Among the most recent signs of a growing interest in Cornell Woolrich's noir fiction have been the inclusion of his I Married a Dead Man in the new Library of America two-volume collection of crime novels, and the reissue of his Waltz Into Darkness in the Penguin Crime Fiction series. There seems to be critical agreement on the influential place held by Woolrich in the development of American In his Hardboiled America:Lurid Paperbacks and the Masters of Noir, Geoffrey O'Brien describes Woolrich's best books (between 1940 and 1948) as recording "a great change [that] came over the American consciousness" which would be reflected in "the postwar film noir" (100). Woody Haut sees Woolrich's fiction as symptomatic of postwar paranoia, and lists no fewer than twelve noir movies (ten of them made during the 1940s) which were adaptations of Woolrich novels. Indeed, some classic noir themes find regular expression in Woolrich's novels--self-doubt and fallibility, malign Fate, paranoid fear, the femme fatale and the deadly cost of love, destabilized masculinity, shifting gender roles, and more. In this essay, I examine I Married a Dead Man (1948) as an example of one of Woolrich's related preoccupations--the idea of crossing from one social and psychic world to another, the unfixing or rejection of the authentic self, the taking up of assumed persona, and the crisis of self-distantiation in which the protagonist is consequently involved. More than any other Woolrich novel, I Married a Dead Man hinges on a favorite noir subtext--the idea that identity itself remains something fluid and fabricated. In I Married a Dead Man, Woolrich allocates very little narrative space to the "real" world which the protagonist, Helen Georgesson, attempts to escape; yet, this abandoned "reality" is actually ever-present, as- it impinges remorselessly on the through-the-looking-glass world of small-town bourgeois affluence that she miraculously enters. All we are told of Helen's earlier life is that her father (whose name she has difficulty in recalling) had been "a looming longshoreman, killed in a drunken brawl on the Embarcadero when she was ten" (83). The rest is left unstated, but there is enough to form the outlines of an image--of a working-class childhood, with violence and drunkenness quite possibly in the air, and with insecurity probably never far away. When we first meet Helen, she is a "dreary, hopeless nineteen, not a bright, shiny one" (17). Eight months pregnant, penniless, and just abandoned by her lover, Helen's world has collapsed into insecurity and chaos. Woolrich refers to her, twice, as "dead"; when she learns that her lover's telephone has been disconnected, "her hand dropped off her shoulder, carrying the receiver with it, and fell into her lap, dead. As if to match something else within her that was dead, by the way it fell and stirred no more" (19). For the Woolrich protagonist, death is a haunting and insistent reality, either because he or she is a possible victim or, on the contrary, is the agent of destruction. Helen will "die" or experience deathlike states at moments of crisis, despair, or extreme anxiety, and by the close of the novel she will also be cast as potentially a murderess. Helen's "return" to life comes as a form of miraculous rebirth (she will, figuratively, be caesarian-sectioned out of the mangled wreckage of a crashed train), and is a clear case of fantasy--fulfillment. She already expresses the subconscious desire not to be herself when she says, "`It must be an awful lot of fun to be you'" (34), to the young newlyweds, Hugh and Patrice Hazzard (the surname is surely no accident), who befriend her on the train from New York. A few minutes later, as the result of the train wreck in which the Hazzards are killed, Helen's daydream is realized. The physical circumstances of the crash signal the dislocation of personality that Helen is about to undergo: "the whole alcove seemed to upend, shift on a crazy axis, so that what had been the wall before her until now, had shifted to become the ceiling over her; so that what had been the floor she was standing on until now, had shifted to become the wall upright before her" (45). …


Maohokite, a post‐spinel polymorph of MgFe2O4, was found in shocked gneiss from the Xiuyan crater in China. Maohokite in shocked gneiss coexists with diamond, reidite, TiO2‐II, as well as diaplectic glasses of quartz and feldspar. Maohokite occurs as nano‐sized crystallites. The empirical formula is (Mg0.62Fe0.35Mn0.03)2+Fe3+2O4. In situ synchrotron X‐ray microdiffraction established maohokite to be orthorhombic with the CaFe2O4‐type structure. The cell parameters are a = 8.907 (1) Å, b = 9.937(8) Å, c = 2.981(1) Å; V = 263.8 (3) Å3; space group Pnma. The calculated density of maohokite is 5.33 g cm−3. Maohokite was formed from subsolidus decomposition of ankerite Ca(Fe2+,Mg)(CO3)2 via a self‐oxidation‐reduction reaction at impact pressure and temperature of 25–45 GPa and 800–900 °C. The formation of maohokite provides a unique example for decomposition of Fe‐Mg carbonate under shock‐induced high pressure and high temperature. The mineral and its name have been approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA 2017‐047). The mineral was named maohokite after Hokwang Mao, a staff scientist at the Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, for his great contribution to high pressure research.


In this two volume set, educators explore the intersection of gender and education. Their entries deal with educational theories, research, curricula, practices, personnel, and policies, but also with variations in the gendering of education across historical and cultural contexts. The various contributors discuss gender as a social construction. The latest research on boys and masculinities, as well as girls and feminism, is included. The entries in this work cover the breadth of topics related to gender and education. They provide reference information on the history and condition of gender and education from elementary to high school. Entries cover such topics as: alternative schools, historically black colleges and universities in the United States, military colleges and academies, private and public single-sex and co-educational schools, literacy, mathematics achievement, women's centers, teacher interactions with girls and boys, affirmative action in U.S. higher education, sororities and fraternities, educator sexual misconduct, expectations of teachers for boys and girls, heterosexism and homophobia, bullying, harassment, and violence among students, salaries of male and female educators, school choice and gender equity, disabled students and gender equity, Title IX and school sports, black feminism, womanism, and queer theory.


When Uncle Remus (1880) made Joel Chandler Harris famous, the author found that people were curious about his life. In 1886 the always shy and reticent Harris wrote a short autobiographical sketch stating that he had been born in Eatonton, Georgia, on December 9, 1848. The author also mentioned boyhood poverty and said that his literary interests were first stimulated by his mother's reading aloud Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. Although several later biographers accepted this story literally, Harris was likely making a joke: one theme in Goldsmith's novel concerns a young woman ruined, like Harris's mother, through seduction. Harris called this brief article "An Accidental Author," a title suggestive of the author's illegitimacy. (1) Harris possibly also gave the birthdate as a joke. Subsequent accounts of Harris's life accept the 1848 date, but no concrete proof exists for it, while six independent sources suggest an earlier birthdate, perhaps as early as 1844. The manuscript of the U.S. census taken October 30, 1850, lists Joel's age as three. (2) It is unlikely that a twenty-two-month-old infant would be mistaken for a three-year-old. The manuscript census taken June 5, 1860, lists Joel's age as fourteen. (3) According to the December 9, 1848 birthdate, Joel was eleven-and-a-half-years-old. In October 1864 Joel's employer certified to Confederate draft officials that Joel was a nineteen-year-old printer eligible for an occupational deferment. (4) Had Joel been born December 9, 1848, he would have been under sixteen, not subject to the draft, and not reported. Charles D. Leonard, a boyhood friend, told Julia Harris, Harris's daughter-in-law and authorized biographer, that he had met Joel when his family moved to Eatonton. Leonard said that at the time he was six and Joel was seven. Julia used this statement and the late 1848 birthdate for Harris to conclude that the Leonards had arrived in Eatonton in 1855. Leonard, however, told biographer Robert Wiggins that his family had moved to Eatonton in 1853. In the manuscript census for 1860 Leonard was twelve, which indicates that he was born in 1847 or 1848. (5) If Harris was a year older, then Harris was born in 1846 or 1847. On August 7, 1866, Macon Typographical Union No. 64 issued Harris a journeyman's traveling card. Such cards were given only to printers over twenty-one. Furthermore, the card called Harris "Mister," a title unlikely to be bestowed upon a youth under eighteen. (6) This evidence suggests an 1845 birthdate. On March 3, 1868, J.T. Manly entered the Forsyth shop where Harris worked as a printer. Harris instructed the new apprentice, and the two became friends. Manry said that when the two met, Harris was twenty. (7) This evidence suggests that Harris was born in late 1847 or early 1848. When, then, was Harris born? We can only guess. A person's reported age is usually the age at the last birthday, but a person within six months of a new birthday might round up his age; there is, therefore, an eighteen-month period that is the most likely time for a person reporting a given age to attain that age. The 1850 census suggests birth between late 1846 and early 1848; the 1860 census between mid-1845 and late 1846; the 1864 certification between late 1844 and early 1846. Leonard's recollections suggest 1846 or 1847; the journeyman's traveling card, 1845; and Manry's account, late 1847 or early 1848. The most probable year of birth is 1846. The 1848 birthdate came from Harris's 1886 autobiographical sketch. The same source stated that Harris was born in the town of Eatonton, although several residents of Putnam County claimed that Harris was born elsewhere in the county. (8) Joel's mother was a poor, uneducated woman who may have cared little about the exactness of a birthday, and Joel was an illegitimate child who probably did not learn much about his origins from his mother. (9) Family legend reports that Joel's father was an Irishman who seduced Mary Harris and then deserted her, but early published biographies reported falsely that Joel's father had died when Joel was an infant, (10) When Julia Harris tried to learn more about Joel's origins, she discovered that few people in Putnam County cared to talk. …


Abstract The performance of oil filters used in the automotive industry can be significantly improved, especially when computer simulation is an essential component of the design process. In this paper, we consider parallel numerical algorithms for solving mathematical models describing the process of filtration, filtering solid particles out of liquid oil. The Navier — Stokes — Brinkmann system of equations is used to describe the laminar flow of incompressible isothermal oil. The space discretization in the complicated filter geometry is based on the finite-volume method. Special care is taken for an accurate approximation of the velocity and pressure on the interface between the fluid and the porous media. The time discretization used here is a proper modification of the fractional time step discretization (cf. Chorin scheme) of the Navier- Stokes equations, where the Brinkmann term is considered in both the prediction and the correction substeps. A data decomposition method is used to develop a parallel algorithm, where the domain is distributed among the processors by using a structured reference grid. The MPI library is used to implement the data communication part of the algorithm. A theoretical model is proposed for the estimation of the complexity of the given parallel algorithm and a scalability analysis is done on the basis of this model. The results of the computational experiments are presented, and the accuracy and efficiency of the parallel algorithm is tested on real industrial geometries.


Synopsis A Late Arenig graptolite fauna is known from one isolated occurrence within the Ballantrae Complex ophiolite; a borehole core taken near North Ballaird farm. Reassessment of that fauna shows it to be of early Yapeenian (Yal) (just possibly late Castlemainian; Ca4) age and confirms that it is significantly younger than all other dated components of the complex. Of particular importance are the records of Arienigraptus gracilis (Ruedemann), Isograptus australis Cooper and Yutagraptus? v-deflexus (Harris). The graptolitic sequence conformably underlies a microconglomerate bed in which the clasts are coated by algal encrustation. Some of those clasts are of serpentinite, which was therefore clearly available for erosion into shallow water during the early Yapeenian stage. It seems most likely that the serpentinite was structurally elevated during obduction of the ophiolite, a process driven by arc-continent collision. On a broad, regional scale this can be associated with the collisional event initiating the Grampian Orogeny, for the timing of which the early Yapeenian age of the North Ballaird graptolite fauna provides an additional control.


This paper aims to estimate bank efficiency differences across member states of the European Union and tries to explain their causes. We show on an empirical basis that the level and spread of bank efficiency in the EU and their changes are significantly determined by characteristics of operational environment and the "conscious" behaviour of management.In the long term, through the integration of financial markets and institutions, as well as the establishment of the Single European Banking Market, the impact of advantages and disadvantages underlying the operational environment is reduced or eliminated; therefore only managerial ability is of any relevance. Our findings suggest that there is a costefficiency gap and convergence between the old and new member states, irrespective of the specifications of the model. With respect to profit efficiency, however, differences in efficiency between the two regions are only established after controlling for some major characteristics of the varying operational environments. Our study also investigates the relevance of and the correlation between accounting-based and statistics-based efficiency indicators. We conclude that the accounting based efficiency indicators are inadequate for managing heterogeneity arising from institutional and operational environments. Hence such indicators only allow limited cross-sectional comparison through time.


In the upcoming exa-scale era, the exploitation of data locality in parallel programs is very important because it benefits both program performance and energy efficiency. However, this is a hard topic for graph algorithms such as the Breadth First Search (BFS) due to the irregular data access patterns. This study analyzes the exploitation of data locality in the BFS and its impact on the energy efficiency with the Codelet fine-grain dataflow-inspired execution model. The Codelet Model more efficiently exploits data locality than the OpenMP-like execution models which traditionally focus on coarse-grain parallelism inside loops. A BFS algorithm is then given to exploit the locality between two loop iterations that belong to two different loops (inter-loop locality). This kind of locality can be exploited by the Codelet Model but not by traditional coarse-grain execution models like OpenMP. Tests were performed on fsim which is a simulation platform developed by Intel for the Ubiquitous High Performance Computing (UHPC) project to design future exa-scale architectures. The results show that this BFS algorithm saves up to 7% of the dynamic energy for memory accesses compared to a BFS implementation based on OpenMP loop scheduling.


We propose an asymptotic preserving (AP), all Mach number, Godunov-type finite volume scheme for the numerical solution of the compressible Euler equations of gas dynamics. The new scheme augments Klein's non-stiff/stiff decomposition of the fluxes (J. Comput. Phys. 121:213237, 1995) with a higher order correction flux. We employ an explicit/implicit time discretisation (Cordier et al., J. Comput. Phys. 231:5685-5704, 2012) for the split fluxes, which we solve by an iterative approximation. This results in a second order partial differential equation (PDE) for the pressure. Due to our choice of the reference pressure, the stiff subsystem is hyperbolic, the correction flux is viscous and the second order PDE for the pressure is elliptic. In the new scheme only a single scalar equation needs to be solved in an iteration step; we prove that the AP property is guaranteed; the CFL number is only related to the non-stiff characteristic speeds, independent of the Mach number. The second order accuracy of the scheme is based on MUSCL-type reconstructions and an appropriate combination of Runge-Kutta and Crank-Nicolson time stepping strategies. The results of some benchmark problems are presented, which validate also the convergence, robustness and the efficiency of the scheme to capture the weakly compressible flow features accurately.


The 7 sections in this volume represent the proceedings of the three-day international conference 'Regional Pathways to Complexity' held in April 2000 at the University of Groningen. They bring togethre expert contributions on a broad range of common themes in Mediterranean landscape archaeology - including: the comparison of settlement histories across projects and regions; the methods and methodologies involved in analysing regional settlement data; the relationship between pottery technology and production and societal proceses such as urbanisation and colonisation; the potential of land use models based on land evaluation techniques; and the archaeological study of past landscape perception from an urban and colonial perspective. To students of Italian archaeology, and Mediterranean archaeology in general, the papers and workshop discussions will serve as an excellent introduction to these subjects and their complexities, conveying the state-of-the-art in Mediterranean landscape archaeology.


Jets generated at chute ends move a potential scour zone away from the dam, and dissipate flow energy to reduce the scour. Usually, so-called flip buckets or ski jumps are provided to generate jets, yet they are rarely issued by deflectors. The application of a theoretical mass point parabola is limited to predict the jet features, because effects related to the take-off angle and the disintegration process affect the jet air transport and trajectories. This research discusses the effect of pre-aeration of the approach chute flow on the jet features. A comparison with a former study indicates that mainly the upper jet portion is affected, that the black water jet core becomes shorter, and that the air transport increases. Although the lower trajectory is less affected and thus remains more coherent, the small effect of pre-aeration is sufficient to reduce the total jet throw length, so that pre-aerated jets tend to be shorter as compared with black-water approach flow jets, in agreement with prototype observations.


As policy makers consider stringent targets for greenhouse gas emissions, integrated assessment models are increasingly relying on biomass energy as a critical energy source. However, it is not clear how much woody biomass to expect across time and across the planet. The integrated assessment models simply do not have enough detail about global forests and arable land to make careful forecasts of biomass supply over time. Integrating the complex dynamic demand for bioenergy from the IAMs with the complex dynamic structure of forests and forest supply is a daunting intertemporal task. This study examines the market for woody biomass by combining the integrated assessment model WITCH with the global dynamic forestry model GTM. Three carbon tax schedules are used to simulate different mitigation policies that lead to radiative forcing levels of 3.7, 3.2 and 2.5 W/m2 and a baseline scenario with no mitigation policies. WITCH determines the demand for woody biomass and GTM determines the supply of woody biomass over time. Moving from a mild to stringent mitigation policy would increase the demand of woody biomass from 8.2 to 15.2 billion m3/yr while the international price of wood would increase 4 to 9 times relative to the baseline scenario by 2100. This would shrink the demand for industrial wood products from 80% to 90% with the biomass program. Forest area will expand by 70-95% leading to increased storage of 685-1,279 GtCO2 in forest by 2100. Overall, the biomass program with the CCS technology plays a key contribution to overall GHG emission reductions in all scenarios contributing 20-27% of all mitigation for 2020-2100.


Abstract : Formal methods are gaining prominence in software engineering as a way to insure that a specification is consistent with its intended meaning, and that two formally-rendered artifacts (e.g., a specification and an implementation) are consistent with each other in some precise way. Formal methods in the arena of software architecture tend to manifest themselves in representation technology, principally in architecture description languages (ADLs). Rapide, UniCon, Wright, ACME, ArTek, RESOLVE, Gestalt, and other ADLs are populating the software architecture literature, each offering a formal way to represent the architecture of a software system. But to what end? Formal methods are useful to help a human organize thought patterns into a more disciplined form, thus heading off conceptual errors. However, formal methods are most valuable when they precipitate automated checking of an artifact, or automated translation of an artifact from one form to a more useful form. Where do ADLs stand on these capabilities?


It is well recognized that infrastructure investment is vital for growth. However, its financial implications could be huge, which could not be met by traditional sources of financing only. Using a general equilibrium model applied to Ghana, this paper combines four fiscal rules for managing oil revenue for public investment spending: i) the government combines both oil proceeds and borrowing (baseline experiment); ii) the government saves all oil proceeds and resort to borrowing (Bird-in-Hand experiment); iii) the government invests all oil proceeds and does not borrow (Hand-to-Mouth experiment); iv) aggressive investment approach; and v) baseline with structural reforms. We find that the baseline rule is susceptible to generate an intermediate impact on non-oil GDP growth and non-oil fiscal balance while minimizing the macroeconomic and fiscal volatility. We find that the baseline rule is susceptible to generate an intermediate impact on non-oil GDP growth and non-oil fiscal balance while minimizing macroeconomic and fiscal volatilities. In contrast, the Bird-in-Hand approach generates a smooth and long lasting non-oil GDP growth, and is susceptible to contain absorptive capacity constraints and Dutch disease effects. The Hand-to-Mouth approach leads to macroeconomic volatility, lower non-oil GDP growth and declining non-oil fiscal balance as a share of GDP. The aggressive investment approach is likely to produce higher non-oil GDP growth compared to the baseline but will accentuate downside risks in the baseline. Furthermore, we find that structural reforms that improve the efficiency of the baseline scaling up of public investment create sizable increase in public capital stock, which has additional positive spillover effect to the rest of the economy. JEL classification: Q32; E22; E62


One of the important problems studied in the area of travel behavior analysis is travel mode choice which is one of the four crucial steps in transportation demand estimation for urban planning. State of the art models in travel demand modelling can be classified as trip based; tour based; and activity based. In trip based approach, each individual trips is modelled as independent and isolated trips i.e. no connections between different trips. In tour based approach, trips that start and end from the same location (home, work, etc) and trips within a tour are dependent on each other. In past two decades, researchers have focussed on activity based modelling, where travel demand is derived from the activities that individuals need/wish to perform. In this approach, spatial, temporal, transportation and interpersonal interdependencies (in a household) constrain activity/travel behaviour. This paper extends tour-based mode choice model, which mainly includes individual trip level interactions, to include linked travel modes of consecutive trips of an individual. Travel modes of consecutive trip made by an individual in a household have strong dependency or co-relation because individuals try to maintain their travel modes or use a few combinations of modes for current and subsequent trips. Traditionally, tour based mode choice models involved nested logit models derived from expert knowledge. There are limitations associated with this approach. Logit models assumes i) specific model structure (linear utility model) in advance; and, ii) it holds across an entire historical observations. These assumptions about the predefined model may be representative of reality, however these rules or heuristics for tour based mode choice should ideally be derived from the survey data rather than based on expert knowledge/judgment. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a novel data-driven methodology to address the issues identified in tour based mode choice. The proposed methodology is tested using the Household Travel Survey (HTS) data of Sydney metropolitan area and its performances are compared with the state-of-the-art approaches in this area.


The aim of the study was to study the clinical and diagnostic features of cystic fibrosis in children in Uzbekistan. The study included 120 patients with cystic fibrosis at the age of 0 months. up to 14 years old, who were inpatient treatment in the department of pulmonology, pathology of early age and gastroenterology. In children with cystic fibrosis, the main clinical symptoms of the bronchopulmonary system were: cough, shortness of breath, oral wheezing, lethargy and loss of appetite. Upon admission to the hospital, the general condition of the patients was most of all regarded as severe. The most common causative agents of the disease exacerbation were S. aureus 32%, Str. pyogenus 26%. Based on the results of the study, the frequency of mutations in the CFTR gene and their influence on the nature of the course were determined. A significant role has been revealed for the 4 most common gene mutations in Uzbekistan, CFTR-F508del, CFTR-2143delT,


The field of primate cognition studies how primates, including humans, perceive, process, store, retrieve, and use information to guide decision making and other behavior. Much of this research is motivated by a desire to understand how these abilities evolved. Large and diverse samples from a wide range of species are vital to achieving this goal. In reality, however, primate cognition research suffers from small sample sizes and is often limited to a handful of species, which constrains the evolutionary inferences we can draw. We conducted a systematic review of primate cognition research published between 2014 and 2019 to quantify the extent of this problem. Across 574 studies, the median sample size was 7 individuals. Less than 15% of primate species were studied at all, and only 19% of studies included more than one species. Further, the species that were studied varied widely in how much research attention they received, partly because a small number of test sites contributed most of the studies. These results suggest that the generalizability of primate cognition studies may be severely limited. Publication bias, questionable research practices, and a lack of replication attempts may exacerbate these problems. We describe the ManyPrimates project as one approach to overcoming some of these issues by establishing an infrastructure for large-scale collaboration in primate cognition research. Building on similar initiatives in other areas of psychology, this approach has already yielded one of the largest and most diverse primate samples to date and enables us to ask many research questions that can only be addressed through collaboration.


Harris and Harris' "Radiology of Emergency Medicine, Fifth Edition" edited by a renowned musculoskeletal radiologist and an internationally recognized. Emergency Radiologist, and enhanced by contributions from invited acknowledged authorities, the Fifth Edition of this comprehensive reference is unsurpassed as a source of practical information on imaging of the acutely ill and injured patient during the acute phase of their emergent admission. Ideal for both the radiologist and for all members of the emergency team, the text builds upon current applications of plain-film radiography - while adding substantial coverage of other modalities, including MPCT and MRI. New to the Fifth Edition: over 2000 high-quality images and illustrations including multiplanar and 3D CT, MRI and ultrasound images as well as schematic anatomic drawings; the latest clinical indications and imaging protocols help you select the most appropriate imaging modality for each patient; tested perspectives from international experts help you assess complex cases and refine clinical diagnosis plus; web site access featuring full text and image bank. It includes: new chapter on thoraco-lumbar spine trauma; new sections on acetabular and ankle trauma; and new chapter on skull fractures.


The traditional view that mental disorders are distinct, categorical disorders has been challenged by evidence that disorders are highly comorbid and exist on a continuum (e.g., Caspi et al., 2014; Tackett et al., 2013). The first objective of this study was to use structural equation modeling to model the structure of psychopathology in an adolescent community-based sample (N = 2,144) including conduct disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD), obsessive–compulsive disorder, eating disorders, substance use, anxiety, depression, phobias, and other emotional symptoms, assessed at 16 years. The second objective was to identify common personality and cognitive correlates of psychopathology, assessed at 14 years. Results showed that psychopathology at 16 years fit 2 bifactor models equally well: (a) a bifactor model, reflecting a general psychopathology factor, as well as specific externalizing (representing mainly substance misuse and low ADHD) and internalizing factors; and (b) a bifactor model with a general psychopathology factor and 3 specific externalizing (representing mainly ADHD and ODD), substance use and internalizing factors. The general psychopathology factor was related to high disinhibition/impulsivity, low agreeableness, high neuroticism and hopelessness, high delay-discounting, poor response inhibition and low performance IQ. Substance use was specifically related to high novelty-seeking, sensation-seeking, extraversion, high verbal IQ, and risk-taking. Internalizing psychopathology was specifically related to high neuroticism, hopelessness and anxiety-sensitivity, low novelty-seeking and extraversion, and an attentional bias toward negatively valenced verbal stimuli. Findings reveal several nonspecific or transdiagnostic personality and cognitive factors that may be targeted in new interventions to potentially prevent the development of multiple psychopathologies.


Maize is an important staple food crop in Tropical Africa including Nigeria. However, the production of the crop is constrained by inadequate soil moisture resulting from erratic rainfall distribution. There is therefore the need to breed and select for drought tolerant genotypes for production especially in the southern Guinea savannah ecology responsible for over 60% of maize production in Nigeria. Controlled experiments using potted plants were therefore conducted during the dry periods between November 2007 and April 2008. The study evaluated moisture deficit tolerance capacity of two maize maturity groups, consisting of 15 extra-early and 12 early genotypes along with two local checks, subjected to two moisture levels 25% (stressed) and 100% (unstressed) soil available moisture) determined gravimetrically. Crop establishment parameters (% germination and mean germination time (MGT), morphological growth parameters (number and area of leaves, plant height, flowering characteristics), physiological growth indices (leaf area index, crop growth rate, relative growth rate, net assimilation rate and leaf area ratio) were measured during growth. Yield components (harvest index, shelling percentage and number of kernels per cob) and grain yield were determined at harvest. The data were analyzed using the general model of ANOVA and significant means were separated by the Least Significance Difference (LSD) at 5% probability level. The results showed that there were no appreciable differences between the two maturity groups for most measured parameters. However, across the two groups, crop establishment parameters, morpho-physiological growth parameters, yield components and grain yield were significantly reduced by soil moisture deficit, while flowering characteristics were significantly delayed by soil moisture stress with significant variable genotypic responses. Grain yield reduction due to water stress was significantly related to drought susceptibility index (DSI) of the genotypes in the two maturity groups. Conclusively, whereas extra-early genotypes showed good yield potentials but poor drought tolerance which suggested poor yield stability and therefore may not be suitable for the southern Guinea savanna (SGS) ecology in the event of severe stress. However, early genotypes, though showed lower yield potential, had good yield stability and hence are promising genotypes for the SGS ecology.


Dendritic cells of the immune system present antigen to T cells in the context of either class I or class II molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) as a means of generating two distinct arms of T cell immunity: Class I-restricted CD8+ T cell responses and CD4+ T cell help. Dudziak et al. present evidence that each pathway dominates in distinct subsets of dendritic cells. Using chimeric antibodies specific for cell surface markers present on each specific subtype of dendritic cell, it was possible to target antigens to the class I or class II MHC pathways and so elicit CD8 or CD4 responses, respectively. D. Dudziak, A. O. Kamphorst, G. F. Heidkamp, V. R. Buchholz, C. Trumpfheller, S. Yamazaki, C. Cheong, K. Liu, H.-W. Lee, C. G. Park, R. M. Steinman, M. C. Nussenzweig, Differential antigen processing by dendritic cell subsets in vivo. Science 315, 107-111 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]


An equal distribution of environmental stewardship organizations across the urban landscape provides an environment that facilitates community empowerment. The systemic issues found in Los Angeles County play an important role in the social development of the area. Through the utilization of modern technology and geographical mapping software, spatial distribution of environmental stewardship organizations provided an understanding of social conditions within Los Angeles County. Environmental stewardship organizations provide the capability for communities to be more engaged in helping to eliminate environmental injustice. The comparison of minority populations at the census tract-level emphasizes the importance of connecting environmental stewardship organizations with their target community at a static level of measurement. The assistance of the geographical mapping software provided the capability of conducting spatial autocorrelation, drawing the conclusion that environmental stewardship organizations are not equally distributed across Los Angeles County. The needs of the community continue to expand into different areas requiring an improvement to be made in order to improve the quality of life in various neighborhoods and the insurance of environmental equity. Currently it is difficult for organizations to cohesively work with one another to maximize their overlapping resources that would benefit the communities they provide environmental services to.


all the voices of the wood called "Muriel!" but it was soon solved; it was nothing, it was not for me. the words were a little like Mortal and More and endure and a word like real, a sound like Health or Hell. then i saw what the calling was: it was the road i traveled, the clear time and these colors of orchards, gold behind gold and the full shadow behind each tree, and behind each slope. not to me the calling, but to anyone, and at last i saw: where the road lay through sunlight and many voices and the marvel orchards, not for me, not for me, not for me. i came into my clear being; uncalled, alive, and sure. nothing was speaking to me, but i offered and all was well.


The contribution of the magnocellular stream to visual feature binding was examined psychophysically through the use of isoluminant stimuli. Subjects were presented with three briefly flashed colored letters arranged in an array and asked to identify the shape and color of the center letter. The rate of illusory conjunctions was much higher when the letters were isoluminant with a gray background, compared to when the letters were either brighter or dimmer. Over 90% of conjunction errors involved pairing the wrong shape with the correct color, rather than vice versa. Directing attention to the target location with a nonisoluminant cue did not reduce illusory conjunctions. High rates of binding errors under isoluminance are interpreted here in terms of abnormalities in visual form processing rather than an attentional effect. In another experiment designed to examine the role of synchrony in feature binding, the rate of illusory conjunctions was highest when flanking letters were presented before the central target letter and not synchronously.


This paper presents a new annealing method for particle filtering in the context of body pose estimation. The feature-based annealing is inferred from the weighting functions obtained with common image features used for the likelihood approximation. We introduce a complementary weighting function based on the foreground extraction and we balance the different measures through the annealing layers in order to improve the posterior estimate. This technique is applied to estimate the upper body pose of a subject in a realistic multi-view environment. Comparative results between the proposed method and the common annealing strategy are presented to assess the robustness of the algorithm.


Hydrates of CO2 and water can form during aquifer storage if the reservoir has regions where conditions of pressure and temperature are inside the hydrate forming conditions. A very common assumption is that formed hydrate will be stable and will block the flow in all directions in regions where hydrate is formed, and as a consequence hydrate could seal incomplete sealing of clay or shale. In some limits this could be practically true but in general hydrates formed in sediment cannot be thermodynamically stable. Even if the hydrate is inside stability region of pressure and temperature, the hydrate may be unstable with respect to the different component concentrations (and corresponding chemical potentials) in the different phases. In this work we present a first order Taylor expansion for thermodynamic properties outside of equilibrium and apply classical nucleation theory to estimate kinetic rates for hydrate formation kinetics and similar rates in cases of under saturation. Results are applied in model studies of hydrate formation and dissociation in a model reservoir. We compare between two kinetic approaches: the first one is based on the effect of super saturation (or under saturation) in the classical nucleation theory of hydrate growth or dissociation. The second one is based on the model of Kim and Bishnoi. Unlike other reservoir simulators we apply a reactive transport reservoir simulator, RetrasoCodeBright (RCB), which considers hydrate phase transitions as "pseudo reactions". CO2 hydrate is added to the simulator as a pseudo-mineral component and the reservoir simulator was improved to implement non-equilibrium thermodynamic calculations.


Unevenly distributed image illumination is a problem in an automatic machine visual inspection system used for fiber connector defect detection. This unevenly distributed illumination makes it difficult to find an appropriate horizontal threshold to convert a gray-scale image to a binary image to separate surface defects, such as blobs and scratches, from the background of the connector. This paper proposes some effective methods to compensate the unevenly distributed illumination problem so that standard image processing methods can be used effectively to detect the defects of the fiber connectors.


In response to the growing recognition of the prevalence of ethical issues in clinical care, hospitals in Canada began forming ethics committees in the 1980s. Studies showed significant growth in the prevalence of ethics committees over the ensuing decade. Although the limited studies available suggest that ethics committees have become very prevalent in Canadian hospitals, hospital ethics services have evolved in recent years to include a wider range of structures. In some cases, these structures may work in conjunction with an ethics committee, but in other cases they may replace ethics committees. They include on-staff ethicists, external ethics consultants, "hub-and-spokes" structures and regional ethics programs. What is not known, however, is how prevalent these other structures are and whether ethics committees continue to function as the main delivery mechanism for ethics services in Canadian hospitals. This paper reports on the results of a survey of hospitals in Ontario to answer those questions.


Female ballet dancers are highly vulnerable to the development of eating disorders (Abraham, 1996; Anshel, 2004; Ringham, Klump, Kaye, Stone, Libman, Stowe et al., 2006; Thomas, Keel, & Heatherton, 2005), and appear to be at higher risk than other female athletes (Macleod, 1998). They are generally 10-12% below ideal body weight and engage in dieting to maintain this weight (Kaufman, Warren, Dominguez, Wang, Heymsfield, & Pierson, 2002). As a special type of athlete, ballet dancers face some unique health risks related to conflicts among appearance, strength, endurance, and optimal health status (Krasnow, 2005). Competing goals between aesthetics and performance may incur an increased risk for disordered eating behaviors and cognitive disturbances in ballet dancers, along with psychosocial stressors specific to the dance profession (Krasnow, 2005). The majority of studies on ballet dancers reveal symptoms of eating disorder psychopathology, including body dissatisfaction and preoccupation with food and weight (Montanari & Zietkiewicz, 2000; Ringham et al., 2006; Szmuckler, Eisler, Gillies, & Hayward, 1985) and perfectionism (Anshel, 2004). Ballet dancers are under constant pressure to maintain low body weight and they engage in behaviors to control their weight (Abraham, 1996). Vaisman, Voet, Akvis, & Sive-Ner (1996) demonstrated that the dance school atmosphere in classical ballet promotes striving for thinness to an abnormal extent. Modern dance, on the other hand, places more emphasis on individual interpretation of movement and improvisation (Clabaugh & Morling, 2004). Thus, modern dancers have much more freedom from the constraints, restrictions, and formalities of ballet (Clabaugh & Morling, 2004), both physically and artistically. While most studies indicate that disordered eating patterns are common among ballet dancers (Anshel, 2004; Montanari & Zietkeiwicz, 2000; Ringham et al., 2006; Thomas et al., 2005), little is known about this phenomenon in modern dancers. In comparison to female college athletes, few studies have examined eating disorder issues in female college dance students. Findings indicate that ballet dance students have a greater preoccupation with weight, eating habits, and body image than do students in the general population (Anshel, 2004; Koutedakas & Jamurtas, 2004). Additional information about specific attitudes and behaviors that may increase the risk of eating disorders is needed, particularly in competitive dance programs. According to Neumarker, Bettle, Bettle, and Neumarker (1998), researchers should explore eating attitudes and behaviors in female ballet dancers with respect to specific life situations. Both cultural influences and an innate preoccupation with body image may create an increased vulnerability to disordered eating problems in ballet dancers (Neumarker et al., 1998). The effects of these sociocultural factors on modern dance students are unknown, as this population group has not been studied in the past. Perfectionism has been reported to be a risk factor for eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, but not for binge eating disorder (Ashby, Kottman, & Schoen, 1998; Bastiani, Rao, Weltzin, & Kaye, 1995; Forbush, Heatherton, & Keel, 2007; Halmi, Tozzi, Thornton, Crow, Fichter, Kaplan et al., 2005). Research reveals a striking connection between perfectionism and susceptibility to eating disorder risk in athletes (Schwarz, Gairrett, Aruguete, & Gold, 2005). High levels of individual perfectionism may elevate the risk for eating disorders in dance students along with external pressure from the dance environment to maintain low body weight (Thomas et al., 2005). According to these authors, internal pressure for thinness is promoted in an atmosphere of external pressure for thinness. Self-imposed pressures may also increase the desire to apply to highly competitive dance programs in order to validate excessive perfectionistic standards (Thomas et al. …


After a small decline, the number of uninsured persons in the United States is on the rise again, at over 41 million (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2002). This increase is likely to spur efforts to cover the uninsured through legislative action. Given the failure of the most recent attempt at massive insurance expansions (David Cutler and Gruber, 2002), the likely approach is through incremental reforms. At the same time, there remains a fundamental conflict between the right and the left over the appropriate form that such incremental reforms should take. The left advocates additional expansions of the public-insurance safety net, for example, to parents of children already publicly insured. The right advocates subsidizing the purchase of private insurance through the tax code. In recent years, a number of analyses, both inside and outside of government, have studied the impact of these types of reforms (e.g., John Holahan et al., 1999; Gruber and Larry Levitt, 2000; Mark McClellan, 2000). These analyses have largely talked past each other, however, as there is little agreement on the "right" criteria on which to evaluate incremental reforms. Should we be concerned solely with the number of persons newly insured? What about the extent of displacement of other forms of insurance coverage, or "crowdout"? And what about the types of uninsured covered; should we count equally a low-cost child who is newly insured and a high-cost older person? In this paper, I lay out the issues surrounding the criteria along which alternative approaches to reform can be evaluated. I then present microsimulation estimates of the impacts of three types of reforms: tax credits for individual purchase of nongroup insurance, expansions of public insurance to children and parents, and expansion of public insurance to all adults. I use the results from these simulations to contrast these reforms using the various criteria developed here.


We analyze symmetric protocols to rationally coordinate on an asymmetric, efficient allocation in an infinitely repeated N-agent, C-resource allocation problems. (Bhaskar 2000) proposed one way to achieve this in 2-agent, 1-resource allocation games: Agents start by symmetrically randomizing their actions, and as soon as they each choose different actions, they start to follow a potentially asymmetric "convention" that prescribes their actions from then on. We extend the concept of convention to the general case of infinitely repeated resource allocation games with N agents and C resources. We show that for any convention, there exists a symmetric subgame perfect equilibrium which implements it. We present two conventions: bourgeois, where agents stick to the first allocation; and market, where agents pay for the use of resources, and observe a global coordination signal which allows them to alternate between different allocations. We define price of anonymity of a convention as the ratio between the maximum social payoff of any (asymmetric) strategy profile and the expected social payoff of the convention. We show that while the price of anonymity of the bourgeois convention is infinite, the market convention decreases this price by reducing the conflict between the agents.


In eddy current testing, a flaw in a metal is detected when it gives rise to a change in the electrical impedance of the probe that induces current in the material. Theoretical models and computer codes have been developed to predict the probe signals as an aid to improving inspections and the interpretation of measurements. Model calculations can be efficient for a restricted class of problems in which the conductor geometry is simple, such as an infinite plate or tube. The computational cost is usually low in such cases because dedicated Green's kernels are available, allowing numerical approximations of integral equations to be found using only a few unknowns to represent the field in the flaw region. In this study, the aim has been to perform eddy current calculations on corner cracks efficiently using an approximate Green's function for a conductive quarter-space, thereby extending the class of problems that benefit from the use of a dedicated kernel. The properties of the kernel mean that numerical solutions based on boundary or volume elements can be found for an edge crack by rendering as a discrete approximation only the field at the surface of the flaw or the field within it respectively. Volume element calculations have been carried out to determine the field at a corner crack and from it the probe response. Comparisons of the calculated probe impedance due to edge notches show good agreement with experimental measurements.


Purpose. To review the literature relating to the transition from hospital to home for individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI) and make recommendations concerning the future direction of transition-specific research. Method. Relevant research articles were identified through searching existing database systems and by reviewing the reference lists of identified articles. Only articles in which the results directly related to individuals with ABI from the time of discharge to 1 year post-discharge were included in the review. Results/discussion. A total of 50 articles were identified as meeting the criteria for inclusion in the review. The methodological quality of included articles was evaluated using a set of specific criteria. The articles were classified into the following categories: (i) The perspectives of individuals with ABI and their caregivers; (ii) outcomes for individuals with ABI following transition; (iii) post-discharge services; and (iv) transitional living services/programmes. The majority of articles were based on samples of individuals with stroke, typically aged over 65 years. A common theme identified in the review was that the transition from hospital to home is typically perceived as an exciting yet difficult period for individuals and their families and as such, post-discharge support is critical. Conclusion. Further ABI transition-specific research is necessary in order to: (i) Develop a comprehensive theoretical framework of the transition phase; and (ii) facilitate both the validation of current intervention strategies and the development of innovative/tailored intervention approaches.


A thought experiment is designed to investigate whether the structure of risk aversion (i.e., the changes in absolute or relative risk aversion associated with changes in wealth) can be estimated with reasonable precision from agricultural production data. Findings strongly suggest that typical production data are unlikely to allow identification of the structure of risk aversion. A flexible utility parameterization is found to slightly worsen technology parameter estimates. Results also indicate that even under a restricted utility specification, utility parameter estimates are biased. Further, their quality is much worse when shocks are not large or samples are small.


Legislators face the challenging task of drafting copyright law, which takes into account the views of various stakeholders, intended policy and technological developments, whilst ensuring that the wording and language that is used is accurate and precise. Meeting these objectives means that the law in its legislative form can be hard-to-understand, complex and not easily accessible to the layperson. This article explores steps, which have been put in place by various organisations and online resources, to assist in the understanding of copyright for the public and schools, with particular focus on education and teaching materials – as presented on Copyrightuser.org.


The web of a built-up beam is prone to buckling if the web is thin. Stiffeners are provided to increase the post-buckling strength in plate girders. Introducing diagonal bracings is a new concept to increase load carrying capacity in ultimate state. I-section is the most popular steel beam cross-section in use universally. This paper presents the results of the experimental study done on six built-up I-section cold-formed steel (CFS) beams. The specimens were tested with symmetrical two point loading. The nature of loading divides the beam into three equal zones with a central zone subjected to constant flexure and two outer zones in constant shear. The beams were tested by varying the position of diagonal bracings in the central zone and outer zones. The results are compared and contrasted. From the study, it is found that the cold-formed steel beam with braced web in outer zone had the highest load carrying capacity compared to the other beams.


Background: This paper reports doctoral research that explored body pedagogies in sport coaching and culture. Few studies have focused on body pedagogies as an integral dimension of sport coaching and on the experience of being coached and a member of a particular sporting culture. Even less is known about the long-term impact that particular body pedagogies may have on athletes' lives, health and well-being. Purpose: This paper seeks to contribute to a growing literature that acknowledges coaching as a complex pedagogical and social process. It reports on research aimed at providing new insights into the expression and lived experiences of body pedagogies in the context of elite and sub-elite swimming. A particular aim of the research was to address the impact, if any, of body pedagogies on swimmers' lives, health and well-being – first, at the time when the participants were adolescent elite and sub-elite swimmers, and second, some 10–30 years later. Methods: The research utilised narrative ethnography and autoethnography to explore the experiences of three female participants as adolescents participating at sub-elite and elite levels in Australian swimming, and as adults. Semi-structured interviews and collaborative development of narrative accounts were used to generate stories of experiences as adolescent swimmers and as adults in the present day. Findings: The experiences of these three swimmers suggest that body pedagogies focused on weight, shape, body fat and performance permeated Australian competitive swimming culture. These body pedagogies formed prominent aspects of the discourse of the participants' coaches and their practice within this study. Furthermore, body pedagogies were shown to have powerful and long-standing influence upon the participants' feelings about their bodies and themselves. This research also suggests, however, elements of mediation of and resistance to dominant ideas and established pedagogical practices. Conclusion: The research provides vivid insights into the subtle yet extremely powerful ways in which particular ideas 'operate' and become integral to ways of 'being' and 'acting' through body pedagogies within but also beyond both the sub-elite and elite contexts of Australian swimming sporting culture. Docility was shown by the three swimmers as they internalised body pedagogies and control, until they became their own 'controller or overseer' of their swimmer bodies. This points to a need for more research that focuses on the experiences and impact of body pedagogies in sport coaching.


Scholars argue that Christians from the Global south will shape world Christianity as they come to dominate demographically. Pentecostals speak of a shared kingdom culture and see transnational networks as flat and decentralized. But Pentecostal rhetoric often draws on Euro-American neoliberal theories of individual "mindset transformation" and corporate management and resonates with earlier colonial rhetoric. This suggests that Christians from the global south might embrace Euro-American ideas instead of offering a significantly different vision. This paper examines an independent Fijian Pentecostal church that sends Fijian and Papua New Guinean missionaries to several areas of the world. Shared kingdom culture is undermined when each local church transforms common ideology to construct a positive local identity. The same process undermines the dominance of Euro-American neoliberal and neocolonial ideas and constructs an imagined world community of Christians based on submission to local leaders rather than promoting individual entrepreneurialism and global hierarchies.


Philip Morris International (PMI) is developing a range of novel tobacco products with the potential to reduce individual risk and population harm in comparison to smoking cigarettes. One of these products is the Tobacco Heating System 2.2 (THS 2.2), (named as the Electrically Heated Tobacco System (EHTS) in this paper), already commercialized in a number of countries (e.g., Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Portugal and Romania). During use, the patented EHTS heats a specifically designed tobacco product (Electrically Heated Tobacco Product (EHTP)) when inserted into a Holder (heating device). The EHTP contains tobacco material in the form of a porous plug that undergoes a controlled heating process to release chemical compounds into vapors, from which an aerosol is formed during cooling. The aim of this work was to investigate the aerosol formation characteristics for realistic operating conditions of the EHTS as well as for relevant gas mixture compositions measured in the EHTP aerosol consisting mostly of water, glycerol and nicotine, but also other compounds at much lower concentrations. The nucleation process taking place in the EHTP during use when operated in the Holder has therefore been modeled numerically using an extended Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT) for multicomponent gas mixtures. Results from the performed simulations demonstrate that aerosol droplets are formed only in the presence of an aerosol former being mainly glycerol. Minor compounds in the gas mixture were not able to reach a supersaturated state alone and therefore could not generate aerosol droplets from the multicomponent gas mixture at the operating conditions simulated. For the analytically characterized aerosol composition and estimated operating conditions of the EHTS and EHTP, glycerol was shown to be the main aerosol former triggering the nucleation process in the EHTP. This implies that according to the CNT, an aerosol former, such as glycerol needs to be present in the gas mixture for an aerosol to form under the tested operating conditions. To assess if these conclusions are sensitive to the initial amount of the minor compounds and to include and represent the total mass of the aerosol collected during the analytical aerosol characterization, simulations were carried out with initial masses of the minor compounds increased by as much as a factor of 500. Despite this extreme condition, no aerosol droplets were generated when glycerol, nicotine and water were treated as inert species and therefore not actively contributing to the nucleation process. This implies that according to the CNT, an aerosol cannot be generated without the help of an aerosol former, from the multicomponent gas mixtures at the compositions and operating conditions estimated for the EHTP, even if all minor compounds are released or generated in a single puff. Keywords—Aerosol, Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT), Electrically Heated Tobacco Product (EHTP), Electrically Heated Tobacco System (EHTS), modeling, multicomponent, nucleation. M. Nordlund is employed by Philip Morris International Research & Development, Philip Morris Products S.A., Quai Jeanrenaud 5, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland (e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com). A.K. Kuczaj is with the Multiscale Modeling & Simulation, Dept. of Applied Mathematics, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands and also employed by Philip Morris International Research & Development, Philip Morris Products S.A., Quai Jeanrenaud 5, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland.


This book highlights new and emerging uses of stable isotope analysis in a variety of ecological disciplines. While the use of natural abundance isotopes in ecological research is now relatively standard, new techniques and ways of interpreting patterns are developing rapidly. The second edition of this book provides a thorough, up-to-date examination of these methods of research. As part of the Ecological Methods and Concepts series which provides the latest information on experimental techniques in ecology, this book looks at a wide range of techniques that use natural abundance isotopes to: {sm_bullet} follow whole ecosystem element cycling {sm_bullet} understand processes of soil organic matter formation {sm_bullet} follow the movement of water in whole watersheds {sm_bullet} understand the effects of pollution in both terrestrial and aquatic environments {sm_bullet} study extreme systems such as hydrothermal vents {sm_bullet}follow migrating organisms In each case, the book explains the background to the methodology, looks at the underlying principles and assumptions, and outlines the potential limitations and pitfalls. Stable Isotopes in Ecology and Environmental Science is an ideal resource for both ecologists who are new to isotopic analysis, and more experienced isotope ecologists interested in innovative techniques and pioneering new uses.


Panel data is a group of many individual units observed for a specific time period. In general, researchers may tend to pool the units together where each observation is treated as independently among the others. Such restriction is invalid because most of the economic data are cross correlated between cross sectional units which may arise from a common influence which affects all units. This is known as cross sectional dependence (CD). The presence of outliers may result in rejection of null hypothesis, that is, in support of cross sectional independence. To overcome such problem, alternative methods which are insensitive to the presence of outliers are needed.
To address the problems of incorrect test statistics and parameter estimates in the presence of CD and outliers, this study will focus on several parts. Firstly, robust versions of CD tests are proposed to investigate the presence of CD and outliers in both the pure static and dynamic models. The asymptotic behaviours and simulation study of power for the finite sample behaviour based on Monte Carlo simulation study are considered. We find evidence that, in the presence of mild (low) CD and outliers in panels, our tests outperform the commonly used CD tests that are the LM and CD tests.
Secondly, we propose a robust version of Common Correlated Mean Group (CMG), namely RCMG, for estimating parameters in pure static model. Some properties and statistical inference for the parameter are also considered. To better understand the finite sample behavior of these approaches, we run a Monte Carlo simulation study. Our proposed estimator yields unbiased estimates with small MSE in the presence of outliers occur in X and Y directions. The hypothesis test for the robust estimator indicates that RCMG estimator has reasonable size and power with and without the presence of outliers and outperform CMG estimator in contaminated panel. In addition to the
measure of bias and MSE, its accuracy is also measured by the length of confidence
interval for RCMG estimator to supports these findings.
Thirdly, we further explore the unit root tests for the dynamic framework. The currently
available tests such as ADF and CIPS are very much affected by the presence of outliers
which subsequently result in wrong decision making by favoring to the null hypothesis
of a unit root. An alternative of CIPS denoted by RCIPS is introduced based on the
RCMG procedure. The performance and robustness of the RCIPS is discussed and
comparisons are made to ADF ad CIPS. Our simulation results show that while the
CIPS performs well for large T , the RCIPS tends to provide a good size and power
even for smaller N and T , as well as with and without the presence of outliers.
Finally, we revisit two real datasets that are related to panel data; 1) the gasoline data
for the pure static case; and 2) the PPP panel of ASIAN and CEEC countries for the
dynamic model. Here, we employ the methods discussed above and reanalyze the data
accordingly.


The analysis and design of routing algorithms for finite buffer networks requires solving the associated queue network problem which is known to be hard. We propose alternative and more accurate approximation models to the usual Jackson's theorem that give more insight into the effect of routing algorithms on the queue size distributions. Using the proposed approximation models, we analyze and design routing algorithms that minimize overflow losses in grid networks with finite buffers and different communication patterns, namely uniform communication and data gathering. We show that the buffer size required to achieve the maximum possible rate decreases as the network size increases. Motivated by the insight gained in grid networks, we apply the same principles to the design of routing algorithms for random networks with finite buffers that minimize overflow losses. We show that this requires adequately combining shortest path tree routing and traveling salesman routing. Our results show that such specially designed routing algorithms increase the transmitted rate for a given loss probability up to almost three times, on average, with respect to the usual shortest path tree routing.


Abstract The aim of the study was to estimate prevalence of tricuspid dysplasia (TD) in dogs with respect to breed, age, sex, clinical signs, and echocardiographic findings and to compare this data with literature. TD was found in 15 dogs (6.5% of congenital cardiac disease) of 215 dogs with congenital heart defects. All dogs had right heart enlargement on thoracic radiographs, echocardiography, and electrocardiography. Doppler echocardiography revealed tricuspid valve regurgitation. Seven dogs presented no clinical symptoms to date. TD took the form of Ebstein anomaly in all Labrador Retrievers, one Boxer, and one German Shepherd dog. TD predominated in males (11 males vs. three females). The body weight of the affected dogs, with the exception of the Miniature Schnauzer, exceeded 20 kg. Two dogs (Boxer and Bull Terrier) had additional congenital cardiac lesions in the form of mitral valve dysplasia. The most affected breeds in the study were the Labrador Retriever and Boxer.


Defective insulin secretion is a hallmark of all forms of diabetes. Whereas Type 1 diabetes has long been known to result from the immune-mediated destruction of beta-cells, Type 2 diabetes appears to involve both loss of beta-cell mass and glucose sensitivity in the face of extrapancreatic insulin resistance. We summarize here the proceedings of a Biochemical Society Focused Meeting, held at the St Thomas campus of King's College London in December 2007, which highlighted recent research advances targeting the beta-cell.


We investigate a new geometric flow which consists of a coupled system of the Ricci flow on a closed manifold M with the harmonic map flow of a map phi from M to some closed target manifold N with a (possibly time-dependent) positive coupling constant alpha. This system can be interpreted as the gradient flow of an energy functional F_alpha which is a modification of Perelman's energy F for the Ricci flow, including the Dirichlet energy for the map phi. Surprisingly, the coupled system may be less singular than the Ricci flow or the harmonic map flow alone. In particular, we can always rule out energy concentration of phi a-priori - without any assumptions on the curvature of the target manifold N - by choosing alpha large enough. Moreover, if alpha is bounded away from zero it suffices to bound the curvature of (M,g(t)) to also obtain control of phi and all its derivatives - a result which is clearly not true for alpha = 0. Besides these new phenomena, the flow shares many good properties with the Ricci flow. In particular, we can derive the monotonicity of an entropy functional W_alpha similar to Perelman's Ricci flow entropy W and of so-called reduced volume functionals. We then apply these monotonicity results to rule out non-trivial breathers and geometric collapsing at finite times.


In his bestselling book The Grapevine: A Report on the Secret World of the Lesbian (1965), Jess Stearn announced that, contrary to the assumptions of many Americans, most lesbians appeared indistinguishable from other women. They could mingle "congenially in conventional society." Some were popular sex symbols; some were married to unsuspecting husbands. Robert J. Corber contends that The Grapevine exemplified a homophobic Cold War discourse that portrayed the femme as an invisible threat to the nation. Underlying this panic was the widespread fear that college-educated women would reject marriage and motherhood as aspirations, weakening the American family and compromising the nation's ability to defeat totalitarianism. Corber argues that Cold War homophobia transformed ideas about lesbianism in the United States. In the early twentieth century, homophobic discourse had focused on gender identity: the lesbian was a masculine woman. During the Cold War, the lesbian was reconceived as a woman attracted to other women. Corber develops his argument by analyzing representations of lesbianism in Hollywood movies of the 1950s and 1960s, and in the careers of some of the era's biggest female stars. He examines treatments of the femme in All About Eve , The Children's Hour , and Marnie , and he explores the impact of Cold War homophobia on the careers of Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Doris Day.


In this paper, we propose a prior for hand pose estimation that integrates the direct relation between a manipulating hand and a 3d object. This is of particular interest for a variety of applications since many tasks performed by humans require hand-object interaction. Inspired by the ability of humans to learn the handling of an object from a single example, our focus lies on very sparse training data. We express estimated hand poses in local object coordinates and extract for each individual hand segment, the relative position and orientation as well as contact points on the object. The prior is then modeled as a spatial distribution conditioned to the object. Given a new object of the same object class and new hand dimensions, we can transfer the prior by a procedure involving a geometric warp. In our experiments, we demonstrate that the prior may be used to improve the robustness of a 3d hand tracker and to synthesize a new hand grasping a new object. For this, we integrate the prior into a unified belief propagation framework for tracking and synthesis.


We demonstrate a method to increase the sensitivity of the s-p phase shift under total internal reflection (TIR) for optical sensing. This is achieved by the introduction of two simple dielectric layers to the TIR surface of a fused silica prism. The enhanced sensitivity is demonstrated using evanescent-wave cavity-ring-down-ellipsometry by measuring the refractive index of liquid mixtures and by studying the adsorption of polymers to the TIR surface of the fused silica prism.


The amino acid alanine is choosen as a model molecule for protein structure. To study the effect of metals upon protein Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe and Zn were respectively coordinated to alanine through the H-bonding of Carboxyl group. Both Na and K are coordinated with one alanine unit while Ca, Mg, Fe and Zn are coordinated with two alanine units. Calculations are conducted with density functional theory at B3LYP/6-31g(d,p) level of theory. The geometrical parameters are calculated including bond lengths and bond angle of COOH group. The total dipole moment, HOMO/LUMO band gap energy and C=O vibration of COOH group are also calculated. Results indicate that, the bond length LC-O is decreased while LC=O and LO-H are increased, a shift in the characteristic band of carboxyl group (C=O) toward lower wavenumbers is recorded. The total dipole moment and band gap energy are changed. It could be concluded that the studied elements are changing both the structural, Physical and vibrational characteristics of protein.


Cyanohydrins are synthetically versatile chiral building blocks in organic synthesis. They can be conveniently synthesized in enantiomerically pure form via chemoenzymatic hydrogen cyanide addition onto the corresponding aldehyde using hydroxynitrile lyase. Recently, we reported that such transformations can be efficiently carried out in a continuous flow manner using microreactors. Since racemization of enantiopure cyanohydrins occurs readily under slightly basic conditions, they should be protected before the follow-up reactions, preferably under acidic conditions. In this contribution, we demonstrate that the methoxyisopropyl protection of mandelonitrile can be conveniently optimized in an automated microscale continuous flow system and subsequently scaled up under the same conditions by applying a larger flow reactor.


The relatively lower reduction of poverty in Orissa, 0.2 percentage points per annum from 48.6% in 1993-94 to 46.4% in 2004-05, has been a matter of concern. The current exercise attempts to analyse whether part of the explanation lies in the state of affairs in agriculture. An analysis for 2004-05 shows that incidence of poverty is 47% for rural and 44% for urban Orissa. The vulnerable sub-groups are southern (73% rural, 55% urban) and northern (59% rural, 43% urban) across National Sample Survey (NSS) regions, the scheduled tribes (76% rural, 65% urban) and scheduled castes (50% rural, 75% urban) across social groups, the agricultural labourers (65%) and other labourers (52%) in rural areas and casual labourers (56%) in urban areas across household type, and marginal and small farmers (51%) across size-class of land possessed in rural areas. What is even worrying is a much greater incidence of calorie poor (79% rural and 49% urban). This reflects a gap in the poverty line and the calorie that it is supposed to represent and a seeming nutritional crisis even among the groups that resorts to hard labour that includes among others marginal and small farmers and landless households the hands that grow food. The agrarian scenario is in dire straits. Per capita per day returns from cultivation, based on the situation assessment survey of 2002-03, is less than four rupees, a pittance. What is more, in 1990s, agricultural value addition and growth in production has been negative across all crop groups and paddy production, the main crop, shows a decline in all districts. It is this poor showing in agriculture that does partly explain the slow reductions of poverty in the 1990s in Orissa. The call of the hour is people-centric planning that revives the livelihood bases of the farmers and agricultural labourers.


Although both the antitrust and intellectual property laws are intended to foster innovation and efficiency, the former do so by outlawing monopolies and the latter by protecting them. These disparate methods cause antitrust law and intellectual property law to coexist in a state of permanent tension. Until recently, that tension was reduced by the limited duration of patents and copyrights. However, with exponential growth of innovation and invention in technology has come rapid obsolescence of many inventions. Software and hardware become obsolete in a matter of a few years or months. The postindustrial era has therefore reinvigorated the conflict between intellectual property law and antitrust law. At the nexus of this tension, one will find the doctrines of patent and copyright misuse. Unfortunately, neither the 1976 Copyright Act nor the antitrust statutes addresses the tension between the two bodies of law. In the copyright field, however, the dangers inherent in any monopoly have spawned legal doctrines, such as the misuse defense, designed to prevent abuse of the monopoly. The purpose of this Article is to discuss the current status of the copyright misuse doctrine and predict its probable future course. Until 1990, no federal circuit court and only one federal district court 8 accepted the copyright misuse defense, making such predictions difficult. Since 1990, however, acceptance of the defense (in theory, at least) has become quite broad. The questions now are: what are the tenets of the doctrine and when will the defense most likely succeed?


A generalized discriminant analysis based on a new optimization criterion is presented. The criterion extends the optimization criteria of the classical Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) when the scatter matrices are singular. An efficient algorithm for the new optimization problem is presented.The solutions to the proposed criterion form a family of algorithms for generalized LDA, which can be characterized in a closed form. We study two specific algorithms, namely Uncorrelated LDA (ULDA) and Orthogonal LDA (OLDA). ULDA was previously proposed for feature extraction and dimension reduction, whereas OLDA is a novel algorithm proposed in this paper. The features in the reduced space of ULDA are uncorrelated, while the discriminant vectors of OLDA are orthogonal to each other. We have conducted a comparative study on a variety of real-world data sets to evaluate ULDA and OLDA in terms of classification accuracy.


In this paper we study the problem of recovering a secret S-box from its difference distribution table (DDT). While being an interesting theoretical problem on its own, the ability to recover the S-box from the DDT of a secret S-box can be used in cryptanalytic attacks where the attacker can obtain the DDT (e.g., in Bar-On et al.'s attack on GOST), in supporting theoretical analysis of the properties of difference distribution tables (e.g., in Boura et al.'s work), or in some analysis of S-boxes with unknown design criteria (e.g., in Biryukov and Perrin's analysis).We show that using the well established relation between the DDT and the linear approximation table (LAT), one can devise an algorithm different from the straightforward guess-and-determine (GD) algorithm proposed by Boura et al. Moreover, we show how to exploit this relation, and embed the knowledge obtained from it in the GD algorithm. We tested our new algorithm on random S-boxes of different sizes, and for random 14-bit bijective S-boxes, our results outperform the GD attack by several orders of magnitude.


Personalized recommendations provide new opportunities to engage with audiences and influence media choices. Should the public-service media use such algorithmic profiling and targeting to guide audiences and stimulate more diverse choices? And if they do, is this a brave new world we would like to live in? This article outlines new opportunities for the public-service media to fulfill their commitment to media diversity and highlights some of the ethical and normative considerations that will play a role. The article concludes with a call for a new body of "algorithmic media ethics."


OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to assess fluoride intake in infants from formula reconstituted with water, with fluorosis risk in mind.

STUDY DESIGN
Data on water source, formula brand/type, volume of formula consumption and infant weight were collected for infants at two-, four-, six-, nine- and twelve-month pediatrician well child visits. Identified formula brands and water types were reconstituted and analyzed for fluoride concentration. Patient body mass and volume consumed/day were used to estimate fluoride intake from reconstituted formula. Descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance and chi-square tests were utilized.

RESULTS
All infants consumed formula reconstituted with minimally fluoridated water (0.0- 0.3 ppm). 4.4% of infants exceeded the recommended upper limit (UL) of 0.1mg/kg/day. Although mean daily fluoride consumption significantly differed among all groups, the proportion of infants at each visit milestone that exceeded daily fluoride intake of 0.1mg/kg/day was not statistically significantly different (p>0.05) for any age group. Predicted values calculated with optimally fluoridated water (0.7ppm) resulted in 36.8% of infants exceeding the UL.

CONCLUSIONS
Optimally fluoridated water may increase fluorosis risk for patients younger than six months. Future investigation should include multiple sites and multi-year follow-up to assess actual fluorosis incidence.


Spontaneous methylation rates that may affect phenotype in the plant Arabidopsis are higher than the mutation rate. Epigenetic information, which may affect an organism's phenotype, can be stored and stably inherited in the form of cytosine DNA methylation. Changes in DNA methylation can produce meiotically stable epialleles that affect transcription and morphology, but the rates of spontaneous gain or loss of DNA methylation are unknown. We examined spontaneously occurring variation in DNA methylation in Arabidopsis thaliana plants propagated by single-seed descent for 30 generations. We identified 114,287 CG single methylation polymorphisms and 2485 CG differentially methylated regions (DMRs), both of which show patterns of divergence compared with the ancestral state. Thus, transgenerational epigenetic variation in DNA methylation may generate new allelic states that alter transcription, providing a mechanism for phenotypic diversity in the absence of genetic mutation.


In this thesis, we have presented two deep 1.4 GHz and 345 MHz overlapping surveys of the Lockman Hole field taken with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. We extracted a catalogue of ~6000 radio sources from the 1.4 GHz mosaic down to a flux limit of ~55 μJy and a catalogue of 334 radio sources down to a flux limit of ~4 mJy from the inner 7 sq. degree region of the 345 MHz image. The extracted catalogues were used to derive the source number counts at 1.4 GHz and at 345 MHz. The source counts were found to be fully consistent with previous determinations. In particular the 1.4 GHz source counts derived by the present sample provide one of the most statistically robust determinations in the flux range 0.1 < S < 1 mJy.
During the commissioning program of the LOFAR telescope, the Lockman Hole field was observed at 58 MHz and 150 MHz. The 150 MHz LOFAR observation is particularly relevant as it allowed us to obtain the first LOFAR flux calibrated high resolution image of a deep field. From this image we extracted a preliminary source catalogue down to a flux limit of ~15 mJy (~10σ), that can be considered complete down to 20‒30 mJy.
A spectral index study of the mJy sources in the Lockman Hole region, was performed using the available catalogues ( 1.4 GHz, 345 MHz and 150 MHz) and a deep 610 MHz source catalogue available from the literature (Garn et al. 2008, 2010).


Never Stop Pushing is a motivational autobiography by Olympic Greco-Roman champion wrestler Rulon Gardner (Gold Medal, 2000; Bronze Medal, 2004). This inspiring memoir comes from one of the world's most remarkable athletes who achieved arguably the greatest upset in individual sports history when he defeated the Russian Alexander Karelin -- three-time Olympic champ, undefeated and unscored upon for a decade before his match with Gardner -- in the 2000 Gold Medal match. Rulon Gardner tells the story of his impoverished upbringing as one of nine children in a close-knit Mormon family on a farm in Wyoming, where in performing unceasing chores he developed tremendous strength at an early age. Gardner writes about his struggles in school made arduous by learning disabilities that have challenged him his whole life. Also, after winning his Gold Medal, we read how this champion survived a snowmobile accident that marooned him outdoors for eighteen hours in high country. Rulon Gardner recovered from this and went on to defend his Gold Medal at Athens in 2004--yet another comeback from this athlete who was supposed to simply fade away.


This article examines the role played by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (osce) and other external actors in tackling security issues that have emerged in Libya since the outbreak of the Arab Spring. Uncontrolled migration, human trafficking, radicalization and energy security are still at stake within the comprehensive and indivisible security that the osce strives to bring across its area. Although security in the Mediterranean is linked to that of osce participating States, Libya's fragmentation has highlighted the challenges in adopting joint policies in the country. Therefore, the osce still faces the challenge to effectively engage with Libya in its ongoing debate on common security in the Mediterranean.


Abstract This paper presents a joint selection criterion for optimal trajectory planning using dynamic programming along a specified geometric path subject to torque and velocity constraints. A single non-stationary joint is normally considered for optimization purpose. In case of more than one non-stationary joints, the optimization by selecting any joint at random may end up with a non-optimal solution. This problem raises the importance of the proposed joint selection criterion. A novel joint selection criterion based on the geometric path information is presented for dealing with such cases having more than one non-stationary joints. In contrast of existing approaches to solve the optimization problem by considering each joint separately, the proposed criterion saves computational time, efforts and thus there is no need to solve the optimization problem multiple times with respect to each non-stationary joint to get the optimal solution. The proposed criterion can be used to optimize a given path with respect to travelling time, energy consumption or any other arbitrary form of cost function. The validity of the proposed selection criterion is tested on a parallel DELTA robot. The obtained results are compared with the optimal results obtained by other techniques which confirm the applicability of the proposed scheme.


The Nova paraneoplastic antigens are neuron-specific RNA-binding proteins that are essential for neuronal viability and participate in the control of alternative splicing. In this study, the yeast two-hybrid system is used to isolate Nova-interacting proteins. A novel RNA-binding protein named brPTB is identified, that is closely related to the polypyrimidine tract-binding protein (PTB) and is ennched in the brain at the mRNA and protein levels. brPTB interacts with Nova proteins in vitro and in vivo. Splicing assays in kidney epithelial cell lines show that brPTB inhibits the effect of Noval in the inclusion of alternatively spliced exons in two target pre-mRNAs: glycine receptor oc2 subunit (GlyRa2) and GABAA receptor y2 subunit (GABAARy2). Furthermore, in the case of GlyRoc2, brPTB binds to a site adjacent to Noval in a 90 nucleotide fragment of intronic RNA upstream of the alternatively spliced exon, but with an affinity more than 10-fold lower than Noval. When the brPTB site is mutated, binding is abolished and the inhibitory effect on Noval-dependent exon inclusion disappears. In addition, it is shown that the inhibitory effect of brPTB on Noval splicing does not occur in neuronal cells. These results suggest that brPTB is a tissue-restricted RNA-binding protein that specifically interacts with Nova and inhibits its ability to activate exon selection. Nova proteins localize in distinct nuclear foci, but fail to co-localize with any of the known proteins that occupy sub-nuclear structural domains. Both endogenous and transfected brPTB and Nova proteins co-localize in these foci in neuroblastoma cell lines but not in non-neuronal cells. A model is proposed whereby alternative splicing and nuclear localization mediated by Nova and brPTB are linked as the consequence of their protein interaction in specific cell types.


Light stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ18O) of tooth enamel have been widely used to determine the diets and water sources of fossil fauna. The carbon isotope ratios indicate whether the plants at the base of the food web used C3 or C4 photosynthetic pathways, while the oxygen isotope ratios indicate the composition of the local rainfall and whether the animals drank water or obtained it from plants. The contrasting diets of two early hominin species - Homo habilis and Paranthropus boisei - of ca 1.8 Ma (million years ago) in Tanzania were determined by means of stable carbon isotope analysis of their tooth enamel in a previous study. The diets of two specimens of P. boisei, from Olduvai and Peninj, proved to be particularly unusual, because 80% of their carbon was derived from C4 plants. It was suggested that their diet consisted primarily of plants, with particular emphasis on papyrus, a C4 sedge. The dominance of C4 plants in the diet of P. boisei is a finding supported in another study of 22 specimens from Kenya. The isotopic ecology and diets of fossil fauna that were present at the same time as the two fossil hominin species are described here, in order to provide a fuller understanding of their contrasting diets and of the moisture sources of their water intake. This information was then compared with the isotopic composition of modern fauna from the same region of Tanzania. The carbon isotope ratios for both fossil and modern specimens show that the habitats in which these faunal populations lived were quite similar - grassland or wooded grassland. They had enough bushes and trees to support a few species of browsers, but most of the animals were grazers or mixed feeders. The oxygen isotope ratios of the fossil and modern fauna were, however, very different, suggesting strongly that the source of moisture for the rain in the Olduvai region has changed during the past 1.8 million years.


1H NMR spectroscopy has become an important technique for the characterization of transition-metal hydride complexes, whose metal-bound hydrides are often difficult to locate by X-ray diffraction. In this regard, the accurate prediction of 1H NMR chemical shifts provides a useful, but challenging, strategy to help in the interpretation of the experimental spectra. In this work, we establish a density-functional-theory protocol that includes relativistic, solvent, and dynamic effects at a high level of theory, allowing us to report an accurate and reliable interpretation of 1H NMR hydride chemical shifts of iridium polyhydride complexes. In particular, we have studied in detail the hydride chemical shifts of the [Ir6(IMe)8(CO)2H14]2+ complex in order to validate previous assignments. The computed 1H NMR chemical shifts are strongly dependent on the relativistic treatment, the choice of the DFT exchange–correlation functional, and the conformational dynamics. By combining a fully relativistic four-component electronic-structure treatment with ab initio molecular dynamics, we were able to reliably model both the terminal and bridging hydride chemical shifts and to show that two NMR hydride signals were inversely assigned in the experiment.


In climate models, the land–atmosphere interactions are described numerically by land surface parameterization (LSP) schemes. The continuing improvement in realism in these schemes comes at the expense of the need to specify a large number of parameters that are either directly measured or estimated. Also, an emerging problem is whether the relationships used in LSPs are universal and globally applicable. One plausible approach to evaluate this is to first minimize uncertainty in model parameters by calibration. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of some model diagnostics using a slightly modified version of the Simple Biosphere 3 model for a variety of biomes located mainly in the Amazon. First, the degree of influence of each individual parameter in simulating surface fluxes is identified. Next, we estimate parameters using a multi‐operator genetic algorithm applied in a multi‐objective context and evaluate simulations of energy and carbon fluxes against observations. Compared with the default parameter sets, these parameter estimates improve the partitioning of energy fluxes in forest and cropland sites and provide better simulations of daytime increases in assimilation of net carbon during the dry season at forest sites. Finally, a detailed assessment of the parameter estimation problem was performed by accounting for the decomposition of the mean squared error to the total model uncertainty. Analysis of the total prediction uncertainty reveals that the parameter adjustments significantly improve reproduction of the mean and variability of the flux time series at all sites and generally remove seasonality of the errors but do not improve dynamical properties. Our results demonstrate that error decomposition provides a meaningful and intuitive way to understand differences in model performance. To make further advancements in the knowledge of these models, we encourage the LSP community to adopt similar approaches in the future. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Anaerobic co-digestion of municipal sludge and food wastes high in chemical oxygen demand (COD) has been an area of interest for waste water treatment facilities looking to increase methane production, and at the same time, dispose of the wastes and increase the revenue. However, addition of food wastes containing fats, oils and grease (FOG) to the conventional anaerobic digestion process can be difficult and pose challenges to utilities. Incorporating these wastes into the treatment plants can potentially inhibit the digestion process. In this study four lab-scale, anaerobic digesters were operated under mesophilic conditions and fed municipal sludge. One of them served as the control, while the other three digesters were fed with different volumetric loadings of juice processing waste, cheese processing waste (whey), dissolved air flotation waste (DAF) from a food processor, and grease trap waste (GTW), in addition to the municipal sludge. The impact of these high strength wastes (HSWs) on digester performance was analyzed for a total period of 150 days. Among the parameters analyzed were pH, total and soluble COD (tCOD and sCOD), Total and Total Volatile Solids (TS and TVS), Total Ammonia Nitrogen (TAN), Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA), Long Chain Fatty Acids (LCFA), and alkalinity. Biogas was collected and analyzed for methane content. The dewatering characteristics of digested sludge were also studied. Volatile organic sulfur compounds were analyzed on the dewatered sludge in order to monitor odors. This study showed that different high strength wastes have different impacts on digester performance. HSWs have the ability to degrade along with municipal sludge and to increase biogas production. However, anaerobic digestion can be inhibited by the presence of FOG, and addition of these wastes might not always be cost effective. Careful selection of these wastes is necessary to ensure stable digester operation, while bringing about increases in gas production. Utilities need to be cautious before adding any high strength wastes to their digesters.


paper reports on a preliminary experiment designed to analyze the effects of multiple wall textures on a user's ability to navigate throughout a virtual environment (VE). Two subject groups searched the same maze-like VE twice for six randomly placed red spheres. The mazes for each group were of identical layout; however, the maze for group 1 had the same wall texture throughout, and the maze for group 2 had different wall textures in each room. Analysis of the experiment's results show that the difference between the mean search times, mean distance traveled, and the mean total number of degrees turned was not statistically significant, but that subjects in the single texture group tended to travel at faster speeds. Subjects in the multiple texture condition were, however, more likely to improve their overall search time from the first trial to the second. Results provide some evidence that use of multiple textures assists users in the formation of a mental map of a VE, suggesting that this approach is deserving of more investigation as a method to support user navigation through unfamiliar VEs.