatory responses. However anti-predatory responses can vary depending on the species, population and/or site-specific environmental features. This variability makes it challenging to evaluate whale-watching disturbance and multiple metrics should therefore be used for any impact study. In this study we used meta-analyses to assess the consistency of anti-predatory responses among several studies on whale-watching disturbance. Changes in swimming speed, activity budget, inter-breath intervals, and deviation and directness index were used as proxies to measure whale-watching disturbance. We also assessed if these changes were due to extrinsic factors (the presence of whale watching regulations), intrinsic factors (species and animal body size) or environmental factors (habitat type). Our results showed that changes in the activity budget and directness and deviation index were the most consistently reliable metrics in capturing cetacean responses to whale-watching disturbance. Animals were more likely to travel and less likely to rest and forage (Q7=81.2, p< 0.0001, k=8; Q5=23.2, p=0.0003, k= 7; Q7=49.5, p< 0.0001, k=8) as a consequence of whale-watching presence. Body size also had an effect on resting activity with smaller animals being less likely to rest in the presence of boats (Q1=4.1, p=0.04, k=7). Our results showed a generalized tendency of cetaceans to increase their path sinuosity (deviation index) and decrease path linearity (directness index) in response to whale-watching disturbance (Q= 24.6, p= < 0.0001, τ2=0.09, k=5; Q= 8.94; p= 0.03, τ2=0.05, k=5). Path linearity and predictability also increased in corridor type habitats (SMD=1.55; p=0.004, k=5). We found that cetaceans overall showed similar anti-predatory responses to whale-watching activities. These behavioural changes reflect greater direct energy expenditure and fewer opportunities for energy recovery respectively and may cause long-term consequences to population fitness. We conclude with highlighting the validity of a meta-analytical approach in studying anthropogenic disturbances.


In optimistic versioning, multiple developers are allowed to modify an artifact at the same time. On the one hand this approach increases productivity as the development process is never stalled due to locks on an artifact. On the other hand conflicts may arise when it comes to merging the different modifications into one consolidated version. In general, the resolution of such conflicts is not only cumbersome, but also error-prone. Especially if the artifacts under version control are models, little support is provided by standard versioning systems. In this paper we present the enhanced versioning process of the model versioning system AMOR. We show how AMOR is configured in order to obtain a precise conflict report which allows the recommendation of automatically executable resolution patterns. The user of AMOR chooses either one of the recommendations or performs manual resolution. The manual resolution may be in collaboration with other developers and allows to infer new resolution patterns which may be applied in similar situations.


This paper presents the design of RT-Appia, a framework for the development and implementation of configurable real-time protocol stacks. The goal of RT-Appia is to allow the construction of specialized protocols through the composition of pre-defined micro-protocols. RT-Appia attempts to balance the flexibility and efficiency of micro-protocols with the predictability requirements of real-time applications.


The idea of nothingness has been viewed as neither a vital nor a positive element in Western philosophy or theology. With the exception of a handful of mystics, nothingness has been taken to refer to the negation of being, or to some theoretical void. By contrast, the Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō gave nothingness a central role in philosophy. The strategy of this essay is to use the German mystic Meister Eckhart as a more familiar thinker who did take nothingness seriously, and then to look closely at Nishida's philosophy, and at the work of his contemporary Ueda Shizuteru, in exploring the central importance of nothingness in Zen Buddhist thought. Eckhart writes of the nothingness of the godhead, whereas Nishida and Ueda speak of nothingness "pure and simple." Eckhart remains within the being of the godhead and theology. Nishida moves directly to nothingness. Some have claimed that Nishida is not a mystic, and Nishida himself concurred, yet it is Ueda who explains why Nishida can rightly be read as a mystic and as not a mystic. He argues that Zen includes mysticism, but then goes beyond it to a "non-mysticism." Mystic or non-mystic, the guidance that Nishida and Ueda offer leads to a compelling outlook on life.


Unions today are under First Amendment fire, with the compelled speech doctrine as the weapon of choice. Conservative interests are waging a legal war against agreements that include "fair-share service fees," under which public-sector unions are permitted to charge non-union members to pay their share of the costs of collective bargaining. Espousing libertarian theories of free speech doctrine, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and its allies maintain that fair-share service fees, at least in the context of public-sector unions, constitute a form of political speech, and that laws mandating their payment by non-union members violate the First Amendment's prohibition against compelled speech. The Supreme Court is poised to accept this position, having granted certiorari in Janus v. American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, Council 31, a case that threatens to overrule the Court's longstanding acceptance of the constitutionality of fair-share service fees.
Notwithstanding the superficial appeal of the compelled speech argument, this Article argues that pro-union interests have plenty of cover within the First Amendment's freedom of association doctrine. Viewing Janus and its ilk through an associational lens demonstrates the fallacies that lie behind doubts concerning the constitutionality of such agreements. Although it is doubtful that the Supreme Court will reaffirm the constitutionality of fair-share service fees this term, it is important to air such arguments in order to head off potentially even more significant First Amendment attacks on unionism that are currently underway and to articulate a theory of the First Amendment that remains consistent with the basic New Deal compromise that leaves matters regarding labor policy to our legislatures, where they belong.


We present DART-Ray, a new ray-tracing 3D dust radiative transfer (RT) code designed specifically to calculate radiation field energy density (RFED) distributions within dusty galaxy models with arbitrary geometries. In this paper, we introduce the basic algorithm implemented in . DART-Ray which is based on a pre-calculation of a lower limit for the RFED distribution. This pre-calculation allows us to estimate the extent of regions around the radiation sources within which these sources contribute significantly to the RFED. In this way, ray-tracing calculations can be restricted to take place only within these regions, thus substantially reducing the computational time compared to a complete ray-tracing RT calculation. Anisotropic scattering is included in the code and handled in a similar fashion. Furthermore, the code utilizes a Cartesian adaptive spatial grid and an iterative method has been implemented to optimize the angular densities of the rays originated from each emitting cell. In order to verify the accuracy of the RT calculations performed by DART-Ray, we present results of comparisons with solutions obtained using the dusty 1D RT code for a dust shell illuminated by a central point source and existing 2D RT calculations of disc galaxies with diffusely distributed stellar emission and dust opacity. Finally, we show the application of the code on a spiral galaxy model with logarithmic spiral arms in order to measure the effect of the spiral pattern on the attenuation and RFED. © 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.


A series of six osmium(ii) complexes of the type [(η6-p-cymene)Os(C^N)X] (X = chlorido or acetato) containing benzimidazole C^N ligands with an ester group as a handle for further functionalization have been synthesized. They exhibit IC50 values in the low micromolar range in a panel of cisplatin (CDDP)-resistant cancer cells (approximately 10× more cytotoxic than CDDP in MCF-7), decrease the levels of intracellular ROS and reduce the NAD+ coenzyme, and inhibit tubulin polymerization. This discovery could open the door to a new large family of osmium(ii)-based bioconjugates with diverse modes of action.


The Wisconsin Economic Impact Modeling System, a conjoined input-output/econometric model of Wisconsin counties, is used to simulate the economic and fiscal impact of two alternative residential development patterns. Under the first scenario, the impact of migrating retirees on a small tri-county region in northern Wisconsin is examined. Under the second scenario, the impact of the migration of younger families with children is examined. A comparison-contrast between the two scenarios demonstrates that the characteristics of the migrating household can have a significant impact on the nature of the impacts.


The effects of soft errors in processor cores have been widely studied. However, little has been published about soft errors in uncore components, such as memory subsystem and I/O controllers, of a System-on-a-Chip (SoC). In this work, we study how soft errors in uncore components affect system-level behaviors. We have created a new mixed-mode simulation platform that combines simulators at two different levels of abstraction, and achieves 20,000× speedup over RTL-only simulation. Using this platform, we present the first study of the system-level impact of soft errors inside various uncore components of a large-scale, multi-core SoC using the industrial-grade, open-source OpenSPARC T2 SoC design. Our results show that soft errors in uncore components can significantly impact system-level reliability. We also demonstrate that uncore soft errors can create major challenges for traditional system-level checkpoint recovery techniques. To overcome such recovery challenges, we present a new replay recovery technique for uncore components belonging to the memory subsystem. For the L2 cache controller and the DRAM controller components of OpenSPARC T2, our new technique reduces the probability that an application run fails to produce correct results due to soft errors by more than 100× with 3.32% and 6.09% chip-level area and power impact, respectively.


The importance and the diversity of grasslands and grassland-based systems are illustrated. Their multiple functions and values are highlighted. The main trends of the evolution of the systems in the last half-century are summarized including the effect of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union. Grasslands are compared with annual forage crops for forage production potential and impact on the environment. New challenges are analyzed especially in relation to agro-fuel production. The potential of grasslands for fuel production is discussed as well as the possible effect of first-generation agro-fuels on the grassland area. The fractionation of grassland biomass into several products like fibers, lactic acid and amino acids is described in relation to possible industrial uses. Policy recommendations are proposed.


For decades, scholars have attributed Black Americans' unified political and policy views, despite growing internal class and status differences, to a strong perception of linked fate. In recent years, the concept has been measured in other racial and ethnic groups and with regard to gender, but not applied to social statuses such as class or religion. Without broad comparisons across groups and different statuses, however, one cannot determine the appropriate empirical test or most distinctive correlates of this canonical construct. Using a new national survey, we examine Americans' views of linked fate by race or ethnicity, and also by gender, class, or religion. We find expressions of linked fate to be similar across racial or ethnic groups, robust to experimental manipulation, and as strong for class as for racial or ethnic identity. Intra-individual correlations on linked fate items are very high, while a sense of linked fate is rarely associated with political views or political participation. Expressions of linked fate are not always closely related to feelings of closeness to one's group or perceptions of discrimination against that group. We speculate on the broader meaning of responses to this standard item, and conclude that the enormously fruitful theory of racial linked fate is due for further conceptual development and empirical experimentation.


Long wavelength (/spl lambda//spl sime/13 /spl mu/m) quantum-cascade (QC) lasers are reported. With these lasers operating close to the cutoff wavelength of the second atmospheric window, full coverage of the mid-infrared transparency region is now achieved with GaInAs/AlInAs QC lasers. These devices operate in pulsed mode up to 175 K, with several milliwatts of peak output power at liquid nitrogen temperature.


A driving force in Vergil's Aeneid is the hostility of Juno to the Trojans as they approach, and finally arrive in Italy. The epic in some ways mirrors the opposition encountered by Augustus as the new ruler of Rome. Juno's opposition to the Trojans has its origin not only in Greek mythology, but in the history of the local peoples of Italy with whom early Romans had to contend. From the outset of the poem she becomes the personification of these opposing forces. Once the Trojans finally reach mainland Italy, she sets in motion a long war, although the one depicted in the Aeneid was not as long as the real wars Romans waged with the Latin League and with the many of the tribes of Italy, including the Veii. The reality of the wars Rome had to contend with are here compared to the relatively brief one depicted in the Aeneid, and the pacification of Juno reflects the merging of the different peoples of Rome with their subjugator.


The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates that ending AIDS by 2030 will cost $25 billion a year. About a quarter (26%) of this amount is required for HIV prevention. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a major financier of African HIV responses and a vital source of prevention investments. A search was performed for Global Fund funding requests and signed grants from a sample of African countries over the 2014-2016 funding cycle to see if the Global Fund is investing "a quarter for prevention". Funding requests were accessed for 23 countries and signed grants were accessed for 15 countries. Some documents were not publicly available. Among the funding requests examined, an average of 16% was dedicated to HIV prevention. Wealthier countries requested more money for HIV prevention, as did countries with greater numbers of annual new infections. Of the grant agreements examined, an average of 15% of the total funding invested was dedicated to HIV prevention. For the Global Fund to achieve its HIV prevention targets in its new strategy (2017-2022) it must increase its investments in HIV prevention in Africa from current levels towards the UNAIDS benchmark of 26%.


We previously reported that human naive CD4 T cells differentiate into effector cells producing type 1 (IL-2, IFN-gamma) and type 2 (IL-4, IL-5, IL-10) cytokines after priming with anti-CD3 mAb presented on irradiated CD32-transfected mouse L fibroblasts, in the absence of exogenous cytokine. Here we first show that the CD32 L fibroblasts act not only by cross-linking anti-CD3 mAb but also by providing a B7-mediated co-stimulation signal which is required for the activation of naive T cells. Using a selected anti-CD3 mAb (64.1) we next demonstrate that colligation of CD3 and CD28 with soluble mAb is sufficient to activate highly purified naive CD4 T cells for proliferation, IL-4 mRNA expression, IL-4 secretion, and maturation into IL-4- and IL-5-producing cells. Finally, we show that the intensity of B7 co-stimulation at priming markedly affects the lymphokine-producing phenotype of primed cells. Indeed, cells primed on CD32-B7 double L transfectants produce much more IL-4 and IL-5 and slightly less IFN-gamma than those primed on CD32 L cells. The enhanced IL-4/IL-5-producing capacity of cells primed on CD32-B7 L fibroblasts may be related to increased IL-4 production during priming. It is suggested that the maturation of naive T cells along the Th2 or Th1 pathway may be regulated by the level of B7 expressed on APC.


We have measured an upper limit of 17 J/cm(2) for the threshold fluence for collision-fret CO2 laser IRMPD of silane by detecting the SiH2 product in its electronic and vibrational ground state. The threshold drops to similar to4 J/cm(2) when silane molecules are irradiated by all lines from a pulsed NH3 laser. This value further drops to less than 2 J/cm(2) when the molecules are pre-excited to the first Si-H stretch overtone. Using the NH3 laser on the 868 cm(-1) line, the dissociation yield of pre-excited SiH4 reaches saturation at a laser fluence of 6 J/cm(2). The substantial difference in the fluence threshold and optimal dissociation frequency of the ground and excited molecules allows us to perform highly selective dissociation of pre-excited silane in the presence of a large excess of ground-state molecules.


OBJECTIVE: We describe patient characteristics and postoperative morbidity and mortality rates for patients with Down syndrome undergoing congenital heart disease surgery. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study used the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database to compare patient characteristics and postoperative outcomes for patients (0–18 years) with or without Down syndrome who underwent surgery in 2000–2008. RESULTS: A total of 45 579 patients (4350 patients with Down syndrome and 41 229 without Down syndrome) were included (median age: 7 months [interquartile range [IQR]: 47 days to 4 years]; 56% male). Patients with Down syndrome were younger at surgery, with the exception of those undergoing tetralogy of Fallot repair or atrioventricular septal defect repair. Mortality rates for patients with or without Down syndrome did not differ significantly. Lengths of stay were prolonged for patients with Down syndrome undergoing atrial septal defect closure (median: 4 days [IQR: 3–5 days] vs 3 days [IQR: 2–4 days]; P < .0001), ventricular septal defect closure (median: 5 days [IQR: 4–8 days] vs 4 days [IQR: 3–6 days]; P < .0001), or tetralogy of Fallot repair (7 days [IQR: 5–10 days] vs 6 days [IQR: 5–9 days]; P < .001) and were associated with postoperative respiratory and infectious complications. Patients with Down syndrome undergoing ventricular septal defect closure had a higher rate of heart block requiring pacemaker placement (2.9% vs 0.8%; P < .0001). CONCLUSION: In this large, contemporary cohort, Down syndrome did not confer a significant mortality risk for the most common operations; however, postoperative morbidity remained common.


The thesis at hand presents the results of a study of galaxies with active galactic nuclei (AGN) carried out in the radio and mm wavelength regimes at low and high angular resolutions. The studied objects cover a broad range of mechanisms responsible for powering the engines of the respective galaxies: ULIRGs (UltraLuminous Infrared Galaxies), a product of mergers between galaxies that are supposedly powered by starbursts, AGN or a mixture of the two, and QSOs (quasi-stellar objects) which are powered by AGN. Since ULIRGs and QSOs show similar properties (especially the infrared luminosities), it was proposed that they form the early and late phase of an evolutionary sequence where supposedly ULIRGs are the dust enshrouded progenitors of QSOs. As a prototypical ULIRG, Arp 220 represents an early-to-intermediate phase object in the scheme of the ULIRG-to-QSO evolution. For this object observations at multiple mm wavelengths and angular resolutions with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) are presented and analyzed. Arp 220 as a whole is studied in CO emission of the more extended structure. Furthermore, Arp 220-East is analyzed in more detail in the CO gas. Indications for emission ~10" towards the south, as well as to the north and to the west of the two nuclei, were found in the low resolution CO(1-0) maps. The work on this source was complemented by performing an N-body simulation of the merger of the two precursor galaxies of Arp 220. From the modeling the mass ratio of the disks of the progenitor galaxies was determined to be 1:2. The best t of the model parameters to the available data resulted in an age for the merger of 6x10^8 years. The 27 studied sources from the sample of nearby low-luminosity QSOs however, are representatives of the nal stage in the afore mentioned evolutionary scheme. In this part of the thesis, the properties of these nearby QSO host galaxies are studied in the mm and cm wavelength regimes: Several of the sources have been probed for HI. 45% of the sample sources were detected in HI with gas masses between 1.1x10^9 and 3.8x10^10 M_sun. The comparison to the atomic gas content of our Galaxy showed a factor of ~2 higher than the median gas mass for the sample sources. Indications for interactions in some QSO hosts were found in the HI spectra as well as in the DSS (Digitized Sky Survey) images. Their morphological appearance of the QSOs is a topic also addressed in this thesis, as well as the far-infrared (FIR) properties of the sample objects. A study of the water vapor megamaser transition at 22 GHz continues this work. No detection was found. Additionally, the knowledge about water megamasers is reviewed and the dierences between the two classes of active galactic nuclei, Seyfert galaxies and QSOs, are discussed in terms of the unied scheme for water megamaser emission. In the course of the almost 3 years of work leading to this thesis, I performed the reduction of all data shown (except the data reduction of the PdBI CO data for Arp 220) myself, and conducted and set up the biggest part of all observations for the sample of nearby low-luminosity QSO host galaxies. All analyses and simulations presented in this work were performed by me.


The work in this thesis concerns the estimation of the electromagnetic, elastodynamic and piezoelectric properties of homogenized composite materials (HCMs). A composite may be considered homogeneous if wavelengths are sufficiently large in comparison to the size of the particles of each component material. This thesis examines HCMs constructed from two component materials and several methods of estimating the HCMs constitutive properties. Firstly, the Maxwell Garnett estimates and Bergman–Milton bounds on the electromagnetic properties of HCMs are examined. While both are widely used, we re–examine them, for isotropic dielectric HCMs, in light of recent advancements in material manufacture. Secondly, we examine the strong–property–fluctuation theory (SPFT). The SPFT estimate is calculated using iterations upon an initial ansatz, these iterations being dependent on statistical cumulants of the spatial distribution of the particles of the component materials. The zeroth–order SPFT estimate is identical to the first–order and both are taken to be identical to a comparison material. For the second–order estimate a two–point correlation function along with its associated correlation length are used to characterize the component materials' particle distribution. The general framework for the elastodynamic SPFT was established in 1999 by Zhuck and Lakhtakia. Here we further develop the elastodynamic SPFT for orthotropic HCMs, in order to undertake numerical studies. We simplify certain integrals in order to make them amenable to numerical computation. Also, we establish the piezoelectric SPFT for orthorhombic mm2 materials. The general theory is developed first in a manner analogous to the elastodynamic SPFT. We then implement a two–point covariance function, perform similar integral simplifications to those done in the elastodynamic SPFT and carry out


Today, mass media act like a magic mirror, not only reflecting the reality of societies, but also projecting a variety of images onto people's thoughts. Because of this great ability to produce, reproduce and disperse images, mass media have acquired considerable influence on people's lives. Among the different media, the television in particular has become an inseparable part of most Iranian households. Within the various programs offered, television series stand out from the rest because they are presented incrementally and over a longer period of time, and therefore, attracting large, faithful audiences who continuously absorb their visual communication. This paper traces people's conception of richness, luxury and quality in architecture by examining its representation in recent Iranian TV series. It uses a qualitative research methodology based on theoretical cross-examination, critical analysis and thematic comparison of Iranian homes, particularly houses belonging to the wealthy with enough financial means to facilitate quality and creativity in architecture. By analyzing the architectural characteristics of these buildings, this paper concludes that a particularly superficial definition of richness in architecture is gaining popularity, which results in architectural characteristics that are entirely foreign to the rich cultural and architectural traditions of Iran. The consequence is a loss of identity in which everyone is responsible for: from the wealthy clients who desire such imported opulence, to the architects who succumb to such desire, and finally the public that accepts it all. In this context, the media acts like a mirror, reflecting and therefore doubling the effect of these events.


The vortex liquid-to-glass transition has been studied in Ba0.72K0.28Fe2As2, Ba0.9Co0.1Fe2As2, and Ba(Fe0.45Ni0.05)2As2 single crystal with superconducting transition temperature, Tc = 31.7, 17.3, and 18 K, respectively, by magnetoresistance measurements. For temperatures below Tc, the resistivity curves were measured in magnetic fields within the range of 0 \leq B \leq 13 T, and the pinning potential was scaled according to a modified model for vortex liquid resistivity. Good scaling of the resistivity {\rho}(B, T) and the effective pinning energy U0(B,T) was obtained with the critical exponents s and B0. The vortex state is three-dimensional at temperatures lower than a characteristic temperature T*. The vortex phase diagram was determined based on the evolution of the vortex-glass transition temperature Tg with magnetic field and the upper critical field, Hc2. We found that non-magnetic K doping results in a high glass line close to the Hc2, while magnetic Ni and Co doping cause a low glass line which is far away from the Hc2. Our results suggest that non-magnetic induced disorder is more favourable for enhancement of pinning strength compared to magnetic induced disorder. Our results show that the pinning potential is responsible for the difference in the glass states.


Voters punish incumbent Presidential candidates for contractions in the local (county-level) supply of mortgage credit during market-wide contractions of credit, but they do not reward them for expansions in mortgage credit supply in boom times. Our primary focus is the Presidential election of 2008, which followed an unprecedented swing from very generous mortgage underwriting standards to a severe contraction of mortgage credit. Voters responded to the credit crunch by shifting their support away from the Republican Presidential candidate in 2008. That shift was particularly pronounced in states that typically vote Republican, and in swing states. The magnitude of the effect is large. If the supply of mortgage credit had not contracted from 2004 to 2008, McCain would have received half the votes needed in nine crucial swing states to reverse the outcome of the election. The effect on voting in these swing states from local contractions in mortgage credit supply was five times as important as the increase in the unemployment rate; if unemployment had not increased from 2004 to 2008, that improvement in local labor markets would only have given McCain only 9% of the votes needed to win the nine crucial swing states. We extend our analysis to the Presidential elections from 1996 to 2012 and find that voters' reactions are similar for Democratic and Republican incumbent parties, but different during booms and busts of mortgage credit. These asymmetric results indicate that voters react strongly and negatively to credit supply contraction; however, organized political bargaining (the "smoke-filled room channel") rather than voting was the primary vehicle for rewarding politicians for supporting government subsidies for mortgage risk during booms.


Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites have been widely recognized as highly luminescent materials for efficient light-emitting devices. Herein, we report a simple perovskite-based metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) device structure with green light emission. Electron tunnelling and subsequent recombination in the semiconductor–insulator interface region is confirmed as the working mechanism of the perovskite light-emitting devices.


Obstetrician–gynecologists, in collaboration with midwives, nurses, patients, and those who support them in labor, can help women meet their goals for labor and birth by using techniques that require minimal interventions and have high rates of patient satisfaction. Many common obstetric practices are of limited or uncertain benefit for low-risk women in spontaneous labor. For women who are in latent labor and are not admitted to the labor unit, a process of shared decision making is recommended to create a plan for self-care activities and coping techniques. Admission during the latent phase of labor may be necessary for a variety of reasons, including pain management or maternal fatigue. Evidence suggests that, in addition to regular nursing care, continuous one-to-one emotional support provided by support personnel, such as a doula, is associated with improved outcomes for women in labor. Data suggest that for women with normally progressing labor and no evidence of fetal compromise, routine amniotomy need not be undertaken unless required to facilitate monitoring. The widespread use of continuous electronic fetal monitoring has not been shown to significantly affect such outcomes as perinatal death and cerebral palsy when used for women with low-risk pregnancies. Multiple nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic techniques can be used to help women cope with labor pain. Women in spontaneously progressing labor may not require routine continuous infusion of intravenous fluids. For most women, no one position needs to bemandated or proscribed. Obstetrician–gynecologists and other obstetric care providers should be familiar with and consider using low-interventional approaches, when appropriate, for the intrapartummanagement of lowrisk women in spontaneous labor. Birthing units should carefully consider adding family-centric interventions that are otherwise not already considered routine care and that can be safely offered, given available environmental resources and staffing models. These family-centric interventions should be provided in recognition of the value of inclusion in the birthing process for many women and their families, irrespective of delivery mode. This Committee Opinion has been revised to incorporate new evidence for risks and benefits of several of these techniques and, given the growing interest on the topic, to incorporate information on a family-centered approach to cesarean birth. Recommendations and Conclusions The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) makes the following recommendations


Over clear ocean waters, photons scattered within the water body contribute significantly to the upwelling flux. In addition to elastic scattering, inelastic Vibrational Raman Scattering (VRS) by liquid water is also playing a role and can have a strong impact on the spectral distribution of the outgoing radiance. Under clear-sky conditions, VRS has an influence on trace gas retrievals from space-borne measure- ments of the backscattered radiance such as from e.g. GOME (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment). The effect is par- ticularly important for geo-locations with small solar zenith angles and over waters with low chlorophyll concentration. In this study, a simple ocean reflectance model (Sathyen- dranath and Platt, 1998) accounting for VRS has been in- corporated into a radiative transfer model. The model has been validated by comparison with measurements from a swimming-pool experiment dedicated to detect the effect of scattering within water on the outgoing radiation and also with selected data sets from GOME. The comparisons show good agreement between experimental and model data and highlight the important role of VRS. To evaluate the impact of VRS on trace gas retrieval, a sensitivity study was performed on synthetic data. If VRS is neglected in the data analysis, errors of more than 30% are introduced for the slant column (SC) of BrO over clear ocean scenarios. Exemplarily DOAS retrievals of BrO from real GOME measurements including and excluding a VRS compensation led to comparable results as in the sensitiv- ity study, but with somewhat smaller differences between the two analyses. The results of this work suggest, that DOAS retrievals of atmospheric trace species from measurements of nadir view- ing space-borne instruments have to take VRS scattering into account over waters with low chlorophyll concentrations, and that a simple correction term is enough to reduce the errors to an acceptable level.


TiO2 thin film have been successfully deposited on a glass substrate by spray coating method with a variety of coating up to four times as much. Effect of coating variation studied of the crystal structure, composer atoms composition, and the morphology of TiO2 thin films.
Sol gel TiO2 has been synthesized with dissolve Titanium Tetraisopropoxide 0,5 M into Diethylene Glycol then stirred. After two hours of stirring, distilled water (H2O) and TiO2 powder added to the stirring slowly and stirred again for 12 hours. Gel TiO2 is placed on the spray holes and sprayed on a glass substrate that has been heated to a temperature of 60oC-70oC. TiO2 thin film oven at a temperature of 200oC for 30 minutes and sintering at a
temperature of 450oC for 2,5 hours. The test results of crystal structure by XRD shows that the more coating causing the crystal quality and crystallite size of the TiO2 thin film increased. EDX characterization showed
that the thin layer of TiO2 %At (percent atomic materials) consisting of 35,06% titania and 64,94% oxygen. SEM images showed that the grain size of crystals increases with increasing number of coatings. The results of characterization by using ellipsometry showed that the more
value of the coating so the thickness of TiO2 thin film will increase too. TiO2 thin film has been tested for watertreatment. Photocatalytic reaction at TiO2 can clear up and eliminate odors that exist in water.


Global positioning system (GPS) has been demonstrated to be a valid and efficient system for various space applications in low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO), such as for location determination and time synchronization. However, in highly elliptical and high Earth orbits (HEO), the number of existing space applications is much smaller because of the very weak power of the received signals and the bad geometric dilution of precision (GDOP). To counteract these problems, one method is to add an L5 processing module to the existing L1 C/A receiver module. Indeed, tracking the L5 signal brings several benefits: 1) a higher ranging precision; 2) a pilot channel allowing long integration times, which is helpful for both acquisition and tracking. But this also implies several drawbacks, especially in resource restricted conditions: 1) the length of the fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) and the amount of memory needed for the L5 acquisition module is huge; 2) the acquisition time is very long because of the secondary code and large frequency search space due to the long integration time. In this paper, a cross-band aided acquisition method for the L1L signals is presented, which satisfy the requirements for extremely high sensitive environment without any further assistance. Compared to a traditional architecture that would acquire the L1 and L5 signals sequentially, this method acquires the L1 signal in the first place because its structure is simpler and there is no need to search the secondary code, then uses this information to reduce the code and frequency search space of the L5 signals. This brings huge benefits to the receiver: 1) the resources needed for the L5 acquisition are tremendously reduced; 2) the acquisition time for the L5 signal is considerably reduced. The implementation on an Altera Stratix III FPGA shows that about 7 % of the logic, 18 % of the multipliers and 47 % of the memory can be saved with the proposed method, while the acquisition time is reduced by 99 %.


Patent lawyers spend a great deal of time figuring out the best districts in which to file patent cases. Based on a comprehensive study of all patent lawsuits over the past ten years, I identify the best – and worst – districts for patent owners along a variety of metrics. The answers will surprise you.


Smart grid provides the technology for modernizing electricity delivery systems by using distributed and computer-based remote sensing, control and automation, and two-way communications. Potential benefits of the technology are that the smart grid's central control will now be able to control and operate many remote power plant, optimize the overall asset utilization and operational efficiently. In this paper, we propose an innovative approach for the smart grid to handle uncertainties arising from condition monitoring and maintenance of power plant. The approach uses an adaptive maintenance advisor and a system-maintenance optimizer for designing/implementing optimized condition-based maintenance activities, and collectively handles operational variations occurring in each substation. The system-maintenance optimizer generates the initial maintenance plans for each substation with multiobjective optimization by considering only the design or average operational conditions. During operation, the substation will experience aging, control shifts, changing weather and load factors, and uncertain measurements. Residing on each host substation, the maintenance advisor will assess the adequacy of initial maintenance plans; and estimate the reliability changes caused by operational variations on the substation using a hierarchical fuzzy system. The advisor will also alert the maintenance optimizer on whether a reoptimization of its maintenance activities should be initiated for meeting the overall grid-reliability requirement. Three scenarios will be studied in this paper, which will demonstrate the ability of the proposed approach for handling operational variations occurring in an offshore substation with manageable computational complexity.


Dimensionality reduction is a well known technique in signal processing oriented to improve both the computational cost and the performance of classifiers. We use an elec-troencephalogram (EEG) feature matrix based on three extraction methods: tracks extraction, wavelets coefficients and Fractional Fourier Transform. The dimension reduction is performed by Mutual Information (MI) and a forward-backward procedure. Our results show that feature extraction and dimension reduction could be considered as a new alternative for solving EEG classification problems.


Diffraction of a two-dimensional electromagnetic beam wave by a thick slit pierced in a perfectly conducting screen is studied, based on Maxwell's equations and their associated boundary conditions. The incident field is not a plane wave but a more-realistic beam. Special attention is devoted to the numerical aspect, which seems essential in such a study.


BACKGROUND
This paper explores the conceptual and methodological problems arising from several empirical investigations of professional education and learning in the workplace.

AIMS
1. To clarify the multiple meanings accorded to terms such as 'non-formal learning', 'implicit learning' and 'tacit knowledge', their theoretical assumptions and the range of phenomena to which they refer. 2. To discuss their implications for professional practice.

METHOD
A largely theoretical analysis of issues and phenomena arising from empirical investigations.

ANALYSIS
The author's typology of non-formal learning distinguishes between implicit learning, reactive on-the-spot learning and deliberative learning. The significance of the last is commonly overemphasized. The problematic nature of tacit knowledge is discussed with respect to both detecting it and representing it. Three types of tacit knowledge are discussed: tacit understanding of people and situations, routinized actions and the tacit rules that underpin intuitive decision-making. They come together when professional performance involves sequences of routinized action punctuated by rapid intuitive decisions based on tacit understanding of the situation. Four types of process are involved--reading the situation, making decisions, overt activity and metacognition--and three modes of cognition--intuitive, analytic and deliberative. The balance between these modes depends on time, experience and complexity. Where rapid action dominates, periods of deliberation are needed to maintain critical control. Finally the role of both formal and informal social knowledge is discussed; and it is argued that situated learning often leads not to local conformity but to greater individual variation as people's careers take them through a series of different contexts. This abstract necessarily simplifies a more complex analysis in the paper itself.


In our study, the primary research goal is to compare and contrast the effectiveness of three advertising appeals and strategies (hard-sell, soft-sell, and polysemy) and the roles played by these different appeals in our global society. The research explores the concept of polysemy and the generation of idiosyncratic meanings along with hard-sell and soft-sell advertising appeals. It also investigates the impact of these appeals on the African-American target population. The research proposes and measures the 'Advertising Polysemy and Hard-Soft Sell' conceptual framework supported by classical conditioning theory, the dual mediation hypothesis framework, and the presence of primary affective reactions, leading to stronger ad-evoked feelings, ad and brand cognitions, ad and brand attitudes, and purchase intentions. The research presents marketing and societal implications of using advertising appeals and strategies with a special focus on African-American society.


The work described in this thesis deals mainly with a fundamental study of two cementation reactions, i.e., Cu(II)/Zn and Co(II)/Zn, using the electrochemical techniques of linear potential sweep voltammetry, cyclic vol tammetry, chronopotentiometry (stripping), capacitance measurements,ring current measurements and impedance spectroscopy. In addition, solution analysis, x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were employed to achieve a better understanding of the kinetics and mechanisms of the two cementations. The half reactions of the two systems were also investigated as an essential part of the whole study. Of the two systems investigated, the Cu(II)/Zn system, was mainly used as a reference system on which some of the new techniques could be proved.

The Cu(II)/Zn reaction has been shown to be diffusion controlled. Five methods, including solution analysis, have been used to determine the rate of reaction. The values of the rate constants thus determined were in good agreement provided allowance was made for the nonstoichiometry of this reaction due to proton displacement by zinc.

The Co(II)/Zn cementation reaction, though thermodynamically highly favourable, is kinetically very sluggish. Of the factors affecting this reaction, the solution pH was found to play a substantial role. For example, while the reaction is largely under chemical control, at pH 5 the reaction rate becomes limited by the speed at which cobalt(I1) ions diffuse to the reacting metal surface. The favourable influence of a higher pH on the reduction of cobalt(II) carried out either electrochemically or chemically using zinc powder was ascribed to the increasing formation of the electrochemically active species, CoOH+ . Increasing the temperature also favours the shift from chemical control to diffusion control.

Values for the rate constants of the Co(II)/Zn reaction in the absence of added zn2+ ions were determined from Evans' diagram, chronopotentiometry and impedance spectroscopy, The reasons for the differences in the values of rate thus obtained were discussed.

The presence of zinc ions in the reaction solution greatly suppressed the rate of Co(II)/Zn cementation reaction. Several factors have been identified as contributing to the reduced reaction rate. These are the double layer effect, zinc ion and hydrogen atom adsorption, and precipitation of basic zinc salts which blanket the reacting metal surface.

The action of compounds such as Sb(III) and As(III), which are commonly used to activate the Co(II)/Zn reaction in the presence of large amounts of zn2+, was investigated mainly by impedance spectroscopy. From the similarity of the impedance spectra for the reaction i n the presence of benzoqui none, it was inferred that one role of the activators was to suppress the formation of adsorbed hydrogen on the reacting surface and to allow a higher concentration of the active species, COOH'.


We report on a dual output all-PM fiber laser system running at 100 MHz repetition rate offering coherent broadband and narrowband pulses centered at 2.05 µm with a spectral FWHM bandwidth of 60 nm and 1.5 nm at up to 360 mW and 500 mW, respectively. The broadband pulses are compressed down to 135 fs. The multi-stage double-clad amplifier based on Tm/Ho codoping is seeded by a supercontinuum light source, spanning from around 1 µm up to 2.4 µm.


This paper presents the findings of an action research project which makes my embodied knowledge explicit in order to contribute to the growing interest in somatic practices and their application to the wider field of teaching and learning. This paper proposes that in order to increase wellbeing within the work environment, the factors which enhance and improve the health of educators must be understood and researched. As somatic practices study direct bodily experience as a source of knowledge, they offer the field of education the opportunity to reposition the body as central to this enquiry. By broadening the concept of wellbeing to encompass the subjective experiences of educators, somatic practices of self-care are evaluated. Evidence of improved wellbeing can then be fed back in to the professional field of education for the self-improvement of educators. Thus the research further aims to make a wider contribution to the field of education and the relatively new and not-yet-mainstream field of somatics.


Background A diabetes risk score in Korean adults was developed and validated. Methods This study used the National Health Insurance Service-National Health Screening Cohort (NHIS-HEALS) of 359,349 people without diabetes at baseline to derive an equation for predicting the risk of developing diabetes, using Cox proportional hazards regression models. External validation was conducted using data from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study. Calibration and discrimination analyses were performed separately for men and women in the development and validation datasets. Results During a median follow-up of 10.8 years, 37,678 cases (event rate=10.4 per 1,000 person-years) of diabetes were identified in the development cohort. The risk score included age, family history of diabetes, alcohol intake (only in men), smoking status, physical activity, use of antihypertensive therapy, use of statin therapy, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, fasting glucose, and γ glutamyl transferase (only in women). The C-statistics for the models for risk at 10 years were 0.71 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.70 to 0.73) for the men and 0.76 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.78) for the women in the development dataset. In the validation dataset, the C-statistics were 0.63 (95% CI, 0.53 to 0.73) for men and 0.66 (95% CI, 0.55 to 0.76) for women. Conclusion The Korean Diabetes Risk Score may identify people at high risk of developing diabetes and may be an effective tool for delaying or preventing the onset of condition as risk management strategies involving modifiable risk factors can be recommended to those identified as at high risk.


Humanoid robots have been developed with the intention of aiding in environments designed for humans. As such, the control of humanoid morphology and effectiveness of human robot interaction form the two principal research issues for deploying these robots in the real world. In this thesis work, the issue of humanoid control is coupled with human robot interaction under the framework of scaled autonomy, where the human and robot exchange levels of control depending on the environment and task at hand. This scaled autonomy is approached with control algorithms for reactive stabilization of human commands and planned trajectories that encode semantically meaningful motion preferences in a sequential convex optimization framework. The control and planning algorithms have been extensively tested in the field for robustness and system verification. The RoboCup competition provides a benchmark competition for autonomous agents that are trained with a human supervisor. The kid-sized and adult-sized humanoid robots coordinate over a noisy network in a known environment with adversarial opponents, and the software and routines in this work allowed for five consecutive championships. Furthermore, the motion planning and user interfaces developed in the work have been tested in the noisy network of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials and Finals in an unknown environment. Overall, the ability to extend simplified locomotion models to aid in semi-autonomous manipulation allows untrained humans to operate complex, high dimensional robots. This represents another step in the path to deploying humanoids in the real world, based on the low dimensional motion abstractions and proven performance in real world tasks like RoboCup and the DRC. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Electrical & Systems Engineering First Advisor Daniel D. Lee


This paper deals with the sensitivity of the input impedance of an open track circuit in the event that the parameters of the track are changed. Weather conditions and the state of pollution are the most common reasons for parameter changes. The results were obtained from the measured values of the parameters R (resistance), G (conductance), L (inductance), and C (capacitance) of a rail superstructure depending on the frequency. Measurements were performed on a railway siding in Orlova. The results are used to design a predictor of occupancy of a track section. In particular, we were interested in the frequencies of 75 and 275 Hz for this purpose. Many parameter values of track substructures have already been solved in different works in literature. At first, we had planned to use the parameter values from these sources when we designed the predictor. Deviations between them, however, are large and often differ by three orders of magnitude (see Tab.8). From this perspective, this article presents data that have been updated using modern measurement devices and computer technology. And above all, it shows a transmission (cascade) matrix used to determine the parameters.


One of the differences between volcanic craters and calderas is that the latter bottoms are flatways filled with caldera deposit with lower density in comparison to country rocks. The 1883 Krakatau eruption affords us important knowledge on caldera formation even if it was not observed with modern sophisticated instruments. First, volcanic activities of the Krakatau Islands before and after the 1883 eruption are reexamined: previous suppositions involving a caldera-forming eruption of the proto-Krakatau prior to 1883 proved to be unsupported by the bathymetric topographies and gravity anomalies on and around the Krakatau Islands. Then, Anak Krakatau is interpreted as a parasitic cone of the main Krakatau volcano. As supplementary knowledge to discussion of caldera deposits, the results of drillings at several calderas in Japan and Mexico are introduced. Mass deficiency of the caldera deposit at Krakatau caldera is estimated by the gravity anomaly observed there and converted to probable volume with suitable density. For quantitative examination of the subsurface structure beneath the Krakatau complex, spatial distributions of seismic S-wave attenuation and Vp/Vs ratios have been already studied by temporary seismological observations and their results have been published. The high ratios of Vp/Vs observed approximately at Krakatau caldera may be attributable to the caldera deposit that is low density and contain much water. As additional remarks, a zone having both the characters, S-wave attenuation and zones of relatively high Vp/Vs ratio, may be a probable magma reservoir centering at a depth of about 10 km.


In our work, we bridge deep neural network design with numerical differential equations. We show that many effective networks, such as ResNet, PolyNet, FractalNet and RevNet, can be interpreted as different numerical discretizations of differential equations. This finding brings us a brand new perspective on the design of effective deep architectures. We can take advantage of the rich knowledge in numerical analysis to guide us in designing new and potentially more effective deep networks. As an example, we propose a linear multi-step architecture (LM-architecture) which is inspired by the linear multi-step method solving ordinary differential equations. The LM-architecture is an effective structure that can be used on any ResNet-like networks. In particular, we demonstrate that LM-ResNet and LM-ResNeXt (i.e. the networks obtained by applying the LM-architecture on ResNet and ResNeXt respectively) can achieve noticeably higher accuracy than ResNet and ResNeXt on both CIFAR and ImageNet with comparable numbers of trainable parameters. In particular, on both CIFAR and ImageNet, LM-ResNet/LM-ResNeXt can significantly compress ($>50$\%) the original networks while maintaining a similar performance. This can be explained mathematically using the concept of modified equation from numerical analysis. Last but not least, we also establish a connection between stochastic control and noise injection in the training process which helps to improve generalization of the networks. Furthermore, by relating stochastic training strategy with stochastic dynamic system, we can easily apply stochastic training to the networks with the LM-architecture. As an example, we introduced stochastic depth to LM-ResNet and achieve significant improvement over the original LM-ResNet on CIFAR10.


In 1992, we published four retrospective studies, conducted primarily within a single California county, which found higher spontaneous abortion rates among women who drank more tapwater than bottled water in early pregnancy. The current prospective study extends that investigation to other water systems. Pregnant women from three regions in California were interviewed during their first trimester. Multivariate analyses modeled the amount and type of water consumed at 8 weeks' gestation in each region in relation to spontaneous abortion rate. In Region I, which was within the previous study area, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) comparing high (≥6 glasses per day) consumption of cold tapwater with none was 2.17 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.22–3.87]. Furthermore, when women with high cold tapwater and no bottled water consumption were compared with those with high bottled water and no cold tapwater consumption, the adjusted odds ratio was 4–58 (95% CI = 1.97–10.64). Conversely, women with high bottled water consumption and no tapwater had a reduced rate of spontaneous abortion compared with those drinking tapwater and no bottled water (adjusted OR = 0.22; 95% CI = 0.09–0.51). Neither tap nor bottled water consumption altered the risk of spontaneous abortion in Regions II and III. Although controlling for age, prior spontaneous abortion, race, gestational age at interview, and weight somewhat strengthened the association in Region I, the distribution of these confounders did not vary appreciably across regions. This study confirms the association between cold tapwater and spontaneous abortion first seen in this county in 1980. If causal, the agent(s) is not ubiquitous but is likely to have been present in Region I for some time.


Focusing on countermeasures against orchestrated cyber-attacks, 'Cyber Security Culture' is research-based and reinforced with insights from experts who do not normally release information into the public arena. It will enable managers of organizations across different industrial sectors and government agencies to better understand how organizational learning and training can be utilized to develop a culture that ultimately protects an organization from attacks. Peter Trim and David Upton believe that the speed and complexity of cyber-attacks demand a different approach to security management, including scenario-based planning and training, to supplement security policies and technical protection systems. The authors provide in-depth understanding of how organizational learning can produce cultural change addressing the behaviour of individuals, as well as machines. They provide information to help managers form policy to prevent cyber intrusions, to put robust security systems and procedures in place and to arrange appropriate training interventions such as table top exercises. Guidance embracing current and future threats and addressing issues such as social engineering is included. Although the work is embedded in a theoretical framework, non-technical staff will find the book of practical use because it renders highly technical subjects accessible and links firmly with areas beyond ICT, such as human resource management - in relation to bridging the education/training divide and allowing organizational learning to be embraced. This book will interest Government officials, policy advisors, law enforcement officers and senior managers within companies, as well as academics and students in a range of disciplines including management and computer science.


Helium isotopes have been measured in fluids trapped in minerals from three mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems at bare-rock sites and at the sediment-covered site at Middle Valley, northern Juan de Fuca Ridge. Fluid-inclusion 3 He/ 4 He ratios from the bare-rock sites are indistinguishable from those of the vent fluids and are close to the local basalt values. Values for δ 34 S of the host sulfide are consistent with variable contributions of seawater sulfate S to the basalt-derived S in the hydrothermal fluids. This does not affect inclusion-hosted 3 He/ 4 He because of the high He concentration of the hydrothermal fluids relative to seawater. Fluid-inclusion 3 He/ 4 He ratios from Middle Valley are a mixture of basalt-derived He and radiogenic He acquired from pore fluids in the overlying Pleistocene turbidite sediments after seawater-basalt interaction. The radiogenic He accompanies isotopicalty heavy S, demonstrating that He isotopes may be used to distinguish pore fluids from seawater in hydrothermal systems.


Objective Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is pivotal in preventing recurring events of myocardial infarction (MI). This study aims to investigate the effect of a smartphone-based home service delivery (Care Assessment Platform) of CR (CAP-CR) on CR use and health outcomes compared with a traditional, centre-based programme (TCR) in post-MI patients. Methods In this unblinded randomised controlled trial, post-MI patients were randomised to TCR (n=60; 55.7±10.4 years) and CAP-CR (n=60; 55.5±9.6 years) for a 6-week CR and 6-month self-maintenance period. CAP-CR, delivered in participants' homes, included health and exercise monitoring, motivational and educational material delivery, and weekly mentoring consultations. CAP-CR uptake, adherence and completion rates were compared with TCR using intention-to-treat analyses. Changes in clinical outcomes (modifiable lifestyle factors, biomedical risk factors and health-related quality of life) across baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months were compared within, and between, groups using linear mixed model regression. Results CAP-CR had significantly higher uptake (80% vs 62%), adherence (94% vs 68%) and completion (80% vs 47%) rates than TCR (p<0.05). Both groups showed significant improvements in 6-minute walk test from baseline to 6 weeks (TCR: 537±86–584±99 m; CAP-CR: 510±77–570±80 m), which was maintained at 6 months. CAP-CR showed slight weight reduction (89±20–88±21 kg) and also demonstrated significant improvements in emotional state (K10: median (IQR) 14.6 (13.4–16.0) to 12.6 (11.5–13.8)), and quality of life (EQ5D-Index: median (IQR) 0.84 (0.8–0.9) to 0.92 (0.9–1.0)) at 6 weeks. Conclusions This smartphone-based home care CR programme improved post-MI CR uptake, adherence and completion. The home-based CR programme was as effective in improving physiological and psychological health outcomes as traditional CR. CAP-CR is a viable option towards optimising use of CR services. Trial registration number ANZCTR12609000251224.


INTRODUCTION The Igbo territory east of the River Niger is the major ethnic nation in Southeast Nigeria, the former Eastern Region. Located also within the region are the Efik, Ibibio, Ijaw, and a number of smaller ethnic communities. (1) Southeast Nigeria generally, and Igboland in particular, have been repeatedly described as a predominantly Christian region. (2) Only a few years back, a Catholic priest and scholar referred to Igboland as one of Africa's homogenous Christian regions. (3) The Igbo Christian identity at present does not derive from the total absence of other religious groups within it but the result of considerably few numbers of members of other faiths (indigenous Igbo religion, Eastern religions, and esoteric religions) vis-a-vis Christians in Igboland. While still retaining its profile as Nigeria's most populous Christian region, Igboland began after the Nigeria-Biafra war (the Nigerian civil war of 1967 to 1970) to manifest tendencies indicative of religious heterogeneity. Indeed, the Nigeria-Biafra war was an important catalyst in the development of an indigenous Muslim community in Igboland, having opened Igboland to a varied range of external influences especially those linked to religion. (4) This paper considers an important issue relevant for understanding the development of Islam in Igboland since its emergence in the first quarter of the twentieth century: the nature of social interactions (actions, encounters, relations) between Muslims--both migrants and indigenes--and non-Muslims in Igboland. The paper begins with an examination of the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims in Igboland from the earliest indication of Islam in the area and proceeds to the nature of the relationship among the Igbo of different religious affiliations. In the process it shows the transformation of Igboland since after the Nigeria-Biafra war into a society embracing widely divergent religious philosophies. METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION Social interaction as used in this paper refers to the changing sequence of social actions between individuals or groups who modify their actions and reactions as a response to the actions of their interacting partner(s). In other words, they are incidents in which people attach meaning to the situation, interpret what they think others are meaning, and respond accordingly. This study utilizes individual and group narratives of daily encounters between members of different religious communities in Igboland. Integral to the discussion are the efforts at coexistence and the attempts to establish spheres of influence by Igbo indigenes differentiated by their religious identities. Archival records and oral data collected from February 2003 until June 2006 from Muslims and non-Muslims of Igbo and other ethnic groups played an important part in this construction. Few interviews were conducted after 2006. Over forty persons of Igbo and non-Igbo origins were interviewed. The majority of the interviewees had primary education. Quite an impressive number had post secondary school certificates. The few persons with no exposure to formal education had the privilege of Qur'anic education. Interviews were held privately at a convenient location to the interviewees. Follow up sessions were held in some cases to clarify issues. Interviewees freely used one of these three languages to share their knowledge: English. Pidgin English, and Igbo. DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS The Beginning of a Relationship One parameter for determining group integration in a mixed society is by examining the nature of the interactions of the component units in their daily encounters. Muslims and non-Muslims in Igboland like Muslims and non- Muslims elsewhere are not monolithic communities that interact as blocs. (5) For well over a century the primary element defining and determining the Igbo traditional (conventional) practice was the Igbo religion, itself an important part of that traditional practice. …


Abstract This research outlines the predominant dialogue and performance characteristics of three-person interpreted telephone speech during service-oriented dialogues, in comparison with those of two-person non-interpreted dialogues. An empirical study was conducted in which 12 native English speakers each made one telephone call through an experienced telephone interpreter to a Japanese confederate who did not speak English, and a second call to a Japanese confederate fluent in English. In total, 24 dialogues were collected, each one containing two successfully completed service tasks, or 48 tasks in total. This paper reports on comparisons performed between three-person interpreted and two-person non-interpreted speech, based on the same pool of tasks and English subjects. The unique characteristics of interpreted telephone dialogues are outlined, including structural and referential features, miscommunications and other performance characteristics, confirmatory language and linguistic indirection. In addition, an analysis is presented of interpreters' strategic management of turn shifts, and of the content, sequencing and chunking of information passed among speakers. The long-term goal of this exploratory research is the theoretical account and modeling of human dialogue, the specification of preliminary target requirements for future automatic systems, and the optimization of human performance within those systems.


Abstract Measurements of (n, 2n) reaction cross sections to produce 84Rb, 86Rb, 88Y, 139Ce, 141Ce, 168Tm, 174m+gLu, 180mTa, 184m+gRe, 196n+gAu, and 237U were carried out in the range of 13.4 to 14.8 MeV. The samples were irradiated at various positions on the surface of a two-ring orientation instrument with a 20-cm radius centered at the deuterium-tritium neutron source. The 27Al(n,α)24Na reaction was used to monitor the neutron fluence in the target samples. The neutron energies of different directions were determined using the ratio of 89Zr to 92mNb specific activities induced in Zr and Nb foils by (n, 2n) reactions. The (n, 2n) products were measured using a calibrated Ge detector. Experimental uncertainty was within ±4%. The results are presented and compared with the results of references and ENDF/B-VII.0 evaluations. Cross sections of 85Rb(n, 2n)84Rb, 140Ce(n, 2n)139Ce, and 89Y(n, 2n)88Y were in good agreement with those of ENDF/B-VII.0 evaluations; however, disagreements were observed for 175Lu(n, 2n)174Lu and 142Ce(n, 2n)141Ce between the present data and the ENDF/B-VII.0 evaluation file. The present data showed improvement in accuracy in comparison with previously reported data; therefore, the results should be offered for evaluations of neutron (n, 2n) cross sections.


We propose a novel type of cascading parametric interaction for generating a nonlinear phase shift in dielectric media with a quadratic nonlinear response based on two-frequency wave mixing of the fundamental and second-harmonic waves. Self-phase modulation of the fundamental wave results from a cascading process consisting of four second-order subprocesses, the direct and reverse subprocesses of Type I second-harmonic generation (SHG) and the direct and reverse subprocesses of Type II SHG. It is found analytically and numerically that the fundamental wave passing through a quadratic medium, tuned for simultaneous near phase matching for these two processes, collects 60% more nonlinear phase shift than does the corresponding two-step cascading. We also obtain the conditions for stationary waves (nonlinear modes) supported by such multistep cascading processes.


Background: Today, e-learning is of strategic importance to teaching and learning in Emergency Medicine (EM). We adopted an interactive e-learning platform based on the open source software called MOODLEa using a blended learning strategy to assist the implementation of a dedicated faculty development program known as the EM consolidation program. This 12-month program was designed to meet the developmental needs of 20 EM specialists who qualified from different parts of the world. The program is delivered through an innovative blend of workplace and simulation-based assessments, educational portfolio and individualized training in selected clinical areas. The e-learning platform was used by the program participants to share learning resources, communicate, and coordinate various educational activities over the last 6 months. Methods: We sought feedback from the participants through a MOODLE-based online questionnaire to evaluate their satisfaction, usage patterns and feedback of their e-learning experience. Results: Out of 20 participants, 90% (n = 18) completed the questionnaire. Two-thirds declared proficiency in computer skills and were enthusiastic about the technology. Their prior experience was related to certified courses rather than interactive forum-based e-learning. About their current experience with MOODLE, 86.7% of participants found it easy to use without any major technical problems. Most of them preferred to access the platform once or twice a week, with 20% accessing on a daily basis. Of the participants, 75% of them accessed MOODLE through their smartphones and 12.5 % through tablet devices. All areas of the e-learning course were found to be useful. The forum-based discussion area was highly rated. The overall learning material was perceived as appropriate and well designed. Among the participants, 62.50% liked the current methodology of blended learning, and 31.25% wished to replace traditional method with e-learning. Also 93.75% of the respondents stated that e-learning was time saving. Conclusion: Learners involved in this e-learning initiative were overall satisfied by the current implementation of MOODLE and with a third of users preferring e-learning to traditional learning. The use of smartphones and tablet devices was widespread in this small study and hence we recommend support for these devices in implementing similar e-learning initiatives. Reference: [1] Cook DA, Yvonne S. Online learning for faculty development: A review of the literature. Med Teach. 2013;35(11):930–937. a MOODLE – Modular Object Orientated Dynamic Learning Environment. http://moodle.org.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cohesive strength of the composite using different resinous monomers to lubricate instruments used in the Restorative Dental Modeling Insertion Technique (RDMIT).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The composite specimens were made by usinga prefabricated Teflon device. Different resinous monomers were used at the interface to lubricate the instruments, for a total of 72 specimens divided into 6 groups: (1) control group, no resinous monomer was used; (2) Composite Wetting Resin; (3) C & B Liquid; (4) Scotchbond Multi-Purpose Adhesive; (5) Adper Single Bond Adhesive; (6) Prime & Bond NT. Specimens were submitted to the circular area tensile test to evaluate the cohesive strength at the composite interfaces. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey's test (alpha = 0.05).

RESULTS
ANOVA showed a value of p < 0.0001, which indicated thatthere were significant differences amongthe groups. The means (SD) for the different groups were: Adper Single Bond Adhesive: 26 (12) a; control group: 28 (3) ab; Prime & Bond NT: 32 (12) ab; Composite Wetting Resin: 36 (9) abc; C&B Liquid: 38 (7) bc; Scotchbond Multi-Purpose Adhesive: 46 (10) c. Groups denoted with the same letters were not significantly different. Only Scotchbond Multi-Purpose Adhesive, used for direct restorations, had a statistically significantly higher bond strength than the control group, Adper Single Bond Adhesive, and Prime & Bond NT. Adper Single Bond with Adhesive showed a statistically significantly lower mean value than C & B Liquid.

CONCLUSION
The results of this study indicate that the resinous monomers used for lubricating the instruments in the RDMIT did not alter the mechanical properties of the composite, and therefore did not reduce the cohesive bond strength at the composite interfaces.