Mammalian scavenging, disarticulating, scattering and removal of human remains can alter and obscure both soft tissue and skeletal remains which are essential to making interpretations and identifications during forensic investigations. The effects of scavenging vary between regions, environments, scavenger species, and crime scene scenarios due to a variety of factors. Nonetheless, there is a gap in the knowledge of scavenger species found within Northwestern Europe. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and Eurasian badger (Meles meles) are the largest wild mammalian scavenger species inhabiting peri-urban and rural environments within Northwestern Europe. These mammalian scavengers have dentitions and bite forces capable of heavily modifying and widely transporting human remains yet there are currently no species-typical and region-specific studies of these scavengers and their impacts on forensic investigations and physical searches for human remains. Forensic scientists, investigators and police search officers have been forced to rely on anecdotal evidence and scavenging studies focused on scavengers not found in this region. Scavenging studies have previously concentrated on scavenger species found in North America and Africa, such as coyote (Canis latrans), wolf (Canis lupus), hyena (Crocuta crocuta), lion (Panthera leo) and leopard (Panthera pardus), which have differing species-typical scavenging behaviour and patterns in comparison to foxes and badgers. Likewise, knowledge of the characteristics of the effects on bone surfaces of fox and badger scavenging is lacking, more so for the latter scavenger. The overall aim of this thesis is to aid forensic investigations by filling the gaps in the knowledge and identification of red fox and Eurasian badger species-typical scavenging behaviour and patterns. Avian scavenging can also modify soft tissue and skeletal remains. The buzzard (Buteo buteo) and carrion crow (Corvus corone) are the most common avian scavengers within this region. The scavenging behaviours of these avians modified soft tissue and affected mammalian scavengers' scavenging behavours. A survey of police search officers within the U. K. indicated that the scavenging of surface deposited human remains within this region is common and that scavenging affects the recovery rates of remains. Despite the impact of scavenging on the recovery of scavenged remains, there is a lack of knowledge and literature available to forensic scientists, investigators, and police search officers to aid in the identification of scavenger species and scavenger species-typical scavenging behaviour and patterns. Thus these forensic professionals have been relying primarily on anecdotal evidence to identify scavengers or have not made efforts to identify scavengers. Experiments, conducted in southern England, using deposited deer (Cervus nippon; Capreolus capreolus) and the observation of captive scavengers found that within a woodland environment common scavengers include wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), carrion crow, buzzard, Eurasian badger, and red fox. Scavenging activities by all scavenger species observed at remains were affected in various ways by seasonality, trophic resources, territoriality, insect activity, carcass size and condition, and decomposition. Of those scavengers, the red fox was the most frequent scavenger of surface deposited remains. The species-typical scavenging behaviour and pattern, as well as bite mark dimensions, of the red fox proved to differ to that of badgers and other canids, such as domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), coyotes and wolves. The benefits of the knowledge of scavenger species-typical scavenging behaviour and pattern to forensic investigations and physical searches were assessed by applying the results gained from the experiments within this research to current forensic investigations and search exercises performed with police search officers. The application of information on species-typical scavenging behaviour and patterns was found to improve police search officers' search and recovery efforts of scavenged remains.


Abstract The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified all subspecies of tigers (Panthera tigris) as endangered and prey depletion is recognized as a primary driver of declines. Prey depletion may be particularly important for Amur tigers (P. t. altaica) in the Russian Far East, living at the northern limits of their range and with the lowest prey densities of any tiger population. Unfortunately, rigorous investigations of annual prey requirements for any tiger population are lacking. We deployed global positioning system (GPS) collars on Amur tigers during 2009–2012 to study annual kill rates in the Russian Far East. We investigated 380 GPS location clusters and detected 111 kill sites. We then used logistic regression to model both the probability of a kill site at location clusters and the size of prey species at kill sites according to several spatial and temporal cluster covariates. Our top model for predicting kill sites included the duration of the cluster in hours and cluster fidelity components as covariates (overall classification success 86.3%; receiver operating characteristic score of 0.894). Application of the model to all tiger GPS data revealed that Amur tigers in this study made a kill once every 6.5 days (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 5.9–7.2 days) and consumed an estimated average of 8.9 kg of prey biomass per day (95% CI 8.8–9.0 kg/day). The success of efforts to reverse tiger declines will be at least partially determined by wildlife managers' ability to conserve large ungulates at adequate densities for recovering tiger populations.


This paper focuses on the features of belief change in a multi-agent context where agents consider beliefs and disbeliefs. Agents receive messages holding information from other agents and change their belief state accordingly. Agents may refuse to adopt incoming information if it is considered as not reliable. For this, agents maintain a preference relation over other agents embedded in the multi-agent system, in order to decide if they accept or reject the incoming information whenever inconsistencies occur. This process leads to non-prioritized belief revision. We focus here on this latter stage when agents refuse to change their (dis)beliefs and thus prefer to stay in opposite (dis)beliefs. In this case they inform their sources of information whether they actually changed their beliefs. We describe a process of justification where an agent states their preferences to the sender of the rejected information. This stage may lead the sender to also reconsider its own belief state.


This work explores the tube-to-tube joining of copper (outer) and stainless steel (inner) using electromagnetic crimping. Stand-off distance is kept constant during all the experiments. ls-dynaTM electromagnetic module, which utilizes finite element method combined with the boundary element method, is used to perform numerical simulations and the model is validated with experimentally observed thinning and radial deformation of the outer tube during electromagnetic crimping. Effect of slit of the field shaper on Lorentz force distribution is studied. It is observed that the slit of the field shaper leads to uneven radial deformation. Furthermore, a novel finite element model has been developed to predict the pull-out and compressive strength of the joint. Results are validated with the experimentally observed data.


My introductory biology students are expected to acquire an extensive vocabulary and I have noticed that they often struggle to learn and make connections between the many Greek and Latin derived terms. This study investigated the effects of dichotomous keys with analogies on college students' understanding of concepts. Twenty adult students enrolled in one section of my Grade 12 equivalent biology course participated. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection tools were used to evaluate my intervention's impacts on understanding, long-term memory, and higherorder thinking skills. Data from the three treatment units were compared to one nontreatment unit during which only existing teaching methods were employed. Paired two-tailed t-tests were used to quantify any differences observed between the preunit, postunit, and delayed unit assessment scores. Student-generated works, and interview data obtained from low-, middle-, and high-achieving students, were compared to allow for triangulation of the data. Other forms of data collection were used to determine the effects of dichotomous keys with analogies on biology students' attitudes and motivation. Students' written comments on pretreatment and posttreatment attitude scales were compared to identify trends and outliers, while responses to Yes/No questions were quantified using chi-square analyses. In addition, teacher journaling and classroom observations by a peer observer were employed. The effects on my own teaching, time management, and attitude were assessed through the use of teacher attitude scales, journaling, and peer observations. The data indicate no significant improvement in students' overall conceptual understanding and higher-order thinking skills following the treatment period, but significant benefits were observed with respect to concept retention. Both lower-order thinking skills, and student and teacher attitudes and motivation, yielded mixed results. One group of students thrived during the prolonged use of dichotomous keys, while the other group became frustrated with, and disengaged from, its highly structured format.


Internal combustion engine (ICE) fuel efficiency is a balance between good indicated efficiency and mechanical efficiency. High indicated efficiency is reached with a very diluted air/fuel-mixture and high load resulting in high peak cylinder pressure (PCP). On the other hand, high mechanical efficiency is obtained with very low peak cylinder pressure as the piston rings and bearings can be made with less friction. This paper presents studies of a combustion engine which consists of a two stage compression and expansion cycle. By splitting the engine into two different cycles, high-pressure (HP) and low-pressure (LP) cycles respectively, it is possible to reach high levels of both indicated and mechanical efficiency simultaneously. The HP cycle is designed similar to today's turbo-charged diesel engine but with an even higher boost pressure, resulting in high PCP. To cope with high PCP, the engine needs to be rigid. The usage of higher piston ring tension and larger bearings are examples of measures to cope with higher PCP. These measures will cost in terms of friction. Hence, mechanical efficiency is not as good as other engine concepts with lower PCP. The low-pressure cycle on the other hand, uses a design more similar to current naturally aspirated (NA) spark ignited (SI) engines, but designed for even lower PCP. Because of this, the engine does not need to be as rigidly designed and the overall friction levels will be much lower. By combining these two engine philosophies, a total engine concept with both high indicated and mechanical efficiencies can be achieved. Simulations show net indicated efficiency above 60% and a brake efficiency of 56%.


Acute pulmonary embolism occurs in more than half a million people a year in the United States. Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) develops in approximately 4% of these patients due to unresolved thromboemboli. CTEPH is thus a relatively common, progressive, and potentially fatal disease. One currently proposed theory for the poor resolution advocates that modification of fibrinogen in CTEPH patients causes resistance of emboli to fibrinolysis. The current study investigated the regulation of cytosolic Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)](cyt)), central to the control of cell migration, proliferation, and contraction, by chronic exposure of pulmonary artery smooth muscle (PASMC) and endothelial (PAEC) cells to fibrinogen and fibrin. Basal [Ca(2+)](cyt) was substantially elevated in PAEC after culture on fibrinogen, fibrin, and thrombin and in PASMC on fibrinogen and fibrin. In PAEC, fibrinogen significantly decreased the peak [Ca(2+)](cyt) transient (P <0.001) without a change in the transient peak width (at 50% of the peak height). This response was independent of effects on the proteinase-activated receptor (PAR) 1. Furthermore, chronic exposure to thrombin, an activator of PAR, significantly reduced the peak agonist-induced Ca(2+) release in PAEC, but increased it in PASMC. The recovery rate of the agonist-induced [Ca(2+)](cyt) transients decelerated in PASMC chronically exposed to fibrin; a small increase of the peak Ca(2+) was also observed. Substantial augmentation of PASMC (but not PAEC) proliferation was observed in response to chronic fibrin exposure. In conclusion, chronic exposure to fibrinogen, fibrin, and thrombin caused differential changes in [Ca(2+)](cyt) in PAEC and PASMC. Such changes in [Ca(2+)](cyt) may contribute to vascular changes in patients who have CTEPH where the pulmonary vasculature is persistently exposed to thromboemboli.


Abstract In this paper, insider trading is viewed as a signal of managements' assessments of firms' future prospects and its information content is compared to that in managements' earnings forecasts. These forecasts are explicit statements of managements' assessments of future prospects. A number of measures of insider trading designed to capture the information aspect of trading are investigated. The results indicate that the insider trading measures do not capture the information conveyed in earnings forecasts, although there is evidence that insider trading measures that take into account the timing of trades relative to the date of the release of the forecast are informative.


Abstract The silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix has spread throughout the Mississippi River drainage. During 2003, we determined its population status and potential impact in the middle Mississippi River (MMR), the conduit between the lower Mississippi River and the upper Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers. We quantified growth, age structure, fecundity, and diets of silver carp sampled with trammel nets and AC electrofishing in main-channel areas. Mean length at age in the MMR exceeded that of populations in Asia by as much as 26%. Individuals were typically more than 1 year old and 230 mm total length, suggesting that small, young fish were absent. Individuals in this population matured earlier (age 2) than in the species' native range. Regardless of phytoplankton variation (using chlorophyll a as a surrogate) and zooplankton concentration at MMR sites, phytoplankton was consistently most abundant in diets. Silver carp are finding suitable resources within the MMR, allowing individuals to g...


The effects of alkaline treatment and a compatibilizing agent on the tensile properties of sugar palm fibre-reinforced high impact polystyrene (HIPS) composites were studied. Two concentrations of an alkali solution (4% and 6%) and two percentages of a compatibilizing agent (2% and 3%) were used in this study. The alkaline treatment was carried out by immersing the fibres in 4% and 6% alkali solutions for 1 hour. A 40 wt. % of sugar palm fibre (SPF) was blended with HIPS and the compatibilizing agent using a Brabender melt mixer at 165 °C. All the treated fiber composites showed tensile strength enhancement compared with untreated composites. The maximum strength increase was 35%, which was achieved by 4% alkali treatment; however, there was no improvement in the tensile modulus.


Background and objectives: Considering the increasing prevalence of depression, many studies are launched to investigate new antidepressant treatments. The present research has shown how psilocybin as an active compound of Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer extract (PCE) can change the parameters related to depression and anxiety in animal models. Both serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine: 5-HT) and glutamate modulate depressive-like behaviors and, therefore, we examined the possible interaction of psilocybin as 5-HT1 agonist with glutamate receptor N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA). Methods: Psilocybe cubensis extract of this mushroom was prepared by ethyl acetate. NMRI mice involved in all experiments and were treated with the vehicle, extract, or standard drug intraperitoneally. Open field (OFT), forced swimming (FST) and tail suspension tests (TST) were applied to measure the intended parameters. OFT was performed to verify the applied doses for measuring the following antidepressant activity.  Results: PCE at the doses of 100 mg/kg significantly changed the locomotion, time spent in center and velocity of the animals in OFT. While treatment of the animals with PCE 10 and 40 mg/kg or ketamine 1 mg/kg did not alter the locomotor activity, co-administration of these subeffective amounts significantly reduced the immobility time in both FST and TST. Conclusion: These effects may indicate possible implication of psilocybin with NMDA receptor which consequently produces the antidepressant effects.


In general, problems such as lameness, claw injuries and claw infections very commonly occur in sow housing, and are a primary cause of culling, especially among young animals. The culling of young animals is a large economic burden in pig production, and therefore it is of great importance to try to reduce problems related to claw health. In addition, claw injuries also lead to a significant amount of suffering for the animals, which is not in accordance with good animal welfare. Previous studies have shown an increased prevalence of claw health problems in housing systems where limited amounts of straw are given, and where there are slatted floors in the dung area of the pens. These conditions must be taken into consideration, since these pen types will soon be the most prevalent in modern Swedish pig production. In this study, the importance of straw for the occurrence of claw injuries, sow activity, pen hygiene, and animal well-being was studied in the pen system described above. All studies were carried out on gestating sows housed in dry sow pens of the type "2 rooms" (Figure 1), with liquid feed, trough feeding with trough dividers, and without being locked in during feeding times. A total of 24 pens were studied in three trials. In half of the studied dry sow pens (12 control pens, or 4 pens per trial), a small amount of straw was given (approx 200 g per sow per day), whereas the other half of the pens (12 study pens, or 4 pens per trial) received a larger amount of straw (approx 1000 g per sow per day). The straw was given after the morning feeding. The claw health of the animals was documented using claw studies carried out when they first entered the pen, and when they left the gestation unit. A total of 99 sows were examined in this study. For these studies, the sow was placed in a sow cradle (Figure 2) where the legs could be lifted individually, cleaned with a brush, water, and claw knife, and the claws examined. The observations were carried out using the same method and according to the same protocol as previously described. At the same time as the claw studies, observations were made of scratches/injuries and bites on the examined sows. In addition, the eating order of the sows was noted at three different times during their stay in the gestation unit. The sow that first left the trough at feeding times was given an eating order point of 1 (short time at the trough), while the sow that stayed the longest at the trough was given an eating order point of 3 (long time at the trough). The sows were also videotaped for 24 h to determine their activity and location in the pen. In addition, 2 h manual behaviour studies were carried out at times during their stay in these pens. In these studies, the presence of stereotypies in the group was especially noted ("chewing/biting the bars", "chewing saliva", "rolling the tongue", and "licking the floor"). Hygiene level and cleanliness of the pens were evaluated using hygiene studies. Each pen was divided into 8 areas (Figure 3), and an evaluation of the amount of moisture and dirtiness were carried out using two parallel 3-point scales. The results of the claw studies (combining all the claw injuries), bites and scratches, and the 24-h studies of animal activity, were analysed statistically using the GLM procedure in SAS. The occurrence of claw injuries was analysed using a statistical model containing the following factors: amount of straw bedding, litter number, trial number, injuries, and eating order points at feeding. In the statistical model for the analysis of the sow activity/location during the entire day, the factors amount of straw and litter number were used. The amount of straw was the factor in the model for bites and scratches. For the other observations (occurrence of stereotypies, and the pen cleanliness studies, only the frequency and the mean were calculated. The claw studies showed the occurrence of 6 types of injuries: cracks in the claw wall, overgrown heel, white line injuries, injury to the border of the heel/toe, or toe injuries. Certain injury types occurred more often together with other types of injuries than others did. In Table 1, the significant correlations between the different injuries at entering the gestation unit are shown, and in Table 2 the significant correlations when leaving the unit. Cracks in the claw wall and white line injuries, and heel injuries and overgrown heels, respectively, appeared to occur at the same time. The statistical analyses were carried out on both the total material (that is, all sows) and on a portion of the material, consisting of those sows missing or which had minor wounds upon entering the gestation unit. The analyses of the total material (Table 3, Figure 5) showed that the older sows (litter number >4) incurred significantly fewer claw injuries during gestation than the young animals did) In general, no other factor in the model was significant. However, it was noted that the sows having serious claw injuries already upon entering the unit did not tend to show an increase in these injuries as much as sows having no or light injuries upon entering did (Table 3, Figure 6). In pens with the larger straw ration, a nominally lower increase in the number of injuries on the sows was found in comparison to those occurring on sows housed in pens with the lower straw ration. This was true for all types of injuries (Figure 4). The results of the statistical analyses for sows with no or light injuries are presented in Table 4. When the animals with the more serious injuries were not included in the analyses, the effect of the amount of straw present was greatly increased, although not enough to reach significance, whereas the p-value for litter number increased somewhat. The incidence of bites and scratches generally decreased to some extent during the stay in the gestation unit (Table 5). This decrease was greatest on animals in the pens with the larger straw ration, but the difference in comparison with animals in the lower straw ration was not significant. The presence of a larger straw ration also appeared to have reduced the occurrence of stereotypies (Table 8) among the sows. The sows given the larger straw ration were observed to be lying down somewhat more in the dung area (Table 6), especially the older animals (Table 7). An interpretation of this result could be that the floor heated lying area with the larger amounts of straw at times was "too warm" for the sows. Generally, no differences in activity between the two groups of animals could be detected (Tables 6, 7). The effect of the amount of straw on pen moisture and cleanliness is given in Figures 7 and 8. The lying area was observed to be somewhat less damp and cleaner in pens given the larger straw ration. On the other hand, the larger amounts of straw were more difficult to press down through the slatted flooring, and as a result the pens were wetter and less clean in the dung area. In summary, the studies showed that the size of the straw bedding ration clearly had a positive effect on the prevalence of claw injuries, and that the use of plenty of straw bedding was also of importance for the welfare of the sows. The results of the studies are interpreted so that it should be possible to reduce the problem with claw injuries, which is often seen in pens with slatted floors and relatively small areas for the animal, by increasing the amount of the straw bedding. This method is also considered to be a better way of preventing problems with claw injuries than by replacing the slatted flooring in those types of pens (that is, in gestation pens for well-established sow groups) with solid flooring. In previous studies, changing the slatted floors to solid floors in gestation pens for dry sows did not show any large effect on claw health. The comparison and evaluation of housing systems is often difficult to carry out, because various factors must be considered at the same time to obtain an evaluation of the entire system. In this type of evaluation, it is common that the different parameters considered have different "weights" or importance. For example, often building costs are more important for the producer's choice of housing system than what the system can mean for animal health and welfare, for animal handling, the working environment, the effect on the environment, etc. Different producers also have different considerations depending upon economics, their interests, and their viewpoints with respect to production and the future. Irrespective of what weight is put on the parameter animal health and welfare, it can, however, be proven that in the long-term viewpoint these factors are of great importance for production economy. A low incidence of disease and durable animals are important ingredients for a strongly competitive and enduring production. This study has shown that an abundant straw ration, as a specific factor, appears to be of great importance in ameliorating some of the animal health and welfare problems which can occur in some types of intensive housing systems. In general, the study also showed that perhaps it is not sufficient to indicate that the animal should have access to straw as a bedding material. The amount of straw available is also important and must therefore be more precisely defined.


During an adenovirus infection the accumulation of alternatively spliced mRNAs is subjected to a tight temporal regulation. The IIIa protein is a structural protein expressed exclusively late after infection. To study the significance of the restricted IIIa protein expression we used a Tet-ON regulated adenoviral vector to overexpress the IIIa protein during the early phase of infection. The results show that unregulated IIIa protein expression caused a reduction in late viral protein accumulation and a slight block of viral DNA replication. Further, the results indicate that IIIa splicing might be subjected to a regulation via a feed back loop stimulating its own expression. To improve the efficacy of vectors for regulated transgene expression, we constructed binary adenoviral vectors based on the Tet-ON and Tet-OFF systems. These vectors encode both the transcriptional activator and the tetracycline-regulated expression cassette from the same viral unit, ensuring that each infected cell will express both the activator and the reporter gene. In model experiments this system was shown to result in a tight control of gene expression with no detectable background expression of the transgene and induction levels reaching 500-600 fold. Introduction of dsRNA into a cell will induce a sequence specific degradation of the homologous mRNA via a mechanism named RNA interference (RNAi). The adenovirus VA RNAs are short highly structured RNAs that are expressed in large amounts late during an adenovirus infection. Here we showed that both VA RNAI and VA RNAII functions as virus-encoded suppressors of RNAi, by interfering with the activity of Dicer, the enzyme that cleaves the initial dsRNA to short-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that mediate RNAi. Further, the VA RNAs themselves are substrates for Dicer and are cleaved into siRNAs in vivo that are incorporated into active RNA-induced silencing complexes. There is a great interest in developing novel therapeutic strategies based on RNAi. We constructed adenoviral vectors that express short hairpin RNAs, which in vivo will be cleaved to siRNAs that induce sequence-specific RNAi. We compared the efficiency of RNAi induced by vectors based on the viral VA RNAI and the human U6 promoters. Our results suggest that under conditions where the recombinant virus does not replicate, the VA RNA promoter is more effective in down regulating target gene expression, whereas the U6 promoter was more effective under replicative conditions.


Research in climatology focused in the latest decades on climate change and especially on changes in extreme weather events. Among them, heat waves and cold waves are among the most studied. Since climate change is already affecting large areas worldwide, it is important to study in details the future evolution of these changes at regional and local scale. The aim of this study is to analyse changes on heat waves and cold waves indices over the period 20202100, divided into three sub-periods (2021-2040, 2041-2070, and 2071-2100) in five weather stations in Romania by using a set of 10 indices recommended by Expert Team for Climate Change Detection Monitoring and Indices. Heat waves were detected based on excess heat factor, while cold waves were detected based on excess cold factor. The indices for observed and modelled data were calculated by employing ClimPACT2 software. Modelled data for daily minimum and maximum temperature was extracted from EURO-CORDEX Project database. RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios of five regional climate models (ALADIN, REMO, RACMO22E, RCA4, and WRF331F) were considered. We compared the average values of the historical reference period (1961-1990) with those obtained for the three sub-periods for each scenario (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). The results of this study showed major changes for all the analysed indices, especially for the period 2071-2100, which showed the highest changes under both analysed scenarios. The cold waves become less, shorter, but more intense (for RPC 4.5) or remain at the same intensity (for RCP 8.5), while the heat waves will be more, longer, and more intense for both scenarios.


Aim To explore the views in non-Western cultures about ending the lives of damaged newborns. Method 254 university students from India and 150 from Kuwait rated the acceptability of ending the lives of newborns with genetic defects in 54 vignettes consisting of all combinations of four factors: gestational age (term or 7 months); severity of genetic defect (trisomy 21 alone, trisomy 21 with serious morphological abnormalities or trisomy 13 with impending death); the parents' attitude about prolonging care (unknown, in favour or opposed); and the procedure used (withholding treatment, withdrawing it or injecting a lethal substance). Results Four clusters were identified by cluster analysis and subjected to analysis of variance. Cluster I, labelled 'Never Acceptable', included 4% of the Indians and 59% of the Kuwaitis. Cluster II, 'No Firm Opinion', had little variation in rating from one scenario to the next; it included 38% of the Indians and 18% of the Kuwaitis. In Cluster III, 'Parents' Attitude+Severity+Procedure', all three factors affected the ratings; it was composed of 18% of the Indians and 16% of the Kuwaitis. Cluster IV was called 'Severity+Parents' Attitude' because these had the strongest impact; it was composed of 40% of the Indians and 7% of the Kuwaitis. Conclusions In accordance with the teachings of Islam versus Hinduism, Kuwaiti students were more likely to oppose ending a newborn's life under all conditions, Indian students more likely to favour it and to judge its acceptability in light of the different circumstances.


The working fluids most widely used for small and mid-sized air conditioning systems globally are R-410A and R22. While these fluids have many positive attributes for cooling and heating, they are the subject of valid criticisms regarding their high direct global warming potential (GWP) and, in the case of R-22, ozone depletion potential (ODP) also. In the interest of improved environmental sustainability, a new class of refrigerant molecule has been developed, the hydrofluoroolefin, or HFO. While the very low direct GWP values of these molecules are attractive, none of the HFOs by themselves are fully satisfactory for use in conventional stationary AC system designs, for reasons of concern about low capacity and flammability. Blended refrigerant candidates have been developed to provide better overall safety and performance, while retaining significant environmental sustainability properties versus the legacy refrigerants. This paper discusses the considerations for designing viable refrigerant blends and the process for developing useful refrigerant compositions. There is as yet no universal agreement on what are the most critical properties for air conditioning fluids. Proposed legislation and industry discussions are proposing such features as high energy efficiency, low Life Cycle Climate Performance (LCCP), low direct GWP, performance to match current commercial fluids, non flammability, and more. No single candidate has yet been identified that meets every proposed requirement for a refrigerant fluid. This paper discusses three candidate fluids that have been developed to meet three of the most often cited sets of environmental, physical and performance properties for air conditioning (AC). Each of these candidate fluids possesses desirable, but different sets of properties. The trade-offs and relative performance and environmental merits of each will be discussed. The three fluids vary in direct GWP values, flammability, capacity, and critical temperature. As these fluids are not yet commercial, they will be designated by laboratory identification DR codes that are being used in the AHRI (American Heating and Refrigeration Institute) AREP (Alternative Refrigerant Evaluation Program). One is a 2L flammable gas that gives capacity performance near that of R-410A, designated DR-5A. One is a nonflammable composition for use to replace R-22 in high ambient temperature environments, designated DR-91. The third is a 2L flammable replacement for R-22 with a direct GWP of less than 150, designated DR-3. In designing and evaluating these new compositions, the trade-offs that exist between refrigeration capacity, efficiency (COP), temperature glide, GWP value, and flammability have been explored and assessed. We report on some comparisons of these compositions in AC measurement and modeling work. The new compositions have been evaluated with thermodynamic refrigeration cycle models at standard AC conditions, and at high ambient temperature operating conditions, and show good performance. Testing is underway to evaluate performance of these new compositions in laboratory equipment and in actual operating systems, as compared to R-410A or R-22 performance in the same or similar systems. The status of the testing will be reported in this paper. These new


The sediment transport capacity of the Avancon river through the city of Bex in Switzerland is limited. During the October 2000 flood event, water levels rose to danger limits. After the flood, the river channel was completely filled with sediments, with a uniform layer thickness comprised between 1.7 and 1.8m through the village. The return period of the flood event was estimated to be around 20 years, but the amount of transported sediments was extremely high for such an event.


This article specifies behavior changes and identifies content for an integrated social marketing communication campaign to reduce amount of food wasted by individuals. The findings are based on a review of literature and discussions with experts. After gaining attention, the campaign will need to inform individuals of negative environmental impact, social injustice, and economic costs of wasting food. Individual behavior changes required are to plan purchases and store correctly, which will reduce amount of spoilage, and to prepare appropriate amounts, which will reduce food waste from leftovers. In addition, individuals are required to redistribute or recycle inevitable food waste rather than throwing it out as rubbish. Identification of these behavior changes will be useful for practitioners in industry, government, and not-for-profit sectors who are engaging in activities encouraging individuals to reduce food waste. Due to wide variations in food provisioning behaviors across different cultures and geographies, additional market research on the population of interest is required to design content for the campaign. This will allow for framing message and selection of media to appeal to identified target groups of individuals who both waste large amounts of food and, importantly, are receptive to changing their behaviors to reduce amount of food wasted. And finally, the success of any such "downstream" behavior change campaign will be increased when it is supported by enabling "upstream" contextual influences associated with supportive social networks, communities, infrastructure, and regulation.


Pattern Language (PL) has been researched and developed in HCI research since the mid-80s. Our research was initiated by the question why something like PL can create such enthusiasm and interest over the years, while at the same time not be more widespread and successful? In this paper, we examine the experiences and expectations that HCI researchers who have been involved in PL research have had and still have when it comes to PL. Based on the literature review and interview studies, we provide some overall reflections and several possible directions on the use of PL in HCI.


In the past, "the" Bruckner problem had to do with producing editions that reflected his intentions, insofar as these could be determined from extant autograph materials. Since then, musicologists have singled out other Bruckner problems. Thus many scholars see the need to create a more believable image of the composer than that of the pious na•f who appears in much of the traditional literature. As the scope of Bruckner scholarship widened in the past three decades, the opposition between Catholic liturgical music and Wagner9s operas, both crucial in Bruckner9s development as a composer, inspired semantic interpretations of his symphonies that have been subjected to increasingly close and critical scrutiny. In sum, much recent research focuses on creating a firmer factual basis for understanding his life and works.
Yet musicologists have also recognized the significance of the cliches of Bruckner reception, which can be attributed in part to the volkisch worldview shared by many of his earliest supporters. Contemporary Viennese politics is an important topic because of questions not only of reception but also intent. Bruckner greatly enhanced the demagogic and cultic appeal of the Beethovenian symphony; scholars have accordingly focused on how he altered the type, as well as on how it was perceived.
Recent treatments of the Eighth Symphony suggest the analytical potential of the metrical numbers Bruckner wrote in his scores while also showing that "the" Bruckner problem persists. Many distinguished conductors continue to choose the "wrong" version of the symphony (prepared by Robert Haas in 1939) over the first and second versions of the symphony as edited by Leopold Nowak after World War II. Rigorous and at the same time imaginative approaches are needed for the problems Bruckner scholarship poses.


Nowadays, there is a very high number of electronic devices with different ranges of power. Desktop peripherals and cellphones are an example of widely used low power devices. Contactless power transfer is useful to supply or recharge these devices without any physical link. Their lifetime can be increased because wires are a source of dysfunction. Contactless power transfer is also very useful in supplying rotating parts. Indeed, the brushes typically used for this purpose are impractical for high speed applications and are also a source of dysfunction. In recent years, the development of electric vehicles became a great opportunity for contactless power transfer applications. The batteries of these vehicles have a limited autonomy which makes the charging process very important. By taking as a starting point, the contactless battery charging for an electric vehicle, this work addresses contactless power transfer using inductive couplers. The modelling proposed in the scope of this work is available for different ranges of power. However, special attention is given to crucial points for high power applications, which are the efficiency of the system and the radiated magnetic field. Indeed, the efficiency in high power transfer is a crucial point for ecological and thermal dissipation reasons. The radiated field must be limited to meet magnetic radiation guidelines and to ensure the safety of users. The inductive coupled power transfer (ICPT), similar to a conventional transformer, is made of two magnetically coupled coils. The first one, called the primary coil, is supplied with an alternating current, which induces a voltage in the secondary coil. The amplitude of the induced voltage in the secondary coil is a function of the magnetic coupling factor and the operating frequency. The main difference between conventional transformers and inductive couplers is the value of the magnetic coupling. Indeed, the distance between the coils is larger for inductive couplers, and the magnetic field lines are not guided by a ferromagnetic material as in the case in conventional transformers. As a result, such a system is also called an "air-transformer". To obtain high performance in spite of a very low coupling factor (typically $0.1$ compared to $0.9$), compensation capacitances are inserted into the system. They compensate the very low power factor due to the magnetisation of the inductances. The different compensation topologies are studied and compared in detail in this work. They determine the load characteristic, the frequency response and the values of the voltages and currents in the coils. A novel compensation methodology is proposed and compared to the existing one. It aims to simplify the transformer's control instead of maximizing the efficiency. When a conductive plate is close to the transformer, Eddy currents are induced leading to the generation of Joule losses. The system efficiency is thus decreased and thermal dissipation becomes an issue. In this case, adding magnetic shielding to the structure is very efficient. A modelling of these effects is performed and several shielding topologies are proposed. An optimisation of the shielding geometry, based on genetic algorithms, is also undertaken.


Ethnographic research has become a method of choice for many practitioner researchers and has attained increased status in response to a series of initiatives which have targeted it as a vehicle to enhance professional practice (the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge: CWDC, 2010; the Early Years Foundation Stage: DCSF, 2008a). Ethnographic researchers have been strident in their reflective accounts of the benefits of using both ethnographic instruments and critical reflection as a means to capture rich educational experience (Clark and Moss, 2001; Tricoglus, 2001). Few accounts of practitioner experiences of designing and conducting research have surfaced. Who better to describe the coal-face experience of doing ethnographic practitioner research than the practitioners themselves? This chapter attempts to address this issue and utilises the recent student experience of a family support worker, Carole, who completed a small-scale ethnographic study as part of her Foundation Degree in Early Years, to illustrate the key features of this approach.


Ecophysiological characteristics of forest and savanna vegetation are compared in an attempt to understand how physiological differences within and between these vegetation types relate to their geographical distributions. A simple ordination first shows that although precipitation exerts a key effect on Amazonian vegetation distributions, soil characteristics are also important. In particular, it is found that under similar precipitation regimes, deciduous forests tend to occur on more fertile soils than do cerrado vegetation types. A high subsoil clay content is also important in allowing the existence of semievergreen forests at only moderate rainfall. Such observations are consistent with biome specific physiological characteristics. For example, deciduous trees have higher nutrient requirements than do evergreen ones which also tend to have characteristics associated with severe water deficits such as a low specific leaf area. Nutrient contents and photosynthetic rates are lower than for savanna than for forest species with several ecosystem characteristics suggesting a primary limitation of nitrogen on savanna productivity. By contrast, phosphorus seems to constrain the productivity of most Amazonian forest types. Differentiation is made between the fast-growing, high-nutrient-requiring forest types of western Amazonia and their counterparts in eastern Amazonia, which tend to occupy infertile but deeper soils of high water-holding ability. On the basis of observed physiological characteristics of the various vegetation forms, it is argued that, should Amazonian precipitation decline sharply in the future, the slower growing forests of eastern Amazonia will transform directly into an evergreen cerrado type vegetation but with the more fertile western Amazonian forests being replaced by some form of drought-deciduous vegetation.


The internet contributes for the reduction of information asymmetries between the government and the society through the transparency, because provides an environment of analysis and reflection through the information publicized by the public managers. At any level of the Public Administration, the management must be efficient and transparent, so, the general objective of this research is to verify the level of transparency of websites of the federal universities in the South of Brazil in the year of 2014 based on what the Brazilian legislation determines. Through adaptation and application of the model proposed by Nunes (2013) for measurement of the level of transparency based on the Brazilian legislation, this work seeks to providing contribution to the researches about transparency in the public sector. In the evaluation the information content, usability of the websites and data availability were considered, distributed in a set of 25 descriptors based on the Brazilian legislation. Based on the analysis made, it has been possible to find out that the group of universities analyzed showed good transparency practices. Globally three universities showed excellent transparency level; yet most universities have improvements to be made in their websites. Federal University of Santa Catarina stood out for reaching the highest transparency level among federal universities in the south. To enable the construction of a transparency map, for future works is recommended the use of the model in universities from other regions of the country.


Summary Women in academic publishing and academic psychiatry face many challenges of gender inequality, including significant pay differentials, poor visibility in senior positions and a male-dominated hierarchical system. We discuss this problem and outline how the BJPsych plans to tackle these issues it in its own publishing.


Having worked as a lecturer for five years, I was given the opportunity to undertake the postgraduate diploma in third-level learning and teaching at the Dublin Institute of Technology. The elective I chose as part of this course was online learning. The requirement to compile a reflective journal during the module has provided the catalyst for me to write this paper. This Paper describes work in progress for proposed research within the Department of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Studies in Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT). The purpose of this research is to investigate the feasibility of providing and the effectiveness of online course materials for students following the day-release apprenticeship programme in professional cookery. At present students are required to attend college full-time for six weeks in a 30-week course. For the remainder, students are required to attend college one day per week. The group comes from diverse geographical locations, therefore it is expected that the provision of a blended learning environment will enhance student learning. As Crook describes it, 'Computer networking invites the fragmentation of education provision such that it can be distributed in both time and space. The virtual learner will have no need to congregate in set places and set times' (Steeples and Jones 2002). In addition Crook also suggests that 'students linked by a common computer network are empowered to interact with their peers and their tutors through this infrastructure'.


Nanostructured surface layer was produced on Ti-6Al-4V alloy by surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) technique, and the composite ceramic coatings of surface nanocrystallization/ micro-arc oxidation (SNC/MAO) were prepared on the nanocrystallized surface of Ti-6Al-4V alloy by pulsed single-polar micro-arc oxidation in NaAlO2 solution. XRD, SEM and TEM techniques were used to investigate the phase and surface morphology of ceramic coatings and the influences on the surface state of the alloys. Meantime, the mechanical properties of Ti alloys were measured by tensile test. The results show that after the SMAT treatment for a short period of time, the surface layer was refined into ultrafine grains. The influences of the SMAT technique on the surface morphology of the ceramic coatings were also studied. The ceramic coatings are mainly composed of Al2TiO5, more compact and less porous than those untreated. The mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy by SMAT technique are improved, compared with those untreated by SMAT technique.


We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) optical transmission spectra of the transiting hot-Jupiter WASP-12b, taken with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph instrument. The resulting spectra cover the range 2900–10 300 A which we combined with archival Wide Field Camera 3 spectra and Spitzer photometry to cover the full optical to infrared wavelength regions. With high spatial resolution, we are able to resolve WASP-12A's stellar companion in both our images and spectra, revealing that the companion is in fact a close binary M0V pair, with the three stars forming a triple-star configuration. We derive refined physical parameters of the WASP-12 system, including the orbital ephemeris, finding the exoplanet's density is ∼20 per cent lower than previously estimated. From the transmission spectra, we are able to decisively rule out prominent absorption by TiO in the exoplanet's atmosphere, as there are no signs of the molecule's characteristic broad features nor individual bandheads. Strong pressure-broadened Na and K absorption signatures are also excluded, as are significant metal-hydride features. We compare our combined broad-band spectrum to a wide variety of existing aerosol-free atmospheric models, though none are satisfactory fits. However, we do find that the full transmission spectrum can be described by models which include significant opacity from aerosols: including Rayleigh scattering, Mie scattering, tholin haze and settling dust profiles. The transmission spectrum follows an effective extinction cross-section with a power law of index α, with the slope of the transmission spectrum constraining the quantity αT = −3528 ± 660 K, where T is the atmospheric temperature. Rayleigh scattering (α = −4) is among the best-fitting models, though requires low terminator temperatures near 900 K. Sub-micron size aerosol particles can provide equally good fits to the entire transmission spectrum for a wide range of temperatures, and we explore corundum as a plausible dust aerosol. The presence of atmospheric aerosols also helps to explain the modestly bright albedo implied by Spitzer observations, as well as the near blackbody nature of the emission spectrum. Ti-bearing condensates on the cooler night-side is the most natural explanation for the overall lack of TiO signatures in WASP-12b, indicating the day/night cold trap is an important effect for very hot Jupiters. These findings indicate that aerosols can play a significant atmospheric role for the entire wide range of hot-Jupiter atmospheres, potentially affecting their overall spectrum and energy balance.


Although perceived changes in political participation patterns amongst young people in
recent years have attracted much academic research in established democracies this
remains an understudied area in the newer post-communist democracies of Central and
Eastern Europe. In established democracies, researchers have shown that although many
young people are increasingly shunning traditional forms of political involvement, such
as voting and political party membership, instead they are turning to more direct
methods such as volunteering and protest. Despite evidence that young people in newer
democracies may also have low levels of electoral participation and party membership,
there is little understanding of whether this is due to communist legacies of forced
participation, economic and social hardship or indeed reflects trends in established
democracies. As active political participation plays a vital role in the improvement of
the quality of democracy, this represents an important gap in our knowledge.
The aim of this thesis is to start to address this by analysing the logics behind youth
political participation in two contrasting newer democracies, Poland and Romania. To
do this, I employ a multi-method comparative approach which combines qualitative
findings of fieldwork and quantitative data on electoral turnout. The thesis assesses
electoral participation, party membership and involvement in informal forms of
participation such as volunteering and protest. It finds that many young people in postcommunist
democracies choose to opt out of traditional forms of political participation
because, as in established democracies, they feel alienated from formal political agents.
However, this exit from formal methods of participation is not generally coupled with
active participation in informal forms of involvement. The thesis concludes that despite
sharing some important characteristics with young people in established democracies,
legacies of communism and the rapid nature of post-communist political and
socioeconomic transformation continue to negatively influence youth political
participation in Poland and Romania.


Property titling enables tax collection and encourages private investment. Yet, governments across the developing world often fail to invest in land registration systems, such as cadastral maps, that record land ownership and values. In this paper, we describe and estimate the fiscal benefits and political costs that elected officials face when deciding whether to invest in this critical fiscal infrastructure. Focusing on Brazilian municipalities, we find that property tax revenue increases by over 10% following cadastre updates. Officials covet this revenue, but they simultaneously seek to secure their reelection, and investing in the cadastre can generate political costs by angering tax-averse voters or undermining clientelism. When these political costs are large, officials who do not face reelection pressures have greater incentives to invest in the cadastre. Using a close-election regression discontinuity, we find that term-limited incumbents are around 15 percentage points more likely to update the cadastre.


In the fall of 2000, Philip Morris re-initiated an external research grants programme ("Philip Morris External Research Program", or PMERP), the first since the dissolution of the Council for Tobacco Research (CTR) and the Center for Indoor Air Research (CIAR). The ostensible purpose of the programme is to help develop cigarette designs "that might reduce the health risk of smoking". Internal company documents also indicate that Philip Morris urgently seeks to restore its scientific "credibility", as part of a "new openness" in relation to the external community. The structure of the review panel—a cohort of external peer reviewers, a science advisory board, and an internal, anonymous review and approvals committee—is nearly identical to that of the CIAR. The majority of the named reviewers have had previous affiliation with the tobacco industry either as reviewers or grantees, but only a minority have done research directly on tobacco or smoking. The programmatic substance of the PMERP could be interpreted as soliciting exculpatory evidence with respect to smoking and exposure to smoke. We remain sceptical about the scientific integrity of PMERP.


We discuss the experimental signatures of new particles, predicted by the Standard Model and by Super symmetry, in high energy proton-antiproton and, or, electron-positron colliders. A review of the theory of the Standard Model and of Supersymmetry, and a general discussion of collider physics are included. We review various Higgs boson production mechanisms, and consider one, Higgs boson production via Bremsstrahlung from electroweak gauge bosons, in detail. We find that the clearest signature is seen in the invariant mass distribution of the electron pair in the process ρρ → X (Z → He÷e־). However, the event rate is small, and, unless the Higgs boson can be identified from its decay products, such events may be misidentified as ordinary Z → e÷e־ events. We analyse UA1 jet-plus-large-missing-p┬ events in terms of a supersymmetric model with a light photino and with m≈ < m≈. If these events are due solely to scalar quark production, we find that, in our scenario, the scalar quarks must have a mass in the range 20 - 35 GeV, and the gluino mass must be greater than 0(60) GeV. We study the production of scalar electrons in e÷e־ collisions on and above the Z resonance. By calculating the cross-sections for e÷e־ → e÷eﻵﻵ־ we show that scalar electrons with mass above the beam energies (√s/2) can be identified. In particular, if a zino exists with mass m? < /s-m?. , then zino production and decay can give a contribution which dominates the ﻵ-exchange contributions. In this case the presence of both the ẽ and Ž may be revealed by a distinctive signature in the electron momentum distribution.


Abstract Cropping practice can affect pests and natural enemies. A three-year study of the strawberry tortricid, Acleris comariana (Lienig and Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), its parasitoid Copidosoma aretas Walker (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), and its entomopathogenic fungi was conducted in seven pairs of organic and conventional farms to test the hypothesis that farming practice (organic versus conventional) will affect the level of pest infestation and will affect the natural enemies. In addition, the number of years with strawberries on the farm, field age, and other factors that may affect pests and their natural enemies were considered. Farms were characterized by their cropping practices, cropping history, and other parameters. Field-collected larvae were laboratory reared to assess mortality from parasitoids and entomopathogenic fungi. In 2010, a survey of nematodes was made to assess the response of an unrelated taxonomic group to cropping practice. 2,743 larvae were collected. Of those, 2,584 were identified as A. comariana. 579 A. comariana were parasitized by C. aretas and 64 A. comariana were parasitized by other parasitoid species. Finally, 28% of the larvae and pupae of A. comariana died from unknown causes. Only two of the field-collected A. comariana larvae were infected by entomopathogenic fungi; one was infected by Isaria sp. and the other by Beauvaria sp. The density of A. comariana was on average four times lower in organic farms, which was significantly lower than in conventional farms. A. comariana was more dominant on conventional farms than on organic farms. The effect of crop age (One, two, or three years) on A. comariana infestation was significant, with higher infestations in older fields. Crop age had no effect on A. comariana infestation in a comparison of first- and second-year fields in 2010. Cropping practice did not lead to significant differences in the level of total parasitism or in C. aretas parasitism; however, C. aretas contributed to a higher proportion of the parasitized larvae on conventional farms than on organic farms. Mortality from unknown causes of A. comariana was higher in organic farms than conventional farms, and unknown mortality was two to seven times higher in second-generation A. comariana than in first generation. Entomopathogenic nematodes were found on three organic farms and one conventional farm. Plant parasitic nematodes were found in more samples from conventional farms than from organic farms. The low density of A. comariana in organic farms exposes the specialist C. aretas to a higher risk of local extinction. In organic farms, where the density of A. comariana is low, other parasitoids may play an important role in controlling A. comariana by supplementing C. aretas. Other tortricid species may serve as alternative hosts for these other parasitoids, contributing to conserving them in the habitat. The higher unknown mortality of larvae from organic fields may be the result of non-consumptive parasitoid or predator effects. This study reports an example of the effects of cropping practice on an insect pest, with similar effects on nematodes. An understanding of the responsible factors could be used to develop more sustainable cropping systems.


Over the post-socialist period, residential mobility processes were very intense and took place on large areas. Flow intensity led to the emergence of new spatial and functional realities and created new relationships within the affected areas. During all this period, Bucharest's metropolitan area was shaped by the spatial mobility of the city dwellers, as well as by the change of their social and residential aspirations. The majority of those who were registered as movers in Bucharest were actually residents of Bucharest (they only changed their domicile) and the share of people coming to the city from elsewhere has increased constantly over the last decade. Except for the early 1990s, a period when residential legal status was pending clarification, migrations from peri-urban area, especially from Ilfov County, to Bucharest had a low intensity. Situation is quite different in terms of moving out of Bucharest, to the communes and towns of Ilfov County, located in close proximity, which have been continuously increasing values. The correlation between housing stock features (real estate supply) and the demand of new dwellings (emphasized by the residential trajectories) prove both that current mobility flows taking place at this time in Bucharest are segmented based on economic-spatial criteria and that Markov chains are functional.


Continuous-time Bayesian networks is a natural structured representation language for multi-component stochastic processes that evolve continuously over time. Despite the compact representation, inference in such models is intractable even in relatively simple structured networks. Here we introduce a mean field variational approximation in which we use a product of inhomogeneous Markov processes to approximate a joint distribution over trajectories. This variational approach leads to a globally consistent distribution, which can be efficiently queried. Additionally, it provides a lower bound on the probability of observations, thus making it attractive for learning tasks. Here I describe the theoretical foundations for the approximation, an efficient implementation that exploits the wide range of highly optimized ordinary differential equations (ODE) solvers, experimentally explore characterizations of processes for which this approximation is suitable, and show applications to a large-scale real-world inference problem.


Planning and design of urban infrastructure systems in general and transportation systems in particular, require a multidisciplinary effort that is heavily embedded in a system-of-systems perspective. The envisioned research direction is a bottom-up approach that is focused on understanding individual human-agents performing activities in urban systems and interacting with each other as well as with the infrastructure. The dynamics of the urban system is thus an emergent phenomenon out of the aggregation of individual behaviours. Such an approach can go beyond extending trends and can extensively address what-if questions as a result of policy and design changes. In particular, this talk will demonstrate how such an approach is useful in planning and design at a large-scale (i.e. urban region) and at a micro-scale (i.e. mobility hubs and public spaces). This seminar presents the breadth of urban systems research that the presenter, Bilal Farooq, has been engaged in with a focus on two major applications. At urban region level, a novel simulation-based population synthesis approach will be presented. Unlike conventional fitting-based approaches that formulate an optimization problem, here the aim is to directly draw from the underlying joint distribution. To do so the partial views are utilized that are available in the form of data samples and control totals. Using Swiss census, a comparative analysis with existing approaches will be discussed and the superiority of this novel method will be highlighted. At a micro-scale, an overview of current research effort related to pedestrian dynamics within public spaces and mobility hubs will be presented.


ABSTRACT Major reviews of psychological empowerment (PE) suggest four broad sources to becoming empowered: organizational, leadership, job, and dispositional. This study examines the redundancy, uniqueness, and relative importance within and across these situational and dispositional domains using commonality and dominance analyses. Across multiple samples, we find (a) within socio-structural domains, empowering leadership, knowledge sharing, and task significance are the most unique organizational sources of PE, (b) dispositional predictors augment situational features in explaining PE, and, perhaps most importantly, (c) job characteristics (JC) along with core self-evaluation (CSE) occupy the most dominant role on PE. In study 1 (N = 229), rank and CSE accounted for 64% of the variance in PE after accounting for information distribution, leadership, and the Big Five. Controlling for expanded Big Five inventory, leadership constructs, and socio-structurally features, study 2 (N = 171) finds general dominance of task significance (14%), empowering leadership (19%), and reduced, albeit incremental, effect of CSE (10%). Finally, study 3 (N = 386) replicates the large (30%) and moderately (10%) dominant effects of multiple JC dimensions and CSE. Implications call for a micro-level approach to PE emphasizing expanded roles, broadened self-concept, and personal impact on society rather than inspiring managers or organizational practices.


There is a fierce debate in the United States about whether to regulate overdrafts and, specifically, about whether to limit their use or cap overdraft prices. Proponents of regulation claim that overdrafts are not marginally priced and cause financial harm. Opponents of regulation claim that capping overdraft prices will harm consumers by limiting access to overdraft credit and causing transactions to be rejected. This paper conceptually unpacks some of these claims, while comparing the overdraft markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel.

First, I argue that overdrafts can fulfill three different functions:

(1) unintentional overdrawing and insurance against the rejection of transactions,

(2) short-term "emergency" credit, and

(3) long-term revolving credit lines.

This distinction sheds light on why overdrafts are priced differently in each country, and how they compete with products such as payday lending and credit cards. Thus, while prices in the United States may be non-marginal when compared to short-term high-cost credit such as payday loans, competition with credit card companies might explain why overdrafts in the United States aren't provided as long-term revolving credit at significantly lower prices, as is the case in Israel and the United Kingdom. Next, I offer that regulatory intervention must be tailored to each of these functions, addressing the unique market failures and cognitive biases associated with each of them. Inadvertent overdrafts can be mitigated with the use of technology and real-time notifications, and must coincide with the regulation of insufficient-funds charges. When overdrafts are used as emergency, short-term funds, they should be equated to other short-term high-cost credit, such as payday loans. Since banks have significantly lower overhead and risk-based costs, this indicates banks may be charging excessive prices, while exploiting consumers' biases. Finally, while consumers in the United Kingdom and Israel may benefit from lower prices for inadvertent overdrafts and long-term credit, the design of overdrafts in these countries might reduce consumers' welfare by limiting their ability to devise self-control mechanisms, exacerbating overconsumption and leading to high, chronic, and persistent levels of debt.


In Virtual Reality environments, real humans can meet virtual humans to collaborate on tasks. The agent Max is such a virtual human, providing the human user with a face-to-face collaboration partner in the SFB 360 construction tasks. This paper describes how Max can assist by combining manipulative capabilities for assembly actions with conversational capabilities for mixed-initiative dialogue. During the interaction, Max employs speech, gaze, facial expression, and gesture and is able to initiate assembly actions. We present the underlying model of Max's competences for managing situated interactions, and we show how the required faculties of perception, action, and cognition are realized and connected in his architecture.


An effort is under way to develop noninvasive neuro-electric interfaces through which human operators could control systems as diverse as simple mechanical devices, computers, aircraft, and even spacecraft. The basic idea is to use electrodes on the surface of the skin to acquire electromyographic (EMG) signals associated with gestures, digitize and process the EMG signals to recognize the gestures, and generate digital commands to perform the actions signified by the gestures. In an experimental prototype of such an interface, the EMG signals associated with hand gestures are acquired by use of several pairs of electrodes mounted in sleeves on a subject s forearm (see figure). The EMG signals are sampled and digitized. The resulting time-series data are fed as input to pattern-recognition software that has been trained to distinguish gestures from a given gesture set. The software implements, among other things, hidden Markov models, which are used to recognize the gestures as they are being performed in real time. Thus far, two experiments have been performed on the prototype interface to demonstrate feasibility: an experiment in synthesizing the output of a joystick and an experiment in synthesizing the output of a computer or typewriter keyboard. In the joystick experiment, the EMG signals were processed into joystick commands for a realistic flight simulator for an airplane. The acting pilot reached out into the air, grabbed an imaginary joystick, and pretended to manipulate the joystick to achieve left and right banks and up and down pitches of the simulated airplane. In the keyboard experiment, the subject pretended to type on a numerical keypad, and the EMG signals were processed into keystrokes. The results of the experiments demonstrate the basic feasibility of this method while indicating the need for further research to reduce the incidence of errors (including confusion among gestures). Topics that must be addressed include the numbers and arrangements of electrodes needed to acquire sufficient data; refinements in the acquisition, filtering, and digitization of EMG signals; and methods of training the pattern- recognition software. The joystick and keyboard simulations were chosen for the initial experiments because they are familiar to many computer users. It is anticipated that, ultimately, interfaces would utilize EMG signals associated with movements more nearly natural than those associated with joysticks or keyboards. Future versions of the pattern-recognition software are planned to be capable of adapting to the preferences and day-today variations in EMG outputs of individual users; this capability for adaptation would also make it possible to select gestures that, to a given user, feel the most nearly natural for generating control signals for a given task (provided that there are enough properly positioned electrodes to acquire the EMG signals from the muscles involved in the gestures).


RocksDB is an embedded, high-performance, persistent key-value storage engine developed at Facebook. Much of our current focus in developing and configuring RocksDB is to give priority to resource efficiency instead of giving priority to the more standard performance metrics, such as response time latency and throughput, as long as the latter remain acceptable. In particular, we optimize space efficiency while ensuring read and write latencies meet service-level requirements for the intended workloads. This choice is motivated by the fact that storage space is most often the primary bottleneck when using Flash SSDs under typical production workloads at Facebook. RocksDB uses log-structured merge trees to obtain significant space efficiency and better write throughput while achieving acceptable read performance. This paper describes methods we used to reduce storage usage in RocksDB. We discuss how we are able to trade off storage efficiency and CPU overhead, as well as read and write amplification. Based on experimental evaluations of MySQL with RocksDB as the embedded storage engine (using TPC-C and LinkBench benchmarks) and based on measurements taken from production databases, we show that RocksDB uses less than half the storage that InnoDB uses, yet performs well and in many cases even better than the B-tree-based InnoDB storage engine. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a Log-structured merge tree-based storage engine has shown competitive performance when running OLTP workloads at large scale.


Proper operation of activated sludge systems is very important and depends on physical, chemical, and biological parameters of wastewater. In this study, some problems were studied in an existing wastewater treatment plant of a fish-canning factory located in Tehran where thick, brown, stable foam was observed in aeration and clarifier tanks. The effluent of this plant was higher than the standards of the Department of the Environment of Iran, and the pH in aeration tanks was lower than 5. As opposed to other researchers in solving the foaming problem, in this wastewater treatment plant, lime was used instead of organic polymers and other inorganic coagulants. The pH of aeration tanks was adjusted to between 6.5 and 8.5 with an injection of 500 mg/L (47.5 kg/day) lime in the chemical sedimentation tank. It appeared that the solid retention time in this plant was high. Therefore, the rate of return sludge in the aeration tank of the second stage was reduced by about 20%. Foaming was removed in 18 days. During this time, chemical oxygen demand (COD) of effluent went from 500 to 65 mg/L, which indicated 87% reduction. The estimated costs of using lime for removal of foaming were about 0.0029 Euros/day (0.004 dollars/day), which is very low.


The last 15 years have witnessed a boom of genetic tests for sport performance. They relate to both the ability to predict athletes at higher risks for specific injuries, and to the ability to predict athletic talent. They raise scientific and ethical issues related to confidentiality, conflict of interest of the sports physician, informed consent in children and the possible infringement on the athlete's autonomy. We distinguish here genetic tests for injury prevention in four cases: (1) concussion-related traumatic brain injuries; (2) sudden-cardiac arrest-related conditions; (3) overexertion complications related to the sickle-cell anaemia trait; (4) Achilles tendinopathies and anterior crucial ligament ruptures. In addition, we discuss direct-to-consumer genetic tests for athletic performance prediction in children. We argue that although the former kind of genetic tests has utility, within the bounds of specified limitations, the latter is both ethically and scientifically problematic.

Key Concepts:

Genetic tests, whether administered by a doctor or as a direct-to-consumer product, cannot accurately predict an individual's predisposition to a greater risk of concussion, and should not be used in deciding whether or not athletes should return to play after a traumatic brain injury.

Genetic testing can play an important role in evaluating an athlete's risk of sudden cardiac-arrest-related conditions and could be included in rigorous preparticipatory screenings, but they should not be used as the basis for mandatory exclusion of individuals from participation in professional sports as that would constitute an infringement of their autonomy.

Genetic screening for sickle cell anaemia trait is able to identify individuals at higher risk of developing possibly fatal overexertion complications on the field of play. The mandatory genetic screening for the sickle cell trait as that put in place by NCAA should make sure not to discriminate against carriers of the trait and, in particular, not to target African-Americans where the prevalence of the trait is higher. The NCAA should consider extending the screening to student athletes of all Divisions.

Genetic tests for an athlete's predisposition to Achilles tendinopathies and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries can and should be incorporated in a multifactorial risk model for the prediction of individuals at higher risk of this kind of injuries and for personalised training and prevention, but it should be noted that this kind of tests are not diagnostic in nature and that other nongenetic factors should always be taken into account in the prediction of individuals at a higher risk of developing injuries of Achilles tendon and ACL.

DTC genetic tests claiming to be able to predict athletic performance or athletic potential make overstated marketing claims and should not be taken seriously. In addition, they raise specific problems of informed consent in children, and of confidentiality and informed consent when used in the context of professional sports medicine.

Keywords:

DTC-genetic tests;
sudden cardiac arrest;
talent;
traumatic brain injury;
Achilles tendinopathy;
anterior crucial ligament rupture;
concussion;
sickle-cell anaemia;
children;
autonomy;
return to play


A large number of studies have been briefly reviewed relative to the synthesis, release, distribution, actions, degradation, and resynthesis of insulin, along with considerations of many factors influencing these activities. It is not known whether the "insulin" secreted by diabetics is normal in all regards. In these subjects there are abnormalities with respect to the rate, amount, and duration of insulin release produced by certain agents. Insulin is rapidly distributed throughout the body, but more information is required regarding its intracellular distribution in different tisues, including comparisons in diabetics with normals. Insulin is a powerful hormone that markedly influences, directly or indirectly, the activities of every tissue of the body including generation and storage of energy and regulation of its release and utilization. It exerts pronounced influences upon cell structure, growth, and proliferation. It markedly stimulates the following: (a) synthesis of DNA, RNA, and protein, (b) oxidative phosphorylation, (c) transportation into and through cells, (d) glycogen synthesis, and (e) glucose utilization, lipogenesis, antiglycogenolysis, antilipolysis, antiproteolysis, and antigluconeo-genesis. All of these functions are altered in diabetes. More investigations are required to elucidate the primacy of insulin's actions, the interdependency of the various activities, messenger systems, etc., in diabetics as well as in normals. Insulin has been shown to act on many tissues, but studies must be extended to determine the extent and nature of its actions on all tissues. It is evident that there are many similarities of action upon various tissues, but there are also highly significant differences. Some studies have indicated abnormalities in the uptake and action of insulin in some of the peripheral tissue of diabetics. Whether there are defects in the activities of such cells that are of primary importance in the production of diabetes has not been established. Many different hormones very significantly influence the net action of insulin, but thus far it is not evident that a disturbance in their activities contributes significantly to the etiology and pathogenesis of genetic diabetes. Insulin is rapidly degraded by essentially all tissues of the body. The mechanism of degradation differs in some tissues, e.g., liver vs. adipose tissue. More study is required to ascertain in diabetics abnormalities in its degradation, qualitative and quantitative. Whereas many of the degraded products have no action like insulin, certain ones do. Moreover, in vitro studies have demonstrated that chain A and chain B can recombine—under certain conditions there is a high percentage of recombination. It is also possible for polymers to form, differing significantly in type, size, etc. Consideration is given to the possibility that NSILA constitutes one type of such polymer. It is conceivable that certain polymers would exert insulin-like action and/or could also inhibit the action of insulin; synalbumin may play such an inhibitory role. Microangiopathies have been observed in a relatively large number of prediabetics. Whether these vascular abnormalities cause significant alterations in carbohydrate metabolism has not been demonstrated. Many fascinating challenges in the field of diabetes prevail and should stimulate us to add to the brilliant contributions of Banting and Best.


A Complete Study System for OCA Exam 1Z0-062 Prepare for the Oracle Certified Associate Oracle Database 12c Installation and Administration exam with this exclusive Oracle Press guide. Each chapter features challenging exercises, a certification summary, a two-minute drill, and a self-test to reinforce the topics presented. This authoritative resource helps you pass the exam and also serves as an essential, on-the-job reference. Get complete coverage of all OCA objectives for exam 1Z0-062, including: Installing and upgrading Oracle Database software Managing the database instance Configuring the Oracle network environment Managing database storage structures Administering user security Managing undo data and data concurrency Implementing Oracle Database auditing Performing database maintenance Managing performance and tuning SQL Managing resources using Oracle Database Resource Manager Automating tasks Moving data Performing backup and recovery Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a standalone server Electronic content includes: 185+ practice exam questions with detailed answers and explanations Test engine that provides custom exams by chapter or by domain PDF copy of the book


Increasingly, courts across the country are turning to non-judicial dispute resolution processes - "alternative dispute resolution" or "ADR" - to handle overwhelming caseloads.' Proponents of non-judicial processes state that ADR benefits courts and litigants by reducing the time between the filing and disposition of cases, saving judges' time so that they are available for the cases that really need them, saving money for the parties to the suit, and perhaps most importantly, increasing litigants' satisfaction with the manner in which their disputes are resolved.

A growing body of empirical evidence has begun to support the proponents' claims. A study of court-annexed arbitration showed greater litigant satisfaction with the process and more rapid termination of cases. Likewise, research in Hawaii and the Northern District of California has demonstrated high litigant and attorney satisfaction with court-annexed ADR programs. Most recently, the Office of the State Court Administrator in Minnesota released a report which compared adjudication with court-annexed mediation and arbitration. Mediation and arbitration scored higher than adjudication on every measure of client satisfaction.

Yet, a nagging tension exists. On one hand are harried judges who see "the promotion of informed and fair settlements [as] one of the most important aims of pretrial management" and view ADR as a useful, beneficial, even necessary settlement tool. These judges are joined by state and federal legislators who are concerned about the expense and delay which are hampering the courts. On the other hand are parties and attorneys who have consciously chosen the traditional litigation process.

Should courts be permitted to "sidetrack" these parties and their attorneys from traditional litigation? Or is ADR, in the words of a Pennsylvania court, simply a "[n]ew device" which is part of contemporary litigation, a device which must be used "to adapt the ancient institution of [trial] to present needs" and to make litigation "an efficient instrument in the administration of justice?'

Guidance on these questions is strikingly sparse, particularly in light of the courts' increasing experimentation with ADR. One commentator has noted that the rules, statutes, and cases dealing with this issue "constitute only a few 'dots' in a dot-to-dot line drawing which has yet to be completed." Of necessity, therefore, the analysis in this article will focus on the few cases addressing courts' authority to order the use of ADR and will describe the patterns that are beginning to emerge. Most of the cases involve court-ordered arbitration programs or orders to participate in summary jury trials. Challenges mounted against these processes have been based primarily on the seventh amendment guarantee of a right to a jury trial and charges that courts have exceeded the authority granted under Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (a very small number of challenges, not dealt with here, have been based on equal protection claims and other rules in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure). Courts have used various standards to test the extent and limits of their authority but few limits on that authority have been revealed. With one notable exception, courts have strongly defended their right to order parties to use ADR.


South Africa's Rugby Legends celebrates those players who have become truly immortal in the eyes of their fans ? the greatest South African rugby players of the amateur years. This beautifully illustrated book covers the immense achievements of those players who ran out against the mighty All Blacks, the cunning Aussies and the fiery Welsh, among others, and played their way into rugby folklore. These are the best of the best, the players who make you say, ?Those were the days!' From Fairy Heatlie, who played for South Africa against the British in 1891, to the genius Danie Craven in the 1930s, the inspirational Hennie Muller of the 1940s and 50s, and the charismatic Morne du Plessis of the 1980s, the author explores in fascinating detail what made these men the unforgettable names they are today. With historical photographs from the author's personal collection, some of which have never been published before, this is the book every rugby fan will want for his or her personal collection.


Australia and Japan have frequently had difficult relationships with their neighbours. This paper suggests that when seen in their specific historical contexts, the fact that Australia and Japan have become 'Asia's odd men out' is unsurprising. The central argument of this paper is that the consolidation and institutionalisation of regions is in large part a political exercise that reflects, and is informed by, discrete national conversations. Until and unless such national discourses align with wider transnational developments, regional processes are unlikely to prosper. An examination of Japan's and Australia's respective attempts to engage with and define their region reveals just how problematic this process can be.


The transfer of data across borders supports trade in most service industries around the world as well as the growth of traditional manufacturing sectors. However, several countries have begun to adopt laws impeding the cross-border transfer of data, ostensibly in pursuit of policy objectives such as national security, public morals or public order, and privacy. Such domestic measures create potential concerns under both international trade law and international investment law. Accordingly, recent trade and investment negotiations such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) include specific provisions mandating the permissibility of cross-border data transfer and prohibiting data localisation in certain circumstances. Although World Trade Organization law contains no such specific provisions, restrictive data transfer measures could breach the non-discrimination and market access disciplines under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), except to the extent that they are justified under the general exception in GATS art XIV. International investment law may also apply to measures restricting data transfer, particularly if investment arbitrators take into account holistic changes in the digital economy to interpret the scope of covered investments and the meaning of investment obligations. The application of general trade and investment law disciplines to data transfer restrictions and localisation requirements remain uncertain. The more specific provisions in the TPP, while welcome, fail to address this uncertainty. These fields must be better synchronised with each other in respect of data transfer and with the realities of the digital economy. A comprehensive legal framework ― including coverage of trade and investment law ― and extensive policy coordination across a variety of stakeholders would better enable open, secure and efficient data flows across borders.


Applied researchers often test for the difference of the Sharpe ratios of two investment strategies. A very popular tool to this end is the test of Jobson and Korkie (1981), which has been corrected by Memmel (2003). Unfortunately, this test is not valid when returns have tails heavier than the normal distribution or are of time series nature. Instead, we propose the use of robust inference methods. In particular, we suggest to construct a studentized time series bootstrap confidence interval for the difference of the Sharpe ratios and to declare the two ratios different if zero is not contained in the obtained interval. This approach has the advantage that one can simply resample from the observed data as opposed to some null-restricted data. A simulation study demonstrates the improved finite sample performance compared to existing methods. In addition, two applications to real data are provided.


Physicians use heuristics or shortcuts in their decision making to help them sort through complex clinical information and formulate diagnoses efficiently. Practice would come to a halt without them. However, there are pitfalls to the use of certain heuristics, the same ones to which humans are prone in everyday life. It may be possible to improve clinical decision making through techniques that minimize biases inherent in heuristics. Five common clinical heuristics or other sources of cognitive error are illustrated through neurological cases with missed diagnoses, and literature from cognitive psychology and medicine are presented to support the occurrence of these errors in diagnostic reasoning as general phenomena. Articulation of the errors inherent in certain common heuristics alerts clinicians to their weaknesses as diagnosticians and should be beneficial to practice. Analysis of cases with missed diagnoses in teaching conferences might proceed along formal lines that identify the type of heuristic used and of inherent potential cognitive errors. Addressing these cognitive errors by becoming conscious of them is a useful tool in neurologic education and should facilitate a career‐long process of continuous self‐improvement. ANN NEUROL 2010;67:425–433


Abstract. Cargo flow maps are used to represent the freight traffic on a transportation network. Usually the flows are represented as multicolor ribbons along railroads or highways. Each ribbon is a series of parallel lines. The width of a ribbon corresponds to the total freight traffic on a road segment between each crossroads, while the width of every line inside the ribbon reflects the volume of cargo transportation of a certain type. Ribbons can be placed on the both sides of the line and thus show cargo flows in both directions separately.Cargo flow maps are different from the general flow maps and public transit maps. First, the shape of ribbons is restricted by geometry of transportation network, while the flow maps are generated freely between points. Second, the width of every line inside a ribbon (and the total width of each ribbon) depends on the volume of cargo flow, while in public transit maps the width of every line is fixed. These peculiar properties of cargo flow maps impose significant restrictions on the possible layout of resulting lines and ribbons.To date, no automated approach for generation of such maps has been presented. In current study we have developed a fully automated workflow for generation of such maps. First, we documented the design principles of cargo flow maps based on the analysis of traditional thematic atlases and related modern cartographic visualizations. Next, we proposed an algorithm for automatic generation of cargo flow maps.We start just from a long table with four variables: source, destination, cargo type and cargo volume. Each row therefore corresponds to existing cargo connection. These data are then spread over the transportation network under the assumption that goods between two locations are transported using the shortest route strategy. For each connection the shortest route is calculated using Dijkstra's algorithm, and all network edges that participate in calculated route accumulate the volume of each cargo type being transported in a specified direction. After the data is spread over the network, we construct its ribbon representation as a series of stacked parallel lines on both sides of each network segment. To resolve graphical conflicts between ribbons at each junction, we solve a minimum covering circle problem for a set of points including the junction point itself and line endpoints of each ribbon adjacent to the junction. The problem is solved for each cargo type separately and the derived circles are then drawn to eliminate overlaps and voids between ribbon edges.The described approach was implemented in a prototype web application that utilizes the transportation network taken from Natural Earth dataset (Figure 1). We offer numerous options that can be used to control the visual appearance of ribbons, as well as the query interface that extracts cargo flow data for selected network segment (the yellow stroke near the center of the map in Figure 1) and represents it in a tabular form (the widget at the bottom right in Figure 1). A case study covering the part of central Russia is presented, which demonstrates the potential of cargo flow map as a tool for visual exploration of freight traffic data.


Multi-cavity photonic systems, known as photonic molecules (PMs), are ideal multi-well potential building blocks for advanced quantum and nonlinear optics. A key phenomenon arising in double well potentials is the spontaneous breaking of the inversion symmetry, i.e. a transition from a delocalized to two localized states in the wells, which are mirror images of each other. Although few theoretical studies have addressed mirror-symmetry breaking in micro and nanophotonic systems, no experimental evidence has been reported to date. In this talk I will show that, thanks to the potential barrier engineering we have implemented in a PM composed of two coupled photonic crystal nanolasers, we are able to demonstrate spontaneous mirror-symmetry breaking through a pitchfork bifurcation. Coexistence of localized states can be shown by switching them with short pulses. This offers exciting prospects for the realization of ultra-compact, integrated, scalable optical flip-flops based on spontaneous symmetry breaking. Furthermore, we predict such transitions with few intracavity photons for future devices with strong quantum correlations.