Learning to communicate is an emerging challenge in AI research. It is known that agents interacting in decentralized, stochastic environments can benefit from exchanging information. Multiagent planning generally assumes that agents share a common means of communication; however, in building robust distributed systems it is important to address potential mis-coordination resulting from misinterpretation of messages exchanged. This paper lays foundations for studying this problem, examining its properties analytically and empirically in a decision-theoretic context. Solving the problem optimally is often intractable, but our approach enables agents using different languages to converge upon coordina-


Wildfires are increasing and cause health effects. The immediate and ongoing health impacts of prolonged wildfire smoke exposure in severe asthma are unknown. This longitudinal study examined the experiences and health impacts of prolonged wildfire (bushfire) smoke exposure in adults with severe asthma during the 2019/2020 Australian bushfire period. Participants from Eastern/Southern Australia who had previously enrolled in an asthma registry completed a questionnaire survey regarding symptoms, asthma attacks, quality of life and smoke exposure mitigation during the bushfires and in the months following exposure. Daily individualized exposure to bushfire particulate matter (PM2.5) was estimated by geolocation and validated modelling. Respondents (n = 240) had a median age of 63 years, 60% were female and 92% had severe asthma. They experienced prolonged intense PM2.5 exposure (mean PM2.5 32.5 μg/m3 on 55 bushfire days). Most (83%) of the participants experienced symptoms during the bushfire period, including: breathlessness (57%); wheeze/whistling chest (53%); and cough (50%). A total of 44% required oral corticosteroid treatment for an asthma attack and 65% reported reduced capacity to participate in usual activities. About half of the participants received information/advice regarding asthma management (45%) and smoke exposure minimization strategies (52%). Most of the participants stayed indoors (88%) and kept the windows/doors shut when inside (93%), but this did not clearly mitigate the symptoms. Following the bushfire period, 65% of the participants reported persistent asthma symptoms. Monoclonal antibody use for asthma was associated with a reduced risk of persistent symptoms. Intense and prolonged PM2.5 exposure during the 2019/2020 bushfires was associated with acute and persistent symptoms among people with severe asthma. There are opportunities to improve the exposure mitigation strategies and communicate these to people with severe asthma.


An efficient technique for the analysis of electromagnetic problems involving large metallic bodies with arbitrary complex interior and a number of apertures is presented. Typical applications for this technique are the computation of EMC related transfer-functions of the electromagnetic field, describing the coupling of energy into complex systems as well as the computation of the RCS of complex cavities in large metallic scatterers. The proposed method is based on the combination of generalized admittance matrices (GAMs) for the apertures with MLFMM for the outer problem. The GAMs are first computed by the most appropriate technique for the complex interior problem (e.g. FDTD). In the second step of this technique, the admittance matrices are incorporated into the MLFMM-accelerated iterative MoM solution process. This technique is especially suited for coupling studies of complex systems requiring many different field incident angles, since the GAMs are to be computed only once.


Background The number of interactive digital artifacts is growing surrounding personal lives, and individuals have an increasing need to describe, analyze, and interpret what it means to own, use, and live with a large number of interactive artifacts. It becomes critical from a design perspective to better understand the relational aspects among multiple artifacts beyond the use of individual ones. In this article, we examine the nature of networks of interactive artifacts and the way people understand and handle these networks. We introduce the concept of device landscapes as a conceptual tool for the analysis and examination of personal networks of interactive artifacts. Methods We describe previous work and discuss the theoretical underpinnings supporting our studies. In particular, we compare and contrast our concept of device landscape to other models of multi-artifact systems with an emphasis on the bottom-up perspective in which landscapes are created by users instead of a perspective given by designers. Also, we summarize and interpret several studies we have completed– including personal inventory study, mapping study, survey, and interview to examine how people perceive and manage their personal device landscapes. Based on our findings we propose a conceptual framework aimed at supporting research on these device landscapes. Results From our studies we found that people perceive device landscapes in many different ways and develop their own strategies to manage multiple interactive artifacts, mostly digital devices in use. By investigating high-level patterns from device maps and verbal descriptions, properties and aspects of interactive artifacts are defined to describe the concept of device landscapes. Conclusion We also discuss how these personal networks–namely, device landscapes– present new challenges and implications to the interaction design and HCI research community by comparing it to the perspectives of ubiquitous and pervasive computing environments.


Single-frequency and single-polarization lasing can be generated in a compact self-injection locked fiber Fabry-Perot laser with a short fiber Bragg grating feedback cavity. No discrete polarization control components are required. Different wavelengths actress the laser gain bandwidth can be generated by an appropriate combination of cavity designs and feedback fiber Bragg gratings. A 10-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero transmission test demonstrates the laser's applicability for optical fiber communications.


Copy number variants (CNVs) are a source of genomic variation associated with altered phenotypes. Somatic copy number mosaicism results when different populations of cells in an individual differ due to de novo copy number changes (CNCs). Tissue-specific patterns of CNCs resulting in mosaicism have yet to be characterized in the mouse, an organism frequently used to model human diseases. Here, DNA was sampled from spleen, liver, and cerebellum of eight highly related mice selected from a familial unit. CNVs and CNCs were detected using the Mouse Diversity Genotyping Array with three computational methods (ConsecN, Partek, and PennCNV). Tissue-specific patterns of CNCs were revealed, including genomic regions of putative recurring CNCs. Genetic distance estimated using CNVs and CNCs recapitulated genealogical relationships. The novel framework can thus be used to identify and analyze tissue-specific CNCs, and the results establish the need to account for CNCs in model organisms.


Present1 Imperfect2

1. Disorderly apparel reconfigured

2. A playful project that tested the principal elements of exhibiting fashion: object, body, text, installation. A conversation between exhibition-maker Jeffrey Horsley and curator Amy de la Haye inspired by apparel which is damaged, worn-out or perished.

Object: fragile apparel framed by modular structures

Body: proposals that allude to the human form

Text: playing with format to express actual and associative narratives

Installation: configured as gallery and studio space to share working processes

Disorderly apparel described garments that are badly damaged, utterly worn-out or made from textiles that have perished over time. The items exhibited in Present Imperfect are prized for these very qualities. However, similar apparel can be overlooked or suppressed, left to lie dormant or languish in museum stores.

Selected apparel included a pair of Victorian kid leather gloves that are burned, forever contorted in corporeal gesture. A cotton ballet singlet, borrowed from the Rambert Archive, was once animate but now lies limp, imprinted by repeated exertion. Shattered linings are properties common to a contemporary Stone Island jacket and an afternoon gown crafted over a century ago by leading London couture house Redfern. Most recent was a template leather jacket by Alexander McQueen. It featured photocopied and glued pattern motifs and red felt-tipped annotation redolent of cut-and-paste zines.

These seemingly awkward garments were framed by modular structures that safeguard and actively communicate. Each structure proposed a strategy that alludes to the human form in its absence: a glove placed at the location of a hand; an impression of a dancer's figure milled from a 3D body-scan; representation of a pattern-maker's measures suggests process and proportion.

Text is a routine method for interpretation and engagement. Present Imperfect playfully subverted the conventions of text panel and label. Narratives – actual and associative – such as time, transience and trauma are suggested as possible themes for finding meaning.

In order to share working processes and reveal multiple alternative narratives, the installation was configured as gallery and studio space. An intention is to highlight that within the evolution of any exhibition numerous choices and ideas are explored, rejected and chosen.


Tobacco smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a prolonged inflammatory condition of the lungs characterized by progressive and largely irreversible airflow limitation attributable to a number of pathologic mechanisms, including bronchitis, bronchiolitis, emphysema, mucus plugging, pulmonary hypertension, and small-airway obstruction. Soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibitors (sEHIs) demonstrated anti-inflammatory properties in a rat model after acute exposure to tobacco smoke. We compared the efficacy of sEHI t-TUCB (trans-4-{4-[3-(4-trifluoromethoxy-phenyl)-ureido]-cyclohexyloxy}-benzoic acid) and the phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) inhibitor Rolipram (Biomol International, Enzo Life Sciences, Farmingdale, NY) to reduce lung injury and inflammation after subacute exposure to tobacco smoke over a period of 4 weeks. Pulmonary physiology, bronchoalveolar lavage, cytokine production, and histopathology were analyzed to determine the efficacy of sEHI and Rolipram to ameliorate tobacco smoke-induced inflammation and injury in the spontaneously hypertensive rat. Both t-TUCB and Rolipram inhibited neutrophil elevation in bronchoalveolar lavage. sEHI t-TUCB suppressed IFN-γ, while improving lung function by reducing tobacco smoke-induced total respiratory resistance and tissue damping (small-airway and peripheral tissue resistance). Increases in tobacco smoke-induced alveolar airspace size were attenuated by t-TUCB. Rolipram inhibited the production of airway mucus. Both t-TUCB and Rolipram inhibited vascular remodeling-related growth factor. These findings suggest that sEHI t-TUCB has therapeutic potential for treating COPD by improving lung function and attenuating the lung inflammation and emphysematous changes caused by tobacco smoke. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate that sEHI exerts significant protective effects after repeated, subacute tobacco smoke-induced lung injury in a rat model of COPD.


A numerical and theoretical study is presented on the exhibition of tunable narrow band coupled-induced transparency phenomenon in a hybrid waveguide-plasmon system consisting of gold twin nanowires array embedded in a slab waveguide. We show that, at slightly non-normal incidence, a properly designed splitting of transmission with narrow transparency peaks may occur at a given wavelength, depending on the angle of incidence. This leads to the wavelength-selective high quality coupled-induced transparency resonance at optical frequencies. By adjusting the gap distance of the pair gratings, the coupled-induced transparency band can be switched between on-state and off-state, which provides us possibilities to develop controllable plasmonic functional devices employing plasmonic nanostructures.


Whether the subgingival microbiota differ between individuals with chronic and those with aggressive periodontitis, and whether smoking influences bacterial composition, is controversial. We hypothesized that the subgingival microbiota do not differ between sites in individuals with chronic or aggressive periodontitis, or by smoking status. Bacterial counts and proportional distributions were assessed in 84 individuals with chronic periodontitis and 22 with aggressive periodontitis. No differences in probing pocket depth by periodontal status were found (mean, 0.11 mm; 95% CI, 0.6 to 0.8, p = 0.74). Including Staphylococcus aureus, Parvimonas micra, and Prevotella intermedia, 7/40 species were found at higher levels in those with aggressive periodontitis (p < 0.001). Smokers had higher counts of Tannerella forsythia (p < 0.01). The prevalence of S. aureus in non-smokers with aggressive periodontitis was 60.5%. The null hypothesis was rejected, in that P. intermedia, S. aureus, and S. mutans were robust in diagnosing sites in individuals with aggressive periodontitis. S. aureus, S. sanguinis, and T. forsythia differentiated smoking status.


The European Union has set ambitious targets for emission reduction and the penetration of renewable energy, including the electricity generation sector as one of the major emitters of CO2. After a period of subsidy-driven investments, the costs of renewables decreased strongly making investments more attractive. Since European countries differ strongly in terms of natural resources, we analyse the profitability of wind onshore and offshore and solar PV across Europe to determine where it is optimal to invest in the future and to understand which factors drive the profitability of the investments. We use a power systems model to simulate the whole European electricity market in 2030. Using the renewable revenues determined by the model, we calculate the internal rate of return to analyse how profitable each technology is in each country. We find that investments in the considered technologies are not homogeneously profitable across Europe. This suggests that cooperation between European countries can be expected to achieve the overall targets at lower costs than nationally-driven approaches. We also find that in many countries, wind onshore and solar PV are profitable by 2030 in absence of any financial support. Wind offshore does not seem to be profitable without financial support.


This volume gives a state-of-the-art overview of assessment in the field of positive psychology, including a comprehensive survey of current theories, approaches, issues, and assessment instruments. In four sections, leading experts look at different conceptualizations of well-being and discuss specific traits, states, and behaviors. New directions in positive psychology are also explored, including measuring primal world beliefs, imagination, self-transcendent experiences, and nostalgia.
Each chapter provides an introductory background to the positive psychology topic reviews the most relevant assessment instruments, and discusses the specific assessment-related challenges. Recommendations for selecting assessment tools are included for specific settings, such as school, relationships, health and clinical settings, leisure, and interventions. This book is a must for positive psychology researchers, instructors, students, and practitioners wanting to select the right positive psychology instrument for the right situation.


Soil Physics, A.W. Warrick Physical Properties of Primary Particles Dynamic Properties of Soils Soil Water Content and Water Potential Relationships Soil Water Movement Energy and Water Balances at Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Interfaces Solute Transport Soil Structure Soil Gas Movement in Unsaturated Systems Soil Spatial Variability Soil Chemistry, P.M. Huang The Chemical Composition of Soils Soil Organic Matter The Soil Solution Kinetics and Mechanisms of Soil Chemical Reactions Redox Phenomena Soil Colloidal Behavior Ion Exchange Pehnomena Chemisorption and Precipitation Reactions Abiotic Catalysis Soil pH and pH Buffering Soil Biology and Biochemistry, E.A. Paul Microbiota Soil Fauna Microbially Mediated Processes Nitrogen Transformations Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition, E.J. Kamprath Bioavailability of Major Essential Nutrients Bioavailability of Micronutrients Nutrient Interactions in Soil and Plant Nutrition Soil Fertility Evaluation Fundamentals of Fertilizer Application Nutrient and Water Use Efficiency Pedology, L.P. Wilding Geomorphology of Soil Landscapes Pedogenic Processes Pedological Modeling Soil Taxonomy Other Systems of Soil Classification Classification of Soils Land Evaluation for Landscape Units Soil Mineralogy, J.W. Stucki The Alteration and Formation of Soil Minerals by Weathering Phyllosilicates Oxide Minerals Poorly Crystalline Aluminosilicate Clays Interdiscipinary Aspects of Soil Science, I. Shainberg Salinity Sodicity Hardsetting Soils Biogeochemistry of Wetlands Acid Sulfate Soils Soils and Environmental Quality Water Erosion Wind Erosion Land Application of Wastes Conservation Tillage Soil Quality Soil Databases, M. F. Baumgardner From the Soil Map of the World to the Digital Global Soil and Terrain Database: 1960-2002 SOTER: The World Soils and Terrain Database Development of a 0.5 by 0.5 Resolution Global Database The Canadian Soil Database United States Soil Survey Database The Use of Soil Databases in Resource Assessments


Far from being 'naturally occurring', as is sometimes claimed, this paper begins from the premise that social media data are shaped through complex social and technical processes: from creation, to access, storage, analysis and visualization. Drawing on the vocabulary of Science and Technology Studies we conceptualize this as a sociotechnical infrastructure and offer a methodological description of this using the metaphor of a 'data pipeline'. Using this framework, our paper draws on a combination of evidence from secondary literature and our own experiments, our paper aims (i) to demonstrate the processes at play at each stage of the pipeline (ii) to interrogate the iterative nature of the pipeline (how decisions made at one stage shape research possibilities at a later stage) and (iii) to assess the consequences for social research and the value of social media data in this endeavor.


The objective of this study was to assess the agronomic, morphogenic and structural characteristics of tropical forage grasses during the establishment phase and throughout the second year in northeast Brazil. The treatments included 9 grasses: Brachiaria humidicola (koronivia grass), Brachiaria hybrid cv. Mulato, Brachiaria brizantha cvv. Piata, Xaraes and Marandu, Brachiaria ruziziensis (ruzi grass), Brachiaria decumbens (signal grass), Panicum hybrid cv. Massai and Andropogon gayanus (gamba grass). The grasses were planted in a randomized complete block design with 4 replications. The following parameters were measured: total forage production, leaf:stem ratio, tiller population density, number of dead tillers, leaf emergence rate, phyllochron, leaf elongation rate, stem elongation rate, rate of leaf senescence, final length of leaf blade and life-span of leaves. In the establishment year, cv. Mulato produced the highest forage yields, followed by cvv. Xaraes and Massai, with gamba grass and koronivia grass worst. In the second year, cvv. Mulato, Xaraes and Marandu, and gamba grass showed highest forage production, while cvv. Massai and Piata produced the least. All grasses showed a marked drop in production during the dry season. Cultivar Massai consistently had the highest leaf:stem ratio. The morphogenic and structural characteristics differed according to cultivar and season of the year. In general, leaf emergence rate, leaf elongation rate, stem elongation rate, rate of leaf senescence, final length of the leaf blade, number of live leaves per tiller and density of living tillers were higher in the rainy season, while the phyllochron and life-span of leaves were higher in the dry season. The results of this research highlight the potential of the Brachiaria cultivars Mulato and Xaraes, gamba grass and Panicum cv. Massai in subhumid Maranhao, northeast Brazil.


"The purpose of this research is to articulate the relationships that exist between housing affordability by metropolitan areas and the following variables: housing costs, income, educational attainment, population density, population growth rate, and employment composition by economic sector (professional, sales and office, and service). This paper will contribute to the existing affordability literature by considering all of these variables simultaneously through a regression equation based on US Census data. The findings indicate that housing affordability is geographically differentiated with the West Coast metropolitan areas being the least affordable and the South Central metropolitan areas being most affordable. Some of the predictors of housing affordability appeared to be educational attainment, employment mix, and population density based on correlation and regression results."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.


In this study we first analyze duties on passenger cars in 27 European countries. Taxes and fees related to the registration, ownership and use of cars are assessed differently across Europe, and their rates vary significantly. We find that the annual taxes levied on specific types of cars differ across countries by a factor of up to four, while the various kinds of duties levied account for extremely diverse shares of the entire car-related tax burden and give rise to very different ratios of fixed and variable components in the taxes levied. Given the importance of taxation systems for market and competitive conditions, the European Commission is seeking to achieve reciprocal alignment of the various systems. The Commission has also proposed that greater importance be given to environmental criteria in the assessment of vehicle related taxes. Effectively in some countries, the registration taxes represent a significant burden on the acquisition of new vehicles; this factor reduces market transparency and may mean that taxes are levied twice. Only in a few countries' tax schemes is fuel consumption taken into account, and then only to a marginal degree. It is thus necessary to modify and simplify the tax systems in Europe, because it is crucial that the traffic sector contribute more to climate protection, and because motor vehicles impair local air quality. In this context, the overall structure of the various charges to passenger cars should be rebalanced, with CO2 emissions not being the sole focus.


Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) into China is analysed using an FDI model that accounts for different modes of FDI as well as third country effects and adds to existing literature by incorporating a new measurement of political distance. Political closeness between countries is shown to affect FDI. An improvement in political relations is associated with an increase in FDI by reducing uncertainty in the invest- ment environment. The performance of Japanese FDI into China is shown to be high relative to its potential since the late 1980s. The signing of the bilateral investment treaty in 1988 and China's WTO accession in 2001 were events that helped reduce uncertainty in bilateral investment, with the latter mitigating the effects of increased uncertainty from rising bilateral political tensions after 2001.


BACKGROUND
Rapid activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) improves outcomes for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), but selected emphasis on minimizing time to reperfusion may lead to a greater frequency of false-positive activations.

METHODS
We analyzed consecutive patients referred for primary PCI for a possible STEMI at 2 centers from October 2008 to April 2011. "False-positive STEMI activation" was defined as lack of a culprit lesion by angiography or by assessment of clinical, electrocardiographic, and biomarker data in the absence of angiography. Clinical and electrocardiographic factors associated with false-positive activations were evaluated in a backward stepwise selection bootstrapped logistic regression model.

RESULTS
Of 411 STEMI activations by emergency physicians, 146 (36%) were deemed to be false-positive activations. Structural heart disease and heart failure were the most common diagnoses among false-positive activations. Electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 3.15; 95% CI, 1.55-6.40; P=.001), a history of coronary disease (AOR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.04-3.59; P=.04), or prior illicit drug abuse (AOR, 2.67; 95% CI, 1.13-6.26; P=.02) independently increased the odds of false-positive STEMI activations. Increasing body mass index decreased the odds of a false-positive activation (AOR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.86-0.97; P=.004), as did angina at presentation (AOR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.14-0.57; P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS
More than a third of patients referred for primary PCI from the emergency department did not have a STEMI. Multiple patient-level characteristics were significantly associated with an increased odds of false-positive STEMI activation.


Interest in sustainable alternatives to synthetic nitrogen (N) for switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) forage and bioenergy production, such as biological N2 fixation (BNF) via legume-intercropping, continues to increase. The objectives were to: (i) test physical and chemical scarification techniques (10 total) for common vetch (Vicia sativa L.); (ii) assess whether switchgrass yield is increased by BNF under optimum seed dormancy suppression methods; and (iii) determine BNF rates of common and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa L.) via the N-difference method. Results indicate that chemical scarification (sulfuric acid) and mechanical pretreatment (0.7 kg of pressure for one minute) improve common vetch germination by 60% and 50%, respectively, relative to controls. Under optimum scarification methods, BNF was 59.3 and 43.3 kg·N·ha−1 when seeded at 7 kg pure live seed ha−1 for common and hairy vetch, respectively. However, at this seeding rate, switchgrass yields were not affected by BNF (p > 0.05). Based on BNF rates and plant density estimates, seeding rates of 8 and 10 kg pure live seed (PLS) ha−1 for common and hairy vetch, respectively, would be required to obtain plant densities sufficient for BNF at the current recommended rate of 67 kg·N·ha−1 for switchgrass biomass production in the Southeastern U.S.


Objectives Enquiries to the drug information centre revealed that clinicians were not aware of the importance of rifampicin drug interactions. We conducted a short time study to demonstrate the relevance of these interactions in the clinical setting today. Methods Over a total period of 4 weeks (two 2-week periods) we identified patients on rifampicin, performed a drug interaction test for their complete medication regime and analysed the results for severity of drug interactions. Results A total of 137 potential drug interactions were found in 26 patients, including 6 contraindications. For additional 80 combinations, treatment adjustment was required or probably necessary. Most interactions had not been considered for the patient, including all contraindications and drug interactions with anti-infectives. Conclusions Rifampicin drug interactions are of high relevance in the clinical setting today. However, clinicians failed to consider this issue for all patients. An individual drug interaction test is recommended for all patients given rifampicin. This is especially important when electronic patient records with integrated drug interaction tests are not available.


There is a large research base indicating numerous gender differences in prevalence rates of psychopathology, the expression of psychopathology, and the etiology of psychopathology across different disorders (Zahn-Waxier, Shirtcliff, & Marceau, 2008). Such documented gender differences in mental health among children and adolescents have significant implications for the provision of school- based mental health services. This article provides an overview of the research documenting differences in mental health among children and adolescents and a description of the delivery of gender-informed mental health services through a public health model framework of service delivery. Gender-informed prevention and intervention strategies are presented using specific examples to provide practitioners with a greater awareness of gender differences and their implications for providing mental health services to children and adolescents. The article concludes with recommendations for the field of school psychology.


Various seismic attributes of gas hydrate bearing sediments were analyzed in the accretionary prism offshore of southwestern Taiwan utilizing seismic imaging, velocity analysis, AVO analysis, and AVO inversion of large offset seismic data. A bottom-simulating reflector (BSR) is clearly observed on the seismic section with a reversed polarity compared to that of the seabed reflection. Instantaneous amplitude sectioning clearly shows lateral variations of the BSR. The zero-phase waveform of the BSR is distinct and the weak reflectors above the BSR can be observed on the instantaneous phase section. AVO analysis shows the absolute value of the negative BSR amplitude increasing with offset. A low P-wave interval velocity layer was found below the strong BSR by detailed velocity analysis. Both the P (normal incident P-wave reflection coefficient) and G (AVO gradient) values are highly negative for the strong BSR on the P and G sections, and they lie in the third quadrant of the P and G cross-plot section. The P+G (reflectivity of Poisson's ratio) value is also negative on the P+G section and the P-G (normal incident S-wave reflection coefficient) value is approximately zero on the P-G section along the same strong BSR. All the seismic characters described above suggest that a gas hydrate layer exists together with a free gas layer below it along strong BSRs in the area offshore southwestern Taiwan.


Abstract The half elliptical hole with an edge crack in a thermopiezoelectric material is studied by using the complex variable method. First, the mapping function which maps the outside of the elliptical hole and the crack in the right half plane into the outside of a circular hole in a full plane is given by the method of conformal mapping. Then, the complex potential functions and the field intensity factors (FIF) are presented according to the boundary conditions, respectively. Some useful results can be found by numerical analysis: 1) The influence of the heat flux on FIF depends on the model of the crack; 2) The shape and the size of the hole possess a significant effect on the field distribution at the crack tip.


Now in its third edition, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language provides the most comprehensive coverage of the history, structure and worldwide use of English. Fully updated and expanded, with a fresh redesigned layout, and over sixty audio resources to bring language extracts to life, it covers all aspects of the English language including the history of English, with new pages on Shakespeare's vocabulary and pronunciation, updated statistics on global English use that now cover all countries and the future of English in a post-Brexit Europe, regional and social variations, with fresh insights into the growing cultural identities of 'new Englishes', English in everyday use with new sections on gender identities, forensic studies, and 'big data' in corpus linguistics, and digital developments, including the emergence of new online varieties in social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. Packed with brand new colour illustrations, photographs, maps, tables and graphs, this new edition is an essential tool for a new generation of twenty-first-century English language enthusiasts.


The Austrian Social Security Database (ASSD) is a matched firm-worker data set, which records the labor market history of almost 11 million individuals from January 1972 to April 2007. Moreover, more than 2.2 million firms can be identified. The individual labor market histories are described in the following dimensions: very detailed daily labor market states and yearly earnings at the firm-worker level, together with a limited set of demographic characteristics. Additionally the ASSD provides some firm related information, such as geographical location and industry affiliation. This paper is a short description of this huge data base and intended for people using this data in their own empirical work.


We find conditions ensuring the existence of the one-sided Minkowski content for d-dimensional closed sets in R, in connection with regularity properties of their boundaries. Moreover, we provide a class of sets stable under finite unions for which the one-sided Minkowski content exists. It follows, in particular, that finite unions of sets with Lipschitz boundary and a type of sets with positive reach belong to this class. We find analogous conditions, stable under finite unions as well, for the existence of the mean one-sided Minkowski content of random closed sets. Finally, an application to birth-and-growth stochastic processes is briefly discussed.


Abstract Before the definitive shutdown of the prototype Phénix, a final set of experiments was performed to gather important data about the operation and safety of sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs). Among the accident sequences that are to be taken into account, inadvertent withdrawal of a control rod is considered. During operation at nominal power, such a sequence induces a general power increase and local deformations of the power shape. Afterward, local fuel temperature increases can thereby lead to fuel melting and clad failure. The quasi-static control rod withdrawal test was specially designed to gather local power data on fissile assemblies and to complete validation databases of neutronic codes. The maximal deformation of the power shape reached ±12% and was obtained when two control rods were shifted in opposite directions. The test analysis was conducted with the neutronics code ERANOS-2.2. Comparisons between calculated and measured values were satisfying. Most of the discrepancies in power estimation can be explained by measurement problems (heat transfer, sodium mixing). The association of ERANOS-2.2 and the nuclear library JEFF-3.1, presently used for the predesign phase of the ASTRID reactor, constitutes an acceptable predictive tool for local and integral parameter estimations in SFRs, specifically in the evaluation of the control rod withdrawal incident.


Even at low to moderate doses, ingestion of the widely used recreational drug alcohol (ethanol) can impact cognitive and emotional processing. Recent studies show that the sense of agency (SoA; ie, the subjective experience of voluntary control over actions) can be modulated by specific pharmacological manipulations. The SoA, as quantified by the intentional binding (IB) paradigm, is enhanced by direct or indirect dopaminergic agonists in patients with Parkinson's disease and by ketamine (an N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist) in healthy individuals. These findings implicate dopaminergic and glutamatergic neurotransmission in mechanisms underlying SoA. Alcohol has a complex set of actions, including disinhibition of dopaminergic neurotransmission and allosteric antagonism at NMDA receptors. Here, we tested the hypothesis that low to moderate doses of alcohol would enhance SoA, and impact impulsivity and subjective emotional state. We conducted two experiments in 59 healthy male and female social drinkers, who ingested either a placebo "vehicle," or one of two doses of ethanol: 0.4 and 0.6 g/kg. In both experiments, we observed increased SoA/IB at both doses of alcohol exposure, relative to the placebo condition. We found no correlation between the effects of alcohol on IB and on impulsivity or subjective emotional state. Our findings might have implications for social and legal responsibility related to alcohol use, particularly in states prior to overt intoxication. Further studies are necessary to investigate the effects of alcohol and other addictive substances on the SoA.


We offer several new arguments for the view that existing research agendas in the health sciences and the agricultural sciences are morally deficient. More specifically, the following kinds of distortion of the agenda are discussed: in the health sciences, the health problems of the poor are more or less neglected, as well as non-medicinal solutions to health problems, and in the agricultural sciences, insufficient attention is paid to agroecology. We justify the claim that these three kinds of distortion are problematic on ethical grounds, showing that they are  moral  failures. Instead of starting from one ethical theory to show this, we present different ethical justifications, based on different ethical theories (Bentham's utilitarianism, Rawls's theory of justice, Pogge's rights-based account of minimal justice, Kitcher's ethical theory, and classical liberalism). This should make our conclusion (i.e. that the distorted research agendas in the health sciences and the agricultural sciences pose a moral problem) at least initially convincing to adherents of different ethical theories.


In the work at hand, we combine a Private Information Retrieval (PIR) protocol with Somewhat Homomorphic Encryption (SHE) and use Searchable Encryption (SE) with the objective to provide security and confidentiality features for a third party cloud security audit. During the auditing process, a third party auditor will act on behalf of a cloud service user to validate the security requirements performed by a cloud service provider. Our concrete contribution consists of developing a PIR protocol which is proceeding directly on a log database of encrypted data and allowing to retrieve a sum or a product of multiple encrypted elements. Subsequently, we concretely apply our new form of PIR protocol to a cloud audit use case where searchable encryption is employed to allow additional confidentiality requirements to the privacy of the user. Exemplarily we are considering and evaluating an audit of client accesses to a controlled resource provided by a cloud service provider.


Accurate steady and unsteady numerical solutions of the full 2-D governing equations – that model the film condensation of saturated vapor flowing over a horizontal plate (the problem of Cess [1] and Koh [2]) – are obtained and new results on the solutions' unsteady response to disturbances are presented. The computations reveal important features of this classical condensing flow problem. The results highlight the scope and limitations of the well-known similarity solution given by Koh [2]. For the steady problem formulation, the paper discusses the similarities and differences between the solution obtained by solving the full 2-D governing equations and the one obtained semi-analytically by the similarity solution approach of Koh [2]. It is shown that the pressure variations in the vapor domain near the leading edge, though small, are important in deciding condensation dynamics (steady and unsteady) and cannot, in general, be neglected, as is the case with the similarity solution. For this shear driven flow, by considering the unsteady solutions, the paper finds that any initial guess leads to an unsteady solution which is attracted to a long-term steady solution (which is same as the solution as the steady problem). However, the attraction rates gradually diminish with increasing distance from the leading edge and decreasing inlet speed. The steady solutions for this external flow problem are generally found to be stable to initial disturbances at the interface or in the interior of the flow domain. However, since these flows can only be physically realized on suitable finite length portions of the plate, the issue of their stability and sensitivity to exit pressure disturbances and ever-present noise (through exit pressure or bottom plate) is also considered. For example, for the finite domain realization of this problem, it is found that the flows are stable to small initial disturbances to the nearly uniform value of exit pressure. These finite domain realizations of the flow are unique in the sense that they allow different non-uniform steady pressure prescriptions leading to different steady solutions – particularly near the exit zone. As a result, near the exit of a long plate, large unsteadiness is expected due to sensitivity to small exit pressure noise/fluctuations. The exit pressure noise for finite domain realization of these flows is expected because of practical difficulties in maintaining constant uniform pressures at downstream locations of the top and exit boundaries. It is shown that the transverse component of gravity does not affect the solution or its dynamic response except for the expected changes in the nature of hydrostatic pressure variations.Copyright © 2007 by ASME


Background OpenPrescribing is a freely accessible service that enables any user to view and analyse NHS primary care prescribing data at the level of individual practices. This tool is intended to improve the quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness of prescribing. Objectives We set out to measure the impact of OpenPrescribing being viewed on subsequent prescribing. Methods Having pre-registered our protocol and code, we measured three different metrics of prescribing quality (mean percentile across 34 existing OpenPrescribing quality measures, available "price-per-unit" savings, and total "low-priority prescribing" spend) to see if they changed after CCG and practice pages were viewed. We also measured whether practices whose data were viewed on OpenPrescribing differed in prescribing, prior to viewing, to those who were not. We used fixed effects and between effects linear panel regression, to isolate change over time and differences between practices respectively. We adjusted for month of prescribing in the fixed effects model, to remove underlying trends in outcome measures. Results We found a reduction in available price-per-unit savings for both practices and CCGs after their pages were viewed. The saving was greater at the practice level (−£40.42 per thousand patients per month, 95% confidence interval −54.04 to −26.01) than at CCG level (−£14.70 per thousand patients per month, 95% confidence interval −25.56 to −3.84). We estimate a total saving since launch of £243k at practice level and £1.47m at CCG level between the feature launch and end of follow-up (August to November 2017) among practices viewed. If the observed savings from practices viewed were extrapolated to all practices, this would generate £26.8m in annual savings for the NHS, approximately 20% of the total possible savings from this method. The other two measures were not different after CCGs/practices were viewed. Practices which were viewed had worse prescribing quality scores overall, prior to viewing. Conclusions We found a clinically significant positive impact from use of OpenPrescribing, specifically for the class of savings opportunities that can only be identified by using this tool. We also show that it is possible to conduct a robust analysis of the impact of such an online service on clinical practice.


The Division of Emergency Pharmacy was established at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Okayama University in 2011. Pharmacists employed by the University Hospital have been assigned to serve as clinical faculty; some of them had been sent as members of medical support teams to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. After the intra-school debrief session by the dispatched faculty in April 2011, both instructors and students recognized the importance of the role of pharmacists in emergency medicine. Although Japan suffers from natural disasters often, pharmacists have not always had the chance to be involved in emergency medicine. As such, in line with the mission of the School, "emergency pharmacy" must be established not only as a subject in pharmacy education but also as an academic category in itself. The Science Council of Japan proposed the social role of a professional pharmacists and its contribution to the quality of medicine. Thus, the establishment of "emergency pharmacy" will realize higher quality of medical services as well as the broader function of pharmacists. The disaster offered the chance to encourage further discussion of what and how pharmacy education should be in the future.


The aim of this study is to investigate the associations between work exposure such as psychoso- cial work factors and work posture, and health in men and women with the same type of occupa- tion in the manufacturing industry. Two follow-ups with a follow-up rate of 67% from the WOrk, Lipids and Fibrinogen (WOLF) cohort from the Northern Sweden were used. The database included 1589 men and 286 women, which is representative of the proportions between men and women in the Swedish manufacturing industry. To be able to understand the importance of work context, the participants were categorized according to work tasks (working with things or symbols). Lo- gistic regression was used for interaction analyses between sex and psychosocial work factors (such as demand, control, social support, role conflict, and work-family conflict) as well as physi- cal work factors (such as work posture), and health outcomes (work overcommitment, fatigue, and neck and back pain). The results showed contextually different patterns of sex different asso- ciations between psychosocial work factors and health outcomes. For instance, women were at larger risk of ill-health (in the form of work overcommitment) when working with things, whereas men were at larger risk of both work overcommitment and fatigue when working with symbols. Women working with symbols had a larger risk of neck and back pain due to work-family conflict. The health outcome that was most sensitive to the sex different associations was work overcom- mitment. In conclusion, the work context matters for sex differences in the association between psychosocial work factors and health and since work overcommitment is a predictor of disease, it should be of interest for the Occupational Health Services and personnel departments to survey. * Corresponding author.


The convergence rate of iterative stationary methods for the PageRank linear system is significant for efficient computation of the relative rank of web pages based on the Web graph. This paper investigates this problem from the perspective of a message-passing framework on a distributed memory parallel programming model. A three-dimensional Web model is introduced to present a scalable link analysis algorithm that can compute the rank vector of a linear system with a high degree of convergence and accuracy. The algorithm derives its scalability by eliminating the need for any global information or page categorization. The details of the MPI-based parallel implementation and the experimental results obtained on a 8-node cluster of Intel Xeon 3.0 GHz, 1.5GB RAM machines over a 100MBit Ethernet LAN are provided. The variation in convergence behavior with residual probability is analyzed. For the WebBase crawl, a speedup of 12.45 is obtained by the scalable algorithm over the centralized algorithm.


Abstract The power spectrum is defined as the square of the magnitude of the Fourier transform (FT) of a signal. The advantage of FT analysis is that it allows the decomposition of a signal into individual periodic frequency components and establishes the relative intensity of each component. It is the most commonly used signal processing technique today. If the same principle is applied for the detection of periodicity components in a Fourier spectrum, the process is called the cepstrum analysis. Cepstrum analysis is a very useful tool for detection families of harmonics with uniform spacing or the families of sidebands commonly found in gearbox, bearing and engine vibration fault spectra. Higher order spectra (HOS) (also known as polyspectra) consist of higher order moment of spectra which are able to detect non-linear interactions between frequency components. For HOS, the most common used is the bisoectrum. The bispectrum is the third-order frequency domain measure, which contains information that standard power spectral analysis techniques cannot provide. It is well known that neural networks can represent complex non-linear relationships, and therefore they are extremely useful for fault identification and classification. This paper presents an application of power spectrum, cepstrum, bispectrum and neural network for fault pattern extraction of induction motors. The potential for using the power spectrum, cetstrum, bispectrum and neural network as means for differentiating between healthy and faulty induction motor operation is examined. A series of experiments are done and the advantages and disadvantages between them are discussed.


Detection of stationary targets using pixel-wise likelihood ratio test (LRT) detectors has been recently proposed for through-the-wall radar imaging (TWRI) applications. We employ image segmentation techniques, in lieu of LRT, for target detection in TWRI. More specifically the widely used between-class variance (BCV) thresholding, maximum entropy segmentation, and K-means clustering are considered to aid in removing the clutter, resulting in enhanced radar images with target regions only. For the case when multiple images of the same scene are available through diversity in polarization and/or vantage points around a building structure, we propose to use image fusion, following the image segmentation step, to generate an enhanced composite image. In particular, additive, multiplicative, and fuzzy logic fusion techniques are considered. The performance of the segmentation and fusion schemes is evaluated and compared with that of the assumed LRT detector using both electromagnetic (EM) modeling and real data collected in a laboratory environment. The results show that, although the principles of segmentation and detection are different, the segmentation techniques provide either comparable or improved performance over the LRT detector. Specifically, in the cases considered, the maximum entropy segmentation produces the best results for detection of targets inside building structures. For fusion of multiple segmented images of the same scene, the fuzzy logic fusion outperforms the other methods.


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Context. The Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) was designed to measure the composition of the gas in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the target of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission. In addition to the volatiles, ROSINA measured refractories sputtered off the comet by the interaction of solar wind protons with the surface of the comet.
Aims. The origin of different solar system materials is still heavily debated. Isotopic ratios can be used to distinguish between different reservoirs and investigate processes occurring during the formation of the solar system.
Methods. ROSINA consisted of two mass spectrometers and a pressure sensor. In the ROSINA Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer (DFMS), the neutral gas of cometary origin was ionized and then deflected in an electric and a magnetic field that separated the ions based on their mass-to-charge ratio. The DFMS had a high mass resolution, dynamic range, and sensitivity that allowed detection of rare species and the known major volatiles.
Results. We measured the relative abundance of all three stable silicon isotopes with the ROSINA instrument on board the Rosetta spacecraft. Furthermore, we measured $^{13}$C/$^{12}$C in C$_2$H$_4$, C$_2$H$_5$, and CO. The DFMS in situ measurements indicate that the average silicon isotopic composition shows depletion in the heavy isotopes $^{29}$Si and $^{30}$Si with respect to $^{28}$Si and solar abundances, while $^{13}$C to $^{12}$C is analytically indistinguishable from bulk planetary and meteorite compositions. Although the origin of the deficiency of the heavy silicon isotopes cannot be explained unambiguously, we discuss mechanisms that could have contributed to the measured depletion of the isotopes $^{29}$Si and $^{30}$Si.


World Food Programme (WFP) and the Kenyan Ministry of Education introduced school feeding programme in targeted pre-primary and primary schools in 1980.   However, its effects in promoting pupils' class participation in early childhood are not clear.  The objective of the study was to assess the pupils' class participation in ECDE centres with a school feeding programme and those without. The study also sought to test out the following null hypothesis (Ho1): There is no statistically significant difference in class participation of pupils in ECDE centres with feeding programme and those without. The study used descriptive survey research design.  The total number of pupils was 54,629 from 1163 centres. Twenty centres were purposively selected based on high population.  380 pupils were sampled using Krejcie and Morgan's table (1970). Twenty headteachers, 20 teachers and two county directors were sampled. This study was theoretically guided by Maslow's hierarchy of needs.   Data was collected by means of an interview schedule, questionnaires and an observation schedule. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics by using SPSS. The Major finding is that pupils in ECDE centres with SFP participate more than those in schools without SFP. The study recommends that SFP be implemented in all schools.


A numerical technique for studying the generation of second-harmonic radiation in the interaction of light with two-dimensional particles of arbitrary shape is described. The medium of which the particles are composed is assumed to be homogeneous and isotropic. For the special case of cylindrical particles the numerical results are compared with results obtained with a Mie-type theory. The numerical technique is then illustrated through calculations for particles of various shapes by use of a free-electron model for nonlinear polarization. Among other things, we have found that, when a symmetrical particle is illuminated along its axis of symmetry, there is no second-harmonic radiation along that axis and that s-polarized second-harmonic light can be generated only by a mixture of s- and p-polarized illumination. The effects that the departure from cylindrical shape has on the resonances were also studied.


In order for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to be used reliably for extended periods of time, they must be able to adapt to the users evolving needs. This adaptation should not only be a function of the environmental (external) context, but should also consider the internal context, such as cognitive states and brain signal reliability. In this work, we propose three different shared control frameworks that have been used for BCI applications: contextual fusion, contextual gating, and contextual regulation. We review recently published results in the light of these three context-awareness frameworks. Then, we discuss important issues to consider when designing a shared controller for BCI.


The customary tenure of reef areas in many parts of the South Pacific offers an obvious context within which fishery resources might be managed cooperatively between customary-rights owners and fisheries personnel in government, yet the local foundations for such co-management have received little critical attention. Seven customary fishing rights areas (CFRAs) in Fiji were the focus of the present study, the objective being to compare management of CFRAs subject to differing levels of fishing access and ascertain those factors most influential to local management practices. The intensity of access ('access pressure') was measured as the number of licences issued per CFRA and per unit area, while management was assessed as an index, based on evidence of five aspects of management (management structure, marshalling of information for management, approach to goodwill payments, management measures and patrolling and enforcement) derived from questionnaires. Management varied amongst the CFRAs, one of the seven being essentially unmanaged because of a breakdown in succession between chiefs. There was little evidence for management responding uniformly to access pressure; rather, two CFRAs evinced a certain management aptitude regardless of this pressure, and two other CFRAs evinced relatively little management although pressure was high. A simple survey technique can indicate useful contrasts amongst CFRAs in functional local management, and thus be useful for guiding decisions about where to make investments in local management or co-management.


This paper presents a unique spam mail filtering technique based on a deep analysis of statistics on URL's included in various e-mails gathered from a laboratory in a university for about six months. Since the proposed mail filtering technique searches only URL's in mail, the overhead introduced by searching all mail contents or black list utilized by many other mail filtering algorithms is significantly reduced. In addition, the proposed filtering technique dynamically updates URL list through client feedback, and the bias possibly introduced by selecting bad training mail set can be eliminated as the filtering process is progressed.


The main purpose of this test was to asses the performance of an actual customer with little or no previous InTouch experience. The usability test measured the total time needed to accomplish information entry and output, and record user critical incidents. Tasks included routine operations, print operations, and import/export of data.

Each test session consisted of a performance test where the user performed a series of tasks, and a post-test interview where the user filled out a brief user preference questionnaire about the functionality and usability of InTouch and was given the opportunity to make comments or ask questions about InTouch.

Evaluation measures included: observations and comments for each critical incident; classification of errors associated with critical incidents including severity, scope, and source of error; the time necessary to complete each task; the percentage of participants who successfully complete each task; and user rankings of the functionality
and usability of InTouch.

All participants did fulfill InTouch developer goals of having users succeed in entering information into InTouch within the first 5-10 minutes of use and outputting information from InTouch within the first half hour of use. Although, many participants did have major problems.

User likes included the InTouch documentation, the exclusion option in sort, the option of creating a new group from the group search dialog box, the choice of sounds for reminders, and the repeat option for reminders.

User dislikes included having to search the giant InTouch menu, the difficulty figuring out the function of the different panes in the main window, the lack of on-line help, and the lack of access to group functions from the main window. Users also disliked InTouch not behaving like other Macintosh applications: its files could not be opened by double-clicking, and no one liked having to select InTouch from the menu to start-up the program. Most users also had problems with the print and layout dialog boxes.

Problems were rated in terms of severity and scope, and whenever possible, the source of the problems and potential solutions were indicated. The solutions presented in this report are just recommendations. Re-design efforts should consider alternative solutions with both the problems and potential solutions evaluated in light of the total system.


A growing number of legal educators are calling for greater attention to leadership development as an element of legal education at American law schools. Some make the case directly in the name of leadership education. Others see leadership development as part of a broader law school responsibility to provide purposeful support for students in the formation of their professional identity. For yet others, development of leadership skills figures in a law school's appropriate commitment to the professionalism, professional development, or wellness of its students. These educators, though employing different locutions, constitute a "coalition of the willing" – law school faculty and staff who are adopting innovations to help advance their students in their development as professionals.They are promoting, at bottom, the same fundamental innovation: the institution of purposeful, more systematic educational effort by the law school to support each student's formation of professional identity and purpose.
Were this innovation to take hold, it would bring about a major and beneficial reframing of legal education. This article submits that the reframing is within reach. To attain it, however, will take effective leadership. Drawing on Everett M. Rogers' classic work, Diffusion of Innovations, this article demonstrates that the conditions for successful leadership are present. The necessary leaders are in place and identifiable. They are the members of the "coalition of the willing" – opinion leaders with the greatest potential sway on those colleagues who have yet to adopt. The necessary followers similarly are in place and identifiable. They are legal education colleagues with discernible sensibilities – and they are disposed to give the innovation deliberate and open consideration, and to value heavily the examples set and opinions shared by their colleagues in the coalition. The consideration these potential adopters will give to the innovation will follow a predictable process and take into account predicable factors – permitting the leaders to engage in purposeful, effective leadership that meets their followers where they are, providing them the information they need in the form and manner most conducive to their adoption. A well-informed and well-led consideration should leave the potential adopters impressed with the innovation. Purposeful support of professional identity formation is an innovation that is compatible with their values, easy to try and implement, and replete with relative advantage for students, the law school, and the faculty and administrators who work there.


Prospective research supports the therapeutic effect of sex reassignment (SR) for adolescent and adult transsexuals. Data were used from 345 patients who applied for SR. Of these applicants, 232 started hormone treatment, 113 did not. The group who completed SR consisted of 196 transsexuals. Follow-up data were gathered one to five years after SR.

The results of 171 treated adult transsexuals showed improvement in many areas of functioning after SR. The main symptom for which the patients had requested treatment, gender dysphoria, had disappeared after treatment, which is the primary goal of SR. Improvement was also found in satisfaction of the patients with their sex characteristics. In addition, according to observers, the appearance of the transsexuals better matched that of the desired new gender after treatment. Psychological functioning of the group had also improved after SR. Most of the transsexuals also functioned well socially, sexually, and in the new gender role. Above all, the vast majority of the group expressed no feelings of regret about their SR. However, a few individuals expressed reservations about the beneficial effects of treatment at follow-up. In particular, one male-to-female expressed strong regret and another some feelings of regret, during and after treatment. Both assigned these feelings to the adverse reactions from society.

By far the least explored and most controversial domain with respect to SR is early (hormone) treatment with adolescent transsexuals. Results of the present study support the decision to refer well-functioning adolescents for early (between 16 to 18 years) hormone treatment, considering the positive outcomes of SR on several areas of postoperative functioning of this group. Within the treated adolescent group the gender dysphoria was absent after SR. The adolescents also appeared to function quite well socially and psychologically, and they were more satisfied with their sex characteristics as well after SR. Not a single adolescent expressed feelings of regret concerning the decision to undergo SR.

Other findings from this thesis led us to conclude that the distinction between subtypes of transsexuals is theoretically and clinically meaningful. The differences that were found between homosexual and nonhomosexual transsexuals suggest different developmental routes for each of these subtypes. The road along which the nonhomosexual subtype evolves the gender identity conflict is most likely to be accompanied with more obstacles. Taking into account that the nonhomosexuals were found to be psychologically more vulnerable than the homosexuals, especially before treatment, they may require additional guidance during treatment.

Finally, we investigated which factors at assessment could predict the course and outcomes of SR. Eligibility for SR was largely based upon the factors gender dysphoria, psychological stability, and physical appearance. Transsexuals with a nonhomosexual preference, psychological instability, and strong dissatisfaction about their appearance, at assessment, are more at risk for worse postoperative functioning and more dissatisfaction after treatment.

To conclude, the current study substantiates findings from previous, mainly retrospective, studies, that SR is indeed effective. However, alleviation of the gender identity problem is not equivalent with an easy life. Yet, for most of the transsexuals who participated in this study, the strict eligibility criteria and the standard professional guidance as currently provided, appears to be sufficient to help resolve their gender identity conflict.


Background Electrosurgery-induced tubal thermal injury obscures cellular detail and hampers histomorphological assessment for occult pathology. Objective The objectives of this study were to report on diathermy-related thermal injuries to the fallopian tube observed at RRSO and explore its potential impact on the detection of occult tubal epithelial lesions. Design This study was composed of high-risk women from breast and/or ovarian cancer families attending a tertiary high-risk familial gynecologic cancer clinic. This was a retrospective case-control analysis of high-risk women who underwent RRSO. Cases were all women detected to have occult lesions (tubal atypia/carcinoma in situ/cancer) between January 2005 and December 2010. Control subjects were all women with normal tubal/ovarian histology between August 2006 and December 2007. Methods Two pathologists performed histopathologic assessment for grade of thermal injury. Tubal diathermy injury rates were compared between cases and controls. Statistical analysis was undertaken using SPSS version 18. The Mann-Whitney U test compared age distributions; &khgr;2/Fisher tests, the difference between proportions, and &ggr; test, the difference in ordinal variables between the groups. Results A novel tubal thermal index to describe the severity of injury is reported. Lack of fimbrial thermal injury is twice as likely (odds ratio, 2.04; 95% confidence interval, 1.06–3.92) to be associated with detection of occult tubal pathology, whereas isthmic injury does not affect detection rate (P = 0.744). The groups were comparable with respect to age at RRSO (P = 0.531) and the presence of BRCA mutations (P = 0.192). Conclusions This report highlights the potential impact of electrosurgical thermal injury on detection of occult tubal pathology following RRSO. It is important for surgeons to avoid thermal injury to the distal end of the tube.


Quantitative free energy computation involves both using a model that is sufficiently faithful to the experimental system under study (accuracy) and establishing statistically meaningful measures of the uncertainties resulting from finite sampling (precision). In order to examine the accuracy of a range of common water models used for protein simulation for their solute/solvent properties, we calculate the free energy of hydration of 15 amino acid side chain analogs derived from the OPLS-AA parameter set with the TIP3P, TIP4P, SPC, SPC/E, TIP3P-MOD, and TIP4P-Ew water models. We achieve a high degree of statistical precision in our simulations, obtaining uncertainties for the free energy of hydration of 0.02-0.06 kcal/mol, equivalent to that obtained in experimental hydration free energy measurements of the same molecules. We find that TIP3P-MOD, a model designed to give improved free energy of hydration for methane, gives uniformly the closest match to experiment; we also find that the ability to accurately model pure water properties does not necessarily predict ability to predict solute/solvent behavior. We also evaluate the free energies of a number of novel modifications of TIP3P designed as a proof of concept that it is possible to obtain much better solute/solvent free energetic behavior without substantially negatively affecting pure water properties. We decrease the average error to zero while reducing the root mean square error below that of any of the published water models, with measured liquid water properties remaining almost constant with respect to our perturbations. This demonstrates there is still both room for improvement within current fixed-charge biomolecular force fields and significant parameter flexibility to make these improvements. Recent research in computational efficiency of free energy methods allows us to perform simulations on a local cluster that previously required large scale distributed computing, performing four times as much computational work in approximately a tenth of the computer time as a similar study a year ago.


Between 1660 and 1880 a number of Royal Patents were granted and Acts of ParI iament passed whose purpose and effect, it has generally been acknowledged, was to restrict the spread and availability of English theatre, in particular that within the two cities of the metropolis, and to limit its potential as a forum of debate for the examination of ideas or the promotion of political dissent. During the same period, although not necessarily at the same time, theatre came under fire from religious groups of many different denominations. This condemnation and the measures taken by this special interest group in society to combat the influence of the stage has also been held to have had a restrictive effect on the institution of theatre.

This research has been primarily based on an examination and analysis oflegislation, parliamentary debates, religious tracts, papers and letters in Lambeth Palace Library, letters in the Manuscript Department of the British Library, theatre texts, the writings of contemporary theatre critics, articles in contemporary newspapers and journals specialising in theatrical topics, specialist reports and magazines published by various religious denominations, contemporary pamphlets, diaries, biographies, theatre ephemera and current critical writing in specialist magazines and books devoted to theatrical and religious topics.

After discussing the reasons for setting the parameters of 1660 and the late 1880s for this research, the thesis considers the importance of the institution of theatre in the particular period studied and its relationship to the whole panorama of the history of theatre. After detailing a number of questions regarding the purpose of theatre and the effect it has and has had on society, this research examines the objects, effects and motivation behind the main statutes that were enacted to deal with the phenomenon of theatre between 1660 and 1880. In particular the genesis and context of The Restoration Patents, the Licensing Act (1737), the Disorderly Houses Act (1751), the Theatrical Representations Act (1788), the failed Sadler's Wells Bill (1788), and Interludes Bill (1788), and the Theatres Act (1843) have been examined, the aims of each debated and the effects of each of the legislative measures on theatre as a whole is explored.

The opposition that came from religious forces within the country during the period under study is also examined and analysed. The complaints from Church and Chapel were various: blasphemy, indolence, vice, perversion (particularly of the young), consorting with unwholesome company and drawing people away from God were all cited as sins of the stage. The underlying causes ofthe censure of important religious figures as well as that which came from different denominations is examined. The various measures put into operation to combat the dangers perceived to be coming from theatre are explored and their efficiency debated.

Finally the study examines the nature of the theatrical experience and how this has been affected by the legislation and condemnation of the religious interest in the country. A principal conclusion is that theatre in England was not repressed or rendered impotent by any of the legislation nor was it by the tactical opposition of the religious faction in society. Indeed theatre gained strength and potency by finding ways to circumvent the opposition it encountered. So successful was it in overcoming the ploys of the legislature and religious interests and so instrumental was theatre as a focus for life in England during the period under study that both of the forces of opposition eventually had to adopt theatre as an ally in the implementation of their own political agenda.


Nowadays, more than 10,000 different types of medical devices can be found in hospitals. About 80% of the patients receive intravenous (IV) therapy. Infusion devices are mainly used in clinical applications and patients' homes to provide critical care, perioperative care and pain management. The fluids' infusion uses a complex of designs which lead to the feed ability, hydrate, medicate or blood loss replacement and more rapid IV administration because it is pumped directly into the blood. The patients are normally in an intensive care situation and their life is directly dependent on the performance of a device. On the other hand, they are maybe unconscious, have impaired reactions, or have been made insensitive to pain. Therefore, they are exposed to hazards due to lack of information. During last five years, the FDA has received many reports of adverse events regarding the use of infusion pumps. The reports have stated serious injuries and hundreds of deaths. So, the reliability of infusion pumps is a matter of importance and it must be regularly the performance and safety of these devices verified at least annually by using adequate analyzer via expert persons.


The aim of this meta-synthesis is to deepen the understanding and knowledge of research focusing on education for mentors of newly qualified teachers (NQTs). Altogether, 10 studies met the criteria for full inclusion and were synthesised. Three overarching dimensions were found as a final synthesis guiding the further development of mentor education: 1) Contextual dimensions, 2) Theoretical-analytical dimensions, and 3) Relational dimensions. The synthesis stresses the importance of a systematic, long-term and research-based mentor education that develops mentors' (self-)understanding of teaching and mentoring, i.e. is well integrated in the educational context, has a balance of theoretical and practical components, includes rich possibilities for interaction and reflection and prepares for an evidence-informed mentoring.A REVISED AND EXTENDED VERSION OF THIS PAPER HAS LATER BEEN PUBLISCHED AS OPEN ACCESS, SEE: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X1500030X


In this paper we describe two new hybrid time and space integrating acoustooptic correlators and their use in spread spectrum applications. These systems employ 1-D or 2-D masks and are of use for many spread spectrum coding schemes and very long codes. Synchronization and demodulation of very long codes are achieved in these systems with an infinite range delay search and with nearly the full processing gain of the code. A statistical analysis of coherent and partially coherent output time integration is included (this appears to be most appropriate for any hybrid processor) together with initial simulation results.


Twenty-five years ago, Federal courts opened the door to the biotechnology revolution by granting patents on genetic inventions. The nature of such inventions, however, increasingly conflicts with the implications of rules created for mechanical products. In particular, across five disparate doctrines, courts are struggling with the question of whether the definition of a biotech invention should include things beyond the state of the art at the time of the invention. Reaching beyond the state of the art may make sense for mechanical inventions, but it is wreaking havoc in doctrines related to biotechnology. A doorknob is a doorknob, regardless of whether it is made of wood or glass. A doorknob has no parts we can't identify, and there is no hint that the doorknob may be integrating with the door in ways we never dreamed of. Can we really say, however, that an antibody is an antibody, no matter how it works or what materials it is made out of? This article argues that in uncertain arts such as biotechnology, the definition of an invention should be limited to the state of the art at the time of the invention. Granting rights beyond knowledge at the time of the invention projects an enormous shadow across the future and creates untenable results. The temptation to restrain that reach has led to strange doctrinal twists and an unworkable body of law. After twenty-five years of experience, it is time to rethink our view of the proper shape of rights in this realm.


Debates on multi-culturalism are prevalent in politics, the mass media, and the educational system. I identify the range of local and national views concerning multi-culturalism and multi-cultural education, and explore how these views are manifest in actual multi-cultural practices in the schools. My central thesis is that the implementation of multi-culturalism in the schools threatens core, traditional values functional to the power structure. Yet, effective, quality multi-cultural education does takes place. This reveals a contradiction between the needs of the Nation-State to maintain certain core values and the need for multi-culturalism by international capitalism. I have explored multi-cultural issues in New Hampshire through teacher surveys and interviews. Many educators support multi-cultural education but say that it is not yet needed in New Hampshire. A broad range of views are found in both educational trade journals and the popular press. Two major multi-cultural issues in the U.S. are described: bilingualism is explored as the first multi-cultural issue in New Hampshire, and, as the effect of the post-1492 European expansion into the New World is reexamined, the homage paid to Columbus within the school system is questioned. Direct focus on the structure of oppression and on racism and sexism is largely absent in the writings on multi-culturalism that I have examined, particularly those for educators. Related topics I have explored are: the political correctness debate, cultural relativism, race relations and Afrocentric curriculum, the validity and inclusiveness of the Canon, "reverse" discrimination and affirmative action. Obstacles to an understanding of the relationship of multi-culturalism to educational equity include: lack of public knowledge of civil rights laws in education, the role education plays in social reproduction, and the mystification of the structure of educational finance. My suggestions for future research include critical analysis of textbooks to determine both the focus on and avoidance of multi-culturalism and the perpetration of Eurocentrism in textbooks. Individualism is offered as one explanation for the scepticism towards multiculturalism on the part of some teachers. I have made some recommendations for a true multi-cultural, gender-fair, and global education.


The time-dependent temperature distribution induced by electric-current heating in a double edge-cracked, unpassivated thin aluminum or gold film interconnect lines is monitored using a high-resolution infrared imaging system. A pure aluminum or gold film of 0.2 micron thickness is deposited by high-vacuum evaporation coating and patterned into test structures of varying widths. The operative mechanisms of mass transport are assessed in view of the monitored temperature profile. The pre-cracked aluminum film showed fine crack growth toward the positive electrode, which originated from the initial crack tips. The crack-tip temperature was close to melting, during propagation. A hot spot was formed afterward between the two elongated cracks and led to failure. The crack growth generated a backward mass flow toward the negative electrode. The gold film showed a different pattern where the original cracks propagated toward each other with a slight tilt toward the negative electrode. The tip temperature was lower than the melting temperature.


Bacterial and sediment pollution is widespread in US waters, contributing to increases in human disease as well as aquatic ecosystem degradation. Identifying pathways of pollutants from source to stream may help improve water quality management. Few studies have examined the impacts of roadside ditch networks on water resources, though ditches are ubiquitous. The goal of this study was to determine if roadside ditches are conduits for fecal indicator organisms and sediment and if land use, specifically manure amendment, affects these concentrations and loadings. Seven roadside ditches were monitored for Escherichia coli (E. coli) using ISCOTM automated water samplers and the Idexx ColilertTM system, as well as total suspended solids, pH, conductivity and flow for one year in central New York. Ditches were either adjacent to manure amended agricultural fields or predominately forested land. E. coli concentrations in ditch water samples following storms ranged from undetectable to >241,960 MPN/100mL and frequently exceeded NYS DEC and US EPA recommendations. Overall, ditches adjacent to manure amended fields had significantly higher concentrations and loads of E. coli than forested sites, though this was dependent on the season. The concentrations were also unexpectedly high in the forested sites, with possible sources including wildlife, pets, septic wastes and livestock. Peak concentrations were observed in both summers following manure spreading with declining levels thereafter, but viable organisms were detected throughout the year. Viable E. coli were also present in ditch sediment between storm events and therefore were available for resuspension and transport. Total suspended solids concentrations reached as high as 52.2 g L and were overall significantly higher for agricultural sites as compared to forest sites. There was a complex association between total suspended solids and E. coli concentrations. These findings gain significance when placed in the broader framework that roadside drainage networks are acting to rapidly shunt stormwater runoff to downstream drinking water supplies. As a result, recommendations to reduce pathogen transport and improve water quality should focus on reducing farm runoff, using buffer strips or constructed wetlands and improving roadside ditch


Automatically configuring and dynamically controlling an Evolutionary Algorithm's (EA's) parameters is a complex task, yet doing so allows EAs to become more powerful and require less problem specific tuning to become effective. Supportive Coevolution is a new form of Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) that uses multiple populations to overcome the limitations of other automatic configuration techniques like self-adaptation, giving it the potential to concurrently evolve all of the parameters and operators in an EA. As a proof of concept experimentation comparing self-adaptation of n uncorrelated mutation step sizes with Supportive Coevolution for mutation step sizes was performed on the Rastrigin and Shifted Rastrigin benchmark functions. Statistical analysis showed Supportive Coevolution outperforming self-adaptation on all but one of the problem instances tested. Furthermore, analysis of instantaneous mutation success rate showed that this new technique is better able to adapt to the changes in the population fitness. Further study using multiple evolving parameters is needed to fully test Supportive Coevolution, but the results presented here show a promising outlook.


A "pseudokinase" activates the LKB1 tumor suppressor protein without catalyzing phosphorylation. An unusual activation mechanism is described by Zeqiraj et al. for the activation of the protein kinase LKB1, mutations of which are associated with cancer in humans. Many kinases are activated by phosphorylation, but a protein that activates LKB1, STRADα, is a pseudokinase—a protein with similarity to protein kinases that binds ATP but does not phosphorylate substrates. The crystal structure of an activating complex containing LKB shows that STRADα works with another protein, MO25α, to hold LKB1 in an active conformation. The results demonstrate a mechanism that may help explain the evolutionary origin of pseudokinases, the biological roles of other pseudokinases, and the mechanisms of disease-causing mutations in LKB1. E. Zeqiraj, B. M. Filippi, M. Deak, D. R. Alessi, D. M. F. van Aalten, Structure of the LKB1-STRAD-MO25 complex reveals an allosteric mechanism of kinase activation. Science 326, 1707–1711 (2009). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Vision The National English Literary Museum champions the cause of the humane values such as tolerance, acceptance and inclusivity so nobly and memorably embodied in our literature. All South Africans who write creatively and imaginatively in English have a place in our museum, irrespective of their origin, mother tongue, personal convictions or age. Furthermore, all South Africans appreciate the significance of this body of work and its contribution to world literature. Mission To maintain and extend the nation's leading collection of southern African English literary heritage and to serve as a source of expertise through exemplary research, conservation, exhibitions and public programmes. The National English Literary Museum (NELM) is one of South Africa's greatest treasures (website: http:/ /www.ru.ac.za/nelm). Tucked away in the university town of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, NELM collects all creative writing by southern African authors who write in English, and in the following genres: novels, short stories, plays, essays, poetry, theatre, television and film scripts, autobiography, travel, letters, memoirs and diaries. Critical writing on the authors and their works is also collected, as well as writings on related subjects such as literary history, censorship and literary awards. These materials are collected in all formats: books, study guides, theses, literary manuscripts, press clippings and audio-visual material. This article will provide an overview of NELM's history, its collections, research and outreach programmes, satellite museums and finally, a look to the future. NELM's beginnings Nothing much, if anything, had been done about collecting and conserving South African literature in English until 1960, when a professor from Texas visited South Africa and, with considerable success, persuaded some local writers to donate or sell their literary manuscripts to his library. One of the collections of manuscripts which ended up in American hands was that of Herman Charles Bosman. Professor Guy Butler, himself a noted author and the major force behind the drive to teach South African literature at university level, organised a counter-offensive and in 1972 Rhodes University's Institute for the Study of English in Africa sponsored the foundation of the Thomas Pringle Collection for English in Africa, with the express purpose of collecting books and manuscripts illustrating the role of English as a language of South Africa. Many literary friends of Butler contributed their manuscripts, typescripts, scrapbooks, press-clippings and other memorabilia to this project. In July 1974 the National English Documentation Centre was established as an independent body. This then became the National English Literary Museum and Documentation Centre and in 1980, the National English Literary Museum (NELM) became a Declared Cultural Institution under the national government. NELM also collects English literature and criticism about that literature from South Africa's neighbours: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland. This provides a unique perspective on the region as a whole and on the way in which citizens of these countries interact with and are influenced by each other. Many overseas authors have set works in the region, thus providing a unique "outsider" perspective on southern Africa and her diverse cultures. These works also form part of the collection. Although many continue to believe that NELM's focus is on the writings of 1820 Settlers and their descendants, the truth is very different. Literary materials are collected without regard to the race, age, gender, social standing, academic qualifications, political or religious views of the authors. And no judgements are made regarding the quality of the material: if it has a South African connection and is published in English, NELM staff will try to obtain a copy. Translations into English from other South African languages are also kept. …


In immune-mediated neurological disorders, the production of autoantibodies against the nervous system occurs mainly because of impaired immune tolerance. In myasthenia gravis (MG), the thymus shows pathologic alterations, particularly in anti-AChR antibody-positive patients. Further, resection of the thymus induces a clinical recovery. The MG thymus contains all the elements, including AChR antigens, AChR-specific T cells, and antigen-secreting B cells, that are required to initiate and sustain autoantibody production. Central tolerance, established by the repertoire selection of immature T lymphocytes in the thymus, is impaired in MG patients who are positive for anti-AChR antibodies. Recent evidence suggests that chronic inflammation elicited by viral infection is important for the production of AChR antibodies. Antibodies against ganglioside are crucial for the diagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). Molecular mimicry between the lipooligosaccharides of Camplylobacter jejuni and gangliosides of the peripheral nerve causes the production of antibodies. However, less than 1 in 1000 patients infected with C. jejuni develop GBS. This fact suggests that some host factors might influence the production of antibodies. A recent hypothesis suggests that transient impairment of peripheral tolerance due to infection may play a crucial role in GBS pathogenesis. In summary, autoantibody production might correlate with the impairment of immune tolerance as well as with innate immunity.


Chromatin structure is known to be a barrier to DNA repair and a large number of studies have now identified various factors that modify histones and remodel nucleosomes to facilitate repair. In response to ultraviolet (UV) radiation several histones are acetylated and this enhances the repair of DNA photoproducts by the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway. However, the molecular mechanism by which UV radiation induces histone acetylation to allow for efficient NER is not completely understood. We recently discovered that the E2F1 transcription factor accumulates at sites of UV-induced DNA damage and directly stimulates NER through a non-transcriptional mechanism. Here we demonstrate that E2F1 associates with the GCN5 acetyltransferase in response to UV radiation and recruits GCN5 to sites of damage. UV radiation induces the acetylation of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) and this requires both GCN5 and E2F1. Moreover, as previously observed for E2F1, knock down of GCN5 results in impaired recruitment of NER factors to sites of damage and inefficient DNA repair. These findings demonstrate a direct role for GCN5 and E2F1 in NER involving H3K9 acetylation and increased accessibility to the NER


Age and growth of southern blue whiting Micromesistius australis are studied. Sagitta otoliths from 3650 specimens were used for age determination. These were taken during research surveys and commercial catches in the South West Atlantic during 1994 and 1995. The size of fishes ranged from 17 to 60 cm total length, corresponding to ages 0 to 23 years. Females attained a greater asymptotic length (L ? 59.74 cm) than males (L ? 54.72 cm). Comparison of growth curves by the likelihood ratio showed that the differences among females and males were due to the asymptotic length, while the other parameters (K and t0) were not statistically different. The mean weight-at-age, mean length-at-age, and total mortality (Z) were estimated. Growth parameters estimated by sex in the period 1994-95, mean size per age group, and the number of individuals per age in the catches show differences with those calculated when the population was in the early stage of exploitation. A predominance of 2 to 9 year old individuals was observed in the total catches in 1994-1995, whereas in the beginning of the fisheries total catches were basically fish 15 to 19 years old.


Author(s): Schaefer, Minta M.; Doyle, Laura A.; Fleenor, William E.; Johnson, Michael L. | Abstract: https://doi.org/10.15447/sfews.2013v11iss2art3 Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are found in surface waters worldwide. Wastewater treatment plant effluent is a major source of these contaminants. The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (Delta) is a unique aquatic ecosystem, a source of drinking water for over 25 million Californians, and a primary source of water for Central Valley agriculture. The sharp decline of four pelagic fish species in the Delta in the last decade is just one of several indicators that the ecosystem is severely impaired. Several wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) discharge into the Delta, directly or through tributaries. The presence of PPCPs in the Delta has received very little attention relative to the immense effort underway to rehabilitate the ecosystem. This study determined concentrations of PPCPs in the Sacramento River in the vicinity of the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant using passive sampler monitoring. These data were used to estimate loads of three of the detected pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine, fluoxetine, and trimethoprim) from nine other WWTPs that discharge to the Delta. The 2-D, finite element, Resource Management Associates (RMA) Delta Model was then applied to determine the distribution that might result from these discharges. The model was run for the 2006, 2007, and 2009 water years. Results indicate that it is feasible that WWTP discharges could result in chronic presence of these pharmaceuticals at low ng L-1 levels at all 45 model output locations and, therefore, aquatic organisms within the Delta may be continually exposed to these contaminants.


Social interaction between players is an important feature in online games, where text- and voice chat is a standard way to communicate. To express emotions players can type emotes which are text-based commands to play animations from the player avatar. This paper presents a perceptual evaluation which investigates if instead expressing emotions with the face, in real-time with a web camera, is perceived more realistic and preferred in comparison to typing emote-based text commands. A user study with 24 participants was conducted where the two methods to express emotions described above were evaluated. For both methods the participants ranked the realism of facial expressions, which were based on the theory of seven universal emotions stated by American psychologist Paul Ekman: happiness, anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise and contempt. The participants also ranked their perceived efficiency of performing the two methods and selected the method they preferred. A significant difference was shown when analyzing the results of ranked facial expression realism. Happiness was perceived as the most realistic in both methods, while disgust and sadness were poorly rated when performed with the face. One conclusion of the perceptual evaluation was that the realism and preference between the methods showed no significant differences. However, participants had higher performance in typing with emotes. Real-time facial capture technology also needs improvements to obtain better recognition and tracking of facial features in the human face.