The performance of soft computing techniques to analyse and interpret the experimental data of local scour depth around bridge abutment, measured at different laboratory conditions and environment, is presented. The scour around bridge piers and abutments is, in the majority of cases, the main reason for bridge failures. Therefore, many experimental and theoretical studies have been conducted on this topic. This study sought to answer the following questions: Firstly, can data collected by different researchers at different times be combined in one data set? Secondly, can we determine any unquantified effects such as data differences, laboratory conditions and measurement devices? Artificial neural networks (ANN) are used and a basic ANN model is selected to observe the application problems, in order to avoid any misleading conclusion arising due to the model parameters selected and the compilation of different subsets of experimental data into one set. At the first stage, seven experimental data sets are compiled to address the first question and an ANN model is used to discovery any existing discrepancies between available data groups. The importance of selected model parameters for the model's performance was demonstrated by increasing the number of parameters. Then, each data subset was inspected to expose the importance of the homogeneity of data groups in order to obtain a best-fit ANN model. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to obtain the dominant parameters of the problem. It was concluded that the use of 'soft' computational techniques such as ANN can be beneficial, provided the user is aware of the heterogeneity of the data set and the physical context of the subject or problem being addressed. However, as with other data analysis techniques, elaborate inspection of data and results is required. Keywords: Scour prediction methods, bridge abutment scour, soft computing techniques, ANN


Applications of optimal transport have recently gained remarkable attention as a result of the computational advantages of entropic regularization. However, in most situations the Sinkhorn approximation to the Wasserstein distance is replaced by a regularized version that is less accurate but easy to differentiate. In this work we characterize the differential properties of the original Sinkhorn approximation, proving that it enjoys the same smoothness as its regularized version and we explicitly provide an efficient algorithm to compute its gradient. We show that this result benefits both theory and applications: on one hand, high order smoothness confers statistical guarantees to learning with Wasserstein approximations. On the other hand, the gradient formula allows to efficiently solve learning and optimization problems in practice. Promising preliminary experiments complement our analysis.


Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is currently the highest edible oil-producing plant in the world. E. oleifera is another species of oil palm that is not widely cultivated due to lower productivity. Oil extracted from E. guineensis has a balance ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids level, while E. oleifera has a higher unsaturated fatty acids. Long chain saturated fatty acids are more harmful for human health than unsaturated fatty acids. Gene encoding β-ketoacyl ACP synthase II (KAS II, EC 220.127.116.11) was studied, as this enzyme is responsible for biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids. Observation and analysis were conducted for KAS II gene and fatty acids content of E. guineensis represented by DxP Lame, DxP Langkat and CMR78 samples, E. oleifera represented by Suriname origin, and two hybrids (E. guineensis x E. oleifera (Brazil and Suriname)). The results showed E. oleifera Suriname had the highest concentration of oleic acid, followed by E. guineensis (CMR78). KAS II gene sequences alignment showed some genetic variation within E. guineensis and hybrids, while the high level of variation found between E. guineensis and E. oleifera was considered caused by species difference.


The structure of real-world complex networks has long been an area of interest, and one common way to describe the structure of a network has been with the k-core decomposition. The core number of a node can be thought of as a measure of its centrality and importance, and is used by applications such as community detection, understanding viral spreads, and detecting fraudsters. However, we observe that the k-core decomposition suffers from an important flaw: namely, it is calculated globally, and so if the network contains distinct regions of different densities, the sparser among these regions may be neglected. To resolve this issue, we propose the k-peak graph decomposition method, based on the k-core algorithm, which finds the centers of distinct regions in the graph. Our contributions are as follows: (1) We present a novel graph decomposition- the k-peak decomposition- and corresponding algorithm, and perform a theoretical analysis of its properties. (2) We describe a new visualization method, the "Mountain Plot", which can be used to better understand the global structure of a graph. (3) We perform an extensive empirical analysis of real-world graphs, including technological, social, biological, and collaboration graphs, and show how the k-peak decomposition gives insight into the structures of these graphs. (4) We demonstrate the advantage of using the k-peak decomposition in various applications, including community detection, contagion and identifying essential proteins.


Four species are added to the Tasmanian list:
Neoodax /renatus (Gunther), 1862 [Neoodacidae],
Petraites phillipi (Lucas), 1891 [Clinidae],
Cristiceps argyropleura Kner, 1865 [Clinidae],
Ophiclinops varius (McCulloch & Waite), 1918
[Ophiclinidae]; some general observations are
made on each of these. Other species are discussed
as follows. Syngnathidae: Stigmatopora nigra
Kaup, 1856 (supernumerary opercular keels),
Syngnathus curtirostris Castelnau, 1872 (dimensions
and proportions, meristic features including
data on termination and origin of body ridges,
regional intensity of ground color). Neoodacidae:
comparative observations on all Tasmanian species
except Neoodax attenuatus (Ogilby), 1897. Clinidae:
Clinus perspicillatus Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1836
(dorsal and anal radial patterns, tentacles), Clinus
puellarum Scott, 1955 (general account of a third
Tasmanian specimen) , Petraites heptaeolus
(Ogilby), 1885 (further records), Petraites
johnstoni (Saville-Kent), 1886 (tentacles), Petraites
jorsteri (Castelnau), 1872 (tentacles), Cristiceps
australis Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1836 (tentacles).
Rostral and ocular tentacles of the Tasmanian
clinids are figured.


The "European defense" project suffers from a number of limitations not just a lack of adequate resources but also conceptual flaws. It is not yet clear what fundamental common interests the EU members wish to pursue through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and consequently through the defense instrument that should be made available by the end of 2003. This step would also help NATO better define its own missions, ensuring that the European allies enhance their contribution. The EU needs the equivalent of a "strategic concept", which can be developed in parallel with the ongoing transformation of NATO.


Novel magnetic cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers were fabricated using electrospining process. A co-precipitated magnetite iron oxide nanoparticles were immobilized into CA nanofibers in different weights ratios (0.2–2.5% wt/v) with CA concentration of 15% (wt %), applied electric voltage of 20 KV, feeding rate of 1.5 ml/h and 7 cm distance between needle tip to collector. The prepared iron oxide nanoparticles were characterized using transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FT-IR) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) respectively. The magnetic nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, FT-IR, thermogravimetric analysis and VSM. The fabricated composite nanofibers were evaluated as sorbent matrix for lead decontamination form aqueous solution using batch technique. The influence of solution pH, contact time and adsorbent concentration on the removal efficiency was investigated. Adsorption Kinetics models and isotherms were applied for the lead decontamination process onto the fabricated composite nano-fiber. The kinetics of the sorption process revealed that the pseudo second order model relatively more fitted than pseudo first order. On the other hand, both of Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms gave comparable fitness to adsorption data with high coefficient of regression 0.999.


Software engineering is often associated with the software technology of yesterday. To manage anything, predictability is a key issue, and it takes some time to gather the necessary experience of a new technology. Object technology has not yet reached this stage of maturity but is rapidly becoming established in industry. This paper describes how the object-oriented paradigm is used throughout an academic software engineering education program. The relative immaturity of existing methods and practices is handled by an experiential learning approach that emphasizes questions rather than answers. The paper discusses various pedagogical aspects as well as some of the practical trade-offs and experiences gained in the implementation of the program.


In most farms the developments of the information systems or their elements are going on the basis of the demands of the accountancy and different reports to tax office and government. The demands of the operative managers are not taken into consideration on a suitable level. The recording of essential data on production, the making and feedback of essential reports the influence of operative decisions are insufficient because they rely on the knowledge, experience and memory of operative managers.


Abstract Recent studies have claimed the existence of very massive stars (VMS) up to 300 M⊙ in the local Universe. As this finding may represent a paradigm shift for the canonical stellar upper-mass limit of 150 M⊙, it is timely to discuss the status of the data, as well as the far-reaching implications of such objects. We held a Joint Discussion at the General Assembly in Beijing to discuss (i) the determination of the current masses of the most massive stars, (ii) the formation of VMS, (iii) their mass loss, and (iv) their evolution and final fate. The prime aim was to reach broad consensus between observers and theorists on how to identify and quantify the dominant physical processes.


Stressing the concrete applications of economic forecasting, Practical Business Forecasting is accessible to a wide-range of readers, requiring only a familiarity with basic statistics. The text focuses on the use of models in forecasting, explaining how to build practical forecasting models that produce optimal results. In a clear and detailed format, the text covers estimating and forecasting with single and multi- equation models, univariate time-series modeling, and determining forecasting accuracy. Additionally, case studies throughout the book illustrate how the models are actually estimated and adjusted to generate accurate forecasts. After reading this text, students and readers should have a clearer idea of the reasoning and choices involved in building models, and a deeper foundation in estimating econometric models used in practical business forecasting.


In the recent years, transcritical CO2 refrigeration is gaining popularity. However, operation above critical point at higher ambient temperatures results in significant reduction of CO2 refrigeration cycle efficiency. Vapor injection and ejector are probably the mostly widely applied transcricial cycle enhancement options. The proposed paper includes a description of a simple transcritical one dimensional model of an ejector, based on real gas properties (accessible through Refprop7), as well as integration of this model in a refrigeration cycle. Vapor injection cycle is analyzed based on compressor performance and its ability to digest vapor injection stream. An enhancement of traditional compressor performance approximation, enabling to include the vapor injection stream, is presented and vapor injection cycle is analyzed based on that compressor model


: Awareness that sponges are relevant silicic acid (DSi) users is growing; however, understanding how their DSi consumption kinetics perform is still limited. We investigated the effects that seasonal changes in a temperate ecosystem (Bay of Brest, France) have on the DSi consumption of 2 dominant sponge species: Hymeniacidon perlevis and Tethya citrina . The results indicated that while both species increased their rate of DSi utilization with DSi availability following saturable Michaelis-Menten kinetics, only the kinetics of T. citrina shifted seasonally. This species consumed DSi at a higher rate in autumn than in summer. Surprisingly, the increase in DSi utilization did not involve an increase in net affinity for DSi but rather augmentation of both the half-saturation concentration and the maximum velocity of transport characterizing the kinetics. By quantifying the biomass of the 2 sponge species in the bay and the monthly availability of DSi over an annual cycle, a yearly DSi consumption of 2.50 ± 3.21 × 10 6 mol Si was calculated for their populations. The oversight of the seasonal kinetic change would introduce inaccuracies of 10% into the global DSi consumption budget of the bay. Because the seasonal kinetic differences increased enormously with increasing DSi availability, the relevance of the kinetic shift into the budgets could increase to >30% for sponge assemblages other than those in the bay whenever they are characterized by higher DSi availability, as is typically occurring at high latitudes and in the deep sea.


Suppressor of cytokine signalling 3 (SOCS3) is a potent inhibitor of the mitogenic, migratory and pro-inflammatory pathways responsible for the development of neointimal hyperplasia (NIH), a key contributor to the failure of vascular reconstructive procedures. However, the protein levels of SOCS3, and therefore its potential to reduce NIH, is limited by its ubiquitylation and high turnover by the proteasome. I hypothesised that stabilisation of endogenous SOCS3 by inhibiting its ubiquitylation has the potential to limit vascular inflammation and NIH. Consequently, the aim of this PhD was to identify the mechanisms promoting the rapid turnover of SOCS3.

Initial experiments involved the identification of residues involved in regulating the turnover of SOCS3 at the proteasome. I assessed the ubiquitylation status of a panel of FLAG tagged SOCS3 truncation mutants and identified a C-terminal 44 amino acid region required for SOCS3 ubiquitylation. This region localised to the SOCS box which is involved in binding Elongin B/C and the formation of a functional E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. However, the single lysine residue at position 173, located within this 44 amino acid region, was not required for ubiquitylation. Moreover, Emetine chase assays revealed that loss of either Lys173 or Lys6 (as documented in the literature) had no significant effect on SOCS3 stability 8 hrs post emetine treatment.

As mutagenesis studies failed to identify key sites of ubiquitylation responsible for targeting SOCS3 to the proteasome, LC-MS-MS analysis of a SOCS3 co-immunoprecipitate was employed. These data were searched for the presence of a Gly-Gly doublet (+114 Da mass shift) and revealed 8 distinct sites of ubiquitylation (Lys23, Lys28, Lys40, Lys85, Lys91, Lys173, Lys195, Lys206) on SOCS3 however Lys6 ubiquitylation was not detected.

As multiple Lys residues were ubiquitylated, I hypothesised that only a Lys-less SOCS3, in which all 8 Lys residues were mutated to Arg, would be resistant to ubiquitylation. Compared to WT SOCS3, Lys-less SOCS3 was indeed found to be completely resistant to ubiquitylation, and significantly more stable than WT SOCS3. These changes occurred in the absence of any detrimental effect on the ability of Lys-less SOCS3 to interact with the Elongin B/C components required to generate a functional E3 ligase complex. In addition, both WT and Lys-less SOCS3 were equally capable of inhibiting cytokine-stimulated STAT3 phosphorylation upon co-expression with a chimeric EpoR-gp130 receptor.

To assess whether SOCS3 auto-ubiquitylates I generated an L189A SOCS3 mutant that could no longer bind the Elongins and therefore form the E3 ligase complex required for ubiquitylation. A denaturing IP to assess the ubiquitylation status of this mutant was performed and revealed that, despite an inability to bind the Elongins, the L189A mutant was poly-ubiquitylated similar to WT SOCS3. Together these data suggested that SOCS3 does not auto-ubiquitylate and that a separate E3 ligase must regulate SOCS3 ubiquitylation.

This study sought to identify the E3 ligase and deubiquitylating (DUB) enzymes controlling the ubiquitylation of SOCS3. Our initial strategy was to develop a tool to screen an E3 ligase/DUB library, using an siARRAY, to sequentially knockdown all known E3 ligases in the presence of a SOCS3-luciferase fusion protein or endogenous SOCS3 in a high content imaging screening platform. However, due to a poor assay window (<2) and non-specific immunoreactivity of SOCS3 antibodies available, these methods were deemed unsuitable for screening purposes. In the absence of a suitable tool to screen the si-ARRAY, LC-MS-MS analysis of a SOCS3 co-immunoprecipitate (co-IP) was investigated. I performed a SOCS3 under conditions which preserved protein-protein interactions, with the aim of identifying novel E3 ligase and/or DUBs that could potentially interact with SOCS3.

These data were searched for E3 ligase or DUB enzymes that may interact with SOCS3 in HEK293 cells and identified two promising candidates i) an E3 ligase known as HectD1 and ii) a DUB known as USP15. This thesis has demonstrated that in the presence of HectD1 overexpression, a slight increase in K63-linked polyubiquitylation of SOCS3 was observed. Mutagenesis also revealed that an N-terminal region of SOCS3 may act as a repressor of this interaction with HectD1. Additionally, USP15 was shown to reduce SOCS3 polyubiquitylation in a HEK293 overexpression system suggesting this may act as a DUB for SOCS3. The C-terminal region of SOCS3 was also shown to play a major role in the interaction with USP15.

The original hypothesis of this thesis was that stabilisation of endogenous SOCS3 by inhibiting its ubiquitylation has the potential to limit vascular inflammation and NIH. Consistent with this hypothesis, immunohistochemistry visualisation of SOCS3, in human saphenous vein tissue derived from CABG patients, revealed that while SOCS3 was present throughout the media of these vessels the levels of SOCS3 within the neointima was reduced. Finally, preliminary data supporting the hypothesis that SOCS3 overexpression may limit the proliferation, but not migration, of human saphenous vein smooth muscle cells (HSVSMCs) is presented.

It is expected that multiple E3 ligases and DUBs will contribute to the regulation of SOCS3 turnover. However, the identification of candidate E3 ligases or DUBs that play a significant role in SOCS3 turnover may facilitate the development of peptide disruptors or gene therapy targets to attenuate pathological SMC proliferation. A targeted approach, inhibiting the interaction between SOCS3 and identified E3 ligase, that controls the levels of SOCS3, would be expected to reduce the undesirable effects associated with global inhibition of the E3 ligase involved.


Within the stone monumental artefacts artistic fountains are extremely favorable to formation of biofilms, giving rise to biodegradation processes related with physical-chemical and visual aspect alterations, because of their particular exposure conditions. Microbial diversity of five fountains (two from Spain and three from Italy) was investigated. It was observed an ample similarity between the biodiversity of monumental stones reported in literature and that one found in studied fountains. Mechanical procedures and toxic chemical products are usually employed to remove such phototrophic patinas. Alternative methods based on natural antifouling substances are recently experimented in the marine sector, due to their very low environmental impact and for the bio settlement prevention on partially immersed structures of ships. In the present work groups of antibiofouling agents (ABAs) were selected from literature for their ability to interfere, at molecular level, with the microbial communication system "quorum sensing", inhibiting the initial phase of biofilm formation. The efficacy of some natural antibiofoulants agents (ABAs) with terrestrial (Capsaicine - CS, Cinnamaldehyde - CI) and marine origin (Zosteric Acid - ZA, poly-Alkyl Pyridinium Salts – pAPS and Ceramium botryocarpum extract - CBE), incorporated into two commercial coatings (Silres BS OH 100 - S and Wacker Silres BS 290 - W) commonly used in stone conservation procedures were evaluated. The formation of phototrophic biofilms in laboratory conditions (on Carrara marble specimens and Sierra Elvira stone) and on two monumental fountains (Tacca's Fountain 2 - Florence, Italy and Fountain from Patio de la Lindaraja - Alhambra Palace, Granada, Spain) has been investigated in the presence or absence of these natural antifouling agents. The natural antibiofouling agents, at tested concentrations, demonstrated a certain inhibitory effect. The silane-siloxane based silicone coating (W) mixing with ABAs was more suitable with respect to ethyl silicate coating (S) and proved efficacy against biofilm formation only when incompletely cured. The laboratory results indicated a positive action in inhibiting the patina formation, especially for poly-alkyl pyridinium salts, zosteric acid and cinnamaldehyde, while on site tests revealed a good effect for zosteric acid.


Computer networks have historically considered support for mobile devices as an extra overhead to be borne by the system. Recently however, researchers have proposed methods by which the network can take advantage of mobile components. We exploit mobility to develop a fluid infrastructure: mobile components are deliberately built into the system infrastructure for enabling specific functionality that is very hard to achieve using other methods. Built-in intelligence helps our system adapt to run time dynamics when pursuing pre-defined performance objectives. Our approach yields significant advantages for energy constrained systems, sparsely deployed networks, delay tolerant networks, and in security sensitive situations. We first show why our approach is advantageous in terms of network lifetime and data fidelity. Second, we present adaptive algorithms that are used to control mobility. Third, we design the communication protocol supporting a fluid infrastructure and long sleep durations on energy-constrained devices. Our algorithms are not based on abstract radio range models or idealized unobstructed environments but founded on real world behavior of wireless devices. We implement a prototype system in which infrastructure components move autonomously to carry out important networking tasks. The prototype is used to validate and evaluate our suggested mobility control methods.


The first chapter of this thesis begins with an introduction to the background associated with the research project and an overview of significant issues in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and its assessment. This leads on to an explanation of the need for EAP Assessment Literacy. It is clarified, through reference to the research questions, that this study has been undertaken in order to investigate the extent to which the views of EAP teachers, on the topic of EAP testing and assessment, reflect language testing research and practices which comprise Assessment Literacy. Statement of the research questions and the hypothesis under investigation also explains that the thesis aims to ascertain how EAP Assessment Literacy can be sustained or enhanced.
Chapter 2 of the study presents the Literature Review which examines the conceptual frameworks surrounding Assessment Literacy and the context of EAP. The views of key proponents of Assessment Literacy are discussed alongside a review of associated research in the fields of Education, Applied Linguistics and EAP. Other resources and mechanisms available for the enhancement of Assessment Literacy through formal training or in-service learning opportunities are also discussed.
In the third chapter, the Research Design and Methodology, the researcher's philosophical approach is rationalised and an appropriate set of research methods for this enquiry into EAP Assessment Literacy is identified. For this particular study the choice of a pragmatic paradigm is clarified. A mixed methods approach is also described in addition to the design of a questionnaire and an interview protocol for data collection purposes.
Chapter 4 presents the Findings section of the research. Features of the research participant population are described and, in the case of the questionnaire, a method for filtering the total number of respondents to provide a more representative group is outlined. The results from the two main research tools are then presented in terms of key sets of data. These data sets include different question types and investigate the key areas of Assessment Literacy in EAP.
Through Chapter 5, Analysis and Discussion, the meaning revealed within the Findings chapter is interpreted further. This will serve to identify key information relating to EAP teachers' views on EAP testing and assessment practices and the extent to which these reflect language testing research practices which comprise Assessment Literacy.
A synthesis of the main outcomes of the research is then provided in Chapter 6, Conclusions and Recommendations. Suggestions regarding what needs to be undertaken in order to sustain or enhance EAP teacher Assessment Literacy are also provided in the recommendations. In addition, the limitations of the study are also acknowledged, so that the scope of the research is appropriately contextualised.
In Chapter 7, a list of references is provided detailing resources which have been cited during the research. Finally, an Appendix is included in Chapter 8 which includes the full questionnaire and the full set of interview questions. Access is also provided to transcripts from each of the interviews, the series of open question responses from the questionnaire and number of charts and diagrams which are not included in the main body of the thesis.


Mixotrophic organisms appeared in photosynthetic and heterotrophic lineages (i.e., algae and ciliates). In this article we will present examples and discuss diverse aspects of the success of this dual nutrition mode in different lakes from Argentina. Factors as nutrients, light, water mixing intensity, mixing depth, and prey abundance have large effects on the ecological dynamics of these organisms. Traditional studies suggested that the growth rate of mixotrophic protists would depend on light intensity and prey abundance allowing the classifi cation of mixotrophs into different groups. We will discuss this scheme in the scenario of protists currently present in Argentina. Additionally, we will examine the results of fi eld and experimental studies in Argentina lakes regarding the different co-occurring factors that determine the success of different mixotrophic species. In particular, we will focus competitive interactions among mixotrophs in nature, evaluating both, photosynthetic effi ciency as a result of the niche partitioning along the water column and the ingestion of picoprokaryotes for food niche overlap. Furthermore, we will present other studies on the relative importance of light (intensity and quality) in the autotrophy and phagotrophy balance.


Purpose: As clinics begin to use 3D metrics for intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) quality assurance; these metrics will often produce results different from those produced by their 2D counterparts. 3D and 2D gamma analyses would be expected to produce different values, because of the different search space available. We compared the results of 2D and 3D gamma analysis (where both datasets were generated the same way) for clinical treatment plans.                     Methods : 50 IMRT plans were selected from our database and recalculated using Monte Carlo. Treatment planning system-calculated ("evaluated") and Monte Carlo-recalculated ("reference") dose distributions were compared using 2D and 3D gamma analysis. This analysis was performed using a variety of dose-difference (5%, 3%, 2%, and 1%) and distance-to-agreement (5, 3, 2, and 1 mm) acceptance criteria, low-dose thresholds (5%, 10%, and 15% of the prescription dose), and data grid sizes (1.0, 1.5, and 3.0 mm). Each comparison was evaluated to determine the average 2D and 3D gamma and percentage of pixels passing gamma. Results: Average gamma and percentage of passing pixels for each acceptance criterion demonstrated better agreement for 3D than for 2D analysis for every plan comparison. Average difference in the percentage of passing pixels between the 2D and 3D analyses with no low-dose threshold ranged from 0.9% to 2.1%. Similarly, using a low-dose threshold resulted in a differences ranging from 0.8% to 1.5%. No appreciable differences in gamma with changes in the data density (constant difference: 0.8% for 2D vs. 3D) were observed. Conclusion : We found that 3D gamma analysis resulted in up to 2.9% more pixels passing than 2D analysis.  Factors such as inherent dosimeter differences may be an important additional consideration to the extra dimension of available data that was evaluated in this study. ------------------------------------ Cite this article as: Pulliam KB, Huang JY, Bosca R, Followill D, Kry SF. 2D vs. 3D gamma analysis: Establishment of comparable clinical action limits. Int J Cancer Ther Oncol 2014; 2(2):020231. DOI: 10.14319/ijcto.0202.31


The high estimated prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) forcefully supports the need for collaboration among nephrologists, cardiologists, diabetologists and general practitioners, to reduce the cardiovascular risk of CKD patients and delay the start of dialysis. Many studies confirm that reducing the dietary intake of proteins improves uremia as well as acid-base and phosphorus disorders without exposing the CKD patient to the risk of malnutrition. The possibility of delaying renal death and the start of dialysis by almost one to two years is also recognized, thanks in part to the antiproteinuric effect of low-protein diets supplemented with keto acids and essential amino acids. Reducing the dietary protein intake delays the start of dialysis independently of the effect of renin-angiotensin system (RAS)-active antihypertensive drugs. Reduction of the dietary protein intake is indicated in patients with a glomerular filtration rate <25 mL/min (CKD stages 4 and 5). Some situations may, however, require an earlier switch to a low-protein diet, e.g., high proteinuria, renal function worsening at more than 5 mL/min/year, diabetes, and metabolic decompensation. If well designed and properly carried out, reduction of the dietary intake of proteins is not associated with low serum albumin levels or malnutrition, and does not affect patients death. Today, highly palatable, high-quality reduced protein preparations are widely available to reduce the protein intake of CKD patients.


Over the past thirty years personal watercraft (PWC) use has grown widely and become common on many waterways. Despite evidence that links PWC use to disturbances with other recreationists fishery activities and wildlife at recreational resource sites few studies of recreational user conflict examine the interaction of PWC users with other water-based recreationists. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between PWC users and anglers (on-shore and in motorboats) to determine: 1) if conflict exists between these user groups; 2) to what extent experience with other activities is related to conflict and 3) examine the relationship between conflict and tolerance proposing that tolerance for others will correlate with decreased experiences of reported conflict with others. This study used a secondary data set from the Lake Gaston Association. The data set contained a sample of adults 18 years and older who participated as anglers and personal watercraft users at Lake Gaston a popular lake in north central North Carolina. Findings identified that conflict was experienced asymmetrically as anglers experienced high degrees of conflict attributed to PWC users whereas PWC users reported conflict levels similar to each angler type when examining conflict attributed to anglers. Subsequent analyses revealed that conflict attributed to PWC users was not significant when anglers had experience with PWC use and were tolerant of PWC users. A series of open-ended questions asked recreationists to briefly describe how the presence of specific user types reduced or increased their enjoyment at the lake. For conflict attributed to PWC users responses centered on themes involving safety and perceptions of inconsiderate behavior. Managerial recommendations include developing `no wake' zones near shore with appropriate markers and signage lake safety education lake patrols and penalties resulting in limits to lake access points managed by lake authorities.


Background and Purpose— Although the neuropsychological literature typically examines stroke outcomes by hemisphere of lesion, the medical literature provides classifications more closely linked to circulatory distribution impacted by stroke. This article examined profiles of cognitive function by hemisphere and by Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project stroke classification. Methods— This study included a sample of 315 5-year ischemic stroke survivors. Assessment included tests of verbal memory, visual memory, word finding/verbal fluency, abstract visual reasoning, executive functioning, and speed of processing. Results— The sample produced scores within 1 standard deviation of the normative mean on tests of abstract visual reasoning, verbal memory, and visual recall. Impaired performances were observed for executive function and processing speed. Profile analysis revealed no significant differences in overall cognitive performance or in the profile of performance across measures by hemisphere of lesion. However, groups defined by Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project categories produced significantly different cognitive profiles. Post hoc analyses indicate those with posterior stroke performed best overall on all tests except the Stroop Dots trial, whereas those with total anterior stroke produced significantly worse scores on tasks requiring visual abstract reasoning (Block Design, Rey Figure Copy), word finding (Boston Naming Test), and processing speed (Stroop Dots, Trails A). Conclusions— Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project stroke subtypes identified significant differences between groups, suggesting this classification system is of greater use than hemisphere of lesion in predicting poststroke cognitive outcomes.


The acidity constants of twofold protonated, antivirally active, acyclic nucleoside phosphonates (ANPs), H2(PE)±, where PE2−=9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)ethyl]adenine (PMEA2−), 2-amino-9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)ethyl]purine (PME2AP2−), 2,6-diamino-9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)ethyl]purine (PMEDAP2−), or 2-amino-6-(dimethylamino)-9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)ethyl]purine (PME(2A6DMAP)2−), as well as the stability constants of the corresponding ternary Cu(Arm)(H;PE)+ and Cu(Arm)(PE) complexes, where Arm=2,2′-bipyridine (bpy) or 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), are compared. The constants for the systems containing PE2−=PMEDAP2− and PME(2A6DMAP)2− have been determined now by potentiometric pH titrations in aqueous solution at I=0.1M (NaNO3) and 25°; the corresponding results for the other ANPs were taken from our earlier work. The basicity of the terminal phosphonate group is very similar for all the ANP2− species, whereas the addition of a second amino substituent at the pyrimidine ring of the purine moiety significantly increases the basicity of the N(1) site. Detailed stability-constant comparisons reveal that, in the monoprotonated ternary Cu(Arm)(H;PE)+ complexes, the proton is at the phosphonate group, that the ether O-atom of the CH2OCH2P(O)(OH) residue participates, next to the P(O)(OH) group, to some extent in Cu(Arm)2+ coordination, and that ππ stacking between the aromatic rings of Cu(Arm)2+ and the purine moiety is rather important, especially for the H⋅PMEDAP− and H⋅PME(2A6DMAP)− ligands. There are indications that ternary Cu(Arm)2+-bridged stacks as well as unbridged (binary) stacks are formed. The ternary Cu(Arm)(PE) complexes are considerably more stable than the corresponding Cu(Arm)(RPO3) species, where RPO represents a phosph(on)ate ligand with a group R that is unable to participate in any kind of intramolecular interaction within the complexes. The observed stability enhancements are mainly attributed to intramolecular-stack formation in the Cu(Arm)(PE) complexes and also, to a smaller extent, to the formation of five-membered chelates involving the ether O-atom present in the CH2OCH2PO residue of the PE2− species. The quantitative analysis of the intramolecular equilibria involving three structurally different Cu(Arm)(PE) isomers shows that, e.g., ca. 1.5% of the Cu(phen)(PMEDAP) system exist with Cu(phen)2+ solely coordinated to the phosphonate group, 4.5% as a five-membered chelate involving the ether O-atom of the CH2OCH2PO residue, and 94% with an intramolecular ππ stack between the purine moiety of PMEDAP2− and the aromatic rings of phen. Comparison of the various formation degrees of the species formed reveals that, in the Cu(phen)(PE) complexes, intramolecular-stack formation is more pronounced than in the Cu(bpy)(PE) species. Within a given Cu(Arm)2+ series the stacking intensity increases in the order PME2AP2−2−2−2−. One could speculate that the reduced stacking intensity of PME2AP2−, together with a different H-bonding pattern, could well lead to a different orientation of the 2-aminopurine moiety (compared to the adenine residue) in the active site of nucleic acid polymerases and thus be responsible for the reduced antiviral activity of PME2AP compared with that of PMEA and the other ANPs containing a 6-amino substituent.


The author argues for expanded coverage of corporate social responsibility in the U.S. law school curriculum. Corporate social responsibility is of increasing importance for businesses, particularly for those companies that conduct multinational operations. Current national legal and regulatory regimes fail to adequately address the social and environmental issues that arise in business operations. As a result, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and businesses have begun to promulgate voluntary codes of conduct. These codes touch on such subjects as core labor standards, environmental protection, bribery of foreign government officials in international business and human rights. Examples include the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the Global Compact. Businesses have also implemented corporate social responsibility programs as part of their best practices. In addition, there are emerging areas of legal liability involving CSR principles, such as those created under the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.S. Alien Tort Claims Act. Although such developments are significant for business, they are not adequately covered in U.S. law school courses on corporate law and international business transactions. As a consequence, U.S. law schools are not adequately preparing their graduates to counsel clients on emerging CSR norms and are neglecting their responsibility to educate students on one of the fundamental values of the legal profession, namely promoting justice, fairness and morality. The author suggests a framework for a corporate social responsibility course or seminar that might be included as part of the U.S. law school curriculum.


Ensemble of navy blue .

Jacket. Cropped, single breasted jacket has rounded neckline and no lapels, to allow bow of dress to show. Center front closure of 3 self-covered buttons with bound buttonholes. Long sleeves with double row of snaps around each cuff, for missing cuffs. Lined in blue silk.

Designer's label at inside back collar: "George Halley / New York"
Retailer's label at right inside near buttons: "Bonwit Teller"
Union label and side label at left side seam. Size 6.

Dress. Knee-length or slightly longer, with rounded neckline with large blue satin bow at throat. Sleeveless, with wide straps. Bodice seamed, with slightly raised waist into which A-line skirt is gathered. Side slit pockets at hips. Center back zipper. Around neckline are a series of 5 self-covered snaps along left side, and evidence of removed stitches for a collar on right side. Lined in black, with dark mauve band near inner hem.

Designer's label at inside left by zipper: "George Halley / New York"


The Problem: Back of the Envelope Calculations In 2005, Russia exported about 150 million tons of oil and 150 billion cubic meters of gas worth about $100 billion (all numbers are rounded for simplicity). The price of oil and gas varied greatly. In just less than a decade, oil prices went from $10 to over $60 per barrel (from $60 to $360 per ton), and gas prices changed accordingly as they are strongly correlated with oil prices. Imagine a not unrealistic scenario, in which oil prices would drop to $10 a barrel and would stay at this level for five years. Annual Russian revenues from exports of hydrocarbons would fall to about $20 billion instead of $100 billion, resulting over five years in an accumulated $400 billion shortfall. Russian gross domestic product at the official exchange rate in 2005 totaled $600 billion. How could Russia adjust to such a negative trade shock and deterioration in terms of trade?


Plate tectonics is a geophysical process currently unique to Earth, has an important role in regulating the Earth's climate, and may be better understood by identifying rocky planets outside our solar system with tectonic activity. The key criterion for whether or not plate tectonics may occur on a terrestrial planet is if the stress on a planet's lithosphere from mantle convection may overcome the lithosphere's yield stress. Although many rocky exoplanets closely orbiting their host stars have been detected, all studies to date of plate tectonics on exoplanets have neglected tidal stresses in the planet's lithosphere. Modeling a rocky exoplanet as a constant density, homogeneous, incompressible sphere, we show the tidal stress from the host star acting on close-in planets may become comparable to the stress on the lithosphere from mantle convection. We also show that tidal stresses from planet-planet interactions are unlikely to be significant for plate tectonics, but may be strong enough to trigger Earthquakes. Our work may imply planets orbiting close to their host stars are more likely to experience plate tectonics, with implications for exoplanetary geophysics and habitability. We produce a list of detected rocky exoplanets under the most intense stresses. Atmospheric and topographic observations may confirm our predictions in the near future. Investigations of planets with significant tidal stress can not only lead to observable parameters linked to the presence of active plate tectonics, but may also be used as a tool to test theories on the main driving force behind tectonic activity.


We show that a critical problem in adversarial imitation from high-dimensional sensory data is the tendency of discriminator networks to distinguish agent and expert behaviour using task-irrelevant features beyond the control of the agent. We analyze this problem in detail and propose a solution as well as several baselines that outperform standard Generative Adversarial Imitation Learning (GAIL). Our proposed solution, Task-Relevant Adversarial Imitation Learning (TRAIL), uses a constrained optimization objective to overcome task-irrelevant features. Comprehensive experiments show that TRAIL can solve challenging manipulation tasks from pixels by imitating human operators, where other agents such as behaviour cloning (BC), standard GAIL, improved GAIL variants including our newly proposed baselines, and Deterministic Policy Gradients from Demonstrations (DPGfD) fail to find solutions, even when the other agents have access to task reward.


Background and aim: Physical training accompanied with herbal supplement consumption is one of the proposed methods for controlling obesity and its complications, such as diabetes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an 8-week aerobic exercise program and supplementation with green tea on HSP72 and BMI in obese women with type 2 diabetes. Methods: In the present semi-experimental study, thirty-five obese women with diabetes (BMI ≥30) with an average age of 60-45 years, were randomly assigned into four groups: green tea (n=9), aerobic exercise with green tea (n=9), aerobic exercise (n=9) and control (n=8).The participants of supplementation groups received 1500 mg capsules of green tea extract daily for 8 weeks. Moreover, the control groups were given capsules containing roasted wheat flour. Exercises training were performed for 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week for 50 minutes per session, with an intensity of 75-60% of maximum heart rate. For statistical analysis, One Way Analysis Variance (ANOVA) with post hoc Tukey t-tests were used. Results: The results showed that the weight (p=0.000*), body mass index (p=0.000*) and glucose (p=0.064*) were significantly reduced. Furthermore, HSP72 levels were significantly increased in the experimental groups (green tea, green tea, exercise, practice) (p=0.000*), while this difference was not significant in the control group. The consumption of green tea extract had a significant effect in controlling the HSP 72 levels, weight and BMI in the green tea group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: It appeared that consuming green tea supplementation with aerobic exercise can influence and control obesity and increase of HSP72 of type 2 diabetes patients due to weight loss and BMI reduction.


This Article examines cognitive and cultural barriers creating the relatively infrequent use of mediation to resolve private, transborder commercial disputes in the Americas. It begins by analyzing the challenges presented by transborder commercial litigation. It then presents and supports the claim that international arbitration, the most frequently used transborder commercial dispute resolution method, suffers from many of litigation's disadvantages including excessive expense and delay, loss of outcome control, damaging or ending rather than preserving and improving commercial relationships, and using legalistic, rights-based perspectives that obscure business interest-based solutions. This Article next examines several cognitive biases that impair rational decision making regarding dispute resolution method selection in transborder commercial disagreements. Analyzing selective and partisan perception, egocentric and optimistic overconfidence biases, and fixed pie and win-lose assumptions, the Article integrates empirical research and anecdotal data to support the claim that these cognitive biases encourage arbitration and discourage mediation. This Article also analyzes ways that American business and legal culture 1252 VANDERBILT JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 41:1251 encourages cognitive biases, which leads disputants toward adjudication and away from mediation, and how other cultural differences generate misunderstandings that contribute to the frequent choice to arbitrate rather than mediate private transborder commercial disputes. This Article then suggests several strategies for overcoming these cognitive and cultural biases and analyzes how these proposals mirror techniques mediators commonly use to help disputants negotiate effectively. The Article concludes by explaining the currently minimal role in consensual dispute resolution played by formal trade regimes in the Americas and suggests how these provisions could encourage mediation and the effective outcomes this process often produces.


In this essay, I identify two fallacies concerning the copyrightability of factual compilations. The first is that facts cannot be copyrighted because they are not independently created. I argue that once facts are properly understood as content, rather than reality, the independent creation requirement does not stand in the way of their copyrightability.The second is the fallacy of division. This occurs when one wrongly takes what is true of a whole to be true of some or all of its constituents. An example is the assumption that if we are conscious, some or all of our cells must be conscious as well. The fallacy of division expresses itself in copyright law in the assumption that if a factual compilation is copyrightable, there must be some constituents of the compilation that are copyrightable as well. Since the individual facts out of which the compilation is composed cannot be these copyrightable constituents, courts assume that they are instead the compilation's selection and arrangement of facts. I argue that such an approach to factual compilations is incoherent. Under the pressure of analysis, selections and arrangements themselves dissolve into uncopyrightable components - the submethods out of which selections and arrangements as a whole are composed. One can consider selections and arrangements to be copyrightable only if one sets aside the fallacy of division and looks at selections and arrangements in the aggregate to determine their copyrightability, without attempting to find some component of them that is copyrightable. But once one has set aside the fallacy of division with respect to a compilation's selection and arrangement, there is no reason not to do the same with respect to its factual content. I call an approach that determines the copyrightability of a compilation by looking to the collective factual content communicated by the compilation, rather than the compilation's selection and arrangement, the collective fact approach. The collective fact approach is in keeping with the way that fictional works are treated under copyright law. Although the individual elements out of which a novel's plot, scenes, and characters are composed are unprotected, no one would say that the copyrightable part of a novel is its selection and arrangement of these elements. One determines copyrightability by looking to the collective content of the novel itself - its plot, scenes, and characters. A factual compilation, I argue, should be assessed on the basis of whether its collective factual content is copyrightable.


Urban growth is a global phenomenon, and the associated impacts on hydrology from land development are expected to increase, especially in peri‐urban catchments. It is well understood that greater peak flows and higher stream flashiness are associated with increased surface imperviousness and storm location. However, the effect of the distribution of impervious areas on runoff peak flow response and stream flashiness of peri‐urban catchments has not been well studied. In this study, a new geometric index, Relative Nearness of Imperviousness to the Catchment Outlet (RNICO), is defined to correlate imperviousness distribution of peri‐urban catchments with runoff peak flows and stream flashiness. Study sites include 21 suburban catchments in New York representing a range of drainage area from 5 to 189 km2 and average imperviousness from 10% to 48%. On the basis of RNICO, all development patterns are divided into 3 classes: upstream, centralized, and downstream. Results showed an obvious increase in runoff peak flows and decrease in time to peak when moving from upstream to centralized and downstream urbanization classes. This indicates that RNICO is an effective tool for classifying urban development patterns and for macroscale understanding of the hydrologic behavior of small peri‐urban catchments, despite the complexity of urban drainage systems. We also found that the impact of impervious distribution on runoff peak flows and stream flashiness decreases with catchment scale. For small catchments (A < 40 km2), RNICO was strongly correlated with the average (R2 = .95) and maximum (R2 = .91) gaged peak flows due to the relatively efficient subsurface routing through stormwater and sewer networks. Furthermore, the Richards–Baker stream flashiness index in small catchments was positively correlated with fractional impervious area (R2 = .84) and RNICO (R2 = .87). For large catchments (A > 40 km2), the impact of impervious surface distribution on peak flows and stream flashiness was negligible due to the complex drainage network and great variability in travel times. This study emphasizes the need for greater monitoring of discharge in small peri‐urban catchments to support flood prediction at the local scale.


One of the principal research axes related to nuclear energy concerns the management of nuclear wastes. In this context, certain innovative pathways are being explored to provide options which could lead to a major reduction of the quantities of radioactive nuclides requiring long-term geological storage. An important aspect is the development of advanced nuclear systems which allow the transmutation of long-lived minor actinides, the ADS (accelerator driven system) concept often being proposed for the purpose. Various important developments are necessary for these new systems, one of the principal needs being the qualification of calculational tools to enable the reliable design of an ADS demonstrator. In the present research, related numerical and experimental studies have been carried out in the framework of the MUSE4 programme, which was developed on the MASURCA facility at Cadarache, France. This programme consists of investigations of a reference critical configuration (MOX fuel with sodium), and several subcritical configurations driven by an external neutron source. The source is obtained with the help of a deuton accelerator, called GENEPI, which produces neutrons via a nuclear reaction, either with a tritium target (14.1MeV neutrons), or with a deuterium target (2.7MeV neutrons). The experimental techniques implemented in this research address the study of spectral variations via foil activation measurements near interfaces characteristic of ADSs. The additional value of such experimental results, compared to standard fission rate traverses obtained using fission chambers (which were also analysed), has been highlighted. An important novel set of integral parameters has thus been made available for the validation of different numerical codes and nuclear data. The activation and fission rate measurements carried out, as also experimental results for other parameters such askeff, βeff and φ*, have been interpreted using various calculational codes (mainly ERANOS and MCNP) and several different nuclear data libraries (JEF-2.2, ERALIB1, ENDF/B6v2). Supplementary information on the performance of the calculational methods has been obtained in the context of the MUSE4 benchmark exercise, conducted by the NEA. The present investigations have led to the resolution of various problems encountered during the earlier MUSE3 programme at MASURCA, viz. uncertainties related to description of the intrinsic source description, difficulties in interpreting fission traverses near the external source, etc. A detailed study has thus been made possible of the important factors which characterise subritical fast systems driven by an external source, i.e. influence of the subcriticality level and of the external source intensity. The various analyses carried out have permitted to establish several recommendations concerning the modeling of the external source and the accelerator tube, as well as the most appropriate numerical methods and data sets to be applied. In this context, the specificity of subcritical configurations, as regards the prediction of parameters such as spatial indices and absolute reaction rates, has been clearly brought out. Certain difficulties (interpretation of high threshold reactions, absolute flux determination, etc.) have thereby been highlighted, pointing at the need for further numerical and experimental investigations. Finally, some recent ERANOS developments have allowed a study to be carried out of the representativity of MUSE4 configurations with respect to alternative ADS concepts proposed in the framework of the international PDS-XADS project. In brief, the representativity of the MUSE4 configurations is found to be quite satisfactory for XADS-Na and XADS-gas. However, in the case of the XADS-Pb/Bi system, effects of the significant uncertainties associated with the nuclear data of lead and bismuth have been clearly highlighted, indicating the desirability of new, more specific experiments for XADS-Pb/Bi validation.


On January 20th, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran had been implementing its commitments as part of the Joint Plan of Action (JPA) agreed with the so-called 'E3+3' in Geneva (also known as P5+1) on 24 November 2013. The forging of this interim deal, the successful start to its implementation and the temporary sanctions relief represent resounding success for international diplomacy but they should not be allowed to conceal the underlying issues. Reaching agreement on the JPA was achieved at the cost of clarity over what is to follow and it was decided to eschew a structured agreement in favour of a two-step process. The stated aim of the negotiating parties remains that of starting the implementation of a comprehensive solution by November 2014. If agreement is not reached on a comprehensive solution by the expiry of the JPA by July 20th, the action plan can be renewed by mutual consent. The latter might well be the likeliest outcome of the forthcoming negotiations. Apart from the large gap between the E3+3 and Iranian positions on the substance of a final deal, several domestic policy constraints will likely define the parameters of what is achievable in the future.

This CEPS Policy Brief argues that the best hope for success lies in continued engagement and consistent incremental progress in the negotiations, with structured concessions on both sides. This should occur, however, not in a two- but a three-step framework based on lengthening Iran's 'breakout' period while re-engaging with the country both politically and economically. The EU is in a unique position to lead this process. Having greater flexibility than either the US or Iran, its main tasks will be that of maintaining the negotiating momentum and broadening dialogue with Iran.


Deterioration of upland soils, demographic growth, and climate change all lead to an increased utilization of wetlands in East Africa. This considerable pressure on wetland resources results in trade-offs between those resources and their related ecosystem services. Furthermore, relationships between catchment attributes and available wetland water resources are one of the key drivers that might lead to wetland degradation. To investigate the impacts of these developments on catchment-wetland water resources, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was applied to the Kilombero Catchment in Tanzania, which is like many other East African catchments, as it is characterized by overall data scarcity. Due to the lack of recent discharge data, the model was calibrated for the period from 1958–1965 (R2 = 0.86, NSE = 0.85, KGE = 0.93) and validated from 1966–1970 (R2 = 0.80, NSE = 0.80, KGE = 0.89) with the sequential uncertainty fitting algorithm (SUFI-2) on a daily resolution. Results show the dependency of the wetland on baseflow contribution from the enclosing catchment, especially in dry season. Main contributions with regard to overall water yield arise from the northern mountains and the southeastern highlands, which are characterized by steep slopes and a high share of forest and savanna vegetation, respectively. Simulations of land use change effects, generated with Landsat images from the 1970s up to 2014, show severe shifts in the water balance components on the subcatchment scale due to anthropogenic activities. Sustainable management of the investigated catchment should therefore account for the catchment–wetland interaction concerning water resources, with a special emphasis on groundwater fluxes to ensure future food production as well as the preservation of the wetland ecosystem.


We address the problem of image collection summarization by learning mixtures of submodular functions. Submodularity is useful for this problem since it naturally represents characteristics such as fidelity and diversity, desirable for any summary. Several previously proposed image summarization scoring methodologies, in fact, instinctively arrived at submodularity. We provide classes of submodular component functions (including some which are instantiated via a deep neural network) over which mixtures may be learnt. We formulate the learning of such mixtures as a supervised problem via large-margin structured prediction. As a loss function, and for automatic summary scoring, we introduce a novel summary evaluation method called V-ROUGE, and test both submodular and non-submodular optimization (using the submodular-supermodular procedure) to learn a mixture of submodular functions. Interestingly, using non-submodular optimization to learn submodular functions provides the best results. We also provide a new data set consisting of 14 real-world image collections along with many human-generated ground truth summaries collected using Amazon Mechanical Turk. We compare our method with previous work on this problem and show that our learning approach outperforms all competitors on this new data set. This paper provides, to our knowledge, the first systematic approach for quantifying the problem of image collection summarization, along with a new data set of image collections and human summaries.


The present research experiment, which mostly used undergrad university students as subjects, was aimed to investigate how instant rewards / no rewards affect task performance on easy and difficult memorization tasks. A list with easy and a list with complicated words were created as audio files, and participants had to listen to either one, then recall and write down as many as they could. One condition received chocolate eggs as reward for each correct word, the other condition did not. After collecting data from 40 subjects (with 10 in each correlational design group: easy/reward, easy/no reward, difficult/reward, difficult/no reward), an ANOVA done with SPSS revealed that there was a significant main effect of rewards, F (1, 36) = 8.42, p < .05, as well as due to difficulty, F (1, 36) = 21.55, p < .05. No interactions were found. The assumption is that the results came to be due to the nature of the rewards and the kind of task. Opinions, ideas and future proposed research on the topic are further discussed in the Discussion section of this research report.


Political outcomes in Africa are increasingly shaped by ideas, actors, and processes that are transnational in character. Diasporas and transnational communities living in new host countries but still connected to homelands provide resources, leadership, and other forms of support that shape political outcomes in the country of origin. African politics take place in these transnational spaces, less restricted by the need to be close geographically. From civil war in Burundi and Somalia, electoral outcomes in Liberia, Ghana, and Kenya, and civil society initiatives in Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, actors and processes that are globally distributed and linked through transnational networks are increasingly at the center of African politics.
 Much of the literature on diasporas emphasizes cultural links or specific forms of identity whereby residents at a distance remain deeply connected with their kin back home in a form of "long-distance nationalism." From the perspective of seeking an understanding of the transnationalization of African politics, however, it is more useful to see diasporas as the outcomes of processes of political mobilization, constituencies activated by political entrepreneurs to advance specific political agendas. Leaders invest in creating and sustaining diasporas because these networks are strategic assets that allow them to deploy specific identity frames and categories, to make claims for resources and loyalty, and to engage in diverse activities in dispersed locations to maximize impact.
 In many cases African governments wish to engage with diasporas in order to encourage remittances and investments in the homeland. Many have created special directorates for diaspora affairs and some have considered different forms of dual citizenship or overseas voting in order to build these linkages. Diasporas play important roles in lobbying new host governments to either increase pressures on homeland regimes or to increase donor support.
 In addition, politically mobilized populations in the diaspora often play key roles as sources of financial support for opposition political parties and through diaspora media that can shape the nature of political debates. Liberian and Ethiopian politicians often campaign and fundraise in the United States. In authoritarian settings such as Zimbabwe and Togo, the closing of political space at home makes the diaspora even more important as a means to fill the vacuum. Civil wars always have transnational dimensions as both rebels and incumbent regimes reach beyond their borders for political support and resources. Whether it is African National Congress's (ANC's) de facto embassies during apartheid, diaspora support for the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, refugee recruits to rebel movements in the Mano River region of West Africa, or exiled politicians attempting to stage-manage peace talks in Darfur from Paris, the contentious politics of armed conflict is rarely contained by borders. Extended civil wars and political crises that generate substantial refugee flows, particularly to Europe and North America, have created cases where transnational politics is most pronounced. "Conflict-generated diasporas" may be more categorical in their political positions and therefore limit options for homeland politicians dependent on the diaspora's support.
 A complete analysis of African politics therefore requires consideration of how transnational mobilization can shape outcomes. Political actors on the continent, whether they are governments, opposition parties, civil society organizations, or rebels, recognize that linking their goals to the resources and ideas based in diasporas provides advantages in their struggles at home. Increasingly, scholars have recognized that understanding political processes and outcomes in Nigeria, Cameroon, or Zimbabwe entails consideration of transnational dimensions. This seems to be even more the case in countries that have experienced conflict, such as Liberia, Somalia, or Eritrea.


Two different approaches have recently been proposed for boundary handling in convolutional sparse representations, avoiding potential boundary artifacts arising from the circular boundary conditions implied by the use of frequency domain solution methods by introducing a spatial mask into the convolutional sparse coding problem. In the present paper we show that, under certain circumstances, these methods fail in their design goal of avoiding boundary artifacts. The reasons for this failure are discussed, a solution is proposed, and the practical implications are illustrated in an image deblurring problem.


A careful review of the evidence that was available at the time Microsoft was litigated and has accumulated since indicates that the conduct by which Microsoft was found to have unlawfully preserved monopoly power in personal computer operating systems was largely ineffectual. The entry barrier that Microsoft supposedly maintained through exclusionary conduct has eroded substantially, but not because of the conduct restrictions imposed by the remedial orders. Rather, the market has evolved as technology has progressed. Nevertheless, various Microsoft officials intended at least some of the conduct challenged simply to injure competitors, and the government relied upon evidence of that intent and a theory of possible competitive harm in bringing its case. Intent evidence can sometimes be helpful in determining the economic nature of objectively ambiguous practices. But rational actors may engage in conduct unlikely to return monopoly profits and unlikely to reduce economic welfare because it might do so and is cheap. Given the high cost of antitrust enforcement, attacking potentially anti-competitive conduct merely because the actor can engage in it at low private cost is unlikely to serve the public interest.


Context. We present the light curves of six BL Lac objects, PKS 0537-441, PKS 0735+17, OJ 287, PKS 2005-489, PKS 2155-304, and W Comae, and of the flat spectrum radio quasar PKS 1510-089, as a part of a photometric monitoring program in the nearinfrared/optical bands started in 2004. All sources are Fermi blazars. Aims. Our purpose is to investigate flux and spectral variability on short and long time scales. Systematic monitoring, independent of the activity of the source, guarantees large sample size statistics, and allows an unbiased view of different activity states on weekly or daily time scales for the whole timeframe and on nightly time scales for some epochs. Methods. Data were obtained with the REM telescope located at the ESO premises of La Silla (Chile). Light curves were gathered in the optical/near-infrared VRIJHK bands from April 2005 to June 2012. Results. Variability 3 mag is observed in PKS 0537-441, PKS 1510-089 and PKS 2155-304, the largest ranges spanned in the near-infrared. The color intensity plots show rather different morphologies. The spectral energy distributions in general are well fitted by a power law, with some deviations that are more apparent in low states. Some variability episodes during a night interval are well documented for PKS 0537-441 and PKS 2155-304. For the latter source the variability time scale implies a large relativistic beaming factor.


Abstract.
 A new species of the genus Heterometrus is described on the basis of a specimen recently collected in Thailand. Heterometrus minotaurus sp. nov. is morphologically closest to H. longimanus. The newly described species is well distinguished by its smaller overall size (83 mm) and shorter and less narrow metasoma with specific dorsolateral carinae on the fourth metasomal segment consisting of 9 or fewer granules. No females are known and so knowledge of sexual dimorphism in this species is currently lacking. In addition to the morphological characterization of H. minotaurus sp. nov., we present here also a description of the male holotype's karyotype. The diploid set of H. minotaurus sp. nov. consists of 54 chromosomes with a predominance of metacentrics, which gradually decrease in size. The presence of two types of multivalent association observed in postpachytene and metaphase I is commented on. Current knowledge of karyotypes of Heterometrus species is briefly summarized and compared with our cytogenetic results. In conclusion, we discuss the possible usefulness of karyotype as another interspecific feature applicable in the taxonomy of this scorpion group.


After the hand over of Hong Kong by the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China ("PRC"), some commentators predicted that China would interfere with Hong Kong's economy and legal system despite the Basic Law's protections. This Article argues that in the area of financial supervision, particularly bank supervision, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has significantly influenced banking reform in the PRC. The PRC's implementation and development of bank supervisory standards that approach compliance with international financial standards has been significantly influenced by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority ("HKMA"), Hong Kong's central bank, through both informal and formal contacts between HKMA officials and PRC bank supervisory officials. The Article briefly analyzes the PRC banking system, provides a short history of banking reform in the PRC, describes the influence of the HKMA and the Hong Kong financial sector generally on the PRC banking reform efforts, and finally examines the prospects of continuing Hong Kong influences on PRC banking reform.


Emission and precipitation of acidifying substances and metals has caused severe acidification and increased metal concentrations in lakes and streams in Sweden as well as many other countries during the last decades. To counteract the negative effects of acidification, liming has been used extensively in Sweden since the 1970's, a treatment that has been called one of the largest man-maid manipulations of aquatic ecosystems ever.The aim of this thesis is to investigate the influence of acidification and liming on deposition of metals to lake sediments, and to look at the fate of metals in sediments during a possible reacidification process because of terminated liming.Studies of both surface sediments and dated sediment profiles sampled from limed lakes and non-limed reference lakes indicated that liming causes increased sedimentation of many metals. Increased deposition to the sediments was found for Al, Cd, Co, Ni, Fe, Mn and Zn, probably as a direct result of the increased pH. Liming was also found to increase the deposition of As and Cr, but that was probably due to the secondary effect of association to Fe and Mn complexes. No influence of lime treatment on the deposition of Hg, Pb and V to lake sediments could be demonstrated. The studies also indicated that acidification can decrease the deposition of Cd, Fe, Mn and possibly also Co and Zn to the sediments.The contribution from the used lime products to the metal load in sediments of lakes limed directly on the lake surface was also evaluated. The lime products were found to be an important source for Al, Cu and Ni and a relatively important source for Co, Cr, Hg and V, but did not seem to contribute much to the content of As, Cd, Pb or Zn in lake sediments.An experimental study of reacidification showed that (re)mobilisation of metals, e.g Al, Cd, Mn and Zn, from sediments may occur and that reacidification of formerly lime treated lakes may contribute to increased concentrations of these metals in the lake water. Cu, Fe and Pb are less affected by pH changes and the concentrations of these metals will probably not increase in lake water during reacidification.Altogether, the thesis shows that lime treatment causes increased deposition of many metals to the lake sediments, whereas reacidification may lead to remobilisation of some metals from the sediments with increased concentrations in the water phase as a result.


The general objective of this dissertation is to describe and analyse how specialised respective integrated forms of organisation in the Swedish Personal Social Services (PSS) condition social workers' interventions and client effects (outcomes). The three specific questions are: 1) How are structural conditions for social work with clients created in specialised versus integrated (generic) forms of organising PSS? 2) How do social workers carry out their work with clients in specialised versus integrated (generic) PSS-organisations? 3) How do different organisational models of PSS influence the results for clients? The research was conducted in three Swedish municipalities with different organisational models within the personal social services: 1) specialised organisation, 2) integrated organisation, and 3) a "combined" organisation with a mix between integration and specialisation. The research had a complex design. It was carried on as comparative case study. Data was collected in several different ways: 1) by means of survey among social workers, 2) by interviewing politicians, mangers and social workers, 3) focus groups consisting of social workers, 4) by collecting official documents, guidelines etc. 5) by mapping of the organisation of social services in the municipalities by means of analyse of their homepages and additional interviews by telephone. The data were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The main results in this dissertation are: 1) In the majority of Swedish municipalities the PSS are nowadays specialized. 2) The formal organizational structure of PSS is always challenged by the employees' spontaneous organising process that goes in an opposite direction. 3) Only the integrated (generic) organisation emphasizes social workers professional competence and knowledge. 4) Social workers, as a professional group, have the collective power to (to a certain degree) influence political decisions on what kind of PSS organisation is chosen in their municipality. 5) Regardless of organisation model, social workers' method use is more unspecific than specific. 6) Social workers, in general, place significantly more weight on working with clients' relationships and aspects of trust than on (specific or unspecific) working methods. 7) A holistic (generic) view of a client can only exist in a direct relationship between social worker and the individual and a unique client. It seems difficult to build in holism into primarily specialised organisations. 8) One may question whether a specialised organisation leads to specialisation of its employees in a way that they become experts on specific problems. The three organisational models are not equally good. Neither the specialised organisation nor the combined organisation is able to create economic or organisational conditions for working with clients that are clearly experienced as good. This also holds true for assessment of need, possibilities to make relevant interventions, such as building relationships. Those two organisations show several deficits regarding work with clients.


Longman Structural Readers are graded both by structure and vocabulary in six stages, ranging from post-beginners to intermediate level. Real beginners can start with "Easystarts" and progress to LSR Stage 1. Most books in the series contain exercise material.


With growing affluence in the developed world, food has become an increasing focus for attention. Here, the authors argue that in order to understand the extensive and dramatic developments in the world of food, a new interdisciplinary approach is necessary. The Age of Affluence successfully addresses food consumption in this way. The volume: * argues the importance of socioeconomic and cultural factors over diet, in influencing the production, marketing and consumption of different groups of foods; * places food systems theory on sound analytical foundations; * draws critically upon food systems literature; * includes case studies from the sugar, dairy and meat systems; * employs novel statistical techniques to identify and explain distinct patterns of food consumption; The book will help to revitalize the discipline of food studies and points the way forward for the continuing study of food consumption. As such, it will be invaluable to students, researchers and policymakers engaged in the world of food.


[Abstract] Detection of low copies of methylated DNA targets in clinical specimens is challenging. The quantitative Methylation-Specific PCR (qMSP) assays were designed to specifically amplify bisulphite-converted methylated DNA target sequences in the presence of an excess of unmethylated counterpart sequences. These qMSP assays are real-time PCR assays utilizing, sequence-specific primers and an intervening, also sequence specific, Taqman probe to cover an amplicon of approximately 100 bp in length. The use of Taqman probes bearing a minor groove binding (MGB) allow for the use of shorter probes and therefore facilitate design and significantly increases the analytical specificity of the reaction. In the context of the biomarker discovery program of the Liverpool Lung Project (LLP), ten gene promoters were selected. qMSP assays were developed, validated and used to screen 655 bronchial washings from patients with lung cancer and age/sex matched controls with non malignant lung disease (Nikolaidis et al., 2012).


As globalization increases so does the loss of world languages. Two most common reasons for language endangerment are: (1) there are few living native speakers, and (2) many children do not learn the language of their parents because other languages are considered more helpful or powerful. While the first scenario leads to rapid extinction, the second scenario, quite common in South Asia and the developing world, leads to slow language attrition and eventual death. The two types of endangered languages are under pressure to differing degrees and in different ways in relation to language maintenance. Many linguists across the world are seeking to document and preserve the so-called "endangered" languages. Taking advantage of the latest state-of-the-art technologies, documentary linguists are making efforts towards documenting and recording oral and written linguistic traditions, translating and annotating documentation materials, compiling grammatical descriptions and dictionaries, and preparing pedagogical materials for language teaching/learning for the ethnic population which claims ownership of the language. The aim of this paper is to discuss the various steps, methods, and challenges in the documentation and revitalization of Burushaski – a linguistic isolate spoken by about 90,000 people in Gilgit, Pakistan (Ethnologue 2005), and (by approximately 300 speakers) in Srinagar, India (first author 2006). Burushaski is primarily orally-preserved and literacy in the native language is practically zero. Its survival is greatly threatened by multilingualism and language shift. Documentation efforts have been conducted by western scholars, but because their publications are mostly in foreign languages (Berger 1974-1998, Tiffou 1999), they are inaccessible to Burushos who are (mainly) literate in Urdu – the prestigious language. Recently, some Pakistani scholars have produced pedagogical materials for the promotion of Burushaski but, because of limited resources and lack of training, such efforts are yet to produce substantial results. Awaiting official standardization, local rivalries have also resulted in a number of competing writing systems. Burushaski is spoken in a socio-culturally conservative and a politically volatile region and documentation efforts by non-natives encounter many obstacles. Presenting a progress report of an ongoing project (starting 2003), this paper examines the various issues in documenting Burushaski, such as: initial encounters in encouraging community participation; social, cultural, political, and financial obstacles in data collection; effective use of information technologies without disrupting community traditions; and different challenges in revitalization efforts. To meet the various project goals, we propose steps in developing an integrated framework sensitive to the issues unique to this particular situation.


Depositional environments and magnetostratigraphy of the Neogene Mogna sequence and its relation to the Andean Foreland Basin. A precise history of accumulation has been depicted for the Mogna Neogene sequence, using magnetostratigraphy, absolute dating, vertebrate fossil determinations and comparisons with neighboring sections. A two-stage tectonic history was modulated by changes in the drainage basin configuration and, apparently, climate. Eight Neogene formations have been dated, surveyed and correlated, suggesting that most boundaries are diachronous, up to 106 yr . The magnetochronology reveals accumulation from 19 Ma up to 1 Ma, only interrupted for an interval with doubtful correlation to the MPTS between 15 and 12 Ma. The lower Río Salado Formation accumulated in a playa-lake (basin center) while the four following units (Quebrada del Jarillal, Huachipampa, Qa. del Cura and Río Jáchal Formations) were deposited by sandy ephemeral rivers, differing from one to another in the channel/floodplain ratio, channel morphology, degree of floodplain bioturbation, and sandstone composition. The upper two, Mogna and El Corral Formations are gravelly and they interdigitate laterally and vertically. The first one was deposited by a major gravelly braided river, while the second accumulated in an alluvial bajada. The entire sequence documents a large-scale progradation of an arid-system alluvial wedge related to the eastward advance of deformation. The correlation of the deformational stages recognized at Mogna suggests a variable basin rheological behavior along the paleo-basin axis. During the initial deformation stage, a southward reduction of thickness (2 km) was accommodated by synsedimentary faults exposed at Los Pozos range (Pie de Palo Norte alignment), while during the main stage of deformation, subsidence was similar along the strike.


We propose a new signed or unsigned Euclidean distance transformation algorithm, based on the local corrections of the well-known 4SED algorithm of Danielsson (1980). Those corrections are only applied to a small neighborhood of a small subset of pixels from the image, which keeps the cost of the operation low. In contrast with all fast algorithms previously published, our algorithm produces perfect Euclidean distance maps in a time linearly proportional to the number of pixels in the image. The computational cost is close to the cost of the 4SSED approximation.


The trick to great design is knowing how to think through each decision so that users don't have to. In Designing the Moment: Web Interface Design Concepts in Action, Robert Hoekman, Jr., author of Designing the Obvious, presents over 30 stories that illustrate how to put good design principles to work on real-world web application interfaces to make them obvious and compelling. From the first impression to the last, Hoekman takes a think out loud approach to interface design to show us how to look critically at design decisions to ensure that human beings, the kind that make mistakes and do things we don't expect, can walk away from our software feeling productive, respected, and smart.


We analyze self-trapping of one-dimensional optical beams in photorefractive, photovoltaic media for open- and closed-circuit realizations. We show that a passive load (resistor) in the external circuit can be used for switching of dark photovoltaic solitons. Dark solitons in a short-circuited crystal can be obtained for a much smaller nonlinearity than in open-circuit conditions. Shorting the crystal affects bright solitons very little.


Design and reuse of approximate hardware components— digital circuits that may produce inaccurate results—can potentially lead to significant performance and energy improvements. Many emerging error-resilient applications can exploit such designs provided approximation is applied in a controlled manner. This paper provides the design abstractions and semantics for methodical, modular, and controlled approximate hardware design and reuse. With these abstractions, critical parts of the circuit still carry the strict semantics of traditional hardware design, while flexibility is provided. We discuss these abstractions in the context of synthesizable register transfer level (RTL) design with Verilog. Our framework governs the application of approximation during the synthesis process without involving the designers in the details of approximate synthesis and optimization. Through high-level annotations, our design paradigm provides high-level control over where and to what degree approximation is applied. We believe that our work forms a foundation for practical approximate hardware design and reuse.


Video service delivery over 3GPP Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) networks is gaining momentum with the adoption of the evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS). In this paper, we address the challenge of optimizing the radio resource allocation process so that heterogeneous groups of users, according to their propagation conditions, can receive layered video streams at predefined and progressively decreasing service levels matched to respective user groups. A key aspect of the proposed system model is that video streams are delivered as eMBMS flows that utilize the random linear network coding (NC) principle. Furthermore, the transmission rate and NC scheme of each eMBMS flow are jointly optimized. The simulation results show that the proposed strategy can exploit user heterogeneity to optimize the allocated radio resources while achieving desired service levels for different user groups.


Late Antiquity, or rather the post classical period, the Dominate, is a term familiar especially to legal historians; it means the final period of Roman iurisprudence. Apart of that it is a crucial period of change and transition in the history of the Roman Empire where each and every one challenge to imperial authority elicited an energetic response. It is a well documented period especially in contrast to the dearth of the mid-third century. There is a notable richness in the variety and number of imperial texts, deriving from legal sources. Those texts prove that legal science did not die with the Principate, but took on forms suitable to contemporary conditions. This study discusses the results of the transition from the time of the Principate to the time of the Dominate in the legal proceedings and the criminal law. With reference to the laws included in the Codex Hermogenianus, as ad hoc law, namely, the whole output of rescripts for the years 293/294, the study focuses on the jurisdiction in criminal cases, in particular on the role of the governor of a province, not only in answering petitions but also judging according to the cognitio procedure, and on the extra ordinem execution of a penalty.


A software framework called PCS Task Wrapper is responsible for standardizing the setup, process initiation, execution, and file management tasks surrounding the execution of science data algorithms, which are referred to by NASA as Product Generation Executives (PGEs). PGEs codify a scientific algorithm, some step in the overall scientific process involved in a mission science workflow. The PCS Task Wrapper provides a stable operating environment to the underlying PGE during its execution lifecycle. If the PGE requires a file, or metadata regarding the file, the PCS Task Wrapper is responsible for delivering that information to the PGE in a manner that meets its requirements. If the PGE requires knowledge of upstream or downstream PGEs in a sequence of executions, that information is also made available. Finally, if information regarding disk space, or node information such as CPU availability, etc., is required, the PCS Task Wrapper provides this information to the underlying PGE. After this information is collected, the PGE is executed, and its output Product file and Metadata generation is managed via the PCS Task Wrapper framework. The innovation is responsible for marshalling output Products and Metadata back to a PCS File Management component for use in downstream data processing and pedigree. In support of this, the PCS Task Wrapper leverages the PCS Crawler Framework to ingest (during pipeline processing) the output Product files and Metadata produced by the PGE. The architectural components of the PCS Task Wrapper framework include PGE Task Instance, PGE Config File Builder, Config File Property Adder, Science PGE Config File Writer, and PCS Met file Writer. This innovative framework is really the unifying bridge between the execution of a step in the overall processing pipeline, and the available PCS component services as well as the information that they collectively manage.


This article considers the life and work of the Glaswegian Jewish playwright C.P. Taylor (1929 -1981). It offers both a personal perspective (from his son) and an attempt to place him in the context of the community he came from (the Gorbals). Taylor's development as a playwright is considered, and the various strands of his work are discussed. The main focus of the piece however, is on the themes of anti-Semitism and Jewish identity in his plays. They are used to explore the question of whether it is possible for an individual to separate religion and culture in their understanding of 'Jewishness'? It is based on letters, interviews, and an analysis of the plays themselves. The article has also been published as a chapter in Sue Vice (ed.) Representing the Holocaust (Vallentine Mitchell, 2003.) It was an invited contribution specifically commissioned for this particular volume. This is the first article that deals with the issue of Jewish identity in C. P. Taylor's life and work. It forms part of an ongoing research project on the Jewish community in Glasgow in the inter-war period. Taylor is currently writing further articles on this subject.


Cross-VM attacks have emerged as a major threat on commercial clouds. These attacks commonly exploit hardware level leakages on shared physical servers. A co-located machine can readily feel the presence of a co-located instance with a heavy computational load through performance degradation due to contention on shared resources. Shared cache architectures such as the last level cache (LLC) have become a popular leakage source to mount cross-VM attack. By exploiting LLC leakages, researchers have already shown that it is possible to recover fine grain information such as cryptographic keys from popular software libraries. This makes it essential to verify implementations that handle sensitive data across the many versions and numerous target platforms, a task too complicated, error prone and costly to be handled by human beings. Here we propose a machine learning based technique to classify applications according to their cache access profiles. We show that with minimal and simple manual processing steps feature vectors can be used to train models using support vector machines to classify the applications with a high degree of success. The profiling and training steps are completely automated and do not require any inspection or study of the code to be classified. In native execution, we achieve a successful classification rate as high as 98% (L1 cache) and 78\% (LLC) over 40 benchmark applications in the Phoronix suite with mild training. In the cross-VM setting on the noisy Amazon EC2 the success rate drops to 60\% for a suite of 25 applications. With this initial study we demonstrate that it is possible to train meaningful models to successfully predict applications running in co-located instances.


Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (HNRNPA1) gene maps to chromosome 12, plus strand and has 13 exons and 12 introns. There are three reported transcripts due to the alternative splicing. HNRNPA1 is one of the most abundant and ubiquitously expressed nuclear proteins. HNRNPA1 is a member of RNA-binding protein family comprising of 20 members in humans (Dreyfuss, 1993; Pinol-Roma, Choi, Matunis, Dreyfuss, 1988). HNRNPA1 has diverse roles in RNA splicing, telomere length maintenance, miRNA maturation and mRNA transport from nucleus to cytoplasm.


Current approach to scientific workflow design in the popular open source Kepler system is based on the actororiented framework where concrete actors can be hierarchically composed and orchestrated by different directors (schedulers). A common assumption in this design framework is that workflow is static and must be completely specified before orchestration. Such a static and monolithic workflow cannot response to changing runtime conditions. We present flexible scientific workflow design that allows some tasks to be partially specified via abstract actors called Frame. The behavior of a frame is determined at runtime by the embedded concrete actor. We implemented the process of dynamic embedding that can tailor to different selection policies and enable automatic construction of subworkflow to execute the embedded component at runtime. Frames and dynamic embedding provide high level abstractions for specifying workflow that enables flexible execution nested to any level. Finally, we illustrate with two distinct scientific workflows from astrophysics and bioinformatics domains the benefit of frames and dynamic embedding.


Shenzhensetsanexampleforrapiddevelopmentofurbanplanningandconstruction.It was the starting point of the most massive city-construction movement in contemporary China. In less than 40 years, many representative urban space and buildings on the mainmast-west highway—-ShennanRoad,have witnessed the for mation of the banded multi-center structural layout and the miraculous expansion of the city. Many of those iconic buildings are designed by Hong Kong or foreign architects. With the continuous development of the length and width of Shennan road, its broad and prosperous image is not only a symbol of the fruits of reform and opening up in Shenzhen or even China, but also contains the growth history of Shenzhen's architectural modernization. This paper reviews and summarizes the changes of the urban fabric and the design trend of representative buildings along with the Shennan Road in different periods by the historical research methods. Combined with the transfer path of the city center, this study analyzes what kind of unique role the street and buildings act as in the developmentofurbanstructureinShenzhen,and expound what other urban functions and symbolic meaning they have. In the context of globalization, this article discusses how do the buildings designed by foreign architects change our city,thedrivenfactors behind the phenomenon of the design trend change. This research can make a supplement to the history and theory of the modernization of contemporary Chinese architecture.