This article presents a framework that mathematically models optimal design synthesis as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) that is solved with reinforcement learning. In this context, the states correspond to specific design configurations, the actions correspond to the available alterations modeled after generative design grammars, and the immediate rewards are constructed to be related to the improvement in the altered configuration's performance with respect to the design objective. Since in the context of optimal design synthesis the immediate rewards are in general not known at the onset of the process, reinforcement learning is employed to efficiently solve the MDP. The goal of the reinforcement learning agent is to maximize the cumulative rewards and hence synthesize the best performing or optimal design. The framework is demonstrated for the optimization of planar trusses with binary cross-sectional areas, and its utility is investigated with four numerical examples, each with a unique combination of domain, constraint, and external force(s) considering both linear-elastic and elastic-plastic material behaviors. The design solutions obtained with the framework are also compared with other methods in order to demonstrate its efficiency and accuracy.


Marginal agricultural land, which in the UK refers to upland grazings in particular, is going to see changes in management driven by markets, subsidies, grants and environmental change with implications for biodiversity. Using a large‐scale, long‐term grazing experiment in the UK uplands we assessed the impact of intensification (tripling sheep numbers), abandonment (removal of sheep) and grazer diversification (partial replacement of sheep by cattle) on vegetation composition in a heterogenous area of grassland. Species benefiting from increased grazing included sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), mat grass (Nardus stricta) and deer grass (Trichophorum cespitosum). Species that benefitted from the removal of grazing included bog asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) and blaeberry (Vaccinium myrtillus). Responses differed between vegetation communities; more productive acid grassland communities showed little change when grazing was removed, whilst less productive mire communities contained species, capable of increasing after grazing removal. Increased grazing and, to a lesser extent, the introduction of cattle increased species diversity. Synthesis and applications. Marginal agricultural grassland will likely see management change driven by markets, subsidies and environmental change. Vegetation change in these relatively infertile grasslands is slow and features shuffling dominance amongst species in the initial vegetation. Initial structural changes affect other trophic levels in this experiment; the slow change in composition will affect the system over longer timescales. Management decisions in the uplands encompass complex trade‐offs between production, biodiversity and a range of ecosystem services. Predicting the consequences of decisions is difficult given the slow dynamics of unproductive habitats.


Tightly regulated gene expression systems represent invaluable tools for studying gene function and for the validation of drug targets in bacteria. While several regulated bacterial promoters have been characterized, few of them have been successfully used in mycobacteria. In this article we describe the development of a novel repressible promoter system effective in both fast- and slow-growing mycobacteria based on two chromosomally encoded repressors, dependent on tetracycline (TetR) and pristinamycin (Pip), respectively. This uniqueness results in high versatility and stringency. Using this method we were able to obtain an ftsZ conditional mutant in Mycobacterium smegmatis and a fadD32 conditional mutant in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, confirming their essentiality for bacterial growth in vitro. This repressible promoter system could also be exploited to regulate gene expression during M. tuberculosis intracellular growth.


This project researched image compression methods for storage and transmission of digital images at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT). Researchers compared the performance of several commercial and research methods for image compression based on the "typical" image provided by the Mn/DOT Office of Land Management. They also surveyed some new image compression methods based on wavelet thresholding. The report details the analyses and comparisons and includes recommendations. Researchers chose MrSID, a commercial software package for image compression, as a suitable method for the needs of MnDOT's Office of Land Management. MrSID uses a wavelet transform-based algorithm to achieve both the efficient storage and retrieval of large digital images. Its main practical advantages include improved utilization of storage and transmission resources and a multi-resolution browsing capability. MrSID can selectively decompress a portion of an image by zooming at different levels of detail. Researchers implemented a demo website, which can be browsed easily and implements the zooming function. The web site address is http://rocky.dot.state.mn.us/research.


This paper examines how sonification can be used to help a student emulate the complex motion of a teacherinteractively with increasing accuracy and timing. The system captures the motion of a single joint (such as a handmotion or gesture) of a teacher in real-time. A 3-D motion path is then generated and recorded along with a referencesound. A student then attempts to perform the motion and thus recreate the teacher's reference sound. The student'ssynthesized sound will dynamically approach the teacher's sound as the student's movement becomes more accurate.Several types of sound mappings which simultaneously represent time and space deviations are explored. For theexperimental platform, a novel system that uses low-cost camera-based motion capture hardware and open sourcesoftware has been developed. This work can be applied


Abstract Interest in organic grain production is increasing in the United States but there is limited information regarding the economic performance of organic grain and forage production in the mid-Atlantic region. We present the results from enterprise budget analyses for individual crops and for complete rotations with and without organic price premiums for five cropping systems at the US Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA–ARS) Beltsville Farming Systems Project (FSP) from 2000 to 2005. The FSP is a long-term cropping systems trial established in 1996 to evaluate the sustainability of organic and conventional grain crop production. The five FSP cropping systems include a conventional, three-year no-till corn (Zea mays L.)–rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop/soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr)–wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)/soybean rotation (no-till (NT)), a conventional, three-year chisel-till corn–rye/soybean–wheat/soybean rotation (chisel tillage (CT)), a two-year organic hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth)/corn–rye/soybean rotation (Org2), a three-year organic vetch/corn–rye/soybean–wheat rotation (Org3) and a four- to six-year organic corn–rye/soybean–wheat–red clover (Trifolium pratense L.)/orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata L.) or alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) rotation (Org4+). Economic returns were calculated for rotations present from 2000 to 2005, which included some slight changes in crop rotation sequences due to weather conditions and management changes; additional analyses were conducted for 2000 to 2002 when all crops described above were present in all organic rotations. Production costs were, in general, greatest for CT, while those for the organic systems were lower than or similar to those for NT for all crops. Present value of net returns for individual crops and for full rotations were greater and risks were lower for NT than for CT. When price premiums for organic crops were included in the analysis, cumulative present value of net returns for organic systems (US$3933 to 5446 ha−1, 2000 to 2005; US$2653 to 2869 ha−1, 2000 to 2002) were always substantially greater than for the conventional systems (US$1309 to 1909 ha−1, 2000 to 2005; US$634 to 869 ha−1, 2000 to 2002). With price premiums, Org2 had greater net returns but also greater variability of returns and economic risk across all years than all other systems, primarily because economic success of this short rotation was highly dependent on the success of soybean, the crop with the highest returns. Soybean yield variability was high due to the impact of weather on the success of weed control in the organic systems. The longer, more diverse Org4+ rotation had the lowest variability of returns among organic systems and lower economic risk than Org2. With no organic price premiums, economic returns for corn and soybean in the organic systems were generally lower than those for the conventional systems due to lower grain yields in the organic systems. An exception to this pattern is that returns for corn in Org4+ were equal to or greater than those in NT in four of six years due to both lower production costs and greater revenue than for Org2 and Org3. With no organic premiums, present value of net returns for the full rotations was greatest for NT in 4 of 6 years and greatest for Org4+ the other 2 years, when returns for hay crops were high. Returns for individual crops and for full rotations were, in general, among the lowest and economic risk was, in general, among the highest for Org2 and Org3. Results indicate that Org4+, the longest and most diverse rotation, had the most stable economic returns among organic systems but that short-term returns could be greatest with Org2. This result likely explains, at least in part, why some organic farmers in the mid-Atlantic region, especially those recently converting to organic methods, have adopted this relatively short rotation. The greater stability of the longer rotation, by contrast, may explain why farmers who have used organic methods for longer periods of time tend to favor rotations that include perennial forages.


Despite the high number of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) cases from India, there are few reports from India describing the clinical epidemiology of COVID-19. This study aimed to describe the clinical/epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of asymptomatic vs. symptomatic COVID-19 patients. This was a retrospective chart review of all admitted patients with COVID-19 above 18 years with a history of travel within one month of the admission. The patients were categorized into asymptomatic and symptomatic. The symptomatic patients were further classified into mild, moderate and severe. The demographic profile, risk factors, clinical features, laboratory parameters, treatment details and outcome of all patients were recorded. The clinical and laboratory parameters were compared between symptomatic patients and asymptomatic patients. Of the 127 recruited patients, 75 were asymptomatic. Of the 52 symptomatic patients, 41 patients were classified as a mild illness. The mean age of the patients was 44.5 ± 15 years. A total of 73 patients had one or more risk factors. The male patients were more commonly found to be symptomatic compared to female patients. Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, C-reactive protein and lactate dehydrogenase were significantly elevated in symptomatic patients. A total of five individuals required supplemental oxygen therapy, and one of them required mechanical ventilation. All the patients had favourable outcomes. Asymptomatic and mild illness form a significant proportion of positive patients and have excellent outcomes without therapeutic interventions.


The frequency range between 0.1 and 0.9 Hz was investigated with magnetoelectroencephalography-EEG coregistration in 10 adult patients with epilepsy and five children with other neurologic conditions. In all instances, a dominant rhythm between 0.2 and 0.4 Hz could be observed in the waking and sleeping states. It showed a waxing and waning quality and was unrelated to eye opening or closing but increased in amplitude during sleep. The maximum was usually in the occipital areas but occasionally in the frontal regions. The rhythm was more persistent and better seen in the magnetoelectroencephalogram, but subdelta activity was also discernible in the EEG. The magnetoelectroencephalographic rhythmicity and frequency suggested possible respiration artifact. Two normal control subjects were therefore investigated by electroencephalography while respirations were monitored. A clear relation to respiration was established. It persisted during breath-holding, albeit at lower amplitude. Larger amplitude transients occurred before and at the cessation of breath-holding as well as hyperventilation. An observed frequency increase before voluntary hyperventilation suggests a relation to the readiness potential and event-related desynchronization as well as synchronization. Subdelta frequencies, which can be readily recorded without special DC amplifiers, provide additional information for clinical as well as research data. They may also be an interface between autonomic and voluntary functions, especially in regard to respiration.


Many firms deploy takeover defenses when they go public. IPO managers tend to deploy defenses when their compensation is high, shareholdings are small, and oversight from nonmanagerial shareholders is weak. The presence of a defense is negatively related to subsequent acquisition likelihood, yet has no impact on takeover premiums for firms that are acquired. These results do not support arguments that takeover defenses facilitate the eventual sale of IPO firms at high takeover premiums. Rather, they suggest that managers shift the cost of takeover protection onto nonmanagerial shareholders. Thus, agency problems are important even for firms at the IPO stage. Copyright The American Finance Association 2002.


. Indigenous peoples manage forestlands and wildlife differently than public and private forestland managers. To evaluate ecological outcomes from these differences, we compared the structure, composition, and diversity of Ojibwe and Menominee tribal forests to nearby nontribal forestlands in northern Wisconsin. These indigenous peoples seek to manage forests for mature conditions, accommodate wolves and other predators, and hunt deer to sustain traditional livelihood values. Their forests are often more mature with higher tree volume, higher rates of tree regeneration, more plant diversity, and fewer invasive species than nearby nontribal forestlands. In contrast, nontribal forestlands lost appreciable plant diversity in the 20th century and have failed to regenerate tree species sensitive to deer herbivory. Ensuing shifts in forest composition and wildlife populations have jeopardized the ability of managers to sustain wildlife and meet certification standards on nontribal forestlands. Lessons from tribal forestlands could help improve the sustainable management of nontribal public forestlands.


The purpose of this study was to determine the level of burnout among student affairs professionals at the 52 U.S. member institutions of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities. Packets containing the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), the Moos Work Environment Scale (WES), and a demographic survey were mailed to 371 senior student affairs administrators at the member institutions, with a completed response rate of 58.22%. The senior student affairs administrators surveyed included the chief student affairs officers and the professional staff who reported to them. The research design employed t-tests, analyses of variance, and Pearson's Product Moment correlations. The scores obtained from the MBI and WES subscales were compared overall and along 9 independent variablestitle of position, size of institution, appointment, salary, years in current position, years in profession, age, gender, and highest degree attained. Average levels of burnout were found on each of the MBI subscores. Contrary to earlier studies, women did not suffer from statistically significant higher levels of burnout than men, and burnout levels decreased with age and years in the profession for both sexes. Lower scores on the MBI depersonalization subscale were found in employees in mid-career and in professionals from smaller schools. Emotional exhaustion was not a factor. Environmental factors relating to burnout and job satisfaction were also explored. Statistically significant differences on the WES were found on all of the independent variables except the years in the current position variable. The metropolitan environment may have been effective in reducing the amount of burnout felt by this group of student affairs professionals. The study underscored the need for continuing research in burnout for student affairs professionals and for continued professional development throughout the career span.


With smart city infrastructures growing, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been widely used in the intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The traditional adaptive traffic signal control method based on reinforcement learning (RL) has expanded from one intersection to multiple intersections. In this paper, we propose a multi-agent auto communication (MAAC) algorithm, which is an innovative adaptive global traffic light control method based on multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) and an auto communication protocol in edge computing architecture. The MAAC algorithm combines multi-agent auto communication protocol with MARL, allowing an agent to communicate the learned strategies with others for achieving global optimization in traffic signal control. In addition, we present a practicable edge computing architecture for industrial deployment on IoT, considering the limitations of the capabilities of network transmission bandwidth. We demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms other methods over 17% in experiments in a real traffic simulation environment.


Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) is a well known topic model that is often used to make inference regarding the properties of collections of text documents. LDA is a hierarchical Bayesian model, and involves a prior distribution on a set of latent topic variables. The prior is indexed by certain hyperparameters, and even though these have a large impact on inference, they are usually chosen either in an ad-hoc manner, or by applying an algorithm whose theoretical basis has not been firmly established. We present a method, based on a combination of Markov chain Monte Carlo and importance sampling, for estimating the maximum likelihood estimate of the hyperparameters. The method may be viewed as a computational scheme for implementation of an empirical Bayes analysis. It comes with theoretical guarantees, and a key feature of our approach is that we provide theoretically-valid error margins for our estimates. Experiments on both synthetic and real data show good performance of our methodology.


Due to the challenges facing rural schools, many jurisdictions have resorted to the use of virtual school programs to provide curricular opportunities to their students. While the number of virtual schools that rely on synchronous instruction as a primary or significant method of delivery is quite small, there are some programs that do (and a growing number of virtual schools that use it with small groups or individuals). This case study examined the use of synchronous online instruction by one virtual school with students in a single rural school in Newfoundland and Labrador. The data from a variety of collection methods revealed three themes: similarities with online student experiences and their traditional classroom experiences, the development of local learning communities, and the preference for students to use chat over audio.


Reflection is increasingly being embedded into higher education curricula, not only due to the benefits it has for long-term learning, but also due to it becoming a key requirement in professional competencies beyond the university context. However, due to assumptions that reflection is an innate ability already at students' disposal, the necessary scaffolding of the thought processes involved are often overlooked. This study therefore aimed to demonstrate how the use of a labyrinth could stimulate and deepen the learning and teaching of critical reflection skills within UCLan. Reporting on initial findings from five labyrinth workshops with staff and students, this paper identified that both groups appreciated the wellbeing effect the labyrinth afforded, but differed in their evaluation of the sessions' most valued quality. Whereas staff welcomed the opportunity, time and space to stop and reflect on their practice, students acknowledged the labyrinth's effectiveness for learning about reflection, its models and its application to their assessments and practice. Potentially signalling their differing familiarity with the processes and goals of reflection, this study concluded that the labyrinth is a useful scaffolding tool for the learning and teaching of reflection which can be used across different subject areas, year groups and levels of expertise.


Thrombin has receptor mediated effects on a variety of cell types. A recently cloned platelet thrombin receptor exerts its effects by a tethered‐ligand mechanism. A similar receptor was shown in at least two nonplatelet cell types, fibroblasts and endothelial cells. Thrombin has biologically important effects on leukocytes, but the type of receptor mediating the effects is not known. Therefore, we examined the responses of monocytes, neutrophils, and lymphocytes to thrombin and to an agonist specific for the platelet‐type thrombin receptor. We compared the effects of a peptide (SFLLRNPNDKYEPF) corresponding to residues 42‐55 of the cloned platelet thrombin receptor on calcium flux in platelets and leukocytes. The thrombin receptor peptide induced increases in intracellular calcium in platelets and monocytes that reached a maximum at 5 μΜ peptide. The maximal increase was similar in magnitude to the response to thrombin. Lymphocytes showed a small and variable increase in intracellular calcium in response to thrombin or the thrombin receptor agonist. The thrombin receptor peptide had no effect on neutrophil calcium concentrations. When the amino acid corresponding to Arg 46 was replaced with Ala in the synthetic peptide, the ability to increase intracellular calcium was abolished for both platelets and monocytes. The peptide instead had thrombin antagonist activity. Thus, monocytes respond to thrombin receptor peptides similarly to platelets. We conclude that human monocytes possess a thrombin receptor similar to that present on platelets. Furthermore, the residue corresponding to Arg 46 of the thrombin receptor is critical for receptor agonist activity.


Objective: Mandibular canal, mandibular foramen, mental foramen and insisiv canal are so important anatomical structures for dental surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the visibility of these important landmarks in different age groups and to compare the visibility in dentulous group with edentulous group on panoramic radiographs.
Methods: The panoramic radiographs of 500 patients (237 males; 263 females; mean age; 39.2) were evaluated for this study. The visibility of anatomical landmarks were analyzed in the radiographs and scores were noted. The data obtained in this study were analyzed by SPSS 21 package program. The value of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
 Results: Out of 500 radiographs, mandibular canal, mandibular foramen, mental foramen and incisive canal was visible in 89.8%, 88%, 80.6% and 12.8%, respectively. 23 (4.6%) patients had total tooth loss. The visibility of the anatomical landmarks was observed in groups below 25 years old.
Conclusion: Panoramic radiographs provide useful information on the visibility of anatomical landmarks. However, the use of 3D imaging methods before surgical procedures will give more accurate results.

How to cite this article: Serindere G, Aktuna Belgin C. The evaluation of visibility of mandibular anatomic landmarks using panoramic radiography. Int Dent Res 2019;9(2):69-77.

Linguistic Revision: The English in this manuscript has been checked by at least two professional editors, both native speakers of English.


An implementation of the ray-tracing algorithm that is based on the Voxar parallel processing model, which simulates 3D physical phenomena, is discussed. The implementation of a general parallel ray-tracing program, and the implementation of Voxar are reviewed. Results of a performance evaluation of Voxar show that the machine's best points are its efficiency on complex ray-tree images and its parallel animation functionality. Its weak points are the insufficiency of the deadlock prevention strategy, the high cost of the communication system, the sequential generation of the primary rays, and the rigidity of the regular subdivision.<<ETX>>


The second iron fertilisation experiment in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean (EIFEX) was carried out for 37 days during the austral autumn of 2004 (January-March) in a mesoscale eddy, whose centre was fertilised twice (days 1 and 15). Phytoplankton pigments determined by HPLC and microscopic cell counts were monitored in the water column, in sediment traps and from surface sediments. Chlorophyll a standing stocks increased 3 fold until day 26, but remarkably decreased thereafter. The main beneficiaries of the iron fertilisation were again diatoms, especially Chaetoceros dichaeta, C. atlanticus, Pseudo-nitzschia lineola and Fragilariopsis kerguelensis. Towards the end of the experiment, the diatom marker fucoxanthin and chlorophyll a could be followed down the water column to 4000 m. A low ratio of phaeopigments to chl a indicate the export of fresh material most likely originating from the iron fertilised patch. This is corroborated by a similar diatom composition at the surface and at the bottom of the water column. Results from sediment trap and surface sediment data will be presented and the implication of export from iron-induced phytoplankton blooms will be discussed.


Live Projects are used on the Architecture Programme at Northumbria University to create authentic learning experiences; encouraging social interaction and community engagement to the design process from the early years of undergraduate through to final year post graduate Masters students.

Design projects set on the architecture programmes at Northumbria University are grounded in specific contexts which can be visited and revisited by the students. Architectural solutions are developed through appropriate narratives which address real and current socio-political situations for the site and the community. The proposed presentation discusses the impact of live projects and community engagement in architectural education; based upon the authors research and first-hand experience.

Through a series of illustrated case studies, this presentation describes how studio project briefs have evolved in collaboration with The National Trust and Northumberland Park across a number of cohorts. This has created an implicit resource for the programmes, with a deeper understanding of the client, other stakeholders and the wider communities developed over a number of years. This benefits both the quality of the students' experience; creating a special type of pedagogical learning experience and contributes to evolving projects and engagement for the client organisations.

The students' projects have shadowed live design competitions and, subsequently, schemes being developed by architectural practices, who have presented their work-in-progress and participated in reviews of the students' work. This has enhanced the students' understanding of the design process in relation to practice experience and enabled them to develop an awareness of the social skills necessary in professional practice.

The presentation will conclude with a reflection on how 'people focussed architecture', regional engagement and the nature in which problem based learning reflects the way people learn in real life.


Has material civilization spun out of control, becoming too fast for our own well-being and that of the planet? This book confronts these anxieties and examines the changing rhythms and temporal organization of everyday life. How do people handle hurriedness, burn-out and stress? Are slower forms of consumption viable? This volume brings together international experts from geography, sociology, history, anthropology and philosophy. In case studies covering the United States, Asia and Europe, contributors follow routines and rhythms, their emotional and political dynamics and show how they are anchored in material culture and everyday practice. Running themes of the book are questions of coordination and disruption; cycles and seasons; and the interplay between power and freedom, and between material and natural forces. The result is a volume that brings studies of practice, temporality and material culture together to open up a new intellectual agenda.


The stakeholders were classified into five major groups according to their actions in the system; the groups include research agency, government agency, technology transfer a-gency, marketers and plantain and banana farmers. Four states which are zonal headquarters of Plantain Resource Training Centre, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Edo and Ogun states were selected and sampled for data collection. A total of 95 respondents were sampled for data collection. Percentages, means and factor analysis were used in data analysis and presentation. The research and technology transfer groups contributed over 90% of the technological capability in plantain and banana innovation system IITA, NIHORT and NSPRI were revealed as the major technology generating agencies in the plantain and banana innovation system. The study concluded that constant interactions and exchange of ideas among stakeholders encouraged learning and optimization of technological capability in the plantain and banana innovation system

 Key words: Banana, plantain, stakeholder, technological capability, innovation system.


Background/Aims Few studies have investigated prognostic factors for the development of liver-related events (LREs) in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) who achieve sustained virological response (SVR). Methods We analyzed 190 patients with CHC who achieved SVR after treatment with pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) plus ribavirin. LREs were defined as any complications related to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or liver-related mortality. Results The mean age was 54.1 years, and 84 of the patients (44.2%) were male. The mean liver stiffness (LS) value at SVR was 7.1±5.4 kPa. During the follow-up period (median, 43.0 months), LREs occurred in 10 patients (5.3%; HCC in eight patients, ascites in one patient, and liver-related mortality in one patient). By multivariate Cox regression analysis, age, α-fetoprotein level, and LS value were independent predictors for LRE development (all p<0.05). Patients with LS values ≥7.0 kPa had a greater risk (hazard ratio, 9.472; 95% confidence interval, 1.018 to 88.126; p=0.048) for LRE development compared to those with LS values <7.0 kPa. Conclusions The LS value at SVR is useful for predicting LRE development in CHC patients who achieve SVR after treatment with peg-IFN plus ribavirin. Thus, LRE surveillance strategies might be optimized according to the LS values at SVR, even with complete viral eradication.


An imbalance of the power differential between supervisee and field supervisor has led to a complex issue during field supervision such as an inability to initiate discussion of harm. The purpose of this study was to educate students on harm in field supervision, potential repercussions if harm is not discussed with their field supervisor, and steps that can be taken by MSW students to assess confidence to initiate discussion of harm with their field supervisors. It was hypothesized that MSW students receiving an educational training on harm in field supervision will have more confidence to initiate discussion of harm with their field supervisors. A quantitative one-group pretest-posttest study was designed for this research study. Also, pre-test and post-test surveys were distributed to participants, and an educational training powerpoint on the significance of harm during field supervision was implemented between the pre-test and post-test surveys. A paired differences t-test was used to assess for changes in MSW student confidence to initiate discussion of harm with field supervisors. The results of this study indicated that MSW students were not more likely to discuss harm with their field supervisor as a result of receiving an educational powerpoint on the importance of discussion, so this study failed to reject the null hypothesis. This study assisted with informing MSW students about the possible repercussions, and the importance of not informing their field supervisors that they were harmed. In addition, future MSW students would be informed about alternatives to discuss harm by their field supervisors if one does not feel safe to do so with their own field supervisors.


Centaurus A (Cen A) is the nearest active radio galaxy, which has kiloparsec-scale jets and giant lobes detected by various instruments in radio and X-ray frequency ranges. The Fermi-Large Area Telescope and High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) confirmed that Cen A is a very high-energy (VHE; >0.1 TeV) γ-ray emitter with a known spectral softening in the energy range from a few GeV to TeV. In this work, we consider a synchrotron self-Compton model in the nucleus for the broadband spectrum below the break energy and an external Compton model in kiloparsec-scale jets for the γ-ray excess. Our results show that the observed γ-ray excess can be suitably described by the inverse Compton scattering of the starlight photons in the kiloparsec-scale jets, which is consistent with the recent tentative report by HESS on the spatial extension of the TeV emission along the jets. Considering the spectral fitting results, the excess can only be seen in Cen A, which is probably due to two factors: (1) the host galaxy is approximately 50 times more luminous than other typical radio galaxies and (2) the core γ-ray spectrum quickly decays above a few MeV due to the low maximum electron Lorentz factor of γc = 2.8 × 103 resulting from the large magnetic field of 3.8 G in the core. By the comparison with other γ-ray detected radio galaxies, we found that the magnetic field strength of relativistic jets scales with the distance from the central black holes d with B(d) ∝ d−0.88 ± 0.14.


Abstract. Upper-air balloon soundings for weather predictions have been made since the beginning of the 20th century. New radiosonde instruments for in situ humidity-, radiation- and gas-profile measurements in the troposphere and the lower stratosphere, were introduced in recent years for atmospheric research and climate monitoring, but such instruments are often expensive and it is desired they be reused on multiple flights. Recovering instruments that freely descend with parachutes is time consuming, sometimes difficult and even dangerous. Here, we introduce the return glider radiosonde (RGR), which enables flying and retrieving valuable in situ upper-air instruments. The RGR is lifted with weather balloons similar to traditional radiosondes to a preset altitude, at which time a release mechanism cuts the tether string, and a built-in autopilot flies the glider autonomously back to the launch site or a desired preprogrammed location. Once the RGR reaches the landing coordinates it circles down and releases a parachute 100 m above ground for landing. The motivation for this project was to measure radiation profiles throughout the atmosphere with the same instrument multiple times and with a rapid turn-around time. The paper describes technical aspects of the return glider radiosonde and the built-in radiation instruments and shows test flights up to 24 km altitude that are analyzed in terms of flight performance and maximal distances covered. Several successive flights measuring radiation profiles demonstrate the reliability and the operational readiness of the RGR, allowing new ways for atmospheric in situ research and monitoring with payloads up to several kg depending on the specific size of the glider.


Chemical changes in the soil have a significant effect on its physical and mechanical properties and the rate of settlement. In this research, the effect of urban wastewater on chemical properties and soil engineering characteristics such as Atterberg limits, uniaxial compressive strength and consolidation parameters in central areas of Mashhad have been investigated. Based on the results, some chemical parameters such as Ca, Mg, Al and K decreased after the soil samples has been saturated by wastewater. Also, changing the chemical properties of the soil has changed its physical and mechanical parameters. For example, the consolidation parameters of the selected soil indicate that the (Cc) has increased over time with changes in the concentration of input wastewater. Also, the (Cs) has decreased over time and the rate of change in high concentrations is less. In addition, the results show that low concentrations of wastewater in short time have the greatest effect on reducing the uniaxial strength of soil. An examination of the electron microscope images shows that when the soil sample is saturated with wastewater, a layer of salt is accumulated around the soil particles, which expands the size and surface of the particles and also tends its structure towards the grain pattern. Therefore, simultaneously, the two factors of time and the change in concentration of wastewater affect the physical and mechanical parameters of the soil, and the effect of concentration on the time is more indicative.


Code modularity is important for code reuse. Language designers mainly focused on method code modularity. On the
contrary, initialization code modularity has usually been neglected. The initialization code of many class-based object-oriented
languages becomes cumbersome in different situations: for example, when some fields have multiple initialization
options (e.g., a rectangle can be positioned by providing Cartesian or polar coordinates), have optional initialization (e.g., a
rectangle can be positioned in the origin (0,0) if no other coordinates are provided), or have superclass initialization (e.g., a
colored rectangle must redefine all the constructors of its rectangle superclass to add the notion of color). In such cases, the
number of constructors increases exponentially in the size of the initialization options, since the initialization approach lacks
modularity.
We propose a novel approach to field initialization, inspired by the prototypical language Magda. This approach is based on
easy-to-compose initialization modules, which result to be smaller compared to classical constructors. Moreover, their
number grows linearly in the size of the initialization options. We apply such approach to Pharo, a dynamically-typed object-oriented
programming language inspired by Smalltalk. The adaptation to Pharo of Magda's initialization approach implies
solving some new challenges related to moving from a statically typed context to a dynamically typed one.


Candida glabrata bloodstream infection (BSI) isolates from a particular geographic area have been reported to comprise a relatively small number of the major sequence types (STs) by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis. Yet little is known about the characteristics of major ST strains of C. glabrata. To address this question in Korea, we investigated antifungal resistance and non-synonymous mutations of the mismatch repair gene (msh2 mutations) in C. glabrata BSI isolates, as well as associated clinical characteristics, and compared the results according to MLST genotype. We assessed a total of 209 C. glabrata BSI isolates from seven hospitals in Korea for 2 years (2009 and 2014). Clinical features of candidemia and their outcomes were analyzed for 185 available cases. According to MLST, ST7 (47.8%) was the most common type, followed by ST3 (22.5%); the remainder represented 28 types of minor STs (29.7%). Fluconazole-resistance (FR) rates for ST7, ST3, and other strains were 9.0% (9/100), 8.5% (4/47), and 4.8% (3/62), respectively, and all were susceptible to amphotericin B and micafungin. All ST7 isolates harbored the V239L mutation in msh2, known to confer hypermutability, while 91.5% of ST3 isolates did not harbor the msh2 mutation. Overall, isolates of the same ST had identical msh2 mutations, with the exception of nine isolates. The msh2 mutations were identified in 68.8% (11/16) of the FR isolates and 67.4% (130/193) of the fluconazole susceptible-dose dependent isolates. There was no significant difference in all clinical characteristics between ST3 and ST7. However, the 30-day mortality of C. glabrata candidemia due to the two major ST (ST3 or ST7) strains was significantly higher than that of candidemia due to other minor ST strains (45.1 vs. 25.0%, p < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis also showed that two major STs (ST3 and ST7) were independent predictors of 30-day mortality. This study showed for the first time that two STs (ST7 and ST3) were predominant among BSI isolates in Korea, and that C. glabrata BSI isolates belonging to two major MLST genotypes are characterized by higher mortality. In addition, most msh2 mutations align with MLST genotype, irrespective of FR.


How do we think? N. Katherine Hayles poses this question at the beginning of this bracing exploration of the idea that we think through, with, and alongside media. As the age of print passes and new technologies appear every day, this proposition has become far more complicated, particularly for the traditionally print-based disciplines in the humanities and qualitative social sciences. With a rift growing between digital scholarship and its print-based counterpart, Hayles argues for contemporary technogenesis-the belief that humans and technics are coevolving-and advocates for what she calls comparative media studies, a new approach to locating digital work within print traditions and vice versa. mines the evolution of the field from the traditional humanities and how the digital humanities are changing academic scholarship, research, teaching, and publication. She goes on to depict the neurological consequences of working in digital media, where skimming and scanning, or "hyper reading," and analysis through machine algorithms are forms of reading as valid as close reading once was. Hayles contends that we must recognize all three types of reading and understand the limitations and possibilities of each. In addition to illustrating what a comparative media perspective entails, Hayles explores the technogenesis spiral in its full complexity. She considers the effects of early databases such as telegraph code books and confronts our changing perceptions of time and space in the digital age, illustrating this through three innovative digital productions - Steve Tomasula's electronic novel, "TOC"; Steven Hall's "The Raw Shark Texts"; and Mark Z. Danielewski's "Only Revolutions". Deepening our understanding of the extraordinary transformative powers digital technologies have placed in the hands of humanists, "How We Think" presents a cogent rationale for tackling the challenges facing the humanities today.


Factors which affect adhesion of cultured Trypanosoma congolense bloodstream forms to mammalian feeder cells have been examined. Using an in vitro binding assay, the initial events following interaction of trypanosomes with bovine aorta endothelial (BAE) cells were monitored by both light- and electron microscopy. Metabolic inhibitors and other biochemicals were incubated with either cells or parasites, to test whether any inhibited the process. Our findings suggest that adhesion of the parasites is an active process requiring metabolic energy from the trypanosomes, but not from endothelial cells. We also provide data suggesting that T. congolense bloodstream forms possess a lectin-like domain, localized at distinct sites on their flagellar surface, which interacts with specific carbohydrate receptors, most likely sialic acid residues, on the endothelial cell plasma membrane. We also suggest that the cytoskeletal protein actin is probably involved in this interaction.


ABSTRACT We propose a new self-normalized method for testing change points in the time series setting. Self-normalization has been celebrated for its ability to avoid direct estimation of the nuisance asymptotic variance and its flexibility of being generalized to handle quantities other than the mean. However, it was developed and mainly studied for constructing confidence intervals for quantities associated with a stationary time series, and its adaptation to change-point testing can be nontrivial as direct implementation can lead to tests with nonmonotonic power. Compared with existing results on using self-normalization in this direction, the current article proposes a new self-normalized change-point test that does not require prespecifying the number of total change points and is thus unsupervised. In addition, we propose a new contrast-based approach in generalizing self-normalized statistics to handle quantities other than the mean, which is specifically tailored for change-point testing. Monte Carlo simulations are presented to illustrate the finite-sample performance of the proposed method. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


This paper develops a specification test for the instrument validity conditions in the heterogeneous treatment effect model with a binary treatment and a discrete instrument. A necessary testable implication for the joint restriction of instrument exogeneity and instrument monotonicity is given by nonnegativity of point-identifiable complier's outcome densities. Our specification test infers this testable implication using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov type test statistic. We provide a bootstrap algorithm to implement the proposed test and show its asymptotic validity. The proposed test procedure can apply to both discrete and continuous outcome cases.


ATTEMPTING to articulate his thoughts on the legal definition of obscenity in the 1960s, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, opined "I know it when I see it."* This approach, celebrated at that time as intuitive and pragmatic, was one he later recanted. Clinicians take a similar approach to situations that are often more complex than they appear. In this issue of ANESTHESIOLOGY, van Klei et al. report an analysis of patterns of perioperative -blocker prescription in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. They conclude that their results provide confirmatory evidence to one of the two class 1 recommendations for "perioperative -blockade" of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Perioperative Evaluation Guidelines Committee, paraphrased by the authors as "not to withdraw -blocker therapy."† As the current guideline comprise only a single paragraph with three literature citations, a closer look at this issue appears timely. Problems related to perioperative administration of -blockers have been debated for over 40 yr. In 1972, Viljoen et al. set a decidedly negative tone by reporting on five patients undergoing myocardial revascularization at the Cleveland Clinic with "frustrating therapeutic problems" who developed "unexplained intraoperative cardiac failure" attributed "in part to residual propranolol induced myocardial depression," recommending their discontinuation 2 weeks before surgery. In 1975, the hazards of propranolol withdrawal were reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in a double-blind crossover efficacy trial in which 10 of 20 patients with angina sustained ischemic complications off therapy. Subsequently, Kaplan et al. reported observational data (including the first noncardiac surgery cohort) and Slogoff and Keats, a randomized trial, suggesting that continuation to within 12–24 h of surgery was safe, although neither specifically address postoperative use. In fact, -blockers were often discontinued permanently shortly after myocardial revascularization because it was felt that patients would no longer need them. In 1981, several years after his landmark Cardiac Risk Index study, Lee Goldman reported case vignettes of (only) two patients with known ischemic disease on chronic propranolol therapy undergoing vascular surgery, outlining the potential hazards of perioperative withdrawal. Both patients developed tachycardia and signs of myocardial ischemia early postoperatively, one with overt hemorrhage and evidence of heart failure. Both responded eventually to reinstitution of propranolol. He speculated the cases were "definitive" or "suggestive" of propranolol withdrawal, recommending continuation of therapy, accompanied by a "word of caution" that "other postoperative conditions mimic the withdrawal rebound syndrome and are probably far more common than the syndrome itself." In the only randomized trial of withdrawal in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery, Ponten et al. in 1982 reported on 48 patients, all with hypertension and/or ischemic heart disease randomized to either preoperative withdrawal or continuation. They noted "high and unstable heart rate" during both intubation and extubation in the withdrawn group, and decreased blood pressure in all patients during induction of anesthesia, most evident in the continued group. In a subset of patients instrumented with pulmonary artery catheters, continued patients manifested lower cardiac index and stroke work with higher wedge pressure and systemic vascular resistance. ST-segment changes were more common in withdrawn patients, whereas myocardial infarction (MI) was more common in the continued group (4 of 11 vs. 0 of 9 patients with postoperative enzyme measurements). In their conclusion, the authors recommended continuation of -blockade, but with the caveat that any benefits are obtained "at the expense of a hypokinetic circulation" suggesting concomitant vasodilator therapy to offset these effects. Throughout the 1980s, cardiologists debated the existence of a specific -blocker withdrawal syndrome and whether it occurred with the increasingly popular 1This Editorial View accompanies the following article: van Klei WA, Bryson GL, Yang H, Forster AJ: Effect of -blocker prescription on the incidence of postoperative myocardial infarction after hip and knee arthroplasty. ANESTHESIOLOGY 2009; 111:717–24.


Although Heidegger was influenced by a number of thinkers, above all ancient Greeks and nineteenth-century Germans, the fragments of the pre-Socratic philosophers Heraclitus and Parmenides exerted a particular fascination on Heidegger. Revolted by what he considered the superficiality of bourgeois life and the spiritual decline of the West, Heidegger wanted to demolish that society, looked to the Nazis to effect a revolution in politics, and drew inspiration for his Nazism from the pre-Socratics. In the process, he rejected the moral universalism of Kant, distorted Nietzsche's thinking, and marshaled the pre-Socratics in support of his call on Germans to accept their destiny and undertake their mission to struggle for glory and for spiritual rejuvenation. Heidegger's interpretation of Heraclitus and Parmenides was, thus, an integral component of his particular brand of Nazism.


A number of significant changes in our understanding of the short story have occurred since the 1983 publication of two major books: Susan Lohafer's Coming to Terms with the Short Story and Valerie Shaw's The Short Story: A Critical Introduction. Perhaps most important, we have turned away from the unhelpful posture that generic distinctions are pernicious, a position that dominated criticism growing out of the Nouvelle Critique. Rather than struggling to show that we cannot know--that prose fiction may be referred to only as recit or narrative or fiction, that rare exceptions invalidate any generic rule--most professional readers have accepted the common knowledge that there is such a thing as genre and that delineating the various manifestations helps to understand what creative writers are about. Among the advantages that could be claimed for current definitions of the short story, I might cite the effort to avoid emphasizing technique and to focus on function. Just as building codes that made lead pipes a legal requirement became needlessly restrictive when the much cheaper and more effective PVC pipe came into general usage (since lawmakers codified the material rather than addressing the issue of strength, durability, and capacity), so short-story definitions that turned around devices and vehicles (even one as important as plot or a narratively based conception of "story") crumbled when artists rolled out legions of "stories" that go nowhere, that exemplify what Joseph Frank has called "spacial form" and I have termed "image structure" (Pasco, Novel Configurations). Take, for example, the case of Dominic Head's persuasive analysis of conflicting voices and cultural context in the modernist short story. His additional claim, however, that these traits have the status of generic characteristics for the short story as a whole fails to convince anyone who has read widely in the genre. As Head defines the qualities that interest him, there is no question that they occur in many short stories, but they are not universal traits. Despite the undoubted importance of work by such writers as James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, and Malcolm Lowery, as Lohafer put it, "|t~he modern story is merely a kind of story" (Coming to Terms 10). It is no more or less a short story than the preceding generation's creations, which tended to be dominated by a single, narrative voice. And, as Miriam Marry Clark makes clear in her consideration of recent short fiction (above), the postmodern story has carved out yet another set of characteristics. Generic definitions based on devices, techniques, subject matter, in short on the short story's paradigm of interchangeable parts, have historically limited life and usefulness. Almost always, they exclude the preceding generation's creations, though the next generation takes revenge by rejecting these strategies for others. Most recent attempts at circumscribing an appropriate definition have, however, succeeded in minimizing emphasis on the constituent elements to center on the essential, core characteristics. Still, although I do not dispute the usefulness of definitions advanced by Norman Friedman ("Recent"), Lohafer (Coming to Terms), Michel Viegnes, Gerald Prince (above), and others, for the sake of simplicity, perhaps even of elegance, I turn to the formula I advanced several years ago: a short story is a short, literary prose fiction ("On Defining Short Stories"). I do so because, after reading the contributions to this special issue on the short story, I believe it appropriate to expand on a portion of my earlier essay and discuss the implications of one of the qualities incorporated in the definition: shortness. Although I had thought to avoid the dangers of dark ice in these remarks, and not return to a defense of my definition, I find myself skating around the thinning edge when I turn towards brevity. As William Carlos Williams put it, however, "The principal feature re. …


Abstract. We investigate relationships between climate and tree-ring data on a global scale using the process-based Vaganov–Shashkin Lite (VSL) forward model of tree-ring width formation. The VSL model requires as inputs only latitude, monthly mean temperature, and monthly accumulated precipitation. Hence, this simple, process-based model enables ring-width simulation at any location where monthly climate records exist. In this study, we analyse the growth response of simulated tree rings to monthly climate conditions obtained from the CRU TS3.1 data set back to 1901. Our key aims are (a) to assess the VSL model performance by examining the relations between simulated and observed growth at 2287 globally distributed sites, (b) indentify optimal growth parameters found during the model calibration, and (c) to evaluate the potential of the VSL model as an observation operator for data-assimilation-based reconstructions of climate from tree-ring width. The assessment of the growth-onset threshold temperature of approximately 4–6 °C for most sites and species using a Bayesian estimation approach complements other studies on the lower temperature limits where plant growth may be sustained. Our results suggest that the VSL model skilfully simulates site level tree-ring series in response to climate forcing for a wide range of environmental conditions and species. Spatial aggregation of the tree-ring chronologies to reduce non-climatic noise at the site level yielded notable improvements in the coherence between modelled and actual growth. The resulting distinct and coherent patterns of significant relationships between the aggregated and simulated series further demonstrate the VSL model's ability to skilfully capture the climatic signal contained in tree-ring series. Finally, we propose that the VSL model can be used as an observation operator in data assimilation approaches to reconstruct past climate.


There is a clear need to conduct uncertainty analyses with respect to nitrate leaching at a range of spatial scales, from the field to the catchment scale, dependent on the spatial scale for which an assessment is relevant. At the scale of the Odense catchment in Denmark, an uncertainty assessment most likely leads to an unacceptably high number of simulations as a result of the large number of combinations of distributed data available. In this study we present a framework for an uncertainty assessment for model parameters for the unsaturated component in a linked rootzone and groundwater model and exemplified for the Odense River catchment. The proposed framework consists of (i) a simplification of the model, (ii) identification of uncertain parameters, (iii) generation of model parameter sets by means of Latin hypercube sampling (LHS), (iv) rootzone model simulation of realizations under (iii), (v) uncertainty analysis based on the standardized rank regression coefficient index, (vi) ranking of simulated nitrate leaching, and (vii) simulation of selected parameter sets sampled from the output distribution under (vi). The results show a high sensitivity of the van Genuchten soil water release characteristics parameters for percolation and leaching. The amount of applied slurry has a relatively high sensitivity for leached nitrate from the rootzone. The ranking nitrate leaching derived from the LHS simulations for a 25‐yr period is preserved for longer 55‐yr simulations. This implies that the proposed framework is applicable to the Odense catchment and likely has general applicability. In this way, uncertainty assessments are feasible at the catchment scale.


This paper presents a qualitative analysis of some of the power dynamics of doing a
PhD in the social sciences in the United Kingdom. Researchers of postgraduate
education have tended to neglect issues of power, presenting descriptive and policyoriented
accounts of doctoral research, rather than theoretical or analytical studies.
The present study is taken from a research project developing a critical approach to
postgraduate research and training, based in the perspective of discursive psychology.
It draws upon semi-structured interviews with doctoral candidates in the social
sciences, paying particular attention to the ways in which power is invoked and
attended to in their talk about their experiences. It is argued that when liberal power is
working successfully, it is often hidden and buried within particular conversational
practices in complex and subtle ways. In order to reveal the patterns of power at play
in postgraduate life, then, researchers need to look in detail at discourse. However,
through this process of revealing, they may also be concealing the workings of
academic power.


It has long been unclear if the small-scale magnetic structures on the neutron star (NS) surface could survive the fall-back episode. The study of the Hall cascade by Cumming, Arras & Zweibel hinted that energy in small-scales structures should dissipate on short time-scales. Our new 2D magneto-thermal simulations suggest the opposite. For the first ∼10 kyr after the fall-back episode with accreted mass 10−3 M⊙, the observed NS magnetic field appears dipolar, which is insensitive to the initial magnetic topology. In framework of the Ruderman & Sutherland, vacuum gap model during this interval, non-thermal radiation is strongly suppressed. After this time, the initial (i.e. multipolar) structure begins to re-emerge through the NS crust. We distinguish three evolutionary epochs for the re-emergence process: the growth of internal toroidal field, the advection of buried poloidal field, and slow Ohmic diffusion. The efficiency of the first two stages can be enhanced when small-scale magnetic structure is present. The efficient re-emergence of high-order harmonics might significantly affect the curvature of the magnetospheric field lines in the emission zone. So, only after few 104 yr would be the NS starts shining as a pulsar again, which is in correspondence with radio silence of central compact objects. In addition, these results can explain the absence of good candidates for thermally emitting NSs with freshly re-emerged field among radio pulsars (), as NSs have time to cool down, and supernova remnants can already dissipate.


Some new symmetrical tetraaza Schiff base ligands containing 2-quinolinecarboxaldehyde moiety formed from condensation reaction of 2-quinolinecarboxaldehyde and o-phenylenediamine derivatives, such as N, Nˊ-bis(2-quinolylmethylidene)-4-methoxy-1, 2-phenylenediimine (L1), N, Nˊ-bis(2-quinolylmethylidene)-4-methy-1, 2-phenylenediimine (L2), N, Nˊ-bis(2-quinolylmethylidene)-4-chloro-1, 2-phenylenediimine (L3), N, Nˊ-bis(2-quinolylmethylidene)-4-carboxylic-1, 2-phenylenediimine (L4), N, Nˊ-bis(2-quinolylmethylidene)-4-nitro-1, 2-phenylenediimine (L5), and their Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II) complexes, have been synthesized. The ligands and their metal complexes have been characterized by molar conductance, elemental analysis, IR, 1H-NMR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The formation constant and the free energy of the complexes were determined using electronic spectroscopic titration at constant ionic strength 0.1 M (NaClO4), at 25°C in MeOH solvent. The comparison of the formation constants and the thermodynamic parameters show that the trend of complex formation toward a given ligand is as follows: L2 > L1 > L3 > L5 > L4 . The trend for complex formation of the metal ions with a given ligand is as follows: Zn (II) > Cu (II) > Ni (II).


The performance of superscrdar processors is more sensitive to the memory system delay than their single-issue predecessors. This paper examines alternative data access microarchitectures that effectively support compilerassisted data prefetching in superscalar processors. In particular, a prefetch buffer is shown to be more effective than increasing the cache dimension in solving the cache pollution problem. All in all, we show that a small data cache with compiler-assisted data prefetching can achieve a performance level close to that of an ideal cache.


Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (AR) is the most common systemic inflammatory disease of joints, with prevalence of 1% worldwide. Bone erosion (BE) is a central feature of rheumatoid arthritis and is associated with disease severity and poor functional outcome. Conventional Radiography (CR) and Ultrasonography (US) play an important role in the diagnosis of RA. The aim of this study was to compare the value of two methods in the detection of BE in AR patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 111 patients with confirmed RA have been randomly selected and were studied. A checklist which includes demographic information such as age, gender, place of residence, history of smoking, education level and history of rheumatologic disease was completed for all patients, and then radiography and high-resolution US of dominant hands and wrists of metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint were performed. Collected data was analysed by statistical methods in SPSS version 22. Results: The results of this study showed that there is no significant difference between these two methods in detection of BE. In age groups < 44 years old, US with 98% had more sensitivity than CR with 89%. Conclusion: Results showed that there is no significant difference in diagnostic value of US in bone erosion in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, in comparison with CR in terms of gender and diagnosis for the existence of erosions; however, in determining the amount of BE in age groups < 44 years old, US has better performance than CR.


The use of whole wheat and roasted full fat soybean flour blends in the production of whole meal cookies was studied. Enriched cookies were produced using whole wheat and soybean flour blends, in the ratios: 100:0%, 80:20%, 70:30% and 50:50%, and were labeled A, B, C and D respectively. Sample A served as control. The functional characteristics and proximate composition of the composite flours were determined. The nutritional compositions, microbial and sensory quality of the enriched cookies were evaluated. The results obtained showed superior physical quality by the enriched cookies. On dry weight basis, protein, fat, fiber, ash and energy increased from 8.75 to 24.65, 4.50 to 7.13, 3.29 to 5.73, 2.15 to 2.95% and 411to 578 g/cal. respectively, whereas carbohydrate decreased from 70.45 to 23.71% with increased substitution of soy-flour. The mineral contents also showed increased values for sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron in the enriched cookies. The viable microbial counts for the enriched cookies were very low (<1.5x101 cfu/g). There were no coliform and mould contaminations in all the samples. There were significant differences (p< 0.05) in sensory attributes analyzed. Samples C and D with 30% and 50% soyflour substitution had the best overall acceptability ratings of 8.65 and 8.10 respectively


New Edition Available 4/1/2013 With a unique emphasis on possible solutions to world health problems, this book addresses all the key issues of global health at a level basic enough that students from a variety of majors can understand the material. It will give the reader: An understanding of biological and social aspects of major global health issues, especially in the areas of infectious disease, nutrition, and environmental health. A knowledge of population groups that are at increased risk of poor health and familiarity with policies and programs designed to reduce health inequalities. A familiarity with global health vocabulary, the basic methods used to assess global health, and the tools to locate and understand additional global health information. The author has included over 170 tables and figures to illustrate important concepts as well as a supplemental chapter on how to read journal articles. The text is also accompanied by downloadable instructor resources including PowerPoint slides, a TestBank, and an instructor's manual with suggested discussion questions and sample syllabi.


Understanding latitudinal adaptation of switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum L.) and Miscanthus ( Miscanthus × giganteus J. M. Greef & Deuter ex Hodk. & Renvoize) to the southern Great Plains is key to maximizing productivity by matching each grass variety to its optimal production environment. The objectives of this study were: (1) to quantify latitudinal variation in production of representative upland switchgrass ecotypes (Blackwell, Cave-in-Rock, and Shawnee), lowland switchgrass ecotypes (Alamo, Kanlow), and Miscanthus in the southern half of the US Great Plains and (2) to investigate the environmental factors affecting yield variation. Leaf area and yield were measured on plots at 10 locations in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. More cold winter days led to decreased subsequent Alamo switchgrass yields and increased subsequent upland switchgrass yields. More hot-growing season days led to decreased Kanlow and Miscanthus yields. Increased drought intensity also contributed to decreased Miscanthus yields. Alamo switchgrass had the greatest radiation use efficiency (RUE) with a mean of 4.3 g per megajoule intercepted PAR and water use efficiency (WUE) with a mean of 4.5 mg of dry weight per gram of water transpired. The representative RUE values for other varieties ranged from 67 to 80 % of Alamo ' s RUE value and 67 to 87 % of Alamo ' s WUE. These results will provide valuable inputs to process-based models to realistically simulate these important perennial grasses in this region and to assess the environmental impacts of production on water use and nutrient demands. In addition, it will also be useful for landowners and companies choosing the most productive perennial grasses for biofuel production.


The monitoring information is used for variety of crucial functions including safety control, evaluation of current mining plans and future slope design. It provides an active input into mine planning. The early identification of movement zones allows steps to be taken to minimize the impact of mining on stability by the implementation of corrective measures. The main objective of slope monitoring study is to detect any instability well in advance so that any damage to men and machineries can be avoided. If any instability is detected in the early stage then it can be stabilized by applying the suitable remedial measure. The slope materials are inherently weak in the mine. Slope stability monitoring was done in NALCO mine. There were many cut slope areas most of them for the passage of the cable belt conveyor. In order to check the stability of those cut slopes it was proposed the approach of numerical modelling and graphical analysis. The numerical modelling was done in OASYS software and the stability of the sites area checked and factor of safety (FOS) is found in the stable region. On the basis of Numerical Modelling for the geo-mining condition of cut slope surrounding NALCO mine, the factor of safety for the Cut slope I, (near deep cut area), Cut slope II, (near drive house area of height 32m), Cut slope III, (near drive house area of height 24m), and Cut slope IV, (near part II mine area) are respectively 1.335, 1.332, 1.324 and 1.224 with corresponding cut slope height of 20m, 32m, 24m and 35m. Field observation through total station indicated maximum horizontal displacement of 4.3cm, 3.5cm, 4.5cm and -5cm at cut I, II, III and IV respectively indicating stability of slope. Except at few places with local slope failure due to rainfall, all other cut slope are observed to be stable, therefore it is recommended to improve garland drainage and stabilization through geotextile.


The Optical Probe for Regolith Analysis (OPRA) is an instrumentation concept designed to provide spectroscopic analysis of the near subsurface of unconsolidated regolith on bodies such as moons, asteroids and planets. Below a chemically altered surface may lay the geological history in the form of stratigraphy that is shielded from degradation due to harsh external environments. Most of what we know about our solar system comes from remote platforms, such as satellites that are deployed into orbit around the target body. In the case of Mars, we have had several successful landers and rovers however, with the exception of the Mars Science Laboratory that just drilled its first hole, the complexity of subsurface excavation has limited the extent of subsurface exploration to simple scoops deployed on the ends of robotic arms which, by their very nature, will erase any stratigraphy that it may be digging into. The OPRA instrumentation concept allows for an integrated, lightweight and simple apparatus for subsurface exploration via a small, spike like structure which contains integrated optical fibers coupled to small windows running down the length of the probe. Each window is connected to a spectrometer housed onboard the deploying spacecraft. Each window is separately interrogated via the spectrometer over the wavelength range 1–2.5 μm to produce a spectroscopic profile as a function of depth. This project takes the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the OPRA instrumentation concept to level 3, which is defined by NASA to be the demonstration either analytically or experimentally of the proof of concept for critical functions of the proposed instrument. Firstly, to demonstrate that optical fibers are feasible for this type of application, we report on the techniques used by NASA to space qualify optical fibers. We investigate the optical performance of several fiber optic bundle configurations, both experimentally and numerically, to help optimize bundle performance. Optical bundles were then spectrally validated via a series of spectral comparisons between standardized reflectance spectroscopy targets and spectra obtained with the bundles. We also report on the integration of fiber optical bundles into other research and experimental results from several other groups within our research teams to obtain spectra under a more "space like" environment. Finally, the probe housing structural performance was investigated via finite element analysis, using probe penetration forces derived from data analysis of experimentation conducted by the Apollo lunar missions, and investigations into a mechanical analogue for the Martian regolith. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my adviser, Dr. Rick Ulrich; none of this would have been possible without your guidance and patience. You flexibility and advice have greatly been appreciated over the years. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Mark Arnold, Dr. Larry Roe and Dr. John Dixon, who have also helped guide me on this journey! I would also like to acknowledge one of my REU student, Margaret Raabe who worked under me for a summer and whose experiments were very helpful for my work on icy regolith spectra.


Recent development in sensor technologies makes wireless sensor networks (WSN) very popular in the last few years. A limitation of most popular sensors is that sensor nodes have a limited battery capacity that leads to lower the lifetime of WSN. For that, it raises the need to develop energy efficient solutions to keep WSN functioning for the longest period of time. Due to the fact that most of the nodes energy is spent on data transmission, many routing techniques in the literature have been proposed to expand the network lifetime such as the Online Maximum Lifetime heuristics (OML) and capacity maximization (CMAX). In this paper, we introduce an efficient priority based routing power management heuristic in order to increase both coverage and extend lifetime by managing the power at the sensor level. We accomplished that by setting priority metric in addition to dividing the node energy into two ratios; one for the sensor node originated data and the other part is for data relays from other sensors. This heuristic, which is called pERPMT (priority Efficient Routing Power Management Technique), has been applied to two well know routing techniques. Results from running extensive simulation runs revealed the superiority of the new methodology pERPMT over existing heuristics. The pEPRMT increases the lifetime up to 77% and 54% when compared to OML and CMAX respectively.


By following the intracellular processing of recycling transferrin receptors and the selective sorting of a-2 macroglobulin in chick embryo fibroblasts, we have shown that the concentration of 60 nm diam tubules which surrounds the centrioles represents a distal compartment on the recycling pathway. In migrating cells transferrin receptor tracers can be loaded into this compartment and then chased to the cell surface. When they emerge the recycling transferrin receptors are distributed over the surface of the leading lamella.


This paper aims to propose a conceptual framework for examining the influence of mediating effect of perceived behavioural control on the relationship between zakat law enforcement and intention to pay zakat among Muslim in State of Kano, Nigeria. An extensive literature review method was utilized to identify and analyse relevant literatures in order to propose the conceptual framework. This paper proposed framework to show those relationship. Theoretical and practical implications of the paper as well as suggestions for future research were also discussed.


The present paper is based upon a corpus of texts drawn from women's magazines published whilst a policy of rationing was in effect in Britain. It problematises the way in which some debates about the significance of frugality and consumption at that time have been constructed – in an either/or manner. As an alternative, it advocates a more dilemmatic, and messier, approach that can better grasp the nuanced ways in which frugality was also used as a resource to incite consumption of specific items. The paper maps some of the ways in which food adverts positioned the product depicted in relation to rationing and war, and explores their rhetorical construction in more detail, demonstrating the ways in which categorising adverts as frugality-orientated or consumption-orientated is insufficient to understand the claims offered about the product. Attention is also directed towards adverts for products explicitly identified as unavailable, and in particular the approach adopted by Stork Margarine in this regard – substituting their product with a "cookery service" to assist the "housewife" with the difficulties of rationing.


The standard economic model of decision making assumes a decision maker makes her choices to maximize her utility or happiness. Her current emotional state is not explicitly considered. Yet there is a large psychological literature that shows that current emotional state, in particular positive a¤ect, has a signi...cant e¤ect on decision making. This paper o¤ers a way to incorporate this insight from psychology into economic modeling. Moreover, this paper shows that this simple insight can parsimoniously explain a wide variety of behaviors.


MIPAS, on ENVISAT, has made high quality observations of ozone, methane and water vapour. Gridded fields, at 4 hourly intervals and, have been calculated for all of 2003 using data assimilation with isentropic advection as a constraint. The gridded fields are validated against independent measurements (from 7 other instruments in the case of ozone, 3 for water vapour and one for methane). For ozone the results are in agreement with previously published results. For water vapour the bias relative to HALOE is below 10% between 20 and 48 km, and the standard deviation is below 12% in this range. Departures from SAGE II and POAM III are substantially larger. The methane analysis has a bias of less than 5% relative to HALOE between 23 and 40 km, with a standard deviation less than 10% in this height range. The water vapour field clearly reflects the upward motion in the lower tropical stratosphere, while both water vapour and methane show the signature of advection higher up. In the polar regions the descent in the vortex is clearly visible, with strong descent in autumn giving way to weaker descent through the winter. Descent rates of around 10 −3 \ms are found during the formation of the polar vortices, slowing to around 3×10 −4 \ms during the winter. Ascent of around 2×10 −4 \ms in the tropics is revealed by the water vapour and total observed hydrogen fields (4 times the methane plus twice the water vapour concentration). The total observed hydrogen is depleted in the polar upper stratosphere when air is advected down from the upper mesosphere.


We present the results of a comprehensive study of the gamma-ray burst 080928 and of its afterglow. GRB 080928 was a long burst detected by Swift/BAT and Fermi/GBM. It is one of the exceptional cases where optical emission had already been detected when the GRB itself was still radiating in the gamma-ray band. For nearly 100 s simultaneous optical, X-ray and gamma-ray data provide a coverage of the spectral energy distribution of the transient source from about 1 eV to 150 keV. In particular, we show that the SED during the main prompt emission phase agrees with synchrotron radiation. We constructed the optical/near-infrared light curve and the spectral energy distribution based on Swift/UVOT, ROTSE-IIIa (Australia), and GROND (La Silla) data and compared it to the X-ray light curve retrieved from the Swift/XRT repository. We show that its bumpy shape can be modeled by multiple energy-injections into the forward shock. Furthermore, we investigate whether the temporal and spectral evolution of the tail emission of the first strong flare seen in the early X-ray light curve can be explained by large-angle emission (LAE). We find that a nonstandard LAE model is required to explain the observations. Finally, we report on the results of our search for the GRB host galaxy, for which only a deep upper limit can be provided.


Sexual assault remains at high levels despite decades of legal reforms. The recent wave of accusations against public figures signals both the persistence of the problem and a new political climate for addressing it. The Article argues that Congress should make forcible rape a federal crime, to the limits of the Commerce Clause. This would bring federal assets to the fight against rape by redirecting them from enforcement of possessory crimes. The simple statutory proposal might be accompanied by a more ambitious reorganization of the Justice Department to include a Bureau of Violent Crimes. Replies are offered to objections based on federalism, civil liberties, feminism, and systemic feedback loops.


We provide a new model that generates persistent performance differences amongst seemingly similar enterprises. Our model provides a mechanism whereby efficient incumbent rivals can give permission for an inefficient firm to exist in the presence of efficient entrants. We demonstrate that, in a repeated game, an efficient incumbent has a unilateral incentive to establish a relational contract that softens price competition to either strengthen the inefficient firm in a war of attrition that emerges post-entry or reduce the value to the inefficient firm of selling its position to entrants. The paper provides conditions under which that equilibrium exists and derives a number of empirical predictions as implications of the model. It is demonstrated that performance differences are likely to be associated with stability in the identity of firms in the market.


Introduction Few population-based cancer registries are in place in developing countries. In order to know the burden of cancer in Moroccan population, cancer registry initiative was put in place in the Casablanca district, the biggest city of Morocco. Methods The data collected covers 3.6 millions inhabitant and included Casablanca city and the administrative region. Results The data collected in the years 2005-07 show that the top 5 forms of cancers in women were breast (ASR: 36.4 per 100,000), cervical (15.0), thyroid (6.7), colon-rectum (5.8), and ovarian (5.3); the top 5 cancers in men were lung (25.9), prostate (13.5), bladder (8.7), colon-rectum (8.1) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (7.2). Tumours of haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues represented 11% of all cancers (skin excluded); some presented unusual sex ratios. For breast, cervical, colorectal and thyroid cancer, respectively 57%, 42%, 28% and 60% of the cases were under 50 years of age. This was attributable to particularly low numbers of cases recorded among old people, and the young age of the general population; the observed age-specific incidences under age 50 were not higher than in western countries. Cancers at young ages were particularly common in women: 67% of the cases were under 50. Stage at diagnosis could be obtained for 82% of the breast cancer cases and was as follows: 28% local, 63% regional and 9% distant, in the absence of screening. Conclusion These first population-based data have provided an invaluable resource for the national cancer control plan of Morocco, and will be useful tool to its future evaluation.


Objects' motions in nature are governed by complex interactions and their properties. While some properties, such as shape and material, can be identified via the object's visual appearances, others like mass and electric charge are not directly visible. The compositionality between the visible and hidden properties poses unique challenges for AI models to reason from the physical world, whereas humans can effortlessly infer them with limited observations. Existing studies on video reasoning mainly focus on visually observable elements such as object appearance, movement, and contact interaction. In this paper, we take an initial step to highlight the importance of inferring the hidden physical properties not directly observable from visual appearances, by introducing the Compositional Physical Reasoning (ComPhy) dataset. For a given set of objects, ComPhy includes few videos of them moving and interacting under different initial conditions. The model is evaluated based on its capability to unravel the compositional hidden properties, such as mass and charge, and use this knowledge to answer a set of questions posted on one of the videos. Evaluation results of several state-of-the-art video reasoning models on ComPhy show unsatisfactory performance as they fail to capture these hidden properties. We further propose an oracle neural-symbolic framework named Compositional Physics Learner (CPL), combining visual perception, physical property learning, dynamic prediction, and symbolic execution into a unified framework. CPL can effectively identify objects' physical properties from their interactions and predict their dynamics to answer questions.


In this paper, we investigate the nexus between life insurance and suicide behavior using OECD cross-country data from 1980 to 2002. Through semiparametric instrumental variable regressions with fixed effects, we find that for the majority of observations, there exists a positive relationship between suicide rate and life insurance density (premium per capita). Since life insurance policies pay death benefits even in suicide cases after the suicide exemption period, the presence of adverse selection and moral hazard suggests an incentive effect that leads to this positive relationship. The novelty of our analysis lies in the use of cross-country variations in the length of the suicide exemption period in life insurance policies as the identifying instrument for life insurance density. Our results provide compelling evidence suggesting the existence of adverse selection and moral hazards in life insurance markets in OECD countries.


Problem Statement : The present study is of importance for designing a differentiation approach, which enables gifted students to use their present potential in mathematics effectively and enables them to develop their achievement, while looking at the effect of the approach on both gifted and non-gifted students. Within the scope of the developed differentiation approach concerning mathematics education of gifted students, the present study is one of the limited studies with such a focus,  which is why it is thought that it will contribute to the literature. By the results of the study, it is of great importance. Purpose of the Study : The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of a newly-developed differentiation approach for the mathematics education of gifted middle school students on the achievements of both gifted and non-gifted students. Method : Within the scope of this current study, the model with pre-test and post-test control group among real research models in accordance with quantitative research method was used. The sample of the study was composed of 57 gifted and 60 non-gifted 5th and 6th grade students from a public school and a private school in Maltepe and Cekmekoy districts of Istanbul. Convenience and purposeful sampling were conducted within the scope of quantitative sampling in this study. 'Mathematics Achievement Test' and 'Multiple-Intelligences Domains Inventory' were used within the scope of this study. The lessons carried out using activities stated in the National Education curriculum about the related subjects were compared with lessons carried out with the activities designed according to the differentiation approach developed in three implementations conducted. Findings : The research made in private school showed that there is a significant difference between current-enriched and overall scores of gifted students in control and experimental groups after the application on behalf of the experimental group. The research made in the state school showed that there is a significant difference between current-enriched and overall scores of non-gifted students in control and experimental groups after the application on behalf of the experimental group. Conclusion and Recommendations : There was a significant increase in the achievement scores of experimental group students, where the activities designed according to differentiation approach developed within the scope of this study, when compared with the control group students during all of the implementations. This situation shows that activities and curriculum differentiation studies, which are based on elaboration, creative thinking, and multiple intelligences increase students' academic achievements. Besides, it is seen that the changes based on creativity strategies on the content, process, product, and learning environments increase students' academic achievements. The effectiveness of the developed differentiation approach should be researched with different grade levels, on different topics. It is suggested to use developed differentiation approach periodically for teachers and students to gain experience. It is further suggested to inform generally all teachers across the country about how they will guide the process of preparing projects and for teachers to inform their students about how they will prepare projects. Keywords : Giftedness, teaching mathematics, differentiation, multiple intelligence


Biomarker development has become an indispensable tool in personalized medicine
 drug development. Health care costs expenditures for biologics therapeutics paired with individualized, personalized medicine is driving the need for biomarker development, which is the companion diagnostic medical device (CDx), that allows
 treating the right patient at the right time with the right drug or drug combination
 at the right dose. Early biomarker development may be facilitated by leveraging
 biorepositories or biobanks from human-derived specimen, representing the
 target disease. Legally authorized biorepositories or biobanks thus may provide
 a versatile "tool" to determine performance characteristics and/or analytical/
 clinical validity of the in vitro diagnostic medical device, in the specific context of
 drug use prior to moving into clinical phase. Authorization of biobanks for research
 and commercial use originates from compliance to Declaration of Helsinki and in
 principle is based on national and international legislation, statutory requirements
 and informed consent provided by donors, while informed consent may be waived
 in some circumstances. Europe is currently facing a 5 year "grace period" with
 respect to transition of regulations for CDx biomarker development, even though
 the new Regulation on In vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices (IVDR) has already come
 into effect May 26, 2017. The changing regulatory conditions and the availability
 of various biorepositories paired with new European unequivocal provisions for
 CDx biomarker development and conformity assessment procedures for approval
 (CE-marking) may allow to develop biomarker performance characteristics and/
 or analytical/clinical validity even in the absence of contemporaneously sourced
 clinical trials specimen. This article sheds some light on regulatory challenges with
 respect to upcoming changes with the IVDR and illustrates the pitfalls associated
 with the CDx biomarker in the use of biorepositories.


The rapid diffusion of service-oriented systems is becoming a reality in today's software engineering. In particular, an aspect that is gathering the interest of researchers and practitioners is the possibility to create compositions of dynamically bound services. This paper describes WS Binder, a framework for enabling dynamic binding of service compositions according to some functional and non-functional preferences and/or constraints. The framework is also able to support run-time recovery actions, by performing service re-binding. The paper describes the framework's architecture and highlights its features by describing an example of its usage for the binding and re-binding of a service composition related to the tourism domain.


In the first section of this paper I present epistemic evidentialism and, in the following two sections, I discuss that view with counterexamples. I shall defend that adequately supporting evidence is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for epistemic justification. Although we need epistemic elements other than evidence in order to have epistemic justification, there can be no epistemically justified belief without evidence. However, there are other kinds of justification beyond the epistemic justification, such as prudential or moral justification; therefore, there is room for justified beliefs (in a prudential or moral sense) without evidence.


Work plays a dominant role in modern society. It is through work that the
economic well being of any society is sustained. Workers who perform various
tasks contribute to the well being of society as well as to their betterment as
individuals. Thus paid employment has assumed a prominent role in modern
society. It is an incentive on individuals to contribute to socio-economic
welfare, while their needs and aspirations as individuals are also satisfied. But
for an orderly society to exist, there has to be a subjection of some members
of society by others, a division between those who have the social mandate
(express or tacit) to exercise power for and on behalf of others. Thus work
relations comprise those who exercise managerial power(employers) and those
subject to managerial power (employees). In broader political relations, the
task of social management is performed by the state.
However those exercising managerial functions do not have unfettered
discretion. Power should be exercised within acceptable social limits and be
used to achieve realistic social goals. Thus it has been felt that the laws should
always ensure that the incumbents of governmental power do not exceed the
scope of their power or abuse it. Hence the process of judicial review. This
gives the courts the power to review the decisions of administrative authorities
in order to protect individual citizens who might be adversely affected by bad
administrative decisions. This analogy has been applied in employment
relations in order to protect individual employees against arbitrary dismissal
by employers. It has been held that an employee cannot be dismissed without
a valid reason and in compliance with a fair procedure.
The question asked here is whether this is sufficient to ensure
substantive employment protection. Is judicial review really effective in
employment relations? It is observed that judicial review in labour law has
many limitations as compared to the administrative law context. First, it comes
face to face with the problem of the public/private law distinction, which holds
the employment relationship to be fundamentally a private relationship between
the employer and employee. This complicates the application of public law
remedies in supposedly private relations, where the parties are assumed to
have freedom of contract. The second problem involves the debate as to
whether the state should impose many restrictions on the modern corporation
or there should be minimal state intervention to allow the corporation to
function in accordance with the labour market demands and economic
necessity. It is concluded that the law of unfair dismissal has consequently
been put in a dilemma. While the need has been perceived to curb the
arbitrary use of managerial power by employers, substantive employment
protection can hardly be guaranteed. The problem seems to be that of striking
the balance between the interests of employees, employers and society at
large.


The present chapter is aimed at describing the state-of-the-art, for the period January–December 2014, of two pillar classes of phosphorus-containing compounds, the phosphonium salts and ylides. Topics are organized to offer an introductory survey on the methods of preparation and characterisation of both types of compounds, followed by an analysis of the most remarkable but also curiosity driven researches for their applications. A special section is devoted to phosphonium-based ionic liquids (PILs) due to the exceptional importance of this subject.


This paper presents a summary of carefully conducted laboratory experiments on the attenuation of simulated spectral waves propagating over an 18-m-long bottom section covered by 10-cm-thick layers of 0.12- and 0.2-mm-diameter uniform quartz sands. The measured attenuation is used in conjunction with the theory for spectral wave attenuation developed by Madsen et al. (1988) to determine values of the movable bed friction factor for spectral waves. When the values of movable bed friction factors, fwr, are plotted against a fluid-sediment interaction parameter, the ratio of skin friction Shields parameter for an equivalent monochromatic wave, ψ mr ′, and the critical value of Shields parameter for initiation of sediment motion, ψ c , a well-defined relationship between fwr and ψ mr ′ / ψ c emerges. This relationship is independent of spectral shape (both finite-depth Jonswap and Neumann spectra were simulated) and is the same for the two sediment types tested. Although limited by the range of experimental conditions achieved in the laboratory study the results suggest a simple methodology for the evaluation of spectral wave attenuation from knowledge of sediment and wave characteristics.