Roots blower is a positive displacement machine widely used as pressure or vacuum device in several industrial processes due to its simple construction, large volumetric efficiency and it has been most effective in low or moderate compression ratios. There are several geometric and flow relevant variables that affect its operation and performance. Internal leakage is an essential issue of the Root blower's design. The leakage (slip) in the Roots blower effect the process efficiency by affecting the mass flow rate and therefore the volumetric efficiency, so the proper sizes of clearances must be provided inside the blower. The flow field conditions, inside clearances, and at the inlet and the exit of the blower are unsteady. The temperatures, pressures, and velocities vary significantly and are a function of operating condition and geometry of the Roots blower.

Based on available literature, extensive studies are being carried out to improve the efficiency of current models of Roots blowers, as well as to develop new blower models. But, the detailed knowledge of the flow behaviour in such machines is still a subject of active research. This is because most of the studies conducted lack details analysis of flow characteristics and limited studies on the local flow behaviour within these blowers have been reported. Therefore, the main aim of this study is the in-depth characterisation of internal flow with varying clearance sizes of Roots blower in order to improve their performance. Experimental approach and numerical method using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) have been used in this research study.

Qualitative and quantitative analyses were carried out to establish the effect of operating conditions and clearance sizes on the flow and performance characteristics of the Roots blower. Based on these in-depth analysis, the performance characterisation of the influence of rotational speed and pressure difference on the Roots blower performance under the transient condition has been conducted and it is a new add to available knowledge in this field. Also, the effect of pressure difference, rotational speed and gap size on the variation and the distribution of other performance parameters such as pressure, temperature and velocity within the blower was established. Moreover, a new non-dimensional analysis of performance parameters and develop novel empirical and semi-empirical correlations for performance factors of Roots blower are main contributions to the knowledge have been achieved in this research study.

Furthermore, a new clearance model of Roots blower has been developed which considered as a main novelty in this study. Numerical characterisation of pressure fluctuations in both time and frequency domain with clearance variation inside the blower has been achieved. A new methodology for detection of the change of clearance size inside Roots blower has been developed.


This work presents a data-intensive solution to predict heating and hot water consumption. The ability to predict locally those flexible sources considering meteorological uncertainty can play a key role in the management of microgrid. A microgrid is a building block of future smart grid, it can be defined as a network of low voltage power generating units, storage devices and loads. The main novelties of our approach is to provide an easy implemented and flexible solution that used a supervised learning techniques. This paper presents an industrial methodology to predict heating and hot water consumption using time series analyzes and tree ensemble algorithm. The results are based on the data collected in a building in Chamoson(Switzerland) and simulations. Considering the winter season 2012-2013 for the training, the heating and hot water predictions is correctly estimated 90% +/- 1.2 for the winter season 2013-2014.


Following the impact on regional renewal and employment ascribed to rapidly growing firms (High impact firms, HIFs) this article argues that little is still known in economic geography and business studies today regarding the mechanisms influencing growth of such firms and, hence, the potential impact on regional employment. The aim of this article is thus to explore how the qualitative content of skills (i.e. the degree of similarity, relatedness and un-relatedness) recruited to a firm during a period of fast growth, which influences its future success. Our findings, based on a sample of 1589 HIFs in the Swedish economy, suggest that it is not only the number of people employed that matters to aid understanding of the future destiny of the firms—but also, more importantly, it is the scope of the skills recruited and their proximity to related industries.


Cataloguing is fundamentally the basis of theory of knowledge where information organisation, the structure and the means for handling them are identified and specified. Cataloguers are the specialists responsible for bibliographic control, information management and the creation of resource discovery tool that aids user in their search for materials. Essentially, they are responsible for the provision and organisation of efficient and effective retrieval system. Thereby saves time, increases the quality/productivity of library users and ultimately enhances the performance of the institution to achieve set objectives. Literatures indicated swift changes in duties, skills and functions of cataloguers. The changes had posed challenges to the professional development of cataloguers. This study with the use of questionnaire surveyed cataloguing practice in Nigeria in the twenty first century, their duties and tools being use in the university libraries. In addition it collects opinions on job performance factors. The result revealed that the libraries are of medium size collection with low cataloguers strength and modest use of ICT in all the libraries. The libraries still possess the card catalogue system. On the duties perform, eighty-six percent of the cataloguers, perform technical duties as original descriptive and subject cataloguing, determining appropriate guidelines in applying rules, Subject heading polices with the use of Subject thesaurus. Leading skills that enhanced job performance of the respondents include: Ability to plan, organise/supervise cataloguing activities in the library, Ability to establish/maintain effective work relationship with colleagues and other library staff and Ability to lead the way in researching into new techniques for cataloguing. All the libraries still engage in manual cataloguing work and uses traditional library working tools.


Given the negative impact of persistent unsustainable fiscal deficits on the Nigerianeconomy, there is now a consensus among interested parties on the need to address the problem effectively. The literature suggests theree approaches for this purpose: increasein revenue, reduction in expenditure, or a continuation of both. An appraisal of the budgetary process in Nigeria shows that annual expenditure proposals are always anchored on projected revenue, thus the accuracy of revenue projection is a necessary condition for devising an appropriate framework for fiscal deficit management in Nigeria. This study, therefore, evaluates the productivity of the tax system for the period 1970- 1999 to devise a reasonably accurate estimation of Nigeria's sustainable revenue profile. This will assist in the design of an appropriate expenditure profile as a means of averting the persistent unsustainable fiscal deficit in the country. Overall, the study reports a satisfactory level of productivity of the tax system. Although the advent of the oil boom,encouraged some laxity in the management of non-oil revenue sources, this was rectified to a reasonable extent with the commencement of the structural adjustment programme. The study concludes that the current revenue profile is sustainable, with little prospectfor significant improvement in the short run. It also suggests that a significant reduction in public expenditure and prudent management of financial resources are the most feasible solutions to the problem of unsustainable fiscal deficit in Nigeria. Finally, the report underscores the urgent need for the improvement of the tax information system to enhance the evaluation of the performance of the Nigerian tax system and facilitate adequate macroeconomic planning and implementation.


"Redirect" by Timothy D. Wilson, author of "Strangers to Ourselves", whose work has been acclaimed by writers such as Malcolm Gladwell, is a groundbreaking book of psychology that shows how changing the stories we tell about ourselves can help solve our problems. Why will most self help books leave you worse off? How do youth rehabilitation programmes backfire? And how can one volunteer help the whole of society? Redirecting the stories you tell about yourself - and changing the stories others are telling about themselves - can help everyone, whether improving education and parenting skills or reducing crime, teen pregnancies, and drug and alcohol abuse. This timely book offers practical advice that has been proven to give real results. "Redirect" will show you exactly how you can be happier and more successful, using only the power of your own stories. Timothy D. Wilson is the Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. He is the author of "Strangers to Ourselves", which was named by "New York Times Magazine" as one of the Best 100 Ideas of 2002, and is co-author of the bestselling "Social Psychology" textbook, now in its seventh edition. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife and two children. "A masterpiece". (Malcolm Gladwell, author of "Blink"). "This may well be the single most important psychology book ever written". (Daniel Gilbert, author of "Stumbling on Happiness"). "A stimulating, valuable read". ("New Scientist"). "With a deft narrative touch ...and a ferocious commitment to scientific evidence, Timothy Wilson has made a remarkable contribution to knowledge". (Robert Cialdini, author of "Influence").


Economic crisis has not only created domino effect and caused multi dimensional crisis for Indonesia, but also it has triggered a gap between hopeless community and the ham people. Accidently, the crisis has triggered the development of syariah banking in Indonesia, since the collapse of conventional banking system as well. Whilst the constitution 1945 committed to bring into reality economic matters which create social prosperity and social justice for Indonesian citizens the syariah bank has the spirit of koran to generate social prosperity in justice in prosperity, as stated in the Sura Al-Hadid (57): 25 "We sent n foretime Our apostles with Clear Signs. And sent down with them The Book and the Balance, that men may stand forth injustice ..." and Sura Al-Hasyr (59): 7 "What God has bestowed on His Apostle (and taken away) from the people of the township, belongs to God, to His Apostle and to kindred and orphans, the needy and the wayfarer in order that it may not merely make a circuit between the wealthy among you." The essence is that the economic matters shall generate social justice in prosperity and social prosperity in justice. The born of Islamic banking, therefore, has been viewed as an alternative solution to overcome the economic crisis in the banking sector, while the conventional banking has not made significant progress even it has been restructured.


The "Collective Intelligence" (COIN) framework concerns the design of collectives of reinforcement-learning agents such that their interaction causes a provided "world" utility function concerning the entire collective to be maximized. Previously, we applied that framework to scenarios involving Markovian dynamics where no re-evolution of the system from counter-factual initial conditions (an often expensive calculation) is permitted. This approach sets the individual utility function of each agent to be both aligned with the world utility, and at the same time, easy for the associated agents to optimize. Here we extend that approach to systems involving non-Markovian dynamics. In computer simulations, we compare our techniques with each other and with conventional "team games" We show whereas in team games performance often degrades badly with time, it steadily improves when our techniques are used. We also investigate situations where the system's dimensionality is effectively reduced. We show that this leads to difficulties in the agents' ability to learn. The implication is that "learning" is a property only of high-enough dimensional systems.


Aim: This article outlines preliminary findings of a 3-year project that explored on-site food production on institutional properties, primarily healthcare facilities. Background: There are growing pressures on healthcare facilities to improve their food offerings and incorporate food gardens into their health programs. While several healthcare facilities produce food on-site, there are few studies that explore opportunities, capacities, and institutional barriers related to on-site food production. Methods: The study employed mixed methods including historical review, case studies, surveys, interviews, pilot garden projects, and Geographic Information System mapping. The number of participating institutions varied by method. Results: Benefits associated with on-site food production can be health, economic, environmental, and social. There are also institutional barriers including administrative roadblocks, perceived obstacles, and the difficulty in quantitatively, measuring the qualitatively documented benefits. Conclusions: The benefits of food gardens far outweigh the challenges. On-site food production has tremendous potential to improve nutrition for staff and patients, offer healing spaces, better connect institutions with the communities in which they are located, and provide the long-professed benefits of gardening for all involved—from therapeutic benefits and outdoor physical activities to developing skills and social relationships in ways that few other activities do.


This creative project was created using an agile development process. Working in coordination with an organization called the Sword of the Spirit, a website was developed for their use. Using the agile approach, multiple iterations of the project were created and brought back to the organization for testing and feedback. The website was developed and is currently working here: https://sites.google.com/view/sosovemight/ home. For this project, a website, administrative email, and data collection and storage process were created. Security was added to ensure only registered profile holders would be able to view the information on the website. This was developed solely for the Sword of the Spirit to use. The purpose for developing this website was to provide a place for the Sword of the Spirit members to be able to connect with each other to find housing when visiting another city. This is a global organization so having a tool that will help members, travelling to other cities where there are communities, find housing with members of the local community is incredibly helpful. The focus of the project was to develop a product with an organization according to their specifications. This website is currently being tested on a national level. In the future, plans have been made to coordinate efforts to integrate the current site into one for global use. Degree Type Open Access Senior Honors Thesis Department Computer Information Systems First Advisor Huei Lee Second Advisor Sock H. Chung


For many optimization problems it is possible to define a distance metric between problem variables that correlates with the likelihood and strength of interactions between the variables. For example, one may define a metric so that the dependencies between variables that are closer to each other with respect to the metric are expected to be stronger than the dependencies between variables that are further apart. The purpose of this paper is to describe a method that combines such a problem-specific distance metric with information mined from probabilistic models obtained in previous runs of estimation of distribution algorithms with the goal of solving future problem instances of similar type with increased speed, accuracy and reliability. While the focus of the paper is on additively decomposable problems and the hierarchical Bayesian optimization algorithm, it should be straightforward to generalize the approach to other model-directed optimization techniques and other problem classes. Compared to other techniques for learning from experience put forward in the past, the proposed technique is both more practical and more broadly applicable.


The distribution of oxygen functional groups on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) has been investigated experimentally and theoretically. Atomic layer deposition of TiOx was used to clarify the location of oxygen functional groups. We found that the oxygen functional groups are distributed in the form of islands, which is confirmed using aberration corrected transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The density functional studies further support these findings. The evolution of oxygen functional groups was also investigated with GO treated at 150, 200, 250, and 300 °C. In addition, the reduction of epoxide and hydroxyl groups on the GO surface at different temperatures has been discussed in connection with ab initio molecular dynamics simulations.


Over the years, the management of early breast cancer has evolved by leaps and bounds, as has the concept of axillary staging and armpit surgical management. Five randomised studies exist that evaluate the possibility of omitting regional locus surgical axillary treatment in patients with early breast cancer and positive sentinel lymph nodes without it having an impact on the prognosis of the disease in selected cases. A review of the literature on the management of the axilla in early breast cancer is presented.


Although there is a visible increase in the number of publications in the area of design thinking and signs that it is becoming a serious area of research, there is a lack of theoretical approaches that directly address its domain-specific characteristics. This study is an attempt to develop such a theory directed towards design reasoning based on a protocol study and formal notation, among other things. Three domains of reasoning are described: construction, object, and representation. Inference making within and between these domains is described in terms of operations called functions and states called structures in a state-space representation of design. Five types of mapping which are illustrated by the protocol study are described by means of structures and functions. Shortcomings and strengths of the proposed theoretical formalisms are both discussed. Future work is indicated.


The abessive suffix of the Mordvin languages (Erzya and Moksha) expresses the meaning "without". Diachronically, the suffix presents an example of a process of grammaticalization in which a derivational ending has developed into a case suffix. However, the process has not been completed, as the derivational meaning has also been maintained in both Erzya and Moksha. Consequently, in contemporary Mordvin languages the abessive form has a twofold character: it can be used both adverbially (as a case form) and adnominally (as an adjective derivation). This article investigates both the derivational and inflectional aspects of the abessive in the Mordvin languages and compares its uses with some other cases.


This Handbook covers all major aspects of EU Cohesion policy, one of the most significant areas of intervention of the European Union. Over five parts, It discusses this policy's history and governing principles; the theoretical approaches from which it can be assessed; the inter-institutional and multi-level dynamics that it tends to elicit; its practical implementation and impact on EU member states; its interactions with other EU policies and strategies; and the cognitive maps and narratives with which it can be associated.


Accurate parsing of citation reference strings is crucial to automatically construct scholarly databases such as Google Scholar or Semantic Scholar. Citation field extraction (CFE) is precisely this task---given a reference label which tokens refer to the authors, venue, title, editor, journal, pages, etc. Most methods for CFE are supervised and rely on training from labeled datasets that are quite small compared to the great variety of reference formats. BibTeX, the widely used reference management tool, provides a natural method to automatically generate and label training data for CFE. In this paper, we describe a technique for using BibTeX to generate, automatically, a large-scale 41M labeled strings), labeled dataset, that is four orders of magnitude larger than the current largest CFE dataset, namely the UMass Citation Field Extraction dataset [Anzaroot and McCallum, 2013]. We experimentally demonstrate how our dataset can be used to improve the performance of the UMass CFE using a RoBERTa-based [Liu et al., 2019] model. In comparison to previous SoTA, we achieve a 24.48% relative error reduction, achieving span level F1-scores of 96.3%.


Derivatives' trading was introduced in India during 2001, and the trade value of derivatives is almost three times that of cash market trade values. However, only about 20 percent of the options offered by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) are traded on an active basis. This is perhaps due to the lack of investor education about options and its pricing methodology. It is hoped that research on option pricing in India will enable investors to understand the mechanism of option pricing and its use as a tool to hedge risks. This empirical paper uses more than 95,000 call options to test the validity of the Black-Scholes (BS) model in pricing Indian Stock Options. The results show the robustness of the Black-Scholes model in pricing stock options in India and that pricing is further improved by incorporating implied volatility into the model.


A study was conducted to evaluate the degree of conversion by the hardness measurements of a commercial resin composite. The specimens were prepared according to ISO 4049 and photo-activated for 20s – 40s – 60s with  a light-emitting diodes (LEDs). To establish the optimal increment technique mono-layers 1 mm and 2 mm thick were tested. The ratio bottom-to-top was assessed for the mono-layers groups. Vickers hardness profiles were measured for mono-layer, bi-layer and tri-layer along the cross-section. The microhardness map showed difference in the mechanical characteristic of overlying resin confirmed by SEM images analysis of the fracture mechanics. Curing effectiveness of resin composite is not only dependent on the curing light unit but also from thickness of the resin composite and the duration of the exposure. The data suggest that an exposure time of 40 s or higher is required to provide composites with a homogeneous and high hardness, moreover, a 1 mm buildup multi-layering technique results in adequate curing of the bottom layer and better mechanical properties.


The paper describes a multi-agent approach to localization problems through the adoption of the Multilayered Multi- Agent Situated System (MMASS) model. In the context of Multi-Agent System based modelling and distributed problem solving, the MMASS model allows the explicit representation of the environment structure where agents are situated, and provides spatial dependant agent behavior and interaction mechanisms. These aspects are of particular relevance in problems, like localization, in which spatial features are key factors for the problem solving activity and cannot be neglected. In particular, examples of localization problems that will be considered in the paper are: shopping centers localization in extra-urban areas, guide placement in museums, and signs and posters positioning in cities. Moreover, the paper briefly presents the software system that has been developed for the three-dimensional (3D) simulation of virtual worlds inhabited by virtual agents. This tool has been exploited for the 3D representation of the presented MMASS-based models of localization problems 1


Dazzle with your command of belle-lettres! Like a true sophisticate, you'd like to toss out casual bon mots to enliven your conversation. You'd like to float through cocktail parties offering your guests crudites and hors d'oeuvres, toasting to the prevailing Weltgeist and speculating on who's having an affaire de coeur. But first you need to know what those words mean. Here's a guide to declaiming like an intellectual in a foreign language. More than 500 of the most commonly used foreign words and phrases that enhance our language and make us sound sophisticated have been translated into English, along with a pronunciation guide and a sample sentence showing you how to use them. In addition, you'll find quotations in other languages, which will impress everyone with your erudition and experiencia del mundo. All this together with a plethora of minutae, spicing the entries with an exquisite melange of information that heightens their je ne sais quoi. So get busy dotting your conversation with these words and phrases. Remember, Experientia docet.


Abstract. Rainfall and other extreme events often trigger debris flows. This study examines the debris flow initiation characteristics and probability of debris flow occurrence after extreme rainfalls. The Chenyulan watershed, central Taiwan, which has suffered from the Chi-Chi earthquake (CCE) and extreme rainfalls, was selected as a study area. The rainfall index (RI) was used to analyze the return period (T) and characteristics of debris flow occurrence after extreme rainfalls. The characteristics of debris flow occurrence included the variation in critical RI, threshold of RI for debris flow initiation, and recovery period (t0), the time required for the lowered threshold to return to the original threshold. The variations in critical RI after extreme rainfall and t0 associated with RI were presented. The critical RI threshold was reduced in the years following an extreme rainfall event. The reduction in RI as well as t0 were influenced by the RI. Reduced RI values showed an increasing trend over time, and it gradually return to initial RI. The empirical relationship between the probability of debris flow occurrence (P) and corresponding T of the rainfall characteristics for areas affected by extreme rainfalls and affected by the CCE were developed. Finally, a method for determining the P of a rainfall event was proposed based on the relationship between P and T. This method was successfully applied to evaluate the probability of debris flow occurrence after extreme rainfalls.


Background Leptin plays a crucial role in bone metabolism, and its level is related to bone callus formation in the fracture repair process. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of recombinant leptin on the healing process of femoral fractures in rats. Material/Methods Forty-eight male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats with an average body weight of 389 g (range: 376–398 g) and an average age of 10 weeks were included in this animal research, and all rats were randomly divided into two major groups. Then standardized femur fracture models were implemented in all SD rats. Rats in the control group were treated with only 0.5 mL of physiological saline, and rats in the experimental group were treated with recombinant leptin 5 μg/kg/d along with the same 0.5 mL of physiological saline for 42 days intraperitoneally. At the same time, each major group was evenly divided into three parallel subgroups for each parallel bone evaluation separately at the second, fourth, and sixth weeks. Each subgroup included eight rats. Results The total radiological evaluation results showed that the healing progress of femoral fracture in the experimental group was superior to that in the control group from the fourth week. At the sixth week, experimental group rats began to present significantly better femoral fracture healing progress than that of the control group rats. Results of biomechanics show the ultimate load (N) and deflection ultimate load (mm) of the experimental group rats was significantly increased compared with that of the control group rats from the fourth week. Conclusions Our results suggest that leptin may have a positive effect on SD rat femur fracture healing.


Strong field approximation (SFA) is the most important approximation in the analytical theory of intense laser matter interaction. Based on SFA many analytical theories have been developed such that a broad spectrum of strong field physics phenomena can be described. The central idea of SFA-based theories is to approximate the electron propagation in the continuum by the Gordon-Volkov wavefunction a well studied analytical solution to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation where the electron is driven by the laser field only. This approximation captures some of the essential features of strong-field physics, but at the same time causes several problems in the theory. In this thesis a comprehensive study of the SFA has been presented. We introduce the SFA in both the length gauge and the velocity gauge. The adequacy of SFA has been discussed by comparing the theory to the numerical solution to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE). The numerical method of solving TDSE is presented as a separate chapter. In order to obtain a better understanding of the applicability of SFA-based theory, we tested the major approximations in the theory by using three different models: the zero-range potential, the hydrogen atom and the hydrogen molecular ion. The accuracy of the method of steepest descent (MSD) and other major approximations in the analytical theory have also been examined. Targeting at the generalization of the SFA-based theories, several extensions and improvements of SFA have been proposed. We will review them in detail and bring them into unity. One of the most successful aspect of the SFA-based theories is to describe and decompose electron dynamics into components such that identification of different physical processes becomes possible. For instance, the direct ionization and non-sequential double ionization bear clear definitions only within the SFA-based framework. The physical interpretation becomes more straight forward due to the fact that there is a close connection between the quantum orbital and classical trajectory. The MSD is a mathematical tool to bridge the quantum orbital and the classical trajectory in an SFA-based theory. We will discuss MSD within a systematic framework so that the higher order asymptotic expansion terms can be obtained in a straight forward way. After gaining substantial understanding of the SFA and the MSD we developed a graphic user interface (GUI) software that is capable of calculating strong field ionization rates, photo-electron spectra and high harmonic generation spectra. The software interface and algorithms have been presented in the thesis. Sample calculations were done and compared with the previously obtained results. In the last chapter of the thesis, we further developed the theory to describe a two-laser ionization scheme where one laser is chosen to be resonantly coupled two real states and


Existing DSGE models are not able to reproduce the observed influence of international business cycles on small open economies. We construct a two-sector New Keynesian model to address this puzzle. The set-up takes into account intermediate trade and producer heterogeneity, where goods and service industries differ in terms of i) price flexibility, ii) trade intensity, iii) technology, iv) I-O structure, and v) the volatility of productivity innovations. The combination of intermediate markets and heterogeneous producers makes international business cycles highly important for the small economy, even if it has a large service sector. Exploiting I-O matrices of Canadian and US industries, the model is able to reproduce the role of international disturbances typically found in empirical studies. Model simulations deliver cross-country correlations in macroeconomic variables of about 0.7, with half of the variation in domestic variables attributed to foreign shocks.


Every team needs a regular dose of team spirit to function at its best. That's why managers turn to these easy and effective activities for building camaraderie and cohesion. Now in its second edition, Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers addresses the problems that drag down group productivity and helps teams:
 Collaborate successfully • Cope with change • Solve problems • Communicate better • Boost creativity • Leverage diversity • Nurture healthy competition • And more
 Each of the 50 exercises takes just minutes to prep, and most call for everyday items like pens or paper clips. No elaborate training sessions or prepared presentations required. Simply scan the instructions explaining how to run the session, what problems might crop up, and which questions to ask to drive the lessons home. The results are immediate: sullen teams find sparkle, nervous teams gain confidence, teams of strangers get to know one another.
 New and updated activities get everyone, including virtual teams, working together with purpose and a little bit of fun—fifteen minutes of the workday very well spent!


Following the paradigm shift in nature conservation policy towards the inclusion of local inhabitants in the planning and management of protected areas, tourism is emphasised as a means to achieve economic development in peripheral areas. Governance issues and the real impacts from tourism on development are thus often under scrutiny. This article focuses on the role of tourism in the political process of designating protected areas. How does the inclusion of the tourism argument affect designation processes? What kind of tourism is being promoted and how can it be conceptualised with regard to human views of the use of nature? An ecostrategic framework is presented to illustrate the essential land-use choices available. Three cases of protected area designation processes are used to address the issue of tourism: the failure of the Kiruna National Park proposal and the successful implementation of the snowmobile regulation area in Funäsdalen and Fulufjället National Park. The analysis shows that while tourism may increase local acceptance of protected areas, the power of this argument also depends on contextual and process factors.


Objective. To investigate sleeping problems, sleep duration and associated factors in a national probability sample of older South Africans who participated in the Study of Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) in 2008. Methods. In 2008 I conducted a national population-based cross-sectional study with a sample of 3 840 South African individuals aged ≥50 years. A questionnaire was used to survey sociodemographic characteristics and health variables, and anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were recorded. Results. Of the participants, 9.1% reported having a sleeping problem at the time of the study. The average number of self-reported hours of sleep was 8.6 (SD ±2.1), with 11.6%, 45.1%, 20.0%, and 23.5% reporting ≤6, 7 - 8, 9, and ≥10 h, respectively. In multivariable analysis, depression, cognitive impairment, lack of social cohesion, and moderate or severe activity limitations were associated with having a current sleeping problem. In terms of sociodemographic and health variables, a short sleep duration was associated with: white, Indian/Asian or coloured ethnicity; daily tobacco use; and moderate and severe activity limitations. In participants aged 60 - 79 years, lower wealth, hypertension, risky drinking and lower health-related quality of life were associated with a long sleeping duration. Conclusion. This study robustly characterised the prevalence of sleeping problems and specific associated risk factors in a large sample in South Africa. This can help to direct future healthcare efforts.


Abstract: This symposium opens up new critical insights and analytical perspectives into the relationships between power, politics, materiality and urban engineering. In so doing it demonstrates the central role of engineers in the production and negotiation of everyday life in the city. In contrast to the technocratic exercise engineering often professes to be, the contributors to this symposium argue that the assembling and choreography of cities through the myriad techniques, routines, standards and visions of engineers is inextricably bound up with broader socio‐cultural, material and political urban dynamics and processes. This necessitates investigating the multiple and competing social imaginations, forms of knowledge and regimes of expertise associated with urban engineering. The symposium's five articles, straddling disciplinary backgrounds in geography, anthropology, engineering and history, focus analytical and empirical attention on the figure of the engineer and on the work of engineering in the cities of Paris, Mumbai, Singapore and London. Engineering, we suggest, is a diagnostic for probing the shifting forms of mediation that animate and inhabit contemporary dynamics of urban change. The symposium thus opens up a new avenue for cross‐disciplinary and transregional research for urban studies while also suggesting innovative ways of conceptualizing urban transformation and contestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


The buzz-word big-data refers to the large-scale distributed data processing applications that operate on exceptionally large amounts of data. Google's MapReduce and Apache's Hadoop, its open-source implementation, are the defacto software systems for big-data applications. An observation of the MapReduce framework is that the framework generates a large amount of intermediate data. Such abundant information is thrown away after the tasks finish, because MapReduce is unable to utilize them. In this paper, we propose Dache, a data-aware cache framework for big-data applications. In Dache, tasks submit their intermediate results to the cache manager. A task queries the cache manager before executing the actual computing work. A novel cache description scheme and a cache request and reply protocol are designed. We implement Dache by extending Hadoop. Testbed experiment results demonstrate that Dache significantly improves the completion time of MapReduce jobs.


The orientation of this study is to explore what the sources for each narrative tradition can (and cannot) tell us about their respective histories, in order to reach a point at which it becomes possible to discuss a relationship between them and the significance of that relationship. This is not intended as an exhaustive study of every element of each source or every aspect of each tradition. It will present a basic introduction to sources for each tradition (§3-4) followed by a basic context for approaching the possibility of a cultural exchange (§5-7). The APE and its "powers" are introduced with specific examples from both traditions (§8-13). This will be followed by sections on the activation and manipulation of "identities" from the level of cultural figures to textual and extra-textual entities (§14-16) followed by relationships of traditions to individuals and social groups who perform them, and the impact which this has on the evolution of tradition as a social process (§17-18). The study will then address more specific issues in relationships between source and application in the medieval and iconographic representations of the Baldr-Cycle where so little comparative material is available to provide a context (§19). This will move into issues of persistence and change in the broader tradition, opening the discussion of intertextual reference and the evolution of traditions (§20-22). The Baldr-Cycle and Lemminkaisen virsi will each be reviewed (§23-24). It will be shown that Lemminkaisen virsi most likely emerged as a direct adaptation of a version of the Baldr-Cycle as a consequence of contacts with Germanic culture in the first millennium of the present era, probably during the Viking Age. Lemminkainen appears to have been established as a cultural figure at that time, and the adaptation was most likely intended to impact how Lemminkainen was regarded as a cultural figure. The value of the Baldr-Cycle in this application appears attributable to existing features in the tradition ecology which allowed its motif-complexes to generate significant and relevant meanings (§25). This study is a case study approaching the evolution of mythological narrative as a historical process occurring through a conjunction of individual applications and social processes. This case study demonstrates the value of the APE and offers insight into the history of cultural contact and exchange in the Circum-Baltic region.


1. Comparative analyses are used to address the key question of what makes a species more prone to extinction by exploring the links between vulnerability and intrinsic species' traits and/or extrinsic factors. This approach requires comprehensive species data but information is rarely available for all species of interest. As a result comparative analyses often rely on subsets of relatively few species that are assumed to be representative samples of the overall studied group. 2. Our study challenges this assumption and quantifies the taxonomic, spatial, and data type biases associated with the quantity of data available for 5415 mammalian species using the freely available life-history database PanTHERIA. 3. Moreover, we explore how existing biases influence results of comparative analyses of extinction risk by using subsets of data that attempt to correct for detected biases. In particular, we focus on links between four species' traits commonly linked to vulnerability (distribution range area, adult body mass, population density and gestation length) and conduct univariate and multivariate analyses to understand how biases affect model predictions. 4. Our results show important biases in data availability with c.22% of mammals completely lacking data. Missing data, which appear to be not missing at random, occur frequently in all traits (14-99% of cases missing). Data availability is explained by intrinsic traits, with larger mammals occupying bigger range areas being the best studied. Importantly, we find that existing biases affect the results of comparative analyses by overestimating the risk of extinction and changing which traits are identified as important predictors. 5. Our results raise concerns over our ability to draw general conclusions regarding what makes a species more prone to extinction. Missing data represent a prevalent problem in comparative analyses, and unfortunately, because data are not missing at random, conventional approaches to fill data gaps, are not valid or present important challenges. These results show the importance of making appropriate inferences from comparative analyses by focusing on the subset of species for which data are available. Ultimately, addressing the data bias problem requires greater investment in data collection and dissemination, as well as the development of methodological approaches to effectively correct existing biases.


Based on years of observation at a large state university, "Wannabe U" tracks the dispiriting consequences of trading in traditional educational values for loyalty to the market. Aping their boardroom idols, the new corporate administrators at such universities wander from job to job and reductively view the students there as future workers in need of training. Obsessed with measurable successes, they stress auditing and accountability, which leads to policies of surveillance and control dubiously cloaked in the guise of scientific administration. In this eye-opening expose of the modern university, Tuchman paints a candid portrait of the corporatization of higher education and its impact on students and faculty. Like the best campus novelists, Tuchman entertains with her acidly witty observations of backstage power dynamics and faculty politics, but ultimately "Wannabe U" is a hard-hitting account of how higher education's misguided pursuit of success fails us all.


Forest certification, developed in the early 1990s, is a process in which independent assessors grant use of the certification label to producers who meet certain environmental and social criteria set for their forest products. This label was quickly seen to offer a market advantage and to signal corporate social and environmental responsibility. This paper focuses on international norms pertaining to environmental and indigenous rights, as manifested in cases of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)- and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)-compatible certification, and how these norms have been applied domestically and perceived locally in different states. Case studies are drawn from northern Sweden, northern Finland, and three regions in northwest Russia. The studies illustrate that the choice and implementation of certification type depend considerably on national infrastructure and market characteristics and result in substantial differences in the impact that international norms have at the local level.


Records of mammals in Mesozoic strata are rare: the earliest are of late Triassic age in Wales, S. Africa and China: two primitive mammal families (Eozo-strodontidae and Kuehneotheridae) are represented in these faunas. There then follows a long time gap until Late Jurassic, when mammals are known from the U.S.A., U.K., Portugal and Tanzania: these faunas include pantotheres, the stock from which almost all the later mammals arose. Between the Late Trias and Late Jurassic, the only known fauna is that of the Middle Jurassic of Stonesfield in Oxfordshire. Thus the discovery of a second site is of great importance: it occurs in the Estuarine Series of Skye in Scotland, and contains a fauna of tritylodonts and docodont mammals. The discovery of this fauna was made in August 1971 by Dr. M. Waldman and Mr. J. B. Dobinson during the course of a search for terrestrial vertebrates in the non-marine strata of Skye. Stratigraphy Since Hugh Miller (1858) described the occurrence of Jurassic vertebrate fossils on the Isle of Eigg, further vertebrates of similar age have been found in the Hebridean region. The richest material so far recovered has been from the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) of Eigg (Hudson 1966), and the most recent find is that of plesiosaur remains from the Bearreraig Sandstone (Bajocian) near Rigg, Isle of Skye (Hudson & Morton 1969). All the Jurassic vertebrate remains known from this area are those of fish and reptiles and occur in a variety of localities. (Miller 1858, Peach 1910, Arkell


Hedgehog promotes the interaction of G protein–coupled receptor kinase with Patched, releasing cyclin B1 to stimulate cell proliferation. Hedgehog (Hh) signaling is mediated by binding of Hh to the 12-transmembrane protein Patched (PTCH), which alleviates PTCH-mediated inhibition of the seven-transmembrane protein Smoothened (Smo). A member of the G protein–coupled receptor kinase (GRK) family has been implicated in Hh signaling through its phosphorylation of Smo. Jiang et al. report that GRK2 also has a kinase-independent function in Hh signaling through an interaction with PTCH. Human GRK2 and PTCH1 interacted in a yeast two-hybrid assay. The two proteins coimmunoprecipitated when heterologously expressed in cultured cells, and addition of an N-terminal fragment of Sonic hedgehog (ShhN) decreased this interaction. A peptide with GRK2 residues 262–379 (BP) was sufficient for the interaction, but kinase activity was not, because a kinase-dead mutant also bound PTCH1. When activated forms of cyclin B1 and PTCH1 were cotransfected into cells, PTCH1 sequestered cyclin B1 in the cytosol. Also, the addition of ShhN promoted the release of cyclin B1 from PTCH1 and its nuclear translocation. Knockdown of GRK2 prevented this ShhN-stimulated nuclear translocation of cyclin B1, and nuclear translocation was restored by expression of either the wild-type GRK2 or kinase-dead GRK2. When BP was overexpressed in PTCH1- and cyclin B1-transfected cells, the amount of cyclin B1 that coimmunoprecipitated with PTCH1 was decreased. ShhN triggered an increased coimmunoprecipitation between GRK2 and PTCH1 and reduced the coimmunoprecipitation of PTCH1 and cyclin B1. Transfection of PTCH1 inhibited cell proliferation, and this was alleviated by the coexpression of any GRK2 with the BP region or just BP. Zebrafish embryos in which GRK2 was knocked down exhibited defects related to disrupted Hh signaling and showed an early growth arrest phenotype likely related to decreased cell proliferation. The early growth arrest phenotype was rescued by GRK2, kinase-dead GRK2, BP, or cyclin B1. Thus, the authors proposed that GRK2 has two functions in Hh signaling, one as a kinase that phosphorylates Smo and one as a kinase-independent binding partner for PTCH1. X. Jiang, P. Yang, L. Ma, Kinase activity-independent regulation of cyclin pathway by GRK2 is essential for zebrafish early development. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 10183–10188 (2009). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This article discusses migratory gender roles within a north/north movement context. Using the case of older Norwegian women migrating to England while young, actively making migration part of their lives, it combines life course theory and migration theory about transnationalism, and presents three migratory life trajectory typologies. These are developed from life course interviews, based on class and gender role differences. One, upper-class based, is about transnational marriage as a key to leaving a small Norwegian community and becoming a 'European' housewife. Another, working-class based, is about using an au pair job as a stepping stone to migration and marriage, doing family-life-adapted paid work in Norwegian workplace 'niches'. The third, middle-class based, is about using the migratory process for strengthening a professional identity. The article shows how a feeling of transnational ambiguity is exceeded the more the migratory gender role is about realising one's own potentials, moving towards gender equality.


ABSTRACT This article discusses the perceptual phenomenon of visual indeterminacy in an art-historical and scientific context and considers the phenomenon's role in certain heightened states of awareness. Further philosophical implications of the phenomenon are discussed, specifically the suggestion that visual indeterminacy may point to an inherent contradiction in the relationship between mind and world. This discussion is then related to a body of artwork produced by the author over some 20 years. The article concludes that visual indeterminacy is a fruitful subject for further interdisciplinary research, as it draws on ideas from the arts, sciences and humanities.


ABSTRACT Our fair-weather perception of modern reefs has led to the implicit assumption that their development is controlled by processes that govern the siting of in-place coral growth. Yet more ephemeral processes, such as storms and hurricanes, assume much greater importance over longer time scales because few reefs escape their influence. To discover the importance of storms on reef development, we analyze the zonation, anatomy, and architecture of a fringing-reef complex around Grand Cayman. We find that the surface zonation of in-place corals is merely a facade and the reef core is in fact composed of meter-thick layers of coral-cobble rudstone capped by crusts of coralline algae. The large size and abraded condition of the rudstone clasts shows that these layers are not the product of f ir-weather processes but the result of destruction and deposition during hurricanes. As hurricane waves cross coral-mantled zones of the inner shelf, they destroy live coral stands and deposit the clasts as a rubble layer covering the entire reef complex. Between storms, this rubble foundation is stabilized by coralline-algal crusts and recolonized by rapidly growing corals, leading eventually to full reef regeneration before the next hurricane. This cyclic pattern of destruction and regeneration consequently produces a fringing-reef complex with a core composed of hurricane-generated rubble-not coral framework as previously assumed. In addition to explaining reef anatomy, hurricane control also explains the variation in reef architecture along shelf, uniform reef location across shelf, and reef absence along certain shelf sections. As hurricane waves cross a mid-shelf scarp, they start to break and destroy coral growth over most of the inner shelf. Coral rubble generated by these waves is deposited 350 (± 50) m from the mid-shelf scarp on margins exposed to the largest waves, but only 250 (± 50) m on semi-protected margins that experience smaller, fetch-limited waves. In areas where the width of the inner shelf is < 250 m, hurricane waves throw rubble ashore and a fringing reef does not develop. During sea-level rise, this influence of shelf width on rubble deposition controls the timing of reef nitiation, and that in turn controls reef architecture. Reefs initiate first on low-gradient coasts with wide shelves, and gradually extend around higher-gradient coasts as sea level rises and shelf width increases. Thus, older reefs are located farther offshore, front deeper lagoons, and have thicker and narrower profiles than younger reefs.


The River Ouse forms a significant part of Humber river system, which drains about one fifth the land area of England and provides the largest fresh water source to the North Sea from UK. The river quality in the tidal river suffered from sag of dissolved oxygen (DO) during last few decades, deteriorated by the effluent discharges. The Environment Agency (EA) proposed to increase the water quality of Ouse by implementing more potent environmental policies. This paper explores the cost effectiveness of water management in the Tidal Ouse through various options by taking into account the variation of assimilative capacity of river water, both in static and dynamic scope of time. Reduction in both effluent discharges and water abstraction were considered along side with choice of effluent discharge location. Different instruments of environmental policy, the emission tax-subsidy (ETS) scheme and tradable pollution permits (TPP) systems were compared with the direct quantitative control approach. This paper at the last illustrated an empirical example to reach a particular water quality target in the tidal Ouse at the least cost, through a solution of constrained optimisation problem. The results suggested significant improvement in the water quality with less cost than current that will fail the target in low flow year.


As a result of the evidence-based decision-making movement, the number of randomized trials evaluating educational programs and curricula has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. Policy makers and practitioners are encouraged to use the results of these trials to inform their decision making in schools and school districts. At the same time, however, little is known about the schools taking part in these randomized trials, both regarding how and why they were recruited and how they compare to populations in need of research. In this article, we report on a study of 37 cluster randomized trials funded by the Institute of Education Sciences between 2011 and 2015. Principal investigators of these grants were interviewed regarding the recruitment process and practices. Additionally, data on the schools included in 34 of these studies were analyzed to determine the general demographics of schools included in funded research, as well as how these samples compare to important policy relevant populations. We show that the types of schools included in research differ in a variety of ways from these populations. Large schools from large school districts in urban areas were overrepresented, whereas schools from small school districts in rural areas and towns are underrepresented. The article concludes with a discussion of how recruitment practices might be improved in order to meet the goals of the evidence-based decision-making movement.


CD55 is one of the complement regulatory/inhibitory proteins and is over-expressed on a wide range of solid tumours. CD55 is also known to be deposited within tumour stroma and is secreted in an active soluble form, mediated by matrix metalloproteinase-7. The complement cascade forms part of the innate immune system and culminates in cell lysis of targeted cells. As a complement regulatory protein, the primary function of CD55 is to accelerate the decay of complement components preventing formation of the membrane attack complex.

CD55 is also known to be a ligand for the T cell early activation antigen CD97, and their interaction has been shown to inhibit the proliferation of activated T cells.

This project aimed to develop anti-tumour immunotherapeutics aimed at exploiting CD55 as a tumour associated antigen. Initial strategies were to develop monoclonal antibodies, specific to identified epitopes from within the CD55 protein sequence, capable of binding, and neutralising CD55s decay accelerating activity. Developed antibodies would also have the potential to induce antibody dependent cell cytotoxicity, thus blocking CD55 protection of tumours and mediating an active anti-tumour response. Antibodies were raised specific to CD55 derived linear peptides, which have been used for the assessment of CD55 expression in breast tumour sections. Monoclonal antibodies failed to recognise natively expressed protein on viable tumour cells and alternate strategies were developed.

An effective immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer would engage both cellular and humoral mediated responses for effective clearance of target cells. In order to achieve this, a DNA vaccine incorporating a human IgG Fc tail was developed expressing the active sites of CD55, containing HLA-A*201 restricted heteroclitic epitopes. The vaccines were used to immunise HLA-A*201 HHDII transgenic mice and CD55 specific responses were assessed. One of the vaccines analysed, elicited CD55 specific antibodies capable of recognising tumour cells in vitro and also generated epitope specific CD8+ T cell mediated lysis of epitope bearing cells. The frequency of CD55 specific T cells was obtained via antigen specific IFN gamma release ELISPOT assays and the cytokine profile of responses generated was assessed via luminex analysis.

In conclusion, CD55 remains a viable target for immunotherapies aimed at CD55 bearing tumours. DNA vaccines encoding modified epitopes are capable or raising cellular and humoral responses to this antigen and further studies should be completed in order to determine anti-cancer effects in tumour bearing models.


Rapid urbanization has increased the need for an adequate sanitation system in Quetta, Pakistan's 12th largest city. However, inadequate institutional capacities have hindered its development. Between 1997 and 2003, the Netherlands Government funded a local environmental management programme which involved a partnership between city governments, community and non-governmental organizations. This paper offers more details about the programme, specifically its institutional framework, technology options, implementation, hygiene promotion and cost and tenure issues.A survey conducted after the project had finished details the outcomes of the programme. Across the range of indicators adopted the outcomes are generally positive. This document also outlines factors in the success of the programme as well as some of the constraints faced, challenges that need to be confronted and issues for future scaling up.


Wide-field temporal focusing is a novel technique that provides optical sectioning for imaging without the need for beam scanning. However, illuminating over large areas greatly reduces the photon density which limits the technique applicability to small regions, precluding functional imaging of cellular networks. Here we present a strategy that combines beam shaping and temporal focusing of amplified pulses (>1 µJ/pulse) for fast imaging of cells from the central nervous system in acute slices. Multiphoton video-rate imaging over total areas as wide as 4800 µm2 with an optical sectioning under 10 µm at 800 nm is achieved with our setup, leading to imaging of calcium dynamics of multiple cells simultaneously in thick tissue.


Portal hypertension due to cirrhosis is the most common cause of ascites. However, in patients with multiple risk factors for ascites, determining the etiology can sometimes present a diagnostic challenge. We present a case of new onset ascites in a 59 year old African American man with concomitant HIV (CD4 54) and chronic active hepatitis C infection, and suspected tuberculosis corroborated by elevated Adenosine Deaminase (ADA). In this unusual case, despite suggestive symptoms and signs, we found the cause of his ascites was neither infection nor liver disease, but rather metastatic gastric malignancy. Ultrasound with Doppler did not show cirrhotic features or vascular thrombus in the liver, while diagnostic and therapeutic paracentesis revealed a low Serum Albumin- Ascites Albumin Gradient (SAAG) and high ascitic fluid WBC count with monocytic predominance. Repeat ascitic fluid testing confirmed low SAAG, and ADA was elevated at 26.3 IU/mL. Laparoscopy revealed innumerable peritoneal lesions resembling tuberculous seeding of the peritoneum. However, peritoneal histopathology returned as metastatic signet cell adenocarcinoma. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) revealed a large, firm, ulcerated gastric body tumor, and pathology was consistent with diffuse signet ring cell carcinoma. In this case, cirrhosis and tuberculous infection were highly suspected, however there was no evidence of cirrhosis, and although acid-fast smear and Quantiferon testing were negative, tuberculous peritonitis was strongly considered due to history of HIV and high monocyte predominance of ascitic fluid with elevated ADA. Both findings are suggestive of tuberculous peritonitis, however, ADA can also be elevated in the setting of malignancy and the pre-test probability of tuberculosis should be considered when sending ADA levels. Confirmation of the diagnosis with peritoneal biopsy is paramount.


[1] The Atmospheric Brown Cloud–East Asia Regional Experiment (ABC-EAREX) was conducted under the UNEP/ABC-Asia project to intercompare the aerosol and gas measurements in springtime from various instruments from late February to April 2005 at the Gosan Supersite on Jeju Island, Korea. Satellite instruments such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) provide a large-scale regional view of the aerosol during the ABC-EAREX period. This study shows the temporal and spatial distribution of four major aerosol types (dust, carbonaceous, sea salt and sulfate) retrieved by MODIS-OMI Algorithm and Four-Channel Algorithm utilizing data from MODIS and OMI over east Asia during the ABC-EAREX campaign. Results from two different retrieval show that a complexity of aerosol types and sources exist over east Asia: Some aerosols are emitted while others are transported. Nevertheless, the results show reasonable consistency in the distribution according to aerosol type. The agreement of aerosol type classification for each aerosol type ranges from 32% to 81% depending on the type. These results were compared with the results from a three-dimensional aerosol transport radiation model, SPRINTARS. Dust type aerosol is usually found to be mixed with carbonaceous type aerosol. It implies that the dust type aerosol is loaded and transported with polluted air mass. The evidence that polluted air masses in the continent can be transported long distance is also captured; that is, sea salt type mixed with the sulfate aerosol is detected over a remote ocean.


Having a vision for the future is an important barometer of church health and vitality. Drawing from analysis of the Australian National Church Life Survey (NCLS) 2011 data of Victorian Baptists (8330 adult attenders across 79 churches) and a small set of follow-up interviews it is clear that while there are high levels of commitment to the idea of vision, at both a leadership and membership level, it can be hard to help attenders capture and own a vision. The data has demonstrated a strong association between churches with a clear vision for the future and numerical growth, a strong sense of belonging and innovation. Church leaders reinforce this, stating that a well-defined vision gives a clear sense of direction and facilitates decision-making and resource allocation. To be most effective a church's vision should be mission focused, engage the skills and gifts of the membership and be accessible to the whole group. A vision should be discerned in a context of trust, acceptance, humility and patience. The ongoing examination and evaluation of the outworkings of a church's vision enables churches to move forward with confidence and purpose. Finding the balance between innovation and realism, planning and action can be challenging but ultimately very powerful.


A whole self-consistent method is developed in order to analyze the influence of incident light beam polarization on an image shape recently recorded from scanning tunneling optical devices. The electromagnetic coupling between the object and a nanometer-size detector is described from a dynamic matrix, including all dipolar correlations inside the system. This matrix, expressed in terms of field propagators, permits us to analyze the physical mechanisms responsible for the conversion of evanescent waves into homogeneous propagating modes inside the detector. The numerical results are compared with those obtained for layered metallic or dielectric nanoparticles deposited upon a glass substrate. The shape and the contrast of the images are both sensitive to the field polarization and to the external frequency in the case of metallic objects. Moreover, as was observed in experimental studies, the p-polarized mode seems to give better contrast in the images.


Lithologic, magnetostratigraphic, and stable isotope records from the Neogene Xunhua and Linxia basins along the Tibetan Plateau's northeastern margin suggest that topography in the intervening Jishi Shan mountain range began to develop between 16 and 11 Ma. Perturbations to local climate patterns resulting from the evolution of local topography are tracked through comparison of stable isotope compositions of calcareous basin-fi ll materials across the Jishi Shan. Similarity of isotopic compositions is interpreted to refl ect the presence of integrated basins, whereas distinct isotopic compositions refl ect unique basin hydrologies. Divergent isotope trends develop between ca. 16 and 11 Ma and are indicative of hydrologic separation in the adjacent Xunhua and Linxia basins and increased aridity in the leeward Xunhua basin . The development of aridity in the lee of the growing topography along the plateau's northeast margin highlights the importance of evaporative enrichment in this extremely continental setting and explains the presence of anomalously positive δ18O values in modern rainfall. Our fi ndings add to a growing body of evidence for deformation along the plateau's north and northeastern margins in the middle to late Miocene.


This study examined whether managerial responses to employee voice behavior is dependent upon the types of voice utilized. Specifically, we argued that employees receive higher idea endorsement, liking and performance ratings when they employ promotive and group voices instead of prohibitive and individual voices. Ninety-nine undergraduate students were randomly assigned into one of the four experimental conditions in a 2 x 2 design (promotive versus prohibitive x individual versus group voices) to study the hypothesized relationships. Results showed that supervisors rated higher performance for employees utilizing promotive voice. Findings also suggested that promotive voice was linked to higher liking and idea endorsement than prohibitive voice while group voice might be related to lower idea endorsement than individual voice. Inconsistent results might be partially due to small sample size and undergraduate student sample but findings had important implications for how subordinates should speak up in the workplace as supervisors do not perceive all speaking up behaviors equally.


Nigeria's sudden leap into oil wealth in the early 1960s caused the neglect of agriculture and solid mineral resources which sustained her economy during the colonial period and the critical years of the civil war. But the oil glut in the 1980s and the subsequent collapse of Nigeria's economy brought about a rethinking of how to reactivate these resources which laid the foundation for the nation's fortunes. Hence, the renewed interest in the exploitation of solid minerals and the growth of cash crops which had ensured the survival of the Nigerian economy before the oil boom.


Burmese amber continues to provide unique insights into the terrestrial biota inhabiting tropical equatorial forests during mid-Cretaceous time. In contrast to the large amount and great diversity of terrestrial species retrieved so far, aquatic biota constitute rare inclusions. Here we describe the first freshwater snail ever preserved in amber. The new species Galba prima sp. nov. belongs in the family Lymnaeidae, today a diverse and near globally distributed family. Its inclusion in terrestrial amber is probably a result of the amphibious lifestyle typical of modern representatives of the genus. The finding of a freshwater snail on the Burma Terrane, back then an island situated at some 1500 km from mainland Asia, has implications for the dispersal mechanisms of Mesozoic lymnaeids. The Cenomanian species precedes the evolution of waterfowl, which are today considered a main vector for long-distance dispersal. In their absence, we discuss several hypotheses to explain the disjunct occurrence of the new species.


While destruction as a theme can be traced throughout art history, from the early atomic age it has remained a pervasive and compelling element of contemporary visual culture. Damage Control features the work of more than 40 international artists working in a range of media - painting, sculpture, photography, film, installation and performance - who have used destruction as a means of responding to their historical moment and as a strategy for inciting spectacle and catharsis, as a form of rebellion and protest, or as an essential part of re-creation and restoration. Including works by such diverse artists as Jean Tinguely, Andy Warhol, Bruce Conner, Yoko Ono, Gordon Matta-Clark, Pipilotti Rist, Yoshitomo Nara and Laurel Nakadate, the book reaches beyond art to enable a broader understanding of culture and society in the aftermath of World War II, under the looming fear of annihilation in the atomic age and in the age of terrorism and other disasters, real and imagined.


Is infrequent voting the most we can expect from a free citizenry? Would democracy be more robust if our political discourse were more deliberative? John Medearis s trenchant and trend-bucking work of political philosophy argues that democracies face significant challenges that go beyond civic lethargy and unreasonable debate. Democracy is inherently a fragile state of affairs, he reminds us. Revisiting fundamental questions about the system in theory and practice, "Why Democracy Is Oppositional" helps us see why preserving democracy has always been and will always be a struggle.As citizens of democracies seek political control over their destinies, they confront forces that threaten to dominate their lives. These forces may take the form of runaway financial markets, powerful special interests, expanding militaries, or dysfunctional legislatures. But citizens of democracies help create the very institutions that overwhelm them. Hostile threats do not generally come from the outside but are the product of citizens own collective activities. Medearis contends that democratic action perpetually arises to reclaim egalitarian control over social forces and institutions that have become alienated from large numbers of citizens. Democracy is therefore necessarily oppositional. Concerted, contentious political activities of all kinds are fundamental to it, while consensus and easy compromise are rarities.Recovering insights from political theorists such as Karl Marx and John Dewey, "Why Democracy Is Oppositional "addresses contemporary issues ranging from the global financial crisis and economic inequality to drone warfare and mass incarceration."


Background: Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease for which the role of dietary factors remains inconclusive. The study objective was to evaluate risk of pancreatic cancer associated with meat preparation methods and meat-related mutagen consumption using a clinic-based case–control design. Methods: There were 384 cases and 983 controls; subjects provided demographic information and completed a 144-item food frequency questionnaire, which was used to estimate meat mutagen intake using the National Cancer Institute's CHARRED database (Bethesda, MD). Logistic regression was used to calculate ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CI), adjusted for factors including age, sex, cigarette smoking, body mass index, and diabetes mellitus. Results: Overall, the findings were null with respect to meat mutagen intake and pancreatic cancer. Conclusions: The results do not support an association between well-done meat or meat-related mutagen intake and pancreatic cancer and contrast with generally increased risks reported in previous studies. Impact: These data contribute to evidence about pancreatic cancer and potentially carcinogenic compounds in meat. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 22(7); 1336–9. ©2013 AACR.


Motivation There are few tools that allow longitudinal analysis of metagenomic data subjected to distinct perturbations. Methods This study examines longitudinal metagenomics data modelled as a Markov Decision Process (MDP). Given an external perturbation, the MDP predicts the next microbiome state in a temporal sequence, selected from a finite set of possible microbiome states. Results We examined three distinct datasets to demonstrate this approach. An MDP created for a vaginal microbiome time series generates a variety of behaviour policies. For example, that moving from a state associated with bacterial vaginosis to a healthier one, requires avoiding perturbations such as lubricant, sex toys, tampons and anal sex. The flexibility of our proposal is verified after applying MDPs to human gut and chick gut microbiomes, taking nutritional intakes, or salmonella and probiotic treatments, respectively, as perturbations. In the latter case, MDPs provided a quantitative explanation for why salmonella vaccine accelerates microbiome maturation in chicks. This novel analytical approach has applications in, for example, medicine where the MDP could suggest the sequence of perturbations (e.g. clinical interventions) to apply to follow the best path from any given starting state, to a desired (healthy) state, avoiding strongly negative states.


Purpose. While some micro‐organisms, such as Staphylococcus aureus, are clearly implicated in causing tissue damage in diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), our knowledge of the contribution of the entire microbiome to clinical outcomes is limited. We profiled the microbiome of a longitudinal sample series of 28 people with diabetes and DFUs of the heel in an attempt to better characterize the relationship between healing, infection and the microbiome. Methodology. In total, 237 samples were analysed from 28 DFUs, collected at fortnightly intervals for 6 months or until healing. Microbiome profiles were generated by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, supplemented by targeted nanopore sequencing. Result/Key findings. DFUs which failed to heal during the study period (20/28, 71.4 %) were more likely to be persistently colonized with a heterogeneous community of micro‐organisms including anaerobes and Enterobacteriaceae (log‐likelihood ratio 9.56, P=0.008). During clinically apparent infection, a reduction in the diversity of micro‐organisms in a DFU was often observed due to expansion of one or two taxa, with recovery in diversity at resolution. Modelling of the predicted species interactions in a single DFU with high diversity indicated that networks of metabolic interactions may exist that contribute to the formation of stable communities. Conclusion. Longitudinal profiling is an essential tool for improving our understanding of the microbiology of chronic wounds, as community dynamics associated with clinical events can only be identified by examining changes over multiple time points. The development of complex communities, particularly involving Enterobacteriaceae and strict anaerobes, may be contributing to poor outcomes in DFUs and requires further investigation.


Joblessness and lack of social welfare are economic problems which require the involvement of all people to overcome. The education aspect which functions to prepare educated human resource also plays important roles in reducing the level of joblessness and increase the social welfare. Islamic Boarding School Sidogiri Pasuruan as an educational institution not only provides Salaf education materials, but gives social benefits through its social entrepreneurship program. The aim of this research is to discover the social entrepreneurship applied at Islamic Boarding School Sidogiri Pasuruan. This research uses qualitative descriptive approach, by using a qualitative research of case study. Technique of data collection applied in this research is through documents, interview, participatory observation, and documentation upon the informants selected by using purposive sampling methods. The results of the research show that the application of social entrepreneurship at Islamic Boarding School Sidogiri Pasuruan can be proven by the innovation of establishment of social entrepreneurship institution, i.e. Kopontren Sidogiri (Cooperative of Islamic Boarding School Sidogiri), Pustaka Sidogiri, Buletin Sidogiri (Sidogiri Buletin), BMT Maslahah, BMT UGT Sidogiri, BPRS UMMU Sidogiri dan Koperasi Agro Sidogiri (Sidogiri Agribusiness Cooperative). They have been established based on the ideas and roles of civil society of Islamic Boarding School Sidogiri Pasuruan to maintain the economic activities, i.e. the duty of delivering Islamic values (dakwah), business, and providing social values for the society around Islamic Boarding School Sidogiri Pasuruan.


The aim of this paper is to illustrate the economic fraud and organized crime do not only work with cash or conventional currencies, but also depend on cryptocurrencies. We will analyze the money laundering process and how cryptocurrencies were integrated in this process and how the law enforcement and government agencies react to this new form of currency. Cryptocurrencies phase out the need for intermediary institutions and enable financial transactions directly between peers. Owing to the transparency provided by blockchain, cryptocurrencies have been preferred by the darknet and other organised criminals. Cryptocurrencies are an emerging form of money that first was born from the creation of Bitcoin in 2009. This type of solely digital currency was meant to be a major rival of the government-backed fiat currency responsibility of the central banking system. The paper contributes to current debates and discussions on cryptocurrencies by introducing new legislation to discourage them from being used in money laundering. This article is a research paper covering cryptocurrencies and their function in moneylaundering.


Proceedings of the 16th conference of the South African Science and Religion Forum(SASRF) of the Research Institute for Theology and Religion held at the University of South Africa, Pretoria, 2-3 September 2010.


Numerical Analysis of Passive Force on Skewed Bridge Abutments Zifan Guo Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, BYU Master of Science Accounting for seismic forces and thermal expansion in bridge design requires an accurate passive force-deflection relationship for the abutment wall. Current design codes make no allowance for skew effects on passive force; however, large scale field tests indicate that there is a substantial reduction in peak passive force as skew angle increases. A reduction in passive force also reduces the transverse shear resistance on the abutment. The purpose of this study is to validate three-dimensional model using PLAXIS 3D, against large scale test results performed at Brigham Young University and to develop a set of calibrated finite element models. The model set could be used to evaluate the variation in passive resistance with skew angle for various abutment geometries and backfill types. Initially, the finite element model was calibrated using the results from a suite of field tests where the backfill material consisted of dense compacted sand. Results were available for skew angles of 0, 15, 30 and 45°. Numerical model results were compared with measured passive force-deflection curves, ground surface heave and displacement contours, longitudinal displacements, and failure plane geometry. Soil properties were defined by laboratory testing and in-situ direct shear tests on the compacted fill. Soil properties and mesh geometries were primarily calibrated based on the zero skew test results. The results were particularly sensitive to the soil friction angle, wall friction angle, angle of dilatancy, soil stiffness and lateral restraint of the abutment backwall movement. Reasonable agreement between measured and computed response was obtained in all cases confirming numerically that passive force decreases as skew angle increases Additional analyses were then performed for abutments with different soil boundaries.


Stop curating! And think what curating is all about. This book starts from this simple premise: thinking the activity of curating. To do that, it distinguishes between 'curating' and 'the curatorial'. If 'curating' is a gamut of professional practices for setting up exhibitions, then 'the curatorial' explores what takes place on the stage set up, both intentionally and unintentionally, by the curator. It therefore refers not to the staging of an event, but to the event of knowledge itself.
In order to start thinking about curating, this book takes a new approach to the topic. Instead of relying on conventional art historical narratives (for example, identifying the moments when artistic and curatorial practices merged or when the global curator-author was first identified), this book puts forward a multiplicity of perspectives that go from the anecdotal to the theoretical and from the personal to the philosophical. These perspectives allow for a fresh reflection on curating, one in which, suddenly, curating becomes an activity that implicates us all (artists, curators, and viewers), not just as passive recipients, but as active members. As such, the Curatorial is a book without compromise: it asks us to think again, fight against sweeping art historical generalizations, the sedimentation of ideas and the draw of the sound bite. Curating will not stop, but at least with this book it can begin to allow itself to be challenged by some of the most complex and ethics-driven thought of our times.


The international financial crisis, which started in the United States at the end of 2007, hit Europe soon afterwards. Its impact on the old continent has been enormous. A number of country-specific crises were triggered, especially in the European periphery. This essay will focus on two countries, which were affected particularly severely: Spain and Italy. In Spain, the global financial crisis was worsened by the burst of the housing bubble, which had inflated the cost of housing during the early 2000s. In Italy, in contrast, pre-existing problems with the management of high public debt, long-term stagnation in labour productivity and low government credibility made its economy vulnerable to the financial crisis. Though both countries had different experiences dealing with the global crisis, Italian and Spanish structural and economic features are largely comparable and both countries experienced an economic boom since the 2000s, especially in the housing sector. Yet, Italy did not witness a housing boom turning into a bubble and its consequences, a steep correction of housing prices - the "bust" - , whereas Spain is still recovering from it. This paper attempts to analyze the reason for this discrepancy.


A consensus is emerging from studies of continental rifts and rifted margins worldwide that significant extension can be accommodated by magma intrusion prior to the development of a new ocean basin. However, the influence of loading from magma intrusion, lava extrusion, and sedimentation on plate flexure and resultant subsidence of the basin is not well understood. We address this issue by using three-dimensional flexural models constrained by geological and geophysical data from the Main Ethiopian Rift and the Afar Depression in East Africa. Model results show that axial mafic intrusions in the crust are able to cause significant downward flexure of the opening rift and that the amount of subsidence increases with decreasing plate strength accompanying progressive plate thinning and heating during continental breakup. This process contributes to the tilting of basaltic flows toward the magma injection axis, forming the typical wedge-shaped seaward-dipping reflector sequences on either side of the eventual rupture site as the new ocean basin forms.


Single cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) experiments can provide a wealth of information about heterogeneous, multi-cellular systems. However, this information has to be inferred computationally from sequencing reads which constitute a sparse and noisy sub-sampling of the actual cellular transcriptomes. Here we present UNCURL (https://github.com/mukhes3/UNCURL_release), a unified framework for scRNA-seq data visualization, cell type identification and lineage estimation that explicitly accounts for the sequencing process. The main algorithmic novelty is a non-negative matrix factorization method that uses knowledge of the distribution resulting from the sequencing process to more accurately model the underlying cell state matrix. We also develop a systematic way for incorporating prior biological information such as bulk RNA expression profiles into the cell state matrix. We find that UNCURL dramatically improves performance over state-of-the-art methods both in the absence and presence of prior knowledge. Finally we demonstrate that using UNCURL as a data preprocessing tool significantly improves the performance of existing scRNA-seq analysis algorithms.


The problem of persistent bounded disturbance rejection for linear impulsive systems with parametric uncertainties is considered by Lyapunov function and positively invariant set analysis method. A sufficient condition on robust internal stability and L1-performance of the impulsive systems is established in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Based on this result, a simple approach to design a linear state-feedback controller is presented to stabilize robustly the impulsive systems with uncertainties and to achieve a desired level of disturbance attenuation. A sufficient condition on the existence of a non-fragile state-feedback controller is also obtained. Two numerical examples are worked out to illustrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed approach.


ANNIS (see Dipper & Gotze 2005; Chiarcos et al. 2008) is a flexible web-based corpus architecture for search and visualization of multi-layer linguistic corpora. By multi-layer we mean that the same primary datum may be annotated independently with (i) annotations of different types (spans, DAGs with labelled edges and arbitrary pointing relations between terminals or non-terminals), and (ii) annotation structures that possibly overlap and/or conflict hierarchically. In this paper we present the different features of the architecture as well as actual use cases for corpus linguistic research on such diverse areas as information structure, learner language and discourse level phenomena. The supported search functionalities of ANNIS2 include exact and regular expression matching on word forms and annotations, as well as complex relations between individual elements, such as all forms of overlapping, contained or adjacent annotation spans, hierarchical dominance (children, ancestors, leftor rightmost child etc.) and more. Alternatively to the query language, data can be accessed using a graphical query builder. Query matches are visualized depending on annotation types: annotations referring to tokens (e.g. lemma, POS, morphology) are shown immediately in the match list. Spans (covering one or more tokens) are displayed in a grid view, trees/graphs in a tree/graph view, and pointing relations (such as anaphoric links) in a discourse view, with same-colour highlighting for coreferent elements. Full Unicode support is provided and a media player is embedded for rendering audio files linked to the data, allowing for a large variety of corpora. Corpus data is annotated with automatic tools (taggers, parsers etc.) or taskspecific expert tools for manual annotation, and then mapped onto the interchange format PAULA (Dipper 2005), where stand-off annotations refer to the same primary data. Importers exist for many formats, including EXMARaLDA (Schmidt 2004), TigerXML (Brants & Plaehn 2000), MMAX2 (Muller & Strube 2006), RSTTool (O'Donnell 2000), PALinkA (Orasan 2003) and Toolbox (Stuart et al. 2007). Data is compiled into a relational DB for optimal performance. Query matches and their features can also be exported in the ARFF format and processed with the data mining tool WEKA (Witten & Frank 2005), which offers implementations of clustering and classification algorithms. ANNIS2 compares favourably with search functionalities in the above tools as well as other corpus search engines (EXAKT, http://www.exmaralda.org/exakt.html, TIGERSearch, Lezius,2002, CWB, Christ 1994) and other frameworks/architectures (NITE, Carletta et al. 2003, GATE, Cunningham, 2002).


Cryptococcal meningitis has emerged as a leading cause of infectious morbidity and mortality in patients with AIDS. A retrospective analysis of records of HIV-infected individuals registered in the Immunodeficiency Clinic of a tertiary care hospital and research institute was carried out. Records of 6900 HIV-infected individuals who were enrolled in the clinic between January 2002 and March 2011 were analyzed. Records of 6900 HIV-infected individuals were screened. Ninety-one were diagnosed with cryptococcal meningitis (1.32%). In 68 individuals cryptococcal meningitis was the presenting illness. Nine patients developed meningitis within 6 months of starting antiretroviral treatment (ART). Six patients were receiving ART for more than 6 months at the time of diagnosis. The remaining eight patients were not on ART at the time of development of meningitis. The mean baseline CD4 count of patients was 77.7 ± 61 (range, 4-259, n=91) cells/mm(3). Seventy-four patients had a CD4 value of less than 100 at the time of diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis. Eleven of these ninety-one patients had a relapse of cryptococcal meningitis while receiving a maintenance dose of fluconazole. During follow-up 37 died, two were lost to follow-up, while 52 patients were on regular ART. Mortality due to cryptococcal meningitis amounted to 0.54% (37/6900). There was no correlation between survival and duration of ART at the time of cryptomeningitis (Pearsons χ(2)=0.241, p=0.884). There was a significant difference in the CD4 counts of the HIV-infected individuals who died with cryptomeningitis and those who survived (Pearson's χ(2)=9.1, df=4, p=0.05). The frequency of cryptococcal meningitis was 1.32%. Cryptococcal meningitis leads to high mortality in HIV patients. Management of cryptococcal infection remains a key facet of AIDS care in India.


Background: Acute unilateral ureteric obstruction, with normal contralateral kidney, is occasionally accompanied by a rise of serum creatinine. Urgent drainage is usually performed to restore normal renal function. However, there is a growing evidence in literature that this rise of serum creatinine is false (pseudo renal failure) due to absorption of urine with its high creatinine. This is possibly through back flow into venous and lymphatic vessels. This hypothesis can render urgent intervention in these circumstances unnecessary. Our aim was to measure global renal function by measuring estimated renographic glomerular filtration rate (GFR) to determine if there is a real impairment of renal function or not in this clinical scenario. Methods: It is a prospective study over 3 years (2012 - 2015). All patients with acute unilateral ureteric obstruction due to ureteric stones with normal contralateral kidney and high serum creatinine > 140 mmol/L were included in our study. All patients were diagnosed by abdominal ultrasonography and non-contrast computed tomography (CT). Estimated GFR (eGFR) was measured using DTPA isotope renography on admission. Serum creatinine measurement and DTPA were repeated 2 weeks after intervention or after spontaneous passage of stones. Results: Fifty-three patients (all males) were enrolled in the study. The mean age was 36.43 ± 9.2 years. The mean serum creatinine on admission was 178.7 ± 14.83 µmol/L (normal range for males: 70 - 120 µmol/L). The mean eGFR on admission was 95.04 ± 15.41 mL/min (normal range for males: 75 - 125 mL/min). Thirteen patients passed stones on medical expulsive therapy without intervention. Thirty-one patients underwent double J insertion and nine patients underwent ureteroscopy with stones removal or disintegration. The mean serum creatinine after treatment was 107.5 ± 6.5 µmol/L. The mean eGFR after drainage or after passage of stones was 94.45 ± 6.37 mL/min. The difference between eGFR on admission and eGFR after passage of stones or after intervention was statistically insignificant (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Rise of serum creatinine in patients with acute unilateral ureteric obstruction is not associated with decreased renographic eGFR. Renal impairment in these circumstances is not a true impairment. World J Nephrol Urol. 2016;5(3):51-53 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/wjnu276w


Using both verbal and nonverbal techniques to make its messages as persuasive as possible, advertising has become an integral component of modern-day social discourse designed to influence attitudes and lifestyle behaviours by covertly suggesting how we can best satisfy our innermost urges and aspirations through consumption. This text looks at the categories of this form of discourse from the standpoint of semiotic analysis. It deals with the signifying processes that underlie advertising messages in print, electronic and digital form.


In the field of medical reproductive research, the selection of embryos with the best potential for implantation is the main challenge for biologists. Several studies suggest that genes involved in the Oocyte-Cumulus Cell crosstalk could represent candidate genebiomarkers for selecting embryos with the highest implantation potential.Therefore, the principle objective of this study is to verify the transcriptomic experimental data from 21 biomarker genes by RT-qPCR (Real-Time quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction) of 102 embryonic/cumulus cell samples from patients undergoing in vitro fertilization. Since variability (noises) from various sources (biological, technical, etc.) was observed,there is a reasonable doubt about the capability of these transcriptomic data to provide a reliable and robust pregnancy predictive model. So, our goal is to verify if the genomic signature could be used as biomarker. If so, one can stipulate that the transcriptome is predictable and could generate a reliable mathematical model. Stochastic modelling is based on the Multiple Logistic Regression (MLR) which is bimodal and therefore binary, seems adequate to give a conclusion regarding this genomic signature capacity to predict the absence or presence of Pregnancy (Pr) event. In this work, the observed event will be represented by a dependent random vector Y that takes the value 1 if pregnancy occurs and 0 if not. The prediction value of this vector also depends on the noise (e) induced by the variabilities mentioned above. Bio-stochastic tools such as the ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic measure) curve and its AUC (Area Under the ROC Curve), the probabilistic likelihood indicators, the Odds Ratio (OR), and finally the Youden Index (YI), appear as a simple and an effective biological decision tools to verify the validity of this genomic signature as biomarker to predict pregnancy (Pr). The analysis of the bio-statistical indicator results indicate that the obtained predictive model is non-discriminant, suggesting a bias in the transcriptomic data.


We provide a first in-depth look at robust estimation of integrated quarticity (IQ) based on high frequency data. IQ is the key ingredient enabling inference about volatility and the presence of jumps in financial time series and is thus of considerable interest in applications. We document the significant empirical challenges for IQ estimation posed by commonly encountered data imperfections and set forth three complementary approaches for improving IQ based inference. First, we show that many common deviations from the jump diffusive null can be dealt with by a novel filtering scheme that generalizes truncation of individual returns to truncation of arbitrary functionals on return blocks. Second, we propose a new family of efficient robust neighborhood truncation (RNT) estimators for integrated power variation based on order statistics of a set of unbiased local power variation estimators on a block of returns. Third, we find that ratio-based inference, originally proposed by Barndorff-Nielsen and Shephard, has desirable robustness properties and is well suited for our empirical applications. We confirm that the proposed filtering scheme and the RNT estimators perform well in our extensive simulation designs and in an application to the individual Dow Jones 30 stocks.