Search String Advanced > Saved Searches > ARTICLE TOOLS Get PDF (641K) Save to My Profile E-mail Link to this Article Export Citation for this Article Get Citation Alerts Request Permissions More Sharing ServicesShare | Share on citeulike Share on facebook Share on delicious Share on www.mendeley.com Share on twitter Abstract Article References Cited By View Full Article (HTML) Enhanced Article (HTML) Get PDF (641K) Keywords: constrain effect;elastic-plastic behaviour;finite element;size effect;solder joint;structural optimisation ABSTRACT The durability and reliability of lead-free solder joints depends on a large number of factors, like geometry, processing parameters, microstructure and thermomechanical loads. In this work, the nature and influence of the plastic constraints in the solder due to joining partners have been studied by parametric finite element simulation of solder joints with different dimensions. The apparent hardening due to plastic constraints has been shown to strongly depend on the solder gap to thickness ratio with an inversely proportional evolution. Due to interaction of several parameters, the macroscopic stress–strain constitutive law of lead-free solder materials should be determined in the most realistic conditions. In order to identify the elasto-plastic constitutive law of Sn–Ag–Cu solders, a sub-micron resolution Digital Image Correlation technique has been developed to measure the evolution of strain in solder joints during a tensile test. Experimental results of the stress–strain response of Sn–Ag–Cu solder joints have been determined for several solder gaps. The measured load–displacement curves have been used in an inverse numerical identification procedure to determine the constitutive elasto-plastic behaviour of the solder material. The effects of geometrical constraints in a real solder joint with heterogeneous stress and strain fields are then studied by comparing the apparent (constrained) and constitutive (non-constrained) stress–strain relationships. Once the size dependant constraining effects have been removed from the stress–strain relationship, the scale effects can be studied separately by comparing the constitutive elasto-plastic parameters of joints with a variable thickness. Experimental stress–strain curves (constrained and unconstrained) for Sn–4.0Ag–0.5Cu solder in joints of 0.25–2.4 mm gap are presented and the constraining and the size effects are discussed.


Project Title: Coal ash constituents at the base of aquatic food webs: Processes affecting bioaccumulation and trophic transfer. The goal of this research was to investigate arsenic bioaccumulation at the base of aquatic food webs, including uptake of arsenic from solution and depuration kinetics by benthic invertebrates, uptake and bioconcentration of arsenic by periphyton, and potential trophic transfer to primary consumers. To better understand arsenate bioaccumulation dynamics in lotic food webs we used a radiotracer approach to characterize accumulation in periphyton and subsequent trophic transfer to benthic grazers. Flux rates from solution for a variety of benthic invertebrates are also described. Our results show that over an 8 day period periphyton concentrated As from environmentally realistic exposures 3,200–9,700-fold on a dry weight basis without reaching steady state. These As-enriched diets resulted in negligible accumulation of As in Neocloeon triangulifer relative to the concentration in periphyton after a full lifecycle exposure. Other dietary studies with invertebrate grazers showed that the assimilation efficiency of As from periphyton is generally quite low, ranging from 22% in the mayfly N. triangulifer to 75% in the mayfly Isonychia sp., suggesting factors controlling bioavailability limit the amount of As that is transferred to grazers. We propose that two such mechanisms may be the role of As adsorption to iron oxides in periphyton, and biotransformation of As by periphyton. Data showing relatively low uptake rate constants (Ku) from solution in benthic invertebrates ranging from 0.063±0.04 L g-1d-1 in Psephenus herricki, to 0.001±0.003 L g-1d-1 in M. pudicum. Efflux (Ke) was generally high ranging from 0.15±0.03 d-1 in Maccafertium sp. to 0.03±0.03 d-1 in Pleurocera sp. Together these results have broad implications for monitoring programs by highlighting the role of periphyton as a sink for arsenate as well as interspecies differences in As bioaccumulation.


Obesity is often described as a national epidemic; bariatric surgery is one form of treatment that has become increasingly popular. Bariatric surgery is successful and many patients experience significant weight loss; however, many patients struggle to maintain their new weight. In an attempt to respond to the problem of weight loss maintenance, bariatric surgery programs are incorporating behavioral management-strategies in addition to typical program support. Support groups are often offered by bariatric surgery programs and are commonly focused around psychoeducation, behavioral strategies, and community support. This study provides a mixedmethod quantitative and qualitative analysis on life after bariatric surgery, primarily in the areas of program support, social support, support group, and quality of life. A sample of 29 postoperative bariatric surgery patients from a bariatric surgery program completed the SF-36v2 health survey to measure their health-related quality of life and participated in a qualitative interview. Consistent with current literature, the interview and results are organized according to the following themes; program support, social support, support group involvement, and quality LIFE AFTER BARIATRIC SURGERY: A MIXED-METHOD ANALYSIS iv of life. This study adds to the limited field of research on qualitative information regarding bariatric surgery.


Wavelength conversion has been proposed for use in wavelength-division multiplexed networks to improve efficiency. This study highlights systems challenges and performance issues which need to be addressed in order to incorporate wavelength conversion effectively. A review/survey of the enabling technologies, design methods, and analytical models used in wavelength-convertible networks is provided.


"Giant" phages with genomes >200 kb are being isolated in increasing numbers from a range of environments. With hosts such as Salmonella enterica, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Erwinia amylovora, these phages are of interest for phage therapy of multidrug-resistant pathogens. However, our understanding of how these complex phages interact with their hosts is impeded by the proportion (∼80%) of their gene products that are functionally uncharacterized. To develop the repertoire of techniques for analysis of phages, we analyzed a liquid infection of Salmonella phage SPN3US (240-kb genome) using third-generation mass spectrometry. We observed the temporal production of phage proteins whose genes collectively represent 96% of the SPN3US genome. These findings demonstrate the sensitivity of mass spectrometry for global proteomic profiling of virus-infected cells, and the identification of a candidate for a major head morphogenesis protein will facilitate further studies into giant phage head assembly. ABSTRACT The 240-kb Salmonella phage SPN3US genome encodes 264 gene products, many of which are functionally uncharacterized. We have previously used mass spectrometry to define the proteomes of wild-type and mutant forms of the SPN3US virion. In this study, we sought to determine whether this technique was suitable for the characterization of the SPN3US proteome during liquid infection. Mass spectrometry of SPN3US-infected cells identified 232 SPN3US and 1,994 Salmonella proteins. SPN3US proteins with related functions, such as proteins with roles in DNA replication, transcription, and virion formation, were coordinately expressed in a temporal manner. Mass spectral counts showed the four most abundant SPN3US proteins to be the major capsid protein, two head ejection proteins, and the functionally unassigned protein gp22. This high abundance of gp22 in infected bacteria contrasted with its absence from mature virions, suggesting that it might be the scaffold protein, an essential head morphogenesis protein yet to be identified in giant phages. We identified homologs to SPN3US gp22 in 45 related giant phages, including ϕKZ, whose counterpart is also abundant in infected bacteria but absent in the virion. We determined the ϕKZ counterpart to be cleaved in vitro by its prohead protease, an event that has been observed to promote head maturation of some other phages. Our findings are consistent with a scaffold protein assignment for SPN3US gp22, although direct evidence is required for its confirmation. These studies demonstrate the power of mass spectral analyses for facilitating the acquisition of new knowledge into the molecular events of viral infection. IMPORTANCE "Giant" phages with genomes >200 kb are being isolated in increasing numbers from a range of environments. With hosts such as Salmonella enterica, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Erwinia amylovora, these phages are of interest for phage therapy of multidrug-resistant pathogens. However, our understanding of how these complex phages interact with their hosts is impeded by the proportion (∼80%) of their gene products that are functionally uncharacterized. To develop the repertoire of techniques for analysis of phages, we analyzed a liquid infection of Salmonella phage SPN3US (240-kb genome) using third-generation mass spectrometry. We observed the temporal production of phage proteins whose genes collectively represent 96% of the SPN3US genome. These findings demonstrate the sensitivity of mass spectrometry for global proteomic profiling of virus-infected cells, and the identification of a candidate for a major head morphogenesis protein will facilitate further studies into giant phage head assembly.


How do you build and deploy applications to be scalable and have high availability? Along with developing the applications, you must also have an infrastructure that can support them. You may need to scale up or add servers, have redundant hardware, and add logic to the application to handle distributed computing and failoverseven if an application is in high demand for only short periods of time. The cloud offers a solution. It is made up of interconnected servers located in various data centers, but you see what appears to be a centralized location that someone else hosts and manages. By removing the responsibility for maintaining an infrastructure, youre free to concentrate on what matters most: the application. This guide is the third edition of the first volume in a series about Windows Azure. It demonstrates how you can adapt an existing on-premises ASP.NET application to one that operates in the cloud by introducing a fictitious company named Adatum that modifies its expense tracking and reimbursement system, aExpense, so that it can be deployed to Windows Azure. To illustrate the wide range of options and features in Windows Azure, this guide and the code examples available for it show a step-by-step migration process that includes using Windows Azure Web Sites, Virtual Machines, Cloud Services, and SQL Database. Together with useful information on developing, deploying, managing, and costing cloud-hosted applications, this guide provides you with a comprehensive resource for moving your applications to Window Azure. This book is intended for any architect, developer, or information technology (IT) professional who designs, builds, or operates applications and services that are appropriate for the cloud. Although applications do not need to be based on the Microsoft Windows operating system to work in Windows Azure or written using a .NET language, this book is written for people who work with Windows-based systems. You should be familiar with the.NET Framework, Visual Studio, ASP.NET, and Visual C#.


In the decoration of the large shaft tombs at Abusir, dated to the late Twenty-sixth/early Twenty-seventh Dynasty, several series of the underworld demons can be found. They appear in different positions—either separately, as on the inner sarcophagus of Iufaa and on the outer wooden coffin of Nekau (buried in one of the lesser burial chambers in the tomb of Iufaa), or as part of the Book of the Dead chapter 144 on the side of the burial chamber of Menekhibnekau. Another series of demons—for technical reasons mostly inaccessible—seems to exist on the inner sarcophagus of Menekhibnekau. In this paper, each of those series of demons is treated in respect to its position in the decoration of the entire burial chamber. In addition to that, several question connected to their position and use in the tombs are discussed.


The objective set for the Union to become an area of freedom, security and justice leads to abolishing extradition between Member States and replacing it by a system of surrender between judicial authorities. Further, the introduction of a new simplified system of surrender of sentenced or suspected persons for the purposes of prosecution of criminal sentences makes it possible to remove the complexity and potential for delay inherent in the present extradition procedures. Traditional cooperation relations which have prevailed up till now between Member States should be replaced by a system of free movement of judicial decisions in criminal matters, covering both pre sentence and final decisions, within an area of freedom, security and justice .


For 3 days, a 28-year-old woman with a history of polymyositis and possible dermatomyositis had fever, chills, and nonproductive cough. She complained of rash, joint pain, and progressive immobility because of severe muscle weakness. For the past 6 years, she had been taking prednisone (60 mg/d), hydroxychloroquine (200 mg bid), and tramadol (100 mg q6h prn for pain).


For close to 30 thirty years, the Chinese government has repeatedly stated its commitment to developing a "rule of law" society. Integral to any rule of law society is an independent legal profession that can hold the state accountable for legal violations. But since China's amendments to the Law on Lawyers, adopted in 2007 and seen on paper as encouraging a stronger legal profession, the Chinese government has done a complete about-face, seeking to limit the profession, tie it closer to the interests of the Chinese Communist Party, and eradicate the nascent "rights-defending" lawyers. Without a vibrant legal profession, especially "rights-defending" lawyers willing to directly challenge the State and protect citizens' legally-guaranteed rights, China's rule of law development is in jeopardy. The Chinese government's lack of interest in promoting a vibrant legal profession and a meaningful rule of law society, however, has largely gone unnoticed by the world at large. In a new strategy, the Chinese government has adopted the rhetoric of "rule of law," enforcing a series of highly technical and vaguely-worded rules that make the very day-to-day practice of law susceptible to punishment. Three cases this year, in which lawyers were punished for zealously advocating on behalf of their clients' rights, reflect this new strategy. Under the cover of acting "in accordance with law," the Chinese government can punish lawyers who seek greater independence and government accountability and still speciously maintain that it is a rule of law country.


How much do employees' wages directly reflect their employer's labor demand, rather than competition from other employers in the labor market? We test the wage incidence of product demand shocks by studying a quasi-experiment that idiosyncratically shocked individual firms' export demand without systematically affecting similar firms' product or labor demand. Our shocks measure how much Portuguese exporters' sales were impacted by where—but not what—they had been selling before the recession of 2008. These shocks predict changes in output, payroll, and hiring at affected firms, but not at rival employers in the same labor market segment. An idiosyncratic shock that changes output by 10 percent in the medium-run causes wages of pre-2008 employees to change proportionally by 1.5 percent, relative to trend. Consistent with a simple framework, we find that these pass-through effects are larger in industries with lower employee turnover rates and in firms with higher pay premiums. These findings offer evidence that heterogeneous firm dynamics can plausibly generate substantial cross-sectional wage dispersion, but only in less-fluid labor markets.


Objective: The current study was conducted to investigate the pattern of structural relations between deviant personality traits, risk perception, and treatment motivation in people with substance dependency. Method: A descriptive-correlational method was used in this study. All the drug addicts referring to Ardabil centers of addiction treatment in second half of 2014 constituted the statistical population of this study. The number of 140 individuals from this population was selected via cluster sampling and responded to Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale, Personality Deviance Scale, and Cognitive Appraisal of Risky Events (CARE) Questionnaire. Results: The results showed that risk perception and three components of treatment motivation are negatively correlated with hostile thoughts, denigration of others, low self-confidence, dependency, submissiveness. However, risk perception was positively associated with the three components of treatment motivation. The results of regression analyses also revealed that 53% of variance of recognition, 44 % of variance of ambivalence, and 47 % of variance of step taking were explained by deviant personality traits. Model fitness indexes confirmed the path of deviant personality traits to treatment motivation via the mediating role of risk perception. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that low risk perception is one of the explanatory pathways for the relationship between deviant personality traits and treatment motivation.


Abstract The history of singer and famed tragedienne Susanna Cibber (1714–66) demonstrates the influences of the British theatre and the culture of sentiment on Handel's oratorios. Throughout Cibber's long career, audiences lauded the 'natural' qualities of her performances, conflating her onstage and offstage identities as both deeply moving and holding great potential for moral instruction. In the late 1730s and early 1740s this presumed symbiosis was challenged by a highly publicised sex scandal that had profound effects on Cibber's roles in the spoken theatre. At the same moment, Handel began crafting parts for Cibber in Messiah, Samson, Hercules and Belshazzar in ways that showed awareness of the new complexity of her image. This article both illustrates the nature of Cibber's evolving public identity and explains Handel's revisions of pre-existing parts for her. It shows that Handel recognised the challenges of Cibber's troubled public image and continued to highlight her greatest skills, setting her the task of harnessing the power of sympathy, drawing audiences in by appealing to them as fellow men and women of sensibility.


As life expectancy increases and people maintain good health longer we have a large group of the Young-Old, elderly freed from the responsibilities of adulthood and childhood, and largely unconstrained by physical and mental disabilities. Current requirements for healthcare will be demanding in the future both economical and with human resources. How can we make people live longer in their own homes and make community benefit from their life experience, knowledge and time?

The aim of the project has been to create housing in an existing building for the Young-Old that encourages social interaction between the residents. By planning in an urban area and including public spaces - the building can become a destination and thereby also integrate the elderly in the community.

The existing building at Okern, was a former industry building from 1958 with an extension on top from 1979. The footprint is 90 meters x 32 meters. The project takes away the re-usable parts of the extension, leaving the loadbearing structure. Using the existing rhythm and vertical communication of the building as guidelines, new housing was added on top in addition of transforming the existing office spaces. This resulted in 44 housing units, common areas and three flats either for students living with the elderly or as rental apartments for visitors. Between the new and the transformed area, there is a green area is made possible by the existing roof structure allowing enough earth for plants and smaller trees to grow. The openings down to the former industry halls, blocked of the extension of 1979, have been reopened some places to create a visual connection between living on top and the public functions planned beneath.


Governance for Peace presents a comprehensive analysis of the dimensions of governance that are most likely to prevent armed conflict and foster sustainable peace. It is an accessible study written for the general reader that brings together the best empirical evidence across numerous disciplines showing how effective governance and inclusive, participatory, and accountable institutions help to reduce violence by addressing social needs and providing mechanisms for resolving disputes. This balanced and incisive book gives meaning to the term 'good governance' and identifies the specific features of political and economic institutions that are most likely to promote peace within and between states. Concepts and topics examined in the book include political legitimacy, human security, 'political goods', governance and power, inclusion, accountability, social cohesion, gender equality, countering corruption, the role of civil society, democratic participation, development as freedom, capitalism and economic growth, the governance of markets, China and the 'East Asian peace', the European Union, and global institutions.


Until recently, governments borrowed from domestic residents and foreign investors using very different instruments. Residents bought "domestic debt" - paper denominated in local currency and governed by domestic law. Foreign investors preferred "external debt", which offered foreign currency and foreign law. Because there was virtually no overlap between resident and nonresident holdings, it mattered little that lawyers and economists defined domestic and external debt differently: lawyers focused on features such as governing law and jurisdiction, economists on the holder's residence and currency of denomination. The legal and economic definitions of domestic and external debt were effectively bundled: "domestic debt" meant local-currency, local-law instruments held by local residents; "external debt" meant foreign-currency, foreign-law instruments held by foreign investors. In the end, lawyers and economists spoke of the same paper. Liberalization of the international capital markets has changed this. Foreigners now routinely invest in local currency, domestic law debt, and residents often dominate international sovereign bond issues. With these changes, the legal and economic definitions of domestic and external debt have unbundled. This change in the pattern of sovereign borrowing demands a new way of framing the core issues that arise in a financial crisis. Most existing approaches focus disproportionately on one set of legal instruments: foreign currency sovereign bonds governed by foreign law. Our essay argues that this focus is misplaced. It is the product of an analytic prism that no longer reflects reality well enough to offer a useful guide to crisis management.


German-Polish relations in the interwar years (1918-1939) were of great importance, not only in shaping those countries' future but the future of Europe, and indeed the world. Not surprisingly, then, the history of those troubled years has been studied by a number of scholars. Most of these studies, however, have focused on the "high politics" of the period, relegating economic ties to the margins of the story. This work uses a different approach. It focuses on Germany's efforts to influence Poland through economic sanctions and incentives. It examines these efforts in light of political science theories of economic linkage, focusing on six separate cases. These case studies show that the "softer" tactic of economic incentives was in fact quite effective. For example, in contrast to the Weimar Republic, the Nazi regime employed economic incentives, and was surprisingly effective at building a positive relationship with Warsaw before 1939. This study aims to shed new light not only on interwar German-Polish ties, but on the role of economic linkage in international relations in general.


The National Trust has the finest collection of gardens in the United Kingdom. In this book Stephen Lacey paints a vivid historical and horticultural picture of the individual gardens, placing them firmly within the context of gardening history in Britain. All the major periods and styles of garden design are represented, ranging from the formality of early gardens such as Hanbury Hall and Ham House, magnificent 18th-century landscapes like Stowe and Croome Park and the heady Victorian creations of Biddulph Grange and Waddesdon Manor to the famous plantsmen's gardens of the last century, such as Nymans, Hidcote Manor and Sissinghurst Castle. Much has happened in the gardens of the National Trust since the last revision of this book, and this edition has been substantially revised to embrace recent restorations - notably of walled kitchen gardens in numerous properties - to introduce recently acquired properties, and to showcase superb new photography. Nine gardens make their debut in this new edition, the Trust having acquired Seaton Delaval Hall, Sunnycroft, Godolphin, Quarry Bank House and parts of the surrounding Styal estate, and undertaken improvements at Treasurer's House, Goddards, Wordsworth House and Sheringham. Woolbeding also opens for the first time, presenting the work of more contemporary garden designers. The book serves as a practical guide as well as a source of inspiration. Each entry gives details of soil type and climate and an appendix includes many other gardens to visit. In addition, there are practical features on different aspects of gardening, written by National Trust head gardeners. Glorious colour photographs illustrate the entries, complementing the text to bring the gardens to life.


A range of effective drug treatments are available for Parkinson's disease (PD). However, long-term treatment is associated with the development of motor complications in a proportion of patients. The traditional view has been that deferring the initiation of therapy may be beneficial in patients with milder symptoms. However, recently, this view has been challenged as evidence has emerged that therapies given early in the disease course may have a beneficial effect in slowing disease progression.


Background and aims: Journal Club is a well-known method for reviewing new scientific articles and evidence-based information; in different fields of medical sciences. Methods: This qualitative content analysis study was done by interviewing nine academics and graduate students at the Department of Librarianship at the Faculty of Health Management and Medical Informatics of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran in 2015. Data collection was continued until saturation. Results: Several strategies for holding better journal clubs were extracted from the interviews. The main themes extracted were that; journal clubs should be held at an appropriate time, have someone in charge of organizing the facilities and content; and let everyone participate in the discussion. Also article appraisal should be taught to participants beforehand. Some of the obstacvles of a good journal club were the lack of sufficient proficiency in English and lack of proper understanding of the subject under discussion. Conclusion: Although in many great universities around the world evidence-based journal clubs are routinely and correctly held; this task has not yet been maturely performed in many educational centers in Iran. More efforts should be put into holding routine and appropriate journal clubs.


Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) has been shown to improve tissue healing according to several well-design experimental studies. The possible role of EGF in tendon healing has not been defined. However, the main drawback of studies on the efficiency of EGF is to provide a long-term constant supply of EGF to target cells. In this respect, we hypothesized that the microspheres contained EGF would overcome this problem by providing a constant local supply of EGF. This study had investigated the role of EGF-loaded microspheres in a rat model for tendon heali*ng. EGF-loaded particles were prepared by double emulsion solvent evaporation method and embedded into gelatine implant. Implants containing microspheres which are equivalent to 10μg EGF (I-MS EGF10 ) and 2μg EGF (I-MS EGF2 ) were applied to Wistar albino rats. Histological and biomechanical studies were performed on to 21 days treated rats. I-MS EGF10 group showed prominent fibrosis and increased neoangiogenesis. Although, there was no major difference between I-MS EGF10 group and negative control group for the fibroblast and collagen proliferation (p > 0.05), the difference for inflammation was statistically significant between same groups (p < 0.05). Consequently, the approach of combining EGF and microspheres to extend the EGF release and in the same time increasing the contact time of EGF to tendon tissue was achievable. However, according to the obtained histological and biomechanical results, gelatine implants including EGF loaded microspheres were not found effective in tendon healing.


Theoretical concepts and antecedents of e-learning, theirs contributions and exploitation potency for contemporary applications are themes of the article. Do generally applicable rules independent on used technologies and technical equipment exist? Does it make sense (if yes then when) to transfer material content from on generation of technical tools to another? Considerations are based on experience from Grant Agency of CR project " Theoretical concepts, sources and technical background of e-learning" research. One of the project's intentions is to define the importance of author work on non-aging topics devalued by technical advances.


This paper reports the allometric relationships between some of the physical parts and body protein weight of three commercial broiler strains reared, sexes separate, on four dietary protein levels to six weeks of age. Birds were sampled at day old and then weekly from each of the treatments to determine the weights of the physical parts and the chemical composition of each of 582 birds. Allometric regressions were compared between strains, sexes and dietary protein levels using linear regression with groups. Whereas these regressions were similar over strains and sexes, some interactions were evident between factors, and differences occurred when broilers were fed differing dietary protein levels. These differences may be explained on the basis that lipid is deposited to different extents in each of the parts in response to dietary protein, although this was not tested. The allometric regressions presented are an attempt to provide information that would enable the prediction of the weights of breast meat, thigh, drum and wing at different stages of growth of broilers whose genotype and feed composition are adequately described.


Turbulent transfer within a crop of corn was characterized
by an aerodynamic approach. The distributions
of windspeed within an immature and a mature crop
were measured using both cup and heated thermocouple
anemometers. A combination of the statistical and mixing-length
theories was employed to analyze the wind
data for transfer coefficients.

Eulerian time scales of turbulence were calculated from
the windspeed fluctuations of selected 30-second periods
of semi-steady wind. Momentum transfer coefficients were
determined from the scale of turbulence by equating it to
the mixing length and assuming isotropy. The resulting
values were as large as 8,000 cm2 sec-1. The shearing
stress profiles calculated with these values had unrealistically
sharp maximums just below the top of the crop.
This anomaly was considered an artifact of the method
resulting from extreme anisotropy in the turbulent shear
flow.
The K values obtained by the statistical mixing length
method were approximately ten times larger than those
determined by logarithmic profile analysis. The latter
values were considered more nearly correct and were used
as a basis for correcting the other values.
The results showed that the magnitude of turbulent
transfer is several orders of magnitude greater than
molecular diffusion even at levels deep within the crop.
The transfer coefficient showed a marked attenuation
with depth below the top of the corn but remained a
function of windspeed at all heights.


Because most non-European pidgins-creoles have not survived into modern times, their study requires alternative, complementary historical analyses under the heading of the ethno history of speaking: philology (or the systematic reconstitution of early attestations by triangulation with contemporaneous or modern comparative linguistic data) and ethnohistory (or the critical interpretation of historical documents by ethnological criteria). Three examples illustrate Maritime Polynesian Pidgin, a Polynesian-based pidgin of the eastern Pacific for the early colonial period, with grammatical patterns and uses reminiscent of Pidgin Hawaiian, but extending regionally to the Society Islands, New Zealand, and overseas locations and with a greater time depth since the late eighteenth century. These data also lend startling support to the "broken Polynesian" portion of South Seas Jargon (Clark 1977, 1979).


In this study, one year of operating experience with a solar sludge drying plant in Pafos wastewater treatment plant is discussed. The plant had a total area of 3,853 m 2 and consisted of four parallel lines. Two types of dewatered sludge with considerably different dry matter content were used. 5,678 tn of dewatered sludge were introduced in the plant and the dried sludge had an average dried solids content of 80.9%, which corresponded to a surface annual evaporation rate of 1.14 tn H 2 O m −2 a −1 . The results indicated that solar drying may be a particularly favorable option for sewage sludge drying at climatic conditions such as those prevailing in the East Mediterranean area.


The value of physical science in mitigating the effects of environmental hazards is well acknowledged. Less acknowledged are the cultural influences affecting adoption of disaster risk reduction strategies, that is what influence 'culture' has upon hazard and risk. This paper explores the need to consider 'culture' within disaster risk reduction and cross disciplinary boundaries through four key questions: (a) How relevant is 'culture' to disaster risk reduction? (b) How can we engage with different cultures? (c) How can local knowledge be accessed and utilized? (d) How can local and scientific knowledge be integrated for the benefit of disaster risk reduction? The questions are answered through drawing upon case study snapshots from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, USA and the Maldives that explore geological-related hazard phenomena, including earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, and their effects within communities. Challenges and ways forward for ensuring the integration of cultural considerations into risk reduction and putting research into practice and practice into research are identified.


Building Information Modelling (BIM) is often misinterpreted by practitioners and researchers as REVIT or ArchiCAD since these tools are introduced as BIM by the software vendors. Yet, BIM is much more than a software tool. It is actually more about process and people than it is about technology. The e-book provides a detailed and complete perception for BIM to conceive it correctly by practitioners and researchers. It covers technology, process and people aspects through a lifecycle perspective. It also gives examples of BIM projects for the readers to perceive BIM benefits from its use.


The endochitinase gene (chi3023) of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) serovar morrisoni strain 3023 was amplified via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and cloned in Escherichia coli. The ORF of chi3023 (GenBank Accession Number: DQ993175) consists of 2031 nucleotides encoding a 676-residue protein with a calculated molecular mass of 74.5 kDa and a pI value of 6.0. The amino acid sequence of Chi3023 was compared with previously sequenced Bt chitinases and the phylogenetic relationships among them were determined. The deduced N-terminal 34 amino acids of the premature Chi3023 exhibited a typical signal peptide. The E. coli-Bt shuttle vector pHT315 was used for homologous expression of chi3023. Introduction of recombinant pHT315BTC, carrying chi3023 into Bt serovar morrisoni 3023, resulted in a 23-fold increase in endochitinase activity (0.185 U/mg versus 4.256 U/mg).


Common ownership is the talk of the town in antitrust land. Surrounded by mystery and noise, the competitive implications of rival firms being partially owned and controlled by a small set of overlapping owners are both fascinating and hotly contested. The fascination comes from the fact that the source of potential harm may be minority shareholder control in a setting of widely held companies . At the same time, skepticism among academics and policymakers abounds. Most notably, critics wonder about the quantum and mechanics of common owners' influence driving any pro- or anticompetitive effects while it is often stressed that the antitrust analysis of common ownership is clearly distinguishable from that of cross-shareholding links between competitors. A comprehensive account of partial ownership, capturing the incentives of both individual and institutional investors and the competition dynamics of both cross- and common shareholding, is notoriously missing . Yet, the spirited debate between antitrust and corporate law and economics scholars centers on whether this "knowledge gap" is material, set to be filled by better understanding and experience as a matter of course or whether it is a fictional problem and an empty inquiry that is theoretically implausible and empirically unrealistic to unfold.

Against this backdrop, this chapter aims to illuminate some of the latent connecting points in this debate, by looking back into the past and then fast forward into the future. Part II provides relevant background on the two-sided history of regulating shareholding acquisitions under corporate and competition laws. Part III illustrates antitrust's embeddedness in pre-existing corporate laws and forms, documenting the early unity and progressive quiet disconnect of the two fields in regulating ownership structures and intercorporate links. Part IV presents the contemporary common ownership (hypo)thesis and the distinct challenges and opportunities that it poses for both antitrust and corporate law. Part V develops a working taxonomy of (minority) shareholding types and their (partial) control characteristics from a competition law analytical perspective, with particular emphasis on commonly thought passive and diversified investment holdings. Part VII concludes with an urge to competition and corporate governance and finance policymakers for harmonic progression in seeking regulatory solutions to address common ownership and offers a quantum theory of the corporate property "atom", drawing cautionary tales about the dynamic and ambiguous qualities of minority common shareholding for antitrust enforcers.


MSUD is a serious liver-based metabolic disorder caused by a deficiency in the branched-chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase (BCKDH) complex. Resulting branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) accretion in the body mainly affects the brain, which in most cases results in permanent neurological dysfunction or death without life-long attentive care. Recently it was shown liver transplantation alone restored BCKDH to a level sufficient to correct MSUD. To test novel therapies, a mouse model of intermediate MSUD (iMSUD) was created (Homanics et al., 2006), which mimicked human iMSUD. Therefore, this dissertation focused on the investigation of liver-directed therapeutic approaches to correct MSUD.In the first aim, iMSUD mice were further characterized and determined to closely mirror the human disease phenotype. iMSUD mice suffered from developmental delay, seizures, and altered brain amino acid and neurotransmitter concentration. iMSUD brains also displayed histological abnormalities while liver morphology was normal. In the second aim, adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors were used to deliver E2 to the liver. However, no significant improvement was determined in AAV-treated iMSUD mice compared to controls. The most likely reasons this study was unsuccessful were low treatment dose, a weak albumin promoter, and possible competition and interaction between AAV-derived and iMSUD transgene-derived E2. The third aim focused on hepatocyte transplantation (HTx). iMSUD-HTx mice had a 75% reduction in BCAA/alanine levels compared to iMSUD controls. BCKDH activity was increased, and Real Time qPCR detected donor-derived E2 in the liver. Dopamine and serotonin, along with several related metabolites, were corrected to control levels. Body weight at weaning and survival were also significantly improved in iMSUD-HTx mice. The fourth aim focused on differentiated embryonic stem cell (ESC) transplantation. Differentiated ESCs expressed liver-specific markers after 3 days in culture and BCKDH activity was significantly increased over undifferentiated ESC populations. Liver-like ESC engraftment was verified up to 1 month following transplantation into wildtype mouse liver. In summary, iMSUD mice were determined to be a superior model to test novel liver-directed therapies. Our findings of partial metabolic correction of iMSUD in a mouse model by HTx were very encouraging. Therefore, liver-directed therapeutic intervention for human MSUD should be investigated further.


We theoretically investigate the feasibility of terahertz detection via electro-optic (EO) sampling using 6H-SiC single crystal. The frequency response is simulated based on the principle of phase-matching condition. The optical dispersion of 6H-SiC was calculated by Sellmeier equation. In collinear incidence approach, the THz detectable bandwidths are simulated by a frequency response function at different excitation wavelengths. The cut-off frequency as a function of crystal thickness is revealed. In non-collinear incidence approach, the phase-matching condition can be achieved by using a silicon prism to couple the THz radiation into 6H-SiC single crystal. The crossing angle between THz radiation and incident optical beam is subject to the THz dispersion of Si prism and group index of 6H-SiC. The relation between THz coherence length and crossing angle is discussed. Both approaches display that 6H-SiC performs a broadband THz response for EO sampling at 515 nm. The sensitivity of EO sampling of 6H-SiC is triple times higher than GaP. In combination of the high critical breakdown field, 6H-SiC is consider to be a promising candidate for detecting high field THz radiation.


This article articulates a land use planning perspective on environmental justice, which is about the impacts of environmental and land use policies and practices on low-income and minority communities. In analyzing a typology of five conceptions of environmental justice (evidentiary, power/political, legal rights, environmental enforcement, and market/economic), the article identifies an underlying reactive character to environmental justice concepts and efforts. There is a need for an additional proactive, planning perspective on environmental justice, focused on the capacity of low-income neighborhoods of color to participate in decision making and to shape their local environments. In developing the argument for a planning perspective, the article presents empirical evidence of disproportionate distributions of industrial and other intensive zoning by race and class, using analysis of zoning patterns in 31 census tracts in 7 cities. It also describes the historical failures of zoning, planning, and local infrastructure policies to protect low-income and minority neighborhoods or to treat them equally with other neighborhoods. Nonetheless, as 5 case studies illustrate, grassroots efforts in low-income and minority communities are now focusing on shaping land use plans, policies, and practices. The article analyzes a variety of land use regulatory mechanisms that can be used to seek environmental justice, including planning, zoning amendments, several flexible zoning techniques, and exactions. It concludes with an analysis of limits to local land use regulations as environmental justice tools, including private property rights protections, state preemption, and politics.


ABSTRACT Two categories of ethical questions surrounding military autonomous systems are discussed in this article. The first category concerns ethical issues regarding the use of military autonomous systems in the air and in the water. These issues are systematized with the Laws of Armed Conflict (LOAC) as a backdrop. The second category concerns whether autonomous systems may affect the ethical interpretation of LOAC. It is argued that some terms in LOAC are vague and can be interpreted differently depending on which ethical normative theory is used, which may increase with autonomous systems. The impact of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) on the laws of war will be discussed and compared to Maritime Autonomous Systems (MAS). The conclusion is that there is need for revisions of LOAC regarding autonomous systems, and that the greatest ethically relevant difference between UAVs and MAS has to do with issues connected to jus ad bellum – particularly lowering the threshold for starting war – but also the sense of unfairness, violation of integrity, and the potential for secret wars.


Abstract Although nutritional status in response to controlled feeding trials has been extensively studied in captive white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), there remains a considerable gap in understanding the influence of variable supplemental feeding protocols on free-ranging deer. Consequently, across the northern portion of the white-tailed deer range, numerous property managers are investing substantial resources into winter supplemental-feeding programs without adequate tools to assess the nutritional status of their populations. We studied the influence of a supplemental winter feeding gradient on the protein and energy status of free-ranging white-tailed deer in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. We collected blood and fecal samples from 31 captured fawns across 3 sites that varied considerably in the frequency, quantity, and method of supplemental feed distribution. To facilitate population-wide comparisons, we collected fresh fecal samples off the snow at each of the 3 sites with supplemental feeding and 1 reference site where no feeding occurred. Results indicated that the method of feed distribution, in addition to quantity and frequency, can affect the nutritional status of deer. The least intensively fed population showed considerable overlap in diet quality with the unfed population in a principal components ordination, despite the substantial time and financial resources invested in the feeding program. Data from fecal samples generally denoted a gradient in diet quality and digestibility that corresponded with the availability of supplements. Our results further demonstrated that fecal nitrogen and fecal fiber, indices of dietary protein and digestibility, can be estimated using regressions of fecal pellet mass, enabling a rapid qualitative assessment of diet quality.


Abstract Over 1200 new publications have appeared in Romania since the fall of communism. Some of them don't exist anymore, but there always appear new ones. The Romanian newspaper market comprises about 1500 publications most of which appear on a weekly basis and 200 daily newspapers. Television is the most familiar source of information. The radio landscape has changed considerably - similar to the television - since 1990. Besides the public broadcaster offering several programs, there are over 150 private local radio stations and various other channels. Despite the diversity of the Romanian press, we cannot yet speak of a completely free press (see the report of the Freedom House organization). The limitations of media freedom and freedom of speech are related to media ownership, but also with gaps in the national legislation. This study aims to contribute to the advancement in the conceptualization of qualitative journalism by proposing to analyze different situations of failure in investigative journalism and identifying factors that conduct to limitation of media freedom.


At this time the image of political parties in Indonesia deteriorated because of various problems afflict their cadres in the Parliament and the executive. In order to increase the public's trust, many political parties begin to perform activities of political communication. This research is aimed to discuss and analyze the political communication held by political parties in the election of 2014. In order to analyze the political communication process conducted by the political parties, researchers using the theory of political communication with the indicator: sources (political communicator), political messages, media or political channels, influence or effect of political communication. The method used is qualitative, with primary data sources such as interviews and observations, as well as secondary data such as photo documentation and source literature obtained from other sources. From the research that has been made known that the political parties use the sources of political communication in the form of print media, electronic, outdoor media, and public communication channel group. Associated with the delivery of a political message, that the political parties use multiple channel messages, both textual and non-verbal, where all of the message channel associated with the media or political channels that are used by political parties, namely the print and electronic media. The results of this study also showed that the influence of political communication has been done by the political parties through the mass media are not always able to influence the attitudes or perceptions of society, because it needs to be seen also from the other side that is the perspective and needs of the community. From the results can be concluded that political communication conducted by political parties through a variety of media is no longer always have a dominant effect because audiences are active and independent.


The purpose of this study is to investigate a pre-service teacher's initial implementation of constructivist physics teaching. A case study was used to explore the underlying constructivist-based physics teaching implemented by a non-experienced male pre-service physics teacher, Bass. A mixed-methods research design was used to monitor the development of constructivist classroom environment at different phases. To collect quantitative data, the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) consisting of 5 elements: Personal Relevance (PR), Student Negotiation (SN), Shared Control (SC), Critical Voice (CV), and Uncertainty (UN) was primarily applied to reflect students' perception toward the pre-service's classroom learning environment after applying constructivist teaching scheme. The supplementary qualitative data were also obtained from classroom observations and interviews between Bass and the author as a teaching coach. The result showed that the pre-service teacher could reflect certain elements of constructivist physics teaching, especially PR, SN and SC. It was indicated that his physics lessons significantly became more personally relevant to students' daily life. His students were likely to be more active in class discussion and allowed to question or criticize given class activities. The study contributes to several important implications for future research, particularly in the context of constructivist teaching in developing countries where knowledge concerning science and technology needs to be improved and for the pre-service teacher training program development for the Faculty of Education (Science Teaching) on behalf of Khon Kaen University. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2p506


Democratic practices exist in politics within and beyond individual states. To date, however, it is only the democratic practices within states that have been analyzed in search for causal explanations of political outcomes, for example, peace and human rights protection. Having established the problematic nature of this situation, the purpose of this article is to explain why the situation emerges in political science and then to suggest a strategy to overcome it. The lack of attention to global democracy, or democracy beyond the state more generally, in explanatory theory is suggested to depend on prevalent but unnecessary conceptual delimitations of democracy which contradict standard assumptions about international politics. Those contradictions can be avoided, however, by defining democracy as rule by the largest group. It is argued that the concept of rule by the largest group, while protecting traditional virtues of democracy such as freedom and equality of individual persons in politics, allows scholars to describe a wider range of international practices than have been available for empirical research based on the dominating conceptions of democracy in normative and empirical literatures. Most fundamentally, it frees future research on the effects of democracy beyond the state from a key risk of self-contradiction.


Robust polysiloxane-ACA capsules for prolonged ethanol production from wood hydrolyzate by Saccharomyces cerevisiae Paivi Ylitervo,a,b Carl Johan Franzen b and Mohammad J. Taherzadeh a a University of Boras, School of Engineering, Sweden b Chalmers University of Technology, Industrial Biotechnology, Sweden The recalcitrance of lignocellulose makes it difficult to hydrolyze and toxic inhibitors are formed during its decomposition. The formed inhibitors can severely affect the fermentability of the hydrolyzate. Encapsulating the fermenting yeast can be a potential option to make the cells more inhibitor and stress tolerant when compared with suspended yeast. In the encapsulation process the yeast is enclosed in a thin semi-permeable membrane surrounding the cells in the liquid core. To apply encapsulation for industrial applications the capsules need to be mechanically stable for long periods. Therefore, a new encapsulation method was developed were alginate-chitosan-alginate (ACA) capsules were treated with hydrolyzed 3-aminopropyltrietoxysilane (hAPTES) to reinforce capsules with polysiloxane (PS). PS-ACA-capsules treated with 1.5% and 3.0% hAPTES were very robust and only 0-1% capsules broke during the mechanical shear test performed after five batch cultivations. Of the untreated capsules, 25% burst within 6 h. The yeast in 3.0% hAPTES treated PS-ACA-capsules did not produce any ethanol during cultivations. However, capsules treated with 1.5% hAPTES were significantly stronger and showed similar ethanol production profile to untreated ACA-capsules cultivated in hydrolyzate. The produced PS-ACA-capsules were easily prepared and demonstrated high stability, reusability, and good ethanol production which are crucial features to make capsules the applicable at large scale for ethanol production.


A significant chapter in the development of administrative justice in Malawi is recounted in this article. And one immediate question that will be asked is 'Why Malawi?' What is it about Malawi that renders administrative justice there of more interest than in any number of other Commonwealth states? The answer to that question lies in the steps which the Government of Malawi has taken to enhance the quality of administrative justice in that country. The Government has found that the practical task of administration, while at the same time respecting the rule of law and human rights, necessitates a governmental concern with the quality of administrative justice.


Negative and unethical behavior such as deviant behavior is a phenomenon in any workplace setting. This behavior which is against the norm of the organization not only affects the organization but also the citizens of the organization. It is a great challenge for all organization, big or small, to manage this behavior effectively in order to curb or eliminate it totally to achieve high performance organization. Many factors have been purported to influence this behavior, but factors such as HRM practices and job satisfaction have not been extensively considered. Therefore, this study seeks to find out the influence of HRM practices and job satisfaction on workplace deviance. A survey was conducted in three manufacturing companies in the State of Kedah, Malaysia. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed with 372 usable questionnaires returned. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 14. Result of the analysis shows that the two independent variables, HRM practices and job
satisfaction, have significant and negative influence on workplace deviant behavior with job satisfaction as the main and significant predictor. The result of this study provides some insight on the importance of providing good HRM practices and job satisfaction to the employees in the organization. Recommendations for future research and limitations of the study are also highlighted.


This article represents the next step in our ongoing effort to understand the online human remains trade, how, why and where it exists on social media. It expands upon initial research to explore the 'rhetoric' and structure behind the use and manipulation of images and text by this collecting community, topics explored using Google Inception v.3, TensorFlow, etc. (Huffer and Graham 2017; 2018). This current research goes beyond that work to address the ethical and moral dilemmas that can confound the use of new technology to classify and sort thousands of images. The categories used to 'train' the machine are self-determined by the researchers, but to what extent can current image classifying methods be broken to create false positives or false negatives when attempting to classify images taken from social media sales records as either old authentic items or recent forgeries made using remains sourced from unknown locations? What potential do they have to be exploited by dealers or forgers as a way to 'authenticate the market'? Analysing the data obtained when 'scraping' image or text relevant to cultural property trafficking of any kind involves the use of machine learning and neural network analysis, the ethics of which are themselves complicated. Here, we discuss these issues around two case studies; the ongoing repatriation case of Abraham Ulrikab, and an example of what it looks like when the classifier is deliberately broken.


Living plant recognition based on images of leaf, flower and fruit is a very challenging task in the field of pattern recognition and computer vision. There has been little work reported on flower and fruit image processing and recognition. In recent years, several researchers have dedicated their work to leaf characterisation. As an inherent trait, leaf vein definitely contains the important information for plant species recognition despite its complex modality. A new approach that combines a thresholding method and an artificial neural network (ANN) classifier is proposed to extract leaf veins. A preliminary segmentation based on the intensity histogram of leaf images is first carried out to coarsely determine vein regions. This is followed by a fine segmentation using a trained ANN classifier with ten features extracted from a window centred on the object pixel as its inputs. Compared with other methods, experimental results show that this combined approach is capable of extracting more accurate venation modality of the leaf for the subsequent vein pattern classification. The approach can also reduce the computing time compared with a direct neural network approach.


Neutron tagging in Gadolinium-doped water may play a significant role in reducing backgrounds from atmospheric neutrinos in next generation proton-decay searches using megaton-scale Water Cherenkov detectors. Similar techniques might also be useful in the detection of supernova neutrinos. Accurate determination of neutron tagging efficiencies will require a detailed understanding of the number of neutrons produced by neutrino interactions in water as a function of momentum transferred. We propose the Atmospheric Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE), designed to measure the neutron yield of atmospheric neutrino interactions in gadolinium-doped water. An innovative aspect of the ANNIE design is the use of precision timing to localize interaction vertices in the small fiducial volume of the detector. We propose to achieve this by using early production of LAPPDs (Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors). This experiment will be a first application of these devices demonstrating their feasibility for Water Cherenkov neutrino detectors.


Purpose of the article: In the Czech Republic, the concept of value-based managenet with the indicator of Economic Value Added (EVA) has come into the foreground in recent years. Currently, a range of important authors (e.g. Kislingerova, Mařik, and Neumaierova) is focused on this problem but no one of them describes effects of accounting data transformation on the items of financial statements while these data are intented to be taken from the managerial point of view. The managerial view on accounting data is necessary at calculation of EVA indicator. Then, this article is focused on the adjustments of financial statements prepared under the Czech accounting law in order to transform them
into managerial data in accordance with the substance of value-based management.
 Methodology/methods: In the submitted paper, the logic-based methods are applied. Here, there are especially pair methods of analysis and synthesis. Chosen items of financial statements prepared under the Czech accounting law are analysed while synthesis forms a headstone of preparation of the financial statements for the value-based management based on economic value added.
 Scientific aim: The aim of the submitted paper is the methodological description of the effect of chosen accounting items transformation into managerial data. Especially the items of balance sheet and profit and loss statement are discussed in order to determinate disproportions between accounting and managerial point of view at EVA calculation.
 Findings: This article provides specific information about the methodology of accounting data transformation from the managerial point of view in order to calculate properly the indicator of NOPAT. The methodology is elaborated also in table illustration which includes the relations among accounting entries on the accounts, and the items of the balance sheet and profit and loss statement.
 Conclusions: The methodology of accounting data transformation into the managerial data could become a significant basis of managerial information systems which are supposed to be effective tools of value-based management that supports long-term creation of the business entity´s value.


We present a prototype surgical planning system that simulates cutting and positioning operations on rigid objects such as the human skull, with realistic haptic and visual feedback. Our positioning interface allows users to grab and manipulate objects while sensing the interaction forces between the object being manipulated and other objects in the environment. The cutting interfaces support planar and contour cuts. We present two algorithms that create both types of cuts through rigid objects that are represented by closed triangular meshes. Both algorithms create cuts with predictable accuracies independent of the meshes they operate on, and avoid the introduction of degenerate mesh elements. For contour cuts, the cut region may be closed or open, and whenever possible it is separated from the original object. To deal with discontinuities in the surface meshes of solid objects introduced by such operations, we have implemented an appropriate surface-reconstruction algorithm.


Abstract. Here we make an initial step toward the development of an ocean assimilation system that can constrain the modelled Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) to support climate predictions. A detailed comparison is presented of 1° and 1/4° resolution global model simulations with and without sequential data assimilation, to the observations and transport estimates from the RAPID mooring array across 26.5° N in the Atlantic. Comparisons of modelled water properties with the observations from the merged RAPID boundary arrays demonstrate the ability of in situ data assimilation to accurately constrain the east-west density gradient between these mooring arrays. However, the presence of an unconstrained "western boundary wedge" between Abaco Island and the RAPID mooring site WB2 (16 km offshore) leads to the intensification of an erroneous southwards flow in this region when in situ data are assimilated. The result is an overly intense southward upper mid-ocean transport (0–1100 m) as compared to the estimates derived from the RAPID array. Correction of upper layer zonal density gradients is found to compensate mostly for a weak subtropical gyre circulation in the free model run (i.e. with no assimilation). Despite the important changes to the density structure and transports in the upper layer imposed by the assimilation, very little change is found in the amplitude and sub-seasonal variability of the AMOC. This shows that assimilation of upper layer density information projects mainly on the gyre circulation with little effect on the AMOC at 26° N due to the absence of corrections to density gradients below 2000 m (the maximum depth of Argo). The sensitivity to initial conditions was explored through two additional experiments using a climatological initial condition. These experiments showed that the weak bias in gyre intensity in the control simulation (without data assimilation) develops over a period of about 6 months, but does so independently from the overturning, with no change to the AMOC. However, differences in the properties and volume transport of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) persisted throughout the 3 year simulations resulting in a difference of 3 Sv in AMOC intensity. The persistence of these dense water anomalies and their influence on the AMOC is promising for the development of decadal forecasting capabilities. The results suggest that the deeper waters must be accurately reproduced in order to constrain the AMOC.


Abstract Visual object expertise correlates with neural selectivity in the fusiform face area (FFA). Although behavioral studies suggest that visual expertise is associated with increased use of holistic and configural information, little is known about the nature of the supporting neural representations. Using high-resolution 7-T functional magnetic resonance imaging, we recorded the multivoxel activation patterns elicited by whole cars, configurally disrupted cars, and car parts in individuals with a wide range of car expertise. A probabilistic support vector machine classifier was trained to differentiate activation patterns elicited by whole car images from activation patterns elicited by misconfigured car images. The classifier was then used to classify new combined activation patterns that were created by averaging activation patterns elicited by individually presented top and bottom car parts. In line with the idea that the configuration of parts is critical to expert visual perception, car expertise was negatively associated with the probability of a combined activation pattern being classified as a whole car in the right anterior FFA, a region critical to vision for categories of expertise. Thus, just as found for faces in normal observers, the neural representation of cars in right anterior FFA is more holistic for car experts than car novices, consistent with common mechanisms of neural selectivity for faces and other objects of expertise in this area.


Secondary production of the burrowing mayfly, Hexagenia limbata, was quantified from four sites differing in seasonal salinity within the Lower Mobile River, Alabama, from October 1995 to September 1996. This population was univoltine, with emergence occurring from late May through early August. Comparisons with other populations of this species showed latitudinal trends suggesting that summer temperatures may exceed an upper thermal threshold for growth. Longitudinal differences in riverine salinity (i.e., upriver sites, 0‰; downriver sites, 5.5‰ maximum salinity) explained most of the differences among sites, both for average density (upriver sites, 75.6 mayflies m−2; downriver sites, 2.54 mayflies m−2) and annual production (upriver, 1,669 mg m−2 yr−1; downriver, 46.6 g m−2 yr−1). Laboratory bioassays indicated that H. limbata nymphs could survive elevated salinity (LC50 of 6.3‰ at 18°C; 2.4‰ at 28°C), although growth experiments showed similar growth at 0, 2, 4, and 8‰ salinity treatments. Results from field observations and laboratory experiments demonstrated that these mayflies are tolerant of increases in salinity and showed that individuals surviving the stress of elevated salinity can grow at similar rates as mayflies in freshwater.


An effective autonomous robot performing dangerous or menial tasks will need to act under significant time and energy constraints. At task time, the amount of effort a robot spends planning its motion directly detracts from its total performance. Manipulation tasks, however, present challenges to efficient motion planning. Tightly coupled steps (e.g. choices of object grasps or placements) allow poor early decisions to render subsequent steps difficult, which this encourages longer planning horizons. However, an articulated robot situated within a geometrically complex and dynamic environment induces a high-dimensional configuration space in which it is expensive to test for valid paths. And since multi-step plans require paths in changing valid subsets of configuration space, it is difficult to reuse computation across steps. This thesis proposes an approach to motion planning well-suited to articulated robots performing recurring multi-step manipulation tasks in complex, semi-structured environments. The high cost of edge validation in roadmap methods motivates us to study a lazy approach to pathfinding on graphs which decouples constructing and searching the graph from validating its edges. This decoupling raises two immediate questions which we address: (a) how to allocate precious validation computation among the unevaluated edges on the graph, and (b) how to efficiently solve the resulting dynamic pathfinding problem which arises as edges are validated. We next consider the inherent tradeoff between planning and execution cost, and show that an objective based on utility functions is able to effectively balance these competing goals during lazy pathfinding. Lastly, we define the family motion planning problem which captures the structure of multi-step manipulation tasks, and propose a related utility function which allows our motion planner to quickly find efficient solutions for such tasks. We assemble our algorithms into an integrated manipulation planning system, and demonstrate its effectiveness on motion and manipulation tasks on several robotic platforms. We also provide open-source implementations of our algorithms for contemporary motion planning frameworks. While the motivation for this thesis originally derived from manipulation, our pathfinding algorithms are broadly applicable to problem domains in which edge validation is expensive. Furthermore, the underlying similarity between lazy and dynamic settings also renders our incremental algorithms applicable to conventional dynamic problems such as traffic routing. completing manipulation tasks efficiently in complex environments 3


In a crisis control center, several teams of firefighters in Montelibretti, Italy, used laptops to guide a robotic ground vehicle into a smoke-filled highway tunnel. Inside, overturned motorcycles, errant cars, and spilled pallets impeded the robot's progress. The rover, equipped with a video camera and autonomous navigation software, was capable of crawling through the wreckage unguided while humans monitored the video footage for accident victims. But most of the time the firefighters took manual control once the robot was a few meters into the tunnel.


The electrochemical redox behavior of Cu(II) has been investigated at glassy carbon electrode (GCE) in Britton-Robinson (BR) buffer as well as in a mixture of BR buffer and potassium chloride media. It is apparent that BR buffer can act as a supporting electrolyte and modify the electrochemical behavior of Cu(II) ion in aqueous medium. In BR buffer medium, Cu(II) undergoes one two-electrons redox process, while in a mixture of BR buffer and KCl media it follows two one-electron electrochemical reaction routes. Because of the formation of hydrogen bridge bond between the supporting electrolyte and GCE surface, the Cu(II) ion follows Cu(II)/Cu(0) electrochemical reaction path, while in presence of KCl such a hydrogen bridge bond is not formed and it undergoes successive Cu(II)/Cu(I) and Cu(I)/Cu(0) electrode reaction processes. Moreover, the linear variation of peak current with the square root of scan rate indicates that the electrochemical redox processes are diffusion controlled. Keywords: Supporting electrolytes; Britton-Robinson buffer; Cu-reduction; Peak current DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbcs.v24i2.9704 Journal of Bangladesh Chemical Society , Vol. 24(2), 158-164, 2011


Created by hedge fund and financial managers, the Robin Hood Foundation fights poverty through grants to nonprofit organizations. As the global financial crisis continues to impact the poor disproportionately, the Foundation needs to ensure that its funds are being spent on the most effective poverty-fighting programs. The organization's senior vice president, Michael Weinstein, has developed a benefit-cost (BC) approach to analyze the performance of program grants. How effective is the method? Is funding programs with the highest BC ratios a good way to fight poverty? In three or five years' time, how will Robin Hood know if it is succeeding?


To meet the immediate need for a framework of post-whole genome association (WGA) annotation, we have developed WGAViewer, a suite of JAVA software tools that provides a user-friendly interface to automatically annotate, visualize, and interpret the set of P-values emerging from a WGA study. Most valuably, it can be used to highlight possible functional mechanisms in an automatic manner, for example, by directly or indirectly implicating a polymorphism with an apparent link to gene expression, and help to generate hypotheses concerning the possible biological bases of observed associations. The easily interpretable diagrams can then be used to identify the associations that seem most likely to be biologically relevant, and to select genomic regions that may need to be resequenced in a search for candidate causal variants. In this report, we used our recently completed study on host control of HIV-1 viral load during the asymptomatic set point period as an illustration for the heuristic annotation of this software and its contributive role in a successful WGA project.


The Second Vatican Council has recognised the validity of all the Sacraments of the Orthodox and Ancient Oriental Churches, and has authorised, on some conditions, a certain measure of ecclesiastical intercommunion (communicatio in sacris) between Catholics and the Orthodox or Ancient Oriental, wich extends to the Sacraments of Penance, the Eucharist, and the Anointing of the Sick. The author enquires about the possibility of such intercommunion - on the same conditions and between the faithful of the same Churches - being extended also to the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, as well as to the blessing of marriage. Latin canon law does not even mention these situations, but seems however not to forbid them; the drafts ("schemata") of the projected Code of Oriental Canon Law are more sensitive to the problems, and accept some of these new possibilities.


Loss of apical dominance, resulting in seedlings with more than one leader, generally referred to as multiple leaders (ML), has been a major problem in forest tree plantation in the tropics. A study to examine the effects of site preparation by burning on growth performance and multiple leaders (ML) formation, and its variation in eight-genotypes of Acacia mangium and Acacia auriculiformis was conducted. The design used for this field trial is a randomized complete block design with four replications at two sites (burnt and unburned) and eight genotypes (four from each species), and the effects were monitored for 24 months. There were significant differences at P < 0.05 between sites and genotypes for the number of ML trees/plot, basal diameter and survival. Differences among the genotypes, in terms of height, were also significant, but not between sites. The site × genotype interaction was significant only for ML trees per plot. Generally, the number and the size of ML trees per plot in the burnt site were higher and bigger than those in the unburned site. The number of ML trees per plot formed increased exponentially with time, reaching a peak in about four months after their first occurrence and then leveled off to an almost steady state thereafter at both sites. The average number of multiples (leaders) per tree ranged from 2 to 5 at the burnt site whilst at the unburned site, all the ML trees were of two leaders. A. mangium provenances were more responsive to burning than A. auriculiformis, whereas at the unburned site, the variation between them was not significant. Based on the above variation, it can be concluded that burning causes ML formation and can affect the growth of these selected Acacia genotypes.


Cancer patients mount T-lymphocyte responses against antigens expressed selectively by their malignancy, but these responses often fail to control their disease, because tumors select mechanisms that allow them to resist immune destruction. Among the numerous resistance mechanisms that have been proposed, metabolic inhibition of T cells by tryptophan catabolism deserves particular attention, because of the frequent expression of tryptophan-degrading enzymes in human tumors, and because in vitro and in vivo studies have shown that their enzymatic activity can be readily blocked by pharmacologic inhibitors, thereby restoring T-cell-mediated tumor cell killing and paving the way to targeted therapeutic intervention. In view of recent observations, and taking into account the differences between human and mouse data that differ in several aspects, in this Cancer Immunology at the Crossroads article, we discuss the role of the three enzymes that have been proposed to control tryptophan catabolism in tumoral immune resistance: indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1), tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO), and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 2 (IDO2).


Repair of the infarcted heart requires TGF-β/Smad3 signaling in cardiac myofibroblasts. However, TGF-β–driven myofibroblast activation needs to be tightly regulated in order to prevent excessive fibrosis and adverse remodeling that may precipitate heart failure. We hypothesized that induction of the inhibitory Smad, Smad7, may restrain infarct myofibroblast activation, and we examined the molecular mechanisms of Smad7 actions. In a mouse model of nonreperfused infarction, Smad3 activation triggered Smad7 synthesis in α-SMA+ infarct myofibroblasts, but not in α-SMA–PDGFRα+ fibroblasts. Myofibroblast-specific Smad7 loss increased heart failure–related mortality, worsened dysfunction, and accentuated fibrosis in the infarct border zone and in the papillary muscles. Smad7 attenuated myofibroblast activation and reduced synthesis of structural and matricellular extracellular matrix proteins. Smad7 effects on TGF-β cascades involved deactivation of Smad2/3 and non-Smad pathways, without any effects on TGF-β receptor activity. Unbiased transcriptomic and proteomic analysis identified receptor tyrosine kinase signaling as a major target of Smad7. Smad7 interacted with ErbB2 in a TGF-β–independent manner and restrained ErbB1/ErbB2 activation, suppressing fibroblast expression of fibrogenic proteases, integrins, and CD44. Smad7 induction in myofibroblasts serves as an endogenous TGF-β–induced negative feedback mechanism that inhibits postinfarction fibrosis by restraining Smad-dependent and Smad-independent TGF-β responses, and by suppressing TGF-β–independent fibrogenic actions of ErbB2.


The article explores the last 10 years of literature relating to Davidoff and Florance's informationist concept. An informationist provides many of the same services as a medical librarian, is a permanent member of the clinical team, and resides on the clinical floors. The author explores the job functions of the informationist and examines whether this service has come to fruition. The author argues that the informationist service can only be fully realized in large academic health sciences libraries, large teaching hospitals, and medical research organizations such as the National Institutes of Health. To facilitate this argument, a questionnaire was distributed to Health Sciences Library listservs; CANMEDLIB and MEDLIB-L. Three hundred ninety respondents completed the questionnaire. The author concludes that there is an inconsistency in the job functions of the informationist service and their academic background. Lastly, the author argues that informationists provide many of the same duties of the medical librarian.


New laws and policies aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence have been adopted across the country over the last twenty years.The legal approaches taken to protect battered women and control family violence have resulted in significant changes in family law. New laws include statutes permitting civil protection or restraining orders, and laws requiring that domestic violence be considered in custody and/or visitation decisions. Both of these types of statutory reforms can provide protection to adult victims of domestic violence and their children. Evaluating a parent's fitness by considering past acts of violence to other family members results in decisions that are more likely to protect children than decisions that discount or disregard spousal abuse. Civil protection orders can provide abused women and their children with a quick and easily accessible remedy that provides housing, financial relief, and an order for custody. While there is some controversy about the effectiveness of such orders in cases involving severe violence, most advocates and scholars agree that these statutes can make some improvement in the lives of women and children.The effectiveness of these new laws in reducing the incidence of domestic violence, however, has been limited for a number of reasons. One of the major barriers to using these laws to protect women is that proving domestic violence in court is difficult. First, the victim is often the only witness to the abuse. For a variety of reasons, victims are reluctant to testify against their abusers and pursue civil and criminal remedies. Even when they do testify, women who experience domestic violence are often not believed. Despite changes in legal and popular conceptions of domestic violence, judges and juries continue to ignore or discount victims' testimony about the abuse.It is, therefore, essential for practitioners to be able to introduce as much evidence of the abuse as they can gather. Established principles of evidence law, however, present particular challenges in domestic violence litigation. While there is expansive literature on evidentiary challenges in criminal prosecutions for domestic violence, there is very little written about the way courts have looked at particular evidentiary issues in civil cases where domestic violence is at issue. This article is intended to assist practitioners in anticipating and responding to some of the evidentiary challenges in civil cases in which relief is sought for the victims of domestic violence.First, expert testimony is often necessary to dispel common myths about battered women and to educate judges and juries about the dynamics of domestic violence. Recent case law, however, has limited the admissibility of 'non-scientific' expert testimony and may make it difficult for practitioners to use experts in their cases. In addition, particular evidentiary issues arise when victims are pursuing both criminal and civil remedies against the batterer. This article will explore the ways in which evidence issues may benefit and inhibit civil actions arising from the domestic violence. Finally, we will discuss the difficulties in using prior bad acts evidence. Because batterers tend to engage in repeated acts of abuse, evidence of prior acts may be particularly relevant in proving the extent of harm and predicting the likelihood of future abuse. Traditional principles of evidence law, however, often prohibit the admission of other crimes, wrongs and acts.


The application of computational search techniques to global optimisation problems is becoming increasingly popular. Search techniques have been used to study the folding of model proteins, with the aim of accurately predicting the native state of a protein from its amino acid sequence. Through modelling, knowledge of the folding process can be obtained. In this thesis, two search techniques have been applied to a variety of protein models. The development and application of both an Immune algorithm and a Differential Evolution search technique are described, with the aim of finding the lowest energy conformations of coarse-grained, model proteins. Initially, the two-dimensional HP Lattice Bead Model is investigated, followed by three-dimensional models of varying complexity. The HP Lattice Bead and BLN models, on a diamond lattice are considered, as well as the Dynamic lattice Model, using backbone torsion angles to define the structure of the lattice. A modified chain growth constructor is introduced; firstly, to generate the initial population for both search techniques, secondly, to record unoccupied lattice sites of meta-stable conformations to reduce the risk of performing infeasible joint mutations during the mutation phase for the Immune algorithm, and thirdly, to improve the standard of mutations performed by Differential Evolution. A novel profiling system is introduced based on the theory of genealogy and ancestry by recording the parent of each individual. The method is used to track and evaluate the diversity of populations and assess the impact that genetic operators have on this diversity. The aim of applying this system is three fold: to investigate how effective genetic operators are; to allow a greater understanding of the progress of the optimisations; and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each search technique investigated.


We define path-dependency as the generic phenomenon according to which agents take an action regardless of their private information. Path-dependency can be of two types contingent on whether agents act with the crowd (herding) or against the crowd (contrarianism). We consider a quote-driven market where traders can in some cases observe whether their predecessors were informed, although they cannot observe their private information, while in other cases they are left with the uncertainty that their predecessors acted purely for liquidity motives. In this setting we recover herding and contrarianism and we find that better-informed markets (i.e. where informed traders receive high precision signals) can generate path-dependent behavior more easily than poorly informed ones. Moreover, we illustrate how a market dominated by herding features a price that is more informative of the asset value than the price of a market where traders always follow their signal. We also discuss how contrarianism has the exact opposite effect by decreasing price informativeness.


Tracing the philosophical underpinnings of scientific racism from the early work of hereditarians Darwin, Spencer, and Sumner, to the intelligence testing movement led by Galton and Binet, and lastly to the contemporary race and IQ studies of Jensen, Herrnstein, and Murray, this article maintains that science is often used as a justification to propose, project, and enact racist social policies. It begins with a review of the philosophy of Social Darwinism and of its assumptions about race and human abilities, and ends by analyzing a largely unbroached theme in this debate: the consequences of scientific racism for dominant groups. Science has often been used as a justification to propose, project, and enact racist social policies. The philosophical and political underpinnings of ideas associated with racial superiority and inferiority were first given scientific legitimacy and credence with the publication of Charles Darwin's (1859) revolutionary book, The Origin of Species. In more recent times, the controversy surrounding the publication of Herrnstein and Murray's (1994) presumably scientific study, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, and the reintroduction to the national conversation of powerful arguments about race and human abilities, provide yet another opportunity to focus on questions pertinent to the origins, maintenance, and consequences of human abilities and potential. In the main, however, such studies and debates reveal far more about those proposing and advocating racist arguments than about the groups toward whom they are directed. Although much attention has been directed, and justly so, toward considerations of the impact of genetic politics on excluded and oppressed populations, more attention should be placed on the negative effect these policies have on the dominant and powerful groups that enact and implement them. The present article maintains that the intellectual bases of the arguments presented in works of scientific racism are more than mere abstractions; rather, they are germane-- indeed, they are central--to both the idea of the democratic process and the question of what constitutes a "just" society. Thus, it begins with a review of the philosophy of Social Darwinism and of its assumptions about race and human abilities. It next critiques the social issues and problems addressed or exhumed by this ideology and examines some of the reasons why certain segments of American society have found its tenets so appealing. Third, in discussing the circumstances surrounding the development and introduction of intelligence testing during the early decades of the 20th century, it analyzes a largely unbroached and untapped theme in the race and human abilities debate: the consequences of scientific racism for America's dominant groups. Before the suppositions of Social Darwinism enshrined the idea of European superiority as a key feature of natural evolution and selection, the association between color (race) and intellectual predisposition had long been a topic for discussion among many European thinkers. Although Rose (1968) notes that the recognition of racial differences is longstanding and traceable through biblical and historical texts, Bernier (see Gossett, 1963), Buffon (1797), and later Gobineau (1853/1915) were to set a pattern in racialist thinking by linking color to behavior and human ability. Notwithstanding, the racist logic of these thinkers, though mostly declarative and deeply rooted in the idea of European supremacy and "colored" inferiority, lacked a grand and global philosophical and political framework within which it could logically operate. Though Darwin (1859) focused primarily on the biological evolution of animal species and almost never addressed the cultural or social consequences of this evolution for humans, others like Herbert Spencer (1874), who first coined the phrase "survival of the fittest," reasoned that Darwinist principles were intended to buttress the case that biological evolution could be equally applicable to human societies. …


The innovative capacity of voluntary organizations has become a touchstone for their role in providing public services. Across the world there are increasing pressures on voluntary organizations to improve the quality and effectiveness of public services through innovation and change. This volume uses original research to assess the innovative capacity of voluntary organizations. It provides: * a conceptual framework for understanding the innovative capacity of voluntary organizations * empirical evidence detailing the nature and extent of innovation * an analysis of successful innovators in personal social services * the applicability of the for-profit model of innovation to non-profit organizations * an account of the contingent nature of voluntary organizations' relationship to their external environment and particularly their main funders. The development of a theory of innovation in non-market and nonprofit conditions makes this volume an important addition to organizational studies literature.


Abstract. The chemical composition of organic aerosols influences their impacts on human health and the climate system. Aerosol formation from gas-to-particle conversion and in-particle reaction was studied for the oxidation of limonene in a new facility, the Cambridge Atmospheric Simulation Chamber (CASC). Health-relevant oxidising organic species produced during secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation were quantified in real time using an Online Particle-bound Reactive Oxygen Species Instrument (OPROSI). Two categories of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were identified based on time series analysis: a short-lived component produced during precursor ozonolysis with a lifetime of the order of minutes, and a stable component that was long-lived on the experiment timescale (∼ 4 h). Individual organic species were monitored continuously over this time using Extractive Electrospray Ionisation (EESI) Mass Spectrometry (MS) for the particle phase and Proton Transfer Reaction (PTR) MS for the gas phase. Many first-generation oxidation products are unsaturated, and we observed multiphase aging via further ozonolysis reactions. Volatile products such as C9H14O (limonaketone) and C10H16O2 (limonaldehyde) were observed in the gas phase early in the experiment, before reacting again with ozone. Loss of C10H16O4 (7-hydroxy limononic acid) from the particle phase was surprisingly slow. A combination of reduced C = C reactivity and viscous particle formation (relative to other SOA systems) may explain this, and both scenarios were tested in the Pretty Good Aerosol Model (PG-AM). A range of characterisation measurements were also carried out to benchmark the chamber against existing facilities. This work demonstrates the utility of CASC, particularly for understanding the reactivity and health-relevant properties of organic aerosols using novel, highly time-resolved techniques.


Fast-paced and easy to read, this new book teaches you the basics of PowerPoint 2007 so you can start using the program right away. This concise guide shows readers how to work with PowerPoint's most useful features and its completely redesigned interface. With clear explanations, step-by-step instructions, lots of illustrations, and plenty of timesaving advice, PowerPoint 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual will quickly teach you to: Create, save, set up, run, and print a basic bullets-and-background slideshowLearn how to add pictures, sound, video, animated effects, and controls (buttons and links) to your slidesDiscover how to incorporate text, spreadsheets, and animations created in other programs Unfortunately, Microsoft's documentation is as scant as ever, so even if you find the features you need, you still may not know what to do with them. But with this book, you can breeze through the new user interface and its timesaving features in no time. PowerPoint 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual is the perfect primer for anyone who needs to create effective presentations. The new PowerPoint is radically different from previous versions. Over the past decade, PowerPoint has grown in complexity, but its once-simple toolbar has been packed with so many features that not even the pros could find them all. For PowerPoint 2007, Microsoft redesigned the user interface completely, adding a tabbed toolbar that makes every feature easy to locate.


When colorimetric specifications of a large number of samples need be computed from spectrophotometric data, an important saving of time can be realized by use of standard IBM punched-card computing equipment. The method employs weighted ordinates, and results for two light sources can be obtained with very little more expenditure of time than for one. The method is described, with detailed instructions for the machine operators.


A ZnCrOx-ZnZSM-5 composite catalyst was used for CO2 hydrogenation into hydrocarbons especially aromatics (Aro). 81.1% Aro selectivity in C5+ hydrocarbons (mainly C5-11) was obtained at 320 °C, corresponding to 19.9% CO2 conversion, 29.8% total hydrocarbons (HCt) selectivity and 69.7% C5+ selectivity in HCt. Our optimized STY of Aro is the highest ever reported.