African green monkeys (AGMs) belong to a superspecies that include the following four species: vervet (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), grivet (C. aethiops), sabaeus (C. sabaeus) and tantalus monkeys (C. tantalus). Each species carries a distinct SIVagm subtype, named SIVagm.ver, SIVagm.gri, SIVagm.sab and SIVagm.tan but remain clinically asymtomatic throughout their life. SIVagm needs the CD4 molecule and a chemokine-receptor, usually CCR5, Bonzo and/or Bob, for cell entry. Molecular and functional analyses of AGM CD4 and CCR5 revealed evidence of a true co-evolution between SIVagm and their natural hosts. The V3 loop of the SIVagm external glycoprotein is relatively conserved compared to that of HIV-1, but equally a determinant for coreceptor usage. SIVagm are able to replicate in stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and macrophages. Efficient replication of SIVagm in vitro is associated with a cytopathic effect. SIVagm regulatory proteins show low amino acid identities with that of HIV-1, but many functions are conserved. The Tat protein of SIVagm is a transactivator of SIVagm LTR, albeit to a relatively lesser extent than Tat of HIV-1. Vif of SIVagm increases virus infectivity in AGM PBMC, demonstrating that SIVagm Vif is a positive regulator of virion infectivity. Vpr of SIVagm shares with HIV-1 Vpr its ability to transactivate the viral LTR, causes cell cycle arrest in AGM cells and facilitates nuclear import of pre-integration complexes and infection of non-dividing cells. AGM Vpr has been reported to also induce apoptosis, but the pathways involved in the mechanisms leading to apoptosis seem to be divergent compared to HIV-1 Vpr. SIVagm.ver3delta nef shows limited replicative capacity in vitro and in vivo, which suggests that Nef of SIVagm provides activation signals to the cells that facilitate SIV replication. The levels of plasma viral RNA in naturally infected AGMs are in a wide range (<10(3) to >6.10(6) RNA copies/ml), with many animals displaying steady-state levels of >10(6) RNA copies/ml levels, which in humans are associated with progression towards AIDS. Viral load per se therefore is not directly linked with pathogenicity. SIVagm-infections differ, however, from pathogenic HIV/SIVmac infections by a low viral load in peripheral lymph nodes. These relatively low localized tissue viral load levels are associated with lack of signs of detectable immunopathology. More detailed studies on the precise immunological environment during natural SIV infections, especially during primary infection, and on the interactions between SIVagm and host-specific cellular proteins are needed to better understand the mechanisms by which these naturally SIV infected nonhuman primate species are protected against progression towards AIDS.


Supplier selection is considered to be one of the most critical activities of purchasing management in a supply chain. Selecting the right suppliers significantly reduces the purchasing cost and improves corporate competitiveness. Diverse methods have been developed to date, which address the needs of the supplier selection process. This article presents a review of non-deterministic analytical methods reported in the literature for supporting the supplier selection decision. The review is based on an extensive search in the academic literature from 2001 to 2013. A taxonomy of the supplier selection methods is presented by classifying the published supplier selection studies into two major categories as stochastic methods and fuzzy methods. These methods are further divided into individual approaches and integrated approaches. The objective of this research is threefold. First, it classifies the existing supplier selection literature according to the methods employed and determines the most prevalently used approaches, and also highlights main advantages and shortcomings of these approaches. Second, recent trends in supplier evaluation and selection methodologies are examined. Finally, this study identifies the most widely used decision criteria for supplier selection.


Low power communications of sensor nodes operating in unlicensed bands are easily corrupted by transmissions of collocated wireless terminals whose interference can induce packet losses and consequently increase energy consumption of sensor devices. Dynamic spectrum access mechanisms can mitigate these problems however the energy aware design of these access schemes is a challenging task. In this paper we consider an energy constrained system comprising two sensor nodes that avoid interference by exploiting spectrum opportunities in the time domain. Using the distributions of idle period duration obtained during a measurement campaign we show how it is possible to design the access scheme deployed by sensors in an energy efficient manner. We compare different spectrum sensing strategies, showing that per-packet sensing results in significant energy overhead. We further provide a way for dimensioning the size of transmitted packets. Simulation results show that our approach outperforms other access strategies and allows to reduce energy consumption of 20 to 90 percent depending on channel conditions.


Regardless of the specific underlying theoretical model it is safe to say that most studies of the determinants of childbearing focus on or control for the role of socioeconomic factors. In this paper we examine how permanent income one of several components of SES relates to fertility in developing countries and also pay attention to the role of other socioeconomic factors. Given that we cannot directly measure permanent income we employ a latent variable approach to studying its impact on fertility. We compare our results to the more common practice of using a proxy variable to measure permanent income and thereby investigate the consequences of not accounting for the measurement error that is inherent in proxies. Using micro survey data from Ghana and Peru we find that permanent income has a large negative influence on fertility and that research must take the latent nature of permanent income into account to uncover its influence. Our results also show that controlling for measurement error in the proxies of permanent income can lead to substantial changes in the estimated effects of control variables. Finally we examine which of the common proxies for permanent income most closely capture the concept. Though our focus is on childbearing our results have implications beyond this specific dependent variable providing evidence on the sensitivity of microanalyses to the treatment of long-term economic status. (authors)


Alternative pre-mRNA splicing adjusts the transcriptional output of the genome by generating related mRNAs from a single primary transcript, thereby expanding protein diversity. A fundamental unanswered question is how splicing factors achieve specificity in the selection of target substrates despite the recognition of information-poor sequence motifs. The CUGBP2 splicing regulator plays a key role in the brain region-specific silencing of the NI exon of the NMDA R1 receptor. However, the sequence motifs utilized by this factor for specific target exon selection and its role in splicing silencing are not understood. Here, we use chemical modification footprinting to map the contact sites of CUGBP2 to GU-rich motifs closely positioned at the boundaries of the branch sites of the NI exon, and we demonstrate a mechanistic role for this specific arrangement of motifs for the regulation of branchpoint formation. General support for a branch site-perimeter–binding model is indicated by the identification of a group of novel target exons with a similar configuration of motifs that are silenced by CUGBP2. These results reveal an autoregulatory role for CUGBP2 as indicated by its direct interaction with functionally significant RNA motifs surrounding the branch sites upstream of exon 6 of the CUGBP2 transcript itself. The perimeter-binding model explains how CUGBP2 can effectively embrace the branch site region to achieve the specificity needed for the selection of exon targets and the fine-tuning of alternative splicing patterns.


Wireless networks face big capacity challenges, struggling to meet ever increasing user data demands. Global mobile data traffic grew by 74% in 2015 and it is expected to grow 8-fold by 2020. Future wireless network will need to deploy massive number of small cells and improve spectral efficiency to cope with this increasing demand. Dense deployment of small cells will require advanced interference mitigation techniques to improve spectral efficiency and enhance much needed capacity. Coordinated multipoint (CoMP) is a key feature for mitigating inter-cell interference and to improve throughput and cell edge performance. In this chapter, we first provide the motivation for CoMP deployment from an operator perspective. Then, we discuss different types of CoMP schemes, their associated challenges and the third generation partnership project (3GPP) standardisation roadmap. Next, we provide insights into operational requirements for CoMP implementation and discuss potential solutions to enable cost-effective CoMP deployment. We then provide results for an intra-site uplink (UL) joint reception (JR) CoMP trial in a large Long-Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) operator in the United Kingdom (UK) for three different deployment scenarios namely, dense, medium density and sparse deployment at macro layer. CoMP sets consist of co-located cells only with joint baseband processing units, and hence no backhaul is required for data exchange. On the other hand, interference between cells from different locations are not mitigated. Only two cells are allowed for coordination and interference rejection combining (IRC) is employed for joint processing. Trial performance is measured based on average network counters. Results show an average increase in signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) on physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) by 5.56% which is then reflected in improved usage of higher modulation schemes and better UL user throughput. An average increase of 11.32% is observed on UL user throughput. Additionally, we discuss the limitations of the trialled CoMP scheme and suggest improvements for better CoMP gains. Furthermore, we review the evolution of CoMP into 5G and potential improvements CoMP can provide for some of the key 5G network objectives such as spectral efficiency, energy efficiency, load balancing and backhaul optimisation.


Cryptographic protocols are successfully analyzed using formal methods. However, formal approaches usually consider the encryption schemes as black boxes and assume that an adversary cannot learn anything from an encrypted message except if he has the key. Such an assumption is too strong in general since some attacks exploit in a clever way the interaction between protocol rules and properties of cryptographic operators. Moreover, the executability of some protocols relies explicitly on some algebraic properties of cryptographic primitives such as commutative encryption. We give a list of some relevant algebraic properties of cryptographic operators, and for each of them, we provide examples of protocols or attacks using these properties. We also give an overview of the existing methods in formal approaches for analyzing cryptographic protocols.


A central limit theorem is proved for α-mixing random fields. The sets of locations where the random field is observed become more and more dense in an increasing sequence of domains. The central limit theorem concerns these observations. The limit theorem is applied to obtain asymptotic normality of kernel type density estimators. It turns out that in our setting the covariance structure of the limiting normal distribution can be a combination of those of the continuous parameter and the discrete parameter cases.


Personal Information Management (PIM) refers to the practice and the study of how people acquire, organize, maintain, retrieve, archive and discard information for various reasons in physical and digital worlds. Many PIM tools are available for managing information on our desktop computers while many research prototypes have tried to augment or replace them. The development of these tools was based on knowledge drawn from the fields of psychology, human–computer interaction, information retrieval, knowledge management and research in the PIM field. Different metaphors and ways of organizing were introduced. However, the prevailing beliefs are that most of these prototypes were not extensively tested and that the radical design (not addressing real-world issues) and quick abandonment of prototypes prevented transfer to mainstream products. This paper looks at what has been developed and learnt, what has been transferred to mainstream applications, discusses the possible reasons behind these trends and challenges some parts of the above-mentioned beliefs.


More than 75 000 man‐made chemicals contaminate the environment; many of these have not been tested for toxicities. These chemicals demand quantitative high‐throughput screening assays to assess them for causative roles in neurotoxicities, including Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. To facilitate high throughput screening for cytotoxicity to neurons, three human neuronal cellular models were compared: SH‐SY5Y neuroblastoma cells, LUHMES conditionally‐immortalized dopaminergic neurons, and Neural Stem Cells (NSC) derived from human fetal brain. These three cell lines were evaluated for rapidity and degree of differentiation, and sensitivity to 32 known or candidate neurotoxicants. First, expression of neural differentiation genes was assayed during a 7‐day differentiation period. Of the three cell lines, LUHMES showed the highest gene expression of neuronal markers after differentiation. Both in the undifferentiated state and after 7 days of neuronal differentiation, LUHMES cells exhibited greater cytotoxic sensitivity to most of 32 suspected or known neurotoxicants than SH‐SY5Y or NSCs. LUHMES cells were also unique in being more susceptible to several compounds in the differentiating state than in the undifferentiated state; including known neurotoxicants colchicine, methyl‐mercury (II), and vincristine. Gene expression results suggest that differentiating LUHMES cells may be susceptible to apoptosis because they express low levels of anti‐apoptotic genes BCL2 and BIRC5/survivin, whereas SH‐SY5Y cells may be resistant to apoptosis because they express high levels of BCL2, BIRC5/survivin, and BIRC3 genes. Thus, LUHMES cells exhibited favorable characteristics for neuro‐cytotoxicity screening: rapid differentiation into neurons that exhibit high level expression neuronal marker genes, and marked sensitivity of LUHMES cells to known neurotoxicants. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The evolutionary histories of the antibiotic-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae lineages PMEN3 and PMEN9 were reconstructed using global collections of genomes. In PMEN3, one resistant clade spread worldwide, and underwent 25 serotype switches, enabling evasion of vaccine-induced immunity. In PMEN9, only 9 switches were detected, and multiple resistant lineages emerged independently and circulated locally. In Germany, PMEN9's expansion correlated significantly with the macrolide:penicillin consumption ratio. These isolates were penicillin sensitive but macrolide resistant, through a homologous recombination that integrated Tn1207.1 into a competence gene, preventing further diversification via transformation. Analysis of a species-wide dataset found 183 acquisitions of macrolide resistance, and multiple gains of the tetracycline-resistant transposon Tn916, through homologous recombination, often originating in other streptococcal species. Consequently, antibiotic selection preserves atypical recom- bination events that cause sequence divergence and structural variation throughout the S. pneumoniae chromosome. These events reveal the genetic exchanges between species normally counter-selected until perturbed by clinical interventions.


The authors conducted a prospective study of the predictive validity of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) using a 5-year follow-up period and a sample of 480 male adolescents assessed by juvenile detention personnel. Analyses were conducted to examine differential validity by race-ethnicity, the relative contribution of structured professional judgments of risk level, and the incremental validity of dynamic to static risk factors. Overall, the SAVRY total scores were significantly predictive of any type of reoffending with some variability across racial-ethnic groups. Youths rated as moderate to high risk by evaluators using structured professional judgment had greater odds of rearrest, but these risk ratings did not have incremental validity over numeric scores. Static factors were most strongly predictive of nonviolent rearrest, but dynamic factors (social-contextual) were the most predictive of violent rearrest. Implications for use of risk-needs assessment tools in juvenile justice programs and areas in need of further investigation are discussed.


Voltage-sensing phosphatases (VSPs) are transmembrane proteins that couple changes in membrane potential to hydrolysis of inositol signaling lipids. VSPs catalyze the dephosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol phosphates (PIPs) that regulate diverse aspects of cell membrane physiology including cell division, growth and migration. VSPs are highly conserved among chordates, and their RNA transcripts have been detected in the adult and embryonic stages of frogs, fish, chickens, mice and humans. However, the subcellular localization and biological function of VSP remains unknown. Using reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR), we show that both Xenopus laevis VSP (Xl-VSP1 and Xl-VSP2) mRNAs are expressed in early embryos, suggesting that both Xl-VSPs are involved in early tadpole development. To understand which embryonic tissues express Xl-VSP mRNA, we used in situ hybridization (ISH) and found Xl-VSP mRNA in both the brain and kidney of NF stage 32-36 embryos. By Western blot analysis with a VSP antibody, we show increasing levels of Xl-VSP protein in the developing embryo, and by immunohistochemistry (IHC), we demonstrate that Xl-VSP protein is specifically localized to the apical membrane of both embryonic and adult kidney tubules. We further characterized the catalytic activity of both Xl-VSP homologs and found that while Xl-VSP1 catalyzes 3- and 5-phosphate removal, Xl-VSP2 is a less efficient 3-phosphatase with different substrate specificity. Our results suggest that Xl-VSP1 and Xl-VSP2 serve different functional roles and that VSPs are an integral component of voltage-dependent PIP signaling pathways during vertebrate kidney tubule development and function.


One of the features characterizing almost every multiple-access (MA) communication system is the processing gain. Through the use of spreading sequences, the processing gain of random code-division multiple-access (RCDMA) systems, or any other code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems, is devoted to both bandwidth expansion and orthogonalization of the signals transmitted by different users. Another type of MA system is impulse radio (IR). IR systems promise to deliver high data rates over ultra-wideband channels with low-complexity transmitters and receivers. In many aspects, IR systems are similar to time-division MA systems, and the processing gain of IR systems represents the ratio between the actual transmission time and the total time between two consecutive transmissions (on-plus-off-to-on ratio). While CDMA systems, which constantly excite the channel, rely on spreading sequences to orthogonalize the signals transmitted by different users, IR systems transmit a series of short pulses, and the orthogonalization between the signals transmitted by different users is achieved by the fact that most of the pulses do not collide with each other at the receiver. In this paper, a general class of MA communication systems that use both types of processing gain is presented, and both IR and RCDMA systems are demonstrated to be two special cases of this more general class of systems. The bit-error rate of several receivers as a function of the ratio between the two types of processing gain is analyzed and compared, under the constraint that the total processing gain of the system is large and fixed. It is demonstrated that in non-intersymbol interference (ISI) channels, there is no tradeoff between the two types of processing gain. However, in ISI channels, a tradeoff between the two types of processing gain exists. In addition, the suboptimality of RCDMA systems in frequency-selective channels is established.


We present some new derivations of the effect of a plane gravitational wave on a light ray. A simple interpretation of the results is that a gravitational wave causes a phase modulation of electromagnetic waves. We arrive at this picture from two contrasting directions, namely null geodesics and Maxwell's equations, or, geometric and wave optics. Under geometric optics, we express the geodesic equations in Hamiltonian form and solve perturbatively for the effect of gravitational waves. We find that the well-known time-delay formula for light generalizes trivially to massive particles. We also recover, by way of a Hamilton-Jacobi equation, the phase modulation obtained under wave optics. Turning then to wave optics - rather than solving Maxwell's equations directly for the fields, as in most previous approaches - we derive a perturbed wave equation (perturbed by the gravitational wave) for the electromagnetic four-potential. From this wave equation it follows that the four-potential and the electric and magnetic fields all experience the same phase modulation. Applying such a phase modulation to a superposition of plane waves corresponding to a Gaussian wave packet leads to time delays.


Business today is framed by two global tensions. On the one hand, the age of the Internet has ushered in an unprecedented interdependence. People from far-flung reaches of the globe now find themselves in close contact, and collaboration is the order of the day. On the other hand, we still live in an autonomous world of diverse nations and unique individuals, and the businesses and organizations that we have created to represent us are equally unique. In this conflicting environment, a special approach to leadership is called for, one that tames these two forces and integrates them in a political but ethical way. The Connective Leadership model defines that approach, emphasizing various modes of working with and through other people instead of bowing to authoritarianism. This includes creating short-term coalitions instead of long-term alliances and forming ennobling enterprises to which people want to commit themselves. Based on extensive research analysing the leadership styles of more than 5,000 leaders and managers world-wide, Lipman-Blumen has developed an innovative nine-part strategy for flourishing despite the demands of inter- and intraorganizational relationships. Connective Leadership begins by examining the origins and evolution of the human need for leadership. It then presents a detailed explanation of the Connective Leadership Model, showing leaders how to move beyond competition towards an ethical instrumentalism that employs the talents of others to achieve strategic goals. And in a final section, it explores the empirical organizational results and the philosophical implications of that model. Thoroughly researched and accessibly written, this book provides the skills and information needed to move organizations, nations, and people into the emerging era with stellar results.


Many Western commentators have expressed their admiration for the Japanese police system, tracing its origins to the American Occupation of Japan (1945-52). This study challenges the assumptions that underlie these accounts, focusing on the problems that attended the reform of the Japanese police during the Occupation. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, Christopher Aldous explores the extent to which America failed in it's goal of 'democratizing' the Japanese police force, arguing that deeply-rooted tradition, the pivotal importance of the black market, and the US's decision to opt for an indirect Occupation produced resistance to reform. His study concludes with a consideration of the postwar legacy of the Occupation's police reform, and touches on a number of recent controversies, most notably the case of Aum Shinrikyo.


The project "A model for managing complex, digital objects in open archives within the field of art and design" is primarily a pilot study. The background is the challenges connected with digital publishing and accessibility of artistic research and research findings in visualized forms. The purpose is to make a survey of existing Open Access initiatives handling this kind of objects within the academic field of art and design as well as a draft to a model with the School of Textiles, a department at the University College of Boras, as an example. The School of Textiles educates, among others, fashion designers and textile designers. The material that will be analyzed in the project includes theses, exhibitions, material descriptions as well as videos, photography and multimedia. When designing the model the open archive BADA (Boras Academic Digital Archive) is to be used. The technical platform for BADA is DSpace. Contacts will be taken with the Digital Library Department within the National Library of Sweden to discuss issues of metadata format in view of future digital deliveries to the National Library.


In order to better assess the role of agriculture within the global climate‐vegetation system, we present a model of the managed planetary land surface, Lund–Potsdam–Jena managed Land (LPJmL), which simulates biophysical and biogeochemical processes as well as productivity and yield of the most important crops worldwide, using a concept of crop functional types (CFTs). Based on the LPJ‐Dynamic Global Vegetation Model, LPJmL simulates the transient changes in carbon and water cycles due to land use, the specific phenology and seasonal CO2 fluxes of agricultural‐dominated areas, and the production of crops and grazing land. It uses 13 CFTs (11 arable crops and two managed grass types), with specific parameterizations of phenology connected to leaf area development. Carbon is allocated daily towards four carbon pools, one being the yield‐bearing storage organs. Management (irrigation, treatment of residues, intercropping) can be considered in order to capture their effect on productivity, on soil organic carbon and on carbon extracted from the ecosystem. For transient simulations for the 20th century, a global historical land use data set was developed, providing the annual cover fraction of the 13 CFTs, rain‐fed and/or irrigated, within 0.5° grid cells for the period 1901–2000, using published data on land use, crop distributions and irrigated areas. Several key results are compared with observations. The simulated spatial distribution of sowing dates for temperate cereals is comparable with the reported crop calendars. The simulated seasonal canopy development agrees better with satellite observations when actual cropland distribution is taken into account. Simulated yields for temperate cereals and maize compare well with FAO statistics. Monthly carbon fluxes measured at three agricultural sites also compare well with simulations. Global simulations indicate a ∼24% (respectively ∼10%) reduction in global vegetation (respectively soil) carbon due to agriculture, and 6–9 Pg C of yearly harvested biomass in the 1990s. In contrast to simulations of the potential natural vegetation showing the land biosphere to be an increasing carbon sink during the 20th century, LPJmL simulates a net carbon source until the 1970s (due to land use), and a small sink (mostly due to changing climate and CO2) after 1970. This is comparable with earlier LPJ simulations using a more simple land use scheme, and within the uncertainty range of estimates in the 1980s and 1990s. The fluxes attributed to land use change compare well with Houghton's estimates on the land use related fluxes until the 1970s, but then they begin to diverge, probably due to the different rates of deforestation considered. The simulated impacts of agriculture on the global water cycle for the 1990s are∼5% (respectively∼20%) reduction in transpiration (respectively interception), and∼44% increase in evaporation. Global runoff, which includes a simple irrigation scheme, is practically not affected.


The BLITS retroreflector satellite was launched 2009 Sep 17 to conduct scientific experiments in geophysics, geodynamics, and relativity via high-accuracy laser ranging as part of the International Laser Ranging Service. On 2013 Jan 22, an event occurred which prevented further laser ranging. Subsequent investigation revealed a change in both orbit and spin rate that could not be explained without a breakup of BLITS or a collision of BLITS with another object. The identification by the Joint Space Operations Center of a piece of debris associated with BLITS supports these hypotheses. This paper will investigate the available data and assess the likelihood of either hypothesis as an explanation of the event.


The Internet is a collection of networks that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols. It has a huge impact on human activity. There are currently hundreds of millions of computers connected to the Internet, generating several petabytes traffic a day. Internet is still growing rapidly. However, the Internet today is not yet precisely characterized. One reason for this is that it is dynamic, constantly changing in size, traffic load, and application types. Recently, there has been a lot of effort put into various aspects of Internet measurements. These are important to the scientists as they provides crucial, fundamental knowledge about Internet structure and performance, and, at the same time, these measurements have added value for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in terms of service monitoring and for management purposes. Results obtained so far in Internet measurements are very encouraging. Significant progress has been made in many fields (e.g., we now understand the topology of Web much better than before), but there are still many aspects of that the Internet's structure, workload, and applications that are unexplored. This thesis addresses several unanswered questions about the performance of the Internet at the network and the application layer. To mention a few: 1. How can we model the Internet infrastructure, and how can this be measured? 2. How does IPv6 compare to IPv4 in terms of delay and loss performance and how has performance evolved over the past few years? 3. How can we evaluate user application performance through Internet measurements? 4. Is there any method to estimate network distance based on reduced or incomplete measurements (e.g., delay and hopcount)? This thesis intends to address these questions by measuring the Internet and analyzing empirical evidence obtained from Internet data. In this thesis, we show that accurate measurements not only enhance our understanding of the current Internet, but can also lead to recommendations for improvements on both the network infrastructure and network protocols.


There is not so much research on the issue of the wear of forestry tools as on tools used in agriculture, mining or construction. However, in a heterogeneous environment, they are subject to abrasive and shock loads. The large number (48 pieces) of tools used at the same time, based on base machine adapters, their rapid wear and the high price of a new tool (approx. 70 Eur), is the reason why it is necessary to deal with this issue. One solution is to apply hardening materials to exposed parts of the tools. These could prevent rapid decommissioning due to the loss of functionality of the tool due to their structure, more resistant to adverse working environments. Methods of applying such a deposit are different. From classical welding methods for example TIG method, up to unconventional, where also plasma welding belongs. The aim of this paper is to present partial results of laboratory experiments of plasma welding and TIG welding with HR MAG welding wire on the tool base material, 16MnCr5 steel. Specifically, the hardness as well as the hardness of the hard-facing material to abrasive wear by the GOST method were examined. Subsequent evaluation of the surface after this test as well as the microstructure itself can give us information on the suitability of the selected material for practical application in forestry.


The goal of this work is in twofold: 1) to determine the directional deformation (deflection) and bending stress of 1.25 MW Suzlon wind turbine tower under loading conditions for different cross-sections through finite element analysis method; 2) to develop and validate the analytical model allowing to estimate same for different cross-sections. Wind shear force has been calculated in the prevailing direction of the wind for tower structures through integral equations, are then used as input for 3-dimensional finite element model to compute the tower deflection and bending stress. To improve the estimation of tower deflection, a mathematical model is developed based on cantilever beam theory. Results are then compared with those obtained from numerical analysis method. The wind turbine tower deflection is found maximum at the tip of the structure and increasing with the hub height. Results indicate that the square cross-section tower is superior with respect to tower deflection with a maximum deflection of 0.064 mm. Numerical analysis method is used to verify the results of mathematical tower deflection model showing very less percentage of error. Thus, the new mathematical model has the advantage of estimating the tower deflection by just knowing the average wind speed of a wind farm for any wind turbine tower structure.


Detecting human screaming, shouting, and other verbal manifestations of fear and anger are of great interest to security Audio Event Detection (AED) systems. The Internet of Things (IoT) approach allows wide-covering, powerful AED systems to be distributed across the Internet. But a good feature to prefilter the audio is critical to these systems. This work evaluates the potential of detecting screaming and affective speech using Auditory Roughness and proposes a very light-weight approximation method. Our approximation uses a similar amount of Multiple Add Accumulate (MAA) compared to short-term energy (STE), and at least 10× less MAA than MFCC. We evaluated the performance of our approximated roughness on the Mandarin Affective Speech corpus and a subset of the Youtube AudioSet for screaming against other low-complexity features. We show that our approximated roughness returns higher accuracy.


We introduce our view of the relation between symbolic gestures and manipulations in multi-touch Natural User Interfaces (NUI). We identify manipulations not gestures as the key to truly natural interfaces. Therefore we suggest that future NUI research should be more focused on designing visual workspaces and model-world interfaces that are especially appropriate for multi-touch manipulations.


All Joyce's works both implicitly and explicitly contain theories of artistic creation. The central theme of this dissertation concerns the separate roles assigned to male and female in descriptions of the creative process in Finnegans Wake, and additionally to assess the gender-related issues surrounding the Wakean cycle of creativity. The latter requirement unites two modes of reading: namely an elucidation of what is overtly present in Finnegans Wake regarding creative acts, together with an assessment of the implications of what is absent or repressed. The argument seeks to demonstrate a new understanding of the cycle of Wakean creativity by examining recurring references to a picture motif and its relationship to the more widely appreciated letter motif. It also examines the feminine reverse of the masculine structure of the cyclic reproduction of HCE, and in particular the ways in which Joyce simultaneously produces and undermines those cycles. The thesis shows that reproduction of the unifying masculine logos and its accompanying control of desire for the purposes of social domination is offset by a correlated requirement for resisting the logos based upon difference and free love.


This study argues that the source of the law constitutes the crucial ideological and practical difference between man-made and God-given codices. In the Mesopotamian codices, while the gods grant to the sovereign the authority to govern, it is he who ultimately creates the relevant laws. He is thus the source of the law and controls its application. God is the only source of biblical law, and is involved in its implementation. This crucial difference has far-reaching consequences. In particular, Mesopotamian laws focus on the redress of harm done to humans and on disruption of human order; further, legal procedures, sanctions and modes of compensation can be changed, forgiven or abolished. Biblical law regards some infractions as harms against humans, but others are also perceived as crimes against the Lord and a disruption of the divine order. Punishments are fixed by God in both cases, and are eternal and inalterable.


Engineering industries are calling for graduates that have a breadth of skills including design and analysis skills, teaming skills and "soft skills" (i.e., project management, concept value analysis, communication, cross-disciplinary understanding, etc.). Furthermore, concepts that are traditionally taught in isolated packets are difficult to synthesize and apply to the more holistic problems engineers typically face. Northern Arizona University's College of Engineering and Technology is implementing an innovative, four-year, sequence of classes called the Path to Synthesis. The sophomore and junior courses in the Path to Synthesis program are team-taught industry simulations which use collaborative product design to not only develop design skills, teamwork skills, and soft engineering skills, but to also encourage the use of state of the art design methods and professional-quality software tools. These two classes are each divided into divisions consisting of 8 to 9 students from the engineering disciplines of Civil/Environmental, Electrical, Mechanical and Computer Science. Each division is managed by a faculty member who role plays as a division manager. This paper describes the piloted junior level Path to Synthesis course, called EGR 386 Engineering Design III The Methods, which is vertically integrated with the sophomore course, EGR 286 Engineering Design II The Process. The junior course emphasizes analytical engineering skills along with sophisticated project management techniques including subcontract management. Written and oral communication skills and topics on professionalism and ethics are also addressed. Greater emphasis is placed on rigorous planning and scheduling, cost estimation and economics, and coordination of efforts between: the Design II and III teams, the Design III students and the customer, and the Design III students and students from the Computer Visualization and Imaging (CVI) program at Cogswell College in Sunnyvale, CA. The Fall '95 project was the design of a materials recycling facility (MRF) for comingled curbside household recyclable garbage. The students designed and constructed feasibility models of fully automated and computer controlled mechanisms that sort items such as aluminum, steel, various grades of paper, cardboard, plastics types, and contaminants. A local site was selected and a task force of the sophomore and junior Civil and Environmental engineering students worked concurrently on site development and the MRF design. The junior Civil and Environmental students subcontracted with students from Cogswell College to produce computer animated renderings of the site before and after site construction.


The average grapefruit consumers in South Korea first consumed the fruit within the past four years. Marketing growth and development have led to increased imports of grapefruit in South Korea. This study investigated factors influencing grapefruit consumption experiences and consumption patterns after initial consumption, focusing on social context, and further divided by physical and social context. Survey results showed that approximately 80% of consumers have consumed fresh grapefruit. Physical contexts such as living area and accessibility of fresh grapefruit were important for consumption experiences, but social facilitation such as having family and peers who like grapefruit were significantly related to repeated consumption. The popularity of grapefruit (boom) influenced not only grapefruit consumption experiences but repeated and returned consumption. Taking prescription medication was a barrier for trying grapefruit, and health conscious consumers were more likely to have stopped consuming grapefruit, which may raise a potential issue of grapefruit-medication interactions in the South Korean market in the future, as has happened in the U.S. and Japan.


Cyber-security has turned into a national objective and an administrative need. Expanded cyber-security will help ensure purchasers and organizations, guarantee the accessibility of basic frameworks on which our economy depends, and reinforce national security. In any case, cybersecurity endeavours must be precisely custom fitted, keeping in mind the end goal to protect security, freedom, advancement and the open way of the internet which emphasizes on the need for cybersecurity. To outline a successful and adjusted cyber-security technique, each piece of the nation's basic framework must be considered independently. Arrangements that might be proper for the control framework or budgetary systems may not be reasonable for securing people in general segments of the internet that constitute the very engineering with the expectation of complimentary discourse basic to our government. Arrangements toward government frameworks can be substantially more prescriptive than arrangement towards private frameworks. The attributes that have made the internet occupy a considerable spaceits openness, its decentralized and client controlled nature, and its support for advancement and free expression – might pose considerable hazards if awkward approaches are established that apply consistently to all foundations. This study entails the various perspectives of cyber-security and suggestions for better protection against attacks and techniques which are to be followed by the governmental organizations as counter measures when it comes to cyber-security and cyber-attacks.


My intention is to contribute to the field of exhibition-making a repertoire of presentation modes, previously not analysed or documented, that can be applied to the display of fashion in the museum and which will extend those techniques currently available to the exhibition-maker to create meaningful and stimulating exhibition environments.

Part 1 contextualises my investigation, through discussion of the exhibition as source material, the methods employed to execute the research and analysis of relevant literature. Part 1 concludes with an introduction to ModeMuseum, Antwerp, which is the primary location for my research.

Part 2 details the identification, description and definition of a repertoire of presentation modes, classified and distinguished as innovative through comparative analysis of over 100 exhibitions visited for this research, alongside investigation of the exhibition formats and structures that support deployment of the modes.

Part 3 relates the application of the presentation modes to the construction of a 'fashion autobiography' in the form of a proposal for a hypothetical exhibition, through examination of the processes utilised to develop the exhibition narrative and detailed account of the proposal in its final realisation.

In conclusion, I will critically reflect on the research executed, underlining the interrelationship of the theoretical and practice-based activities. Finally, I will detail opportunities taken to disseminate this research, and indicate possible directions for continued investigation.


Preliminary evaluation of statistical modeling for non-invasive detection of malignancy in the prevalence of breast diseases is discussed. The standard databases for breast cancer symptoms, mammography diagnosing features and breast cancer ultrasound Elastography imaging screening standards were used, with ten dataset features as attributes. The satisfying conditions of the features were categorized for the classification as benign or malignant classes. The interpretation criteria in Elastography consist of the qualitative parameter elasticity score and the quantitative parameter strain ratio. Training of dataset was first done using 180 biopsy cases with 132 benign and 48 malignant results. 95% confidence interval for symptomatic was 1.625 to 4.955; mammographic was 1.506 to 5.494 and ultrasound Elastography imaging was 2.213 to 6.087. The model created was further tested with 210 cases using three machine learning classifiers and results were compared with gold standard biopsy results. Performance characteristics were statistically analyzed. The three classifiers have yielded an accuracy of 95.7%, 84.3% and 91.4% respectively and the statistical models proved its efficiency in differentiating malignant from benign.


The Anthropology A-level has achieved a great deal despite its failure to be redeveloped as a qualification. In this article I discuss what this means and why this matters for anthropology education. I show how the Anthropology A level was just one component of a much wider movement to engage new audiences with anthropology. I demonstrate how the A-level brought biological and social anthropology into schools and colleges that had never offered the subject before. The A-level diversified the community of anthropology educators and increased links between local schools, colleges and university anthropology departments. The campaign to widen access to anthropology for students, teachers and the public continues to grow, regardless of the AQA decision.


Acoustic target classification in multi-frequency echosounder data is a major interest for the marine ecosystem and fishery management since it can potentially estimate the abundance or biomass of the species. A key problem of current methods is the heavy dependence on the manual categorization of data samples. As a solution, we propose a novel semi-supervised deep learning method leveraging a few annotated data samples together with vast amounts of unannotated data samples, all in a single model. Specifically, two inter-connected objectives, namely, a clustering objective and a classification objective, optimize one shared convolutional neural network in an alternating manner. The clustering objective exploits the underlying structure of all data, both annotated and unannotated; the classification objective enforces a certain consistency to given classes using the few annotated data samples. We evaluate our classification method using echosounder data from the sandeel case study in the North Sea. In the semi-supervised setting with only a tenth of the training data annotated, our method achieves 67.6% accuracy, outperforming a conventional semi-supervised method by 7.0 percentage points. When applying the proposed method in a fully supervised setup, we achieve 74.7% accuracy, surpassing the standard supervised deep learning method by 4.7 percentage points.


Makarieva et al. (2010) assert that a dissipative heat engine is impossible and criticize earlier published work that they claim violates the laws of thermodynamics. Here we show that the earlier work does not violate fundamental physical laws and suggest that Makarieva et al. (2010) were misinterpreting expressions for wind speed as ones for work done on external objects. Moreover, we dispute their assertion that dissipative heating is necessarily compensated by a reduction of external heating.


Excerpt] On a chilly evening in March more than 50 residents of Calumet City Illinois, gathered to hear the findings and recommendations from a survey conducted last fall by the South Suburban Task Force on the Health Impact of Unemployment and Low Income. The Task Force had conducted interviews with unemployed workers in Calumet City and two other south Cook County communities. We wanted to find out the impact unemployment was having on people's health and their ability to get health care. The Task Force's 90-page report, The Health Impact of Unemployment and Low Income, was released in March 1984. It summarized key findings and recommendations based on interviews with unemployed workers and surveys of local physicians, dentists, and health and social service agencies. The Midwest Center for Labor Research (MCLR), along with four local health agencies, conducted the study.


Agricultural controversies in affluent, comfortably fed countries increasingly emphasize the esthetic or expressive elements of food. Consumer advocates can indulge in litigation over foie gras, for instance, or coffee production certification. This expressive turn elevates the ornamental aspects of food at the expense of agriculture's utilitarian purposes. The modernist principles articulated in Adolf Loos's "Ornament und Verbrechung" urge the subordination of agriculture's ornamental aspects in favor of its original instrumentalist underpinnings.Meanwhile, ecological disaster looms. Human ecological impacts are so severe that geological history has arguably entered a new epoch, the Anthropocene. Exhaustion of vital inputs (petroleum, phosphorus) and evolutionary calamity (mass extinctions, herbicide and pesticide resistance) threatens future agricultural productivity. Food security and the economic foundations of civilization hang precariously in the balance.Human beings, however, follow their own rules of risk perception and evaluation. Humans actively prefer hybrid risk management strategies that blend a commitment to securing at least minimal subsistence with high upside potential. The simultaneous pursuit of subsistence and symbolic beauty through food affirms both agrarian tradition and human risk-taking preferences. By the same token, these preferences cast doubt on the agricultural system's preparedness for the challenges of the Anthropocene.


We perform molecular dynamics simulation study of CO2, methane, and their mixture in the presence of brine over a broad range of temperature (311-473 K), pressure (up to about 100 MPa), and NaCl concentration (up to about 14 wt %). The general decrease in the interfacial tension (IFT) values of the CH4-brine system with pressure and temperature is similar to that obtained for the corresponding CH4-water system. The IFT of methane and brine is a linearly increasing function of salt concentration, and the resulting slopes are dependent on the pressure. A similar behavior as methane is observed for such systems containing CO2 and CO2-CH4 mixture. The IFT of CO2 and brine increases linearly with increasing salt content; however, the resulting slopes are independent of pressure. The simulations show that the presence of CO2 decreases the IFT values of the CH4-water and CH4-brine systems, but the degree of reduction depends on the amount of CO2 in each sample, which is consistent with experimental evidence. These IFT values show a linear correlation with the amount of CO2, and the resulting slopes are dependent on the temperature and pressure. Furthermore, our results for the mole fractions of the different species in the CO2-CH4-water system at 323 K and 9 MPa are in agreement with those of experiments. The mole fractions of methane and CO2 in the water-rich phase decrease with increasing salt concentration, whereas that of H2O in the methane- or CO2-rich phases remains almost unaffected in all of the studied cases. Our results could be useful because of the importance of carbon dioxide sequestration and shale gas production.


A wide variety of Dirichlet-multinomial 'topic' models have found interesting applications in recent years. While Gibbs sampling remains an important method of inference in such models, variational techniques have certain advantages such as easy assessment of convergence, easy optimization without the need to maintain detailed balance, a bound on the marginal likelihood, and side-stepping of issues with topic-identifiability. The most accurate variational technique thus far, namely collapsed variational latent Dirichlet allocation, did not deal with model selection nor did it include inference for hyperparameters. We address both issues by generalizing the technique, obtaining the first variational algorithm to deal with the hierarchical Dirichlet process and to deal with hyperparameters of Dirichlet variables. Experiments show a significant improvement in accuracy.


Abstract Soil erosion due to annual cropping on highly erodible farmland is a major ecological concern in the wheat growing regions of Washington State. In response to requests from farmers, the winter wheat breeding program at Washington State University has been developing perennial wheat selected from crosses between wild wheatgrass species and commonly grown annual wheat cultivars. In 2005/06, we conducted field trials of the most promising perennial wheat breeding lines derived from interspecific crosses between tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum elongatum) and bread wheat (Triticum aestivum). Thirty-one perennial breeding lines and two annual winter wheat cultivars were evaluated for nutritional value in the form of grain mineral concentration, multiple baking and milling quality traits, and ease of grain threshability. The objective of this study was to identify the strengths and weaknesses of these post-harvest traits in the perennial wheat lines derived from these interspecific crosses. Mineral nutrient concentrations in the perennial lines were 44, 40, 24, 23, 32, 30 and 33% higher than the annual control cultivars for calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and zinc, respectively. The annual cultivars had a higher grain mineral content per unit area of land than the perennial lines, due primarily to the higher grain yields of the annual cultivars. Compared to the annual wheat cultivars, the perennial lines produced grain with smaller seed size, lower test weight and reduced flour yield, mix time and loaf volume. Protein content was 3.5–4.5% higher in the perennial lines than in the annual cultivars. The threshability index (TI) ranged from 0.63 to 0.89 in the perennials (μ=0.75); significantly lower than the mean TI of the annual cultivars (μ=0.97). The significant genotype×location interaction found for TI suggests that the variation in annual precipitation positively influenced some perennial lines to express greater threshability. In addition to transferring traits important to the perennial growth habit in wheat, the wild wheatgrass species also introduced beneficial characteristics (i.e. increased protein and mineral concentration) and deleterious traits (poor threshing grain and inferior baking qualities). This research gives researchers a platform from which to direct further research and selection in the development of perennial wheat.


We report the first establishment and characterization of functioning gastrinoma from a human being transplanted into nude mice. Tissue was obtained at operation from a gastrinoma liver metastasis from a patient with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. The tumor was implanted subcutaneously in five athymic nude mice. Serum gastrin was measured by means of radioimmunoassay in specimens of mouse blood taken before and 5 minutes after intraperitoneal injection of secretin (100 micrograms/kg). In a second experiment serum gastrin was measured 30 minutes after injection of somatostatin analogue, SMS 201-995 (300 micrograms/kg). Studies were also done in 10 control mice. At passage, the fundus of each tumor-bearing mouse was weighed and examined microscopically. The gastrinoma (tumor line, PT) has been maintained for 34 months through four passages with a tumor doubling time of 37 to 45 days. The histology is similar to the original tumor. Immunocytochemistry showed that PT contained gastrin. In two mice metastasis developed 9 months after implantation. Gastrin levels in mice bearing PT have ranged from 216 to 12,000 pg/ml. Gastrin levels of control mice ranged from 0 to 63 pg/ml. Secretin increased gastrin levels in three of five mice tested and decreased gastrin levels in two mice. Repeat secretin tests showed identical results. SMS 201-995 decreased gastrin levels from basal values. Fundic weight of mice bearing PT (397 +/- 93 mg) was significantly greater than control fundic weight (180 +/- 26 mg). Gastrinomas growing in nude mice produce physiologically active gastrin as shown by elevated serum gastrin levels and by hyperplasia of the stomach. Two distinct subpopulations of gastrinoma cells respond differently to secretin. This model should provide important information on mechanisms of growth control and on gastrin release by gastrinomas in human beings.


Crew rowing is often quoted as an archetypical example of team behaviour, synchronisation processes and joint action. Although traditionally rowers strive to move in perfect unison, it has been suggested that rowing in antiphase coordination might prove to be more mechanically efficient and thus faster. Theoretically, by alternating their strokes rowers would reduce velocity fluctuations of the boat, which would potentially result in faster racing times. The current dissertation investigates movement coordination of the crew in both in- and antiphase coordination and the effects thereof on the movements of the boat. Experiments were performed in the lab using ergometers that were connected through slides (as to mimic one 'boat' moving with respect to the water) and on the water using a custom-made measurement system. Although the antiphase pattern is less stable than the (well trained) in-phase pattern, the results show that rowers are well able to row together in antiphase, even when trying for the very first time. Interestingly, both coordination patterns proved to be more stable at the higher compared to the lower movement frequency. Moreover, rowing in antiphase indeed reduces velocity fluctuations of the boat. Although rowing in antiphase did not result in faster racing times yet, the results provide a promising first indication of the potential benefits of antiphase rowing.


The following paper is a try out on the application of multivariate analysis (regression tree, principal component analysis, and cluster analysis) for classifying hot water chemistry. The number of sample analysed was 416 from all over Indonesia. Regression tree technique has failed to read the data structure due to multi-collinearity effect therefore PCA and cluster analysis were applied. We used open source R statistical packages to do the calculation. Such technique classifies hot water samples into three major clusters: cluster 1 (pure hot water), cluster 2 (mixing water), and cluster 3 (cold-meteoric water). Similar clustering were also detected in the PCA plot. The statistical is able to detect the close and open geothermal system based on data structure. This robust method should be applied to more geothermal system with larger dataset to see its performance.


In this paper, we propose a new time-aware dissimilarity measure that takes into account the temporal dimension. Observations that are close in the description space, but distant in time are considered as dissimilar. We also propose a method to enforce the segmentation contiguity, by introducing, in the objective function, a penalty term inspired from the Normal Distribution Function. We combine the two propositions into a novel time-driven constrained clustering algorithm, called TDCK-Means, which creates a partition of coherent clusters, both in the multidimensional space and in the temporal space. This algorithm uses soft semi-supervised constraints, to encourage adjacent observations belonging to the same entity to be assigned to the same cluster. We apply our algorithm to a Political Studies dataset in order to detect typical evolution phases. We adapt the Shannon entropy in order to measure the entity contiguity, and we show that our proposition consistently improves temporal cohesion of clusters, without any significant loss in the multidimensional variance.


Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) collimation has been inferred with the observations of achromatic steepening in GRB light curves, known as jet breaks. Identifying a jet break from a GRB afterglow light curve allows a measurement of the jet opening angle and true energetics of GRBs. In this paper, we re-investigate this problem using a large sample of GRBs that have an optical jet break that is consistent with being achromatic in the X-ray band. Our sample includes 99 GRBs from 1997 February to 2015 March that have optical and, for Swift GRBs, X-ray light curves that are consistent with the jet break interpretation. Out of the 99 GRBs we have studied, 55 GRBs are found to have temporal and spectral behaviors both before and after the break, consistent with the theoretical predictions of the jet break models, respectively. These include 53 long/soft (Type II) and 2 short/hard (Type I) GRBs. Only 1 GRB is classified as the candidate of a jet break with energy injection. Another 41 and 3 GRBs are classified as the candidates with the lower and upper limits of the jet break time, respectively. Most jet breaks occur at 90 ks, with a typical opening angle θj = (2.5 ± 1.0)°. This gives a typical beaming correction factor f b − 1 ∼ 1000 for Type II GRBs, suggesting an even higher total GRB event rate density in the universe. Both isotropic and jet-corrected energies have a wide span in their distributions: log(Eγ,iso/erg) = 53.11 with σ = 0.84; log(EK,iso/erg) = 54.82 with σ = 0.56; log(Eγ/erg) = 49.54 with σ = 1.29; and log(EK/erg) = 51.33 with σ = 0.58. We also investigate several empirical correlations (Amati, Frail, Ghirlanda, and Liang–Zhang) previously discussed in the literature. We find that in general most of these relations are less tight than before. The existence of early jet breaks and hence small opening angle jets, which were detected in the Swfit era, is most likely the source of scatter. If one limits the sample to jet breaks later than 104 s, the Liang–Zhang relation remains tight and the Ghirlanda relation still exists. These relations are derived from Type II GRBs, and Type I GRBs usually deviate from them.


Despite pervasive downward pressure on government policy from exogenous forces, the author argues that partisanship still exerts an effect on privatization in Latin America. When a country is indebted to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and a government of the right is in power, scholars can expect increased levels of privatization. However, when a country is indebted to the IMF and a government of the left is in power, electoral incentives will prompt these governments to ignore IMF pressure and reduce levels of privatization. The author tests this argument on a data set of eighteen Latin American countries, between the years 1984 and 1998.


"There's something wrong… There's something wrong with almost everything."
Hand in Glove, Intrusions, p .17 (Victor Gollancz, 1980)

Robert Aickman (1914 - 1981) wrote some of the strangest and most evocative of English ghost stories. His centenary is on the 27th June.

Aickman was an eccentric yet a reluctant man of the world. Educated at Highgate School, he trained but never practiced as an architect. He was a prolific writer and editor, and advocate of theatre, dance, and opera, but was best known for much of his life as the founder of the Inland Waterways Association. Now he is widely regarded as a master of the uncanny tale. In Aickman's forty eight 'Strange Stories' nothing is as it seems. They are characterised by a wanton sense of ambiguity and a frequent refusal to provide the reader with any kind of closure or resolution. Past intrudes onto present, inner on outer, time onto space: this is Aickman's world, an intuitive map of the psyche.

The exhibition 'Intrusions: Looking after Aickman' explores the world as a mysterious, sometimes disturbing place. Some of the artists echo Aickman's themes, some are informed by him, and some (in best Aickman manner) know nothing of him. As artists they explore, memory and myth, the everyday and the epic, and things that intrude.
Working in print and photography and largely in monochrome their work echoes both materially and in mood and resonance Aickman's themes. They hold in common the consistent exploration of the psychologically charged drama and the narrative of the dark underbelly of life. Long admired in select circles, Aickman's writing is poised for critical reassessment through new editions of his written work, a documentary film on his life, and various other commemorative projects.

The exhibition was accompanied by a series of talks, readings, performances and events, and a book area where the new editions of Aickman's work can be viewed.


ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to define and categorise different styles of play in elite soccer and associated performance indicators by using factor analysis. Furthermore, the observed teams were categorised using all factor scores. Data were collected from 97 matches from the Spanish La Liga and the English Premier League from the seasons 2006–2007 and 2010–2011 using the Amisco® system. A total of 19 performance indicators, 14 describing aspects of attacking play and five describing aspects of defensive play, were included in the factor analysis. Six factors, representing 12 different styles of play (eight attacking and four defensive), had eigenvalues greater than 1 and explained 87.54% of the total variance. Direct and possession styles of play, defined by factor 1, were the most apparent styles. Factor analysis used the performance indicators to cluster each team's style of play. Findings showed that a team's style of play was defined by specific performance indicators and, consequently, teams can be classified to create a playing style profile. For practical implications, playing styles profiling can be used to compare different teams and prepare for opponents in competition. Moreover, teams could use specific training drills directed to improve their styles of play.


ABSTRACT This article compares two universes of official Islamic State media that were compiled 18 months apart. It explores the nuances of the group's worldview and illustrates the extent to which external and internal situational exigencies impacted the Islamic State's brand during its formative years as caliphate. It finds that the organization's media infrastructure was about half as productive in early 2017 as it had been in mid-2015. The data also show that, even though the group had internationalized its theater of terrorist operations during the time period in question, the brand itself actually contracted to become markedly less globalized in 2016. Finally, the data indicate a substantial thematic rearrangement in the organization's propaganda, one that saw its story shifting away from the millenarian "utopia" towards military denialism. In sum, the data indicate that the Islamic State propagandists were far less productive by January 2017, and that their aggregate product was less international and less utopian but more militant and more defiant, a shift that suggested a new phase in their political marketing operations, one focused on framing the caliphate as an embattled but still defiant pseudo-state struggling to maintain past momentum.


This project tests and analyzes the efficiency of directional and omnidirectional antennas in wireless power transfer for charging. The project demonstrates the steps of construction and properties of dipole, monopole, and Yagi Uda antennas. A low power high frequency DC rectifier circuit converts the received RF power from the antenna and stored it as DC voltage on a capacitor. The receiver circuit also estimates the power received by the antenna. Wireless RF power transmission proves to be inefficient for short distances. The best efficiencies of the antennas were under 50% even at 0.1meter. The near field attenuation starts at around 3db every 0.1 meters and slowly decreases. Although the Yagi Uda array improved received power, the attenuation over distance made wireless power transmission impractical.


This thesis investigates continuities and change in the visualization of the hero in 1960s English football, a period of transition for the player from traditional to modern football practices. It does so from a socio-historical perspective.
Its principal aim has been to explore the media representation of the evolution of the visual image of the football hero. This through the study of primary source archive material in the form of media images held by the National Football Museum archive and the National Photographic collection at the National Media Museum. In addition a corpus of contemporary images published in the mass and sports media of the day are considered, along with objects of material culture pertinent to the eulogy of the football hero. In so doing the research looks to understand if the theoretical hero typologies of previous sociological studies are evident in the actual historic visual portrayal of the time.
The study of the historic visual culture of football is of relevance given the corporeal nature of the game and the prevalence of the image in communicating its narrative. However, the interrogation of the visual record is an under-utilised research tool in sports history. This research then looks to play a part in addressing this omission in its contribution to the understanding of what constitutes a football hero.
The thesis firstly considers theoretical hero typologies appropriate to the football context. It then provides a chronological synopsis of the visualisation of the hero footballer in the period preceding that of this particular study, the 1960s. The chronological structure is continued in the specific study of the Sixties decade. Individual hero players are considered in each chapter as redolent of relevant hero types. Visual references are included as examples at the conclusion of each chapter.
Based on the visual evidence the thesis finds that, unlike those sociological typologies that tend to be presented sequentially, visual representations of the hegemonic football hero are continuous, gradualist and emergent. It establishes that the synthesis of change in player socio-economic circumstance and coterminous media advances combines to influence both the on-field and off-duty representation of the football hero. It also challenges the assertion that cultural and aesthetic decisions dominate technological determinism, by suggesting that the commercial imperative plays a central role in shaping the image of the football hero.


Satellite imagery and an extensive set of water‐depth measurements have been used to map and critically evaluate the magnitude and patterns of bathymetry across Great Bahama Bank. Descriptions of previously collected sediment samples were combined with satellite imagery to map and refine the interpreted distribution of surficial carbonate sediments (depositional facies). Data reveal that 60% of Great Bahama Bank lies in 5 m or less of water. The deep portion occurs mainly in a generally east–west trending area in the southern portion of the platform. The re‐evaluation of the facies reveals that Great Bahama Bank is essentially a very grainy platform with muddier accumulations primarily in the lee of Andros Island. This area of Great Bahama Bank also experiences currents related to an excursion of the Florida Current onto the platform top; possibly enhancing sediment mud production through the generation of whitings. Sediment equivalents to mudstones, wackestones and mud‐rich packstones cover 8%, 5% and 14%, respectively, of the platform top, whereas sediment equivalents to mud‐poor packstones, grainstones and rudstones account for 20%, 45% and 3% of the surface area. Boundstones (reefs) were not specifically mapped in this study due to the resolution of the mapping. There is a poor relationship between the occurrence of the depositional texture and water depth, in that the grainier sediment types are abundant across the full range of water depths. The most abrupt lateral facies changes portrayed on the facies maps are observed leeward of islands, areas which also hold the highest diversity in facies type. The majority of the islands on the platform align with the north‐west/south‐east strike of the platform margin and these islands, in turn, exert control on the shape and orientation of facies belts that develop in proximity to them. For this reason, regions of the platform that contain principal islands host facies belts that align with the principal axis of the platform, whereas for regions lacking islands, the facies belts adopt an east–west trend consistent with prevailing winds and currents. There is a clear trend that the wide southern portion of the platform hosts the most continuous expanses of grain‐rich sediments.


This work aims to explain how firms behave and select their suppliers and customers in the Japanese production network. We study a supplier-customer network of listed firms in Japan (3,198 firms with 20,417 links). In order to specify how firms choose their partners, the so-called exponential random graph model is applied to estimate the ties formation process. For the estimation of such a large-scale network, we employ a recent technique of sampling called the improved fixed density Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). Our main result shows that all of the effects (social and economic effects) are statistically significant in explaining the ties formation between firms. Social effects such as mutuality and transitivity with common partners in different directional links between suppliers and customers are shown. Moreover, homophily with the same industrial sectors and geographical locations, and disassortative mixing between low-profit firms and high-profit ones are also found. We argue that our method is extended to the spatially heterogeneous structure of communities reflecting industrial sectors and geographical locations and temporal changes of supplier-customer relationships in such a framework of the stochastic actor-oriented model.


Objective: This study was carried to investigate the role of chitosan nanoparticle in protecting against cadmium chloride-induced gastric toxicity in the rat. Methods: The 50 male rats were divided into 5 group: negative control (Rats were given daily with aquadest) ; positive control (Rats were given daily with cadmium chloride 5 mg/kg BW orally once in a day for 28 days) and the treatment group (Rats were given the chitosan nanoparticle 150 mg; 300 mg; 600 mg/kg BW orally once in a day for 32 days and on 4 th day, were given cadmium chloride 5 mg/kg BW one hour after the chitosan nanoparticle administration for 28 days). On day 32, the rats were sacrificed, and gastric tissues were collected to measure Malondialdehyde (MDA), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), Glutathione Peroxidase (GPx) and histological evaluations. Results: Oral administration of cadmium chloride 5 mg/kg BW for 28 days significant induced gastric mucosal hemorrhagic lesions, increase MDA, decrease SOD and GPx, and also caused necrosis of gastric mucosal epithelial cell in the rat. Treatment with the chitosan nanoparticle 600 mg/kg BW but not 150 mg/kg BW and 300 mg/kg BW significantly improved gastric injury, decreased MDA, increase in SOD and GPx levels, and also improved necrosis of gastric mucosal epithelial cell as compared to positive control group. Conclusion: From the results of this study concluded that the chitosan nanoparticle could be a potent natural product provide a promising gastroprotective effect against cadmium chloride induced gastric toxicity in rats. Key words: Chitosan nanoparticle, Cadmium chloride, Gastric ulcer, MDA, SOD, GPx.


Python implementations of GPU-based eigensolvers were tested and evaluated. The performance of PyCUDA and scikit-cuda library functions for Python were used and compared to the corresponding ones from the NumPy library. Despite GPU-based cuBLAS routines being faster than their usual NumPy equivalents on the consumer-level hardware used, cuSOLVER function implementations have longer execution times than the NumPy functions. Two Python variants of the tridiagonalization step of the Lanczos algorithm were tested with cuBLAS functions and we showed that a hybrid CPU-GPU approach resulted in an algorithm that was both fast and stable. However, the presented algorithms are still slower than the highly optimized NumPy eigensolver and further optimizations are needed to obtain GPU acceleration in our Python-based eigensolver.


The present article addresses the question of foreign language classroom shame (FLCS) in France. As a first step to collecting data, thirty participants were asked to narrate their language learning experiences in the context of the foreign language classroom by being interviewed individually and in depth. The two following questions were in focus: firstly, how does shame impact FL learners' vision of themselves as English-learners/users? Secondly, why do some learners manage to overcome shame experiences while others seem to be particularly affected? The respondents' narratives suggest that shame may impact not only L2 learners' linguistic confidence but also their sense of identity, self -worth and self-esteem. Interestingly, some learners reported having developed strategies of resilience. The data also revealed that FLCS may direct learners to certain types of behaviours like avoiding interaction and speaking activities, ruminating over failure, or withdrawing from L2 learning, and lead to enduring L2-related anxiety due to fear of future shame-inducing situations. It is maintained here that taking this phenomenon into consideration in the language learning process could contribute to a better and more complete understanding of the psychology of language learners and help them develop a more positive self-regard, promote their willingness to participate in communicative tasks and may eventually enable them to reach an increased level of proficiency. The findings offer therefore strong support for the need to focus on developing a deep understanding of the role of shame in French FLL contexts and elsewhere.


The central motive for conducting this research was to investigate how different countries (Greece, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) treat social and emotional education (SEE) within pedagogical practice and policy to answer the following questions: How do teachers perceive and practice SEE? And how are government policies and/or programmes about SEE (if any exist) implemented? The study used a sequential QUAN-QUAL analysis with a comparative design, with 750 teachers in an initial quantitative phase participating in a questionnaire, and 22 teachers in the following qualitative phase participating in semi-structured interviews. Cross-cultural differences were found in the research sample regarding teachers' self-perceived role in socialising emotion: specifically, the teachers' beliefs about their role in loco parentis, the teachers' openness to emotional expression in the classroom, and the teachers' knowledge about the role of emotions and relationships to learning. More variation was found in these three variables internationally compared to intranationally, although demographics were found to statistically influence the results as well. Teacher training regarding SEE was found to have only been made available to a minority of teachers in all four countries. In terms of practice, SEE was more likely to be introduced into schools by teachers themselves (or a partnership between teachers and headteachers) rather than by educational policy. Furthermore, SEE provision was found more likely to be implicit (considered for every subject but not taught as its own subject), rather than explicit (having a dedicated time and curricula devoted to SEE). Recent recommendations by policy influencers to create cross-cultural frameworks of social and emotional competencies and life-skills programmes need to be questioned in light of the findings that SEE manifests in unique ways specific to each culture.


A tool for participative business process development is the so-called social simulation game method. The social simulation game method is like a "role-play" but is tailored to an organisation's own business processes. The main purpose is to develop business processes, i.e., to analyse present processes, to test alternative process modes and to train employees. The authors have carried out and studied simulation games in different industrial organisations over the past ten years, though these have been more focused during the last four years. According to these research results, the participative simulation game method has proven to be an effective facilitator in business process development and training in industrial organisations. This article is based on 32 case studies, including 88 simulation games, which are briefly described. Our primary aim is to describe how the social simulation game method is used in training and participative development for different processes and purposes. Results indicate that the method enables individual learning as well as promotes both single-loop and double-loop types of organisational learning. The simulation game method underscores the problems and development needs of the simulated business processes. The short-term and long-term qualitative (soft) and quantitative (hard) as well as the so-called future results and implications of the cases in implementation are reported and discussed. The concept of tacit and explicit change as a result of the interplay of tacit and explicit knowledge and soft, hard and future results has been created.


This thesis explores the effects of: 1) traditional values, 2) parental involvement, and 3) poverty on student performance. Instead of regarding tradition and poverty as obstacles, this paper argues that they can play a positive role in improving the educational quality. This thesis draws on interviews in three communities with administrators, teachers, students, parents, and elders. They show that traditional culture plays an important role in ensuring student motivation, but it is not clear which aspects of tradition will be incorporated into the curriculum, and by whom. My work also shows that parental involvement in schools is largely limited to fund-raising, and there is demand for more engagement. Finally, this project reveals that poverty is a double edge sword: it contributes to the school drop-out problem but also can serve as a tremendous source of personal motivation for students who want to help improve the economic condition of their families.


The Lakefield Watershed is one of the densest urban areas in all of Rockdale County. Large vol- umes of runoff and heavy pollutant loads from the land- scape have degraded water quality, stream channels, and overall habitat conditions in downstream watersheds. Within the Lakefield Watershed, there are a limited num- ber of best management practices (BMPs) that treat stormwater runoff; many of these are undersized or im- properly designed. At the downstream terminus of the watershed, a small lake (approximately 4 acres) provides water quality benefits and some peak flow attenuation through regional detention. However, the lake is im- pounded by a Category I dam (probable loss of life and property upon failure) that is not in compliance with the rules of the Georgia Safe Dams Act. A study was initiated to determine whether rehabilitating the existing dam and retrofitting the existing lake or retrofitting existing upland BMPs combined with new BMPs or low impact develop- ment techniques was the most cost-effective means to achieve water quality and channel protection for the wa- tershed. There were significant drivers for rehabilitating the dam including life and safety issues, economic devel- opment in the region, and transportation improvements through construction of a bypass road across the dam. The results of the study showed that due to the built-out nature of the watershed and the insufficiency of existing BMPs, that rehabilitating the existing dam was the most cost- effective means to meet the stated objectives.


This paper reports on findings from qualitative research conducted in the UK that sought to explore the connections between sexual identities and self‐destructive behaviours in young people. International evidence demonstrates that there are elevated rates of suicide and alcohol abuse amongst lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth. Rarely included in this body of research are investigations into young LGBT people's views and experiences of self‐destructive behaviours. Data from interviews and focus groups with young LGBT participants suggest a strong link between homophobia and self‐destructive behaviours. Utilising a discourse analytic approach, we argue that homophobia works to punish at a deep individual level and requires young LGBT people to manage being positioned, because of their sexual desire or gendered ways of being, as abnormal, dirty and disgusting. At the centre of the complex and multiple ways in which young LGBT people negotiate homophobia are 'modalities of shame‐avoidance' such as: the routinization and minimizing of homophobia; maintaining individual 'adult' responsibility; and constructing 'proud' identities. The paper argues that these strategies of shame‐avoidance suggest young LGBT people manage homophobia individually, without expectation of support and, as such, may make them vulnerable to self‐destructive behaviours.


This is the second article in a series of two papers describing simulation of functionally graded viscoelastic properties in asphalt concrete pavements. The techniques developed are applicable to other viscoelastic material systems with continuous, spatial grading of material properties. A full-depth asphalt concrete pavement has been simulated to demonstrate the applicability and importance of the graded viscoelastic analysis method. Based on the graded finite elements developed by Kim and Paulino[1], Buttlar et al. [2] used graded finite elements to determine typical responses to tire loading for an aged asphalt concrete pavement. In the current study, a similar pavement section is studied using the viscoelastic graded analysis (rather than elastic). Graded, layered and homogeneous material variations were used for a series of simulations, and the results from different approaches were compared.


The fast increase in mobile device and bandwidth usage is generating big workloads on the IT infrastructures of mobile service providers and increasing management costs. These providers collect log files continuously and use these logs for billing, operational and marketing purposes. In this paper, we describe the design, implementation and efficient parallel processing of large-scale mobile logs using the open-source Hadoop-based low-cost private cloud system for near real-time analytics. We find that batching of small files, parallel loading and pipelining of different workloads by overlapping their disk-and-CPU intensive phases can have significant performance benefits. Optimizations were performed in the light of these findings. Our web-based interface helps users explore progress and performance of their workloads.


This paper studies a dynamic model with efficiency wages and adjustment costs associated with hiring and firing decisions. With linear adjustment costs, the optimal efficiency wage and employment are affected by the real interest rate and adjustment costs. When lumpy costs or convex adjustment costs (symmetric or asymmetric) are taken into account, the interest rate and the adjustment costs do not play any role in determining the equilibrium efficiency wage and level of employment.


Background and aims: Understanding the aetiology, clinical presentation and prognosis of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and optimizing its treatment might be facilitated by biomarkers that help predict a person's susceptibility to the risk factors that cause diabetes or its complications, or response to treatment. The IMI DIRECT (Diabetes Research on Patient Stratification) Study is a European Union (EU) Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) project that seeks to test these hypotheses in two recently established epidemiological cohorts. Here, we describe the characteristics of these cohorts at baseline and at the first main follow-up examination (18-months). Materials and methods: From a sampling-frame of 24,682 European-ancestry adults in whom detailed health information was available, participants at varying risk of glycaemic deterioration were identified using a risk prediction algorithm and enrolled into a prospective cohort study (n=2127) undertaken at four study centres across Europe (Cohort 1: prediabetes). We also recruited people from clinical registries with recently diagnosed T2D (n=789) into a second cohort study (Cohort 2: diabetes). The two cohorts were studied in parallel with matched protocols. Endogenous insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity were modelled from frequently sampled 75g oral glucose tolerance (OGTT) in Cohort 1 and with mixed-meal tolerance tests (MMTT) in Cohort 2. Additional metabolic biochemistry was determined using blood samples taken when fasted and during the tolerance tests. Body composition was assessed using MRI and lifestyle measures through self-report and objective methods. Results: Using ADA-2011 glycaemic categories, 33% (n=693) of Cohort 1 (prediabetes) had normal glucose regulation (NGR), and 67% (n=1419) had impaired glucose regulation (IGR). 76% of the cohort was male, age=62(6.2) years; BMI=27.9(4.0) kg/m2; fasting glucose=5.7(0.6) mmol/l; 2-hr glucose=5.9(1.6) mmol/l [mean(SD)]. At follow-up, 18.6(1.4) months after baseline, fasting glucose=5.8(0.6) mmol/l; 2-hr OGTT glucose=6.1(1.7) mmol/l [mean(SD)]. In Cohort 2 (diabetes): 65% (n=508) were lifestyle treated (LS) and 35% (n=271) were lifestyle + metformin treated (LS+MET). 58% of the cohort was male, age=62(8.1) years; BMI=30.5(5.0) kg/m2; fasting glucose=7.2(1.4)mmol/l; 2-hr glucose=8.6(2.8) mmol/l [mean(SD)]. At follow-up, 18.2(0.6) months after baseline, fasting glucose=7.8(1.8) mmol/l; 2-hr MMTT glucose=9.5(3.3) mmol/l [mean(SD)]. Conclusion: The epidemiological IMI DIRECT cohorts are the most intensely characterised prospective studies of glycaemic deterioration to date. Data from these cohorts help illustrate the heterogeneous characteristics of people at risk of or with T2D, highlighting the rationale for biomarker stratification of the disease - the primary objective of the IMI DIRECT consortium. Abbreviations: ASAT Abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue DIRECT Diabetes Research on Patient Stratification EU European Union MMTT Mixed-meal tolerance test MRI Magnetic resonance imaging hpfVM High-pass filtered vector magnitude IAAT Intra-abdominal adipose tissue IGR Impaired glucose regulation IMI Innovative Medicines Initiative ME multiecho NGR Normal glucose regulation OGTT Oral glucose tolerance test PA Physical activity TAAT Total abdominal adipose tissue T2D Type 2 Diabetes


Abstract.
 Mithracid crabs comprise a primarily subtidal reef- and rubble-dwelling group inhabiting both tropical and subtropical seas. Despite their relative ubiquity in many hard-substrate environments, there has been little consensus about their phylogenetic relationships or whether their group rank should be that of subfamily or family. We have used a combined molecular dataset of two nuclear (18S, H3) and three mitochondrial (12S, 16S, COI) genes to build a preliminary molecular phylogeny of Majoidea in order to examine the membership of Mithracidae. We then built a second molecular phylogeny based on three mitochondrial genes to assess the internal composition of the family, and conducted comparative morphological examinations of genera and species that resolved in unexpected positions on the phylogram. Four genera are designated under new or resurrected names on the basis of molecular and morphological characters, while memberships of several other existing genera are modified. Following review of molecular and morphological characters, the genera Coelocerus, Cyclocoeloma, Cyphocarcinus, Leptopisa, Micippa, Picrocerodes, Stenocionops and Tiarinia are provisionally excluded from Mithracidae s.s., while Hemus and Pitho are included in it. A key to genera of Mithracidae is provided.


Rapid and early diagnosis of systemic infections is very important for acting on time with an adequate therapy. The aim of this study is to determine the diagnostic importance of procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) of bacterial infections in different stages of sepsis.PCT and CRP have been determined in 45 newborns, 1-21 days of age, with different stages of sepsis, in the centre for prematurely born neonates. These parameters have also been determined for control group, in which there were 10 healthy newborns. Procalcitonin values were significantly increased in neonates with septic shock (92,5 ng/mL; 6,06-200 ng/mL) compared to the systemic inflammatory response syndrome- SIRS (41 ng/mL; 0,28-200 ng/mL), neonatal sepsis (10,26 ng/mL; 1,08-111,3 ng/mL), neonatal sepsis and purulent meningitis (9,80 ng/mL; 4,3-18,9 ng/mL). The control group values were lower than 0,5 ng/mL. CRP is increased without statistical differences in all stages of sepsis in newborns with septic shock (93,2 mg/L; 6,0-196 mg/L) in cases with SIRS (45,64 mg/L; 6,0-147 mg/L), neonatal sepsis (70,02 mg/L; 6-177 mg/L), neonatal sepsis and purulent meningitis (61,98 mg/L; 24-192 mg/L). The average values for the control group were 4,7 mg/L. Procalcitonin is increased in all stages of sepsis with higher values in the septic shock. The increase of PCT levels is related to the severity, course of infection and prognosis of disease.


ABSTRACT In policy and in initiatives from the Swedish National Agency for Education for enhancing professional development, there is currently a strong emphasis on teachers´ collaborative professional development. As previous research suggests that teachers may need to engage in various types of collaboration for learning, extended knowledge on different teacher teams for collaboration is needed. In this study, a Cross-School Teacher Team (CSTT) of teachers who shared pedagogical interests but worked in different municipalities was followed through observations, interviews, text-collections of logbook-reflections and digital communication. To examine what constitutes the CSTT as a site for learning and how this is shaped by as well as shaping the enabling and constraining arrangements, the empirical material was analysed through the lens of the theory of practice architectures. The results show how a CSTT can provide a complement to local teams for work integrated learning through diverse perspectives, a shared focus on specific and professional issues and a safe space for sharing and reflection. Internal and external transparency worked as a catalyst both for processes of reflection and transformation of local arrangements and practices. Knowledge of the practice architectures of the CSTT offer tools to elaborate upon alternative or complementary spaces for collaboration


Gaussian processes with deep neural networks demonstrate to be a strong learner for few-shot learning since they combine the strength of deep learning and kernels while being able to well capture uncertainty. However, it remains an open problem to leverage the shared knowledge provided by related tasks. In this paper, we propose to learn Gaussian processes with dense inducing variables by meta-learning for few-shot learning. In contrast to sparse Gaussian processes, we define a set of dense inducing variables to be of a much larger size than the support set in each task, which collects prior knowledge from experienced tasks. The dense inducing variables specify a shared Gaussian process prior over prediction functions of all tasks, which are learned in a variational inference framework and offer a strong inductive bias for learning new tasks. To achieve task-specific prediction functions, we propose to adapt the inducing variables to each task by efficient gradient descent. We conduct extensive experiments on common benchmark datasets for a variety of few-shot learning tasks. Our dense Gaussian processes present significant improvements over vanilla Gaussian processes and comparable or even better performance with state-of-the-art methods.