This paper argues that Englishization must be understood as the combined processes of Anglicization and Indigenization. In Anglicization, non-English elements are made English-like while in Indigenization, English is used in a way to fit into local nonEnglish contexts. Using Singapore English as a case study, one sees how Englishization took place in Singapore by melting together all the ingredient languages that have found their way into this tiny island. Some languages are local to the Southeast Asian region, some came from the Southern provinces of China, some from India, and English came with colonization. This provided all the fuel for the making of Singapore English that is to become an important part of Singapore identity because it inherits all that is valuable in the component cultures. Thus, while Singapore's survival depends directly on her ability to be part of the global culture, Singapore cannot give up SgE if she is to maintain her identity. The conflict between cultural preservation and global communication can be easily resolved if one recognizes that speaking "perfect" English is not the only way to communicate with the rest of the world. Since all languages have different registers, one can simply use an acrolectal variety of SgE for international communication and more basal varieties for casual purposes. This solution is not new and is in fact practiced by all Singaporeans consciously or unconsciously. However, it is rarely stated explicitly as a way of balancing the apparently conflicting needs of cultural preservation and global communication.


In this paper, the problem of the automatic identification of a singer is investigated using methods known from speaker identification. Ways for using world models are presented and the usage of Cepstral Mean Subtraction (CMS) is evaluated. In order to minimize the difference due to musical style we use a novel data set, consisting of samples from greek Rembetiko music, being very similar in style. The data set also explores for the first time the influence of the recording quality, by including many historical gramophone recordings. Experimental evaluations show the benefits of world models for frame selection and CMS, resulting in an average classification accuracy of about 81% among 21 different singers.


New median based modified ratio estimators for estimating a finite population mean using quartiles and functions of an auxiliary variable are proposed. The bias and mean squared error of the proposed estimators are obtained and the mean squared error of the proposed estimators are compared with the usual simple random sampling without replacement (SRSWOR) sample mean, ratio estimator, a few existing modified ratio estimators, the linear regression estimator and median based ratio estimator for certain natural populations. A numerical study shows that the proposed estimators perform better than existing estimators; in addition, it is shown that the proposed median based modified ratio estimators outperform the ratio and modified ratio estimators as well as the linear regression estimator.


In the last decade there has been a rapid expansion in clinical trials using mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) from a variety of tissues. However, despite similarities in morphology, immunophenotype, and differentiation behavior in vitro, MSCs sourced from distinct tissues do not necessarily have equivalent biological properties. We performed a genome-wide methylation, transcription, and in vivo evaluation of MSCs from human bone marrow (BM), white adipose tissue, umbilical cord, and skin cultured in humanized media. Surprisingly, only BM-derived MSCs spontaneously formed a BM cavity through a vascularized cartilage intermediate in vivo that was progressively replaced by hematopoietic tissue and bone. Only BM-derived MSCs exhibited a chondrogenic transcriptional program with hypomethylation and increased expression of RUNX3, RUNX2, BGLAP, MMP13, and ITGA10 consistent with a latent and primed skeletal developmental potential. The humanized MSC-derived microenvironment permitted homing and maintenance of long-term murine SLAM(+) hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), as well as human CD34(+)/CD38(-)/CD90(+)/CD45RA(+) HSCs after cord blood transplantation. These studies underscore the profound differences in developmental potential between MSC sources independent of donor age, with implications for their clinical use. We also demonstrate a tractable human niche model for studying homing and engraftment of human hematopoietic cells in normal and neoplastic states.


The objective of this paper is to present recent advances at Onera in the spray diagnostic and simulation fields. In the context of the reduction of engine pollutant emissions, the optimization of fuel spray injection represents phenomena of great fundamental and practical interest and is an important feature in the design of new prototypes of turbojet injection devices. The physics of spray formation, transport, evaporation and combustion are not completely understood and the models must be improved to make better predictions of air fuel mixing inside combustion chambers. Onera, in cooperation with CNRS, has developed new optical diagnostics to obtain more detailed validation databases for validating numerical approaches. New techniques are presented for characterizing the dispersed liquid phase in sprays in terms of droplet temperature, size and velocity. During the last few years, important work has been done on measuring the mean and local droplet temperature, by coupling Standard Rainbow Refractometry (SRR) and Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) for a monodisperse droplet stream [8]. Local characterizations of the discrete phase inside a polydisperse spray have also been carried out by the simultaneous use of the Global Rainbow Refractometry (GRR) method and the well known Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA) technique. This paper describes the principle of these techniques and the different levels of application from basic configurations involving monodisperse droplet streams to polydisperse sprays in a high pressure and temperature environment. Experimental results are compared with the numerical ones for some simple configurations.


The Mallard breeding population of four reservoirs in north Somerset consisted of 150 to 160 pairs in each of the three years 1957, 1958 and 1959. The recently constructed Chew Valley Lake, which first held breeding ducks in 1954 and which held 106-110 pairs in 1957-59, has been responsible for a great increase in the population, which averaged 60 pairs (range 30-80) from 1948 to 1953, and 120 pairs from 1954 to 1956. Early nesting Mallard are almost wholly unsuccessful, apparently because of heavy predation due to lack of nesting cover in March. Newly hatched broods are unusually small, averaging 6-7 ducklings. The apparent size of broods changes little before fledging, as small broods seem unusually liable to coalesce. It is estimated that over a twelve-year period about one-third of the females attempting to breed were wholly unsuccessful, though in several years (notably 1959) there were few failures. 1950 seems to have been a particularly bad year for the production of young, and this was reflected in a small breeding population in 1951. There is a clear linear relationship between the numbers of Mallard present in late August and the numbers attempting to breed in the following spring, suggesting that the population may be nearly closed, despite substantial immigration into the area in autumn and winter. Provisional estimates indicate annual adult losses of 57% and of birds in their first year after fledging of 76%. This study will be continued. It is suggested that parallel investigations elsewhere in Britain would be valuable and could be made by teams of local observers.


Subduction zone seismicity arises from megathrust, crustal, and intraslab earthquakes, and understanding the recurrence patterns of each type is crucial for hazard assessments. Lake sediments can record earthquakes from all three seismogenic sources. Here, we studied the turbidite record of Lo Encanado, an Andean lake located in central Chile. We show that Lo Encanado turbidites can be attributed to (1) subaquatic slope failure by earthquake shaking (coseismic phase), (2) floods or human impact, and (3) postseismic catchment response. All historical events with shaking intensities >VI (modified Mercalli intensity) have triggered coseismic turbidites, but only the intraplate earthquakes triggered subaerial slope failures followed by postseismic turbidites. We argue that this contrasting result is due to different spectra of seismic waves from these earthquake sources: higher-frequency accelerations from intraplate earthquakes are hardly attenuated in rocks around the lake, whereas lower-frequency accelerations from megathrust earthquakes are amplified in soft lake sediments. We tested our findings by comparing acceleration response spectra of recent and historical intraslab and megathrust earthquakes along a longitudinal profile. Results suggest that the location of Andean lakes is ideal to distinguish earthquake sources.


Abstract
 Aquapteridospora lignicola gen. et sp. nov. was found on wood submerged in a freshwater stream in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. Phylogenetic analysis of LSU sequence data placed the isolate in Diaporthomycetidae, genera incertae sedis. Aquapteridospora is a hyphomycete with polyblastic conidiogenous cells with several sympodial proliferations, bearing tiny, protuberant, circular scars and fusiform conidia, with pale to dark brown central cells and subhyaline end cells, sometimes with a conspicuous sheath. Aquapteridospora is compared to Pleurophragmium and Minimelanolocus which share some similar characters. A new genus and species is introduced to accommodate this new lineage with notes on its taxonomy and phylogeny.


The National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs), as submitted to the European Commission by the 27 European Union member states (EU27), show ambitious development paths for the deployment of biomass in the heat, electricity, and transport sectors up to 2020. This study analyzes the distribution of different biomass feedstocks over these sectors for various biomass scenarios, examining the fixed development paths described in the NREAPs, while also presenting a possible change in biomass demand for these scenarios. The analysis also reaches beyond the scope of the NREAPs up to 2030. The allocation of biomass for heating (H), electricity (E) and transport (T) applications in the EU27 has been modeled using the RESolve toolkit. RESolve can work both in a static mode and in a dynamic mode. In the static mode the demand for biomass based energy per sector (H, E, and T) is constrained to a fixed amount, whereas in the dynamic mode this constraint is relaxed: the interaction with other renewable (and partially also fossil) energy sources may result in a change in bioenergy demand. From the analysis it can be concluded that in most EU countries the NREAP figures for bioenergy deployment will not be reached under the present regional and national policy/support schemes and market developments. When applying stricter sustainability criteria, the bioenergy developments in the EU27 decrease even further. These effects are strongest for the use of biofuels in transport and biogas for electricity. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd


The first report on the synthesis of lactitol dates back to the early 1920s. Nearly 100 years have passed since then, and the applications of lactitol have exceeded its original purpose. Currently, lactitol is used in bakery, confectionery, chocolate, desserts, chewing gum, cryoprotectant, delivery agent, and stabilizer in biosensors. Lactitol is the main reaction product derived from the hydrogenation of lactose. This chapter is aimed at providing a succinct overview of the historical development of lactitol, a summary of its synthesis, and an overview of its properties and applications.


Municipal land use bargaining may imply as many problems as it heralds promise, but it is widely acknowleged as the universal language of land use planning. Planners and scholars agree that public-private negotiation plays a central role in the vast majority of local land use decision-making. At least in part, this is a result of the peculiar attributes of the resource at issue. Land is, perhaps, the ultimate nonfungible. Each parcel of land possesses unique characteristics not only in its physical attributes, but also by virtue of its location, and its proximity to other unique parcels. Moreover, land uses implicate the conflicting strands of property rights far more profoundly than do uses of personalty, since free disposition of one's own land extends perilously into the realm of neighbors' quiet enjoyment of their own. Although private rights in property ownership are a foundational value of our legal system, private rights in land use are considerably more constrained. Municipal governments designate the outer limits within which landowners may freely exploit their property without unduly burdening the surrounding community; zoning, by which a community segregates incompatible land uses, is the primary mechanism. The historical and continuing contest of public and private interests in land use is, without exaggeration, epic. Police power-based zoning ordinances exist to protect public health and welfare, while takings limitations exist to protect property-owners from government abuse. But in the clash of these competing values lies the classic opportunity for negotiation to resolve disputes, and even create unexpected value in creatively-tailored outcomes. Public and private parties to land use disputes have been drawn to the bargaining model in the time-honored search for mutually agreeable solutions based on beneficial exchange. Significantly, in the absence substantive agreement on where private must yield to public interests (and vice versa), negotiated decisionmaking also provides a means of pursuing the just through deliberative procedure. It is clear that constitutive rules are needed to mark the outer boundaries of permissible public-private bargaining to avoid outcomes overly solicitous of one of these two competing values. The old doctrines of reserved powers and unconstitutional conditions would constrain state abuses, curbing government abdication of police power responsibilities and exploitation of private individuals, respectively. However, the Supreme Court has undertaken to establish additional constraints through its recent takings jurisprudence. Concerned that planning practices had leaned too far in favor of public interests in land use, the Court has used several recent takings cases to craft protections for landowners in disputes with local government. The new rules make value-creating negotiation nearly impossible in land use conflicts, a result that arguably leaves all parties "worse off" than before. This article explores the phenomenon of negotiation-based decisionmaking in local land use conflicts and questions the value of constraints created by the Supreme Court's new takings jurisprudence. Ultimately, it proposes a return to a bargain-based environment according to a mediation model, in which abuses are constrained through procedural attention to meaningful representation at the negotiating table. Part II reviews the general practice of land use planning and analyzes the land use dispute as a site of contest between public and private interests. Part III explores how the bargain-based model has assumed prominence among local land planning agencies seeking the uncertain equipose between public and private interests. Part IV discusses the response of the Supreme Court via its takings jurisprudence, and Part V reviews evidence of the actual impact of the takings decisions on local planning practice. Part VI analyzes the problematic anti-bargaining implications of the new takings decisions, and Part VII recommends a return to bargain-based models, constrained by a theory of representation that would counter the reserved powers critique of municipal bargaining.


This issue is the last my editorial team will produce. Lorne Campbell and his associate editors have been receiving new submissions since June 1, 2008, and the next issue will be filled with manuscripts they have processed since that time. Soon after I first began receiving new submissions on June 1, 2005, Distinguished Scholar Harry Reis (Personal Relationships, Vol. 14, Issue 1, March 2007) responded to an email from me by asking a question provoked by the title under my signature, "Editor of Personal Relationships." "What does that mean?" he wrote. He, of course, was joking and wanted to know how I edited them. At the time I responded by subsequently italicizing the name of the journal in my email signature. In this preface, however, the two editorial assistants who worked with me over the course of my term and I try to answer his question seriously. To do so, we describe what it meant to us to edit the journal, Personal Relationships, and how we and the rest of our editorial team interpreted our job.


In the international psychiatric literature, diagnosis has always been a highly debated subject since the therapeutic outcome mainly depends on a thorough and correct diagnosis. In the 20th century the evolution of new concepts and theories led to redefine the diagnostic boundaries between different mental pathologies therefore influencing the psychiatrist's diagnostic and therapeutic practice. The benefit of psychotherapy is widely recognized but fundamentally complex remains the issue of evaluating its effectiveness as well as the quantification of the clinical improvement as a result of the therapeutic intervention. Although there is a shared agreement on the idea that all psychotherapies are equivalent in terms of effectiveness and that the therapeutic rapport's quality is a fundamental aspect in order to achieve a positive outcome, a shared system to "measure" pathologies and their cure is still lacking today. The author underlines the need to create debating opportunities among colleagues to deepen the clinical practice's study in order to identify the shared methodological and practical approaches based on the Collective Analysis history.


Service oriented computing is crucial to a large and growing number of computational undertakings. Central to its approach are the open and network-accessible services provided by many different organisations, and which in turn enable the easy creation of composite workflows. This leads to an environment containing many thousands of services, in which a programmer or automated composition system must discover and select services appropriate for the task at hand. This discovery and selection process is known as matchmaking. Prior work in the field has conceived the problem as one of sufficiently describing individual services using formal, symbolic knowledge representation languages. We review the prior work, and present arguments for why it is optimistic to assume that this approach will be adequate by itself. With these issues in mind, we examine how, by reformulating the task and giving the matchmaker a record of prior service performance, we can alleviate some of the problems. Using two formalisms—the incidence calculus and the lightweight coordination calculus—along with algorithms inspired by information retrieval techniques, we evolve a series of simple matchmaking agents that learn from experience how to select those services which performed well in the past, while making minimal demands on the service users. We extend this mechanism to the overlooked case of matchmaking in workflows using multiple services, selecting groups of services known to inter-operate well. We examine the performance of such matchmakers in possible future services environments, and discuss issues in applying such techniques in large-scale deployments.


Objective: To evaluate the cerebro protective effect of Dalechampia indica (DI) ethanolic (EDI) and chloroform (CDI) extract fractions against cerebral ischemiareperfusion insult in rats. Method: The rats were treated with different doses (200 and 400 mg/kg) of EDI and CDI orally once daily for 30 days. After completion of pre-treatment, ischemia was induced by blocking bilateral common carotid arteries (BCCAO) for 30 mins followed by reperfusion and ferric chloride induced thrombosis. The post treatment was continued for another week after surgery. The behavioral parameters were assessed and finally, rats were sacrificed to isolate the brains to estimate biochemical parameters. Results: Combination of global (BCCAO) and focal (Thrombosis) ischemic model along with reperfusion has induced prominent ischemic insult indicated by antioxidant enzymes depletion and elevation of lipid peroxidation. Pre-treatment with different doses of EDI and CDI significantly improved the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione enzymes (GPx, GSH, GST, GR), catalase (CAT) and decreased the lipid peroxidation. Conclusion: Results established Cerebro protective role of Ethanolic extract fraction of DI in cerebrovascular insufficiency states and cerebral ischemic-reperfusion injury produced by bilateral common carotid artery ligation along with reperfusion and thrombosis which may attribute to presence of alkaloids,flavonoids, and phenolic compounds.


Existing definitions of heat in open systems are considered with the aim of providing acceptable physical motivation in restricted circumstances. The extent to which these definitions are independent of the usual concept of heat in closed systems is clarified: they all have the feature that internal energy may be transferred by convection in workless adiabatic processes. The global definitions are compared with various definitions of heat flux in irreversible thermodynamics. As the domain of applicability of these definitions is wider than that of equilibrium thermodynamics, it is suggested that a minimal check for any definition of heat flux be that it agree with the global definition of heat flow between equilibrium states in as wide a range of circumstances as possible.


The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is present in almost every modern day personal computer. Despite its specific purpose design, they have been increasingly used for general computations with very good results. Hence, there is a growing effort from the community to seamlessly integrate this kind of devices in everyday computing. However, to fully exploit the potential of a system comprising GPUs and CPUs, these devices should be presented to the programmer as a single platform. The efficient combination of the power of CPU and GPU devices is highly dependent on each device's characteristics, resulting in platform specific applications that cannot be ported to different systems. Also, the most efficient work balance among devices is highly dependable on the computations to be performed and respective data sizes. In this work, we propose a solution for heterogeneous environments based on the abstraction level provided by algorithmic skeletons. Our goal is to take full advantage of the power of all CPU and GPU devices present in a system, without the need for different kernel implementations nor explicit work-distribution.To that end, we extended Marrow, an algorithmic skeleton framework for multi-GPUs, to support CPU computations and efficiently balance the work-load between devices. Our approach is based on an offline training execution that identifies the ideal work balance and platform configurations for a given application and input data size. The evaluation of this work shows that the combination of CPU and GPU devices can significantly boost the performance of our benchmarks in the tested environments, when compared to GPU-only executions.


Scholars of comparative law and English legal history have traditionally distinguished the civil law's emphasis on legislation as the primary source of legal authority from the common law's emphasis on custom and on case law. In this text, the author finds little evidence to support this and other traditional understandings of English jurisprudence. Examining thousands of legal and judicial documents for references to the nature and authority of custom, case law, statutes, equity and reason, J.W. Tubbs depicts the tensions within and the evolution of English legal thought between the 12th and 17th centuries. Most lawyers, he concludes, never thought of all English law as customary in nature and never understood the common law to be a fundamental law, superior to statue. Instead, statute law was much more central to English jurisprudence than has usually been believed and it was always understood to be superior in authority to the common law and its role in statutory interpretation.


Bluetooth is a wireless networking technology specifically developed for personal area networking and other short range applications. Bluetooth devices can be networked together by forming piconets of up to eight devices, where a single device is the master and the rest are slaves. These piconets can further be interconnected to create a scatternet. A scatternet is formed by allowing bridge nodes to operate in multiple piconets by interleaving their membership. These bridge nodes alternate between piconets by scheduling their participation during disjoint time-slots. Scatternet formation and routing are important problems for the future of Bluetooth. Another equally important issue is security. We describe how Bluetooth security is currently implemented and discuss a number of security attacks. We then describe two scatternet scenarios that warrant secure operation, and propose solutions that meet our security goals of confidentiality, availability, and integrity. A secure scatternet is created by generating contributory link keys between interconnected piconets. We also introduce a new concept that we call Private PANs. A Private PAN is a piconet in which devices are bonded together, and generally also controlled, and. owned, by the same entity. The main purpose of this paper is to extend the scope of Bluetooth security to scatternets.


Chovanite, a new representative of the group of oxysulphosalts of Pb and Sb was found in three hydrothermal deposits of antimony ore, Dubrava, Male ´ ˇ Zelezne ´, and Klacianka, situated on the northern slopes of the Low Tatra Mountains, Slovakia. It is associated with other Pb-Sb sulphosalts, especially boulangerite, robinsonite and dadsonite. In reflected light, chovanite is white, bireflectance is distinct already in air. Pleochroism is present; colour varies from white with a yellowish green tint (darkest position) to white with a faint bluish tint (lightest position). Reflectance values in air are Rmax -R min (%) (l nm): 43.6-37.7 (470), 43.0-36.7 (546), 41.3-35.4 (589), 39.2-34.0 (650). Anisotropy is moderate to strong both in air and in oil, with blue grey to brown grey polarization colours. Internal reflections and twinning are absent. The optical properties are very similar to boulangerite. Micro-indentation hardness is 222.5 with a range 213-238. Derived Mohs hardness is 3. Cleavage is good, parallel to the c axis. Simplified chemical formula based on electron-microprobe analyses is Pb14.42(35)Sb14.33(11)S36.04(23), Z ¼ 4, which corresponds to Pb 50.74, Sb 29.63, S 19.62, total 100.00 wt%. No other elements exceed detection limits; chlorine is absent and oxygen was not measured. Structural formula is Pb15-2xSb14þ2xS36Ox (Z ¼ 4) for which the above mean of microprobe measurement data and the structure refinement give the value of x equal to � 0.2. Density (calc.) is 7.14 g/cm 3 . Crystal system is monoclinic, space group C2/m, lattice parameters a ¼ 48.189(48) A ˚ , b ¼ 4.1104(40) A ˚ , c ¼ 34.235(35) A ˚ , b ¼ 106.059(15) � , V ¼ 6517(11) A ˚ 3 , Z ¼ 4. Chovanite belongs to a sulphosalt family of boxwork structures, together with pellouxite, scainiite, pillaite, marruccite, vurroite, neyite, and several synthetic sulphosalts. Its crystal structure contains 11 independent lead sites, 13 coordination polyhedra of antimony, some of them with Sb sites split into two partially occupied non-overlapping positions, and five mixed Pb, Sb sites. The boxwork structure of chovanite is formed by a combination of three types of structural modules: (a) continuous walls with a complex structure of rod-layer type; these walls are interconnected by (b) rod-like partitions, and the resulting box-like channels (c) are filled by still another type of structure rods. Chovanite has the largest box-like channel system and infill elements known at present. In spite of differences in chemical composition, chovanite is structurally closest to pellouxite (Cu,Ag)2Pb21Sb23S55ClO which has a moderately large boxwork channel system.


A study was carried out to analyze the consumers' preference of coconut oil in Tamil Nadu state, India. Data were collected from consumers across the three major coconut producing zones of Tamil Nadu. Thirty respondents were interviewed for the survey. Among the consumers of coconut oil, a little over 33% belonged to the age group of 31-40 years and majority of them (60%) were females. TV advertisement was the major source of information about coconut products. More than 80% of the consumers were using coconut oil as hair oil. About 31% used unbranded oil for edible purposes Adequate availability of homemade oil and high price were the main reasons for not choosing branded coconut oil. The factors influencing the use of coconut oil for household consumption was examined by functional analysis. The R2 value of 0.57 indicates that about 57% of the variation in the household consumption is influenced by the family type, age, education and income of the households. The variable education was positive and significant at 5% level indicating that increase in educational level of the consumers would result in increase the household consumption. Since the price of oil is comparatively high for many of the consumers, the usage of coconut is very much limited. The unacceptable flavour and taste unlike other conventionally used oils like groundnut and gingelly oils, made the consumers not to use coconut oil for cooking purposes. The nutritive and economic values of coconut oil should be popularized among the households to enhance the usage of coconut oil as a cooking media since education played a key role in deciding the usage of oil. The misconception of consuming coconut oil inducing health hazards like accumulation of fat may be eliminated through adequate mass media contacts and awareness campaigns by the institutional agencies to ensure adequate intake of coconut oil in the day-to-day food chain mechanisms.


Residential water demand is a random variable which influences greatly the performance of municipal water distribution systems. The water request at network nodes reflects the behavior of the residential users, and a proper characterization of their water use habits is vital for the hydraulic system modeling. This study presents a stochastic approach for the characterization of the daily residential water use. The proposed methodology considers a unique probabilistic distribution – Mixed Distribution – for any time during the day, and thus for any entity of the water demanded by the users. This distribution is obtained by the merging of two cumulative distribution functions taking into account the spike of the cumulative frequencies for the null requests. The methodology has been tested on three real water distribution networks, where the water use habits are different. Experimental relations are given to estimate the parameters of the proposed stochastic model in relation to the users number and to the average daily trend. Numerical examples for a practical application have shown the effectiveness of the proposed approach in order to generate the time series for the residential water demand.


Yiddish narratives contain a considerable number of declarative sentences which begin with the inflected verb: Hot im zayn vayb bald tsurikgeshikt dem briv '(So) his wife right away returned the letter.' Such declarative sentences, which are never initial in a text, are often said to have resultative meaning (note the translation of the example just given); however grammarians concede that one encounters them often without such a meaning. The purpose of this study is to try to establish the discourse function of these V/1 clauses, utilizing the framework of Prince (1988). It turns out that the occurrence of the finite verb in initial position is a marker of cohesion, and that V/1 clauses actually contrast, in their ties to previous material, with non-V/1 clauses. My study as a by-product supports the conclusions of Prince (1988) regarding other clauses in Yiddish in which the verb does not immediately follow the subject. I also include remarks on V/1 constructions in German (§4.0).


Success in adult life and effective functioning in education depends among other things on critical thinking. The present study consisted of two parts. First, critical thinking (CT) skill of a group of 68 students majoring in education in Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah Branch was evaluated. The participants, divided into two experimental and control groups, received California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) which is a 34 item Multiple-Choice test. The students in the control group were freshmen and the experimental group, junior students. To the researchers' dismay, junior education students did not perform significantly better than did the freshman students. Using a qualitative method of research, another study was conducted to see whether the university instructors in the education department who had the responsibility of teaching different courses to the same students were aware of the principles of CT. A semi-structured interview was conducted and eight volunteering faculty members in the department of education took part in the interview. Result revealed that, although these instructors highly valued CT and were aware of its tenets, there were some constraints which did provide a situation to let the students practice CT in their classrooms, and much had to be done to help instructors implement CT in their classrooms.


The extent of intensified competition among firms at the global environment places technological innovation in a strategic position to promote economic development and foster the national competitiveness. This is particularly true for Nigeria. This study investigated the petroleum innovation system using the indigenous marginal field operators in Nigeria. The nature of interactions of the oil firms with other stakeholders in the industry was examined by analysing data collected from 108 participants. Data were analysed using descriptive analysis, financial modelling and logit regression. Arising from the analysis, a technoeconomic policy framework was developed. The framework emphasised the benefits inherent in strengthening the interaction among the elements in the Nigerian petroleum innovation system and placed government at a strategic position in creating enabling environment for other stakeholders through policy and supports to fully enhance the contribution of marginal oil and gas field to economic growth


Summary The Syrian civil war affected Turkey so much that approximately three and a half million Syrians live in Turkey. Ministry of Education implemented an inclusive approach to schooling of Syrian asylum-seekers' children by educating them in public schools with their Turkish peers in the same classrooms in 2016 in order to address their educational needs, integration into the Turkish culture, and to prevent generation gap. Education, as a basic human right and as a way of integration into the Turkish society, is provided for free at all levels of education in Turkey. The inclusion of Syrian students in the Turkish school environment is quite a new experience for Turkish teachers and if the inclusion process is not managed properly, it may have negative effects on both students and their teachers. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of teachers teaching Syrian students in the city of Kilis, where the number of asylum-seekers outnumbered the local population and almost one-fifth of the students in public schools are Syrians. The guiding question of this research was "What are the lived experiences of primary and middle school teachers educating Syrian children in culturally inclusive classrooms?" Five teachers from four different primary and middle schools were interviewed. The six open-ended interview questions allowed the participants to reflect on their experiences. The data were collected during the spring semester of 2017. The interviews were analyzed according to thematic methods. Three themes emerged: language barrier, lack of family support, and teachers' lack of pedagogical skills to teach asylum-seeker students.


How do actors across a range of academic fields understand, value and engage with the work of legal academics. How do other disciplinary actors conceptualise the usefulness, skills and expertise of the legal academic and the theoretical and practical relevance of 'law' for their own work? What do other disciplinary actors know about law and legal scholarship? At the heart of this paper are concerns which lie at the heart of the notion of 'interdisciplinarity' and the kind of knowledge and insight necessary to 'build bridges' between disciplines.

This paper presents initial findings from a project investigating how other disciplines regard the legal academy and the value of academic legal work and legal perspectives for their work. This has not, despite Becher's (1981) fascinating exploration of disciplinary cultures in the US and a significant body of socio-legal work around 'legal consciousness' exploring 'the impact of legal phenomena on a range of social institutions' (Genn et al, 2006), been subjected to sustained analysis, nor one investigated by the legal academy. The current paper, speaks to a broader effort to address this gap in the research literature and to foster cross-disciplinary understanding. Insofar as lawyers, lawyering or the legal environment constitute interesting research subjects for other disciplines, whether the social sciences, political science, history, science and technology studies or literature, these tend to centralise "pop law" and speak to more professionalised concerns such as advocacy, judging, juries – very often law as it happens within adversarial settings such as the courtroom (Jasanoff 1992). For the social sciences in particular, there is a strong preoccupation with areas like criminal law or tort law, in which sociological categories of interest (e.g. the judge, the courtroom, scientific evidence etc.) emerge. Nevertheless, little, if any of this work tells us about attitudes of non-legal disciplinary actors to the legal academy, or of the kind of imaginaries such actors hold about the purchase and value of the work undertaken within it.

Some have highlighted that other disciplines work upon the assumption that 'academic lawyers are only interested in what law-makers actually do' (Siems, 2009), or that law is primarily 'a practical and not an academic subject' (Siems, 2009: 18). In other works, this absence of understanding of what legal scholars do arises more implicitly; Murphy and Roberts' (1987, p. 682) highlight that 'legal theory has failed to provide any significant explanation or justification of what academic lawyers do (as is normally demanded of the theoretical component of a discipline) and thus of what academic law is or might be'. In similar force, Chynoweth (2008) has noted that the failure of 'legal research community to adequately explain itself to its peers in other disciplines and, in this sense, it can hardly complain if those peers then judge it by standards other than its own'. While some legal scholars have depicted the field of law as one characterised by the 'lone researcher' or one which was 'physically and intellectually isolated from colleagues in the social sciences' (Hillyard, 2007), the current project sought to investigate whether those ideas had continuing resonance in other disciplines.

A growing body of literature highlights the critical importance of interdisciplinarity for law and justice. The issue has become more pressing in recent years due to the growth of scientific and technological innovation which draws into the adjudicative, legislative and policy realms areas of great scientific complexity, for which legal training, in and of itself, proves insufficient (Weinel and Priaulx, 2014; Vick 2004; Schrama 2011). Such works also highlight the significant barriers and obstacles in lawyers 'understanding' other disciplines (ones often emerging within legal settings) and the problems that can result. The same dangers confront non-legal disciplinary actors whose work engages with or is 'dropped into' law (Mertz, 2011). Disciplines are akin to foreign cultures, with different languages, norms and forms of life, and actors become disciplined and acquire the tacit knowledge inhabiting their fields by virtue of social immersion. It is socialisation within the expert domain which provides the 'deep understanding' to be able to 'know what one is talking about' (Collins and Evans, 2007); the logical corollary of this, is that a lack of socialisation within target disciplines results in the absence of a deep appreciation of what is going on in other fields. Yet for the delivery of robust policy relevant research, as well as an appreciation of what occurs within legal academia, that interaction between disciplines proves critical. This study constitutes a critical first step for evaluating from a multidisciplinary perspective, insight and understanding into the legal discipline.

This paper presents our initial findings of a project funded by the British Academy. We present key themes emerging from a review of how legal academia and the legal academic emerge in popular culture and non-legal scholarship; we also report our initial findings of the central study which surveys the knowledge, attitudes and opinions of non-legal academics. Such work aims to provide a critical foundation for developing strategies to cultivate interdisciplinarity and creative exchange between law and other disciplines.


The Proterozoic—Phanerozoic transition recorded a general trend of decrease in phytoplankton cell size, in contrast to the earlier and much larger Ediacaran acritarchs. Particularly minute, unornamented but sculptured organicwalled microfossils have been recovered from the lower Cambrian Lükati Formation in northern Estonia. The lack of any significant thermal alteration in this formation allowed for excellent preservation of fine microstructures on these microfossils. Among the rich palynomorph assemblages in the Lükati Formation, a new species of tiny, spheroidal eukaryotic microfossil is recorded: Reticella corrugata gen. et sp. nov. It is characterised by a corrugated and flexible vesicle wall that is densely perforated by nano-scale pores. Despite its unique morphology, the new species shares diagnostic characters with fossil and extant prasinophyte algae. Reticella corrugata is among the smallest microfossils with typical eukaryotic morphology (conspicuous wall sculpture) and contributes to the diversity of the size class of small acritarchs. Size, abundance, inferred prasinophyte affinity and eukaryotic wall sculpture make this new taxon a likely member of the early eukaryotic picoplankton.


Augustine's life and writings can be viewed as a struggle between denying and affirming bodily existence in time. Related to this is the question of how created goods are to be appreciated and valued in relation to enjoying and loving God. Stages in his life, particularly his Manichaeism, The Confessions, and The City of God, are examined, with the conclusion that Augustine generally moves to a greater affirmation of earthly existence and towards perceiving created goods as gifts from God with intrinsic rather than merely instrumental value (as pointing to the eternal), his attitude on sex being an exception.


Thermal errors are one of the major contributors towards positioning discrepancies in machine tools in precision machining. Along with friction and waste heat generated from production processes and internal heat sources, environmental influences around the machine tool create considerable thermal gradients followed by non-linear structural deformations. Efficient quantification of these three contributing sources of thermal errors are required in order to formulate a reliable thermal-error compensation system. The creation of all possible thermal configurations, which a machine tool could be subjected to, is experimentally infeasible and requires complex and time-consuming coupled flow and thermo-structural simulations. This paper presents a new approach in thermal error prediction by using CFD and finite element (FE) simulations to train a three-level interconnected neural network system. The first level essentially decouples flow simulations from thermo-structural simulations using optimal FE node points found using a Genetic Algorithm (GA), which significantly reduces the required training data. The boundary convection data obtained from this level is used in the second level to predict possible thermal configurations of the machine tool, after careful consideration of parameters related to internal heat sources and production processes. The third level maps these thermal configurations onto displacements on the machine tool.


As the Smart phone technology continues to advance, the Smart phone has emerged and become ubiquitous. With high penetration of the Smart phone in Malaysia, it facilitates the mobile marketing channel to deliver advertisements to the consumers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the enabling factors that influence consumers' behavior to accept mobile marketing by using the revised Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. The UTAUT model consists of the independent variables of Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI), and Facilitating Condition (FC), and the dependent variable is the acceptance of technology, which in this study, is the Acceptance of Mobile Marketing. The quantitative research approach is used in the study to statistically examine consumer behavior towards the acceptance of mobile marketing. The sample size of 109 Malaysian respondents was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that half of the independent variables in UTAUT model have significant positive effect on the Acceptance of Mobile Marketing. The result of the findings is that variables of Performance Expectancy and Effort Expectancy have significant positive effect on Acceptance of Mobile Marketing, while Social Influence and Facilitating Condition do not have significant positive effect on Acceptance of Mobile Marketing.


Autophagy is a major route for lysosomal and vacuolar degradation in mammals and yeast respectively. It is involved in diverse physiological processes and implicated in numerous pathologies. The process of autophagy is initiated at the pre-autophagosomal structure and is characterised by the formation of a double membrane vesicle termed the autophagosome which sequesters cytosolic components and targets them for lysosomal/vacuolar degradation. The molecular mechanisms that regulate autophagosome formation are not fully understood. The conserved oligomeric Golgi (COG) complex is a hetero-octameric tethering factor implicated in autophagosome formation which interacts directly with the target membrane SNARE proteins Syntaxin 6 and Syntaxin 16 via the Cog6 and Cog4 subunits respectively. The work presented in this thesis demonstrates direct interaction of the yeast orthologue of Syntaxin 16, Tlg2, with Cog2 and Cog4. In addition, I investigated binding of the COG complex subunits to Tlg1, Vti1 and Snc2, the partner SNARE proteins of Tlg2. Direct interaction of Tlg1, the yeast orthologue of Syntaxin 6, with Cog1, Cog2 and Cog4 were observed. Given that Tlg2 has previously been shown to regulate autophagy in yeast, these data support a conserved role for the COG complex in mediating autophagosome formation through regulation of SNARE complex formation.
In addition to investigating binding of COG complex subunits to the endosomal SNARE complex, I have also investigated a role for autophagy in regulating Tlg2 levels. The SM protein Vps45 has previously been shown to stabilise Tlg2 cellular levels. Our laboratory has demonstrated a role for both the proteasome and vacuole in the degradation of Tlg2. Here I demonstrated a role for autophagy in the regulation of Tlg2 levels and show that Swf1-mediated palmitoylation may serve to protect Tlg2 from being selectively targeted for autophagy. I also investigated the effects of the yeast T238N mutation on Vps45 function. The analogous mutation in human Vps45 has recently been associated with congenital neutropenia. Vps45 function is best characterised in yeast where it associates with membranes via Tlg2 and is required for membrane traffic from the trans-Golgi network into the endosomal system. Cellular levels of Vps45 T238N were destabilised and a concomitant reduction in Tlg2 levels was also observed. Vacuolar protein sorting remained unaffected in yeast cells harboring Vps45 T238N but was subjected to increased apoptosis under hydrogen peroxide-mediated stress. This identifies a novel role for Vps45 in maintaining cell viability. Finally, I also investigated a role for endosomal trafficking and autophagy in C.elegans post-embryonic development and identified a role for these pathways in the clearance of the pre-moult increase in intracellular membranes and cuticular formation.


Several L-band microwave radiometer and radar missions have been, or will be, operating in space for land and ocean observations. These include the NASA Aquarius mission and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, both of which use combined passive/ active L-band instruments. Aquarius s passive/active L-band microwave sensor has been designed to map the salinity field at the surface of the ocean from space. SMAP s primary objectives are for soil moisture and freeze/thaw detection, but it will operate continuously over the ocean, and hence will have significant potential for ocean surface research. In this innovation, an algorithm has been developed to retrieve simultaneously ocean surface salinity and wind from combined passive/active L-band microwave observations of sea surfaces. The algorithm takes advantage of the differing response of brightness temperatures and radar backscatter to salinity, wind speed, and direction, thus minimizing the least squares error (LSE) measure, which signifies the difference between measurements and model functions of brightness temperatures and radar backscatter. The algorithm uses the conjugate gradient method to search for the local minima of the LSE. Three LSE measures with different measurement combinations have been tested. The first LSE measure uses passive microwave data only with retrieval errors reaching 1 to 2 psu (practical salinity units) for salinity, and 1 to 2 m/s for wind speed. The second LSE measure uses both passive and active microwave data for vertical and horizontal polarizations. The addition of active microwave data significantly improves the retrieval accuracy by about a factor of five. To mitigate the impact of Faraday rotation on satellite observations, the third LSE measure uses measurement combinations invariant under the Faraday rotation. For Aquarius, the expected RMS SSS (sea surface salinity) error will be less than about 0.2 psu for low winds, and increases to 0.3 psu at 25 m/s wind speed for warm waters (25 C). To achieve the required 0.2 psu accuracy, the impact of sea surface roughness (e.g. wind-generated ripples) on the observed brightness temperature has to be corrected to better than one tenth of a degree Kelvin. With this algorithm, the accuracy of retrieved wind speed will be high, varying from a few tenths to 0.6 m/s. The expected direction accuracy is also excellent (less than 10 ) for mid to high winds, but degrades for lower speeds (less than 7 m/s).


This dissertation tests whether known hazards to navigation determine the location of vessel accidents along the lower Mississippi River and describes the human populations most at risk according to predictions. The data are comprised of the relative risk index of river hazards (Forsyth et al. 1996, Gramling et al. 1998 ), the demographic characteristics of nearby residents, (U. S. Census 1990), and actual U. S. Coast Guard accident reports. Useable predictors of vessel accidents and a knowledge of population characteristics will enable better planning of emergency response, better placement of emergency response equipment, and more effective efforts to prevent vessel accidents along the lower Mississippi River which is the busiest commercial waterway in the world. In the models computed here, vessel accidents are generally well predicted by the location of known hazards. Results of these models indicate that the human populations at-risk vary widely along the river. At some accident prone points, population density is very high, and many persons are at risk. At other hazardous locations, population density is quite low. Socioeconomic characteristics of the at-risk populations vary from one dangerous location to another. Some at-risk populations are relatively affluent and others are impoverished. The racial and ethnic composition also varies such that some hazardous locations are inhabited primarily by racial and ethnic minorities, while others are settled by majority racial and ethnic groups. This population heterogeneity should be taken into account in planning, preparation and response to river vessel accidents.


Recent technological improvement in character animation has increased the number of characters that can appear in a virtual scene. Besides, skeletal and mesh structures are expected to be more complex in the future. Therefore, simulating massive characters' joints in a real-time crowd environment without any preprocessing is unaffordable. We propose a preprocessing method called 'motion level-of-detail' to overcome this limitation. Our 'motion level-of-detail' framework not only minimizes the simulation cost of the joints, but also maintains the similarity between the original and the simplified motion. 'Joint posture clustering (JPC)', which is the skeletal simplification method of our framework, reduces skeletal node by the clusters of similar postures. A cluster is a set of continuous frames, where each frame has similar posture. Because our approach depends on motion trajectory, simplified result preserves the quality of the motion. We also applied a geometric simplification on deformable character mesh, to increase performance. Our approach was particularly useful for the complex skeletal motions that have a monotonous trajectory.


EXPRESSION OF DAX1, AND ITS NETWORK PARTNERS STEROIDOGENIC FACTOR 1 AND WILMS TUMOR 1, IN THE EARLY MURINE EMBRYO. E.C. Davis, K.K. Niakan, E.R.B. McCabe, Departments of Pediatrics and Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. The cytomegalic form of adrenal hypoplasia congenita is an X-linked disease caused by mutations in NR0B1, which codes for Dax1. Failure to create a conventional knock-out mouse model led us to hypothesize that Dax1 is expressed earlier than the onset of steroidogenesis at embryonic day 9 (E9) and with a novel function independent of steroidogenesis. Previously, we reported Dax1 expression in ES cells and preimplantation embryos. Our purpose here was to identify Dax1 expression after implantation and to examine its expression patterns throughout embryonic development. We used immunohistochemistry (IHC) and western blot analysis to determine Dax1 protein expression in murine embryos from E5 through E11. IHC was also used to investigate the expression of the following proteins involved in steroidogenesis: progesterone, estrogen ( and ) and androgen receptors; Wilms tumor 1 (Wt1); steroidogenic factor 1(Sf1); and cytochrome P450scc. Dax1 expression was observed at a critical boundary throughout embryonic development; specifically, it was expressed in all three layers (endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm) of the embryo proper, and it distinguished between the embryo and its extra-embryonic endoderm (ExE), where it was not expressed. In contrast, Sf1 and Wt1 were found to be expressed throughout the embryo proper as well as the ExE. The progesterone, estrogen ( and ) and androgen receptors, and cytochrome P450scc were not observed to be expressed in extra-embryonic or embryonic cell layers, as compared to positive control tissues. Western blot analysis confirmed the IHC results. Based on the expression patterns observed in embryonic development, we hypothesize that Dax1 and its network partners, Wt1 and Sf1, are critical in early embryonic development and play roles different from those in steroidogenesis.


Visual, interactive, and engaging projects are the hallmark of this innovative book that marks a rapid departure from traditional computer science texts. Programming in Visual C++: Concepts and Projects uses a graphical user interface (GUI) approach instead of the traditional console (plan text) mode, to provide a thorough introduction to computer science and C++ concepts that is highly visual and enjoyable for the reader. Because Visual C++ no longer requires advanced skills to produce GUIs, even beginning readers are able to produce attractive and functional GUIs within the first few chapters. Coverage includes a comprehensive introduction to programming basics, including control and data structures, as well as object-oriented programming. Straightforward and easy to understand, this is a valuable resource for anyone interested in a computer science book that is as fun as it is informative.


A psychophysical experiment is carried out to evaluate the color difference between pairs of color digital images and their modulated versions, which are displayed on a professional liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor, using the category judgment method. The modulated images for six original images are generated with variations in five attributes, namely, lightness, chroma, hue, resolution, and sharpness, considering both their chromatic and spatial characteristics. Several color difference evaluation methods, namely, CIELAB, CIEDE2 000, CAM02-UCS, S-CIELAB, and iCAM, are compared based on the experimental data. The results demonstrate that the performance of iCAM is the best for predicting image color difference.


From the point of view of a theology of grace, in conjunction with the anthropological categories of Paul Ricoeur, this article tries to conceptualize God.s gift within the dialectics of .power and weakness. The analysis of 2 Cor 11:16 - 12:10 ("My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness".) and of Gen 32: 23-33 (Jacob's fight with the angel) discloses an understanding of grace, which assumes both dimensions. Grace, from this point of view, is not the medicinal pouring out of divine power into human weakness, but the event of a liberating encounter. Therefore, God, self-revealing, in these contexts, is not a God stripped of his omnipotence, but a God hidden from full human understanding.


ABSTRACT The world is flat with Electronic Commerce moving it into new terrains of information exchange and means of conducting business activities. The acceptance of Electronic Commerce as an IT infrastructure depends on the users' conscious assessment of the influencing constructs as could be depicted in Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT), and Technology-Organization-Environment (T-O-E) model. The paper accused TAM and TPB of being traditional and utilitarian-based. Though TPB adds the constructs of perceived behavioural control and subjective norms to the original TAM's characteristic constructs of perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU), both predominantly base analysis on attitudinal variables and view EC as purely productivity tool, communication mediator, or intelligent decision-making partners. Further, T-O-E model adds such descriptive constructs as firm's size, consumer readiness, trading partners' readiness, competitive pressure and scope of business operations. In order to make for better explanatory and predictive values, TAM need be integrated with other IT theories that incorporated decision-makers' social and idiosyncratic characteristics. Therefore, this paper reviews and synthesizes the constructs of these models and proposes an improved TAM using the T-O-E approach for ease of comprehension. The improved TAM and T-O-E discussed embodies more constructs than the original TAM, T-O-E, TPB, and IDT, leading to fourteen propositions to promote and facilitate future empirical enquiries on the subject matter. This paper adds to existing body of knowledge on IT acceptance behaviour and provides bases for more informed decision by offering such new constructs as company mission, individual difference factors, perceived trust, and perceived service quality. The proposed improved TAM and T-O-E Model of Innovation Adoption and Use combines the constructs to form a richer theoretical framework that guides the understanding, explanation and prediction of adoption and use behaviours of IT in an organized system. INTRODUCTION The Japanese experience gives empirical backing to 'small is beautiful. ' Previous studies (Adam et al, 1999; Machacha, 2002; Stanyon, 2004; Jutla et al, 2002) and recent ones (Federici, 2009; Shiau et al, 2009; Ramdani et al, 2009) show that Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) are the bedrock for industrialization. SMEs are drivers of diversified socio-economic infrastructures in forms of employment creation, flexibility and innovations (Southwood, 2004; Mutula and Brakel, 2006). Approximately 80 percent of economic growth comes from SMEs (Jutla et al, 2002) and 99 percent of all businesses in North America and Europe are SMEs (Adam et al, 1999). Although no universally acknowledged definitions of SMEs exist, the commonest denominator in most definitions across countries is based on employment figures and perhaps sales volumes and fixed assets. SMEs employ less than 500 persons (OECD, 2004); the South African Act gave their estimate to be between 100 and 200 persons or a turnover rate of 5 million Rand, while micro enterprises have up to 5 employees (Gorden, 2003); and the Ministry of Trade of Egypt looks at them in terms of number of workers, fixed assets, and annual turnover (Rizk, 2004). However, governments and large corporations seemingly dominate the economies of many nations; yet the real driving engine of economic growth lies with the informal sector or SMEs (Muuka, 2002; Southwood, 2004; Zacharakis et al, 2000; Reynold et al, 2002). Perhaps this explains why many nations, especially Botswana, Japan, China, Taiwan, among others, promulgate measures to encourage (often in financial terms) the sector in this digital age. Even the South African Enterprise Development Fund (SAEDF) set up by grants from the United States Agency for International Development was specifically intended to aid private-sector development among SMEs in Southern African region. …


The objective of this study is to improve dissemination of improved varieties in Senegal. The involvement of small farmers from the beginning of development of a new variety of processes and taking account of their selection criteria, have contributed greatly to the success of participatory research method. It can promote greater ownership of technological innovation by targeted stakeholders and facilitates its widespread dissemination. A total of 44 promising lines and 2 controls were tested under irrigated conditions in two locations in the Senegal River Valley at Ndiaye and Fanaye, during the rainy season. Around 68 small farmers leaders from 26 villages participated in this study. Farmers were particularly interested to factors of production, and to a lesser extent, to constraints of the environment. Of the 44 lines tested, eight 8 were selected by small farmers, including 5 intraspecific hybrids and 3 interspecific hybrids. The best grain yields obtained on the two sites combined are around 6 t.ha-1. The sociological study highlighted the typology of farms with a variety of ethnic groups. Most farmers are of advanced age, between 40 and 60 years. The distribution of the harvested products varies according to the location with a strong option for the marketing of products harvested at Ndiaye, where only 1/3 of the harvest is consumed, the vast majority of production is intended for Sale. At Fanaye by against, commercial dynamics is less pronounced with a distribution into two equitable shares of production, one of which is intended for self-consumption and the other for sale.


Purpose: This research aims to make an update how much volume of cement is needed for Indonesia, to disclose cement consumption for Indonesia and the relationship between cement consumption and several variables as inflators that influence cement consumption. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology used is regression analysis and descriptive analytics. The data period taken is primarily within the period of 2010-2018, but cement consumption and other variable inflators have been assessed within a longer period of 2007-2018. Findings: The findings are that national economic growth as inflator for cement consumption is no longer proven as by nature to develop robust models but must access of more than one predictor. Based on findings, by calculating cement consumption based on real consumption at every project are better than rely-on national economic growth. Practical implications: The recent model of cement consumption has been no longer as the inflator of economic growth and vice versa. An update for the cement consumption is urgently needed. Economic growth is no longer a predominantly inflator for the cement consumption. There is no obligation to consume more cements in purposing to drive economic growth. Originality/value: This research has been developed by the author from yearly observations and experiences at the cement sector in Indonesia.


The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for the automatic transmission of physical parameters in wireless sensor networks paves the way to a large class of attractive applications, ranging from healthcare to automotive, diagnostic systems, robotics and many others. Nevertheless, although some RFID tags capable to transmit sensor-like information are already on the market, only a limited number of sensors, such as those for temperature or pressure measurement, can be easily miniaturized and embedded in the RFID chip. The integration of more complex sensors, in fact, appears to be complicated and extremely expensive. In this paper, a cost-effective general-purpose multi-ID tag is proposed. It can be connected to generic sensors, regardless of the actual measured value, and it is capable to transmit, when interrogated by a standard RFID reader, a proper combination of ID codes that univocally codifies the sensor measured value. The functionalities of this device have been extensively validated under stressing conditions and the capability to transmit whatever kind of sensor data has been demonstrated.


We studied the temporal variability and resistance to perturbation of the biomass production of grassland communities from an experimental diversity gradient (the Portuguese BIODEPTH project site). With increasing species richness relative temporal variability (CV) of plant populations increased but that of communities decreased, supporting the insurance hypothesis and related theory. Species-rich communities were more productive than species-poor communities in all three years although a natural climatic perturbation in the third year (frequent frost and low precipitation) caused an overall decrease in biomass production. Resistance to this perturbation was constant across the experimental species richness gradient in relative terms, supporting a similar response from the Swiss BIODEPTH experiment. The positive biomass response was generated by different combinations of the complementarity and selection effects in different years. Complementarity effects were positive across mixtures on average in all three years and positively related to diversity in one season. The complementarity effect declined following perturbation in line with total biomass but, counter to predictions, in relative terms overyielding was maintained in all years. Selection effects were positively related to diversity in one year and negative overall in the other two years. The response to perturbation varied among species and for the same species growing in monoculture and mixture, but following the frost communities were more strongly dominated by species with lower monoculture biomass and the selection effect was more negative. In total, our results support previous findings of a positive relationship between diversity and productivity and between diversity and the temporal stability of production, but of no effect of diversity on the resistance to perturbation. We demonstrate for the first time that the relative strength of overyielding remained constant during an exceptional natural environmental perturbation.


The recruitment and infiltration of classical monocytes into damaged muscle is critical for optimal tissue remodeling. This study examined the effects of an amino acid supplement on classical monocyte recruitment following an acute bout of lower body resistance exercise. Ten resistance-trained men (24.7 ± 3.4 years; 90.1 ± 11.3 kg; 176.0 ± 4.9 cm) ingested supplement (SUPP) or placebo (PL) immediately post-exercise in a randomized, cross-over design. Blood samples were obtained at baseline (BL), immediately (IP), 30-min (30P), 1-h (1H), 2-h (2H), and 5-h (5H) post-exercise to assess plasma concentrations of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), myoglobin, cortisol and insulin concentrations; and expressions of C-C chemokine receptor-2 (CCR2), and macrophage-1 antigen (CD11b) on classical monocytes. Magnitude-based inferences were used to provide inferences on the true effects of SUPP compared to PL. Changes in myoglobin, cortisol, and insulin concentrations were similar between treatments. Compared to PL, plasma MCP-1 was "very likely greater" (98.1% likelihood effect) in SUPP at 2H. CCR2 expression was "likely greater" at IP (84.9% likelihood effect), "likely greater" at 1H (87.7% likelihood effect), "very likely greater" at 2H (97.0% likelihood effect), and "likely greater" at 5H (90.1% likelihood effect) in SUPP, compared to PL. Ingestion of SUPP did not influence CD11b expression. Ingestion of an amino acid supplement immediately post-exercise appears to help maintain plasma MCP-1 concentrations and augment CCR2 expression in resistance trained men.


This study was an enquiry into how clinical supervision could enable a team of six community psychiatric nurses to provide improved patient-centred care. It also examined how feelings of burn-out, stress and tedium when caring for people with dementia could be relieved. The methodology used in the study analysed the process, enabling the findings to be studied. This is new paradigm research, requiring the researcher and participants to be equal and active coenquirers into the process facilitating the enquiry. Six community psychiatric nurses allowed their period of supervision to be recorded over six months in order to identify relevant issues of concern and resolution in their practice. It was anticipated that the experiences revealed during supervision would provide a means by which the nurses could develop their skill and knowledge and improve their care-giving. The findings suggest that the education of community psychiatric nurses needs to enable them to develop the ability to demonstrate emotional competence and to carry out self-questioning.


The role of visual information and action representations in executing a motor task was examined from a mental representations approach. High-skill (n = 20) and low-skill (n = 20) soccer players performed a passing task to two targets at distances of 9.14 and 18.29 m, under three visual conditions: normal, occluded, and distorted vision (i.e., +4.0 corrective lenses, a visual acuity of approximately 6/75) without knowledge of results. Following each pass, participants estimated the relative horizontal distance from the target as the ball crossed the target plane. Kinematic data during each pass were also recorded for the shorter distance. Results revealed that performance on the motor task decreased as a function of visual information and task complexity (i.e., distance from target) regardless of skill level. High-skill players performed significantly better than low-skill players on both the actual passing and estimation tasks, at each target distance and visual condition. In addition, kinematic data indicated that high-skill participants were more consistent and had different kinematic movement patterns than low-skill participants. Findings contribute to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms required for successful performance in a self-paced, discrete and closed motor task.


Non-structural components in most types of commercial building represent a major portion of the total cost of the building and, as such, will represent a large portion of the potential losses to owners, occupants, and insurance companies.
Non structural components may be classified in three broad categories: architectural components, mechanical and electrical equipment, and contents.
Non-structural components play a fundamental role about safety of human lives during seismic events: in fact the collapse of suspended light fixtures, hung ceilings or partition walls; the plunging onto the ground of failed cladding panels, parapets, signboards, ornaments, or glass panels; the overturning of heavy equipment, book-shelves, storage racks, or pieces of furniture; and the rupture of pipes or containers with toxic materials are all capable of causing serious injury or death.
In this work seismic performance of suspended ceiling systems has been analyzed by plotting fragility curves obtained through real scale tests. In particular seismic assessment of suspended ceiling systems is carried out by performing shake table tests: in fact being ceilings elements not amenable to structural analysis, full-scale testing is the only feasible possibility to develop fragility curves. In particular single and double frame ceilings are tested on simulator platform (a 3m × 3m square table and two orthogonal horizontal degree of freedom system). The input to the table is provided through artificial time histories accelerations representative of expected/target ground motion and acting simultaneously along the two orthogonal directions of the platform simulator; these time histories are selected with the aim of matching the target or required response spectrum of non structural components. Three limit states are used in this study to characterize the seismic response of suspended ceiling systems, both single frame and double frame, and in particular: occupancy limit state (10% damage), damage limit state (30% damage) and safety limit state (50% damage). From the first to the third one limit state considered, the damage in the ceiling increases: in fact when performing a damage analysis with fragility curves, the response is characterized as function of a damage state. Limit states are considered to be reached starting from visual detection of post-test condition of the specimen; indeed, at the end of shaking of each step in a test cycle, research team investigates accurately the physical conditions of components of ceilings in order to identify which limit state has been reached.


Electric power generation from wind turbines is the fastest growing source of electric power in the U.S. and worldwide. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) U.S. Wind Industry Report (AWEA, 2009) for year ending 2009, over 10 000 megawatts (MW) of wind was installed in 2009 for a total wind power capacity of 35 000 MW in the U.S. While the wind industry's current focus is on new generation installation and startup, future emphasis will be on long-term reliability and maintainability of wind energy assets. Failures of critical wind turbine components are occurring earlier than expected, resulting in increasing maintenance costs, unplanned outages and decreased capacity factors. Today's wind turbines of the 1.5 MW output class have blades that span approximately 50 to 70 m and up to 6 m in chord, the distance from the leading to trailing edges. Due to the large, complex surface area and access considerations, examination of these structures is challenging. Visual testing (VT) is the primary examination method used by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and maintenance service providers to examine wind turbine blades. While VT is limited to surface testing discontinuity detection, other nondestructive testing (NDT) methods are available for blade inspections, which may provide better information about the structural integrity of a blade. One NDT method that is capable of testing large component surfaces is laser shearography. Laser shearography has seen extensive use in aerospace and marine applications for the inspection of composite materials for detection of nonvisible surface and near-surface discontinuities. This paper will discuss the theory behind laser shearography and detail the application of laser shearography NDT techniques for the inspection of wind turbine blades.


In this paper, we show that the solution to a large class of "tiling'' problems is given by a polynomial sequence of binomial type. More specifically, we show that the number of ways to place a fixed set of polyominos on an $n\times n$ toroidal chessboard such that no two polyominos overlap is eventually a polynomial in $n$ , and that certain sets of these polynomials satisfy binomial-type recurrences. We exhibit generalizations of this theorem to higher dimensions and other lattices. Finally, we apply the techniques developed in this paper to resolve an open question about the structure of coefficients of chromatic polynomials of certain grid graphs (namely that they also satisfy a binomial-type recurrence).


This study is meant to test what the beneficial properties of using virtual environments as a teaching tool for history are and how it affects the users. To test this, a prototype of Forum Romano was built to see how well test subject could perform on a prewritten test that included questions about the history of the place. The study also includes new found data from the experiment that comes from comparing an old plain text version of teaching with a virtual environment one. This can later be adopted further to help with new developments focusing on making students more engaged in their own learning.


Recent gender retheorisation has drawn on Mikhail Bakhtin's literary and linguistic theories of monoglossia and heteroglossia to reconcile seemingly contradictory gender discourses. Thus, girls/women and boys/men as they are biologically sexed might be discussed within a poststructural gender theory discourse that disconnects gender from the body. The concepts of gender monoglossia, gender heteroglossia and polyglossia have been applied here to empirical research into the construction of gendered leadership as it was seen to be done by one woman head teacher. The accounts of members of staff expose heteroglossia in the articulation of their understandings of gendered leadership beneath the construction of a monoglossic façade. They also reveal an understanding of polyglossic simultaneity as the head teacher is observed to 'switch' seamlessly between modes of doing gendered leadership depending on context and circumstances. There is also evidence of polyglossic simultaneity in the reports that might lead to the rejection and/or redefinition of gender theory discourses.


A molecularly imprinted monolithic material was designed and prepared by in situ thermally initiated copolymerization for the extraction of protocatechuic acid, caffeic acid, and ferulic acid from Salicornia herbacea L. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and offline solid-phase extraction (SPE) were investigated for the characterization of this material. The extract samples were loaded onto and passed through the monolithic material; the target compounds were selectively retained on the material, whereas other interfering substances were quickly washed out. Chromatographic analysis was conducted on a C18 column with ultraviolet detection at 270 nm, and an eluting solution consisting of acetonitrile, water, and acetic acid (14/86/0.5 v/v/v, pH 5.0) was used as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The linearity was confirmed in the concentration ranges of 0.10–200.00, 0.20–400.00, and 0.30–600.00 μg/mL for protocatechuic acid, caffeic acid, and ferulic acid, respectively, with r2 greater than 0.9997. The SPE recoveries of the three organic acids ranged from 71.08 to 81.02%, and the coefficient of variation (precision) was 3.08–5.70%. This method is simple, economical, and specific and has been used successfully in the extraction of three organic acids from S. herbacea L. This cartridge can be used as a potential tool for the extraction of drugs from natural plants. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011


Highest atmospheric ozone production rates can
be found at around 30 km in the tropical stratosphere, leading
to ozone mixing ratios of about 10 ppmv. Those stratospheric
air masses are then transported to extra-tropical latitudes
via the Brewer-Dobson circulation. This is considered
the main mechanism to generate mid- and high latitude
ozone. By applying the climate-chemistry models E39/C
and MAECHAM4/CHEM, this view is investigated in more
detail. The origin of ozone in the troposphere and stratosphere
is analysed, by incorporating a diagnostics ("marked
ozone origin tracers") into the models, which allows to identify
the origin of ozone. In most regions the simulated local
ozone concentration is dominated by local ozone production,
i.e. less than 50% of the ozone at higher latitudes of
the stratosphere is produced in the tropics, which conflicts
with the idea that the tropics are the global source for stratospheric
ozone. Although episodic stratospheric intrusions
occur basically everywhere, the main ozone stratosphere-totroposphere
exchange is connected to exchange processes at
the sub-tropical jet-stream. The simulated tropospheric influx
of ozone amounts to 420 Tg per year, and originates
in the Northern Hemisphere from the extra-tropical stratosphere,
whereas in the Southern Hemisphere a re-circulation
of tropical tropospheric ozone contributes most to the influx
of ozone into the troposphere. In the model E39/C, the upper
troposphere of both hemispheres is clearly dominated
by tropical tropospheric ozone (40%–50%) except for northern
summer hemisphere, where the tropospheric contribution
(from the tropics as well as from the Northern Hemisphere)
does not exceed 20%.


OBJECTIVES
To offer programmers, policy makers, and researchers a scientific basis for developing and selecting smoking cessation treatments for adolescents.

METHODS
An evidence review panel systematically rated published and unpublished reports of cessation treatments for youth to make recommendations on theoretical foundations, delivery settings, types of intervention, and provider type.

RESULTS
Twenty studies had sufficient validity to inform the recommendations. The 9 studies that reported treatments that increased cessation were based on social cognitive theory.

CONCLUSIONS
Cognitive-behavioral interventions are a promising approach for helping young smokers quit smoking. Evidence is insufficient to draw other conclusions at this time.


Polyester ropes are now established in deepwater moorings, but more research is needed to understand long-term durability and to optimise systems. Three categories of rope failures – environmental, surface damage, and structural – are not considered to be likely problems for deepwater polyester moorings which are properly designed and used. Fatigue of fibres in the rope is thus the concern of this paper. The fatigue mechanisms of interest are creep tensile fatigue, compression fatigue and internal abrasion. Laboratory test data on potential fibre fatigue mechanisms is reviewed with reference to typical mooring system service conditions. For a 20 year life, a typical mooring might experience 60 million cycles, mostly due to small waves. The occasional severe cycling which might be experienced during storm conditions will cause little fatigue damage. Tensile fatigue and creep rupture will not occur in polyester fibres at the applicable low loads. Hysteresis heating is not significant for strain amplitudes less than +0.5%, but might be a problem with the larger amplitudes which might occur in shallow water moorings. Internal abrasion might begin to take effect after millions of cycles. Axial compression fatigue might occur after a large number of cycles in rope elements that go into compression, even though the rope as a whole remains under tension. Existing fatigue data on large spliced ropes is compared with data for steel wire rope given in API 2SK. The demonstrated polyester rope fatigue life is at least as good as spiral strand and better than multistrand steel wire rope. Computer modelling of rope performance is discussed. Under conditions designed to demonstrate fatigue mechanisms, the model shows an early drop in strength due to hysteresis heating and a second drop as some yarns fail in axial compression fatigue. After a very large number of cycles, internal abrasion takes effect and finally creep rupture occurs. The general conclusions are that, polyester ropes are suitable for deepwater moorings for expected lifetimes of 20 years and that their potential fatigue performance is at least as good as spiral strand steel wire rope at loads representative for FPS mooring. But more research may be needed to identify and quantify active fatigue mechanisms to enable engineers of mooring systems to satisfy regulatory bodies and certification authorities.


This study examined whether participation in contact sports influences moral functioning within the sport context, and whether these effects are mediated by ego orientation; the role of task orientation on moral functioning was also examined. Participants ( N = 221) were college athletes participating in bas-ketball, soccer, field hockey, and rugby. They completed questionnaires assessing sport participation, goal orientations, moral functioning, and social desirability. Structural equation modeling analysis indicated that participation in contact sports positively predicted ego orientation, which in turn predicted low levels of moral functioning. The direct effects of sport participation on moral functioning became nonsignificant in the presence of ego orientation, indicating that the latter construct mediates the relationship between the first two variables. Task orientation corresponded to high levels of moral functioning. These findings help us further understand the processes operating in contact sports and are discussed in terms of their implications for eliminating unsportspersonlike conduct from the sport context.


Quantum-dot-in-nanowire systems constitute building blocks for advanced photonics and sensing applications. The electronic symmetry of the emitters impacts their function capabilities. Here we study the fine structure of gallium-rich quantum dots nested in the shell of GaAs-Al-0.51 Ga-0.49 As core-shell nanowires. We used optical spectroscopy to resolve the splitting resulting from the exchange terms and extract the main parameters of the emitters. Our results indicate that the quantum dots can host neutral as well as charged excitonic complexes and that the excitons exhibit a slightly elongated footprint, with the main axis tilted with respect to the long axis of the host nanowire. GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs emitters in a nanowire are particularly promising for overcoming the limitations set by strain in other systems, with the benefit of being integrated in a versatile photonic structure.


It is widely believed that nootropic (cognition-enhancing) agents produce their therapeutic effects by augmenting excitatory synaptic transmission in cortical circuits, primarily through positive modulation of alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionate receptors (AMPARs). However, GABA-mediated inhibition is also critical for cognition, and enhanced GABA function may be likewise therapeutic for cognitive disorders. Could nootropics act through such a mechanism as well? To address this question, we examined the effects of nootropic agents on excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs and IPSCs) recorded from layer V pyramidal cells in acute slices of somatosensory cortex. Aniracetam, a positive modulator of AMPA/kainate receptors, increased the peak amplitude of evoked EPSCs and the amplitude and duration of polysynaptic fast IPSCs, manifested as a greater total charge carried by IPSCs. As a result, the EPSC/IPSC ratio of total charge was decreased, representing a shift in the excitation-inhibition balance that favors inhibition. Aniracetam did not affect the magnitude of either monosynaptic IPSCs (mono-IPSCs) recorded in the presence of excitatory amino acid receptor antagonists, or miniature IPSCs (mIPSCs) recorded in the presence of tetrodotoxin. However, the duration of both mono-IPSCs and mIPSCs was prolonged, suggesting that aniracetam also directly modulates GABAergic transmission. Cyclothiazide, a preferential modulator of AMPAR function, enhanced the magnitude and duration of polysynaptic IPSCs, similar to aniracetam, but did not affect mono-IPSCs. Concanavalin A, a kainate receptor modulator, had little effect on EPSCs or IPSCs, suggesting there was no contribution from kainate receptor activity. These findings indicate that AMPAR modulators strengthen inhibition in neocortical pyramidal cells, most likely by altering the kinetics of AMPARs on synaptically connected interneurons and possibly by modulating GABA(A) receptor responses in pyramidal cells. This suggests that the therapeutic actions of nootropic agents may be partly mediated through enhanced cortical GABAergic inhibition, and not solely through the direct modification of excitation, as previously thought.


American architect Hank Schubart was regarded as a genius for finding the perfect site for a house and for integrating its design into the natural setting, so that his houses appear to be as native to the forest around them as the trees and rocks. Salt Spring Island, one of the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, Canada, offered him a place to create the kind of architecture that responded to its surroundings, and Schubart-designed homes populate the island. Built of wood and glass, suffused with light, and oriented to views, they display characteristic features: random-width cedar siding, exposed beams, rusticated stonework. Over time, Schubart's homes on Salt Spring Island came to be considered uniquely Gulf Islands homes. This inviting book offers the first introduction to the life and architecture of West Coast modernist Henry A. Schubart, Jr. (1916-1998). While still in his teens, Schubart persuaded Frank Lloyd Wright to accept him as a Taliesin Fellow, and his year's apprenticeship in the master's workshop taught him principles of designing in harmony with nature that he explored throughout the rest of his life. Michele Dunkerley traces Schubart's career from his early practice in San Francisco at the noted firm Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons, to his successful firm with Howard Friedman, to his most lasting professional achievements on Salt Spring Island, where he became the de facto community architect, designing more than 230 residential, commercial, educational, and religious projects. Drawing lessons from his mentors over his decades on the island, he forged an everyday architecture with his mastery of detail and inventiveness. In doing so, he helped define how the island could grow without losing its soul. Colour photographs and site plans display Schubart's remarkable homes and other commissions.


Variable path-length liquid cells for infrared spectros-copy are items of routine application. The literature contains few, if any, references to their gas-phase counterpart, however. One obvious use for a variable path-length gas cell would be as a reference cell for the cancellation of the background spectra of gases during in situ studies of weak adsorption on sample dises of varying thickness.


Author Posting. © Oceanography Society, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 23, no. 2 (2010): 112-114.


AIM
This was to evaluate the influence of two methods of tooth-isolation on the survival rate of proximal ART restorations in the primary molars.

METHODS
The study was conducted in two rural divisions in Kenya, with 7 operators randomly paired to a group of 8 assistants. A total of 804 children each had one proximal cavity in a primary molar restored using the ART approach. During restorations 2 isolation methods, rubber dam or cotton wool rolls, and 3 brands of glass ionomer cements were used by the operators. The restorations were then followed for a period of 2 years.

STATISTICS
SPSS 14.0 was used to analyse and relate the data obtained to the method of isolation used.

RESULTS
After 2 years 30.8% of the ART restorations had survived. Higher survival rates of the restorations were obtained when using rubber dam irrespective of the GIC material or the operator.

CONCLUSION
Generally the survival rate of the proximal restorations in the present study was very low, but the use of rubber dam resulted in a higher survival rate of the restorations.


We have synthesized 39 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] analogs having two side chains attached to carbon‐20 (Gemini) with various modifications and compared their anticancer activities. Five structure–function rules emerged to identify analogs with enhanced anticancer activity. One of these active analogs, BXL‐01‐0126, was more potent than 1,25(OH)2D3 in mediating 50% clonal inhibition of cancer cell growth. Murine studies found that BXL‐01‐0126 and 1,25(OH)2D3 had nearly the same potency to raise serum calcium levels. Taken together, BXL‐01‐0126 when compared to 1,25(OH)2D3 has greater anticancer potency, but similar toxicity causing hypercalcemia. We focused on the effect of these compounds on the stimulation of expression of human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) whose gene has a vitamin D response element in its promoter. Expression of CAMP mRNA and protein increased in a dose‐response fashion after exposure of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells to the Gemini analog, BXL‐01‐126, in vitro. A xenograft model of AML was developed using U937 AML cells injected into NSG‐immunodeficient mice. Administration of vitamin D3 compounds to these mice resulted in substantial levels of CAMP in the systemic circulation. This suggests a unique prophylactic treatment at diagnosis or during induction chemotherapy for AML patients to provide them with protection against various microbial infections through CAMP induction.


A good level of thermal insulation and an adequate thermal capacity of the building envelope are essential to achieve good energy performance. Many studies have been conducted about this topic, mostly focused on the reduction of energy losses, peak load control and energy savings. Nevertheless, very few studies were realized addressing both insulation and inertia of the building envelope in a thermal comfort perspective, and taking into account the combined effect of different ventilation strategies. What is the right combination of insulation thickness, heat capacity and night ventilation, in order to achieve better thermal comfort? How to exploit effectively the passive energy potential of the envelope? Of course the answer is not unique since too many parameters influence the building dynamic response under real weather condition. Nevertheless, in this paper a number of simulated results will be reported showing, for a real building with concrete walls, the combined effect of wall thickness, insulation level and outdoor ventilation rates on thermal comfort. These simulations were run under continental climate conditions (UK), and the results show the synergic effect of some strategies to achieve thermal comfort as well as their individual impact on it.


Whole-cell recordings from optic tectal neurons in Xenopus tadpoles were used to study the maturation of a glutamatergic synapse. The first glutamatergic transmission is mediated only by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and is silent at resting potentials. More mature synapses acquire transmission by α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptors. This maturational program is mimicked by postsynaptic expression of constitutively active calcium-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII). Newly formed synapses may be silent unless sufficient depolarization is provided by coincident activity that could activate postsynaptic CaMKII, resulting in the appearance of AMPA responses.