This thesis is a study of three techniques to improve performance of some standard fore-casting models, application to the energy demand and prices. We focus on forecasting demand and price one-day ahead. First, the wavelet transform was used as a pre-processing procedure with two approaches: multicomponent-forecasts and direct-forecasts. We have empirically compared these approaches and found that the former consistently outperformed the latter. Second, adaptive models were introduced to continuously update model parameters in the testing period by combining ?lters with standard forecasting methods. Among these adaptive models, the adaptive LR-GARCH model was proposed for the fi?rst time in the thesis. Third, with regard to noise distributions of the dependent variables in the forecasting models, we used either Gaussian or Student-t distributions. This thesis proposed a novel algorithm to infer parameters of Student-t noise models. The method is an extension of earlier work for models that are linear in parameters to the non-linear multilayer perceptron. Therefore, the proposed method broadens the range of models that can use a Student-t noise distribution. Because these techniques cannot stand alone, they must be combined with prediction models to improve their performance. We combined these techniques with some standard forecasting models: multilayer perceptron, radial basis functions, linear regression, and linear regression with GARCH. These techniques and forecasting models were applied to two datasets from the UK energy markets: daily electricity demand (which is stationary) and gas forward prices (non-stationary). The results showed that these techniques provided good improvement to prediction performance.


This dissertation focuses on a contextual approach to childrearing: the educative civil society (ECS); the joint activities of citizens in the upbringing of children and adolescents. In the Netherlands and other Western societies, the concept of the ECS has attracted increasing attention in the run-up to the transformation process of youth and family care. In recent years, various initiatives based on the concept of the ECS have been developed. One of these is Allemaal opvoeders (Alop – Partners in parenting) in which eleven Dutch municipalities organized activities to promote the greater involvement of civil society in the upbringing. The aim of this dissertation was to contribute to a further theoretical exploration of the ECS as a contextual approach to childrearing and to explore whether there was any support for this approach by scrutinizing a program – Alop – wherein this approach was operationalized. Since little was known about parents' and nonparental adults' (NPAs) perspectives on shared childrearing responsibilities, an explorative overview of the international literature was conducted first (Chapter 2). In the program theory (Chapter 3) – that served as a basis for the evaluation study (Chapter 6) – a four-step ladder of social contact was introduced, which made it possible to categorize the program activities on the basis of their subgoals. With a quantitative study (Chapter 4) we explored if parents subscribe to the proverb that it takes a village to raise a child. The results showed that parents seem to appreciate the involvement of NPAs, but are reluctant in sharing their primary caregivers' role. A focus group study (Chapter 5) was used to further explore where parents draw the line between their own and other people's responsibilities. The results are in line with the findings of the quantitative study: sharing childrearing is a delicate issue that comes with conditions. Parents were unanimous that they decide on what, when and how to teach their children, and on who they give mandate to act as secondary caregiver. This mandate seems to be defined by time, place and subject, i.e., NPAs only temporarily take over parents' responsibility, only in specific settings such as school and sports club, and only on subjects that actually concern them. At the same time, the results give rise to a nuancing of the antithesis "private worry versus public issue": parents believe that they do not have, nor insist on having, the monopoly on childrearing. Parents are not just willing to share childrearing responsibilities, they also emphasized the additional and compensatory value of NPAs as secondary caregivers, both for their children and for themselves as primary caregivers. Findings from our evaluation study (Chapter 6) indicate that activities aimed at strengthening the contact between parents and NPAs can provide childrearing support. In the general discussion (Chapter 7) we argue that future development requires a mixture of modesty and dare. "Modesty" because the ECS is not a panacea, and "dare" because this does not mean that the approach cannot be embraced as a promising complementary approach in youth and family care.


Comparative studies of quantitative and neutral genetic differentiation (QST-FST tests) provide means to detect adaptive population differentiation. However, QST-FST tests can be overly liberal if the markers used deflate FST below its expectation, or overly conservative if methodological biases lead to inflated FST estimates. We investigated how marker type and filtering criteria for marker selection influence QST-FST comparisons through their effects on FST using simulations and empirical data on over 18 000 in silico genotyped microsatellites and 3.8 million single-locus polymorphism (SNP) loci from four populations of nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius). Empirical and simulated data revealed that FST decreased with increasing marker variability, and was generally higher with SNPs than with microsatellites. The estimated baseline FST levels were also sensitive to filtering criteria for SNPs: both minor alleles and linkage disequilibrium (LD) pruning influenced FST estimation, as did marker ascertainment. However, in the case of stickleback data used here where QST is high, the choice of marker type, their genomic location, ascertainment and filtering made little difference to outcomes of QST-FST tests. Nevertheless, we recommend that QST-FST tests using microsatellites should discard the most variable loci, and those using SNPs should pay attention to marker ascertainment and properly account for LD before filtering SNPs. This may be especially important when level of quantitative trait differentiation is low and levels of neutral differentiation high.


Recent hyperspectral applications demand for higher accuracy and speed. This thesis develops a hyperspectral application analysis solution to address challenges in the different steps of denoising, order selection and unmixing of hyperspectral application data. Currently, all these steps process the data in cascade to achieve the optimum results. While in existing approaches the desired criterion is different in these steps, the proposed simultaneous Denoising and Intrinsic Order Selection (DIOS) method unifies these criteria. This property not only makes more sense for the desired optimization problem, but also leads to a faster processing algorithm. Consequently, DIOS avoids possible error propagation from the denoising stage to the dimension estimation stage, leading to more accurate results. The proposed method is based on minimizing the estimated Mean Square Error (MSE). The success rate of existing dimension estimation methods declines with the increase of image dimension and the decrease of Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR).

The most competitive method fails to detect the correct dimension in 30% of cases around 2dB. However, in simulation results DIOS is shown to be successful with a failure rate of about 5%. The proposed unmixing method, based on a simple least square estimation, improves the speed performance least 10 times for an average-sized data cube of 2MB. Compared to some well known existing approaches, the unmixing method improves the estimated MSE up to 60% for SNR<10dB. A new whitening process for hyperspectral applications with coloured noise is also proposed. Since the proposed method avoids the inversion of large matrices, computational complexity is substantially decreased. In the presence of coloured noise, simulation results show that the proposed whitening method lowers the MSE of unmixing and outperforms the existing whitening methods particularly when the noise correction factors increase.


The authors have experimentally investigated the compressive strength of GaAs pillars with a diameter of 1μm by uniaxial compression tests. The tests were performed at room temperature and, contrary to macroscopic tests, the micropillars were found to exhibit ductile plasticity comparable to that of metal single crystal micropillars. The yield stress was 1.8±0.4GPa and, for one pillar that was more closely examined, a total deformation of 24% was observed. In the diffraction patterns from transmission electron microscopy studies of this pillar, a high density of twins was observed.


This project employs a historical, institutionalist, and legal approach to analyzing financial warfare, specifically utilizing a chartal-spatialist theory of money. Utilizing these theories in conjunction with historical case studies, a theory of financial warfare is developed through understanding money as a product of social stratification and hierarchy, and therefore that the creation of money itself is a process of power. The spatiality of a powerful money expands beyond its national borders, and hence there is a hierarchy within money itself in the international arena. To build the theory, this project includes three case studies of implementations of financial warfare, each of which add a piece to the overall story: counterfeiting, financial sanctions policy, and counterterrorism through the dismantling of terrorist organizations' financial networks. As such, through focusing on money as an instrument of conflict and tension, the theory of financial warfare developed in this project focuses on the strength of a country's currency, as well as its position in the international financial system. Given the fact that hegemony is relative, the theory outlines preconditions for successfully implementing financial warfare, which include having higher financial power relative to the target country, having macroeconomic flexibility through issuing a strong sovereign currency, and having an elastic access to the law as defined in Katherina Pistor's legal theory of finance. This project further concludes that given its position as the issuer of the global reserve currency and the central authority in the international financial system, the United States is in the highest position of power to implement financial warfare. iii


With the growth of network governance, non-electoral forms of representation are of increasing significance. The claims of non-elected representatives are potentially more specific, explicit, and flexible than those of their elected counterparts. The quality of such claims can be assessed in relation to 'authenticity', rather than traditional criteria of authorization or accountability. These propositions are explored through first-hand accounts of 'faith representatives' involved in a variety of English urban governance partnerships. Representatives' claims expressed an aspiration to authenticity (which was not necessarily realized) in the sense of seeking ongoing and substantive consent from constituents, rather than assuming consent via a formalized and symbolic moment of election. Network governance may be best served by a mix of elected and non-elected representation, based upon an understanding of their complementary characteristics and of representation itself as a relational and emergent property.


In this paper we investigate the use of coactive learning in a multitask setting. In coactive learning, an expert presents the learner with a problem and the learner returns a candidate solution. The expert then improves on the solution if necessary and presents the improved solution to the learner. The goal for the learner is to learn to produce solutions which cannot be further improved by the expert while minimizing the average expert effort. In this paper, we consider the setting where there are multiple experts (tasks), and in each iteration one expert presents a problem to the learner. While the experts are expected to have different solution preferences, they are also assumed to share similarities, which should enable generalization across experts. We analyze several algorithms for this setting and derive bounds on the average expert effort during learning. Our main contribution is the balanced Perceptron algorithm, which is the first coactive learning algorithm that is both able to generalize across experts when possible, while also guaranteeing convergence to optimal solutions for individual experts. Our experiments in three domains confirm that this algorithm is effective in the multitask setting, compared to natural baselines.


Margaret Lock explicitly compares Japanese and North American medical and political accounts of female middle age to challenge Western assumptions about menopause. She uses ethnography, interviews, statistics, historical and popular culture materials, and medical publications to produce a richly detailed account of Japanese women's lives. The result offers irrefutable evidence that the experience and meanings--even the endocrinological changes--associated with female midlife are far from universal. Rather, Lock argues, they are the product of an ongoing dialectic between culture and local biologies. Japanese focus on middle-aged women as family members, and particularly as caretakers of elderly relatives. They attach relatively little importance to the end of menstruation, seeing it as a natural part of the aging process and not a diseaselike state heralding physical decline and emotional instability. Even the symptoms of midlife are different: Japanese women report few hot flashes, for example, but complain frequently of stiff shoulders. Articulate, passionate, and carefully documented, Lock's study systematically undoes the many preconceptions about aging women in two distinct cultural settings. Because it is rooted in the everyday lives of Japanese women, it also provides an excellent entree to Japanese society as a whole. Aging and menopause are subjects that have been closeted behind our myths, fears, and misconceptions. Margaret Lock's cross-cultural perspective gives us a critical new lens through which to examine our assumptions.


In the film Pulp Fiction, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) recalls the experience of eating McDonalds in continental Europe where fries are drowned in mayonnaise and the metric system reigns supreme. Creative businesses are experiencing similar feelings of disorientation as they figure out how to prosper in some of the world's fastest-growing economies like China and India. With growth engines spluttering and stalling in the West, the siren call to go global has become louder than ever. But what many discover on arriving on foreign shores is not a modern day El Dorado but a series of daunting challenges -- from market institutions that are missing, fragile or slow to mature, to tastes and preferences that are difficult to observe let alone drill down and decipher. When MTV went global in the 1980s, it assumed that a-lop-bop-a-doo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom was the same in every language, learning the hard way that history, geography and culture continue to matter. Today, MTV and its local subsidiaries dance to a more eclectic tune. This is a bracing prospect for the UK's creative industries and helps explain a seeming paradox: why despite enjoying a number of advantages, most obviously the popularity of the English language, they punch below their weight in countries like China. According to UNCTAD statistics, in 2010 the UK's share of creative goods exports to China was just 1.4 per cent, compared with a 4.8 per cent share in world creative goods exports. UK exports of creative goods to China totalled $140 million (£89.6 million), lower than not only Japan, the US and Singapore, but also France, Germany and Italy. With the exception of Japan and Germany, UK exports of creative goods grew at a slower rate than in all these countries between 2002 and 2010. A degree of scepticism is a refreshing contrast to the breathlessness and bullishness that surround emerging markets. But is this a sensible strategy in the long-run? We don't think twice about investing in new technologies and ventures which promise large and rapidly growing customer bases but have not yet worked out a watertight business model. But the UK's creative industries may be ignoring the Chinese market for similar reasons. A leap of imagination is required with too many entrepreneurs assuming that risk is an enemy not something that can be tamed and turned into an opportunity through more informed decision-making. On a recent visit to Beijing, we met a group of dynamic entrepreneurs at a social network for film, music and literature fans called Douban. Established in 2005 by Bo Yang, a former IBM research scientist and a cult figure in the capital's bustling IT scene, Douban has grown from a humble book review site into a fully-fledged recommendation engine and online store for creative content. What makes Douban such a distinctive proposition is not only its scale -- it has more than 100 million users -- but its fierce independence, exacting taste and urban swagger. In a market where the temptation -- and sometimes the smart money -- is to think short term and over-diversify, Douban has resisted blatant attempts to cash in on its growth or chase quantity, a commitment that is hardwired into its everyday actions. What does this mean for UK creative businesses? For decades, predicting consumer behaviour was a hit-and-miss game of guessing individual wants from crude markers such as age, gender and cod-psychology. Today, powered by cheap, plentiful bandwidth, businesses can observe how consumers think and behave in real-time and make decisions accordingly. By providing deep and dependable insights into consumer preferences, Douban can unlock similar value for creatives while raising brand awareness and easing distribution bottlenecks. Thus, we were surprised to discover that Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was the highest ranking British film on Douban's top 250, that TV programmes like Sherlock had hundreds of thousands of fans (despite never having been aired in China) and that writers as diverse as Jeanette Winterson, Bear Grylls, SJ Watson and Richard Wiseman had such loyal readerships in China. Beyond this, Douban offers a treasure trove of insights into the hopes, fears and motivations of Chinese young people. An interesting example is the mini groupAnti-Parents which has attracted over 50,000 kindred spirits since its establishment in 2008. The site has free-wheeled over a range of topics -- from the ways in which members have been ignored or hurt by their parents to the afflictions of rote learning, causing waves in a country reared on a time-honoured diet of filial obedience. Just as interestingly, the group was inspired in part by Nick Hornby's 2005 black comedy A Long Way Down and the novel's translator, Zhang Kun, was invited to administer the group in its early days. Douban's influence and popularity are underpinned by several other features -- some unique to it, some unique to the Chinese market: lack of trust in formal institutions and the low standing of the professional critic; the inability of rivals like IMDb and YouTube to assail the Great Wall of Chinese censorship and the fact that as a genuine interest group, unlike networks such as Facebook or more ad hoc review sites, Douban pro-actively encourages users to speak freely, bluntly and accurately about creative content. One consequence is that Douban exercises real sway over purchasing decisions. When the UK hit StreetDance was first screened in China, around five per cent of the 500,000 Douban users who had read the movie review went on to click on the ticket purchase facility. About one per cent of users who read the user reviews clicked on details about the original soundtrack. Like many budding ventures, challenges remain. Efforts to liberalise the creative industries are likely to rub up against periodic angst about opening up and a zero-sum desire to coddle domestic champions. Likewise there are limits to how far Douban speaks for all consumers, in particular, the hundreds of millions that live physically and metaphorically at the margins of China's digital revolution. But Douban is a live experiment. It is crossing the river by feeling for stones, to use the hardy Chinese expression, learning and improvising as it goes along. We should not just be sitting on the sidelines, but reaching out. The benefits of action and the costs of inaction are substantial and only likely to increase. This is a guest post by Hasan Bakhshi and Philippe Schneider. Hasan Bakhshi is director of creative industries in Nesta's policy & research unit. He's also a research fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology. Philippe Schneider is an independent researcher based in London. Image: Flickr / cbcastro


Sleep deprivation or fragmentation may impact upon psychological, hormonal and glucose metabolism of elite and recreational athletes.  The effect of sleep on performance is now part of the conventional wisdom of sport science. The physiology and pathology associated with sleep are important as potential causes of poor performance. The physiology includes the basics of sleep and sleep hygiene. The pathology is what may be present to a minimal or mild degree but will impact on sleep hygiene and performance the following day. The interaction between sleep and athletic performance is evident by published papers but the question is raised as how to apply this information in the athletic setting. An evidence based approach is difficult to be established due to the complex physiology of sleep and the intervariability among athletes. Sleep should be incorporated in the training programme based on the individualised needs of athletes whereas all athletes should be investigated for potent sleep disorders.


[1] A large increase in near-infrared (NIR) reflectance of Amazon forests during the light-rich dry season and a corresponding decrease during the light-poor wet season has been observed in satellite measurements. This increase has been variously interpreted as seasonal change in leaf area resulting from net leaf flushing in the dry season or net leaf abscission in the wet season, enhanced photosynthetic activity during the dry season from flushing new leaves and as change in leaf scattering and absorption properties between younger and older leaves covered with epiphylls. Reconciling these divergent views using theory and observations is the goal of this article. The observed changes in NIR reflectance of Amazon forests could be due to similar, but small, changes in NIR leaf albedo (reflectance plus transmittance) resulting from the exchange of older leaves for newer ones, but with the total leaf area unchanged. However, this argument ignores accumulating evidence from ground-based reports of higher leaf area in the dry season than the wet season, seasonal changes in litterfall and does not satisfactorily explain why NIR reflectance of these forests decreases in the wet season. More plausibly, the increase in NIR reflectance during the dry season and the decrease during the wet season would result from changes in both leaf area and leaf optical properties. Such change would be consistent with known phenological behavior of tropical forests, ground-based reports of seasonal changes in leaf area, litterfall, leaf optical properties and fluxes of evapotranspiration, and thus, would reconcile the various seemingly divergent views.


Here, we present GAVIN, a new method that delivers accurate classification of variants for next-generation sequencing molecular diagnostics. It is based on gene-specific calibrations of allele frequencies (from the ExAC database), effect impact (using SnpEff) and estimated deleteriousness (CADD scores) for >3,000 genes. In a benchmark on 18 clinical gene sets, we achieved a sensitivity of 91.6%, with a specificity of 78.2%. This accuracy was unmatched by 12 other tools we tested. We provide GAVIN as an online MOLGENIS service to annotate VCF files, and as open source executable for use in bioinformatic pipelines. It can be found at http://molgenis.org/gavin.


In laboratory bioassays, total mortality (neonate to pupation) among Bt-cotton varieties ranged from 13 to 89%; however, only cvs. CK 312/531, NuCOTN 33B, and PM 1220 RR/BG caused greater mortality than the soybean and meridic diet controls. Several Bt-cotton hosts increased larval developmental time, but none o f the commercial Bt-cotton varieties (excluding CK 312/531) significantly affected adult longevity, generation time, doubling time, or intrinsic rate of increase (rm). Soybean looper larval and predator densities were monitored in soybean fields to determine the impact of Bt-cotton production on soybean looper seasonal abundance. Throughout the study, peak soybean looper larval densities were greater in soybean adjacent to cotton compared to isolated soybean fields. However, densities in soybean fields adjacent to non-Bt-cotton never exceeded those sampled in soybean adjacent to Bt-cotton. Results from this study support the rm results from the laboratory experiment and indicate that local mortality caused by Bt-cotton is not having a significant impact on soybean looper densities in soybean within cottonsoybean agroecosystems. Susceptibility to foliar Bt-insecticides was monitored in 5 states and Puerto Rico from 1998 to 1999 using discriminating concentration and concentrationmortality bioassays. Throughout the study, field-collected soybean looper populations were less susceptible to Condor XL® in cotton-soybean agroecosystems than in areas without cotton production. Additionally, susceptibility to Condor XL® significantly decreased each year. None of the soybean looper populations evaluated were susceptible enough to MVPII® to develop concentration-mortality regressions. Field-


Keith Vaughan's Journals merits a place among the greatest confessional writing of the twentieth century. Vaughan belonged to the Neo-Romantic group of landscape painters that included Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland. Much troubled by his homosexuality, he began a diary in 1939, 'faced at the age of twenty-seven with what then seemed the likelihood of imminent extinction before I had properly got started'; and he would write until his suicide in 1977. Editor Alan Ross hails Vaughan's Journals as 'a self-portrait of astonishing honesty: devoid of disguise in any shape or form, or hypocrisy'. The earlier entries, covering the war years and his period of greatest creativity in the 1940s and 1950s, 'are revealing for the light they shed on a painter's character and, to a lesser extent, working methods'. The later pages chronicle 'a descent into hell...redeemed by their frankness, spleen and dry humour'. This edition reproduces the amplified version of the Journals that was first published in 1989.


The computation of the grasping forces for a multiarm robotic manipulation system (e.g., an anthropomorphic bimanual system) is considered in this paper. This problem is formulated as a convex optimization problem, also considering joint torque constraints. An algorithmic solution suitable for online implementation is presented, which allows a substantial reduction in the computational load by adopting a compact formulation and dynamically decreasing the number of active torque constrains. Moreover, for the case of a bimanual manipulation system, a suboptimal single-hand optimization algorithm is proposed and compared with that providing the optimal solution. Finally, a new algorithm for a valid initial-point evaluation is proposed. The effectiveness of the described methods has been tested in a simulation case study where the grasping forces of a humanoid torso equipped with two five-finger robotic hands are modified online to handle a load with a time-varying mass.


Many years of investigations and daily clinical practice suggest an alternative model of carcinogenesis where only a subset of cancer stem cells (CSCs) has the ability to proliferate extensively and form new tumours. Signalling pathways associated with oncogenesis, including the Notch, Sonic hedgehog and Wnt signalling play a major role in regulating stem cell self-renewal. Although the terms CSC and "cell-of-origin" have been used interchangeably, they are distinct concepts referring to cancer-initiating cells and cancer-propagating cells, respectively. The term "cell-of-origin" defines the normal cell that acquires the first cancer-promoting mutation(s); on the other side, the definition "cancer stem cell (CSC)" indicates the cellular subset within the tumour that uniquely sustains malignant growth. However, an unresolved question regarding liver cancers is which cell has to be considered as cell of origin. Recently, the study of the detailed immunohistochemical profile has revealed that a whole range of phenotypical traits of hepatocytes, cholangiocytes and progenitor cells can be seen in liver primitive tumors [hepatocarcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA)] being consistent with an origin from the hepatic stem cell compartment within canals of Hering and the biliary tree stem cells located within peribiliary glands. In liver malignancies, a number of cell surface markers have proved useful for the isolation of subsets enriched for CSCs, including CD133 (Prominin-1), CD44, CD24, EpCAM, AFP, Thy-1 and ATP-binding cassette B5, as well as Hoechst33342 exclusion by the side population cells.


The thesis deals principally with the separation of pitched sources from singlechannel polyphonic musical recordings. The aim is to extract from a mixture a set of pitched instruments or sources, where each source contains a set of similarly sounding events or notes, and each note is seen as comprising partial, transient and noise content. The work also has implications for separating nonpitched or percussive sounds from recordings, and in general, for unsupervised clustering of a list of detected audio events in a recording into a meaningful set of source classes. The alignment of a symbolic score/MIDI representation with the recording constitutes a pre-processing stage. The three main areas of contribution are: firstly, the design of harmonic tracking algorithms and spectralfiltering techniques for removing harmonics from the mixture, where particular attention has been paid to the case of harmonics which are overlapping in frequency. Secondly, some studies will be presented for separating transient attacks from recordings, both when they are distinguishable from and when they are overlapping in time with other transients. This section also includes a method which proposes that the behaviours of the harmonic and noise components of a note are partially correlated. This is used to share the noise component of a mixture of pitched notes between the interfering sources. Thirdly, unsupervised clustering has been applied to the task of grouping a set of separated notes from the recording into sources, where notes belonging to the same source ideally have similar features or attributes. Issues relating to feature computation, feature selection, dimensionality and dependence on a symbolic music representation are explored. Applications of this work exist in audio spatialisation, audio restoration, music content description, effects processing and elsewhere.


gaze point or eye movement while an individual performs a task [1]. These measurements are performed by a device or computer equipped with an eye tracker, which consists of cameras, and projectors and utilizes image processing algorithms. In conjunction with ongoing advances in eye tracking methods and equipment, eye tracking technology has been applied in a growing number of diverse fields including psychology, neuroscience, marketing, product design, automotive research, and medicine [2]. In all of these fields, eye tracking technology is utilized on the basis of a relationship between what a subject is looking at and what he or she is paying attention to or thinking about at that point in time. In the medical field, eye tracking has long been used as a useful tool in medical diagnosis, especially mental diseases such as schizophrenia [3], bipolar disorder [4], attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [5], autism [6] and Alzheimer's disease [7]. Various eye tracking techniques have been used for diagnostic purposes, ranging from simple methods such as pro-saccadic tasks, anti-saccadic tasks, and smooth pursuit tasks to more complicated methods such as visual search tasks and free observation [8]. While numerous studies have investigated the use of eye tracking to diagnose various diseases [3–7,9,10], its role in medical therapy and treatment has not been well established due to a relative lack of evidence. Patients with locked-in state amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can use an eye tracking assistive device to communicate with their caregivers. This can improve quality of life in ALS patients, and reduce the burden on caregivers [11]. An eye tracker can reportedly help patients with eye cancer during radiotherapy by reducing the target volume size and concentrating the radiation beam on the lesion [12]. A recent clinical trial investigated the feasibility of early attention skill training via novel eye tracking technology and gaze-contingent training paradigms in infants at familial risk of ADHD [13]. Eye tracking technology can also reportedly yield information that is used for differentiating novices from experts by analyzing their visual patterns [14–17]. One systematic review suggests that eye tracking technology may be reliable tool for the assessment of surgeon skill [14]. In another study investigating chest X-ray interpretation for pneumothorax, it was found that the diagnostic accuracy of pneumothorax increased with experience, and that parameters derived from eye tracking were also significantly associated with diagnostic accuracy [15]. In the field of anesthesia, analysis of visual attention via eye tracking technology may be useful for the assessment of performance in ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia (UGRA). Harrison et al. [16] examined gaze-fixation heat map for comparing procedural expertise while performing simulated UGRA. In another study, Borg et al. [17] investigated the area of interest of anesthesiologists who were asked a standardized anatomy-based question related to ultrasound image that may be commonly encountered during UGRA. These studies presented that experts spent less unfocused time away a target compared to novices. Similarly, Schulz et al. [18] investigated the impact of experience on performance, physiological workload indicators, and distribution of visual attention during simulated critical incidents. In this issue, King et al. [19] utilized eye tracking technology in a comparative evaluation of five malignant hyperthermia Editorial


The ESCRT machinery has a well established role within the endocytic pathway. Studies conducted in Drosophila have identified ESCRT proteins as important regulators of epithelial cell polarity and growth. Consequently ESCRTs have been classified as potential tumour suppressors. Alterations in the expression of various ESCRT components have been observed in human cancers. However, the possible link between ESCRT proteins, mammalian epithelial cell polarity and tumourigenesis has not been investigated. This thesis demonstrates for the first time that the ESCRT-I protein, Tsg101, is required for maintenance of mammalian epithelial cell organisation and polarity. siRNA knockdown of Tsg101 in the human Caco-2 cell line results in the formation of a multilayered epithelium with compromised apicobasal polarity. In addition, Tsg101 depletion impairs differentiation of the epithelial sheet and formation of polarised 3D Caco-2 cysts. Depletion of Tsg101 also results in intracellular accumulation of the tight junction protein, claudin-1. This is shown to be constitutively endocytosed and recycled in Caco-2 epithelial monolayers, suggesting that ESCRT-I is required for claudin-1 recycling to tight junctions. Tsg101 knockdown also impairs epithelial barrier formation and enhances Caco-2 migratory ability. This suggests that tight junction integrity is impaired and may contribute to the loss of Caco-2 cell organisation and polarity observed upon Tsg101 depletion. Finally, Tsg101 depleted Caco-2 cells appear to overproliferate, forming multilayered regions of the epithelial sheet. However, multilayered cells are eventually eliminated via apoptosis. Preliminary results suggest that inhibition of this apoptotic response enhances the aberrant epithelial phenotype, suggesting that the ability to evade apoptosis may be an important factor in determining the tumourigenic potential of ESCRT-I depletion. Therefore, results presented in this thesis suggest that the role of ESCRT-I as a tumour suppressor is conserved from Drosophila to mammals.


There are disagreements among researchers about the association between vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy and preterm birth (PTB). Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of observational studies to evaluate this association. We performed a systematic literature search of PubMed, MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library through August 2015 with the following keywords: "vitamin D" or "cholecalciferol" or "25-hydroxyvitamin D" or "25(OH)D" in combination with "premature birth" or "preterm birth" or "PTB" or "preterm delivery" or "PTD" or "prematurity". Our meta-analysis of 10 studies included 10,098 participants and found that pregnant women with vitamin D deficiency (maternal serum 25 (OH) D levels < 20 ng/mL) experienced a significantly increased risk of PTB (odds ratio (OR) = 1.29, 95% confidence intervals(CI): 1.16, 1.45) with low heterogeneity (I2 = 25%, p = 0.21). Sensitivity analysis showed that exclusion of any single study did not materially alter the overall combined effect. In the subgroup analyses, we found that heterogeneity was obvious in prospective cohort studies (I2 = 60%, p = 0.06). In conclusion, pregnant women with vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy have an increasing risk of PTB.


Background: In Nigeria, the specialty of family medicine (FM) has endured its own share of identity crises. This study was aimed at generating hypotheses about what describes a practising family physician (FP) and the specialty, according to young Nigerian FPs. Methods: Using the online platform for young African FPs alongside text messages and emails from volunteer research assistants over an eight-week period (March 3 to April 30, 2015), a purposive sample of young Nigerian FPs were asked to describe their favourite aspect of FM in a single word/phrase. Responses were provided in English/individual's mother tongue. Translation of the words was performed by respondents and additional collaborators fluent in these languages. Thematic analysis using the grounded theory approach was performed. Results: Twenty-four responses were received consisting of four themes: Scope, Family, Skills/Feelings/Values, and Professional Fulfilment. The resulting data portrayed the FP as one who possesses a unique skill-set, enjoys fulfilment in the profession, deals with undifferentiated diseases and is able to provide holistic care for patients (irrespective of age and gender) from a family-centred perspective. When compared with accepted domains of FM for Africa and Europe, roles of the FP in community-oriented care and primary care management were absent. Conclusion: While this showcases the young Nigerian FPs' acceptance of their role in providing comprehensive primary care, it suggests a lesser acceptance of their role in community-oriented primary care as well as primary care management. This study provides a basis for future, quantitative research describing attitudes and competence in these areas.


Medicinal herbs are significant sources for treating various diseases. Olea europaea is used traditionally as diuretic, hypotensive, emollient, laxative, febrifuge, skin cleanser, cholagogue, and also used for the treatment of urinary infections, gallstones, bronchial asthma and diarrhoea. Several phytoconstituents have been isolated and identified from different parts of the plant belonging to the category glycosides, secoiridoid, flavonoids and poly-unsaturated fatty acids. Many studies have been conducted to prove its potential as anti-oxidant, anti-viral, anti-microbial, anti-diabetic and for cardiovascular disorders. The present review aims toward forming a bridge between traditional use and modern therapeutics of Olea europaea.


This essay will explore how the Virgin is represented in Southwell's poetry through an analysis that focuses on his poetic representation of the Virgin's own triumph over death via her Assumption and Coronation. It will outline the historical and theological context of this most evocative and most contentious aspect of Mariology, and after a brief exploration of one of Southwell's early works, the Latin "Poema de Assumptione BVM", will focus on a single poem "The Assumption of our Lady". Through a contextualised close reading of this work, I aim to reveal not only how Southwell's devotion to the Virgin formed an integral part of his call to arms against secular love poetry, but also how he used Marian imagery — particularly the image of the Virgin's Assumption — in both a politicized and polemical way.


The chirp effect in supercontinuum (SC) generation in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) is researched carefully in experiment. Using an acoustic-optics programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF), the 1-4 order dispersions of the pulses from femtosecond oscillator can be accurately controlled. The experimental results show the SC generation in PCF is sensitive to the chirp of incident pulse, and the output spectrum and conversion efficiency can be tuned by changing the initial dispersion state. With different group delay dispersion (GDD) brought to the incident pulse, we find that positive chirp can enhance the energy conversion to long wavelength, and negative chirp can enhance the conversion to short wavelength. Specially, an optimal negative chirp can maximize the conversion to the shortest one at about 625 nm. The effect of the third-order dispersion (TOD) also has been investigated, and we find that the same value of the positive and negative TOD has the similar effect on the SC.


The incidence of onco-gynecological diseases is one of the highest among female scourges involving different age groups. The primary importance at the early stages of treatment is conventionally given to surgical intervention followed by polychemio-therapy, hormonal and radial therapies. In these conditions the use of new methods that might correct the levels of antioxidant defense system and of lipid peroxidation as well as to modulate immunological response seems to be very promising. The aim of this study was to evaluate ozone effect on various homeostatic parameters in postoperative period. There have been examined 100 women with various onco-gynecological diseases (cervical carcinoma, ovarian carcinoma, endometrial carcinoma). All the patients were compatible according to the age and concomitant pathology and were operated for the pathology. Ozonetherapy course of 6 procedures, (ozone concentration of 400 μg/L in physiological saline) done intravenously every second day was administered to 60 women, starting on the second postoperative day. Patients of the control group (40 patients) were on conventional management without ozone administrationIn addition to clinical examination, all the patients were taken tests for intensity of serum lipid peroxidation according to the indices of chemilumenescence - primary (dien conjugates), secondary (trien conjugates) and final (Shiff bases) products and for general antioxidant activity. To evaluate the immune status the mononuclear cells of peripheral blood were immunophenotyped regarding the amount of CD 4, CD8, CD16, CD22, CD25, CD71, CD 38, CD95, HLA 1, HLA DR. The levels of soluble antigens: CD 50, CD95, CD38, CD54 as well as the antigens of the histocompatible classes ( HLA -1 and HLA - 2) were also analyzed. Competitive solid-phase enzyme immunoassay was used to identify the levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and of interleukin-2 (Il –2).Ozonetherapeutic procedures were not found to cause any complications. The clinical effect could be seen in improvement of appetite, better sleep, alleviation of nausea and weakness. All patients with elevated billirubin, fibrinogen and hepatic enzyme activity on having undergone the course of ozonetherapy were found to have these indices returning to baseline value.Initial laboratory results showed the increase in total antioxidant blood activity and the depression of lipid peroxidation processes. Taking into consideration ozone property at low concentration to improve the immunity and lipid peroxidation, ozone was used as a poliative remedy.Ozonetherapy proved to be very helpful in the management of chemiotherapy complications in patients with onco-gynecological pathology.


The present study is focused on the development of new VIII group metal on CeO2 – ZrO2 (CZO) catalyst to be used in reforming reaction for syngas production. The catalyst are tested in the oxyreforming process, extensively studied by Barbera [44] in a new multistep process configuration, with intermediate H2 membrane separation, that can be carried out at lower temperature (750°C) with respect the reforming processes (900 – 1000°C). In spite of the milder temperatures, the oxy-reforming conditions (S/C = 0.7; O2/C = 0.21) remain critical regarding the deactivation problems mainly deriving from thermal sintering and carbon formation phenomena. The combination of the high thermal stability characterizing the ZrO2, with the CeO2 redox properties, allows the formation of stable mixed oxide system with high oxygen mobility. This feature can be exploited in order to contrast the carbon deposition on the active metal surface through the oxidation of the carbon by means of the mobile oxygen atoms available at the surface of the CZO support. Ce0.5Zr0.5O2 is the phase claimed to have the highest oxygen mobility but its formation is difficult through classical synthesis (co-precipitation), hence a water-in-oil microemulsion method is, widely studied and characterized. Two methods (IWI and bulk) for the insertion of the active metal (Rh, Ru, Ni) are followed and their effects, mainly related to the metal stability and dispersion on the support, are discussed, correlating the characterization with the catalytic activity. Different parameters (calcination and reduction temperatures) are tuned to obtain the best catalytic system both in terms of activity and stability. Interesting results are obtained with impregnated and bulk catalysts, the latter representing a new class of catalysts. The best catalysts are also tested in a low temperature (350 – 500°C) steam reforming process and preliminary tests with H2 membrane separation have been also carried out.


Plastic Surgery Emergencies presents a concise guide to the principles and procedures for rapidly evaluating and treating acute care problems in the emergency room setting or during on-call consultations. Using succinct descriptions and easily accessible bullet-points, the book instructs the reader in the protocols for a range of common and uncommon problems, from simple suture repair of lacerations to managing facial trauma to treating compartment syndrome of the upper extremity. Features: * Easy-to-follow diagrams demonstrating key procedures * Full-color photographs for rapid diagnosis * Comprehensive discussion of common pharmacotherapy * Concise review of specific anatomy to aid rapid identification of injuries * Descriptions of the various types and uses of different sutures and the techniques for suturing complex wounds * Instructions for performing regional blocks of the face and hand * Guidelines for the assessment and treatment of simple burn wounds, severely burned patients, and patients with bites and stings * Recommendations for managing postoperative and free flap complications * Extensive discussion of how to address soft tissue and traumatic hand injuries, with detailed descriptions of upper extremity splinting techniques This handy, pocket manual is an indispensable resource for clinicians, residents, and trainees in plastic surgery. It is also ideal for all emergency room personnel, including ER physicians, physicians' assistants, and nurse practitioners, as well as family practice physicians.


The semiconductor industry relies on knowledge sharing and collaboration between its employees and amongst subsidiary companies to remain competitive in an ever changing, market driven environment. Practise has changed from workers supplying labour to workers supplying knowledge. Technology improvements and investment in automation have provided companies the platform to generate, codify, harness and exploit knowledge as a means of improving organisational performance.

This research explores knowledge dynamics in the organisation and specifically looks at knowledge sharing within a subsidiary and among subsidiaries in a multinational corporation. The corporation in question operates its manufacturing facilities as competing business units. The purpose of the research was to establish if this method of organising business units provides the overall corporation with a competitive advantage, or if competing business units inhibits performance preventing or restricting the potential for a competitive advantage for the corporation.

To determine how knowledge is shared within the organisation a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted. Senior managers and professional staff across a number of disciplines were interviewed. Knowledge sharing within functional area departments, collaboration between functional area departments, knowledge systems and compliance to knowledge systems were used as determinants to establish the extent of the knowledge dynamic in the subsidiary. The relationship between knowledge sharing and how it impacted the "bottom line" performance of the subsidiary was also considered in an attempt to quantify the impact knowledge sharing has on performance.

To determine how knowledge is shared between subsidiaries, two case studies were conducted. The first case study involved a benchmarking visit to allow two of the corporation's subsidiaries to compare best practice cost systems with multi-disciplines involved. The second case study involved a cross functional team of technical staff to define a manufacturing facility technical yield roadmap.
Significant cost, productivity and yield improvement at the site was attributed to the success of collaborative units established at site. Establishing collaborative units was a precursor to setting up a network within the site to promote knowledge sharing in the organisation. The site was cognisant of the impact of effective knowledge sharing and receptive to sharing knowledge on an informal or formal basis. The site put great stock in codified knowledge and invested heavily in automating knowledge based systems.

Many barriers to knowledge sharing were identified including compliance to codified procedures, departmental conflicts, viewing knowledge sharing as a burden, variation across automated systems, conflicts caused by the internet as a knowledge source and logistics due to geographical dispersion. Knowledge-led teams overcame many of these barriers. Success bred success to the extent knowledge sharing has become a business process in the organisation.

Knowledge sharing is a two way process. It can be a vehicle for trust, respect and improvement. This research has shown knowledge sharing even within competing business units can produce a competitive advantage. An organisation is an accumulation of knowledge. A knowledge-led collaborative approach provides many benefits: it will advance the company, engage staff at all levels and favourably impact the "bottom line". Knowledge management differentiated the local site from other corporate subsidiaries with the local site demonstrating "best in class" results on its key performance indicators. Encouragingly, there is ample opportunity to improve performance further once knowledge management is fully embedded as a business process across the organisation.


Expenditures for USDA's 15 food assistance programs totaled $46 billion in fiscal 2004 (October 1, 2003, to September 30, 2004), marking the second consecutive year in which spending exceeded the previous record high. The fiscal 2004 spending level represented a 10-percent increase from the previous fiscal year, the fourth consecutive year in which total food assistance expenditures increased. Five programs - the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the School Breakfast Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program - accounted for 94 percent of USDA's total expenditures for food assistance. While each of these major programs expanded during fiscal 2004, most of the increase in total food assistance expenditures between fiscal 2003 and fiscal 2004 was due to the increase in Food Stamp Program expenditures.


Since understanding the spatial and temporal structure of epidemic processes is a matter of great concern from both the scientific and political point of view, in the last five years a new approach to the problem has been developed, called the topological approach. The new approach makes it possible to estimate both the location of the outbreak point and the development of the epidemic by focusing on the spatial distribution of the events, without any reference to the chronology and frequency of the observations. The demand for such a limited amount of initial information means that this approach is applicable not only in the epidemic field but in all those fields where the geographical coordinates of events that have a relation, a shared semantics, are available. For example, it can be used to identify the location of a chemical exposure (such as a pesticide or contaminated consumer product) by considering only the sites where exposure has occurred, without further information being required. The events' coordinates are the minimum knowledge with which TWC can work but not the only knowledge. Indeed, if more information on the events to be analyzed is available, it can be used by the algorithm to optimize the results. This chapter aims to present the theoretical foundations of the topological approach in a systematic manner and to illustrate its potential through application to a few real case studies.


In a world of high productivity with a focus on maximizing profit, it becomes extremely
important to produce new, reliable software as quickly and cheaply as possible. Compo-
nent based software development (CBD) promised to reach this goal. By just composing
prefabricated, reusable, well-tested components to new applications, application devel-
opment should become much more productive and reliable. Application programmers
should be able to select from a set of suitable components potentially produced by dif-
ferent vendors.
Industry contributed to this goal by introducing several different component mod-
els as e.g. JavaBeans, Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs), the Component Object Model (COM),
the Corba Component Model (CCM), and most recently .NET. Each component model
defines its own standard for component look up, instantiation, access to the functional-
ity of the component, communication, composition techniques available etc. Although
these component models already are a big step towards the goals of CBD, especially the
composition techniques supported are still too restricted, not simple enough, and vary
from component model to component model.
Thus, the main goal of this thesis is to establish a basis and to develop techniques
for simplifying and unifying the composition process for components belonging to in-
dustrial component models. We introduce a unifying component model comprising
the main features of current industrial component models. This model provides some
additional, useful features, as e.g. the support of bi-directional connections which can
be established by a certain composition mechanism. Components of this model can be
composed to yield components of a higher level of abstraction. These composite com-
ponents are described by a composition language which supports late binding mecha-
nisms through strict interface based programming. As components of industrial compo-
nent models can be integrated into our unifying model, all its features are also available
for existing industrial component models. Compositions can be checked for consis-
tency based on a type system we define for our component model. This type system
respects amongst others conditions for bi-directional connections and a certain kind of
alias control. Besides consistency checking, the type system is used to decide whether a
component can be replaced by another one without invalidating any existing composite
referring to the component to be replaced. To further simplify the composition process,
we focus on tool support for visual composition. Some useful features are introduced,
as e.g. the guided establishment of needed interconnections and the colored depiction
of constituents of a composite causing incorrect compositions


The efficient incorporation of porous materials into membranes to prepare hybrid membranes for the development of a separation device for water pollution treatment has been promising yet challenging. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) possess superior adsorbability, but their poor processability hampers the fabrication of devices for applications. Inspired by biomineralization, we propose the preparation of electrospun-silk-nanofiber (ESF)@MOF (ZIF-8 or ZIF-67) hybrid membranes with pristine MOFs densely loaded to efficiently remove pollutants in water. The biomineralization-mimetic in situ growth of MOFs on ESF led to the perfect coverage of MOFs, with loading rates reaching 36% and 34% for ZIF-8 and ZIF-67, respectively, which were among the highest levels among commonly used polymer membranes and reported analogues. The loaded MOFs also retained their porosity, which was comparable with that of pristine MOFs. Dynamic investigations revealed that the superior loading rates and porosities derived from the abundant nucleation sites provided by the ESFs and the biomineralization-based growth. The hybrid membranes achieved removal rates of two kinds of heavy metal ion and organic dye that reached nearly 100%. A filtration device was also constructed with a removal rate that was close to 100% in one round. The proposed biomineralization-mimetic growth of MOFs on biomolecular matrices might create a new way for the preparation of multi-functional MOF-based devices.


Auto-ethnography is a methodology which has frequently been used within a variety of academic disciplines. It has been used within education but this has largely been within Further Eduction settings. This review of auto-ethnography highlights how it can be used by practitioner researchers from other educational settings and is based upon research conducted for a thesis set within a primary Pupil Referral Unit. The findings of this study indicated that auto-ethnography has benefits for both the practitioner researcher and for the pupils involved within the research. Criticisms of the methodology are discussed, including that of it being highly evocative, with the suggestion made that a more analytical approach to auto-ethnography can not only address criticisms of the method making it more acceptable within traditional approaches to academic research but can also maintain the emotional heart without letting this dominate. Conclusions are drawn about the benefits to self expression, teacher/pupil relationships, pupil voice and teacher voice.


Disability as a concept has been defined and explained from different perspectives over the years and cannot be regarded just with an individual focus. It should also be considered environmentally and socially. Spirituality and religion have a significant importance culturally for people with disabilities. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explain the term disability in detail, its religious and spiritual aspects, and the use of these concepts in the rehabilitation process. Research has demonstrated spirituality and religion to be two terms that are a powerful and effective personal resource for accepting and dealing with issues regarding disability. According to studies, individuals have furthermore reported having a disability to provide them with a benefit of gaining a different point of view toward life. Because religion and spirituality are vital psychological resources that cannot be underestimated, they have been used in rehabilitation psychology as a coping mechanism. For this reason, this paper aims to provide knowledge about the concept of disability, its relationship with religion and spirituality, and its use in rehabilitation psychology.


[1] Airborne measurements of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) were taken over the rice growing region of California's Sacramento Valley in the late spring of 2010 and 2011. From these and ancillary measurements, we show that CH4 mixing ratios were higher in the planetary boundary layer above the Sacramento Valley during the rice growing season than they were before it, which we attribute to emissions from rice paddies. We derive daytime emission fluxes of CH4 between 0.6 and 2.0% of the CO2 taken up by photosynthesis on a per carbon, or mole to mole, basis. We also use a mixing model to determine an average CH4/CO2 flux ratio of −0.6% for one day early in the growing season of 2010. We conclude the CH4/CO2 flux ratio estimates from a single rice field in a previous study are representative of rice fields in the Sacramento Valley. If generally true, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) greenhouse gas inventory emission rate of 2.7 × 1010 g CH4/yr is approximately three times lower than the range of probable CH4 emissions (7.8–9.3 × 1010 g CH4/yr) from rice cultivation derived in this study. We attribute this difference to decreased burning of the residual rice crop since 1991, which leads to an increase in CH4 emissions from rice paddies in succeeding years, but which is not accounted for in the CARB inventory.


Historically speaking, scientific publication has mainly focussed on the analysis, interpretation and conclusions
drawn from a given dataset, as these are the information that can be easily published in hard copy text format
with the aid of diagrams. Examining the raw data that forms the dataset is often difficult to do, as datasets are
usually stored in digital media, in a variety of (often proprietary or non-standard) formats. This means that the
peer-review process is generally only applied to the methodology and final conclusions of a piece of work, and not
the underlying data itself. Yet for the conclusions to stand, the data must be of good quality, and the peer-review
process must be used to judge the data quality.

Data publication, involving the peer-review of datasets, would be of benefit to many sectors of the academic
community. For the data scientists, who often spend considerable time and effort ensuring that their data
and metadata is complete, valid and stored in an accredited data repository, this would provide academic credit
in the form of extra publications and citations. Data publication would benefit the wider community, allowing
discovery and reuse of useful datasets, ensuring their curation and providing the best possible value for money.
Overlay journals are a technology which is already being used to facilitate peer review and publication online.

The Overlay Journal Infrastructure for Meteorological Sciences (OJIMS) Project aimed to develop the
mechanisms that could support both a new (overlay) Journal of Meteorological Data and an Open-Access
Repository for documents related to the meteorological sciences. The OJIMS project was conducted by a
partnership between the UK's Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) and two members of the National Centre
for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), the British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC) and the University of Leeds.

Conference delegates at the NCAS Conference in Bristol of 8-10 December 2008 were invited to complete
a survey to assess the potential implications for the meteorological sciences should a data journal and an
open access subject repository be created and operated. Supervised run-throughs of a demonstrator Journal of
Meteorological Data were also carried out by seven volunteers at the conference. The feedback from the surveys
and demonstrations became part of the reports and recommendations produced by the project. This included
discussion of the benefits to data creators, the review process, branding, version control and citations.

The project concluded that standard online journal technologies are suitable for the development and operation
of a data journal as they allow the use of all the functions of journals without the need to engineer new
solutions. The user surveys and interviews also showed that there is a significant desire in the meteorological
sciences community for a data journal


Ellerman Bombs (EBs) are thought to arise as a result of photospheric magnetic reconnection. We use data from the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope to study EB events on the solar disk and at the limb. Both data sets show that EBs are connected to the foot points of forming chromospheric jets. The limb observations show that a bright structure in the Hα blue wing connects to the EB initially fueling it, leading to the ejection of material upwards. The material moves along a loop structure where a newly formed jet is subsequently observed in the red wing of Hα. In the disk data set, an EB initiates a jet which propagates away from the apparent reconnection site within the EB flame. The EB then splits into two, with associated brightenings in the inter-granular lanes. Micro-jets are then observed, extending to 500 km with a lifetime of a few minutes. Observed velocities of the micro-jets are approximately 5–10 km s−1, while their chromospheric counterparts range from 50 to 80 km s−1. MURaM simulations of quiet Sun reconnection show that micro-jets with properties similar to those of the observations follow the line of reconnection in the photosphere, with associated Hα brightening at the location of increased temperature.


The human-computer interaction (HCI) has had a long and troublesome relationship to the role of 'science'. HCI's status as an academic object in terms of coherence and adequacy is often in question---leading to desires for establishing a true scientific discipline. In this paper I explore formative cognitive science influences on HCI, through the impact of early work on the design of input devices. The paper discusses a core idea that I argue has animated much HCI research since: the notion of scientific design spaces. In evaluating this concept, I disassemble the broader 'picture of science' in HCI and its role in constructing a disciplinary order for the increasingly diverse and overlapping research communities that contribute in some way to what we call 'HCI'. In concluding I explore notions of rigour and debates around how we might reassess HCI's disciplinarity.


Objective. To assess to what extent the worldwide opioid epidemic affects Finnish patients with early inflammatory arthritis (IA). Methods. From the nationwide register maintained by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, we collected all incident adult patients with newly onset seropositive and seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (RA+ and RA–) and undifferentiated arthritis (UA) between 2010 and 2014. For each case, 3 general population (GP) controls were matched according to age, sex, and place of residence. Drug purchases between 2009 and 2015 were evaluated 1 year before and after the index date (date of IA diagnosis), further dividing this time into 3-month periods. Results. A total of 12,115 patients (66% women) were identified. At least 1 opioid purchase was done by 23–27% of the patients 1 year before and 15–20% one year after the index date. Relative risk (RR) of opioid purchases compared to GP was highest during the last 3-month time period before the index date [RR 2.81 (95% CI 2.55–3.09), 3.06 (2.68-3.49), and 4.04 (3.51–4.65) for RA+, RA–, and UA, respectively] but decreased after the index date [RR 1.38 (1.23–1.58), 1.91 (1.63–2.24), and 2.51 (2.15–2.93)]. Up to 4% of the patients were longterm users both before and after the diagnosis. Conclusion. During 2009–15 in Finland, opioid use peaked just before the diagnosis of IA but decreased rapidly after that, suggesting effective disease control, especially in seropositive RA. Further, opioids were used to treat arthritis pain of patients with incident RA and UA less often than previously reported from other countries.


For the $q$-tangent function introduced by Foata and Han (this volume) we provide the continued fraction expansion, by creative guessing and a routine verification. Then an even more recent $q$-tangent function due to Cieslinski is also expanded. Lastly, a general version is considered that contains both versions as special cases.


The flooding of rivers and coastlines is the most frequent and damaging of all natural hazards. Between 1980 and 2016, total direct damages exceeded $1.6 trillion, and at least 225,000 people lost their lives. Recent events causing major economic losses include the 2011 river flooding in Thailand ($40 billion) and the 2013 coastal floods in the United States caused by Hurricane Sandy (over $50 billion). Flooding also triggers great humanitarian challenges. The 2015 Malawi floods were the worst in the country's history and were followed by food shortage across large parts of the country. Flood losses are increasing rapidly in some world regions, driven by economic development in floodplains and increases in the frequency of extreme precipitation events and global sea level due to climate change. The largest increase in flood losses is seen in low-income countries, where population growth is rapid and many cities are expanding quickly. At the same time, evidence shows that adaptation to flood risk is already happening, and a large proportion of losses can be contained successfully by effective risk management strategies. Such risk management strategies may include floodplain zoning, construction and maintenance of flood defenses, reforestation of land draining into rivers, and use of early warning systems. To reduce risk effectively, it is important to know the location and impact of potential floods under current and future social and environmental conditions. In a risk assessment, models can be used to map the flow of water over land after an intense rainfall event or storm surge (the hazard). Modeled for many different potential events, this provides estimates of potential inundation depth in flood-prone areas. Such maps can be constructed for various scenarios of climate change based on specific changes in rainfall, temperature, and sea level. To assess the impact of the modeled hazard (e.g., cost of damage or lives lost), the potential exposure (including buildings, population, and infrastructure) must be mapped using land-use and population density data and construction information. Population growth and urban expansion can be simulated by increasing the density or extent of the urban area in the model. The effects of floods on people and different types of buildings and infrastructure are determined using a vulnerability function. This indicates the damage expected to occur to a structure or group of people as a function of flood intensity (e.g., inundation depth and flow velocity). Potential adaptation measures such as land-use change or new flood defenses can be included in the model in order to understand how effective they may be in reducing flood risk. This way, risk assessments can demonstrate the possible approaches available to policymakers to build a less risky future.


When a multicellular organism suffers damages to tissues/organs it heals itself by either substituting the lost cellular matrix by scar formation or by regenerating the lost tissue. Regeneration likely occurs by a recapitulation of the developmental process that formed the organ. Many processes regulating organ development are based on epithelial-mesenchymal interactions and a strict control of organ specific stem/progenitor cells. Elucidation of the molecular basis of these processes is therefore vital in order to develop novel therapies in regenerative medicine. The LIM homebox gene Lhx2 is interesting in this context since Lhx2 has been shown to be important for the formation of several organs by regulating epithelial-mesenchymal interactions and progenitor cell function. Targeted inactivation of Lhx2 leads to a lethal anemia due to malformed liver and severe neural abnormalities such as hypoplasia of the forebrain and anophtalmia. Thus, elucidation of the mechanisms of the function of Lhx2 in different organ systems would give important insights into the molecular mechanisms regulating epithelial-mesenchymal interactions and stem/progenitor cell function. To elucidate the function of Lhx2 in the hematopoietic system Lhx2 was initially expressed in hematopoietic progenitor cells derived from ES cells differentiated in vitro using retroviral vectors. This approach led to the generation of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)-like cell lines suggesting that Lhx2 could impact HSC function. However neither the specificity nor the efficiency of the Lhx2-induced phenotype could be determined using this approach. To be able to elucidate the function of Lhx2 in the hematopoietic system, an ES cell line with inducible Lhx2 expression was generated. Lhx2 expression induces self-renewal of a distinct hematopoietic progenitor cell from which HSC-like cell lines were established. Down-regulation of Lhx2 in these HSC-like cell lines leads to a rapid loss of stem cell character, providing a good model to study the molecular function of Lhx2 in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. A global gene expression analysis was performed comparing the Lhx2+ stem cell population to the Lhx2- differentiated progeny. This approach identified genes putatively linked to self-renewal/differentiation of HSCs. A considerable proportion of the genes showed an overlapping gene expression pattern with Lhx2 expression in tissue of non-hematopoietic origin suggesting that Lhx2 function in stem/progenitor cells partly overlap with Lhx2 function during organ development. In order to define other Lhx2-dependent progenitor cell populations and to generate a tool to analyze the function of Lhx2 in organ development a new transgenic mouse model was generated. By using a specific part of the Lhx2 promoter to drive expression of Cre recombinase in vivo (Lhx2-Cre mice) we have been able to define the first eye committed progenitor cells in the forebrain. By using the Lhx2-Cre mice it will be possible to distinguish the function of genes during eye development from their function in the patterning of the forebrain e.g. the eye field transcription factors. Conditional inactivation of Lhx2 in these eye specific progenitor cells causes an immediate developmental arrest. The transgene is also active in Lhx2-/- embryonic forebrain, but re-expression of Lhx2 in Lhx2-/- progenitor cells only promote formation of retinal pigment epithelium cells. Analysis of genes expressed by the Lhx2+ stem cell population allowed us to define novel genes putatively linked to Lhx2 function in eye development. Thus, we have defined the progenitor cells in the forebrain committed to eye development and the expansion and patterning of these progenitors are dependent on Lhx2. Although commitment to eye development is Lhx2-independent, Lhx2 might be important for the acquisition of the oligopotent fate of these progenitor cells.


The primitive ectoderm of the mouse embryo arises from the inner cell mass between 4.75 and 5.25 days post coitum, around the time of implantation. Positioned at a pivotal time in development, just prior to formation of the three germ layers of the embryo proper, the primitive ectoderm responds directly to the signals generated during gastrulation. We have identified a conditioned medium, MEDII, which caused the homogeneous conversion of ES cells to a morphologically distinct cell population, termed early primitive ectoderm-like (EPL) cells. EPL cells expressed the pluripotent cell markers Oct4, SSEA1 and alkaline phosphatase. However, the formation of EPL cells was accompanied by alterations in Fgf5, Gbx2 and Rex1 expression, a loss in chimaera forming ability, changes in factor responsiveness and modified differentiation capabilities, all consistent with the identification of EPL cells as equivalent to the primitive ectoderm population of the 5.5 to 6.0 days post coitum embryo. EPL cell formation could be reversed in the presence of LIF and withdrawal of MEDII, which suggested that EPL cell formation was not a terminal differentiation event but reflected the ability of pluripotent cells to adopt distinct cell states in response to specific factors. Partial purification of MEDII revealed the presence of two separable biological activities, both of which were required for the induction and maintenance of EPL cells. We show here the first demonstration of uniform differentiation of ES cells in response to biological factors. The formation of primitive ectoderm, both in vivo and in vitro, appears to be an obligatory step in the differentiation of the inner cell mass or ES cells into cell lineages of the embryonic germ layers. EPL cells potentially represent a model for the development of lineage specific differentiation protocols and analysis of gastrulation at a molecular level. An understanding of the active components of MEDII may provide a route for the identification of factors which induce primitive ectoderm formation in vivo.


According to many Hindus, travelling to Assam, in North-East India, is dangerous. The Assamese woman might trap the male outsider, using her magic to transform him into a goat and turn him back into a man at night. Unable to leave, the man would become the sex-toy of his mistress. Fear is the emotion many Hindus once felt (and still feel) about remote Assam. Still, many set off on a pilgrimage to Assam's most famous temple – the Kāmākhyā temple in Guwahati. In many narratives, Assam, though frightening, is the source of occult knowledge for those who are prepared to cope with such awe-inspiring power. Through the analysis of several narratives about Assam, the paper advances a reflection on our notion of fear and shows how the latter is often tightly connected to attraction. The narratives are taken from several field visits by the author and her research focusing on the Kāmākhyā temple, as well as common stories from Hindu folklore. Together they explore a frightening picture of Assam. To make sense of these data, the paper evokes the notion of śakti and analyses the way Assamese women are depicted in the narratives under consideration.


The migratory capability of cancer cells is one of the most important hallmarks reflecting metastatic potential. Ouabain, an endogenous cardiac glycoside produced by the adrenal gland, has been previously reported to have anti-tumor activities; however, its role in the regulation of cancer cell migration remains unknown. The present study has revealed that treatment with ouabain at physiological concentrations is able to inhibit the migratory activities of human lung cancer H292 cells. The negative effects of ouabain were found to be mediated through the suppression of migration regulatory proteins, such as focal adhesion kinase (FAK), ATP-dependent tyrosine kinase (Akt), and cell division cycle 42 (Cdc42). We found that the observed actions of ouabain were mediated via a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-dependent mechanism because the addition of ROS scavengers (N-acetylcysteine and glutathione) could reverse the effect of ouabain on cell migration. Furthermore, ouabain was shown to inhibit the spheroidal tumor growth and decrease the cancer cell adhesion to endothelial cells. However, the compound had no significant effect on anoikis of the cells. Together, these findings shed light on the understanding of cancer cell biology by exploring the novel function of this endogenous human substance.


A face develops under the influence of many genes. Thus, facial appearance can be a significant clue in the initial identification of genetic anomalies associated with especially cognitive impairments. It may be possible to diagnose a good number of syndromes correctly by using computer-assisted face analysis. For dysmorphic syndromes -with - known genetic causes, cyto- and/or molecular genetic analysis is the appropriate route of investigation in order to confirm a diagnosis. In this study, in terms of helping non experienced practitioners in diagnosing process as well as supporting experts in their decisions, we established a methodology to ease the process and we refer to our method as FaceGP DDSS. In the methodology, digital facial image processing methods are used to reveal facial features with disorders indicating genotype-phenotype interrelation. A great number of genetic disorders indicating a characteristic pattern of facial anomalies can be typically identified by analyzing specific features with the aid of facial image processing methods such as PCA in order to determine reference values (eigenfaces) and train the system. Distance algorithms such as Euclidean, Mahalanobis are used to construct the correlation of the input image with the trained images in matching. Some image enhancement methods such as histogram equalization and median filter are implemented on detected degraded images to capture better features. This study proposes a novel computer-assisted and cost-effective method by merging several methods in the characterization of the facial dysmorphology, in particular a method relying primary on face image capture and manipulation to diagnose genetic diseases.


We prove the equivalence of rst-order local consistency relaxations and the MAX SAT relaxation of Goemans and Williamson (1994) for a class of MRFs we refer to as logical MRFs. This allows us to combine the advantages of each into a single MAP inference technique: solving the local consistency relaxation with any of a number of highly scalable message-passing algorithms, and then obtaining a high-quality discrete solution via a guaranteed rounding procedure when the relaxation is not tight. Logical MRFs are a general class of models that can incorporate many common dependencies, such as logical implications and mixtures of supermodular and submodular potentials. They can be used for many structured prediction tasks, including natural language processing, computer vision, and computational social science. We show that our new inference technique can improve solution quality by as much as 20% without sacricing speed on problems with over one million dependencies.


Top management involvement in IT governance may positively influence the establishment and implementation of effective IT governance within organisations. There are few studies, however, investigating those factors that drive top managements' ability to absorb IT governance knowledge within organisations. This study offers a deeper understanding of factors that help positively influence top managements' knowledge of IT governance. Using absorptive capacity as its theoretical underpinning and based on Australian empirical data, this study shows that for top management to have good levels of absorptive capacity of IT governance knowledge, four factors are required. Within the context of IT governance, those four factors are prior relevant knowledge, communication network, communication climate, and knowledge scanning. In rank order this study shows that the level of absorptive capacity of IT governance of top management was strongly influenced by communication network. Knowledge scanning was found as the next most important factor for improving the level of absorptive capacity of IT governance knowledge. Communication climate was found to be the third most important factor. Lastly, 'Prior relevant knowledge' was also important for enhancing the level of absorptive capacity of IT governance among top management. Organisations that want their top management to be positively involved in IT governance can use these empirically validated factors to help contribute to top management involvement in IT governance.


The authors consider an approach to visual literacy instruction that is rooted in the philosophies and practices of critical librarianship and feminist pedagogy. They explore the extent and limitations of existing standards, frameworks, and pedagogical models to support an idea of critical visual literacy, particularly in the context of art and design schools and creative career-focused institutions. By examining practices and examples from other disciplines, the authors identify strategies for teaching critical visual literacy in context. These pedagogical models inform the design and revision of two workshops for art and design students.


Cocrystal formation is considered as one of the most effective solid-state methods to alter the physicochemical properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). In silico methods for cocrystal prediction are mostly based on structural and energetic considerations. We have developed a computational method that ranks the probability of cocrystal formation of APIs with large databases of crystal coformers (CCFs). This approach is based on using molecular electrostatic potential surfaces to assess molecular complementarity between two cocrystal components. The screening tool was applied to two low solubility drugs, namely griseofulvin and spironolactone. Promising coformer candidates were selected from a database of 310 pharmaceutically acceptable CCFs, and experimental screening was carried out. Novel solid forms were obtained by liquid-assisted grinding and were characterised by XRPD, DSC, TGA and IR. One new cocrystal of griseofulvin and two new cocrystals of spironolactone were identified, and the crystal structures were determined from the XRPD patterns. For these systems, phenols tend to act as successful H-bond donors in forming cocrystals, while carboxylic acids only give rise to physical mixtures of the two components.


Arable land is a vital resource for humankind. Cultivation of this land generates food to meet the daily needs of the world's population. This land is limited and the area is constantly shrinking—2 ha/inhabitant in 1900 versus 0.4 in 2010— due to the impact of human activities and population growth. Arable land is not a naturally renewable resource on the time scale of human evolution and is invaluable as it cannot be manufactured. This land therefore has to be properly managed. It is thus essential to understand the actual land degradation status so as to be able to draw up protection, restoration and/or sustainable management policies. In 1990, the results of the first global land assessment were incomplete because of a lack of common assessment procedure. This CSFD Dossier describes a streamlined land degradation assessment method that can be applied on different spatial scales—farm to country—and in all climatic zones in worldwide. The type, extent and degree (or severity) of land degradation are the three main indicators selected. When pooled, they represent a degradation index rating that is displayed in a simple way on maps that can be readily used by politicians, decisionmakers and the media. Complementary indicators are useful for staff responsible for implementing land degradation control initiatives in areas earmarked by decisionmakers: degradation rate and trend, historical background, soil sensitivity and resilience, possible causes, off-site effects, and rural population density. The results obtained could contribute to meeting the objectives of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, especially through national objectives in countries affected by desertification that must regularly report on land degradation.


The drift-reduced Braginskii model describing turbulence in the tokamak scrape-off layer is written for a general magnetic configuration with a limiter. The equilibrium is then specified for a circular concentric magnetic geometry retaining aspect ratio effects. Simulations are then carried out with the help of the global, flux-driven fluid three-dimensional code GBS [Ricci et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 54, 124047 (2012)]. Linearly, both simulations and simplified analytical models reveal a stabilization of ballooning modes. Nonlinearly, flux-driven nonlinear simulations give a pressure characteristic length whose trends are correctly captured by the gradient removal theory [Ricci and Rogers, Phys. Plasmas 20, 010702 (2013)], that assumes the profile flattening from the linear modes as the saturation mechanism. More specifically, the linear stabilization of ballooning modes is reflected by a 15% increase in the steady-state pressure gradient obtained from GBS nonlinear simulations when going from an infinite to a realistic aspect ratio.


First published in 1979, this is a classic study of the population of the Bushmen of the Kalahari Deselt of Botswana. Using methods that are simple and fully illustrated, the author presents empirical descriptions of the fertility, mortality, and marriage patterns of the now famous !Kung hunter-gatherers. The !King "Bushman" people of the Kalahari desert in Africa occupy an anomalous position in the world of science. They have been selected for intensive study precisely because they are geographically, socially, and economically removed from modern, industrialized society, living in a sparsely settled and remote portion of an enormous semidesert. The !Kung maintain the language and culture of a fully develop hunting and gathering society with (until very recently) no dependence on cultivated plants, no domesticated animals other than the dog, no stratification system based on kinship or occupation, no power or authority structure extending further than the local bands composed of a few related families, no wage labor, no use of money, and no settled sites of occupation. At the same time, the !Kung have become well-known figures to students--both undergraduate and professional--of Western social science. The faces of !Kung informants gaze from the covers and the illustrations of many texts in anthropology and sociology. Why has all this attention been developed around the !Kung people? Part of the answer lies in the people themselves. The !Kung are a physically attractive people, with slender, graceful bodies and open small-featured faces that are appealing and photogenic. Their culture is simple and has its striking features. The struggle for subsistence, the click language, the emphasis on sharing and humility, the drama of the curing dances in which individuals go into trance and speak directly to spirits to cure sickness, and the pervasive humor, teasing, and playfulness of the !Kung style are all features that are relatively easy to convey and interesting to l earn about. This work covers areas such as marriage, fertility, disease, mortality, history, and the projected future of the !Kung. This book will be of interest to students of demographic studies, anthropology, and African studies.


Hydrotalcites are layered materials whose sheets are constituted by octahedra occupied by two different metals (one divalent and the other tri- or tetravalent) and having oxide or hydroxide at the corners. The excess of positive charge of the sheets is compensated by anions located at the interlamellar space. In the present work we have synthesized two hydrotalcites containing zinc and titanium (Zn/Ti atomic ratio in the gel synthesis 6.25) that differ on the absence or presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate in the interlamellar spaces. Calcination of these hydrotalcites leads to a film of intimately dispersed mixed oxide semiconductor that was used as semiconductor for dye sensitised solar cells. Using a ruthenium polypyridyl complex as dye, two photovoltaic cells constructed by films of mixed oxides derived from hydrotalcite calcination were prepared. The highest efficiency parameters were VOC = 0.63 V, JSC = 2.18 mA cm−2, FF = 0.465, η = 0.64%. These efficiency values are not far from those obtained for an analogous photovoltaic cell prepared using P25 titania.


Few users of computer applications seek help from the documentation. This paper reports the results of an empirical study of why this is so and examines how, in real work, users solve their usability problems. Based on in-depth interviews with 25 subjects representing a varied cross-section of users, we find that users do avoid using both paper and online help systems. Few users have paper manuals for the most heavily used applications, but none complained about their lack. Online help is more likely to be consulted than paper manuals, but users are equally likely to report that they solve their problem by asking a colleague or experimenting on their own. Users cite difficulties in navigating the help systems, particularly difficulties in finding useful search terms, and disappointment in the level of explanation found.


The decision to gamble is, or ought to be, based on an individual making an informed choice.  Industry operators and governments share responsibility in guaranteeing sufficient information to individuals on which choices can be based. However, to make optimal informed choices, individuals must assume some responsibility for being aware of the motivation underlying their behaviour, being aware of the presence and impact of irrational and erroneous cognitions have an accurate perception of the probabilities of winning, and accepting the risk and implications that losing may have on their financial and personal circumstances. However, it is recognized that informed choice, by itself, does not guarantee that decisions made will be optimal.  There are multiple external factors involving psychological, personality and neurobiological processes that may interact resulting in an individual selecting poor decisions. In particular, the addiction model suggests that neurochemical dysregulation involving the dopaminergic system with projections into the prefrontal lobe are associated with anticipatory rewards and inhibition of executive functions effectively 'high-jacking' the brain.  This raises important questions as to the extent to which gambling represents a 'rational' choice or is the product of neurobiological forces that impair decision-making and control.  Determining the extent to which an individual is responsible for poor decision-making in gambling has important therapeutic and legal implications. This presentation outlines the relevant issues but raises more questions than answers in so doing.


This paper describes a rigorous data collection process to find and verify the quality of what could potentially be high-functioning or high-performing schools accessible to the poor in three of South Africa's nine provinces. A potential sample of outlier schools is selected using system-wide Universal Annual National Assessment data corroborated against school recommendations collected from a variety of system actors expected to be informed about school quality. Unfortunately, literacy testing in 31 purposively selected schools yields no example of high-performing, no-fee schools. However, we identify outlier or resilient students even in under-performing schools. Furthermore, within the no-fee school system there exists a continuum of functionality. Schools exist that while far from reaching good (or even adequate) median levels of English literacy, exhibit relatively higher literacy levels than other sample schools after controlling for student background differences. The presence of these relatively better performing sample schools (and performance variation more generally in the no-fee system) suggests that there is a middle-ground, a rightward movement away from dysfunction that can be reached. However, it is not clear that all system actors are able to detect variations in school quality. Our sample of respondents recommending 'good' schools are only able to identify slightly better performing no-fee schools. For certain groups, specifically education district officials, enrolment growth appears to be a better indicator of their perceptions of 'good' than measures of student performance.