In this thesis, the Nernst effect in high-temperature superconductors is investigated. This effect gained much interest because it is usually very small in metals and was found to display a large signal in the vortex liquid phase of the High-Tc's. The more surprising that large Nernst voltages were found to survive up to temperatures that reach far out of the superconducting phase. This was extensively studied thereafter in wide doping range of the High-Tc's. We were able to significantly expand these studies by tuning T* and T^v independently. This was done by inducing Ni ions into the CuO planes of NdBa2Cu3O7-d which allowed to study the Nernst effect in a wide parameter range. This is done on one hand in dependence of the oxygen content which varies the charge carrier concentration. On the other hand, the Ni concentration is varied from 0 to 0.12, thereby enhancing T* and simultaneously suppressing T_c with increasing concentrations. So to say, a third axis is accessed in the phase diagram of the cuprates. The temperatures to which the anomalous Nernst signal is detectable is the onset temperature T^v. The goal of this work was to find out whether T^v follows T_c or T*, since both can be influenced by altering the charge carrier content or the impurity concentration. The onset temperatures of the anomalous Nernst signals are determined as the slightest detectable deviation from the quasiparticle background above T_c. Overall, T^v clearly does not track the enhanced pseudogap temperatures in any sample series that is investigated in this work. In the second part of this work, the Nernst effect and other transport properties of UPt2Si2, including electrical ones such as the resistivity and the Hall effect and thermal ones, as the thermal conductivity, the thermopower and the Righi-Leduc effect were investigated. These investigations were motivated by the findings of a giant Nernst effect in the related system URu2Si2. And indeed, a pronounced Nernst signal was found also in UPt2Si2. In an early theory, published in 1972, Abelskii and Dik et al. calculated the thermopower and the Nernst coefficient for a generic antiferromagnet under the assumption of a gapping of the Fermi surface at T_N in addition to phonon and spin scattering mechanisms. These calculations astonishingly well predict the behavior of the measured quantities of UPt2Si2. The onsets of the signals as well as the maxima positions meet the forecasts of the theory. Thus, the emergence of the Nernst signal is ascribed to an opening of a gap at the Fermi surface. Yet, this gapping cannot affect the whole Fermi surface, otherwise the system would undergo a metal-to-insulator transition, which is not seen in the resistivity. This scenario of a partial gapping is consistent with a recent publication of electronic transport and neutron diffraction studies.


BACKGROUND
The lead concentration in plasma is correlated to that in whole blood with a two to fourfold variation. It has never been investigated if this variation is inter-individual.

METHODS
Lead and hemoglobin were determined in blood and plasma from 13 lead workers with a history of relatively high blood-lead concentrations, sampled three times during 1 day. The variation in the distribution of lead between cells and plasma was studied, but not the variation in the lead concentrations as such.

RESULTS
Blood hemoglobin decreased with rising plasma lead (0.9-3.0 microg/L). Regarding the distribution of lead, no effect of current exposure during the day or of recent meals appeared. As much as 84% of the overall variance of the distribution of lead between cells and plasma could be attributed to individual factors. After adjustment for erythrocyte volume fraction this decreased to 67%. Plasma samples with elevated hemoglobin concentrations (due to in vitro hemolysis) had somewhat elevated lead concentrations.

CONCLUSIONS
Plasma lead is not significantly altered by variation in a single day's exposure and, therefore, the choice of time of the day is not critical for sampling. However, plasma lead is negatively correlated to blood hemoglobin and mild hemolysis (not visible by the eye) in a sample may increase plasma lead with up to 30%. Finally, plasma provides lead exposure information that differs from whole blood, but it is not clear which one of these is the biomarker with the closest relation to exposure and/or effects.


Of all the enormous monuments throughout Egypt and Nubia that Ramesses II (the
 Great; ca. 1279–1212 BCE) left behind, his temple at Abydos, built early in his reign,
 stands as one of his most elegant monuments, with its simple architectural layout and
 dramatic and graceful painted relief scenes. Though best known for its dramatic reliefs
 depicting the battle of Kadesh, the temple also offers a wealth of information about
 religious and social life in ancient Egypt. It reflects, for example, the strenuous
 efforts of the early Ramessides to reestablish the Osiris cult in Egypt—and particularly
 at Abydos—in the aftermath of the Amarna period. Over a seven-year period, the authors
 of The Temple of Ramesses II in Abydos conducted a field project with the aim of
 producing an up-to-date and comprehensive architectural, photographic, and epigraphic
 record of the temple. This lavish volume, This lavish volume, the second of two
 documenting their results, presents miscellaneous elements of the temple, including the
 pillars, as well as translations of the inscriptions found in the temple. Volume 1,
 "Wall Scenes," (available here) contains more than two hundred detailed line
 drawings—accurately rendered according to modern epigraphical standards—of the temple's
 carved relief scenes, placed alongside their corresponding full-color photographs. The
 result is a masterpiece of modern epigraphic research and publication.


Freezing lymphocytes in microtest plates instead of vials for the purpose of screening sera for HLA or other cytotoxic antibodies offers the same technical advantages as freezing sera in microtest plates for tissue typing. Plate-loading errors and cell wastage are minimized, and time required for serum screening is greatly reduced. A method for freezing lymphocytes in large numbers of microtest plates for use in serum screening that is simple, reproducible, and inexpensive is described. Cryoprotected lymphocytes dispensed into microtest plates are placed on a metal table that is lowered onto a tray containing 1 cm of liquid nitrogen in a Styrofoam box. The amount of liquid nitrogen in the tray and the height of the metal table above the tray determine the freezing rate of the lymphocytes. Over 100 microtest plates can be frozen per cycle with total cooling uniformity. The materials required for this freezing device can be assembled for less than $400. Commercial freezing units typically cost over $4,000.


The current study had two overriding and inter-related aims. The first was to describe the biology of C. hesperia the dominant scavenging subtidal cirolanid found in temperate waters off the Perth metropolitan coastline and thereby extend our knowledge and test several hypotheses regarding the biology of scavenging crustaceans in general. The second was to use the biological information generated to develop fishing practices that reduce the amount of bait used by trap based fisheries without reducing the overall catch. Fulfilling the latter aim has the potential to greatly reduce some of the deleterious effects of fishing practices around the world.

A survey was designed to determine whether the anecdotal evidence that commercial rocklobster fishers believe sea lice have a negative impact on the ratio of bait used to rocklobster landed was widespread across the fishery and, if so, whether they associated particular factors with increases or decreases in lice numbers. The response rate of over 40% was high for a survey of this type and had similar return rates across all zones of the fishery. Such a high return rate, in addition to the responses confirms that commercial fishers, regardless of zone, consider that sea lice have adverse effects on the ratio of bait used to rocklobster landed.

The findings of the survey allowed the following conclusions to be drawn and hypotheses developed. Commercial fishers believe particular temporal and spatial factors are associated with increased numbers of sea lice predating on rocklobster baits. For example, fishing in depth ranges of 20 - 30 fathoms (40 – 60 metres) and greater, fishing on a sand bottom, fishing during the months of November, December, March and April, fishing during the full and new moons and lastly during periods of weak current and high water temperature were all felt to increase the number of sea lice scavenging on baits.

Laboratory growth trials demonstrated significant differences in the mean body lengths of starved and fed manca and adult C. hesperia after three and seven months, respectively. Despite these findings, starved adult C. hesperia continued to moult and grow after approximately 300 days of fasting. The relatively short period of time before differences in starved and fed manca C. hesperia growth parameters arose is probably due to early life stages of cirolanids being more reliant on regular food sources than their adult counterparts. An increase in water temperature from 16 oC to 24 oC resulted in no significant increase in mean body length of manca C. hesperia. However, the mean inter-moult period of fed manca housed at 24 oC was significantly lower (25-50%) than both the fed treatment group housed at 16 oC and the starved treatment group within the first two months of the trial. This reduction in mean inter-moult period is indicative of an animal which is growing quickly as a result of increased metabolic rate albeit at reduced increments.

The 24 hour activity rhythms of C. hesperia in shallow waters in the metropolitan zone of the Western Rocklobster Fishery were determined in order to identify those factors which modulate the emergence and/or swimming activity of this dominant scavenger. It was concluded that the presence of a circadian rhythm of spontaneous nocturnal activity induced by the end of the diurnal period of photo-inhibition,regardless of tidal regime or lunar cycle, is evident in adult C. hesperia. In contrast, circa-tidal rhythms of emergence centered around spring tides were found to exist in juvenile C. hesperia with similar mean numbers trapped across all sampling times (see Chapter 3, tables 3.4-3.8) with the exception of high water spring tides (HWS), which resulted in significantly greater mean numbers. It was concluded that mature cirolanids found off the Western Australian coastline adopt a strictly nocturnal and facultative necrophage mode of existence despite carrion generally being regarded as a much less crucial food resource in relatively shallow, productive, inshore waters. However, juvenile cirolanids found off the Western Australian coastline were recognised as relying on a more opportunistic scavenger mode of existence being active during both day and night. This perpetual foraging strategy employed in cirolanids at manca and juvenile stages is possibly due to the lack of the well developed chemosensory and or olfactory capabilities found in their adult stages. In addition to this reduced foraging efficiency, a smaller gut size combined with higher metabolic rates and lower assimilation efficiencies ensures their ongoing search for sustenance.

Analyses of the number of C. hesperia collected during three years of trapping in C zone of the Western Rocklobster Fishery clearly demonstrated that the numbers of cirolanids caught in rocklobster pots were significantly affected by bottom type, moon phase and depth. With respect to bottom type, the greatest numbers of C. hesperia were trapped in rocklobster pots deployed on weed/rock and sand bottoms while significantly lower numbers of C. hesperia were trapped on rock or weed bottoms. In regards to moon phase, rocklobster pots deployed during the new and last quarter of the moon phase trapped significantly greater numbers of both C. hesperia and the Western Rocklobster, P. cygnus than those deployed during the full and first quarter phases. Rocklobster pots containing lice traps deployed in depths ranging from 10-19 and 20-29 fathoms (20-39 and 40-59 metres respectively) caught significantly greater numbers of C. hesperia and P. cygnus than pots deployed in the 1-19 metre depth range. Lastly, the catchability of both C. hesperia and P. cygnus was greatest when either Australian salmon or blue mackerel was deployed in pots indicating these scavengers do exercise a degree of selectivity with respect to particular bait types.

Whilst ovigerous C. hesperia were present in each month of the year, peaks in their abundance and/or catchability occurred at the height of summer (January to March). These peaks in mpm, i.e. morphological parturial moult stage, C. hesperia were then followed by corresponding peaks in recruitment from April to June. I hypothesise that peaks in the reproductive intensity of C. hesperia can be attributed to peaks in water temperature and also the seasonal influx of carrion due to both recreational and commercial charter fishing and the commencement of the rocklobster season all occurring predominately within a similar time frame, i.e. the warmer months.

The current study has clearly demonstrated that a plethora of factors attract high numbers of both C. hesperia and P. cygnus. Thus, it is apparent that those practices employed by commercial fishers to land the greatest number of P. cygnus will also attract significant numbers of C. hesperia to rocklobster baits. Irrespective of key factors driving C. hesperia abundance, the high market price received for P. cygnus in conjunction with the relatively low price payed for bait, ensures fishers will continue to deploy rocklobster pots in the manner which maximises their landings. Thus for a reduction in bait usage to offer significant economic savings to the industry, different methods of bait deployment that do not result in a decrease in the catch of P. cygnus must be developed.

A series of baitsaver trials were conducted in order to determine whether baitsavers deployed containing reduced quantities of bait would catch the same numbers of rocklobster as conventional pots using the typical amounts of bait employed in the fishery. During the start of the season the majority of fishers concentrate their efforts in shallow waters and employ predominantly one day soaks as they target rocklobster migrating from the shallows to offshore habitats (whites phase – November to February). In the later parts of the season (reds phase – March to June) fishing effort becomes less concentrated as some fishers continue to fish the inshore grounds whilst others move out into deeper waters. The season long trial demonstrated that packing large quantities of bait in both baitboxes in the pot (traditional method) caught significantly more rocklobster than pots using a baitsaver in one bait box while the other bait box was packed in traditional fashion (combined method) during the first two months of the whites phase. However, during the remainder of the season there was no significant difference in catches between the two methods. Thus, the season-long trial found that the use of traditional methods of bait deployment in the first two months of the season in conjunction with the combined method of bait deployment from January until the end of the commercial season has the potential to save inshore and offshore based fishers $34,000 and $36,000 each year.


The results of three studies we conducted on this little-researched facet of creativity were striking. We found that people systematically underestimate their originality – a defining characteristic of creativity – throughout the ideation process. Such bias in the evaluation of our originality stems from the belief that other people think like us. Our insights, detailed in "You may be more original


Abstract The Miocene evolution of the area transitional from the Eastern Alps to the Pannonian Basin System was studied through the paleogeographic evolution of the Slovenj Gradec Basin in northern Slovenia. It is based on mapping, section logging, nannoplankton biostratigraphy, and petrography. The results are correlated with the lithological column of the borehole MD-1/05. The evolution of the basin is connected with the development of the Pannonian Basin System, and the global 3rd order cycles, which influenced the connection with the Mediterranean Sea. Sedimentation started in the Karpatian in a fluvial to lacustrine environment and terminated at the end of the Early Badenian. During this period, three transgression–regression cycles were recorded. The first transgression occurred in the Karpatian and corresponds to the TB 2.2. cycle. The sediments reflect proximity of the hinterland. After a short break in sedimentation, the Early Badenian deposition followed. It marks the second transgression into the SGB, the first Badenian, correlated with the TB 2.3 cycle. There are signs of a transitional environment, which evolved to marine in advanced stages. At the high-stand system tract, the sea flooded the entire Slovenj Gradec Basin. Subsequent reduced quantity and diversity of the microfossils marks the onset of the second regression stage. It is followed by the third transgression, the second in the Badenian, correlated with the TB 2.4 cycle. The late Early Badenian deposition continued in the lower-energy, though occasionally still turbulent environment. Silty sediments with upward increasing content of organic matter indicate shallowing of the basin, until its final diminishing. Layers of fresh-water coal already bear witness to the existence of restricted swamps. After the Early Badenian, the area of the Slovenj Gradec Basin became dry land, exposed to erosion.


Abstract. Disaster impacts are more frequent, deadly and costly. The social and environmental consequences are increasingly complex and intertwined. Systematic as well as innovated strategies are needed to manage the impacts. Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is a systematic approach to manage disaster risks while adaptive governance (AG) is suggested as an alternative approach for governing complex problems such as disasters. The author proposes that the AG can be practicalised through a mechanism of multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs), interpreted as multiplicity of organisations at different scales of governance working towards more coordinated and integrated actions in DRR. Ten MSPs are selected at the global, regional, national and local level, focussing on the Indonesian MSPs. The literature reviews and in-depth interviews with key respondents in Indonesia show that the international and regional MSPs tend to have more human, technical and financial capacity than national and local MSPs. The author finds that most MSP roles focus on the coordination amongst multitudes of organisations. Only those MSPs that are able to generate new funding have the capacity to implement direct risk reduction activities. The development of the MSP is highly influenced by the UNISDR system operating at different levels. Particularly in Indonesia, MSP are also influenced by the operations of various UN and international organisations. Finally, the paper suggests the need for more provision of technical supports to local MSPs, more linkages with established networks in DRR and broader stakeholders involvement within the MSPs.


The status of heavy metals pollution in the Sepang Besar River and Sepang Kecil River
was studied in August 1998. In general heavy metals concentrations in flat tree oyster 1.
alatus, sediments and water from Sepang Besar River were found significantly (p <0.05) higher than those from Sepang Kecil River.
Furthermore field experiments were conducted to study the accumulation and depuration
of heavy metals in oysters. The rates of metals accumulations in oysters were found to
be 42.70, 1.77, 0.95, 0.84 µg g⁻¹ month⁻¹ for Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb, respectively. The
polluted oysters were transferred to clean area to estimate the depuration rates.
Significant reduction of metals concentrations in oyster was observed. About 87%, 83%,
78% and 59% for Cd, Pb, Cu and Zn were detected after six months being transferred to
clean area, respectively. The metals accumulation and depurations patterns in oysters in the laboratory conditions
were also investigated. The mean metal concentrations in oysters exposed to metals
solution of 100 µg rt at the end of two weeks were 32.70, 63. 19, 35.40, 7.44 µg got ,
which were 44, 3, 8 and 7 times greater than their initial levels for Cd, Zn, Cu and Pb,
respectively. The exposed oysters were transferred to clean seawater and the metals
depurations were investigated for one week. In general about 78%, 81%, 87% and 88%
of the accumulated Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd were depurated from oysters 1. alatus.
Results from laboratory experiments indicated that there were differences in the
mechanisms for the metals accumulation and depurations in various organs of 1. alatus.
In general, in both accumulation and depuration experiments, gill, byssus and mantle
play major role whereas muscle, shell and visceral mass have no significant role.
Furthermore laboratory experiments were showed that the accumulation rates of metals
through contaminated water were higher than the metals accumulation rates through
contaminated algae. It is believed that oysters 1. alatus accumulate heavy metals through
contaminated seawater rather than contaminated algae.
The LCso levels of metals for oysters were observed to be 478.63, 436.51, 676.08 and
295.12 µg rl for Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd, respectively. The toxicity effects of heavy metals
on filtration rate of oysters were also studied and the filtration rate of oysters 1. alatus
exposed to 125 and 150 µg rl of all metals were decreased. In both toxicity experiments
the trend of metals toxicity on oysters were found Cd > Pb > Cu > Zn.


We examine the topic of decision making and norm violation in international politics. While constructivists emphasize norm conformity due to global social pressures, and realists emphasize the ease of norm violation due to self-interest and the lack of a world enforcer, we argue that these approaches fail to explain variation in normative behavior in foreign policy. We suggest that normative behavior is mitigated importantly by leaders' beliefs and decision-making styles. Leaders who view the international environment in state-centric, Hobbesian terms and are less sensitive to the political context are more likely to violate international norms than leaders who view world politics in more benign terms and are more sensitive to contextual pressures. We test these expectations by correlating key leadership traits of Bush Administration officials with their positions regarding the normatively suspect invasion of Iraq in 2003. The findings suggest that need for power, belief in ability to control events, ingroup bias, and especially distrust may be important predictors of one's willingness to violate international norms. We discuss the implications of our results for the prospect for international society to regulate force, and call for a third wave of constructivism wedded to its ideational ally of political psychology.


Since 1989, the Lao government is implementing a policy on better use of forest
resources. In order to get more accurate data for strategic decisions and planning of a
sustainable forest management, the government is conducting a national forest
inventory (NFI) and a nationwide mapping of land use and forest cover. Both
activities provide important information but any of the two sources is not sufficient
for calculating growing stock for production forest areas which is an important base
for estimating allowable cut.
The objective of this study is to investigate the possibility of combining two different
types of data, firstly sampling data from the NFI and secondly land use maps based on
SPOT satellite imagery, for estimating growing stock in small areas (production
areas) and estimating allowable cut on province level.
In the study an approach (CNL) has been developed. The CNL approach provides the
opportunity of combining the different types of data and it is also tested and evaluated
in two production forest areas. In the study, management inventory data has been used
as a reference, and government guide-lines for determining, in which area logging can
take place.
For each area, the CNL provided such information as the average volume per hectare
for different land use groups and forest types and the average number of trees per
hectare. For current forest the information on crown density and stand structure has
been used to improve the estimates. The precision of the estimates has also been
calculated.
The CNL approach gave slightly higher figures than the reference data (average
volume per hectare of Natural High Forest), but the differences can be explained by
the time factor (different year of survey) and classification standards.
It is concluded that the CNL is feasible for estimating growing stock for areas similar
to the two study areas. The areas were about 10,000 hectares each and located in
accessible areas (covered by NFI sample plots).
Through the CNL approach, it is possible to make use of NFI and map data in
combination to calculate the growing stock for areas defined by the data user. This
information is one important piece of information needed for estimating the Annual
Allowable Cut on, for example, province level.


Three kernel-based modeling approaches are proposed to predict the local scour around bridge piers using field data. Modeling approaches include Gaussian processes regression (GPR), relevance vector machines (RVM) and a kernlised extreme learning machine (KELM). A dataset consisting of 232 upstream pier scour measurements derived from the Bridge Scour Data Management System (BSDMS) was used. The radial basis kernel function was used with all three kernel-based approaches and results were compared with support vector regression and four empirical relations. Coefficient of determination value of 0.922, 0.922 and 0.900 (root mean square error, RMSE = 0.297, 0.310 and 0.343 m) was achieved by GPR, RVM and KELM algorithm respectively. Comparisons of results with support vector regression and Froehlich equation, Froehlich design, HEC-18 and HEC-18/Mueller predictive equations suggest an improved performance by the proposed approaches. Results with dimensionless data using all three algorithms suggest a better performance by dimensional data.


Federal agencies are taking many steps to improve the sustainability of their operations, including improving the energy efficiency of their buildings, promoting recycling and reuse of materials, encouraging carpooling and alternative transit schemes, and installing low flow water fixture units are just a few of the common examples. However, an often overlooked means of energy savings is to provide feedback to building users about their energy use through information dashboards connected to a building?s energy information system. An Energy Information System (EIS), broadly defined, is a package of performance monitoring software, data acquisition hardware, and communication systems that is used to collect, store, analyze, and display energy information. At a minimum, the EIS provides the whole-building energy-use information (Granderson 2009a). We define a ?dashboard? as a display and visualization tool that utilizes the EIS data and technology to provide critical information to users. This information can lead to actions resulting in energy savings, comfort improvements, efficient operations, and more. The tools to report analyzed information have existed in the information technology as business intelligence (Few 2006). The dashboard is distinguished from the EIS as a whole, which includes additional hardware and software components to collect and storage data, and analysis for resources and energy management (Granderson 2009b). EIS can be used for a variety of uses, including benchmarking, base-lining, anomaly detection, off-hours energy use evaluation, load shape optimization, energy rate analysis, retrofit and retro-commissioning savings (Granderson 2009a). The use of these EIS features depends on the specific users. For example, federal and other building managers may use anomaly detection to identify energy waste in a specific building, or to benchmark energy use in similar buildings to identify energy saving potential and reduce operational cost. There are several vendors of EIS technology that provide information on energy and other environmental variables in buildings.


Standard methodology for analysis of air pollution epidemiological time series expresses effects in terms of relative risk, i.e. increases in the number of events associated with a short term increase in air pollution. However, even large relative mortality rates may in fact reflect a very small effect in terms of person-years life loss. In Zagreb, mortality in 1995-1997 was significantly associated with concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO/sub 2/). We have used STL decomposition of time series into additive components of decreasing smoothness to test the hypothesis that mortality-air pollution association is due to short term mortality displacement. According to our results association between mortality and concentrations of NO/sub 2/ remains statistically significant at time scales ranging from a few days to 1-2 months.


We document a curious feature of the German mutual fund industry. Unlike U.S. mutual funds, funds domiciled in Germany do not necessarily compute their net asset values (NAV) as of market close. Using a sample of German equity funds, we infer each fund's NAV closing time from the best-fit market model using both maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimation. The results of both approaches coincide perfectly and show that all but one of the funds domiciled in Germany report intraday NAVs. We show that using market returns computed at the end of the day instead of the best-fit time, usually leads to misleading inferences about mutual fund performance.


Modern information technologies have transformed the meaning and promise of "open government." The term originally stood for the ideas of government transparency and public accountability. But with the rise of the Internet, "open government" has grown to encompass a wide range of civic goals—greater public participation and increased government efficiency, among others—newly enhanced by the potential of digital technologies. Software now plays a key mediating role between governments and citizens, and the design of software can both inform and shape the effectiveness of open government policies. In this dissertation, we explore government's role as an information provider in the digital age. Rather than struggling, as it currently does, to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change, we contend that government should focus on enabling others to innovate, by publishing its data in bulk, machine-readable formats. This approach allows citizens to easily adapt government data for any desirable purpose using the latest technological tools, rather than relying on a single government-provided interface. Despite its benefits, government may refuse to publish adaptable data for a variety of reasons. Such is the case with the U.S. Courts, which maintain a harmful paywall policy that limits access to electronic court records. We describe our pursuit to change the Courts' policies through the development of the RECAP browser extension, which we built to liberate records from the Courts' online access system. We analyze how RECAP's core design features contributed to its widespread adoption, and impacted the policy discourse. But even where government data are readily available, they may still be difficult to comprehend. We study how the U.S. Congress' age-old legislative process hinders the development of automated software with immense efficiency and transparency benefits. We outline the steps that Congress would need to take to modernize its process and embrace these improvements. iii Finally, we discuss how recent "open government" policies have blurred the distinction between political and technological openness. We propose a clearer framing that separates the politics of public accountability from the technologies of open data, which we hope will make both ideals easier to achieve.


HERZOG, ADAM 2014 SAE Aero Competition: Systems Engineering. Department of Mechanical Engineering, June 2014. ADVISOR: [Professor Bradford Bruno PH.D.] Union has participated in the annual SAE Aero Competition for the last 6 consecutive years. The aim of the competition involves the design and construction of an RC aircraft capable of carrying a maximum payload weight as consistently as possible. This report will summarize the methods used to determine shape and size of the final aircraft's control surfaces, as well as include an analysis on the plane's performance characteristics. The final design utilizes a 100 inch span main wing with a rear taper and an upright H-tail design. In addition, the horizontal tail has a stabilator in place of a horizontal stabilizer with elevators. This configuration was found to minimize the effects of drag and maximize performance at the anticipated Reynolds Number the plane will be flying at. Previous design iterations were proven to be inefficient after the completion of a to-scale working prototype in the middle of the project's design process. A theoretical estimate of this plane's maximum takeoff weight was calculated to be around 30 lbs., taking into account a 200 ft. runway with the effects of variable thrust and drag. The plane will be competing April 11-13, 2014 in Marietta, GA.


This paper looks at the periodic land use/cover (LUC) changes that occurred in Attica, Greece from 1991 to 2016. During this period, land transformations were mostly related to the artificial LUC categories; therefore, the aim was to map LUC with a high thematic resolution aimed at these specific categories, according to their density and continuity. The classification was implemented using the Random Forests (RF) machine learning algorithm and the presented methodological framework involved a high degree of automation. The results revealed that the majority of the expansion of the built-up areas took place at the expense of agricultural land. Moreover, mapping and quantifying the LUC changes revealed three uneven phases of development, which reflect the socioeconomic circumstances of each period. The discontinuous low-density urban fabric started to increase rapidly around 2003, reaching 7% (from 2.5% in 1991), and this trend continued, reaching 12% in 2016. The continuous as well as the discontinuous dense urban fabric, almost doubled throughout the study period. Agricultural areas were dramatically reduced to almost half of what they were in 1991, while forests, scrubs, and other natural areas remained relatively stable, decreasing only by 3% in 25 years.


Because matter is most often in its plasma state, a
 strong coupling generally exists in the universe between flow
 dynamics and electromagnetic field. This is the reason why magnetic
 field plays such an important role in many astrophysical contexts,
 especially in sun and stars. Ideal MagnetoHydroDynamics can, to a
 certain extent, allow describing the magnetic field effects, but
 this elementary theory is unfortunately not of infinite validity:
 the understanding of phenomena as crucial as reconnection, dynamo
 effect, or plasma heating and acceleration for instance lies out of
 the scope of ideal MHD. For media sufficiently dense and for
 phenomena of sufficiently large scale with respect to the collision
 scales, resistive (and/or viscous) MHD has to be considered, which
 does not introduce much larger complexity. But for more dilute
 plasmas, or for shorter scale phenomena, resistive MHD is not valid
 either, and any interpretation must ground on more refined
 theories: Hall!
 -MHD, bi-fluid, multi-fluid, or fully kinetic. When applied, all
 these different theories do lead to quite different consequences.
 Because the observations from sun and stars can only rely on remote
 sensing techniques, it is generally quasi-impossible to
 discriminate between the different situations and decide which kind
 of theory is justified for interpreting correctly the phenomena. On
 the contrary, in the solar wind and the magnetospheres, in-situ
 measurements, from various experiments onboard many spacecraft, had
 provided a wealth of experimental results, often ruling out the
 pre-existing simplest interpretations and shedding some light on
 the reality of some phenomena like collisionless reconnection. The
 paper will try to display a few of such examples where solar wind
 and magnetosphere play a role of plasma laboratory for universal
 phenomena.


Background Evidence suggests that prehypertension is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. Little is known about ethnic differences in prehypertension in Europe. We aimed to assess these ethnic differences and to determine the factors associated with prehypertension in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Design Cross-sectional study. Methods Prehypertension was defined as having a blood pressure 120-139/80-89 mmHg. Results The overall prevalence of prehypertension was 32.8% (men 37.9% and women 29.9%). The prevalence of prehypertension did not differ between the ethnic groups in men. African Surinamese and Hindustani Surinamese women, however, had a higher prevalence of prehypertension than White Dutch women. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, the odds ratios [95% confidence interval] for being prehypertensive were 2.25 (1.38-3.67; P < 0.001) for African Surinamese and 2.06 (1.18-3.60; P < 0.01) for Hindustani Surinamese women, compared with White Dutch women. BMI was strongly associated with prehypertension in both men and women. Total cholesterol was positively associated with prehypertension in women, whereas increased physical activity was negatively associated. The independent factors associated with prehypertension vary by ethnic group. In men, BMI was associated with prehypertension in the White Dutch, total cholesterol and low education in the African Surinamese, and fasting glucose in the Hindustani Surinamese. In women, total cholesterol was associated with prehypertension in the African Surinamese; the corresponding factor was the BMI in the Hindustani Surinamese. Conclusion Prehypertension is common in minority women. As a large proportion of people with prehypertension progress to clinical hypertension, targeting these people early with lifestyle-modification interventions aimed at weight loss, increased physical activity, and healthy dietary habits can provide important long-term benefits. The results indicate that the primary foci of such lifestyle interventions should vary between ethnic groups. Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil 14: 775-781 © 2007 The European Society of Cardiology


Nuclear reactions play a key role in the framework of the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. A network of 12 principal reactions has been identified as the main path which drives the elemental nucleosynthesis in the first twenty minutes of the history of the Universe. Among them an important role is played by neutron-induced reactions, which, from an experimental point of view, are usually a hard task to be measured directly. Nevertheless big efforts in the last decades have led to a better understanding of their role in the primordial nucleosynthesis network. In this work we apply the Trojan Horse Method to extract the cross section at astrophysical energies for the 3He(n,p)3H reaction after a detailed study of the 2H(3He,pt)H three–body process. The experiment was performed using the 3He beam, delivered at a total kinetic energy of 9 MeV by the Tandem at the Physics and Astronomy Department of the University of Notre Dame. Data extracted from the present measurement are compared with other published sets available in literature. Astrophysical applications will also be discussed in details.


Who's the greatest center of all time, Wilt Chamberlain or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? Where does Shaquille O'Neal land in the rankings? Would you pick Tim Duncan or Charles Barkley as the better power forward? Who's your best Sixth Man? Where does LeBron James rank among small forwards? "Sports Illustrated" has polled its basketball experts, including Jack McCallum, Chris Ballard, Alexander Wolff, Lee Jenkins, Ian Thomsen, Chris Mannix, and Mark Bechtel, to determine the Top 10 in more than 20 categories. The rankings appear alongside stunning photography and classic stories from SI's archives. This is the best of the best in the NBA, or, more simply, "Basketball's Greatest."


ABSTRACT In an attempt to manage a looming revenue crisis in their transition from print to digital, many local newspapers have implemented user payment (paywalls) in their online editions. This paper asks what the business and civic implications of such introduction of user payment are. Comparing audience metrics on a sample of eight local news websites (four Norwegian, four Danish) for 52 weeks before and after paywall introduction, this study finds that the numbers of both pageviews and unique visitors decrease upon the transition from free to fee-based access to the news. Hard paywalls have a more negative immediate effect on traffic than soft paywalls. This difference equalizes over time and the traffic mainly remains at a decreased level regardless of paywall type. Traffic development in Norway is somewhat better than in Denmark in a short-term perspective, but national differences also even out over time. We posit that while paywalls may constitute a new revenue stream for local news media under financial pressure, they also challenge the civic function of the local news media since fewer people consult them.


Raman spectroscopy has the potential to provide definitive identification and detailed characterization of the minerals that comprise rocks and soils on planetary surfaces. We have designed a probe head for Raman spectroscopy that is suitable for use on a spectrometer deployed by a rover or a lander on the surface of a planet such as Mars, the Moon, or an asteroid. The probe head is lightweight, low power, rugged, and simple. It is based on a tiny distributed feedback diode laser and volume holographic components. A protective shell surrounds the probe head and serves as a mechanical stop for the mechanical arm of a planetary rover or lander during placement of the probe head onto the surface of a rock or soil. Pressing the shell against the rough surface of a target rock or soil also places the sampling objective of the probe head in rough focus, and the probe head is designed to be tolerant of focusing errors of ∼5 mm. A breadboard version of the probe head gave spectra of high quality on clean crystals of diamond, sulfur, calcite, quartz, and olivine. The results are qualitatively comparable to those obtained by using a conventional micro-Raman spectrometer on fine-grained travertine and on difficult specimens of basaltic lavas and impactites whose original mineralogy had been altered by reaction with water and air.


As new high-rises grow taller and more slender, the design of tall buildings becomes heavily constrained by the control of lateral displacements and accelerations due to dynamic excitations. This has led to the development of motion control devices, such as the Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) and Tuned Liquid Column Damper (TLCD). Contemporary designs implement devices where the dynamic response is the greatest, often at the top of buildings, occupying entire floors and inhibiting the sale of valuable real estate. Conversely, distributed damping is the concept of dividing the dampers into smaller devices that are placed on several floors throughout the building. Although a greater total mass is required, implementing smaller dampers and using less valuable floor area may be advantageous for buildings with a substantial cost variation between floors. This study presents a methodology where the optimal vertical distribution of TMDs and TLCDs is determined based on the footprint and relative cost of each damping scheme. To perform this analysis, the governing equations for a distributed damping system are developed and its response is derived assuming a periodic excitation. Given the structural properties and performance requirements of the building, a one TMD system is designed using the conventional approach. Ranging through several distribution schemes, the damper mass required for each distribution to meet the same acceleration performance as the one TMD system is determined. This mass is used to calculate the damper footprint for TMD and TLCD systems. From the cost distribution of the building, the relative cost of each scheme may be calculated and compared. Depending on the objective of the designer, the minimum damper footprint or minimum cost scheme may be selected as the optimal distribution. The methodology was demonstrated for 60, 80, 100, and 120-story buildings. It was observed that buildings with approximately half of the floors installed with dampers correspond to the minimum footprint scheme, while the minimum cost scheme was dependent on the building's size constraints and cost distribution. For buildings with significant cost variation in upper floors, distributed damping is not only the least cost solution, but also leads to conveniently small devices. Thesis Supervisor: Jerome J. Connor Title: Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Thesis Supervisor: John A. Ochsendorf Title: Professor of Building Technology and Civil and Environmental Engineering


Publication Date January 1983 Abstract In preparation for a new and complete edition of George Washington's correspondence, the editors of the Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia have over a ten year period collected copies of some 135,000 items of correspondence. This includes letters and documents written to Washington as well as those written by him. Among these thousands of documents are some 150 to 200 that bear a special relationship to the rest of the project's holdings. These are the documents produced over the last hundred years by forgers of varying skill and which are often still masquerading as authentic Washington documents. Recommended Citation Twohig, Dorothy, "George Washington Forgeries and Facsimiles," Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists 1 no. 2 (1983) . Available at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/provenance/vol1/iss2/2  Download


Abstract Chinese NGOs face strong coercive pressures and limitations yet have still emerged as notable actors in several issue areas. This article studies why and explains how a group of NGOs working on AIDS-related issues have been able to progress into relatively large and vibrant operations. It documents how NGO leaders have learned to navigate opportunities and risks, circumvent formal restrictions and broker pragmatic and largely informal arrangements that have enabled their organizations to grow and advance within China's authoritarian settings. The article contributes to the literature on Chinese NGO development and new institutionalism theory, and introduces a framework for studying NGOs based on their organizational forms and activities. 摘要 中国的非政府组织面临着强大的管控压力和限制, 但它们在一些领域仍然承担着重要角色。本文研究并解释了为什么一些参与艾滋病项目的非政府组织能够取得相对快速的发展并充满活力。研究阐释了在中国威权主义的背景下, 非政府组织领导者如何学会通过辨别机会和风险、规避正式限制, 并设法以务实的且主要是非正式的安排使他们的组织取得进步和发展。本研究不仅有助于丰富对中国非政府组织发展的研究和新制度主义理论, 而且建立了一个基于组织形式和活动研究非政府组织的研究框架。


In order to improve the performance of optically multiplexed multicarrier systems with channel spacing equal to the symbol rate per carrier, we propose and systematically investigate an electronic signal processing technique to achieve near-interchannel crosstalk free and intersymbol-interference (ISI) free operation. We theoretically show that achieving perfect orthogonality between channels in these systems, together with ISI free operation as needed in generic communication systems, requires the shaping of the spectral profiles of not only the demultiplexing filter, but also the signal of each channel before demultiplexing. We develop a novel semianalytical method to quantitatively analyze the levels of residual crosstalk and ISI arising from nonideal system response in these systems. We show that by prefiltering the signal to ensure that the system impulse response before channel demultiplexing approaches the targeted condition, the residual crosstalk due to imperfect orthogonality can be significantly mitigated and the necessity for carrier phase control in single-quadrature format-based system can be relaxed. Further combining prefiltering and receiver-side postfiltering to adaptively trim the demultiplexing filter enhances the performance. The use of the combined digital signal processing (DSP) in coherent-detection quadrature phase-shifted keying (QPSK)-based optically multiplexed multicarrier system shows that this method outperforms conventional QPSK-based multicarrier system without DSP or with only receiver-side DSP, especially when the responses of the transmitter and the demultiplexing filter are not precisely designed and the sampling rate of the analogue-to-digital converter is not sufficiently high. In addition, the inclusion of ISI free operation, with this aspect similar to the reshaping method in conventional wavelength-division-multiplexing systems, allows the relaxation of the modulation bandwidth and chromatic dispersion compensation.


Procedure Appropriateness Category Relative Radiation Level Radiography shoulder Usually Appropriate ☢ US shoulder May Be Appropriate O Image-guided anesthetic +/corticosteroid injection shoulder or surrounding structures Usually Not Appropriate Varies MR arthrography shoulder Usually Not Appropriate O MRI shoulder without and with IV contrast Usually Not Appropriate O MRI shoulder without IV contrast Usually Not Appropriate O Bone scan shoulder Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢☢ CT shoulder with IV contrast Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢☢ CT shoulder without and with IV contrast Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢☢ CT shoulder without IV contrast Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢☢ CT arthrography shoulder Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢☢☢ FDG-PET/CT skull base to mid-thigh Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢☢☢


Water quality in several major river basins in the Southwestern United States is seriously degraded by natural salt contamination. The salt originates from geologic formations underlying portions of the upper watersheds of the Arkansas, Canadian, Red, Brazos, Colorado, and Pecos Rivers in the states of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. During the Permian Age, about 230 million years ago, this region was covered by a shallow inland sea. The salt-bearing geologic formations were formed by salts precipitated from evaporating sea water. Salt springs and seeps and salt flats in the upper portions of the river basins now contribute large salt loads to the rivers. The natural salt pollution significantly impacts water resources development and management. High salt concentrations are a serious problem in development and utilization of the waters of the Brazos River. This paper describes the natural salt pollution problem in the Brazos River Basin and cites past and present studies of approaches for dealing with the problem.


"Adaptation to climate change involves changes in agricultural management practices in response to changes in climate conditions. It often involves a combination of various individual responses at the farm-level and assumes that farmers have access to alternative practices and technologies available in the region. This study examines farmer adaptation strategies to climate change in Southern Africa based on a cross-section database of three countries (South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe) collected as part of the Global Environment Facility/World Bank (GEF/WB) Climate Change and African Agriculture Project. The study describes farmer perceptions to changes in long-term temperature and precipitation as well as various farm-level adaptation measures and barriers to adaptation at the farm household level. A multivariate discrete choice model is used to identify the determinants of farm-level adaptation strategies. Results confirm that access to credit and extension and awareness of climate change are some of the important determinants of farm-level adaptation. An important policy message from these results is that enhanced access to credit, information (climatic and agronomic) as well as to markets (input and output) can significantly increase farm-level adaptation. Government policies should support research and development on appropriate technologies to help farmers adapt to changes in climatic conditions. Examples of such policy measures include crop development, improving climate information forecasting, and promoting appropriate farm-level adaptation measures such as use of irrigation technologies." from Authors' Abstract


The economic changes associated with globalization tighten financial pressures on governments of high‐income countries by increasing the demand for government spending while making it more costly to raise tax revenue. Greater international mobility of economic activity, and associated responsiveness of the tax base to tax rates, increase the economic distortions created by taxation. Countries with small open economies have relatively mobile tax bases; as a result, they rely much less heavily on corporate and personal income taxes than other countries. The evidence indicates that a 10% smaller population in 1999 is associated with a 1% smaller ratio of personal and corporate income tax collections to total tax revenues. Governments of small countries instead rely on consumption‐type taxes, including taxes on sales of goods and services and import tariffs, much more heavily than larger countries do. Since the rapid pace of globalization implies that all countries are becoming small open economies, this evidence suggests that the use of expenditure taxes is likely to increase, posing challenges to governments concerned about recent changes in income distribution.


To sustain human deep space exploration or extra-terrestrial settlements where no resupply from the Earth or other planets is possible, technologies for in situ food production, water, air, and waste recovery need to be developed. The Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative (MELiSSA) is such a Regenerative Life Support System (RLSS) and it builds on several bacterial bioprocesses. However, alterations in gravity, temperature, and radiation associated with the space environment can affect survival and functionality of the microorganisms. In this study, representative strains of different carbon and nitrogen metabolisms with application in the MELiSSA were selected for launch and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) exposure. An edible photoautotrophic strain (Arthrospira sp. PCC 8005), a photoheterotrophic strain (Rhodospirillum rubrum S1H), a ureolytic heterotrophic strain (Cupriavidus pinatubonensis 1245), and combinations of C. pinatubonensis 1245 and autotrophic ammonia and nitrite oxidizing strains (Nitrosomonas europaea ATCC19718, Nitrosomonas ureae Nm10, and Nitrobacter winogradskyi Nb255) were sent to the International Space Station (ISS) for 7 days. There, the samples were exposed to 2.8 mGy, a dose 140 times higher than on the Earth, and a temperature of 22°C ± 1°C. On return to the Earth, the cultures were reactivated and their growth and activity were compared with terrestrial controls stored under refrigerated (5°C ± 2°C) or room temperature (22°C ± 1°C and 21°C ± 0°C) conditions. Overall, no difference was observed between terrestrial and ISS samples. Most cultures presented lower cell viability after the test, regardless of the type of exposure, indicating a harsher effect of the storage and sample preparation than the spaceflight itself. Postmission analysis revealed the successful survival and proliferation of all cultures except for Arthrospira, which suffered from the premission depressurization test. These observations validate the possibility of launching, storing, and reactivating bacteria with essential functionalities for microbial bioprocesses in RLSS.


Between 1990 and 1992, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, funded by a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, made multiple trips to Los Angeles to scout locations, invent scenarios and to find male prostitutes that would agree to pose for his camera. The last task proved to be the easiest: diCorcia simply used his fellowship money to pay the men whatever price they charged for their most typical service and ultimately prompted a complaint of misuse of government funds. In 1993, 21 selected images were initially exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, marking Philip-Lorca diCorcia's first solo exhibition. The show, entitled Strangers was accompanied by a museum catalog. Twenty years later, steidldangin publishes the series in its entirety. "Hustlers" is an empathetic yet melancholic poem of the Hollywood dream gone wrong, prescribing to the heavily-staged pictorialism and happenstance of street casting for which diCorcia is most widely recognized. Knowing precisely what he wanted from each photograph, and fearful of police involvement, diCorcia would prearrange all settings: this motel room, that vacant lot, in between cars, in a fast-food restaurant--the narrative was always deliberate. From the moment diCorcia approached a potential subject (usually around Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood), to the completion of the shoot, seldom more than one hour had passed. The titles of these encounters amplify the facts--for example: "Ralph Smith, 21 years old, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and $25."


During one month, paralarvae of common octopus ( Octopus vulgaris ) were fed 3 different diets: (1) Artemia sp. enriched with Isochrysis galbana (AI) complemented with sand eel ( Hyperoplus lanceolatus ) flakes (AH); (2) Artemia sp. enriched with crushed marine zooplankton (AZ); and (3) Artemia sp. cultured with Isochrysis galbana and further enriched with the microalga Nannochloropsis sp. (AN). The highest dry weight (1.6179±0.3861 mg) was registered with the AN diet and the best average survival (67.0%) with the AZ diet. Considering the highest dry weight obtained, the moderate high survival and the fact that with this diet it was possible to attain the adult stage, the AN diet was the most appropriate. The reasons for the best result in growth observed with AN are discussed as: (1) the combination of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) provided by Isochrysis galbana and the high eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) content present in Nannochloropsis sp.; (2) the fact that the higher protein/lipid ratio of this diet improves the final dry weight of the paralarvae; and (3) the fact that Nannochloropsis sp. could inhibit the harmful microflora growth in the rearing tank. Regarding nutritional aspects, DHA content per se is not the only determinant factor for growth and survival of O. vulgaris paralarvae, but the presence of a high protein/lipid ratio and a high phospholipid content in the diet could possibly explain the better quality and strength of the paralarvae.


We study $Q$-polynomial distance-regular graphs from the point of view of what we call descendents, that is to say, those vertex subsets with the property that the width $w$ and dual width $w^*$ satisfy $w+w^*=d$, where $d$ is the diameter of the graph. We show among other results that a nontrivial descendent with $w\ge 2$ is convex precisely when the graph has classical parameters. The classification of descendents has been done for the 5 classical families of graphs associated with short regular semilattices. We revisit and characterize these families in terms of posets consisting of descendents, and extend the classification to all of the 15 known infinite families with classical parameters and with unbounded diameter.


This work presents a novel approach to the problem of real-time human action recognition in intelligent video surveillance. For more efficient and precise labeling of an action, this work proposes a multilevel action descriptor, which delivers complete information of human actions. The action descriptor consists of three levels: posture, locomotion, and gesture level; each of which corresponds to a different group of subactions describing a single human action, for example, smoking while walking. The proposed action recog - nition method is able to localize and recognize simultaneously the actions of multiple individuals using appearance-based temporal features with multiple convolutional neural networks (CNN). Although appearance cues have been successfully exploited for visual recognition problems, appearance, motion history, and their combined cues with multi-CNNs have not yet been explored. Additionally, the first systematic estimation of several hyperparameters for shape and motion history cues is investigated. The proposed approach achieves a mean average precision (mAP) of 73.2% in the frame-based evaluation over the newly collected large-scale ICVL video dataset. The action recognition model can run at around 25 frames per second, which is suitable for real-time surveil - lance applications.


Recent years have seen an explosion in knowledge of the biologic drivers of cancer. Many (and likely soon most) tumors are now sub-classified by a molecular profile, with different treatment options and strategies for patients based on their tumor biomarker status. Therapeutic development is similarly now mostly targeted to subsets of patients within any given tumor type based on specific molecular and biologic characteristics. With the so-called basket trials, early phase therapeutic development of targeted agents is focused only on specific molecular aberrations, ignoring tumor type. Umbrella trials on the other hand focus on drug development targeting distinct molecular alterations in one tumor entity. These novel approaches to clinical drug development have resulted in a rapid evolution of methodologies to perform clinical trials in the setting of biomarkers and targeted therapies, where the paradigm of treating very large number of unselected patients is increasingly non-viable.


Purpose

Conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) models permit each decision-making unit (DMU) to assess its efficiency score with the most favorable weights. In other words, each DMU selects the best weighting schemes to obtain maximum efficiency for itself. Therefore, using different sets of weights leads to many different efficient DMUs, which makes comparing and ranking them on a similar basis impossible. Another issue is that often more than one DMU is evaluated as efficient because the selection of weights is flexible; therefore, all DMUs cannot be completely differentiated. The purpose of this paper is to development a common weight in dynamic network DEA with a goal programming approach.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, a goal programming approach has been proposed to generate common weights in dynamic network DEA. To validate the applicability of the proposed model, the data of 30 non-life insurance companies in Iran during 2013-2015 have been used for measuring their efficiency scores and ranking all of the companies.

Findings

Findings show that the proposed methodology is an effective and practical approach to measure the efficiency of DMUs with dynamic network structure.

Originality/value

The proposed model delivers more knowledge of the common weight approaches and improves the DEA theory and methodology. This model makes it possible to measure efficiency scores and compare all DMUs from multiple different standpoints. Further, this model allows one to not only calculate the overall efficiency of DMUs throughout the time period but also consider dynamic change of the time period efficiency and dynamic change of the divisional efficiency of DMUs.


Around the world, 50 million people live with dementia, an incurable disease. The number is expected to surpass 150 million in three decades. The burden on the economy keeps escalating every year. However, encouraging evidence from studies in Europe reveal a decline in rates of incidence dementia. Although the prevalence still remains high, new cases have become fewer. Therefore, research has shifted focus to the role of potential modifiable factors in curbing incidence dementia. Better management of vascular risk factors over the last couple of decades has seen the risk of dementia decrease dramatically. Studies on adherence to Mediterranean diet, moderate alcohol consumption and incorporation of physical activity into daily activities suggest the risk of dementia might be modified in vulnerable population. Smokers should be encouraged and supported to give up the habit. Identification of these potential modifiable risk factors doesn't mean that dementia can eventually be stopped, but this is a start toward decreasing the risk and improving lives of people with dementia. For this review paper, we searched for original articles and review papers in EMBASE and PubMed. Keywords were used individually or in combination in the searches. The keywords used include: dementia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, hypercholesterolemia, cognitive reserve, physical activity, physical exercise, smoking, alcohol consumption, Mediterranean diet and hyperhomocysteinemia. We, therefore, review epidemiological longitudinal studies, with a focus on their associations with risk of dementia. Key words: Cognitive impairment, Dementia, Diabetes mellitus, Mediterranean diet, Physical activity, Risk factors.


Gangliosides are expressed in the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane of the cells of all vertebrates and are particularly abundant in the nervous system. Ganglioside metabolism is closely associated with the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD, the most common form of dementia, is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain characterized clinically by progressive loss of memory and cognitive function and eventually death. Neuropathologically, AD is characterized by amyloid deposits or "senile plaques," which consist mainly of aggregated variants of amyloid beta-protein (Abeta). Abeta undergoes a conformational transition from random coil to ordered structure rich in beta-sheets, especially after addition of lipid vesicles containing GM1 ganglioside. In AD brain, a complex of GM1 and Abeta, termed "GAbeta," has been found to accumulate. In recent years, Abeta and GM1 have been identified in microdomains or lipid rafts. The functional roles of these microdomains in cellular processes are now beginning to unfold. Several articles also have documented the involvement of these microdomains in the pathogenesis of certain neurodegenerative diseases, such as AD. A pivotal neuroprotective role of gangliosides has been reported in in vivo and in vitro models of neuronal injury, Parkinsonism, and related diseases. Here we describe the possible involvement of gangliosides in the development of AD and the therapeutic potentials of gangliosides in this disorder.


Most retroviruses and various other organisms have a capability of producing multiple protein products from a single RNA species using overlapping genes and taking advantage of ribosomal frameshifting (Jacks T. , 1990; Taylor, 1994). This phenomenon not only helps retroviruses overcome the coding density limitation imposed by their restricted genome size, but also to attain regulatory benefits from the proteins whose genes are present in the overlapping frames, which otherwise is unachievable by normal read through. The classical example is the retroviral pol gene, which in most retroviruses is overlapped by the 3' end of the gag gene, and can only be expressed as a result of -1 ribosomal frameshifting. The pol gene lacks a start codon, and thus can only be expressed via this mechanism. Retroviral -1 ribosomal frameshift sites (RFS) are characterized by two main structural features, an ideal slippery sequence of the pattern "X XXY YYZ", and a pseudoknot present downstream of the slippery site at a distance of up to 10-12 bases from the site. The triplets in the slippery site are the codons represented in the zero frame, and so when a frameshift occurs, the RNA translation machinery shifts by a single base in the 5' direction, where the triplets are then read in the -1 frame as "XXX YYY Z" (Jacks T. , 1988a). Based on this model, several novel frameshift sites have been identified by Taylor et al. in the HIV genome. One such site is a theoretically predicted -1 RFS in the HIV-1 gag gene (EW, 1996). This site (gag-fs), which has not been experimentally validated or studied previously, has become the main focus of this project. A dual reporter assay was employed to study the frameshifting efficiency of the overlapping coding region present in the gag gene (gag-fs) and the constructs required for this assay were successfully made. Based on the results obtained from the assay an estimate of 24% frameshifting efficiency was observed in the wild type when compared to the mutated type (a 100% readthrough control).


Phytophthora erythroseptica, the causal agent of potato pink rot, is one of the oomycete plant pathogens that causes significant losses in field and storage. In order to develop a sensitive and rapid method for detection and identification of P. erythroseptica, six nuclear and mitochondrial gene regions were investigated to design species-specific primers. Due to the high similarity of P. erythroseptica sequences to its closely related species, only one nuclear region, TigA, was appropriate to design specific primers. Using specific primers, a simple as well as a nested-PCR based method was developed for the identification and detection of P. erythroseptica. The specificity of designed primers was examined using a collection of Phytophthora species from different phylogenetic clades as well as close relatives of P. erythroseptica. In addition to pure DNA, designed primers detected P. erythroseptica in infected plant tissues including potato, tomato and spinach. Specific primers detected 10 pg of P. erythroseptica pure DNA, however, nested PCR increased primers sensitivity at least 100 times. Moreover, specific primers designed in this study were able to detect P. erythroseptica as the maternal or paternal parent species in hybrid isolates that would make a significant help to recognize one of the parental species in hybrids of P. erythroseptica.


Machine learning models often encounter distribution shifts when deployed in the real world. In this paper, we focus on adaptation to label distribution shift in the online setting, where the test-time label distribution is continually changing and the model must dynamically adapt to it without observing the true label. Leveraging a novel analysis, we show that the lack of true label does not hinder estimation of the expected test loss, which enables the reduction of online label shift adaptation to conventional online learning. Informed by this observation, we propose adaptation algorithms inspired by classical online learning techniques such as Follow The Leader (FTL) and Online Gradient Descent (OGD) and derive their regret bounds. We empirically verify our findings under both simulated and real world label distribution shifts and show that OGD is particularly effective and robust to a variety of challenging label shift scenarios.


Clifford Irving's autobiography of Howard Hughes. Han Van Meegeren's brilliant reproductions of Jan Vermeer's seventeenth-century paintings. The sensational Mormon papers of document dealer Mark Hoffman. All were important discoveries - until, that is, the tools of forensic investigation revealed each to be a remarkable work of forgery that would send the worlds of literature, art, and history reeling. In a book that's as difficult to put down as a good mystery, Joe Nickell explores the world of questioned documents. He reveals the mission of forensic sleuths and their often nearly impossible tasks: to detect forged handwritings, uncover alterations in documents, and identify the authorship of disputed or anonymous writings - to use the eye and the tools of science to make evident the often imperceptible and to expose the cunning art of the forger. Detecting Forgery covers the essential aspects of forensic document examination and illuminates the scientific with historical information on famous forgers, as well as captivating case studies and numerous illustrations from the author's own files, explaining how forgers ply their nefarious trade and how document examiners uncover the subtly clever deceptions. This enlightening book focuses primarily on documents yet provides considerable information on uncovering forged prints, paintings, and other works of art. Nickell reveals the complete arsenal of forensic techniques used in uncovering forgeries of modern as well as historical documents and provides an invaluable source for collectors and dealers, professional document examiners, archivists, and historians.


PURPOSE
The primary objective of this study is to perform a blinded evaluation of a group of retrospective image registration techniques using as a gold standard a prospective, marker-based registration method. To ensure blindedness, all retrospective registrations were performed by participants who had no knowledge of the gold standard results until after their results had been submitted. A secondary goal of the project is to evaluate the importance of correcting geometrical distortion in MR images by comparing the retrospective registration error in the rectified images, i.e., those that have had the distortion correction applied, with that of the same images before rectification.

METHOD
Image volumes of three modalities (CT, MR, and PET) were obtained from patients undergoing neurosurgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on whom bone-implanted fiducial markers were mounted. These volumes had all traces of the markers removed and were provided via the Internet to project collaborators outside Vanderbilt, who then performed retrospective registrations on the volumes, calculating transformations from CT to MR and/ or from PET to MR. These investigators communicated their transformations again via the Internet to Vanderbilt, where the accuracy of each registration was evaluated. In this evaluation, the accuracy is measured at multiple volumes of interest (VOIs), i.e., areas in the brain that would commonly be areas of neurological interest. A VOI is defined in the MR image and its centroid c is determined. Then, the prospective registration is used to obtain the corresponding point c' in CT or PET. To this point, the retrospective registration is then applied, producing c" in MR. Statistics are gathered on the target registration error (TRE), which is the distance between the original point c and its corresponding point c".

RESULTS
This article presents statistics on the TRE calculated for each registration technique in this study and provides a brief description of each technique and an estimate of both preparation and execution time needed to perform the registration.

CONCLUSION
Our results indicate that retrospective techniques have the potential to produce satisfactory results much of the time, but that visual inspection is necessary to guard against large errors.


The design and evaluation of survey-based management strategies is addressed in this article, using three case-study fisheries: North Sea herring, Bay of Biscay anchovy and North Sea cod, with a brief history and the main management issues with each fishery outlined. A range of operational management procedures for the case study stocks were designed and evaluated using trends that may be derived from survey indices (spawner biomass, year-class strength and total mortality) with an array of simple and more structured observation error regimes simulated. Model-free and model-based indicators of stock status were employed in the management procedures. On the basis of stochastic stock-specific simulations, we identified the following key determinants of successful management procedures: (i) adequate specification of the stock-recruit relationship (model structure, parameter estimates and variability), (ii) knowledge of the magnitude and structure of the variation in the survey indices, and (iii) explication of the particular management objectives, when assessing management performance. More conservative harvesting strategies are required to meet specified targets in the presence of increasing stochasticity, due to both process and observation error. It was seen that survey-based operational management procedures can perform well in the absence of commercial data, and can also inform aspects of survey design with respect to acceptable levels of error or bias in the surveys.


From the late 1980s through the 1990s, most states enacted major revisions to their workers' compensation systems. These law changes aim to restrict benefits for injured workers in response to perceptions that rising workers' compensation insurance costs had reached crisis levels by the late 1980s. This article analyzes the main features of these benefit reforms, and shows how these reforms reveal the problems of the predominant economic efficiency rationales underlying recent retrenchment of social welfare programs in general. Using workers' compensation as an example, I argue that a premise central to much of contemporary law and policy - the distinction between economic efficiency and redistributive goals - is illusory. Although efficiency principles commonly have been used to explain recent benefit limitations as neutral economic measures aimed at maximizing overall resources, these principles inevitably incorporate value judgments about the proper distribution of resources. Rhetoric about restoring an "efficient" balance between workers and employers masks a redistribution of resources away from workers and toward employers and insurers. I show how concepts central to economic analysis of law, such as externalities, moral hazard, and transaction costs, disguise political power as economic fact. I challenge the conventional wisdom that high workers' compensation costs are a problem of increased medical uncertainty resulting from expanded compensation of "subjective" injuries and illnesses, such as repetitive motion injuries or mental stress claims. By restricting access to benefits for these "subjective" injuries, recent reforms claim to reduce fraud, friction, and claims "external" to work. I argue instead that restrictions on such injuries will redistribute, not reduce, opportunities for fraud, friction, and externalization. I show how the costly uncertainty which plagues workers' compensation is not a problem of particular injuries or illnesses, but of the inherent subjectivity of the underlying ideal of the workers' compensation "bargain" between workers and employers which frames the debate. The predominant focus on restoring this supposedly efficient "bargain" obscures the value conflicts about the distribution of work accident costs which should be at the center of discussions of workers' compensation reform.


On March 1, 1995, Vladislav Listyev, a prominent Russian journalist was gunned down outside of his apartment in Moscow. What had transpired to make a journalist the target of such an act in a country where the mass media has traditionally been subordinate to the state? On the whole, specific journalists have not been singled out. The role of the media is changing. In Russia and Poland since the fall of communism, there is hesitancy to place the mass media in their former position as a mouthpiece for the government, but, on the other hand, there may be even greater hesitancy to give them the liberal freedom dictated by an increasingly democratic orientation. What has the role of the mass media been in these transitions from authoritarian rule? What will it be in the future? The government institutions and leaders who have been placed in power have not reacted to the mass media consistently. These relationships have ranged from attempts at near complete, communist-like control to indifference and attempts to court the mass media for their own "public relations" purposes. This article presents the results of a comparative study of Poland, from the fall of the communist government in 1990, and Russia, from the election of Boris Yeltsin in 1991, to the present. Utilizing research on media effects in society combined with the general theoretical framework suggested by transition theorists, I discuss the role of the media in forming governmental institutions, though not necessarily democratic ones. After a brief historical overview, I will examine some of the obstacles which the media will face in the future, such as economic problems, the pluralization and fragmentation of society, the rising emphasis on democratic-oriented journalism. Finally, I will propose possible roles (based on Harold Lasswell's classic work describing the social functions of communication(1)), which media systems could adopt in the future. The research will show that the media systems will not be able to choose these roles independently for there are numerous other factors which affect their function and even their existence. The mass media, as well as other institutions and systems within these countries, are in a definitional period. As the institutions within the political, economic and social systems in these nations become more concrete, the mass media find a role within those systems. The opposite is also true. The mass media will take an active, dynamic role in shaping these institutions in order to find a place within them. There is never a complete consensus of the mass media's role because of the high degree of political, ideological and social differentiation in these countries. Yet the mainstream, elite mass media will begin to follow a general path which is acceptable (not necessarily in action, but in role) to themselves and the institutions around them. Because of their past and probable future global importance, as well as their current instability, questions concerning Russia and Poland are crucial items on the international agenda. As the core of a former power in a bipolar system, Russia will, in the next few decades, attempt to regain its position economically and politically. The Cold War mind-set has not entirely faded and "Russia-watching" will continue. Poland also will assert itself as an example of how free market and democratic reforms might be beneficial to itself and the region. The mass media systems in both countries have the potential to help and hinder these processes, often simultaneously. This study will be limited to the print media in the form of newspapers and magazines. Using sources of the media and current events, such as Editor and Publisher, Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press, Radio Free Europe/radio Liberty daily bulletins (now the Open Media Research Institute), and The New York Times, among others, this research focuses on the media as a connecting - and often catalytic - factor between the political, economic and social institutions currently in the process of finding a place in Russian and Polish society. …


With the increased presence of digital imaging devices, there also came an explosion in the amount of multimedia content available online. Users have transformed from passive consumers of media into content creators and have started organizing themselves in and around online communities. Flickr has more than 30 million users and over 3 billion photos, and many of them are tagged and public. One very important aspect in Flickr is the ability of users to organize in self-managed communities called groups. This paper examines an unexplored problem, which is jointly analyzing Flickr groups and users. We show that although users and groups are conceptually different, in practice they can be represented in a similar way via a bag-of-tags derived from their photos, which is amenable for probabilistic topic modeling. We then propose a probabilistic topic model representation learned in an unsupervised manner that allows the discovery of similar users and groups beyond direct tag-based strategies, and we demonstrate that higher-level information such as topics of interest are a viable alternative. On a dataset containing users of 10 000 Flickr groups and over 1 milion photos, we show how this common topic-based representation allows for a novel analysis of the groups-users Flickr ecosystem, which results into new insights about the structure of the entities in this social media source. We demonstrate novel practical applications of our topic-based representation, such as similarity-based exploration of entities, or single and multi-topic tag-based search, which address current limitations in the ways Flickr is used today.


This content analysis explores the reporting of Abante Tonite on issues concerning the "leftist" movement, i.e., the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its alleged front organizations tagged by the government as "enemies of the state". Particularly, this study analyzes the treatment of events, topics, individuals, and groups that were covered by the tabloid from July 2005 to August 2006 (N=43 articles). Using framing analysis, findings show a stereotyped treatment of actors and topics: negative for the leftist movement and positive for the government. The negative treatment of the leftist movement translates into two primary modes of representation: first, as an organization to be feared because of its capability to wreak havoc among soldiers and civilians; and second, as a weak, disintegrating organization slowly losing its members in encounters with the military either by death, injury, capture, or surrender.


Disruptions in influenza vaccine supplies are creating headaches. Faced with one of the lowest stocks of flu vaccine on record, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has issued interim guidelines on flu vaccination, prophylaxis, and treatment. CDC recommends that HIV/AIDS patients and seven other high-risk groups be vaccinated against influenza. Patients at highest risk should receive chemoprophylaxis and antiviral treatment under certain circumstances.


During the last week of January 2001, the Royal Library suffered serious thefts in both its special reading rooms for maps and for manuscripts and rare books. Precious maps were removed from folio editions and smuggled out by a thief who was something of a magician. For years the Royal Library has been one of the most effectively secured buildings housing cultural assets in Denmark. Nevertheless, this incident happened and apparently could happen. The thefts were discovered the same day, but the thief had become suspicious and did not reappear over the next few days as expected. However, because the theft had been filmed on security cameras in the reading room, we had very good photographs of the thief. After days of hard work we were able to discover from the security film how the theft had been carried out and how the items had been smuggled out of the reading room. On the second day after the incident, I warned my fellow directors in the Nordic national libraries and in a number of university libraries with historical collections. Nevertheless, the following week the thief or his accomplice visited Helsinki University Library, and later we discovered that they had been in the Royal Library in The Hague at almost the same time, as well as some months earlier, and in the Royal Library in Stockholm on numerous occasions from the autumn of 2000 onwards.


The nature of the electronic ground state of Ba2IrO4 has been addressed using soft x-ray absorption and inelastic scattering techniques in the vicinity of the oxygen K edge. From the polarization and angular dependence of x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) we deduce an approximately equal superposition of xy, yz, and zx Ir4+ 5d orbitals. By combining the measured orbital occupancies, with the value of the spin-orbit coupling provided by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS), we estimate the crystal field splitting associated with the tetragonal distortion of the IrO6 octahedra to be small, Delta approximate to 50(50) meV. We thus conclude definitively that Ba2IrO4 is a close realization of a spin-orbit Mott insulator with a j(eff) = 1 2 ground state, thereby overcoming ambiguities in this assignment associated with the interpretation of x-ray resonant scattering experiments.


This paper analyzes the Fisher effect in Australia. Initial testing indicates that both interest rates and inflation contain unit roots. Furthermore, there are indications that the variables have non-standard error processes. To overcome problems associated with this and derive the correct small sample distributions of test statistics we make use of Monte Carlo simulations. These tests indicate that while a long-run Fisher effect seems to exist there is no evidence of a short-run Fisher effect. This suggests that, while short-run changes in interest rates reflect changes in monetary policy, longer-run levels indicate inflationary expectations. Thus, the longer-run level of interest rates should not be used to characterize the stance of monetary policy.


A finite element model of the human lower extremity has been developed in this study to simulate lower extremity behavior in frontal car crashes. Precise geometry of the human lower extremity and material properties of the hard and soft tissues were introduced to the model. The performance of the model was evaluated by comparing with dynamic loading test data using post mortem human subjects (PMHS). The comparison proved its ability to estimate dynamic responses of the human lower extremity. A study was conducted using the model to investigate possible factors of loading to the ankle and tibia. Force and moment was calculated with different time history profiles of footwell intrusion and pelvis motion. The results suggested that timing of maximum intrusion was important as well as its magnitude. It was also found that loading to the tibia could be affected not only by intrusion but also by pelvis motion. Although footwell deformation has been measured in car crash tests, it is suggested to use force and moment measured on the dummy leg for injury assessment.


Outdoor lighting has extremely high dynamic range. This makes the process of capturing outdoor environment maps notoriously challenging since special equipment must be used. In this work, we propose an alternative approach. We first capture lighting with a regular, LDR omnidirectional camera, and aim to recover the HDR after the fact via a novel, learning-based inverse tonemapping method. We propose a deep autoencoder framework which regresses linear, high dynamic range data from non-linear, saturated, low dynamic range panoramas. We validate our method through a wide set of experiments on synthetic data, as well as on a novel dataset of real photographs with ground truth. Our approach finds applications in a variety of settings, ranging from outdoor light capture to image matching.


Among the agricultural important factors, inputs are the most significant in agricultural production. This article aimed to examine the impact of government subsidy policies on production of one of the most strategic products, namely maize, in Iran. To achieve this goal, panel data for the nine provinces of Iran's major producers of maize during the period of 1999-2007, is used. In this study, first the country's maize production function has been estimated by using data information for inputs: chemical fertilizer, labor, water, seeds and pesticides. And then, calculating the partial elasticity of production factors, sensitivity of production to changes in the value of inputs is evaluated. Also, using a methodology based on the maximum profit, inputs´ demand function is calculated.Results of analyzing government Subsidy Policy showed that, paying subsidy to chemical fertilizer decreases maize production 0.412 percent, because of low demand elasticity of this input. Also according to subsidy of seed, with regard to low demand elasticity of this input to its price, paying subsidy that decreases seed price, wouldn´t have so high effect on its consumption and consequently, on production growth, so that maize production only increased 0.478 percent due to paying subsidy to seed.


Building on theories of social exchange, enactment, and trust, we provide a theorization of innovative work behaviour at the individual (IB) and team (IBT) levels and explain how desirable performance returns occur for individuals and teams. We further propose that horizontal (between team members) and vertical (between teams and their supervisor) team trust moderate the relationship between IBT and team performance. The results based on surveys conducted at two points in time in a large insurance company in the Netherlands show that employees' IB is positively associated with perceived workplace performance at the individual and team levels and that the effects vary based on the forms of trust at play. Our findings offer important new knowledge about the consequences of entrepreneurship and innovation in the workplace and the significant role that trust plays in enabling such behaviour to promote perceived workplace performance, particularly in the vital financial services sector.


We present an efficient and practical algorithm for the online prediction of discrete-time linear dynamical systems with a symmetric transition matrix. We circumvent the non-convex optimization problem using improper learning: carefully overparameterize the class of LDSs by a polylogarithmic factor, in exchange for convexity of the loss functions. From this arises a polynomial-time algorithm with a near-optimal regret guarantee, with an analogous sample complexity bound for agnostic learning. Our algorithm is based on a novel filtering technique, which may be of independent interest: we convolve the time series with the eigenvectors of a certain Hankel matrix.


BACKGROUND
Physiological changes brought about by pain may contribute to the development of morbidity in neonates. Clinical studies have shown reduction in changes in physiological parameters and pain score measurements following pre-emptive analgesic administration in situations where the neonate is experiencing pain or stress. Non-pharmacological measures (such as holding, swaddling and breastfeeding) and pharmacological measures (such as acetaminophen, sucrose and opioids) have been used for this purpose.

OBJECTIVES
The primary objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of breastfeeding or supplemental breast milk in reducing procedural pain in neonates. The secondary objective was to conduct subgroup analyses based on the type of control intervention, gestational age and the amount of supplemental breast milk given.

SEARCH METHODS
We performed a literature search using the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library 2011, Issue 10), MEDLINE (1966 to February 2011), EMBASE (1980 to February 2011), CINAHL (1982 to February 2011), abstracts from the annual meetings of the Society for Pediatric Research (1994 to 2011), and major paediatric pain conference proceedings. We did not apply any language restrictions.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-RCTs of breastfeeding or supplemental breast milk versus no treatment/other measures in neonates were eligible for inclusion in this review. The study must have reported on either physiologic markers of pain or validated pain scores.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
We assessed the methodological quality of the trials using the information provided in the studies and by personal communication with the authors. We extracted data on relevant outcomes, estimated the effect size and reported this as a risk ratio (RR), risk difference (RD) and weighted mean difference (MD) as appropriate.

MAIN RESULTS
Of twenty eligible studies, ten evaluated breastfeeding and ten evaluated supplemental breast milk. Sixteen studies analysed used heel lance and four used venepuncture as procedure. We noted marked heterogeneity in control intervention and pain assessment measures among the studies. Neonates in the breastfeeding group had statistically a significantly lower increase in heart rate, reduced proportion of crying time and reduced duration of first cry and total crying time compared to positioning (swaddled and placed in a crib), holding by mother, placebo, pacifier use, no intervention or oral sucrose group, or both.Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) scores were significantly lower in the breastfeeding group compared to positioning, placebo or oral sucrose group, or both. However, there was no statistically significant difference in PIPP scores when compared to no intervention. Douleur Aigue Nouveau-ne scores (DAN) were significantly lower in the breastfeeding group compared to the placebo group and the group held in mother's arms, but not when compared to the glucose group. Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS) was significantly lower in the breastfeeding group compared to the no intervention group, but there was no difference when compared to the oral sucrose group. The Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS) was significantly lower in the breastfeeding group when compared to oral glucose, pacifier use, holding by mother and no intervention, but no difference was found when compared to formula feeding.Supplemental breast milk yielded variable results. Neonates in the supplemental breast milk group had a significantly lower increase in heart rate, a reduction in duration of crying and a lower NFCS compared to the placebo group. Neonates in the supplemental breast milk group had a significantly higher increase in heart rate changes when compared to the sucrose group. Sucrose (in any concentration, i.e. 12.5%, 20%, 25%) was found to reduce the duration of cry when compared to breast milk, as did glycine, pacifier use, rocking, or no intervention. Breast milk was found not to be effective in reducing validated and non-validated pain scores such as NIPS, NFCS, and DAN; only being significantly better when compared to placebo (water) or massage. We did not identify any study that has evaluated safety/effectiveness of repeated administration of breastfeeding or supplemental breast milk for pain relief.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
If available, breastfeeding or breast milk should be used to alleviate procedural pain in neonates undergoing a single painful procedure rather than placebo, positioning or no intervention. Administration of glucose/sucrose had similar effectiveness as breastfeeding for reducing pain. The effectiveness of breast milk for painful procedure should be studied in the preterm population, as there are currently a limited number of studies in the literature that have assessed it's effectiveness in this population.