University buildings require maintenance in order to create a conducive environment that supports and stimulates learning, teaching, innovation, and research. The prime objective of maintenance is to ensure, as far as practicable, the continued peak performance of the building throughout its design life. This paper seeks to report the maintenance management system of a university institution in Malaysia. Primary data was gathered through the analysis of a case study. The objectives of the case study are to identify, describe and assess the maintenance management system used by the university. The major conclusion drawn from the case study was that although university building maintenance practices are corrective and cyclical there is a lack of a comprehensive maintenance management framework that guides the decision-making processes. The case study also revealed irregularities in the university's maintenance management system.


Unsupervised object-centric learning aims to represent the modular, compositional, and causal structure of a scene as a set of object representations and thereby promises to resolve many critical limitations of traditional single-vector representations such as poor systematic generalization. Although there have been many remarkable advances in recent years, one of the most critical problems in this direction has been that previous methods work only with simple and synthetic scenes but not with complex and naturalistic images or videos. In this paper, we propose STEVE, an unsupervised model for object-centric learning in videos. Our proposed model makes a significant advancement by demonstrating its effectiveness on various complex and naturalistic videos unprecedented in this line of research. Interestingly, this is achieved by neither adding complexity to the model architecture nor introducing a new objective or weak supervision. Rather, it is achieved by a surprisingly simple architecture that uses a transformer-based image decoder conditioned on slots and the learning objective is simply to reconstruct the observation. Our experiment results on various complex and naturalistic videos show significant improvements compared to the previous state-of-the-art.


With increasing faults and attacks on the Internet infrastructure, there is an urgent need to develop techniques to analyze network and service vulnerability under organized fault attacks. Network vulnerability refers to the impact of attacks and faults on network and system behaviors. An accurate vulnerability analysis requires a deep understanding of failure modes and effects on each of the network components and the knowledge of how these components are inter-related at each point in time to various applications in a networked system. In this paper we present an agent based network vulnerability analysis framework and show how our framework can be used to analyze and quantify the system vulnerability under a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack scenario. Our approach can be described in terms of three steps: 1) Vulnerability Metrics – In this step we identify the metrics to be used to analyze the network vulnerability; 2) System State Characterization – In this step we define the thresholds to be used to characterize the node/system state to be in one of three states: Normal State, Uncertain State, and Vulnerable State and 3) Vulnerability Index Evaluation – In this step we evaluate the vulnerability of the network or application with respect to the vulnerability metrics defined in the first step. The vulnerability index can also be used as an indicator to trigger proactive and survivable methodologies to aid fast recovery at the earliest possible stages.


Teresa Krystyna Szulecka was born in Radomle, Poland, now in Ukraine, to a farming family, the eldest of three children, the others being a sister and a brother. According to family lore, her mother put the newborn on a handcart to flee from the advancing Russians. In later years her father wondered whether this experience explained why she had such a desire to keep travelling. After the war her parents were resettled on a farm near Sztum, south of Gdansk. She was schooled locally and after graduating from the Sztum gymnasium trained as a dentist in Gdansk. She did not find the work satisfying, however, and went on to obtain a physician's diploma from the Academy of Medicine in Krakow, a city that remained close to her heart even during her later years in England. Here she was an active member of a student hiking and diving club and established firm friendships that were to last the rest of her life. Although she had abandoned the religious beliefs of her childhood early on, she found the company of Catholic students far more agreeable and intellectually honest than those of her non-believer peers who were, invariably, unprincipled careerists and party hacks. Earlier, in Gdansk, she had chosen to belong to the Polish Students' Association rather than join the Union of Socialist Youth, despite the fact that membership of the latter facilitated future job and career prospects.

Life before and after graduation in Krakow was difficult for Krystyna. As a student she fell ill with tuberculosis, and the salaries of young doctors were so paltry that she sometimes went hungry. Frustrated by the unrewarding working conditions in communist Poland, she dreamed instead of working as a doctor in Nigeria. She was advised to learn English in the first instance and, typically …


Carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT) I catalyzes the conversion of long-chain fatty acyl-CoAs to acyl carnitines in the presence of l-carnitine, a rate-limiting step in the transport of long-chain fatty acids from the cytoplasm to the mitochondrial matrix. To determine the role of the 15 cysteine residues in the heart/skeletal muscle isoform of CPTI (M-CPTI) on catalytic activity and malonyl-CoA sensitivity, we constructed a 6-residue N-terminal, a 9-residue C-terminal, and a 15-residue cysteineless M-CPTI by cysteine-scanning mutagenesis. Both the 9-residue C-terminal mutant enzyme and the complete 15-residue cysteineless mutant enzyme are inactive but that the 6-residue N-terminal cysteineless mutant enzyme had activity and malonyl-CoA sensitivity similar to those of wild-type M-CPTI. Mutation of each of the 9 C-terminal cysteines to alanine or serine identified a single residue, Cys-305, to be important for catalysis. Substitution of Cys-305 with Ala in the wild-type enzyme inactivated M-CPTI, and a single change of Ala-305 to Cys in the 9-residue C-terminal cysteineless mutant resulted in an 8-residue C-terminal cysteineless mutant enzyme that had activity and malonyl-CoA sensitivity similar to those of the wild type, suggesting that Cys-305 is the residue involved in catalysis. Sequence alignments of CPTI with the acyltransferase family of enzymes in the GenBank™ led to the identification of a putative catalytic triad in CPTI consisting of residues Cys-305, Asp-454, and His-473. Based on the mutagenesis and substrate labeling studies, we propose a mechanism for the acyltransferase activity of CPTI that uses a catalytic triad composed of Cys-305, His-473, and Asp-454 with Cys-305 serving as a probable nucleophile, thus acting as a site for covalent attachment of the acyl molecule and formation of a stable acyl-enzyme intermediate. This would in turn allow carnitine to act as a second nucleophile and complete the acyl transfer reaction.


This article is concerned with the effectiveness of gender and development practice in diverse knowledge systems. Conventional theoretical and analytical frameworks and methodologies of gender and development reflect primarily secular epistemologies and it has yet to be addressed systematically how non-secular knowledge systems may be incorporated effectively in the design and implementation of gender programmes. This article presents a project from a Muslim rural community of Senegal that analysed gender realities through the prism of the local religio-cultural cosmology and explored community members' responses to increasingly internationalised western ideals of gender equality. As an innovative methodology, participatory research techniques were integrated into short-term ethnographic investigations in an attempt to explore gender realities through the conceptual repertoire of the research participants. The study showed that understandings of subjectivity and gender norms were intertwined intricately with religio-cultural beliefs which influenced how participants conceived themselves and local gender relations and how they responded to western ideals of gender equality. Gender itself seemed to be conceptualised at a more profound ontological level emanating from religio-cultural beliefs. The implication is that gender-sensitive development in this community will need to account for this epistemological framework and to attune to religio-cultural sensibilities. The study also suggests that the participatory ethnographic methodology that was employed can facilitate a transition to an epistemology-sensitive gender and development practice; however it must be combined with reflexivity and be followed by more rigorous research.


Motion smear is an important visual cue for motion perception by the human vision system (HVS). However, in image analysis research, exploiting motion smear has been largely ignored. Rather, motion smear is usually considered as a degradation of images that needs to be removed. In this paper, we establish a computational model that estimates image motion from motion smear information--"motion from smear." In many real situations, the shutter of the sensing camera must be kept open long enough to produce images of adequate signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), resulting in significant motion smear in images. We present a new motion blur model and an algorithm that enables unique estimation of image motion. A prototype sensor system that exploits the new motion blur model has been built to acquire data for "motion-from-smear." Experimental results on images with both simulated smear and real smear, using our "motion-from-smear" algorithm as well as a conventional motion estimation technique, are provided. We also show that temporal aliasing does not affect "motion-from-smear" to the same degree as it does algorithms that use displacement as a cue. "Motion-from-smeai' provides an additional tool for motion estimation and effectively complements the existing techniques when apparent motion smear is present.


In this paper we study low-power impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) correlation receivers with suboptimal templates, as a promising candidate for a highly accurate wearable human locomotion tracking system. Such a system is theoretically capable of providing a ranging accuracy of 1mm in practical multipath fading channels at a SNR of 18dB. This ranging accuracy is ten times better than the ranging accuracy provided by currently available systems. Furthermore, we study the theoretical BER and the improved Ziv-Zakai lower-bound on ranging accuracy in AWGN and dense multipath fading channels. We show that low-power is traded for a minimal performance loss for both BER and TOA accuracy.


Abstract This article approaches narrative ballet as a theatrical art created through the intersection of dance, music, and literature. Following the nineteenth century9s tendency to separate 'the Arts,' scholars, journalists, and often the dancers themselves portray ballet as an art of choreography and virtuoso bodies, while relegating the music, story, and visual designs to supportive if not negligible roles. My article counteracts this trend by approaching ballet as a multimedial art, in which meaning is made at the points where the specific arts intersect. Audience members perceive the ballet as a composite work, in which all three elements are equally present and important. Using this model, musicologists and literary critics can and should engage contemporary narrative ballets as complex and relevant art of our time. John Neumeier9s The Seagull (2002) demands this type of analysis, because it is clear that as the author of the choreography, costumes, lighting, and set design, Neumeier considers all media involved—visual, aural, and literary—as equally generative elements of a ballet. His role is more of a multimedia artist than a choreographer. He is also responsible for the adaptation from Chekhov9s eponymous play and for application of musical selections borrowed from Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Shostakovich, and Evelyn Glennie. Indeed, his choice to present a Chekhov play known for its subtle weaving of verbal dialogue to convey character, mood, and themes seems to force the audience member and critic to reconsider her traditional understanding of what ballet can and cannot do. As an example of a multimodal approach to ballet, this article presents five literary and musical devices expanded to describe the varied interplay of the visual, aural, and literary components in The Seagull. Bakhtin9s idea of heteroglossia appears on the ballet stage in the assignment of distinct dance styles to each of the four protagonists, a technique that develops each character by imbuing them with the historical and social connotations of their movement style. Neumeier manipulates the irrefutable connection between music and dance through audiovisual irony in two scenes, where the dance conveys one message, but the music belies it, revealing the underlying ironic truth of the characters9 situations. All three modalities are employed to shift time into and out of a reflective space, where the sincerest characters are shown to explore their emotional and artistic dilemmas. Like Chekhov, Neumeier employs echo characters—secondary figures who mirror the conflicts of the main protagonists, allow the author(s) to further develop the play9s themes. In this ballet, Masha "echoes" Nina9s unrequited love, her movements, music, color palette, and her choices by negation. Through overt application of seagull imagery, Neumeier draws dance and music history—namely, Swan Lake and the pathos of the dying swan—into his ballet, The Seagull.


Models for the origin and deformation of Himalayan rocks are dependent upon geometric and age relationships between major units. We present fi eld mapping and U-Pb dating of igneous and detrital zircons that establish the lithostratigraphic architecture of the eastern Himalaya, revealing that: (1) the South Tibet detachment along the BhutanChina border is a top-to-the-north ductile shear zone; (2) Late Triassic and Early Cretaceous sedimentary samples from the northern Indian margin show a similar age range of detrital zircons from ca. 3500 Ma to ca. 200 Ma, but the Late Triassic rocks are distinguished by a signifi cant age cluster between ca. 280 and ca. 220 Ma and a well-defi ned age peak at ca. 570 Ma, (3) an augen gneiss in the South Tibet detachment shear zone in southeast Tibet has a Cambrian–Ordovician crystallization age, (4) Main Central thrust hanging-wall paragneiss and footwall quartzites from the far western Arunachal Himalaya share similar provenance and Late Proterozoic maximum depositional ages, and (5) Main Central thrust footwall metagraywacke from the central western Arunachal Himalaya has a Paleoproterozoic maximum depositional age, indicated by a single prominent age peak of ca. 1780 Ma. Recent work in the eastern Himalaya demonstrates that in the early-middle Miocene, the Himalayan crystalline core here was emplaced southward between two subhorizontal shear zones that merge to the south. A proposed subsequent (middle Miocene) brittle low-angle normal fault accomplishing exhumation of these rocks along the range crest can be precluded because new and existing mapping demonstrates only a ductile shear zone here. The ca. 280–220 Ma detrital zircons of the Late Triassic strata are derived from an arc developed along the northern margin of the Lhasa terrane. Detritus from this arc was deposited on the northern margin of India during India-Lhasa rifting. Along-strike heterogeneity in Main Central thrust footwall chronostratigraphy is indicated by detrital zircon age spectrum differences from central western to far western Arunachal. Nonetheless, the Late Proterozoic rocks in the Main Central thrust hanging wall and footwall in far western Arunachal can be correlated to each other, and to previously analyzed rocks in the South Tibet detachment hanging wall to the west and in the Indian craton to the south. These fi ndings are synthesized in a reconstruction showing Late Triassic IndiaLhasa rifting and Cenozoic eastern Himalayan construction via in situ thrusting of basement and cover sequences along the north Indian margin.


In this paper a reconfigurable differential Ultra Wideband-Impulse Radio (UWB-IR) energy receiver architecture has been simulated and implemented in UMC 90nm. The signal is amplified, rectified and integrated. By using an integration windowed scheme the SNR requirements are relaxed increasing the sensitivity. The design has been optimized for large bandwidths, low implementation area and configurability. The RX can be adapted to work at different data rates, processing gains, and channel environments. It works between the 3.1 – 4.8 GHz bands with OOK or PPM modulation with a tunable data rate up to 33Mb/s. In order to relax the ADC sampling time an interleave mode of operation has been implemented. It has a maximum power consumption of 22m W with a power supply of 1V. The complete RX occupies an area of 1.11mm2.


Based on an OHE lunchtime seminar by Professor Henry Grabowski, this seminar briefing explores the lessons learned from Europe's experience with biosimilars, and provides an analysis of how the US market may evolve. With respect to the European experience, the briefing looks at how the market for EMA-approved biosimilars in the area of erythropoietins (EPOs) and granulocyte-colony-stimulating-factors (G-CSFs) has evolved since 2009 in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK. The author highlights two key results. Firstly, the market experience varies greatly across product classes and countries – mainly due to differences across countries in reimbursement practices and incentives as well as variations in medical practices. Secondly, the second generation products tend to be dominant in terms of market share across almost all countries because patient utilisation had shifted in that direction, prior to biosimilar entry. Second generation products are longer-lasting, so patients require substantially fewer infusions over a course of treatment. These tend to be more expensive on a cost per vial basis versus the original biologic (called the reference product). However, they may not necessarily be more expensive on a cost per daily dose since they require substantially fewer doses per course of treatment. As a result, the size of expected cost savings from the use of biosimilars to third party payers in these two areas will be lower than originally thought. The biosimilar regulations in the US are not complete, and a number of issues are still to be finalised. As argued by the author, whilst the FDA has issued some guidelines on the regulatory requirements to establish biosimilarity, they are not nearly as clear as the EMA's. Moreover, the FDA has not put forward the regulatory requirements to establish interchangeability. Consequently, past estimates of the potential cost savings from the introduction of biosimilars in the US might not be achieved. In the longer run, as science advances and other big-selling biologics lose patent protection, insurers will find a way to encourage biosimilars, and physicians will become more experienced with them.


This study sought to compare early physiological and performance adaptations between a two-week cycle sprint interval training (SIT) and uphill run sprint training (UST) programs. Seventeen recreationally active adult males (age = 28 ± 5 years; body mass (BM) = 78 ± 9 kg) were assigned to either a control (n = 5), SIT (n = 6), or UST (n = 6) group. A discrete group of participants (n = 6, age = 33 ± 6 years, and body mass = 80 ± 9 kg) completed both training protocols to determine acute physiological responses. Intervention groups completed either a run or cycle peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) test (intervention type dependent) prior to and following two weeks of training. Training comprised of three sessions per week of 4 × 30-s "all-out" sprints with a four-minute active recovery between bouts on a cycle ergometer against 7.5% of body mass in the SIT group and on a 10% slope in the UST group. The VO2peak values remained unchanged in both training groups, but time-to-exhaustion (TTE) was significantly increased only in the UST group (pre—495 ± 40 s, post—551 ± 15 s; p = 0.014) and not in the SIT group (pre—613 ± 130 s, post—634 ± 118 s, p = 0.07). Ventilatory threshold (VT) was significantly increased in both training groups (SIT group: pre—1.94 ± 0.45 L·min−1, post—2.23 ± 0.42 L·min−1; p < 0.005, UST group: pre—2.04 ± 0.40 L·min−1, post—2.33 ± 0.34 L·min−1, p < 0.005). These results indicate that UST may be an effective alternative to SIT in healthy individuals.


Through this talk I presented a timeline of events that maps the development of a mixed use apartment building on the outskirts of a post industrial town in England. The building - City Reach/The Skyline - is a really existing building which was commissioned and started in 2007 until the work was halted in late 2008, a victim of the financial crash. This structure became the sole focus of an artwork in the form of Facebook page called Ruin in Reverse. Taken from Robert Smithton's experimental essay A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic,New Jersey (1967) the phrase 'ruins in reverse' denotes ruins of the future, buildings that haven't fallen into ruin, but instead are built into ruin. Through a sequence of 11 images the talk takes anecdotes, press reports, marketing materials, quotes by thinkers and my own poetic observations and weaves them together to realise, following Aleksi Gan, a tectonic and, following Jencks and Silver, an adhocist version of events that unpicks the crisis, the subsequent age of austerity and its entropic implications.


Objective The aims of this study were to investigate the effectiveness of sealant placement under the guidelines of the Oral Health Promotion Program for Children and Adolescents (Portugal), and to test the influence of clinical and socioeconomic variables on the DMFT increment in 277 children, born in 1997. Material and Methods A dental hygienist performed the initial examinations and sealant placement (Helioseal, Vivadent) on the permanent first molars in 2005. These activities were registered in dental records that were assessed in 2007. Children were classified according to caries risk at baseline [high (HR: DMFT+dmft>0); low (LR: DMFT+dmft=0) risk] and sealant placement as follows: HR-S and LR-S Groups (with sealant placement); HR-NS and LR-NS Groups (without sealant placement). A calibrated dentist performed the final examination in 2007 at school, based on the World Health Organization recommendations. The variables collected were: dental caries, visible dental plaque, malocclusions, and socioeconomic level (questionnaire sent to children's parents). For univariate (Chi-square or Fisher tests) and multivariate (Multiple logistic regression) analyses the DMFT increment >0 was selected as dependent variable. Results Approximately 17.0% of the children showed DMFT increment>0 (mean=0.25). High-risk children presented a significant increase in the number of decayed and/or filled teeth. These children had 7.94 more chance of developing caries. Children who did not receive sealant were 1.8 more prone to have DMFT increment >0. Conclusion It appears that sealant placement was effective in preventing dental caries development. Moreover, the variables "risk" and "sealant placement" were predictors for DMFT increment in the studied children.


Coral reefs are immensely vulnerable to climate change and particularly the effects of ocean warming; in efforts to understand whether and how reef systems will survive into the future, research is increasingly focusing on present day populations acclimatized to thrive under relatively extreme conditions. Whilst corals thrive along a range of environmental conditions, including relative extremes, within the Red Sea, these coral populations are still considered not well explored of the genetic and physiological signatures throughout this system. Corals microbiota communities (the "microbiome") are recognized as a major component as to how corals "acclimatize" to different environmental conditions; therefore, this work aimed to investigate the historical thermal variability along the Red Sea and subsequently identify the relative role of coral microbiome associated with differences in coral thermal tolerance. Remotely sensed data (1982-2012) demonstrated migration of Sea Surface Temperature anomalies (i.e. DHW) from the south to the north during this time frame. Analysis of historical bleaching records indicated that coral populations were more tolerant to bleaching in the northern compared to the central/southern Red Sea. Symbiodinium clade type (ITS2) and microbial community (16S rRNA metagenomics) associated with six key coral species persisting across five sites of the northern Red Sea (29°-20°N) were then examined. Symbiodinium clade identity associated with each coral species generally remained highly conserved throughout the sites sampled. In contrast, microbial communities were variable within and between species across the Red Sea sites. Corals from two sites (central-Jeddah and northern-Hurghada) were exposed to a thermal stress experiment which confirmed that corals were more heat resistant at Hurghada (summer SST mean is 3.3 °C less) than Jeddah; however, symbiont ITS2 clade types were the same at both sites. Conversely, microbial community changed in heat stressed samples at Jeddah compared to the control group, while it remained stable at Hurghada. This work provides for the first time genetic analysis on corals' microbiome inhabiting extreme thermal resistant region (i.e. the northern Red Sea) that contradict the global bleaching pattern. Our findings suggest that plasticity of microbial community may play the key role in acclimation of corals experience thermal anomalies in the Red Sea suggesting presence certain microbial phylotypes fill specific thermal niche. Finally, the higher latitudes of the Red Sea will broadly serve as a potential corals refugia which highlights the importance to conserve and implement a regional management policy to improve corals thermal tolerance of this region to be used as a genetic reservoir.


Patrick Sullivan's emphasis on the importance of supporting autonomy and independence among vulnerable people who self-injure is fundamental to good clinical practice. Although people who self-injure typically experience overwhelming emotions and may be prone to impulsive behaviour, self-injury is nonetheless a choice and must accordingly be treated as such.1 In addition, patients who self-injure when not acutely mentally ill typically retain decision-making capacity in relation to self-injury.2 This is why some forms of harm minimisation, such as encouraging reflection, responsibility, safe cutting and where appropriate self-aftercare, are uncontroversial and already widely practised within community settings. The situation is different, however, with respect to both secure and non-secure inpatient settings. It is also different when we consider some of the other forms of harm minimisation that Sullivan advocates, namely the provision of self-harming instruments alongside education about anatomy and physiology.

Sullivan does not distinguish secure and non-secure settings, but it is crucial to do so. In secure (forensic) inpatient settings, it is neither practical nor ethical to provide implements that can be used as weapons to any patient, for any reason. This would be to severely compromise staff and patient safety.

In non-secure inpatient settings, patients are likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act. This raises the question of the grounds of detention. Typically, patients who self-injure are detained because they are judged to be currently at risk of life-endangering or life-changing injury. As Sullivan notes, it is not clinically or ethically appropriate to provide patients with the means to self-injure when they are in this state of mind. This means that the relevant inpatient population for which a harm minimisation approach could even be considered is relatively small: those who have a standing pattern of self-injury and who are detained on non-secure units for reasons other …


Suprathermal electrons (E > 80 eV) carry heat flux away from the Sun. Processes controlling the heat flux are not well understood. To gain insight into these processes, we model heat flux as a linear dependence on two independent parameters: electron number flux and electron pitch angle anisotropy. Pitch angle anisotropy is further modeled as a linear dependence on two solar wind components: magnetic field strength and plasma density. These components show no correlation with number flux, reinforcing its independence from pitch angle anisotropy. Multiple linear regression applied to 2 years of Wind data shows good correspondence between modeled and observed heat flux and anisotropy. The results suggest that the interplay of solar wind parameters and electron number flux results in distinctive heat flux dropouts at heliospheric features like plasma sheets but that these parameters continuously modify heat flux. This is inconsistent with magnetic disconnection as the primary cause of heat flux dropouts. Analysis of fast and slow solar wind regimes separately shows that electron number flux and pitch angle anisotropy are equally correlated with heat flux in slow wind but that number flux is the dominant correlative in fast wind. Also, magnetic field strength correlates better with pitch angle anisotropy in slow wind than in fast wind. The energy dependence of the model fits suggests different scattering processes in fast and slow wind.


Nominal logic is an extension of first-order logic which provides a simple foundation for formalizing and reasoning about abstract syntax modulo consistent renaming of bound names (that is, α-equivalence). This article investigates logic programming based on nominal logic. We describe some typical nominal logic programs, and develop the model-theoretic, proof-theoretic, and operational semantics of such programs. Besides being of interest for ensuring the correct behavior of implementations, these results provide a rigorous foundation for techniques for analysis and reasoning about nominal logic programs, as we illustrate via examples.


In this paper, I analyze data on agricultural producer support mechanisms and agribusiness Political Action Committee campaign contributions from 1998 to 2016 to determine the extent to which lobbying on behalf of any particular crop or agricultural product is translated into government transfers back to its producers. I proceed with a review of the existing literature about purchasing support mechanisms and the agriculture industry, and a discussion of the data, which is sourced from USDA, OECD, and The Center for Responsive Politics. Guided by Hausman test results, I run a fixed effects regression to demonstrate that campaign contributions do not have a statistically significant impact on transfers to producers in the agribusiness industry, despite findings in the literature.


System theory presents multiple approaches that enable a certain understandingof systems given the particularities of each of the various approaches to it.If one were to describe under which conditions there exists the possibility ofcommunication across knowledge areas and one were to use Systems Theory toperform such a description, which of the available system theoreticalperspectives would be most adequate? This endeavor requires a choice amongthese different approaches available within systems theory, and since theanalysis is to be made on a set of knowledgeproducing areas inscribed in aknowledge validating environment, the need for a cross disciplinary approachsuch as the one taken by systems theory is deemed appropriate. We have selectedtwo of these systems theoretical positions to describe and ultimately select from.The present article discusses the differences and similarities of theapproaches to systems theory proposed by Klir and the one in Luhmann's socialsystems. The methodology used for this purpose is a summary revision of somekey system theoretical proposals for the objective of contextualizing boththeories and providing the grounds for analysis. Given the contextualization ofthe perspectives one is able to better appreciate the implications inherent in taking one or another perspective for the proposed study. The gain in depth,the distinctions, and the qualifications in the resulting characterization of the system to study will strongly depend on the choice of perspective. A cleardistinction between methodologies is obtained as a result of this study and theobvious choice for the objective of studying cross-area communication amongknowledge areas is presented and justified.


The different roles played by small and large eddies in engine combustion were studied. Experiments compared natural gas combustion in a converted, single cylinder Volvo TD 102 engine and in a 125 mm cubical cell. Turbulence is used to enhance flame growth, ideally giving better efficiency and reduced cyclic variation. Both engine and test cell results showed that flame growth rate correlated best with the level of high frequency, small eddy turbulence. The more effective, small eddy turbulence also tended to lower cyclic variations. Large scales and bulk flows convected the flame relative to cool surfaces and were most important to the initial flame kernel. (Less)


Abstract Minimal research has investigated the stigma associated with problem gambling, despite its major hindrance to help-seeking and recovery. This study explored perceived stigma and self-stigma to examine stigmatizing beliefs held, how they may be internalized, coping mechanisms, and effects on help-seeking. In-depth interviews with 44 people experiencing gambling problems were analysed using interpretive phenomenology. Results revealed an overwhelming perception that problem gambling attracts acute public stigma and is publicly viewed as caused by personal failings. Participants had serious concerns about being viewed as 'a problem gambler', fearing demeaning stereotypes, social rejection, hostile responses and devaluing behaviours. Many participants internalized perceived stigma as self-stigma, with deleterious reported effects on self-esteem, self-efficacy, perceived social worth, and mental and physical health. Deep shame was a near universal emotion and exacerbated by relapse. Secrecy was the main coping mechanism used, with perceived and self-stigma found to act as major barriers to disclosure and help-seeking. The findings can inform the development of a valid understanding and conceptualization of problem gambling stigma. This is a prerequisite for effective stigma-reduction strategies to reduce public stigma and discrimination, and to lower perceived and self-stigma and increase the use of treatment services and other interventions by people with gambling problems.


Two different approximations for the propagation constant of a guided mode in a rectangular dielectric waveguide can be obtained by applying the conventional effective-index method to the waveguide in two different ways. By combining these two approximations with the other two approximations for a complementary mode in a complementary waveguide so that the errors in the approximations can be largely canceled, a more accurate approximation can be derived. Numerical results from analyzing several basic rectangular structures reveal that in most cases the new technique is considerably more accurate than the conventional effective-index method and does not generate ambiguous results as the conventional effective-index method does in the analysis of square dielectric rods.


A stratigraphic and structural analysis of the northern border of the Hyblean Plateau (south-eastern Sicily) has been carried out. This area is characterised by the outcropping of Lower Miocene-Quaternary volcanics and sediments (Schmincke et alii, 1997; Grasso et alii, 2004) and by a prominent WSW-ENE striking fault system (Ghisetti & Vezzani, 1980; Grasso et alii, 2000). From a morphological point of view, the study of the area has been supported by the analysis of four 3D-prospective projections obtained by draping a mosaic of aerial photo on DEM (Digital Elevation Model). Stratigraphic sections have been reconstructed in three key areas distributed from the east to the west of the northern margin of Hyblean Plateau, named respectively Monte Ranne-Monte Serravalle, Salto di Primavera-Filidonna and Palagonia-Poggio Forca, where new Quaternary structures have been recognized. Upper Pliocene and Pleistocene volcanism developed in a shallow marine and locally subaerial environment (Schmincke et alii, 1997). Volcanic activity occurred in distinct phases and areas, differing in volume, chemical composition and eruptive mechanism. A detailed stratigraphy of the Plio-Pleistocene volcanism in the Hyblean area is reported in Schmincke et alii (1997). The Authors recognized the presence of three main eruptive cycles named Poggio Pizzuto Formation (Lower Pliocene, basanitic products), Militello Formation (Upper Pliocene, tholeiitic products) and Poggio Vina Formation (Lower Pleistocene alcalic products). Deposition of carbonate sediments occurred during the intervals between of volcanic activity; this is related to a transgressive event which is observed along the marginal areas of Hyblean Plateau. The detailed reconstruction of the stratigraphic succession has provided a valuable contribution to define and constrain the age of the observed tectonic structures. The structural analysis pointed out the occurrence of three tectonic deformation stages characterized by ductile and brittle structures. During the Upper Pliocene-Lower Pleistocene an earlier extensional deformation occurred along the WSW-ENE fault system, induced by a N-S oriented extensional axis. The stratigraphic and tectonic features, broadly along the northern margin of the Hyblean Plateau indicates that these structures are related to the downwarping of this area beneath the front of the Maghrebian Chain. This stage was followed by a contractional deformation event represented by E-W trending brittle and ductile structures affecting Lower Pleistocene carbonate sediments. Structural analysis carried out along these structures pointed out a stress field characterized by a N-S oriented compressive axis, which also generated the contractional tectonic structures occurring to the south of Monte Etna (Lanzafame et alii, 1997; Monaco et alii, 2002; Catalano et alii, 2004). During the last extensional tectonic stage, characterized by a N-S oriented extensional axis, the study area was affected by normal faulting. In fact the observed structures deform Holocene deposits outcropping in Poggio Forca and Monte Ranne areas. Moreover, the recent volcanics observed in Monte Ranne areas. Moreover, the recent volcanics observed in Monte Ranne and Salto di Primavera areas can be related to this stage and could represents the youngest Hyblean volcanic products, probably coeval with the early eruptive event of Monte Etna. In conclusion, during the Lower Pleistocene a compressive event, induced by the migration of the external front of the chain, was recorded in the northern sector of Hyblean Plateau. The contractional deformation can be related to inversion tectonics along the E-W oriented structures coupled with a prominent extensional deformation pattern induced by the collapse of the northern foreland plate margin beneath the front of the thrust belt. This contractional stage is probably induced by frontal thrusting along the northern margin of Hyblean Plateau. In eastern Sicily both axial and frontal areas of the Siculo-Maghrebian Chain have been affected during the Middle Pleistocene contractional deformation processes (Lanzafame et alii, 1997; Monaco et alii, 2002; Catalano et alii, 2004).


Presents here a complete dynamic model of a lithium ion battery that is suitable for virtual-prototyping of portable battery-powered systems. The model accounts for nonlinear equilibrium potentials, rate- and temperature-dependencies, thermal effects and response to transient power demand. The model is based on publicly available data such as the manufacturers' data sheets. The Sony US18650 is used as an example. The model output agrees both with manufacturer's data and with experimental results. The model can be easily modified to fit data from different batteries and can be extended for wide dynamic ranges of different temperatures and current rates.


Preserving diverse forms of life on land requires targeted efforts to protect, restore and promote the conservation and sustainable use of terrestrial and other ecosystems. Goal 15 focuses specifically on managing forests sustainably, halting and reversing land and natural habitat degradation, successfully combating desertification and stopping biodiversity loss. All these efforts combined aim to ensure that the benefits of land-based ecosystems, including sustainable livelihoods, will be enjoyed for generations to come.


[1] We study the acceleration of energetic electrons during magnetotail reconnection by using Cluster simultaneous measurements of three-dimensional electron distribution functions, electric and magnetic fields, and waves in a thin current sheet. We present observations of two consecutive current sheet crossings where the flux of electrons 35–127 keV peaks within an interval of tailward flows. The first crossing shows the signatures of a tailward moving flux rope. The observed magnetic field and density indicate that the flux rope was very dynamic, and a comparison with numerical simulation suggests a crossing right after coalescence of smaller flux ropes. The second crossing occurs within the ion diffusion region. The flux of electrons is largest within the flux rope where they are mainly directed perpendicular to the magnetic field. At the magnetic separatrices, the fluxes are smaller, but the energy spectra are harder and electrons are mainly field aligned. Reconnection electric fields EY ∼ 7 mV/m are observed within the diffusion region, whereas in the flux rope, EY are much smaller. Waves around lower hybrid frequency do not show a clear correlation with energetic electrons. We interpret the field-aligned electrons at the separatrices as directly accelerated by the reconnection electric field in the diffusion region, whereas we interpret the perpendicular electrons as trapped within the flux rope and accelerated by a combination of betatron acceleration with nonadiabatic pitch-angle scattering. Our observations indicate that thin current sheets during dynamic reconnection are important for in situ production of energetic electrons and that simultaneous measurements of electrons and electromagnetic fields within thin sheets are crucial to understand the acceleration mechanisms.


The study investigated the perception of primary and junior secondary mathematics teachers on the new nine-year basic education mathematics curriculum in Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study and the participants were two hundred experienced mathematics teachers in forty public primary schools and twenty junior secondary schools in Calabar Municipality and Calabar North Local Government Areas of Cross River State, Nigeria. One instrument tagged "perception of teachers of the new basic education mathematics curriculum'' was used for data collection. The results showed that teachers' perception of the new nineyear basic education mathematics curriculum was high and their perceptions were neither gender sensitive nor academic qualification specific. However, teachers showed a high degree of ownership of the content of the new basic education mathematics curriculum despite their lack of necessary training in the principles underpinning the curriculum. Keywords— Teacher perception, basic education, mathematics curriculum.


In our culture, the image has become more powerful than the word, and perhaps more than ever, both social agents and social researchers "know more than we can say" in words. Yet sociological knowledge production and representation remain firmly rooted in text. In this paper, I argue that visual methods, such as film, photography and video, can expand knowledge production in the study of food and society, and represent that knowledge more richly and forcefully. In their capacities to evoke the sensual, non-rational, and material aspects of life, visual methods are well suited to the study of a subject such as food, which encompasses social processes from the embodied and tacit experiences of preparing and consuming food, to complex global configurations of power. I begin with the limitations of logo-centric sociology. Concentrating on photography, I move to a brief history of this method in sociology and discuss epistemological issues related to the contemporary postfoundationalist practice of visual sociology. Finally, I turn to a discussion of three main types of visual research activities: producing visual images; collaborating with research participants to produce visual images; and examining pre-existing images.


In recent years several experiments revealed intriguing hints for new physics (NP) in $B$ meson decays involving \bctaunu and $b\to s\ell^+\ell^-$ transitions at the $4-5\,\sigma$ level. These signs for NP are supported by slight disagreements in the analogous observables with $b\to u \tau\nu$ and $b\to d\mu^+\mu^-$ transitions. While not significant on their own, these processes point in the same direction.

Since all these observables are semi-leptonic, leptoquarks are prime candidates for a solution to these puzzels since they give tree-level effects here while their contributions to other flavour observables, which agree with the SM predictions, are loop suppressed.

In these proceedings we focus on the vector leptoquark $SU(2)$ singlet which provides a natural explanations for both the $b\to c(u) \tau\nu$ and the $b\to s(d)\mu^+\mu^-$ data. However, to account for the preferred NP effect in $b\to c(u) \tau\nu$ large couplings to $\tau$ leptons are necessary and loop effects become important. Including them in the phenomenological analysis, the fit to data is even improved.

Finally, we review two UV complete models which give rise to the desired vector leptoquark $SU(2)$ singlet. The first possibility is to add either three generations of vector-like fermions to the original Pati-Salam model and break the symmetry with a Higgs mechanism. Alternatively, it is possible to break the PS gauge group to the SM one on a compact extra dimension like in Randall Sundrum models.


This paper describes the architecture of second generation current conveyor (CCCII)and designing an amplifier using second generation current conveyor. The designed amplifier through CCCII+ can be used in various analog computation circuits and is superior in performance than the classical opamp. It provides better gain with higher accuracy. The presented approach over here is to design current amplifiers and voltage amplifiers using current controlled current conveyor (CCCII). The second generation CCCII has the advantage of electronic adjustability over the CCII i.e. in CCCII, the X-terminal intrinsic resistance can be adjusted througha bias current is possible. The CCCII has been designed to work both as current amplifier and voltage amplifier. Various simulations have been carried out to obtain the desired results.


Recent advances in optics, video systems and endoscopic operating instruments have led to increasing application of thoracoscopic surgery, as it has become easier to perform and more accurate. We performed 586 video-assisted thoracic surgical procedures for diagnosis and treatment (May 1992-Dec. 1998) 127 were for diagnostic thoracoscopy and 79 for pleurodesis. 380 cases of operative thoracoscopy included pulmonary wedge resection (for interstitial lung disease, benign and malignant pulmonary tumors and pulmonary metastases) bullectomy, management of empyema, pleural tumor biopsy, thoracic sympathectomy, pericardial window formation, thoracic spinal procedures and resection of posterior mediastinal cysts. Recently we have had good experience in evacuating blood and blood clots from the thorax which accumulated after cardiac and thoracic surgery. Patients were placed in the lateral thoracotomy position and were ventilated with a double-lumen endotracheal tube, enabling collapse of the operated lung. The operating approach was through 1-3 thoracic ports. Mean operation time was 55 minutes, chest-tubes remained for 2.2 days (mean) and mean hospitalization was 3.3 days. There were no wound infections or significant postoperative complications. 5 patients had air leaks longer than 7 days; none required further surgical intervention. There was intercostal neuralgia and Horner's syndrome after thoracic sympathectomy (1 each) In cases in-which localizing the parenchymal lesion was difficult, the lung was palpated directly by inserting a finger through a small incision or a mini-thoracotomy. Conversion to thoracotomy was performed when primary malignancy of lung was diagnosed by frozen section. Only 2 patients had thoracotomy for uncontrolled bleeding. Thoracoscopy is a minimally invasive surgical technique with very low morbidity and high diagnostic accuracy. Postoperative recovery is brief and uneventful.


The manuscript of John Lydgate's Fall of Princes belonging to the duke of Rutland rarely comes under scholarly scrutiny, but we were recently allowed to examine and photograph it at Belvoir Castle in Lincolnshire. (1) The manuscript contains 178 parchment folios measuring 450 x 340 mm, with the full text of Lydgate's poem set out in two columns of 51 lines, the written space measuring 370 x 235 mm. It is illuminated, with a three-line gold initial on folio 1 at the start of the poem, on a ground of blue and rose leaves with white highlighting and full-bar border of gold, rose, and blue with acanthus leaves and flowers, bosses at the corners, and sprays into the margins around the border. Sprays on this first folio and those from frequent champ initials of gold on blue and rose grounds throughout the manuscript are black stems with opposing green leaf buds, gold balls, and gold wheat heads. These champ initials appear frequently, often with two or more per page. In addition, each stanza begins with a one-line red or blue initial with alternating red or blue (sometimes golden-brown) penwork. The scribe has written rubric headings in spaces within the text box left for them, beginning with a one-line blue initial with red penwork flourishing. There are in addition rubric marginal glosses for proper names and for finding aids, preceded by blue paraphs. This copy of the Fall of Princes was copied by the same scribe who wrote the copy of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in British Library, Harley 1758, and the copy of Gower's Confessio Amantis in London, Society of Antiquaries 134, which were identified as being written by the same hand by Linne Mooney in the 2004 volume of the Journal of the Early Book Society.2 The handwriting of the Belvoir Fall of Princes corresponds in every detail to that of the other two manuscripts. Whereas in the other two manuscripts this scribe's hand is less formal--less tight--later in the volumes, here he maintains the kind of strict regularity of script one finds only in the best professional scribes. As in the formal writing of the other two manuscripts by his hand, the scribe writes an unlooped d whose straight ascender is often bent almost horizontal over a squared lobe, so that the graph looks like a box with slightly opened lid (see fig. 1, line 11, "loude"; fig. 2, third line from bottom, "doun"). He often ends lines of verse with a point, or punctus (see fig. 1, all except 11. 9, 11, 12, 15 and 20; fig. 2, every line). He also often uses a less bold punctus for caesura in mid-line (see figs. 1 and 2). He has difficulty maintaining a straight bottom line along his ruled lines, often producing a wavy baseline for his text (see fig. 1, 1. 5; fig. 2, 1. 4). The letters i and sometimes y are dotted with a slanting sliver (see fig. 1, l. 19, "in"; fig. 2, 1. 9, "write"). Letters within words are tightly packed so as often to touch one another, but there are distinct spaces between words. One form of uppercase A is a square-topped version of modern printed A with an added approach stroke like a waving flag extending to the left from the upper-left corner and distinct feet at the base of the downstrokes, especially the left one (see fig. 1, 11. 2, 20, "And," and 31, "All"; fig. 2, 11. 1, 13, and 18, "And"). The descender of y tapers to almost a hairline, with a tight curl to the right at the bottom (see fig. 1, 1. 6, "storye"; fig. 2, 1. 4, "pryncis"). Anglicana g has a smaller lower lobe with a squashed appearance and a slight point to the left (see fig. 1, 1. 2, "flateryng"; fig. 2, l. 3, "hangyng"). The Duke of Rutland's Fall of Princes is also decorated by the same limner as the other two manuscripts, Harley 1758 and Antiquaries 134 (see fig. 3). The style of the grounds for his champ initials is the same in all three manuscripts, and all contain the unusual additional single tiny green leaf springing from the left side of the ground into the margin in addition to the short sprays extending upward and downward from the left corners of the ground (see champ initials "N" in figs. …


Stock market transaction is one of the most popular investments activities. There are many conventional techniques being used as a tool to predict the behaviour of the stock market, and these include technical and fundamental analysis. Recently, Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Genetic Algorithms (GA), Fuzzy Logic (FL) and Rough Set (RS) are widely used by the researchers due to their ability to predict the behaviour of the stock market efficiently. In this research, a comprehensive pre-processing data modeling of stock market is developed to acquire granular informations that represent the behaviour of the data that is to be fed to the classifier. The pre-process methodology includes splitting, scaling, normalization, feature selection, and follows by the Ten-Fold Cross Validation method as a benchmark for estimating the predictive accuracy and effectiveness of splitting and selecting the input data. Daily data of Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) is captured and analyzed, and it is found that the movements of the Indices are unstable; hence the forecasting process becomes difficult. Therefore, in this study, a Hybrid Neurofuzzy approached using Adaptive Neurofuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) model is suggested to predict the behaviour of the Indices. Furthermore, technical indicator such as moving average, relative strength index, stochastic indicator and price of change are used to analyze the data, and these parameters become input to ANFIS. Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Percentage of Error (MAPE) are chosen to measure the prediction accuracy. In addition, to verify the effectiveness of the ANFIS model, the economic related factors as well as natural disaster are also provided. These factors such as tsunami, human actions, politics and even psychological have influenced on stock movement, thus compliance with the proposed model The results are promising and conforming with the actual price of Composite Index at Bursa Saham Malaysia.


Incidence of diseases are of primary interest in any epidemiological analysis of disease spread in general populations. Ordinary estimates obtained from follow-up of an initially non-diseased cohort are costly, and so such estimates are not routinely available. In contrast, routine registers exist for many diseases with data on all detected cases within a given calendar time period, but lacking information on non-diseased. In the present work we show how this type of data supplemented with data on the past birth process can be analyzed to yield age specific incidence estimates as well as lifetime prevalence. A non-parametric model is studied with emphasis on the required assumptions, and a brief outlook on the analysis of the non-stationary case with calendar trends in age-specific incidence is given. The developed methods are applied to case cohort data on treatment with antidiabetic medications and projections are provided for both diabetes incidence and prevalence. As projection of diabetes prevalence requires estimation of the distribution of disease durations, two novel approaches for this estimation is studied, a parametric and a non-parametric, respectively.


Though reasonable royalty damages are ubiquitous in patent litigation, they are only one-hundred years old. But in that time they have become deeply misunderstood. This Article returns to the development and origins of reasonable royalties, exploring both why and how courts originally assessed them.It then turns a harsh eye toward all that we think we know about reasonable royalties. No current belief is safe from criticism, from easy targets such as the 25% "rule of thumb" to fundamental dogma such as the hypothetical negotiation. In short, the Article concludes that we are doing it wrong, and have been for some time.This Article is agnostic as to outcome; departure from traditional methods can and has led to both over- and under-compensation. But it challenges those who support departure from historic norms—all the while citing cases from the same time period—to justify new rules, many of which fail any economic justification.


Exploration-based reinforcement learning of control policies on physical systems is generally time-intensive and can lead to catastrophic failures. Therefore, simulation-based policy search appears to be an appealing alternative. Unfortunately, running policy search on a slightly faulty simulator can easily lead to the maximization of the 'Simulation Optimization Bias' (SOB), where the policy exploits modeling errors of the simulator such that the resulting behavior can potentially damage the device. For this reason, much work in reinforcement learning has focused on model-free methods. The resulting lack of safe simulation-based policy learning techniques imposes severe limitations on the application of reinforcement learning to real-world systems. In this paper, we explore how physics simulations can be utilized for a robust policy optimization by randomizing the simulator's parameters and training from model ensembles. We propose an algorithm called Simulation-based Policy Optimization with Transferability Assessment (SPOTA) that uses an estimator of the SOB to formulate a stopping criterion for training. We show that the simulation-based policy search algorithm is able to learn a control policy exclusively from a randomized simulator that can be applied directly to a different system without using any data from the latter.


New electronics technologies are emerging which may carry us beyond the limits of lithographic processing down to molecular-scale feature sizes. Devices and interconnects can be made from a variety of molecules and materials including bistable and switchable organic molecules, carbon nanotubes, and, single-crystal semiconductor nanowires. They can be self-assembled into organized structures and attached onto lithographic substrates. This tutorial reviews emerging molecular-scale electronics technology for CAD and system designers and highlights where ICCAD research can help support this technology.


Abstract Examination of all known specimens of decapod crustaceans from the Fox Hills Formation has resulted in recognition of five species and three distinctly different forms of pereiopods that cannot be assigned to a recognized taxon with certainty. Callichirus waagei n. sp. is proposed for a callianassid claw preserved within an Ophiomorpha burrow. Hoploparia sp. and Raninella oaheensis Bishop, 1978, are reported from the formation for the first time, and the cheliped of the latter species is noted, also for the first time. Latheticocarcinus shapiroi Bishop, 1988, the most common species of decapod in the formation, is re-described; the lateral flanks of this homolid crab are recognized for the first time, and the carapace is reconstructed. Necrocarcinus siouxensis Feldmann, Awotua and Welshenbaugh, 1976, is noted, but no new specimens were studied. All the decapods were preserved within concretions and all but one specimen of Hoploparia were disarticulated elements, suggesting that they may have been molted remains. Cuticle was well preserved and thin section examination of the lamellar structure of Hoploparia cuticle confirmed that, although thoroughly altered chemically, details of lamellar structure are retained.


Abstract. Continental- to global-scale hydrologic and land surface models increasingly include representations of the groundwater system. Such large-scale models are essential for examining, communicating, and understanding the dynamic interactions between the Earth system above and below the land surface as well as the opportunities and limits of groundwater resources. We argue that both large-scale and regional-scale groundwater models have utility, strengths, and limitations, so continued modeling at both scales is essential and mutually beneficial. A crucial quest is how to evaluate the realism, capabilities, and performance of large-scale groundwater models given their modeling purpose of addressing large-scale science or sustainability questions as well as limitations in data availability and commensurability. Evaluation should identify if, when, or where large-scale models achieve their purpose or where opportunities for improvements exist so that such models better achieve their purpose. We suggest that reproducing the spatiotemporal details of regional-scale models and matching local data are not relevant goals. Instead, it is important to decide on reasonable model expectations regarding when a large-scale model is performing "well enough"
in the context of its specific purpose. The decision of reasonable
expectations is necessarily subjective even if the evaluation criteria are
quantitative. Our objective is to provide recommendations for improving the
evaluation of groundwater representation in continental- to global-scale
models. We describe current modeling strategies and evaluation practices,
and we subsequently discuss the value of three evaluation strategies: (1) comparing model outputs with available observations of groundwater levels or
other state or flux variables (observation-based evaluation), (2) comparing
several models with each other with or without reference to actual
observations (model-based evaluation), and (3) comparing model behavior with
expert expectations of hydrologic behaviors in particular regions or at
particular times (expert-based evaluation). Based on evolving practices in
model evaluation as well as innovations in observations, machine learning,
and expert elicitation, we argue that combining observation-, model-, and
expert-based model evaluation approaches, while accounting for
commensurability issues, may significantly improve the realism of
groundwater representation in large-scale models, thus advancing our ability
for quantification, understanding, and prediction of crucial Earth science
and sustainability problems. We encourage greater community-level
communication and cooperation on this quest, including among global
hydrology and land surface modelers, local to regional hydrogeologists, and
hydrologists focused on model development and evaluation.


Mexico is one of the world's leading oil producers; it currently ranks tenth worldwide and first in the Latin American and Caribbean region. However, in the last 10 years, oil production has fallen by almost a million barrels a day. Declines in Crude oil exports have led to increases in imports, and negatively affected the balance of trade. To reverse this trend, the federal government promoted a reform in the energy sector which was approved in December 2013. This reform declared that oil and gas exploration and production were strategic activities, and promoted private investment in the hydrocarbon industry. In addition to the direct benefits generated by this investment in terms of increased production and lower prices, there is great potential for its impact on more sectors of the economy through vertical linkages. This study analyzes the future effect of the changes in the hydrocarbon sector on the mining sector, with emphasis on existing and potential linkages between the two sectors stemming from local content policies. This analysis will be useful for generating financial and public policy instruments that allow the mining sector to maximize benefits from the expected growth in the hydrocarbon sector over the next few years.


SUMMARY Three-dimensional static equilibrium analysis of the forces generated by the jaw musculature of the horn shark Heterodontus francisci was used to theoretically estimate the maximum force distributions and loadings on its jaws and suspensorium during biting. Theoretical maximum bite force was then compared with bite forces measured (1) voluntarily in situ, (2) in restrained animals and (3) during electrical stimulation of the jaw adductor musculature of anesthetized sharks. Maximum theoretical bite force ranged from 128 N at the anteriormost cuspidate teeth to 338 N at the posteriormost molariform teeth. The hyomandibula, which connects the posterior margin of the jaws to the base of the chondrocranium, is loaded in tension during biting. Conversely, the ethmoidal articulation between the palatal region of the upper jaw and the chondrocranium is loaded in compression, even during upper jaw protrusion, because H. francisci's upper jaw does not disarticulate from the chondrocranium during prey capture. Maximum in situ bite force averaged 95 N for free-swimming H. francisci, with a maximum of 133 N. Time to maximum force averaged 322 ms and was significantly longer than time away from maximum force (212 ms). Bite force measurements from restrained individuals (187 N) were significantly greater than those from free-swimming individuals (95 N) but were equivalent to those from both theoretical (128 N) and electrically stimulated measurements (132 N). The mean mass-specific bite of H. francisci was greater than that of many other vertebrates and second highest of the cartilaginous fishes that have been studied. Measuring bite force on restrained sharks appears to be the best indicator of maximum bite force. The large bite forces and robust molariform dentition of H. francisci correspond to its consumption of hard prey.


This work describes and analyzes the validity of some economic indicators about companies or groups of companies that use capital intensive as a factor of production. In particular, the study aims to investigate the way in which services provided to high capital intensity (capital intensive) and then the profit and profitability reached by some groups in banking, finance and insurance, can be evaluated using the Ebitda criterion (Ebitda Earnings before tax, Depretiation and Ammortization) or other economic indicators that will be analyzed during the work. Economic indicators have often an advantage, but they also have critical issues that will be described during the exposure and depth of work. In addition, the analysis of statistical and macro-econometric relative to Ebitda of three comparable groups of intermediaries sector under consideration (Deutesche Bank, Generali and Unicredit) using a sample of 10 periods (from 2000 to 2009), utilizing the Cobb-Douglas production function, and considering the excessive volatility of some data, allows us to obtain a forecast of the increase of the output to vary the amount of input in terms of physical capital and human capital.


In this article, we bring together academic literature tracing contemporary social movements centered on food, unpacking the discourses of local food, community food security, food justice, and food sovereignty. Th is body of literature transcends national borders and draws on a rich genealogy of studies on environmental justice, the intersections of race, class, and gender, and sustainable agro-food systems. Scholars have emphasized two key issues that persist within these movements: inequalities related to race and class that shape the production, distribution, and consumption of food, and the neoliberal constraints of market-based solutions to problems in the food system. Th is article claims that food movements in the United States would be strengthened through reframing their work within a paradigm of food sovereignty, an approach that would emphasize the production of local alternatives, but also enable a dismantling of the policies that ensure the dominance of the corporate food regime. Th e article concludes by off ering a critical analysis of future research directions for scholars who are committed to understanding and strengthening more democratic and sustainable food systems.


In the 1900's, distance education attempted to mimic the traditional classroom lecture via the transmission of live or "canned" broadcasts, regardless of the technologies used: satellite, television, film, or radio. These kinds of media predisposed DE to closely adhere to the lecture (sit and absorb) model, where content was disseminated in about the same time constraints as a traditional class: taught at scheduled times throughout the week–almost anywhere but not always anytime. Moreover, the modes of presentation in classic DE seemed to hinder the kinds of human interactions normally experienced in the traditional classroom, fostering individualized and isolated learning experiences. Online learning is a hybrid between the traditional classroom and the DE experience. Like the traditional classroom, instruction is teacher-facilitated. The student is enrolled in a conventional course with topic (lecture) presentations, reading and homework assignments, classroom discussions, and class projects. Unlike the traditional classroom, courses are web-based and distributed from a distance, using an assortment of synchronous and asynchronous computer technologies and offered anywhere and anytime. In this way, online learning is different from the classic DE model by encouraging decentralized and collaborative learning environments. So that in this presentation will be discuss design principles for online instruction as being a new kind of classroom.


In this article, we describe the latest developments of the minimally invasive hepatic surgery simulator prototype developed at INRIA. A key problem with such a simulator is the physical modelling of soft tissues. We propose a new deformable model based on non-linear elasticity and the finite element method. This model is valid for large displacements, which means in particular that it is invariant with respect to rotations. This property improves the realism of the deformations and solves the problems related to the shortcomings of linear elasticity, which is only valid for small displacements. We also address the problem of volume variations by adding to our model incompressibility constraints. Finally, we demonstrate the relevance of this approach for the real-time simulation of laparoscopic surgical gestures on the liver.


In this paper, the authors present a matching model with adverse selection that explains why flows into and out of unemployment are much lower in Europe compared to North America, while employment-to-employment flows are similar in the two continents. In the model, firms use discretion in terms of whom to fire and, thus, low quality workers are more likely to be dismissed than high quality workers. Moreover, as hiring and firing costs increase, firms find it more costly to hire a bad worker and, thus, they prefer to hire out of the pool of employed job seekers rather than out of the pool of the unemployed, who are more likely to turn out to be 'lemons'. In the research they use microdata for Spain and the U.S. and find that the ratio of the job finding probability of the unemployed to the job finding probability of employed job seekers was smaller in Spain than in the U.S. Furthermore, using U.S. data, Adriana D. Kugler and Gilles Saint-Paul found that the discrimination of the unemployed increased over the 1980's in those states that raised firing costs by introducing exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine.


Electronic band structure and ferromagnetic properties of Pd-doped AlN were reseached wth the density functional theory (DFT). The Pd dopants and its nearest neighboring four N atoms have a spin polarized state with a net magnetic moment of 1.62iB. The results also show that the PddopedAlN presents a halfmetallic behavior and the Pd-dopedAlN favors ferromagnetic ground state which can be explained by p-d hybridization mechanism. These results suggest that the Pd-doped AlN is a promising dilute magnetic semiconductor and can be used in the field of spintronics widely.


The aim of this research was to enhance understanding of home-based business at both an
individual level and a societal level. Since the 1980s the working environment in
Australia has undergone significant change. Traditional full-time employment has
steadily declined while the number of small businesses and self-employed people has
steadily increased. Home-based businesses make up an estimated 67% of all small
business in Australia and estimates of their numbers continue to rise. They now play a
significant role in the Australian economy and have attracted the interest of academics
and policy makers alike. While existing empirical research has mapped out many of the
general demographics of home-based business operators and of the sector, there are no
grounded theories which offer deeper understanding of the home-based business
phenomenon.

A review of existing home-based business literature identified four areas of concern: a
lack of theory underpinning home-based business research; a narrow research focus
across studies; sampling difficulties due to the hidden and inaccessible nature of home based
businesses; and inconsistent definition and consequent lack of conceptualization of
home-based businesses across studies. This research sought to address these concerns.
The findings are presented as a theory which is grounded in data which consisted of
direct accounts of the experiences of home-based business operators. Qualitative
interviews were conducted using storytelling techniques in order to ensure a broad
research focus while examining a wide variety of home-based business experiences.
Purposive and theoretical sampling was used to enhance the sample diversity and capture
data that were as rich and varied as possible. And finally, to explore the conceptualization
of home-based business, this research did not limit research participation to those who
met an a priori definition, but was open to anyone who self-identified as a home-based
business operator.

The research question, which was refined as the qualitative study evolved, became: What
needs are met through the operation of a home-based business and how do these needs interplay with home-based business practise? Grounded Theory methodology was
employed in all stages of this research, so that analysis and theory construction took place
throughout sampling, interviewing and transcribing, coding the data, describing the coded
data, modelling and writing the findings. Data were gathered through 19 semi-structured
interviews with home-based business operators practising in the Cairns area of Far North
Queensland. The participants were drawn from a growing pool of home-based business
operators (final count 127) who volunteered to be interviewed. The volunteer pool was
established through media releases, industry partner contacts, requests made at industry sponsored,
home-based business seminars and through snowballing. As volunteers were
added to the pool they were contacted and further information regarding their personal
and business circumstances was gathered. This information was used to inform purposive
and theoretical sampling and also helped demonstrate the diverse nature of home-based
businesses. When interviews were conducted they were transcribed and analysed for
themes; as themes were identified they were assigned codes and data from existing
transcripts was grouped together under the emerging codes. Coded data was continually
reviewed to look for new themes and connections between themes to develop theory. A
coding system was eventually developed through iterative cycles of description,
conceptual ordering, and theorising. Interviews continued until data reached a point of
theoretical saturation, where no new data were found which could not be fully
authenticated through the emergent theory.

The findings of this research are presented in the form of a systems model of needs
entitled the Home Entrepreneur Systems Model. This model relates to home-based
business operators who seek more than "making money" through the practise of their
home-based businesses. The model consists of two features. The first is a dynamic
multifaceted home-based business practise which is located at the core of the model.
Four unique dimensions of household, business, family and home were identified as
essential constructs which all contribute to the experience of home-based business
practise. With the dynamic nature of these dimensions, home-based business is better
understood as the verb "practise" rather than as a noun. The second feature of the model
contains five interconnected lifestyle needs which orbit home-based business practise. These needs were identified as security, autonomy, balance, meaning and community.
The last two of these needs do not appear in previous home-based business research. All
elements of the model are interrelated and considered to be part of a system which is held
together by a focus of home entrepreneurship.

The Home Entrepreneur Systems Model presents a holistic view of home-based business
and offers a new approach to conceptualising and understanding home-based business.
The model contributes to understanding the home-based business phenomenon in several
ways. It allows greater conceptualisation of home-based business which has important
implications for future HBB research. Recognising a home entrepreneur focus as separate
from a traditional business entrepreneur focus has implications for future directions of
entrepreneurship theory and its integration with HBB research. The model also offers
insights into the diverse range of home-based businesses and how they are often part of
mixed income sources. It highlights the need for future research into the growth of home based
business as an income supplement rather than the sole livelihood of operators. This
research provides a theory which will need to be examined across cultural, gender and
class differences within Australia as well as overseas. As the research was conducted in a
region where tourism is a dominant part of local industry, the theory should also be
examined across regions with varying economic activities and lifestyle concerns to test
the transferability of the Home Entrepreneur Systems Model and gain a deeper
understanding of home-based business.


A whole series of problems, structural or functional, of the health system have accompanied the evolution of Romania in the last almost three decades that followed the fall of communism. Among the various crises that our health system has experienced (discontinuities in supplies of medicines and sanitary materials, closure of hospitals, lack of personnel and others debated in media), a whole series of data come to suggest the possibility of confronting, in the near future, with a form of crisis related to medical malpractice; the form that this crisis will take is itself an interesting subject for analysis. The sanitary systems that underwent such a crisis (the American one in the 70s and 80s) were forced to undergo a legislative reform regarding this phenomenon. Discussions on the economic impact of medical errors or negligence are all the more sensitive given the social values protected by these regulations: life and health. The analysis based on ethical considerations can be a fundamental starting point.


Highly resolved temporal and spatial distributions of trace elements in ocean water can provide insight into ocean processes but carry a significant analytical demand which requires methods that combine accuracy and precision with high sample throughput. Here a multi-element method is presented which combines the commercially-available seaFAST preconcentration system with ICP-MS/MS for the analysis of Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb in seawater. Samples (20 mL or 40 mL) are loaded on to a chelation resin column and trace metals eluted into 2.5 mL of 1.6 N HNO3. Analysis of the eluate was carried out by ICP-MS/MS, which combines two mass-selecting quadrupoles separated by an octopole collision/reaction cell. The collision/reaction cell was pressurized with O2 gas for the analysis of Mn, Ni, Cu, Cd and Pb and H2 gas for the analysis of Fe and Zn, which removed common interferences (e.g. ArO+ on 56Fe and MoO+ on Cd) yet maintained the highest instrument sensitivity across the entire mass range. Measured blanks and detection limits were ≤0.050 nmol L−1 levels, except for the Fe (blank 0.14 nmol L−1) and were suitable for open-ocean seawater analysis. We report results for the certified reference material NASS-6, consensus reference standards SAFe S and SAFe D and depth profiles of trace metals from the Arctic Ocean, collected as part of the Canadian GEOTRACES program.


This Article examines the underappreciated role of consent and refusal in copyright law's fair use inquiry. As a matter of black letter law, the nature and circumstances of a copyright holder's refusal to consent to a use are irrelevant to whether a particular use is fair. This "standard view" effectively treats all situations short of affirmative consent — such as silence or acquiescence from a copyright holder — as equivalent to an express refusal. Despite the standard view, a close analysis of the case law reveals that some courts implicitly consider consent-based factors in fair use decisions. Other courts, however, adhere strictly to the standard view and disregard consent across the board. Is there a principled basis to consider the nature of consent and refusal in the fair use analysis?This Article argues that consent, properly conceived, has an important role to play in certain categories of fair use cases. In particular, consent-based considerations should not be disregarded when they are relevant to the traditional fair use factors and fair use's underlying goal of promoting socially-valuable uses. To make this argument, the Article creates and analyzes a model of the consent-seeking interactions between copyright holders and users. It concludes that a literal application of the standard view neglects important user reliance interests and fails to deter costly opportunistic behavior. The nature of the copyright holder's consent or refusal, therefore, has a critical role to play in situations involving user reliance interests, such as cases of "partial consent," bad faith strategic behavior, and digital opt-out systems. In these cases, consideration of consent and refusal accords with the traditional fair use factors and the doctrine's history as an "equitable rule of reason," and operates to creates a broader scope for fair use.


We implemented a collaborative web presentation system for realizing a reactive presentation. The system consists of a personal computer (PC) for a presenter and PCs (or tablet devices) for audience members. The presenter uses the existing presentation software PowerPoint. The audience members use existing Web browsers. The system is used for working collaboratively with audience members. A presenter with the system manipulates or modify PowerPoint slide objects (such as a drawing graph, a picture, a text box) on a slide page in real time to tackle unexpected situations for responding unexpected questions and improving the state of the knowledge of the audience. The system can control the attention of audience members by using animation effects of the slide objects. The animation effects, such as moving the objects, changing size and color of the objects, is used to control the attention of audience members and realize non-verbal communication. The presenter synchronizes his/her slide display of PowerPoint with the display on the Web browsers of the audience members with our new method based on the WebSocket communication. We outline the system architecture and its implementation method. The experiments show that the performance of the system is enough for practical use.


Abstract The Vera Icona installation-performance considers the relationship between face and image in contemporary society. It is inspired by the legend of the Vera Icona, an "icon made without hands" (said to have come into existence miraculously rather than by human creation), which is part of the political and philosophical history of images, from the religious icon to contemporary video. The installation-performance proposes a critical analysis of Jerusalem's surveillance society. Using artificial intelligence techniques such as deep learning in order to replicate the mise en abyme art technique, the installation blends faces of those being observed with the faces of observers. It invites viewers to consider themselves at the center of their own universe, far from established norms and controlling societies.


Purpose: T he aim of the research was to determine the use of narrative text elements by the 4th grade primary school students in their narrative texts in compliance with the designated written expression evaluation criteria. Method: In this qualitative research, document analysis was used as the data collection method. The texts of twenty-three pupils attending the 4th grade of a state school affiliated to the Ministry of National Education were examined through easily accessible case sampling method among the purposeful sampling methods. Findings: According to the results of the research, the majority of the students achieved the proper behaviour to leave a gap between the words and lines, paid attention to the page layout, etc., but they did not comply with the rule of first line indent in a paragraph. It was found that students were not having any trouble while deciding on a title for their texts, and these titles conformed to the texts, and that the texts were also organized in a logical order. Participants were found to have problems in dividing the subject into paragraphs and providing meaningful transitions between these paragraphs. Finally, it was observed that the majority of students made mistakes in the use of punctuation marks in compliance with the writing rules in the texts they wrote. Implications for Research and Practice: The results of data indicate that the students have insufficient knowledge of writing narrative. This is evident from the schematic structure and linguistic features of the texts. Students need a lot of writing guidance from the teacher. In addition, an appropriate teaching techniques and approaches should be implemented.


Humans can combine multisensory inputs near optimally. This is quite remarkable considering that sensory inputs often come in very different formats, such as the voice of a speaker and the image of the lips movements. Moreover, sensory modalities are not equally reliable, and their degree of reliability can change from one instant to the next. I will present a neural model based on the notions of basis functions and probabilistic population codes, that can solve both of these problems optimally. The model makes two major predictions: 1- multisensory neurons should be mostly additive, and 2- their receptive fields are not necessarily in spatial correspondence. Both of these predictions are at odd with the current dogma in the multisensory integration literature, which claims that many neurons are superadditive, and that the receptive fields of most multisensory neurons are in spatial alignment. I will show that, in fact, experimental data support our predictions.


This dissertation focuses on the use of novel polyethers and polydimethylsiloxanes in the stabilization of magnetite nanoparticles as well as biomedical applications. The colloidal stabilities of magnetite nanoparticles coated with polyethers containing various functional endgroups were studied. Different variables (e.g. polymer loading, polyether molecular weight and type of functional anchor group) were investigated to determine their effect on the long-term physiological stability of the polyether magnetite complexes. One-part PDMS-magnetite nanoparticle fluids were synthesized using a high shear process and magnetic separation techniques. These one-part fluids are unique in the fact that they do not require the addition of a non-functional PDMS oligomer solvent to generate a magnetic hydrophobic fluid. A series of PDMS-magnetite nanoparticle fluids containing different molecular weight stabilizers were synthesized. A magnetic separation study was performed to determine if PDMS molecular weight influences the magnetic separation profiles of the fluids. Well-defined PDMS-b-PtBA and PDMS-b-poly(acrylic acid) copolymers were synthesized using living free radical techniques from novel PDMS precursors as well as PDMSbased ionenes with different hard segment groups.


The present research investigates the relation between the religiosity dimensions which Wulff (1991; 1997) described (Exclusion vs. Inclusion of Transcendence and Literal vs. Symbolic) and both moral attitudes and moral competence. The Post-Critical Belief scale (Duriez et al., 2000) was used as a measure of Wulff's religiosity dimensions, and the Moral Judgment Test (Lind, 1998) was used to measure both moral attitudes and moral competence. Results from an adolescent sample (N = 138), a student sample (N = 372) and a sample of adults affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church (N = 294) suggest, that, whereas the Literal vs. Symbolic dimension shows substantial relations with moral attitudes and moral competence, the Exclusion vs. Inclusion of Transcendence dimension is unrelated to both of them. This suggests that there is no intrinsic relationship between religiosity and morality. However, results also suggest that religiously affiliated persons, in general, exhibit low moral competence. The content of the moral dilemmas that were presented cannot account for this.


Hydrothermal dolomitization is one of the most important processes in enhancing or degrading carbonate porosity and permeability. This type of dolomite forms due to the circulation and/or mixing of different types of solutions, mainly seawater-derived or deep brines. The Lower Cretaceous Benicassim dolomitized ramp is an excellent example to study and evaluate the impact of hydrothermal dolomitization on reservoir quality distribution. In this contribution, the possible magnesium sources for the Benicassim case study are evaluated, as well as the reactivity of different dolomitizing fluids at variable temperatures. The results show that dolomitization at Benicassim occurred due to the circulation of a high temperature (> 80oC) fluid that had its origin from evolved seawater that interacted with K-rich rocks, probably from the Paleozoic basement. Reactivity evaluation of four possible dolomitizing fluids, by means of geochemical modelling, reveals that evolved seawater can be considerably more reactive than high-salinity brines. Fluid mixing between seawater and saline brines at 100 oC does not seem to affect the volume of fluid required to dolomitize the whole rock, but it considerably alters the saturation index of calcite. The variation of saturation index is a strongly non-linear process when two fluids are mixed.


My research focuses on selected discourse features of spoken French, especially those typical of present-day youth language. The dissertation has two parts:
1) Analysis of features typical of spoken language, based on a corpus of recorded data from young people aged 20 to 30, speaking to each other in spontaneous informal conversations. The analysis focuses particularly on features with discourse-pragmatic functions, including discourse markers, general extenders, presentational constructions and dislocated structures. I also address the question of how some of these typically spoken features develop in French youth language and the extent to which they may be considered innovative.
2) Discussion of the role of spoken language in foreign language teaching and learning, based partly on the results of a questionnaire for university learners of French as a foreign language aimed at investigating their knowledge of spoken features. This section addresses the question of whether features of spoken language generally, and of youth language in particular, are available to foreign learners.


As a result of the West's continued presence in the Middle East, al Qaeda has turned its focus to the occupation of a new front in its global jihad: Africa. With their presence threatened in what was once a safe haven, al Qaeda leaders, cells, and attacks are moving to northern and eastern Africa. Once there, they can capitalize on social instability and latent extremism. This geographic shift is a threat not only to the security of African nations, but also to the West, which remains a target for al Qaeda. In Somalia, the fundamentalist Council of Islamic Courts, which the United States alleges has ties to al Qaeda, has been actively fostering violence. Militants and terrorists sympathetic to the Courts are preventing the establishment of peace and continue to fuel violence against the extremely weak Western-backed Transitional National Government. Neighboring Eritrea is a key component in this conflict. As a result of the Eritrean government's funding and equipping of Islamic insurgents in the battle for control in Somalia, the US State Department has seriously contemplated adding Eritrea to its list of state sponsors of terror. Eritrea has provided safe harbor to the leader of the Council of Islamic Courts, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. The US State Department has since named him an al Qaeda collaborator. Al Qaeda is gaining ground and winning followers even beyond the Horn of Africa. In early January 2007, the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (SGPC) became part of the larger al Qaeda organization under the name "al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb" (AQIM). Since then, AQIM has focused its efforts on increasing recruitment and improving its public image by highlighting government corruption and foreign involvement in Algerian affairs. Developing a sophisticated training program and recruiting combatants from within and outside Algeria, AQIM has carried out a number of high-profile urban bombings, such as the December 2007 bombing of United Nations and government buildings in Algiers. AQIM's targets reportedly include nearby Morocco and Tunisia, as well as Spain, Italy, and France. Officials in Nigeria often downplay the presence of al Qaeda, but they did arrest three suspects in November 2007 who had allegedly trained with SGPC in Algeria two years prior. Western diplomats are now worried about the possibility that religious tensions in Nigeria, a nation equally split between Muslims and Christians, may lead to violence. As further indication of these concerns, the US Embassy in the country has warned of the increased likelihood of attacks. Libya is yet another a concern. In late 2007, al Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri announced that a group in the country had been added to the growing al Qaeda network. At the same time, al-Zawahiri called on North African mujahedin to target the governments of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. Officials in countries like Nigeria and Algeria are at least attempting to crack down on suspected terrorist activity, but as al Qaeda continues to gain support, officials may be less likely to continue such efforts. …


The Caenorhabditis elegans epidermis comprises 78 cells which cover the external surface of the embryo as a single cell layer. These cells secrete the cuticle from their exterior faces and support the body wall muscles and most of the nervous system on their interior faces. The epidermal cells arise by autonomous embryonic cell lineages but show regulative interactions after their assembly into an epithelium. It is believed that the various epidermal cells express different kinds or amounts of surface molecules that govern their mutual assembly and also guide the attachments and migrations of the underlying body muscles and neurones. The first muscles and neurones may in turn express new surface molecules that refine later cell movements. Mutations in some 30 known genes disrupt the movements of cells or axons along the body wall.