While basic techniques of test-driven development are simple to understand, real-world application requires knowledge of tools and techniques to effectively create, run and organize tests. This book bridges the gap between simple concepts and complex application. Ideal for Java developers, this book explains how to use test-driven development to improve J2EE construction. Not version-specific, this unprecedented book explains development tools and methodologies in conjunction with real-world cases and examples. It includes the use of open source unit testing frameworks such as JUnit and its extensions. The authors include complete stages: test coverage strategies, test organization, TDD incorporation, and automation. Two appendices are also included, for test planning and reference. Table of Contents Introduction to Test-Driven Development Getting Started Unit Testing: The Foundation of Test-Driven Development Test-Driven Development for Servlets and JSPs Developing User Interfaces Using Test-Driven Development Putting the Application Together Improving the Process Transitioning to Test-Driven Development


This study develops a technique to estimate and project annual rates of poverty for a large metropolitan area for various segments of its population. The annual estimates and projections are based upon the official rates compiled by the Bureau of the Census. Using Los Angeles/Long Beach as the site of the experimental example, the evidence reveals a substantially increasing trend in the incidence of poverty for the overall metropolitan population. This increase is caused by the dramatic rise in poverty within the Hispanic and children population groups. Trends in poverty are negative, however, for the elderly, Blacks, female family heads and Whites. Explanations are offered for the disparate trends in poverty among the various groups. These explanations may serve as an agenda for future research. The Appendix to the study provides the annual estimates and projections for each population segment for the years 1959 through 2000


The current tendency in Question Answering is towards the processing of large volumes of open-domain text. This tendency is spurred by the creation of the Question Answering track in TREC, and the recent increase of systems that use the Web to extract the answers to the questions. This has undoubtly the advantage that narrow, application-specific concerns can be overlooked in favor of more general approaches. However the unconstrained nature of the domain and questions does not necessarily lead to systems that are better at specific tasks, as they might be required in a deployed application.

It has been already been observed in other competitions (notably the Information Extraction competitions organized under the name of Message Understanding Conferences) that the nature of the competitive process tends to select a type of system that better adapts to the evaluation itself, rather than systems that deal in an optimal way with the problem. [To use a comparison from evolution theory, a too severe selection in a given local environment leads to a converge of the population to a very limited genetic pool, which is then uncapable of coping with even a minor change in the environment.]

In restricted domains, systems cannot take advantage of the so-called "Zipf's law of Questions" [Prager], which states that there is an inverse relation between the frequency of certain types of questions and their complexity. In other words, the questions most frequently asked are those that can be solved with simpler techniques. By targeting a smaller set of frequent questions types, system can achieve good results with limited effort.

By contrast, the non-redundant nature of most technical documentation, and the use of domain specific sublanguage and terminology, makes them unsuitable to (some of) the approaches seen in the TREC QA competition. In the proposed contribution We will discuss the specific nature of technical documentation, with examples from real domains (e.g. the Maintenance Manual of a large commercial aircraft) and illustrate solutions that have been adopted in a deployed system.

An example of the difference between technical documents and open domain texts is the focus on specific types of entities. While in Open Domain systems Named Entities play a major role, in Technical Documentation they are almost irrelevant, by contrast a far greater role is played by domain terminology.

Technical domains present the additional problem of "domain navigation". By assuming that users are familiar with domain concepts, inexpert users are presented with a barrier separating questions from answers. Unfamiliarity with domain terminology might lead to questions which contain imperfect formulations of domain terms. A question answering system for junior doctors or training technicians needs therefore to use whatever scarce domain knowledge is contained in a query to extract relevant answers. Detecting terminological variants and exploiting the relations between terms (like synonymy, meronymy, antonymy) is vital to this task.

Another idiosyncrasy of technical domains is the tendency towards definitional questions ("what is the ANT connection?"), which prove tricky to answer precisely in a generic document collection (and for this reason they have been deliberately left out of the recent TREC 2002). In Technical Domains it can be expected that such type of question would play a major role, and therefore systems must be capable of coping with them.

In this book chapter we aim to explain the above concepts and illustrate them with examples taken from text from technical domains. We will also illustrate why techniques that are typically used in data-intensive open-domain question-answering systems would not work effectively in technical domains that have less data redundancy. In sum, we will show that question-answering of technical domains present a better opportunity to explore content-based approaches to question-answering, while at the same time bringing the possibility of producing commercially viable systems in the short term.


Nowadays, CMOS image sensors are widely considered for space applications. The use of CIS (CMOS Image sensor) processes has significantly enhanced their performances such as dark current, quantum efficiency and conversion gain. However, in order to fulfil specific space mission requirements, dedicated research and development work has to be performed to address specific detector performance issues. This is especially the case for dynamic range improvement through output voltage swing optimisation, control of conversion gain and noise reduction. These issues have been addressed in a 0.35μm CIS process, based on a large volume CMOS foundry, by several joint ISAE- EADS Astrium R&D programs. These results have been applied to the development of the visible and near-infrared multi-linear imager for the SENTINEL 2 mission (LEO Earth observation mission for the Global Measurement Environment and Security program). For this high performance multi-linear device, output voltage swing improvement is achieved by process optimisation done in collaboration with foundry. Conversion gain control is also achieved for each spectral band by managing photodiode capacitance. A low noise level at sensor output is reached by the use of an architecture allowing Correlated Double Sampling readout in order to eliminate reset noise (KTC noise). KTC noise elimination reveals noisy pixels due to RTS noise. Optimisation of transistors's dimensions, taking into account conversion gain constraints, is done to minimise these noisy pixels. Additional features have been also designed: 1) Due to different integration times between spectral bands required by mission, a specific readout mode was developed in order to avoid electrical perturbations during the integration time and readout. This readout mode leads to specific power supply architecture. 2)Post processing steps can be achieved by alignment marks design allowing a very good accuracy. These alignment marks can be used for a black coating deposition between spectral bands (pixel line) in order to minimise straight light effects. In conclusion a review of design improvements and performances of the final component is performed.


In many web applications, deep learning-based CTR prediction models (deep CTR models for short) are widely adopted. Traditional deep CTR models learn patterns in a static manner, i.e., the network parameters are the same across all the instances. However, such a manner can hardly characterize each of the instances which may have different underlying distributions. It actually limits the representation power of deep CTR models, leading to sub-optimal results. In this paper, we propose an efficient, effective, and universal module, named as Adaptive Parameter Generation network (APG), which can dynamically generate parameters for deep CTR models on-the-fly based on different instances. Extensive experimental evaluation results show that APG can be applied to a variety of deep CTR models and significantly improve their performance. Meanwhile, APG can reduce the time cost by 38.7\% and memory usage by 96.6\% compared to a regular deep CTR model. We have deployed APG in the industrial sponsored search system and achieved 3\% CTR gain and 1\% RPM gain respectively.


We report the results of combined Chandra, HST/STIS, and FUSE observations of the intrinsic absorption in the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151. Our previous studies revealed an unusually large column of outflowing gas, very close to the nucleus, which responds rapidly to changes in the ionizing continuum due to its high density. With the latest observations, we have discovered evidence that the large absorbing column consists of individual high and low ionization components, and that the column density of the latter has decreased due to bulk motion across our line-of-sight. The Chandra spectra have revealed the signature of both very high ionization lines such as H-like and He-like Si, and inner-shell lines from low ionization species which may be associated with the UV absorbers. With the FUSE observations, we have detected lines from less abundant elements, which have permitted us to constrain the physical conditions and covering factors of the UV absorbers. These results indicate a complex and heterogeneous absorbing system, the extreme properties of which are likely the result of a relatively large viewing angle with respect to the accretion-disk axis.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html


A 29 year old primigravida patient admitted to Al Qassimi Hospital for induction of labor at 34 wks due to mild pre-eclampsia. She then went on to develop dyspnea. After a multidisciplinary approach in conjunction with obstetricians, anesthetists and cardiologists the patient was diagnosed as having Eisenmenger syndrome. She was managed in accordance with the protocols of the respective departments. The baby was delivered via an uncomplicated lower segment Cesarean section. Patient was managed in the ICU with multidisciplinary teams of doctors. She stabilized after the surgery and was discharged home in good health on the sixth post operative day on oral antihypertensives with a follow up in cardiology clinic and post-natal gynecology clinic.


Fifteen cases of hepatitis related to a combination of amoxycillin and clavulanic acid are reported. Most patients were aged 60 years or more and there were more men than women (sex ratio 4:1). The amoxycillin-clavulanic acid had been given at doses ranging from 0.5 to 6 g/day (mean 2 g/day) for seven to 60 days (mean 18 days). In 11 cases, the first symptoms appeared one to four weeks after stopping treatment. Jaundice was observed in all patients and was frequently associated with pruritus. Serum aminotransferase activities were increased in all patients and were generally two to 10 times the upper limit of normal. Serum alkaline phosphatase activity was considerably increased, from two to seven times the upper limit of normal. Histological examination of the liver, performed in seven patients, showed centri- or panlobular cholestasis in all cases, associated with granulomatous hepatitis in one. The prognosis of amoxycillin-clavulanic acid induced hepatitis seemed to be good. None of the patients exhibited biological or clinical features of hepatic failure and the course of the disease was characterised by the resolution of jaundice within one to eight weeks and a complete recovery within four to 16 weeks. Taking into account the number of treated subjects and reported cases, we estimated the risk of developing hepatitis with this drug combination to be very low, probably below 1/100,000. Our data suggest that the risk of hepatotoxicity may be increased in elderly men given lengthy treatment. The association of hepatitis and signs of hypersensitivity may suggest an immunoallergic mechanism of hepatotoxicity in some patients.


ABSTRACT Health significantly supports human development, which is particularly critical in countries affected by armed conflict. Health and health care are equally important for women hoping to be effective agents of change in their post-war societies. Through a grounded case study conducted in the district of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, in 2017, we aimed to understand the challenges resettled (formerly internally displaced) women faced when accessing health services. We conducted semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 54 women from two villages, one predominantly Tamil and the other predominantly Muslim. To capture complex gender and health dimensions, we employed the framework of intersectionality. While the comparative nature of the participants' cultural identity, specifically their ethnicity and religion, was a part of the analysis, the findings illuminate particular ways that income and gender affected women's health care-seeking behaviours, regardless of ethnicity. These encompassed: (1) prioritising caretaking over health care; (2) seeking permission when leaving home; (3) travelling with companions to health facilities; and (4) discussing health-care decisions with family members. We found that the intersection of the participants' gender with their income, and gender aspects like marital status, greatly affected their health-seeking behaviours. Findings underscore the importance of considering multiple factors, including social determinants like gender and income, in the provision of basic services that support women's health and development following war.


The Design thinking process is a common process across a range of industries. The process, often utilizing sticky notes, has people coming together to collaboratively come up with ideas, aimed at deciding on features, functionality, sale-ability, etc. As part of the process, in its co-located set-up, users are moving around, creating temporary ad-hoc groupings, which help to drive new insights. In this demo, we show a web browser based sticky note application that caters to these co-located ideals, while utilizing ubiquitous interfaces, smartphones and regular TV screens. Users interact with the system through their phone, which gives them options to create notes and then utilize their camera to place or pick-up notes. The large shared screen utilizes a grid-based QR code system that allows for many simultaneous users onto the same screen, detecting where a user's camera is pointing, without blocking any other users using the system simultaneously.


We analyze the reliability of voluntary disclosures of financial information, focusing on widely-employed publicly available hedge fund databases. Tracking changes to statements of historical performance recorded at different points in time between 2007 and 2011, we find that historical returns are routinely revised. These revisions are not merely random or corrections of earlier mistakes; they are partly forecastable by fund characteristics. Moreover, funds that revise their performance histories significantly and predictably underperform those that have never revised, suggesting that unreliable disclosures constitute a valuable source of information for current and potential investors. These results speak to current debates about mandatory disclosures by financial institutions to market regulators.


Background: Concrete buildings on Guam are exceptionally strong but also accumulate large amounts of heat. In the tropical environment of Guam, where 24 h average temperature ranges from 28 to 29∫C year round, air conditioning is used every day and continuously. Concrete roofs are often painted light colors, which make them more reflective and accumulate less heat. They are also suitable for establishment of vegetation, which results in a large decrease in roof temperature and therefore decreases the need for cooling. Objective: The objective was to determine the magnitude of temperature reductions resulting from light color and from vegetation covering roof tops and to use this information to estimate energy savings. Method: Temperature was measured on the undersides of concrete model roofs in both sunny and rainy weather. Results. The temperatures on the undersides of light-colored concrete model roofs rose up to 3∫C less in the course of the day than did those of dark-colored ones. The temperatures of "green" (vegetation-covered) model roofs rose up to 12∫C less than did those of either of the bare concrete models. Conclusion: The differences were so large that use of green roofs on the tropical island of Guam, where most buildings are concrete and air-conditioning is needed year round, could cut a typical household's electric consumption in half.


A health maintenance organization (HMO)-based program designed to increase breast cancer screening was evaluated, focusing on changes in mammography utilization. The program consisted of a multistage intervention aimed at women members and primary care physicians of the HMO. This report examines the effect of the intervention on mammography utilization. The program was evaluated using a quasiexperimental design in which a random sample of women aged 50-74 from the HMO (intervention) was compared to a similarly aged geographic control group selected through random digit dialing. From 1988 to 1990, 450 intervention women and 450 control women were sampled (without replacement) each year and surveyed about breast cancer screening practices and related knowledge. A clear increase in self-reported mammography utilization was associated with the intervention. The percentage of women who reported a mammogram in the 12 months prior to the survey increased from 41% in 1988 (baseline) to 68% in 1990 among HMO women, compared to a change from 39% to 49% among control women. Comparing postintervention rates of mammography in HMO versus control women yielded a rate ratio (RR) of 1.4. However, this effect was strongly modified by income and race. Women with annual incomes of $31,000 or more showed little (whites, RR = 1.2) or no (blacks, RR = 1.0) effect of the intervention. Among women with incomes less than $31,000, the effect among whites (RR = 1.9) was much stronger than among blacks (RR = 1.2).


The ability to adapt to aversive stimuli is critical for mental health. Here, we investigate the relationship between habituation to startling stimuli and startle-related activity in medial frontal cortex as measured by EEG in both healthy control participants and patients with Parkinson disease (PD). We report three findings. First, patients with PD exhibited normal initial startle responses but reduced startle habituation relative to demographically matched controls. Second, control participants had midfrontal EEG theta activity in response to startling stimuli, and this activity was attenuated in patients with PD. Finally, startle-related midfrontal theta activity was correlated with the rate of startle habituation. These data indicate that impaired startle habituation in PD is a result of attenuated midfrontal cognitive control signals. Our findings could provide insight into the frontal regulation of startle habituation.


Temporal and spatial patterns in the architecture of the Franciscan Complex provide valuable insights into the subduction processes through which such patterns arise. The Nacimiento Franciscan belt is an allochthonous sliver of subduction assemblages in the central California Coast Ranges displaced either: (1) from southern California by >300 km of Neogene dextral slip along the San Andreas fault system or (2) from central California to southern California and back again, by >500 km of Late Cretaceous–Paleocene sinistral slip along the Sur-Nacimiento fault followed by San Andreas–related motion. New U-Pb detrital zircon data from 20 (meta)clastic samples indicate that the Nacimiento Franciscan section was assembled between ca. 95 and 80 Ma. Abundant Cretaceous (particularly Late Cretaceous) and diminishing amounts of Jurassic and Proterozoic zircon grains point to a southern California origin for Nacimiento Franciscan protoliths, precluding significant sinistral strike-slip along the Sur-Nacimiento fault. Furthermore, the suite of detrital zircon ages reported here bears a strong resemblance to new and existing data from subduction complexes in southern California that were emplaced during Laramide shallow subduction (i.e., Sierra de Salinas, Portal Ridge, Quartz Hill, Rand, San Emigdio, and Tehachapi schists). Hence, the Nacimiento Franciscan is distinct from Franciscan rocks in central and northern California and more likely represents an outboard element of the Late Cretaceous southern California low-angle subduction system. Upon restoring the Nacimiento block to its Late Cretaceous position, an inboard-younging trend is apparent in the composite Nacimiento–southern California schist belt, suggesting that progressively younger accretionary materials were underplated farther inboard by tectonic erosion. We posit that arc and forearc elements absent from southern California were removed by a combination of physical and tectonic erosion attending shallow subduction, interleaved in the subduction complex, and recycled into the mantle. Steepening of the Laramide slab was marked by a phase of crustal extension in the overriding plate. During this phase, the Sur-Nacimiento fault likely functioned as a segment of a low-angle normal fault system spanning the southern Sierra Nevada batholith to the Nacimiento accretionary system.


Copyright protection is important for the promotion of new knowledge, but the U.S. Copyright Code also recognizes the value and importance of protecting significant leeway for educational uses without permission-seeking or licensing. The doctrine of fair use affords the law flexibility in limiting copyright monopoly when doing so benefits purposes of criticism, research, teaching, and scholarship. This presentation provides information about the responsible application of fair use doctrine to the creation of Open Educational Resources. We will discuss best practices for different kinds of citation and use of third-party works common to OERs, including information about when and how to seek permission.


Niemann Pick C disease (NPC) is an autosomal recessive disorder that leads to excessive storage of cholesterol and other lipids in late endosomes and lysosomes. The large majority of NPC disease is caused by mutations in NPC1, a large polytopic membrane protein that functions in late endosomes. There are many disease-associated mutations in NPC1, and most patients are compound heterozygotes. The most common mutation NPC1I1061T has been shown to cause endoplasmic reticulum associated degradation of the NPC1 protein. Treatment of patient derived NPC1I1061T fibroblasts with histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) Vorinostat or Panobinostat increases expression of the mutant NPC1 protein and leads to correction of the cholesterol storage. Herein we show that several other human NPC1 mutant fibroblast cell lines can also be corrected by Vorinostat or Panobinostat and that treatment with Vorinostat extends the lifetime of the NPC1I1061T protein. To test effects of HDACi on a large number of NPC1 mutants, we engineered a U2OS cell line to suppress NPC1 expression by shRNA and then transiently transfected these cells with 81 different NPC1 mutant constructs. The mutant NPC1 did not significantly reduce cholesterol accumulation, but approximately 80% of the mutants showed reduced cholesterol accumulation when treated with Vorinostat or Panobinostat.


This study examines how Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has conceptualized a culture of support and authority, deploying "language plus" in the cultural domains of his pious and nationalistic audience, and inculcated an indisputable moral obligation to support him. The article puts forward a claim that, despite the unstable political and social situation in Turkey, Erdogan has created a commonsense consensus to build an image of a powerful leader. He received indispensable moral support from the electorate and increased his votes by 10% in the months around the November 2015 parliamentary election. The sociocognitive aspect of Erdogan's contextually recurrent public speeches is examined by critical discourse analysis against the backdrop of crises in the country.


Self-heating effects became more prominent with the introduction of the modern devices like FDSOI and low thermal conductivity materials such as SiO2. Consequently, the design of high speed digital circuits which are the time-critical blocks of high performance processors started to be limited mainly by thermal issues. For observing the thermal behaviour of FDSOI structure on circuit level, a 64-bit Kogge-Stone parallel prefix adder is designed and implemented in 40nm bulk CMOS technology and thermal model of the circuit is extracted and simulated according to FDSOI design parameters. The implemented adder circuit has a critical path delay of 148ps under 900 mV power supply voltage with a power consumption of 12mW. The temperature profile of the designed circuit is extracted with thermal simulations and the peak temperature locations are examined in detail. The hot spot locations and their temperature values are correlated with the power density. It is shown that self-heating of high power density devices has a significant influence on the peak temperature of a design. Finally, a simple design solution is proposed which can significantly decrease the peak temperature.


PURPOSE
Mastectomy versus excisional biopsy (lumpectomy) plus radiation for the treatment of stage I and II breast cancer was compared in a prospective randomized study.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
From 1979 to 1987, 247 women were randomized and 237 were treated on this study. All patients received a full axillary dissection and all node-positive patients received adjuvant chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin. Radiation consisted of external-beam therapy to the whole breast with or without supraclavicular nodal irradiation followed by a boost to the tumor bed.

RESULTS
The minimum time on the study was 18 months and the median time on the study was 68 months. No differences in overall survival or disease-free survival were observed. Actuarial estimates at 5 years showed that 85% of mastectomy-treated patients were alive compared with 89% of the lumpectomy/radiation patients (P2 = .49; 95% two-sided confidence interval [CI] about this difference, 0% to 9% favoring lumpectomy plus radiation). The probability of failure in the irradiated breast was 12% by 5 years and 20% by 8 years according to actuarial estimates. Of 15 local breast failures, 14 were treated with and 12 were controlled by mastectomy; the ultimate local-regional control was similar in both arms of the trial.

CONCLUSION
These data add further weight to the conclusion that breast conservation using lumpectomy and breast irradiation is equivalent to mastectomy in terms of survival and ultimate local control for stage I and II breast cancer patients.


Educational Technology has evolved over the last decade. In the early 1990's, the emphasis of educational technology was on interactive multimedia – stand alone packages on computer hard disks or CD-ROMs, which integrated a range of media forms. As the internet evolved in the mid- to late 1990's, the focus shifted to largely text-based material available to anyone with appropriate access to it. Currently, with improvements in technology and bandwidth, fully interactive multimedia capabilities are available on the internet, and the focus is on learning objects rather than monolithic applications. At the same time, web-based learning management systems arose, and evolved into enterprise information systems. None of these changes have been driven by educational factors.

While educational technology will continue to evolve, the hardware, software and network infrastructure is sufficiently mature that the focus should shift to how to use the technology most appropriately to facilitate learning. This leads us into a discussion of the factors which influence the widespread adoption of e-learning.


The EU Water Framework Directive aims to ensure restoration of Europe's water bodies to "good ecological status" by 2027. Many Member States will struggle to meet this target, with around half of EU river catchments currently reporting below standard water quality. Diffuse pollution from agriculture represents a major pressure, affecting over 90% of river basins. Accumulating evidence shows that recent improvements to agricultural practices are benefiting water quality but in many cases will be insufficient to achieve WFD objectives. There is growing support for land use change to help bridge the gap, with a particular focus on targeted tree planting to intercept and reduce the delivery of diffuse pollutants to water. This form of integrated catchment management offers multiple benefits to society but a significant cost to landowners and managers. New economic instruments, in combination with spatial targeting, need to be developed to ensure cost effective solutions – including tree planting for water benefits - are realised.
Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are flexible, incentive-based mechanisms that could play an important role in promoting land use change to deliver water quality targets. The PESFOR-W COST Action will consolidate learning from existing woodlands for water PES schemes in Europe and help standardize approaches to evaluating the environmental
effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of woodland measures. It will also create a European network through which PES schemes can be facilitated, extended and improved, for example by incorporating other ecosystem services linking with aims of the wider forests-carbon policy nexus.


This book offers the first full-scale account of the merchant builders, Levitt, U.S. Homes, Fox and Jacobs, and Eichler Homes prominently among them, who gave a major impetus to the postwar building boom in America and to the American dream of homeownership as an attainable goal for the average family.The "Merchant Builders "carries the story from the large-tract developments that were built after World War II to the very different economic environment of the 1980s. It examines the practices of land acquisition, planning, design, financing, construction, marketing, and the organizational and operational structures of companies as they changed over the decades and across a range of firms markedly different in size and style.Ned Eichler writes succinctly about the tract or homebuilding industry which he knows inside out. After leaving the family firm, Eichler Homes, Inc. to teach at Berkeley and Stanford, he became vicepresident of the new town of Reston, Virginia, was executive vice-president of the Klingbeil Company (builder of garden apartments), was the partner in charge of the disposition of more than a billion dollars of Penn Central properties undertaken by Victor Palmieri and Company, and served as the federal court's trustee president of Levitt & Sons. Once the mightiest of the merchant builders, Levitt was a "bleeding elephant" in the mid-1970s; Eichler reconstituted the firm as a profitable homebuilder and directed its sale to Starrett Housing in 1978. He is now visiting professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley.


Since the discovery of the megaherbivore Arsinoitherium zitteli Beadnell (early Oligocene of Egypt), the extinct order Embrithopoda has remained an enigmatic group, with disputed affinities among ungulates. In this study, new specimens of Palaeoamasia kansui from the early Palaeogene of Turkey are described and a synthetic dental terminology is proposed for embrithopods. Based on 130 cranial–mandibular and dental characters, the first phylogenetic analysis of embrithopods is carried out in aim to enhance the position of Palaeoamasia within embrithopods. The monophyly of Embrithopoda is confirmed, following the topology (Phenacolophus (Namatherium (Arsinoitheriinae, Palaeamasiinae))). However, phylogenetic relationships between Eurasian embrithopods (Palaeoamasiinae: Palaeoamasia, Crivadiatherium and Hypsamasia) remain unresolved. The integration of all embrithopod genera within a cladistic analysis encompassing a wider taxonomic sample (Condylarthra, Afrotheria/Paenungulata and Laurasiatheria) also supports Embrithopoda as being monophyletic, but questions the position of both Phenacolophus and Namatherium within Embrithopoda. Finally, possible faunal exchange events are proposed based on three hypothesized scenarios between Eurasia and Arabia–Africa during the early Palaeogene.


Every sport requires a different level of physical qualities with the other, but very important note is the physical quality of players needed to achieve peak performance when desired. In the world of sport, to achieve high performance, optimal physical quality is a requirement that cannot be ignored. The value of minimum standards for each sport varies in accordance with the necessary physical qualities of the sport. Many types of physical ability test that is used for identification and development of the physical domain of table tennis game, but have not tested how much effectiveness against the appearance of table tennis. This preliminary study design is a development of this kind of research that is the development of  table tennis test aged 13-15 years Central Java  PTMSI player. In the limited testing performed tests a number of players made up 61 players that consist of 27 men and 31 women. From the results of Focus Group Discussion (FGD) trainers recommend as many as 25 kinds of tests for measuring the physical domain of table tennis. Based on the analysis of data using part-whole correlation analysis of the results obtained from Guilford: Validity and reliability test for men and women players  are not different, both of  them are on average of very good category.


Background The Centre for Maternal and Child Enquires Saving Mother's Lives report, 2006–2008, ranks preeclampsia second in the direct causes of maternal death in the UK.1 Preeclampsia is associated with increased perinatal mortality. NICE clinical guideline 107: Hypertension in Pregnancy, indicates patients with defined risk should receive aspirin 75mg daily or serial ultrasound for fetal growth and umbilical Doppler assessment every 4 weeks from 28–30 weeks gestation.2 Aims/Objectives To assess if women with identifiable risk factors for preeclampsia at the booking appointment are being appropriately managed according to NICE guidance. Materials/Methods A 50 day, prospective data collection of all deliveries in a tertiary referral centre. 846 charts included, 25 charts not located. Notes were reviewed for evidence of appropriate management in patients with risk factors for pre-eclampsia. Notes were reviewed to identify those who developed hypertension. Results 821 charts were reviewed. 117 patients had risk factors for preeclampsia, 100 requiring aspirin 75mg, 12 requiring serial growth scans and umbilical artery Doppler assessment and 5 requiring both interventions. 33 out of 117 cases were managed appropriately. 14 patients with risk factors developed pre-eclampsia which required induction of labour or caesarean section, of these, 6 had not been risk managed appropriately. Summary/ Conclusions Booking appointments could be better utilised to identify those at risk of developing preeclampsia, institute appropriate management and ultimately improve obstetric outcome. Staff education on guidance and review of booking interview structure is advised to ensure these patients are correctly identified. We plan to re-audit in 1 year. References Saving Mothers' Lives: reviewing maternal deaths to make motherhood safer 2006–2008. British Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology 2011;118(1):1–203 National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence. Hypertension in Pregnancy CG107, NICE: London, 2010


Aims: To assess the longer-term effects of the 2014 NSW liquor law reforms on levels of violence in the inner Sydney area. Method: Interrupted time series models were used to examine the effects of the legislative reforms introduced in January 2014. Police recorded non-domestic assaults were analysed over the period January 2009 and September 2016. Separate analyses were carried out for the Kings Cross Precinct (KXP); the Sydney CBD Entertainment Precinct (CBD); an area contiguous with KXP and CBD called the proximal displacement area (PDA); a group of entertainment areas not far from KXP and CBD called the distal displacement area (DDA) and the rest of NSW. Results: Following the reforms statistically significant reductions in non-domestic assault incidents occurred in both the Kings Cross (down 49%) and CBD Entertainment Precincts (down 13%). There was evidence of geographical displacement to surrounding areas with increases in non-domestic assault observed in both the PDA (up 12%) and the DDA (up 17%). The reduction in the combined Kings Cross and CBD Precincts (930 fewer non-domestic assaults) was much greater than the increase in the combined proximal and displacement areas (299 more non-domestic assaults). Conclusion: Restrictions on the availability of alcohol appear to have reduced non-domestic assault in the target Precincts. Continued research is needed to monitor if displacement of these assaults increases further.


Theory revision integrates inductive learning and background knowledge by combining training examples with a coarse domain theory to produce a more accurate theory. There are two challenges that theory revision and other theory-guided systems face. First, a representation language appropriate for the initial theory may be inappropriate for an improved theory. While the original representation may concisely express the initial theory, a more accurate theory forced to use that same representation may be bulky, cumbersome, and difficult to reach. Second, a theory structure suitable for a coarse domain theory may be insufficient for a fine-tuned theory. Systems that produce only small, local changes to a theory have limited value for accomplishing complex structural alterations that may be required.

Consequently, advanced theory-guided learning systems require flexible representation and flexible structure. An analysis of various theory revision systems and theory-guided learning systems reveals specific strengths and weaknesses in terms of these two desired properties. Designed to capture the underlying qualities of each system, a new system uses theory-guided constructive induction. Experiments in three domains show improvement over previous theory-guided systems. This leads to a study of the behavior, limitations, and potential of theory-guided constructive induction.


Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) by providing images of the effects of individual zinc impurities in cuprate superconductors with unprecedented atomic resolution offers a stringent test to models of correlated fermions for high-temperature superconductors. Using a t-J model supplemented by variational Monte Carlo many-body techniques, the spatial dependence of the hole density and of the valence bond and superconducting pairing amplitudes around the impurity are computed. Our calculation supplemented by the theory of interlayer tunneling by I. Martin [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 097003 (2002)] can explain most features of the STM experiments including the cross-shaped spatial structure and the impurity "resonant" peak.


A novel configuration has been developed to optimize the response of Brillouin echoes for distributed fibre sensing. Fully resolved measurements of the Brillouin frequency shift of a 5cm spot perturbation have been performed using a 500 ps (5cm) pulse width. The linewidth of the measured Brillouin gain spectrum remains comparable to the intrinsic linewidth for any pulse width. The high accuracy and inherent stability of the technique have been successfully verified.


AIM
Sodium fluoroacetate (1080) is used for control of vertebrate pests in New Zealand. Little is known about chronic effects in humans, but animal studies demonstrate potential for adverse fetal, male fertility, and cardiac effects. We aimed to employ analyses of 1080 to help assess the degree of exposure of bait formulators and distributors, and identify specific tasks where exposure reduction appeared most indicated. We also aimed to utilise the (limited) 1080 toxicity data to assess the significance of the analytical results.

METHOD
Exposures during various activities were assessed by monitoring air levels and blood and urine concentrations. To help evaluate the results, a provisional "biological exposure index" (BEI) was later derived, by extrapolating from experimental data.

RESULTS
Early monitoring indicated exposures were highest in relation to (cereal) bait manufacturing and aerial carrot baiting procedures. A provisional BEI of 15 microg/L for 1080 in urine was proposed.

CONCLUSION
Further protective measures and ongoing workplace monitoring are required, particularly in the above situations. Compliance with the current BEI cannot guarantee complete safety. Any information regarding chronic adverse effects in humans, along with the associated urine levels, would assist risk assessment. Further investigation of the human kinetics of fluoroacetate would be helpful.


Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) was used to characterize two tar pits, containing a range of NAPL and aqueous contaminants, located within a former quarry site. The site, which is situated on Coal Measures strata near Belper, Derbyshire, UK, has been the subject of an extensive conventional site investigation. Consequently, the geometry and contents of the pits are relatively well defined. The aims of the survey were to test 3D EIT in field conditions against good ground-truth data and, in combination with intrusive and historical site records, to improve the characterization of the waste pits. The EIT survey employed surface electrodes within a network of linear survey lines. Impedance magnitude and phase data were collected at frequencies of 0.6, 2, 10, 40 and 125 Hz, from which resistivity and phase models were calculated using a 3D smoothness-constrained least-squares inversion technique. Resistivity models displayed only weak frequency-dependent variations. The resistivity images were proved to correlate well with the ground-truth data, and were used to further constrain models of the distribution of waste and bedrock contamination. Furthermore, interrogation of the 0.6 Hz resistivity model permitted estimates of waste and contaminated bedrock volumes for the two pits. A reliable phase model could be produced only from the 0.6 Hz data, due to the increased noise levels affecting the data at higher frequencies. The 0.6 Hz phase model displayed phase variations consistent with the known distribution of the waste. The mechanisms causing the observed phase anomalies could not be conclusively determined; however, it is probable that they are related to the presence of metallic waste. EIT was shown to be a particularly effective tool for site characterization when used in conjunction with intrusive and historical data for the purposes of model calibration and interpretation.


ABSTRACT While social media receive considerable scholarly attention, studies reveal mixed outcomes in relation to its influence on tourists' destination choices. There is nonetheless a persistent perception that social media has a fundamental influence on destination choice. However, those studies that do find a social media influence are in contexts where tourists are predisposed to be influenced (the contexts were selected due to social media presence or influence). These studies also have limitations in terms of social media types, tourists and destinations. This research responds to the challenges and explores social media influence across diverse destination choice contexts. Through face-to-face interviews conducted with 39 Australian tourist decision-makers, the findings reveal that social media influence is only apparent when specific context-conditions are co-present. Instead, most destination choice contexts are likely to result in low levels of social media influence. The findings advance theory by identifying three contextual dimensions for social media influence: level of social media engagement; destination novelty or familiarity; and complexity of the planning decision. This research importantly demonstrates the need to illuminate context when conceptualising social media influence on tourists' destination choices. Practically, destinations should utilise social media to demonstrate ease of visit planning.


In many design search and optimization situations, the objective of optimization or design improvement is closely related to one or more natural frequencies of a dynamic system. The problem typically involves solving an eigenvalue problem repeatedly for a large set of values of the parameters which describe the system or the structure being designed. When the system is complex, the parameter space tends to be large (i.e, the number of parameters that define the geometry, material properties, etc is large). The situation is further complicated by the fact that complex geometries usually require a large number of degrees of freedom for a reasonably accurate analysis (e.g. an ap9propriate finite-element analysis). For this reason, the design search and optimization problem tends to be computationally very demanding. In most situations, it is this step involving the solution of the eigenproblem associated with the free vibration that consumes most computational resources. The present note is motivated by this engineering need. A method based on interpolation for an approximate estimation of eigenvalues is presented. Instead of the usual approximation around a reference design, the approach here is to find approximations (at possibly several points) over an interval of the parameter of interest. This problem has been attempted via an alternative route by Bhaskar (1) where the approximations are sought for eigenvectors by interpolating the mode shapes themselves over the parameter interval of interest; trial vectors obtained in this manner were used in a Rayleigh-quotient approximation. The present scheme differs in that it provides approximations for eigenvalues directly form the estimates that use exact eigensolutions at the terminal points of the design interval.


The questions of whether the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) should be enlarged and, if so, to what degree have been among the most difficult and sensitive issues facing the Alliance since the end of the Cold War. In shaping the US National Security Strategy regarding US interests in Europe and US NATO policy, President Clinton has declared his support for NATO membership for well-qualified democracies regardless of geography or history, including those in northeastern Europe. US policy regarding NATO enlargement should seek to strengthen the Alliance as well as to bolster democratic advances, deter potential threats, and increase regional stability throughout Europe. However, by promoting a policy that supports NATO membership for the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, the Administration is jeopardizing vital US national interests and undermining NATO's collective defense mission. [1] This article examines US strategy regarding NATO enlargement, assesses its strengths and weaknesses, and recommends changes to protect vital US interests in Europe while providing the Baltic republics with a security alternative to NATO membership. NATO'S Strategic Concept and Enlargement Beginning in 1989, unexpectedly rapid political, military, and social changes resulted in the end of the ideological and military stalemate in Europe and the breakup of the Soviet Union. Those changes and the regional instability caused by ethnic and religious conflict occurring within Europe prompted NATO to examine and adjust its policies, missions, and structures. NATO's new strategic concept, approved at the Washington Summit in April 1999, reflects the new security challenges and dangers extant in Europe. It also reflects the Alliance's increased commitment to coordinate and cooperate with other international institutions in supporting "out of area" operations (those conducted outside the territory of NATO member states). [2] However, despite NATO's increasing involvement in nontraditional operations, the Alliance's essential and enduring mission is to guarantee the territorial integrity, political independence, and security of its members. [3] It is that mission that has resulted in a flood of Central and Eastern European applicants seeking NATO membership. Article 10 of the Washington Treaty provides that "the parties may, by unanimous agreement, invite any other European state in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area to accede to this Treaty." [4] This commitment was reaffirmed by NATO leaders during the 1994 Brussels Summit, where they declared that membership in the Alliance remained open to those nations who could further the principles established in the Washington Treaty. [5] The strategic goals served by enlargement and the methods used to achieve enlargement were examined the following year. The product of that examination was the "Study on NATO Enlargement," wherein the Alliance's principles for accessing new members were documented. The study concluded that the enlargement of the Alliance contributes to the stability and security of the Euro-Atlantic area. It also addressed the selection and accession of new members and confirmed that accession would occur in accordance with the provisions of Article 10 of the Washington Treaty, with new members receiving all the rights of Treaty membership. [6] However, when addressing the rights of new members, the study also designated their obligations by declaring that new members must be prepared to contribute to NATO's budget and support the Alliance's evolving missions and its fundamental collective defense role. [7] To ensure that new members are able to contribute to NATO's collective defense as well as benefit from it, the study states that before accessing new members, the Alliance will evaluate the effects of their admission to ensure that enlargement will not diminish NATO's military credibility. …


The theory that genetic change – the 'one gene one pathology' theory - is responsible for a particular medical condition is no longer sustainable. There is widespread recognition that the vast majority of medical conditions are multi-systemic, multi-pathological and polygenomic. This observation raises fundamental issues about the prevailing biomedical paradigm which is based upon the premise that a single biochemical marker can be an accurate determinant for a particular condition or that a single drug can be an effective treatment. The prevailing biomedical paradigm is complicated by a number of observations e.g. genetic mutations may be reversed by lifestyle changes, the brain regulates the autonomic nervous system and physiological systems, stress experienced through the senses influences brain function and the stable regulated function of the autonomic nervous system, biochemical changes are unable to explain the coherent function of networks of organs/physiological systems i.e. how these organ networks function in a coherent manner, or that many of the genes have no known or explained function.
In this short paper the author reviews the issues and makes a number of observations, in particular (i) that the brain functions as a neuroregulator which uses a biophysical mechanism to regulate the body's complex function, (ii) some genes are considered by geneticists to have no apparent function because they have not considered the possibility that these non-coding components of our DNA influence gene conformation and/or morphology (shape) and hence the subsequent expression of key proteins i.e. it is the physical and/or stereo-spatial shape of the genes and their resultant energetics which is most significant.


Restoration of shredded signals remains a relevant and significant challenge in archaeological and forensic efforts. In this work, we present a novel approach for reconstruction of shredded signals (including text documents and images) within a context of general multidimensional sparse signals. To this end, we present a generic efficient non-convex optimization method that employs iterative sparsity enhancement of the observed signal. A key component of the design follows from the observation that most natural signals are sparse in a given representation domain. Computational results portrait the potential of our suggested method in several practical cases of signal reconstruction.


This article examines the processes of negotiation and institution building through which transnational networks of learning are fashioned. It does so by examining the case of the European animation industry and the activity of an association, Cartoon, which facilitated the development of common conventions supporting cooperation and learning in this industry. The case draws attention to how issues of institutional context can frustrate collaboration and limit the scope of learning; simultaneously, it illustrates interventions that permitted the negotiation between situated and context-specific understandings on the one hand and the development of shared understandings and common conventions for action within the industry on the other. In sum, the article sheds light on the institutional work required to mobilize situated forms of knowledge and the important bridging functions that institutional entrepreneurs can play in this process.


The Sudbury Igneous Complex of Ontario, Canada, is the remnant of a voluminous melt sheet produced in a few minutes by impact of a massive meteorite into continental crust 1.85 Ga ago. The transient cavity and melting zone reached the Moho and instantly (∼2 min) relaxed to form a more familiar large, shallow crater holding a thick, superheated (∼1700 °C) melt sheet covered by ∼2 km of breccia. There is little about the resulting bimodal igneous complex that resembles crystallization of well-known sheet-like bodies of similar composition. Yet, the norite and granophyre exhibit a remarkable similarity in isotopic and trace element compositions, suggesting an intimate common parentage from the surrounding crust. This petrogenetic enigma is explained here as a natural, unavoidable consequence of the impact process in the rapid formation of a superheated magmatic emulsion, which we take as the high-temperature equivalent of breccia. A wide spectrum of viscously discrete, interdispersed parcels of mafic and felsic liquids, reflecting the compositional heterogeneity of the target crustal materials, formed the emulsion. Within days to months, the emulsion components separated according to their relative densities into a bimodal norite-granophyre assemblage that formed the basic structure of the present Sudbury Igneous Complex. There is clear evidence of this emulsion in the earliest dikes (i.e., offsets), which likely give the earliest state of the nascent melt sheet. Immediately following emulsion separation, the strongly superheated bimodal melt sheet underwent vigorous thermal convection in each layer. These convective motions homogenized and rapidly cooled the magma to the liquidus temperatures, whereupon convection ceased. The pattern of convection was pinned in place by the embayment topography of the crater floor, which in turn played a pivotal role in directing sulfide deposition into the embayments. All further cooling was by conduction of heat through the upper and lower boundaries during which time solidification fronts were established and propagated inward from the upper and lower margins. There is clear evidence of solidification from the floor upward and the roof downward. Minimal differentiation and compositional modification took place throughout cooling and solidification. Nevertheless, during the solidification stage, granitic rock fragments on the crater floor and rafts of fallback breccia from the thick overlying Onaping Formation became unstable and entered the melt sheet, and the partially melted remnants collected at the interface between the norite and granophyre. Some interstitial melt from the norite also percolated upward, and, altogether, the blocks and melt produced the distinctive chemical and physical characteristics of the unusual Transition Zone. The Sudbury melt sheet is, in essence, a full-scale magmatic experiment. The conditions of formation, relative to any other large terrestrial magma, are "precisely" known. Thus the clear lack of any significant modal layering, the overall homogeneous nature of each unit, and the lack of any significant chemical differentiation through crystal fractionation establish Sudbury as a valuable example of what does not happen under the initial conditions long assumed to prevail at the formation of most large magma chambers.


Understanding the relationship between hardwood lumber and stumpage prices is critical in evaluating market efficiency and in understanding the potential impact of changing technology on stump-age markets. Unfortunately, the complexity of the hardwood lumber market and lack of reliable data make it difficult to evaluate this relationship using traditional econometric systems. However, the relationship can be evaluated using economic theory, a review of market history, and statistical procedures. This paper first presents a theoretical development of the demand and supply of hardwood stumpage and then examines the history of the white oak, red oak, yellow-poplar, and hard maple markets between 1970 and 1995. Using this information, a multi-period market margin model was developed. Analysis of short-term relationships between lumber price and stumpage price revealed that these series did not always move in the same direction, but tended to move in the same direction when there were large changes in lumber prices. However, continual declines in lumber prices did not always result in continual declines in stumpage price because of apparent price expectations of the stumpage owner. In the long run, the market margin between stumpage and lumber price has declined in a discrete manner. These declines are related to periodic increases in lumber production and price that occur at the beginning of the hardwood production and price cycle. Theory stipulates that during periods of declining prices, the less efficient sawmills will be forced out of the market. Following these periods, inventories usually are insufficient to satisfy any increase in lumber demand. Therefore, when demand increases, lumber prices increase sharply causing surviving, efficient mills to increase production and to bid up stumpage prices to new, higher levels. This bidding transfers any short-term economic gains that result from increased production or marketing efficiency to the resource owners.


Automata theory has given rise to a variety of automata models that consist
of a finite-state control and an infinite-state storage mechanism. The aim
of this work is to provide insights into how the structure of the storage
mechanism influences the expressiveness and the analyzability of the
resulting model. To this end, it presents generalizations of results about
individual storage mechanisms to larger classes. These generalizations
characterize those storage mechanisms for which the given result remains
true and for which it fails.

In order to speak of classes of storage mechanisms, we need an overarching
framework that accommodates each of the concrete storage mechanisms we wish
to address. Such a framework is provided by the model of valence automata,
in which the storage mechanism is represented by a monoid. Since the monoid
serves as a parameter to specifying the storage mechanism, our aim
translates into the question: For which monoids does the given
(automata-theoretic) result hold?

As a first result, we present an algebraic characterization of those monoids
over which valence automata accept only regular languages. In addition, it
turns out that for each monoid, this is the case if and only if valence
grammars, an analogous grammar model, can generate only context-free
languages.

Furthermore, we are concerned with closure properties: We study which
monoids result in a Boolean closed language class. For every language class
that is closed under rational transductions (in particular, those induced by
valence automata), we show: If the class is Boolean closed and contains any
non-regular language, then it already includes the whole arithmetical
hierarchy.

This work also introduces the class of graph monoids, which are defined by
finite graphs. By choosing appropriate graphs, one can realize a number of
prominent storage mechanisms, but also combinations and variants thereof.
Examples are pushdowns, counters, and Turing tapes. We can therefore relate
the structure of the graphs to computational properties of the resulting
storage mechanisms.

In the case of graph monoids, we study (i) the decidability of the emptiness
problem, (ii) which storage mechanisms guarantee semilinear Parikh images,
(iii) when silent transitions (i.e. those that read no input) can be
avoided, and (iv) which storage mechanisms permit the computation of
downward closures.


This paper presents the creation of a strengthening visual profile for StretchFlex UF. The project consists of an external as well as an internal part. The external part is on the order of the company StretchFlex. The company is created under the education concept by the name of Ung Foretagsverksamhet (Young Entrepreneurship) and has passed on to the Swedish Championships in Young Entrepreneurship at the Stockholm International Fairs. Of that we have been commissioned to develop an updated logotype for the company, for the current does not keep proper quality according to the client. In excess of this, we also produced a folder that followed the company's visual profile. The internal part of the project is a enlargement of the degree project in which a re-design of StretchFlex's visual profile is done. It comprises the logotype, font, and color scheme, which then has been applied on a variety of different objects such as folders, posters, flyer, documents, envelopes, business cards and brand tags. These components are presented in the form of mock-ups. Deeper studies such as interview, persona and design method has been made with intent to reach the result that is presented at the end of the paper. These methods have been used to get a better understanding on how the visual profile can be strengthened.


In his autobiographical account that traces and chronicles three defining dots of bee-related events, Makhdzir recognizes and acknowledges what spawned and shaped his interest and enthusiasm on bees over the last 50 years. His passion with bees evolved from his childhood days and over time those telling dots of bee encounters eventually turned out to be the catalyst for his career and profession. The three defining encounters with bees were: i) the behaviour of temperature regulation of a Giant honeybee (Apis dorsata) colony, at age five; ii) the gallery-nesting behaviour of carpenter bees (Platynopoda latipes) on wooden beams of a house, at age ten; and, iii) the harvesting of honey from Giant honeybee colonies, at age five.
His observations of the contracting and expanding size of Giant honeybee colonies on hot and rainy days haunted him again in later years and he followed up on his curiosity by making it the subject for his Ph. D. thesis research. Through experimental manipulation, temperature monitoring of the body parts (head, thorax and abdomen) of the bees that enveloped the open-nesting, broodright colonies of A. dorsata to form a protective curtain showed that there were significant body temperature differences (less than 2 0C ) between curtain bees with fluid content in their honeycrops and those without. The fluid (water) in their honeycrops, afforded the curtain bees the opportunity for evaporative cooling by extruding and re-imbibing the fluid content on their mouthparts, in what was termed as gobbetting. The gobetting behaviour was experimentally shown to be stimulated by directing air currents onto the curtain bees that sought incidental evaporative cooling from any passing breeze. Under excess heat stress, during high ambient humidity and temperature, the colony resorted to performing colony en masse airborne defecations (CEMA) by the curtain bees to dissipate heat load. Usually more than 50% of the bees in the colony take flight to defecate en masse whereby the subsequent advantage is reduced body weight through loss of bee feces, and hence reduced heat load for cooling. The monitoring of CEMAs from morning till dusk serendipitously led to the discovery of the clockwork regularity of drone mating flights that occurs everyday at sunset where the incidence of loss of brightness was experimentally shown to modulate the onset of drones flying out to drone congregation areas in the direction of sunset in the horizon
The second bee dot event of childhood days was playing kites with captured, gallery-nesting, carpenter bees, which also connected 25 years later to trigger the idea to develop a carpenter bee hive design that leverages on the concept of bee space (gap size of the nesting gallery). Efforts to address the nagging questions about a carpenter bee infested log close to the laboratory led to curiosity about the nature of nesting galleries of carpenter bees inside which subsequently led to the development of a multiple-frame, carpenter bee hive. Founding gynes (reproductive females) were enticed to settle in a new adjacent gallery, and prevented from returning to their old nesting gallery by deception, using wooden, dummy entrances. An observation carpenter bee frame hive was developed using plexiglass and restricting gallery construction within the frame width of slightly bigger than the thorax of the carpenter bee (bee space of 2.2 cm). Hive boxes of carpenter bee nests were introduced and propogated to provide pollination services in passion fruit orchards.
The third bee dot event of observing honey hunters harvesting honey from A. dorsata colonies for the first time, led to further forays into the rainforests to observe and learn about the traditional art of honey-gathering from the hundreds of A. dorsata colonies that nest on emergent bee trees in the rainforests of Malaysia and the Asean countries. From research expeditions throughout the Asean region, it was realised that there were observable intricate faunistic associations between the Giant honeybees and its natural enemies of several species of birds, bear, bats, etc. Bee eaters and honey buzzards display adaptive morphological features in overcoming its prey (A. dorsata) displaying a special ability to remove bee stings and adaptive behaviour of subterfuge by using decoy strategy to confuse the colony. In response, the A. dorsata adopts a variety of evasive behaviour for colony defense, such as, colony enlargement by the curtain bees. Both the behavioral responses of the A. dorsata against attacks by its natural enemies and the subterfuge by by several species of birds, ranging from bee eaters ( spp.), honey buzzards (Pernis Apovirus) and falcons (Micrographis fangillarius) and bats that depend on the Giant honeybees for food around the bee trees, display an interplay of defensive behaviour.
All three incidents of encounters with Giant honeybees, carpenter bees and honey hunters provided him inspiration for the development model for beekeeping in Malaysia taking into account the resource-needs, or specificity between plants and the type of bees. Different species of plant flowers may have obligate relationship with specific bees.
Most important of all, pursuit of an interest with enthusiasm is the key driving force to foster and sustain interest in any endeavour.


This thesis focuses on data projection methods for the purposes of clustering and semi-supervised classification, with a primary focus on clustering. A number of contributions are presented which address this problem in a principled manner; using projection pursuit formulations to identify subspaces which contain useful information for the clustering task. Projection methods are extremely useful in high dimensional applications, and situations in which the data contain irrelevant dimensions which can be counterinformative for the clustering task. The final contribution addresses high dimensionality in the context of a data stream. Data streams and high dimensionality have been identified as two of the key challenges in data clustering. The first piece of work is motivated by identifying the minimum density hyperplane separator in the finite sample setting. This objective is directly related to the problem of discovering clusters defined as connected regions of high data density, which is a widely adopted definition in non-parametric statistics and machine learning. A thorough investigation into the theoretical aspects of this method, as well as the practical task of solving the associated optimisation problem efficiently is presented. The proposed methodology is applied to both clustering and semi-supervised classification problems, and is shown to reliably find low density hyperplane separators in both contexts. The second and third contributions focus on a different approach to clustering based on graph cuts. The minimum normalised graph cut objective has gained considerable attention as relaxations of the objective have been developed, which make them solvable for reasonably well sized problems. This has been adopted by the highly popular spectral clustering methods. The second piece of work focuses on identifying the optimal subspace in which to perform spectral clustering, by minimising the second eigenvalue of the graph Laplacian for a graph defined over the data within that subspace. A rigorous treatment of this objective is presented, and an algorithm is proposed for its optimisation. An approximation method is proposed which allows this method to be applied to much larger problems than would otherwise be possible. An extension of this work deals with the spectral projection pursuit method for semi-supervised classification. iii The third body of work looks at minimising the normalised graph cut using hyperplane separators. This formulation allows for the exact normalised cut to be computed, rather than the spectral relaxation. It also allows for a computationally efficient method for optimisation. The asymptotic properties of the normalised cut based on a hyperplane separator are investigated, and shown to have similarities with the clustering objective based on low density separation. In fact, both the methods in the second and third works are shown to be connected with the first, in that all three have the same solution asymptotically, as their relative scaling parameters are reduced to zero. The final body of work addresses both problems of high dimensionality and incremental clustering in a data stream context. A principled statistical framework is adopted, in which clustering by low density separation again becomes the focal objective. A divisive hierarchical clustering model is proposed, using a collection of low density hyperplanes. The adopted framework provides well founded methodology for determining the number of clusters automatically, and also identifying changes in the data stream which are relevant to the clustering objective. It is apparent that no existing methods can make both of these claims.


Objective: To further assess the construct validity of the three European Scleroderma Study Group (EScSG) preliminary activity indices for systemic sclerosis (SSc): for SSc as a whole, for diffuse SSc (dcSSc), and for limited SSc (lcSSc). Methods: 30/290 SSc clinical charts collected for the EScSG study used to develop activity criteria for SSc were selected and sent to four clinical experts in SSc. The experts ranked the charts from 1 to 30 (1=lowest activity, 30=highest activity). The relationships among the ranks given by each investigator and each of the three scores, and between any two of the ranks were investigated. Results: A consistently significant correlation (rs=0.530–0.712) was found between the ranks given by each of the four investigators and the index for the entire patient group. A similar level of agreement was detected between each couple of the four experts (rs=0.428–0.720). Moreover, the ranks given in patients with an index >3 were significantly higher than those given for patients with an index ⩽3. This cut off point had previously been shown to best discriminate patients with active disease. Conclusions: Of the originally developed activity indexes, the whole series index has been externally validated. The index comprises the first preliminary, but necessary, groundwork to improve the concept of disease activity in SSc, which is still ill defined. It can be used as a preliminary activity index in clinical investigational studies.


Introduction The concept of student-centered education has led to perceptual changes in relation to education, learning and teaching. In student-centered teaching, at the stages of decision making, planning, application, and evaluation during the teaching-learning process learners participate in the process willingly, showing interest with determination. It can be said that student-centered teaching has brought about the change in questions from "What should we teach?", "How should we teach?", "With what should we teach?" to a perspective where "What would s/he like to learn?", "What will s/he do to learn?", "What would assist him/her in his/her learning?", "To what extent did s/he learn?" In other words, in student-centered teaching learners actively participate in the decision making process about what to learn, how to learn, and what kind of help is required, and how to decide how much is learned (Bery, Sharp, 1999; Lea, Sttenhanson & Tray; Hartly, 1987; Sharma, Millar & Seth, 1999; cited in: Acat, 2005). For over 100 years, philosophers such as John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, Ferriere, Rousseau, Freinet, Howard Gardner, Gianni Rodari, Bruno Ciari, Maria Montessori and others have reported on the benefits of experiential, hands-on, student-centered learning. Involving learner in decision making and using student interest to drive curriculum and projects supports a growing body of evidence that concurs with these revolutionary philosophers. Learning is not only about knowledge making. Children need to be active learners within the context of culture, community, and past experiences. Teachers who adhere to student-centered classrooms are influenced strongly by constructivism, naturalistic, social constructivism, existentialism, humanism, and progressive philosophies. Student-centered learning, or student centeredness, is a model which puts the student in the center of the learning process. Student-centered learning is a model in which students play an active role in their own learning styles and learning strategies. While learning, internal motivation is of vital importance. Individual systemizing is more important than standardized systems. Student-centered learning improves learning to learn and learning how to improve skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving and reflective thinking. Students apply and display different styles. Student-centered learning differs from teacher-centered learning in which it is characterized by the more active role of the learner when compared to the teacher. Student-centered learning helps students to get their own goals for learning, and determine resources and activities guiding them to meet those goals (Jonassen, 2000). Because students pursue their own goals, all of their activities are meaningful to them. Student-centered learning which is based on experiential learning helps knowledge and skills to be grasped more extensively and permananetly (Lont, 1999). Since both students and teachers participate in learning process, teachers are perceived to be a member of teaching environment and students to be the persons whose individual learning needs should be addressed. Thus, teachers by using more recent teaching methods involve students in learning process more actively. This improves and expands teachers' roles, which in turn contributes to team spirit and and the culture of working together. The properties of student-centered teaching program that was prepared by the Mid-continent Regional Educatinoal Laboratory are as follows (McCombs & Whisler, 1997; cited in: Unver & Demirel, 2004): * emphasizes tasks that attract students' various interests, * organizes content and activities around the subjects that are meaningful to the students, * contains clear opportunities that let all students develop their own learning skills and progress to the next level of learning, * contains activities that help students understand and improve their own viewpoints, * allows for global, interdisciplinary, and complemetary activities, * supports challenging learning activities even if the learners find them difficult, and * emphasizes activities that encourage students to work with other students in cooperation. …


'I decide what it is I am going to do' is part of the series 'things to do', an ongoing project which currently comprises a series of autonomous pieces which may be performed individually or simultaneously. Each of the constituent pieces uses a set of instructions in different categories (currently noises, pitches, devices and processes) which are spoken by players during the performance and which govern the actions made by the players. Players respond to instructions they can hear by realizing the defined actions as soon as possible after they are spoken. The differences in each piece, and the relationships between the players, are determined by constraints which govern who each player responds to and who gives instructions. It creates modes of interaction between individuals, allows group behaviours to emerge, and reveals the personal characteristics of each performer in an immediate way. Players may use any instruments, sound-producing objects, devices or sound processing equipment (digital, analogue, or acoustic), and performances are characterised by the wide range of personal choices brought together as a group.

First performed: Set Ensemble, Arnolfini, Bristol, 23.08.14 (recording)


• Objectives: Housing may influence health through various mechanisms and is recognized as a social determinant of health. This study investigated the influence of rental assistance on modifiable health risk factors and behaviors using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Participants receiving rental assistance were compared with participants not receiving rental assistance on body mass index (BMI), obesity, smoking, alcohol use, and physical activity. • Methods: Participants (N = 1,374) were ages 18 to 62, heads of household, and had not received rental assistance for 4 years prior to baseline. Treatment group participants (n = 116) received rental assistance between baseline and the 2-year followup. Control group participants (n = 1,258) were eligible for rental assistance 2 years after baseline but did not receive assistance. Models estimated the average treatment effect on the treated for each health indicator in each followup year. Participants were matched on age, race and ethnicity, gender, education, disability status, employment, household income, and number of children in the family unit. • Results: At the 2-year followup, smoking was significantly higher among treatmentgroup participants. A sensitivity analysis excluding permanently disabled participants showed significantly higher obesity in the treatment group 2 years after baseline. No significant differences were found 4 or 6 years after baseline on any outcome. • Conclusions: Rental assistance was associated with increased smoking and obesity 2 years after baseline but did not influence BMI, alcohol consumption, or physical activity. Interventions to reduce smoking and obesity may improve the health of individuals who receive rental assistance.


The Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM) is widely used at numerous hydroelectric projects today for determining flow releases. IFIM is capable of quantifying changes in aquatic habitat with changes in flow. For hydropower projects, flow equates to power generation and revenue, and IFIM enables the user to analyze the tradeoffs between flow for aquatic habitat and flow for power generation. An IFIM study was conducted at the Upper Greenwich hydropower project to determine the minimum flow release requirement. Size and importance of affected (bypass) area, importance and status of resource, non-flow factors affecting the resource, adequacy of biological data, and level of (IFIM) training of the parties involved should all be carefully considered before deciding on a methodology for determining instream flow. For the Upper Greenwich project, numerous factors were carefully considered before an IFIM study was conducted. This careful planning resulted in a final minimum flow release requirement of 80 cfs.


The emergence of the Internet as a pervasive communication medium, and the widespread availability of digital video technology have led to the rise of several networked streaming media applications such as live video broadcasts, distance education and corporate telecasts. This paper studies the traffic associated with two major categories of streaming content on-demand streaming of pre-recorded content and live broadcasting. Using streaming logs from a commercial service, we analyze the traffic along a number of dimensions such as session characterization, object popularity, protocol choice and network load. Among our findings, (i) high bandwidth encodings account for about twice as many requests as low bandwidth ones, and make up about 94% of the traffic, (ii) Windows Media streams account for more than 75% of all requests, when the content is available in both Windows and Real formats, (iii) TCP based transport protocols dominate over UDP being used in about 70% of all bytes transfered (iv) Object popularities exhibit substantial skew with a few objects accounting for most of the load, (v) A small percentage of IP addresses (or routing prefixes or origin autonomous systems (ASes)) account for most of the traffic demand across a range of performance metrics. This last behavior suggests that substantial bandwidth efficiency can be realized with a distribution infrastructure comprised of a relatively small number of replicas, placed close to the heavy-hitter ASes. We also found very high variability in terms of the traffic volume with an order of magnitude or more increase in the offered load over tens of minutes, suggesting the potential benefit of a shared infrastructure that can exploit statistical multiplexing.


The white-tailed prairie dog is a spontaneous hibernator that enters an anorexic state followed by torpor in early fall. The black-tailed prairie dog is a facultative hibernator that enters torpor only when deprived of food and water in the winter. The physiological state of hibernation is similar to a Phase II euthermic fast characterized by elevated fat catabolism, increased blood ketone bodies, and conservation of protein tissues. It was hypothesized that these spontaneous and facultative hibernators use fat and protein differently during a fast prior to the hibernation season. Weekly blood and urine samples were taken from both species during a 5-wk period of food and water deprivation. The black-tailed prairie dog lost mass at a greater rate and had a larger daily urine volume and urea, ammonia, and potassium excretion, as well as a higherplasma urea/creatinine ratio, all of which define a greater rate of protein catabolism for this species than for the white-tailed prairie dog. The black-tailed prairie dog, therefore, does not conserve protein to the same extent as the white-tailed prairie dog during a Phase II fast typical of hibernation starvation. Ketone bodies do not appear to regulate protein catabolism directly. But the greater protein catabolism by the black-tailed prairie dog may be related to pH and water balance requirements that are circumvented in the white-tailed prairie dog by engaging in spontaneous torpor. Both species evolved from populations of ancestral prairie dogs that have retained the ability to hibernate spontaneously. It is hypothesized that the black-tailed prairie dogs may not have maintained the capacity for a deep Phase II, protein-conserving state typical of hibernation starvation but keep an active profile throughout winter, relying to a greater extent on protein catabolism in response to selective pressures of greater predation, higher food abundance, and perhaps a need to preserve fat stores for reproduction.


For multichannel adaptive filtering applications like acoustic echo cancellation, sophisticated, but efficient algorithms are necessary that take both auto- and cross-correlations of the excitation signals into account. Based on a recently published frequency-domain framework, we examine in this contribution the computation of the so-called frequency-domain Kalman gain, which is crucial in the multichannel case to meet the above requirements for correlated input signals. We present an extended scheme with increased computational efficiency for a higher number of input channels. Robust convergence behaviour during perturbation of the desired signal is ensured by a new dynamical regularization. Application of the new algorithm to multichannel acoustic echo cancellation with real-world signals achieves improved performance.


In this article we made an effort to identify the kinds of strategies adolescents deploy in achievement context in Lithuanian sample. The participants were 391 adolescent of the age 14-17 (160 boys, 230 girls) from four different Vilnius secondary schools. Five groups of adolescents were identified according to the strategies they deployed. Two of them were functional: active optimistic and social support seekers. Three of them were dysfunctional: active avoiders, learned helplessness and impulsive. Four of them: active avoiders, learned helplessness, impulsive and active optimistic were similar to those described previously in the literature. The results showed that the membership in the functional strategy groups was associated with higher level of academic achievement and social activity. By contrast, membership in the dysfunctional strategy groups, was associated with lower level of academic achievement and social activity.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the heamato-biochemical, relative organ weight and bacteria count of broiler chicken given different levels of Luffa aegyptiaca leaf extract (LUF). A total of 250 day old Ross 308 broiler chicks of mixed sex were divided into five treatments, each group was further divided into five replicates each of ten (10) birds in a completely randomized design. Birds in treatment A were given 1.20g/litre of Neomycin in water, treatment B, C, D and E were given 5, 10, 15 and 20 ml/litre of LUF. Clean feed and water was given ad libitum and the experiment lasted for 3 weeks. The data obtained was used to evaluate the haematological parameters (PCV, RBC, Hb, WBC, MCV, MCH and MCHC), serum biochemical indices (Albumin, globulin, calcium, phosphorus, SGPT and SGOT), organ weight (liver, kidney, spleen, heart, lungs, pancreas and small intestine) and bacteria count (E.coli and Lactobacillus). Result obtained revealed that there was no significant differences (p>0.05) in the haematological, relative organ weight, serum biochemical parameters and E.coli count obtained. However, there was a significant difference (p


John Allen Paulos cleverly scrutinizes the mathematical structures of jokes, puns, paradoxes, spoonerisms, riddles, and other forms of humor, drawing examples from such sources as Rabelais, Shakespeare, James Beattie, Rene Thom, Lewis Carroll, Arthur Koestler, W. C. Fields, and Woody Allen. "Jokes, paradoxes, riddles, and the art of non-sequitur are revealed with great perception and insight in this illuminating account of the relationship between humor and mathematics."-Joseph Williams, "New York Times" "'Leave your "mind" alone, ' said a Thurber cartoon, and a really complete and convincing analysis of what humour is might spoil all jokes forever. This book avoids that danger. What it does. . .is describe broadly several kinds of mathematical theory and apply them to throw sidelights on how many kinds of jokes work."-"New Scientist" "Many scholars nowadays write seriously about the ludicrous. Some merely manage to be dull. A few-like Paulos-are brilliant in an odd endeavor."-"Los Angeles Times Book Review""


This study attempts to understand the impact of pediatric liver transplantation on family relations. Six mothers of two-parent families whose children had been submitted to liver transplant within the last six years participated in the study. Mothers were interviewed about family relationships in the context of pediatric liver transplantation. Qualitative content analysis of the interviews revealed that parents-child relationship was marked by fear of death, leading to permissive and overprotective attitudes in order to reduce the child's suffering. It was noted that this pattern of behavior was maintained even after transplantation and patient's recovery. Parents' relationship tended to fortify and focus on the child's transplant and illness. Parents' relationship with their healthy children was affected. These children developed feelings of abandonment, competition and rivalry. Relatives tended to become closer and played an important supportive role. The results showed that all family members were affected and needed restructuring which reinforces the importance of early and systematic psychological assistance to the families aiming at a better adaptation to the child's condition, preventing the development of emotional problems.


This paper in a study of poverty in Pakistan and focuses on some of the relevant issues on the subject. It reviews the empirical literature on poverty in Pakistan over 50 years. It also estimates the extent of poverty in the country through data made available by Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (PIHS) upto 1995-96. However, it is not an attempt to improve on the methodology used for calculating poverty lines. Standard indices, the head count measure, poverty gap and the FGT index are calculated to observe the incidence of poverty. The paper calculates and compares Human Development Index, Human Poverty Index and Gender Equity Index, over the years. The study analyses the determinants and causes of poverty through a logit model based on available data.


BACKGROUND
Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a disease characterized by IgE-mediated, allergic inflammation of the nasal mucosa. T helper (Th) 2 cells play an important role in the development of IgE-mediated diseases such as AR, with local overproduction of Th2 cytokines (IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13) at the site of allergic inflammation. Th1 cytokines (IL-12 and IFN-gamma) are known to suppress this Th2 immune response, aiding the treatment of these diseases. Beta-1,3-1,6-glucan (Glucan) is an immunomodulator stimulating particularly the antitumor response. An efficient antitumor stimulation can be achieved through a Th1-mediated immune response.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Glucan on the immunopathogenic processes in the microenvironment to determine if it reverses the Th2-mediated immune response in AR to Th1-mediated response.

METHODS
24 Olea europea mono-sensitized patients with AR were randomized into Glucan and placebo groups. The Glucan group consisted of 12 patients who received Glucan treatment for 12 weeks, while the placebo group of 12 patients received placebo during the same period. A nasal provocation test (NPT) with Olea europea was performed at the beginning and end of treatment, and nasal lavage followed the positive NPT. IL-4, IL-5, IFN-gamma and IL-12 levels and the eosinophil count (%) were measured in nasal lavage fluid (NLF) samples. Simultaneously, peripheral blood eosinophil % values were measured.

RESULTS
After treatment, IL-4 and IL-5 levels in NLF from the Glucan group were found to have decreased significantly (p = 0.027, p = 0.04; respectively), while IL-12 levels were found to have significantly increased (p = 0.008). However, IFN-gamma levels had not changed. On the other hand, none of the cytokine levels had changed significantly in the placebo group following treatment. Moreover, the percentage of eosinophils in the NLF was found to have decreased significantly after treatment in the Glucan group (p = 0.01), while that of the placebo group did not change. Peripheral blood percentage eosinophil levels had not changed significantly in any group.

CONCLUSION
Th2-originated IL-4 and IL-5 levels responsible for the allergic inflammatory response in the microenvironment of patients with AR, are decreased with Glucan while levels of Th1-originated IL-12 are increased. Moreover, eosinophils, which are important effector cells of the inflammatory response, are decreased in the microenvironment. As a result, Glucan may have a role as an adjunct to standard treatment in patients with AR.


Images that are obtained with Color Infrared (CIR) Photography can provide local officials, engineers and scientists with a tool to identify onsite treatment system (septic tank) failures. Color-infrared Aerial Surveys and Hyperspectral Sensors can record scenes of the earth surface using both visible and invisible sections of the Electromagnetic Spectrum. Near-infrared light is invisible to the naked eye, but adding to these images permits to see the earth surface in other than natural colors resulting in "color-infrared photography. Certain limitations do exist with CIR aerial surveys because the photos need to be recorded on a clear day, without atmospheric interference or a leaf canopy. CIR photography of failed systems can produce a false Signature and then the process needs to be verified with ground-truthing by the personnel. These photographic signatures of failed onsite treatment systems can be identified more accurately and less expensive with Hyperspectral Imaging System (HSI) such as the AVIRIS sensor and the image processed with The Environment Visualization Imaging (ENVI) software.


By taking advantage of temporal and spatial remote sensing, the present paper was to map, identify and characterize urban heat island in rapid urbanization area of east China. For research areas including six metropolitan cities around Hangzhou bay in east China, urban heat island measurements were monitored from surface temperature maps at 1km resolution derived from MOD11A2 both day and night acquired in the year of 2005 and 2009. LST normalization with NDSTI was applied in order to quantify UHI spatial changes at four seasons. The result showed that urban heat island phenomenon expanded contiguously in the study area. Day change of UHI seems to be more chaos than night change due to day UHI influenced by both solar and human being activities. There was some kind of urban cool island phenomenon in winter when urban surface temperatures were to be -1 – 0°C lower than the ambient LST. Except for winter, other seasons' UHI during daytime changed from 0.5°C to 2.5 °C and nighttime strongly changed from 0.5°C to 5 °C in 2009. During the night, six cites' UHI roughly coincides and UHI in winter was the smallest and in autumn was the biggest one. The study provided causation and environmental awareness of urbanization to urban planners in future urban development.


Distillery companies in the Philippines produce high-strength wastewater that pollutes the waterways of the country. The implementation of a comprehensive water pollution control programme of these companies in order to comply with the regulations of the government through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) requires a large investment. Non-compliance, on the other hand, requires a huge amount of penalties as mandated by the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2002, which can lead to economic loss. Putting up a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment to follow regulations is not economically viable. This paper aims to present an alternative solution in the management of the generated wastewater of the distillery industry that has not been considered previously. Wastewater or effluent from distillery companies can be used in agricultural applications. Researches have shown that distillery effluent can be a good source of nutrients necessary for plant growth and can be a viable fertiliser in sugarcane fields. Results showed that this effluent in combination with commercial nitrogen fertiliser at regulated rates increases the sugarcane yield.