Private donations—from individuals, corporations, and foundations—are a major revenue source for colleges and universities in the United States, but little is known about the sources of the great variation among schools. The research reported here estimates the influence of such variables as whether the school is public or private nonprofit, its solicitation efforts, size, and endowment wealth, and the publicity it receives for its achievements. Our research distinguishes between the effects of achievements in athletics and in academics, the effects of each of those on various donor groups, including the disaggregation of individuals into alumni, parents, and other individuals, and the effects not only on total donations but on giving to athletic and to academic programs.


Previous studies have suggested that horseshoe crabs prefer warm water, suggesting that they may be able to detect changes in water temperature. The overall goal of this study was to test this hypothesis. Our specific objectives were to: 1) find out if horseshoe crabs can detect temperature changes; 2) determine the magnitude of temperature change they can detect, and; 3) determine whether their temperature receptors are located internally or externally. Animals were placed in a light-tight chamber that received a constant flow of cooled seawater. Their heart rates were continuously recorded and a change in heart rate following the addition of warmer water was used as an indicator that they sensed the change in temperature. The results showed that 50% of horseshoe crabs responded to a temperature change of 1°C, while 100% responded to a temperature change of 2.6°C. Over half of the horseshoe crabs also responded to a rate of temperature change of less than 1.5°C. Both of these results indicate that horseshoe crabs can, indeed, sense temperature changes. Also, the horseshoe crabs typically showed a response before their internal temperature changed, indicating that their temperature receptors are most likely located externally.


The olfactory receptor (OR) gene family constitutes one of the largest multigene families and is distributed among many chromosomal sites in the human genome. Four OR families have been defined in mammals. We previously demonstrated that a high fraction of human OR sequences have incurred deleterious mutations, thus reducing the repertoire of functional OR genes. In this study, we have characterized a new OR gene, 912-93, in primates. This gene is unique and it defines a new OR family. It localizes to human chromosome 11q11-12 and at syntenical sites in other hominoids. The sequence marks a previously unrecognized rearrangement of pericentromeric material from chromosome 11 to the centromeric region of gibbon chromosome 5. The human gene contains a nonsense point mutation in the region corresponding to the extracellular N-terminus of the receptor. This mutation is present in humans of various ethnic groups, but is absent in apes, suggesting that it probably appeared during the divergence of humans from other apes, <4 000 000-5 000 000 years ago. A second mutation, a frameshift at a different location, has occurred in the gorilla copy of this gene. These observations suggest that OR 912-93 has been recently silenced in human and gorilla, adding to a pool of OR pseudogenes whose growth may parallel a reduction in the sense of smell in primates.


Performances in The Daily Hayley were based on a 6 month collection of newspapers. They took place over 16 consecutive days at Matt's Gallery, London. In The Daily Hayley newspapers were used as scores for improvised performances, as such text was used as instruction rather than description (see outputs 1 and 2).

In this work I 'performed performance', using performative strategies to reflexively examine the position and role of a performance-artist (The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, E. Goffman). One strategy was to create tension between engaging with the physical and psychological demands of performing for 6 hours a day, while maintaining awareness of my performative examination of liveness. Another strategy involved identifying ways of performing such as scatter performance or repetitive action and re-performing those styles. As with previous work my performances reflected on their own eventual mediation: red contact-lenses caused continuous red-eye (a phenomenon of flash photography) and self-tanning lotion made my skin as saturated as images of magazine celebrity.

The Daily Hayley video (79 minutes, 2003) represents edited footage of the gallery performances. The video, directed by myself and edited by Gill Addison, was screened at Matt's Gallery, Centre d'Arte Contemporaine, Geneva and CCA, Villnius (2003). In 2005 I wrote the paper: Performing to Camera and Liveness (Tate Britain, 2005) exploring the ontological relationship between performance and video. This paper reflected on my experience of making The Daiy Hayley, considering performance in relation to the media-studies definition of 'liveness', an activity measured against that which is not live i.e.; video/audio.

The Daily Hayley artists' book was published by Matt's Gallery in 2004. The book is a box-set (11×35x49cm) containing a 10 minute video-clip and approximately 1500 B&W photocopies of research notes relating to the performances (ISBN 0 907623 45 X).


Minimum wages may be an important instrument to reduce income inequality in a society and to promote socially inclusive economic growth. While higher minimum wages can support the Chinese transformation towards consumption driven growth, they can worsen the price competitiveness in export markets. As they differ throughout the country, this paper investigates their determinants at the regional level. In addition to a broad set of economic determinants, such as per capita income and consumption, consumer prices, unemployment and industrial structures, spatial effects are taken into account. They might arise for different reasons, including competition of local policymakers. The results show that the impact of economic variables declines, once spatial spillovers are considered. Although the minimum wage regulation pursues the relevance of economic factors in the determination of the appropriate levels, the actual development is largely driven by regional dependencies. As minimum wage standards set by local officials do not fully reflect the regional economic development, further reforms should be on the agenda.


National agricultural systems are highly independent, and yet major policy options exist at the national level. To explore these options, therefore, it is necessary both to develop policy models for national economies and to link them together by trade and by capital transfers. For greater realism the models in this scheme of analysis are kept descriptive rather than normative. Models of some 20 countries (where the CMEA and EC countries with common agricultural policies are counted as single units), which together account for nearly 80% of such important agricultural attributes as area, production, population, exports and imports, are linked together to constitute the basic linked system.

Work on the Swedish model started in 1978 and was finished in 1984. In this report the authors describe what is specific to the Swedish case within the framework of model characteristics and policy problems.


Introduction In the field of information systems (IS) design, the requirement process and related fields are growing in importance. Despite their importance, the development of human resources in these fields does not appear to be proceeding in tandem with their requirements. It is urgent that both industry and education focus on fostering human resources who can direct the requirement and design processes of information systems. For systems vendor companies, the development of high value-added systems analysts and architects has become a critical measure to survive and cope with rival foreign companies who provide cheaper systems. For systems user companies, fostering human resources with capabilities and skills has become a strategic issue. These capabilities and skills include the ability to elaborate an enterprise information systems architecture that matches the business structure and determine system requirements and specifications for individual systems based on the enterprise architecture. Japanese government and industry have advocated a proposal (Information Service and Software Sub-committee, 2007) to promote the fostering of IT human resources at an advanced level. Figure 1 shows the relationship between the levels of required human resources of this proposal and our target discussed later in this article. This proposal classifies IT human resources into seven levels. Level one is the entry level, levels two and three correspond to the middle levels, and levels four to seven correspond to the advanced level. The critical issue is how to raise human resources to at least level five. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] The first step in developing information systems involves shaping business activities in the targeted domain as requirements. After the desired outcomes are described to them, architects must have the competencies to analyze and map business structures and processes into an information system. The human resources who take charge of this field should have the ability to understand and describe business structure in the targeted domain as well as in information systems. In addition to standard data-based education, education based on experience may be required to develop human resources. Many researchers claim that on-the-job training (OJT) is suitable for this purpose. Although many companies apply OJT, much of the training does not succeed because of a lack of competent instructors. Often, those most suitable to become OJT instructors are busy people who do not have sufficient time to provide training. In consequence, trainees do not receive enough guidance, and thus not enough results, from their training. The means by which to foster capable human resources must be considered an urgent and important issue for educational programs, especially for professional graduate school programs in information systems. As a part of a program that advances IT human resources, we have implemented a course of business modeling by means of a seminar to foster the human resources described above. This paper describes the design of the learning process and assesses the applicability and effectiveness of the instructional process. Describing a Business Structure with Conceptual Data Modeling Information Systems Requirements and Conceptual Data Modeling The first issue in developing information systems is determining how to design the system according to client requirements. It is necessary to visualize the potential requirements of both clients and business experts in an objective domain. In conjunction with visualization, consensus building between stakeholders, including both clients and information systems architects, is indispensable. Much research and many studies (e.g. Davis, 2004; Jackson, 1995) have been produced on client requirements. The essential point of the requirement process is inheres how to describe a real-world process. …


Context: In recent years there has been increasing interest on publication bias and on initiatives to decrease bias, in- cluding trial registration. Objective: To test whether there has been an increase in reports of randomized control trials (RCT's) with negative outcomes in major journals and to identify factors associated with these reports. Design: Retrospective review of reports of RCT's published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine before (2002-'03, pre-registration era) and after (2007-'08, registration era) the institution of mandatory trial registration. Main Outcome Measure: The primary outcome was the proportion of RCT reports with negative outcomes compared across the two eras. Secondary outcome includes other factors affecting pub-lication. Results: We identified 917 reports of RCT's published in the two study eras. No publications in the pre-registration era reported trial registration compared with 94.4% in the registration era (p 0.001). There was a non-significant increase in negative trials from the pre-registration to the registration era (29.1% vs. 34.1%, p = 0.10, OR 1.26, 95% CI 0.96 - 1.67). Study characteristics associated with negative outcomes include trials of drugs (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.08 - 2.43), procedures or devices (OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.29 - 3.35), explicit identification of a single primary endpoint (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.40 - 2.47), and increasing sample size (OR 3.08, 95% CI 1.78 - 5.34). Non-inferiority study design was associated with a decreased likelihood of a negative outcome (OR 0.13, 95% CI 0.05 - 0.31). Conclusions: The proportion of published RCT reports with negative outcomes in three major medical journals has not significantly increased since the mandatory clinical trial registration policy. The observed prevalence of negative trials is associated with increases in sample size and greater specificity in trial endpoints.


Context: Spirituality is the essence of a human being. Patients who have good spiritual well-being (SWB) will also have better quality of life. However, health-care providers usually under-assess this aspect due to lack of practical guideline. In Thailand, the validated survey came from a different cultural background and was heavily based on Buddhism approach. Aims: The aim of the study is to assess the meaning of spirituality and SWB in Thai breast cancer patients in Southern Thailand where people have more diverse cultural and religious background. Settings and Design: Descriptive qualitative phenomenology design. Subjects and Methods: In-depth interview with stratified purposive sampling method. The interviews took place in the oncology outpatient unit department and participants' home. Inclusion criteria were being diagnosed with breast cancer, age over 18 years old, able to communicate in Thai, has a Palliative Performance Scale more than 50, and was not diagnosed with any psychological disorder. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive statistic. Results: From October 2016 to February 2018, 16 women joined the study. Three themes emerged with five subthemes: (1) feeling life worthwhile, (2) sense of belonging in the community, and (3) feeling connected to the nature. Conclusions: For Thai women, who have breast cancer, their spirituality focuses on family, mainly their children. They also have better SWB if they have good family relationship, social support, or feeling connected with nature or higher being in a religious or nonreligious way. Future survey design needs to be broader in a secular view and on another perspective rather than the religious approach.


... I want to know if you are willing, to live day by day with the consequences (love and the bitter unwanted passion of your sure defeat ... --David Whyte (2) Those who offer professional assistance in complex and emotionally charged post separation parenting disputes may have been surprised to read the results of the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) survey of just over 10000 parents who had separated after the 2006 family law reforms. The survey, part of the AIFS evaluation of the 2006 family law reforms (Kaspiew et al., 2009), found that an average of 15 months after their separation, * 62% of parents reported having friendly or cooperative relationships with each other; * 19% said their relationship was distant; * 14% rated the relationship as highly conflicted; and * 5% (7% mothers and 3% fathers) rated the relationship as fearful. Of some consequence is the fact that the 'fearful' rating was the only one in which significant gender differences were reported. These and other data from the AIFS evaluation serve to remind those engaged in promoting the welfare of children and families that the majority of parents appear to find ways of handling the process of separating reasonably well, while about a fifth seem to cope by preserving or developing a relationship that is primarily functional and business like. (3) Beyond that however, is another fifth whose post separation relationships are quite problematic both for them and for their children. (4) These and other data in the AIFS evaluation have assisted professionals in obtaining a better picture of the extent and the type of separation-related family disputes that children and parents find especially distressing--the sort of disputes that also typically 'use up' a significant proportion of the available legal and family relationship services. The place of family mediation (5) in the mix of service options for separating families in dispute over their children is the main focus of this issue of JFS. The first article by Cashmore and Parkinson (2011) is included in this issue because it assists us to understand more fully, the dynamics of parenting disputes at the more problematic end of the spectrum. The relevance of this study to the question of family mediation is that it provides a backdrop for consideration of both the limitations of this form of intervention in post separation parenting disputes and the alternatives that should be contemplated. Put simply, family mediation is not a panacea. The families described by Cashmore and Parkinson (2011) were participating in a Contact Orders Program known as Keeping Contact. (6) The program was being run by Unifam, a well-known family services agency in Sydney. Attendance at such a program means that the parents and children have been deemed to be in need of assistance beyond that which the mainstream family law system can offer. They were adjudged by the authors to be in 'high conflict'. But what is the nature of that conflict? Cashmore and Parkinson (2011) found the key issue for many of the families attending this program was concern about the child's safety and well-being while in the care of the 'other parent'. Many would therefore be likely to be in the 5% of parents identified in the AIFS evaluation as 'fearful'. Linked to these concerns were parental reports of resistance from many of these children, over half of whom were less than 5 years old at the time of separation, to spending time with their 'other parent'. Parents reported that these children were especially resistant to spending nights with this parent. According to the authors, other issues such as the presence of new partners and disputes over money appeared to inflame the disputes but were not the key reported reasons for their concerns. This study reinforces the need to continue to think carefully about the timing and sequencing of family law services to such families. …


The riparian flora of the river Weser between Munden and Bremerhaven was documented. 89 representative test areas were selected each 5 km in distance from each other. In addition random sampling along the river banks was carried out to provide a complete record of species present. Altogether 315 vascular plant species were found. The frequency distributions of 231 species are shown in the tables 4a to 4i. The formal structuring of the investigated river section into upper reaches (Oberweser), middle reaches (Mittelweser) and lower reaches (Unterweser) is reflected by the composition of the riparian flora. The frequencies of the different species for each of the three reaches of the river are reported. Calculated species frequencies revealed floristic differences for the different reaches. This is particularly the case for "index-species" whose occurrence is mainly limited to one specific reach of the river. There were 42 neophytes found along the banks of the investigated river section, but only four species were found in more than 25 % of the test areas: Bidens frondosa, Atriplex sagittata, Impatiens glandulifera und Xanthium albinum. Only Bidens frondosa is a very frequent species along the Oberweser as well as along the Mittelweser. The other three neophytic species have a selective occurrence in only one of the Weser parts.


A first‐order Eikonal solver is applied to modelling and inversion in refraction seismics. The method calculates the traveltime of the fastest wave at any point of a regular grid, including head waves as used in refraction. The efficiency, robustness and flexibility of the method give a very powerful modelling tool to find both traveltimes and raypaths. Comparisons with finite‐difference data show the validity of the results. Any arbitrarily complex model can be studied, including the exact topography of the surface, thus avoiding static corrections. Later arrivals are also obtained by applying high‐slowness masks over the high‐velocity zones. Such an efficient modelling tool may be used interactively to invert for the model, but a better method is to apply the refractor‐imaging principle of Hagedoorn to obtain the refractors from the picked traveltime curves. The application of this principle has already been tried successfully by previous authors, but they used a less well‐adapted Eikonal solver. Some of their traveltimes were not correct in the presence of strong velocity variations, and the refractor‐imaging principle was restricted to receiver lines along a plane surface. With the first‐order Eikonal solver chosen, any topography of the receiving surface can be considered and there is no restriction on the velocity contrast. Based on synthetic examples, the Hagedoorn principle appears to be robust even in the case of first arrivals associated with waves diving under the refractor. The velocities below the refractor can also be easily estimated, parallel to the imaging process. In this way, the model can be built up successively layer by layer, the refractor‐imaging and velocity‐mapping processes being performed for each identified refractor at a time. The inverted model could then be used in tomographic inversions because the calculated traveltimes are very close to the observed traveltimes and the raypaths are available.


Fungi have an integral role to play in the development of the biotechnology and biomedical sectors. The fields of chemical engineering, Agri-food,Biochemical, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical device development all employ fungal products, with fungal biomolecules currently used in a wide range of applications, ranging from drug development to food technology and agricultural biotechnology. Understanding the biology of different fungi in diverse ecosystems, as well as their biotropic interactions with other microorganisms, animals and plants, is essential to underpin effective and innovative technological developments. Fungal Biomolecules nis a keystone reference, integrating branches of fungal product research into a comprehensive volume of interdisciplinary research. As such, it: reflects state-of-the-art research and current emerging issues in fungal biology and biotechnologyn reviews the methods and experimental work used to investigate different aspects of fungal biomoleculesn provides examples of the diverse applications of fungal biomolecules in the areas of food, health and the environment is edited by an experienced team, with contributions from international specialistsn This book is an invaluable resource for industry-based researchers, academic institutions and professionals working in the area of fungal biology and associated biomolecules for their applications in food technology, microbial and biochemical process, biotechnology, natural products, drug development and agriculture.


We demonstrate that in stationary, spatially homogeneous nonlinear media, interconversion of different-type solitary waves can occur as a result of spectral inhomogeneity of the medium parameters. As compared with the classical mode conversion in propagation through a spatially nonuniform medium, this interconversion effect is accompanied by a drift of the wave spectra in the frequency domain and their subsequent conversion by reflection at spectral turning points. By analyzing the Schrodinger and dissipative optical solitons, we show that such interconversion may result in the periodic self-oscillations of soliton spectra in nonlinear media with a frequency-dependent gain.


Introduction: The best care setting for patients with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] may be in a dedicated unit. Whereas not all gastroenterology units have the same resources to develop dedicated IBD facilities and services, there are steps that can be taken by any unit to optimise patients' access to interdisciplinary expert care. A series of pragmatic recommendations relating to IBD unit optimisation have been developed through discussion among a large panel of international experts. Methods: Suggested recommendations were extracted through systematic search of published evidence and structured requests for expert opinion. Physicians [ n = 238] identified as IBD specialists by publications or clinical focus on IBD were invited for discussion and recommendation modification [Barcelona, Spain; 2014]. Final recommendations were voted on by the group. Participants also completed an online survey to evaluate their own experience related to IBD units. Results: A total of 60% of attendees completed the survey, with 15% self-classifying their centre as a dedicated IBD unit. Only half of respondents indicated that they had a defined IBD treatment algorithm in place. Key recommendations included the need to develop a multidisciplinary team covering specifically-defined specialist expertise in IBD, to instil processes that facilitate cross-functional communication and to invest in shared care models of IBD management. Conclusions: Optimising the setup of IBD units will require progressive leadership and willingness to challenge the status quo in order to provide better quality of care for our patients. IBD units are an important step towards harmonising care for IBD across Europe and for establishing standards for disease management programmes.


First introduced 25 years ago, expert assessment of occupational exposure was an important innovation for community-based case–referent studies in occupational epidemiology.1 Here is a simplified scheme of how expert assessment is now practiced: detailed interviews of subjects are reviewed by 'exposure assessment experts' who then pass on to epidemiologists their best guesses of exposure status, which are then frequently used as if they are error-free in epidemiological analyses. This method is applied when there are no relevant measurements of exposure that are deemed suitable for mathematical/statistical exposure modelling. The article by Bhatti et al 2 presents this paradigm as state-of-the-art and attempts to support this a priori supposition in the context of a gene–environment interaction study. Therefore, it is legitimate to enquire how comfortable occupational health researchers should feel about such a conjecture and to gauge whether any alterations to the original concept are desirable.

Contrary to the claim by Bhatti et al ,2 Teschke et al 3 never concluded that that expert assessment was "the best method", but were careful to point out—too tactfully—that none of the exposure assessments methods commonly practiced in community-based case–referent studies of occupational aetiology were particularly good. The sentiment that expert assessment was not a panacea was forcefully reiterated in a commentary by Professor Kromhout3 on the outstanding review by Teschke et al. 3 Clearly, leading exposure assessors have grave doubts about value of expert assessment methodology as it is currently practiced.

Next we must examine what new evidence Bhatti et …


The geological origin of central Pacific islands by volcanic activity at "hot spots" through a pre-existing ocean floor requires that their original colonization by invertebrate organisms must have resulted from long-distance dispersal. It is proposed that among most tropical, shoal-water, sediment-dwelling invertebrates such dispersal was largely accomplished by means of planktonic larvae. Evidence to support this hypothesis comes from plankton samples taken in the area bounded by 140°E to 140°W longitude and from 40°N to 40°S latitude which show that larvae of a wide variety of benthic invertebrates are found in the epipelagic waters of the tropical Pacific, including but not restricted to gastropod and bivalve molluscs, sipunculans, polychaetes, echinoderms and brachyuran decapod crustacea. Data from drift bottles in the South Equatorial Current give a model surface velocity between 20 and 25 km day−1, enough to account for dispersal of teleplanic larvae for at least 2,000–4,000 km over the 3–6 months' period of their pelagic existence. The number of larvae that may be successfully transported between islands will depend on (a) the number that "escape" the influence of the "parent" or donor island, (b) the mortality of larvae during transport, and (c) the chance that larvae that encounter an island survive to reproduce. It is estimated on the basis of drift bottle returns (assuming a 1% survival) that once a larva is entrained in the South Equatorial Current, its chance of encountering an island is about 3 × 10−4 (ca. 1 in 3,300). Fecundity (usually large insofar as known) and the size of the "parent" population (difficult to estimate) must also importantly influence the frequency of exchange between islands by teleplanic larvae. The relatively low endemism and attenuated Indo-Pacific faunas found on central Pacific islands support the hypothesis that there is not only (a) sufficient capacity for dispersal to colonize new islands as they appear, but also (b) that dispersal and the attendant gene flow between islands is frequent enough to account for the persistence of most shoal-water, sediment-dwelling Indo-Pacific species (rather than the allopatric speciation and high endemism found among many terrestrial forms). Data on the dispersal of particular species in conjunction with information on their genetic variation between islands is required to further test such an hypothesis.


Tug-of-war is a multi-battle contest often used to describe extended interactions in economics, management, political science, and other disciplines. While there has been some theoretical work, there is scant empirical evidence regarding behavior in a tug-of-war game. To the best of our knowledge, this paper provides the first experimental study of the tug-of-war. The results show notable deviations of behavior from theory. In the first battle of the tug-of-war, subjects exert fewer resources, while in the follow-up battles, they exert more resources than predicted. Also, contrary to the theoretical prediction, resource expenditures tend to increase in the duration of the tug-of-war. Finally, extending the margin necessary to win the tug-of-war causes more discouragement than either a reduction in the prize or greater impatience despite all three having the same expected effect. Potential behavioral explanations for these findings are also discussed.


Networks of sensors and actors can be used in a variety of applications, including the detection of chemical activity or controlling pests in farms. In these applications, nodes (sensors and actors) are typically deployed in large numbers. Thus, not all of them need to operate at their maximum operational (sensing/acting) ranges, especially when the underlying operation is expensive. In this work, we study how to minimize the operational range in a distributed fashion. Unlike previous work, we consider environments in which location estimation is not possible (e.g., dense forests). We develop a distributed protocol for assigning the operational ranges of nodes (ORAP). ORAP assigns longer ranges to nodes that are less resource constrained (e.g., in terms of energy) than their peers in order to prolong the operational lifetime of every individual node. If the nodes are not aware of their locations, ORAP employs a novel localized algorithm (VICON) for determining the virtual coordinates of the neighbors of each node. VICON relies on conservative estimates of neighbor distances and advertised 1-hop neighborhood information. We show that ORAP introduces negligible overhead and meets its intended goals. Extensive simulations indicate that ORAP balances resource consumption among nodes, resulting in a significant network lifetime improvement even under inaccurate distance estimation.


Since their emergence within the past decade, which has seen wireless networks being adapted to enable mobility, wireless networks have become increasingly popular in the world of computer research. A Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of mobile nodes dynamically forming a temporary network without the use of any existing network infrastructure. MANETs have received significant attention in recent years due to their easiness to setup and to their potential applications in many domains. Such networks can be useful in situations where there is not enough time or resource to configure a wired network. Ad hoc networks are also used in military operations where the units are randomly mobile and a central unit cannot be used for synchronization.
The shared media used by wireless networks, grant exclusive rights for a node to transmit a packet. Access to this media is controlled by the Media Access Control (MAC) protocol. The Backoff mechanism is a basic part of a MAC protocol. Since only one transmitting node uses the channel at any given time, the MAC protocol must suspend other nodes while the media is busy. In order to decide the length of node suspension, a backoff mechanism is installed in the MAC protocol. The choice of backoff mechanism should consider generating backoff timers which allow adequate time for current transmissions to finish and, at the same time, avoid unneeded idle time that leads to redundant delay in the network. Moreover, the backoff mechanism used should decide the suitable action to be taken in case of repeated failures of a node to attain the media. Further, the mechanism decides the action needed after a successful transmission since this action affects the next time backoff is needed.
The Binary exponential Backoff (BEB) is the backoff mechanisms that MANETs have adopted from Ethernet. Similar to Ethernet, MANETs use a shared media. Therefore, the standard MAC protocol used for MANETs uses the standard BEB backoff algorithms. The first part of this work, presented as Chapter 3 of this thesis, studies the effects of changing the backoff behaviour upon a transmission failure or after a successful transmission. The investigation has revealed that using different behaviours directly affects both network throughput and average packet delay. This result indicates that BEB is not the optimal backoff mechanism for MANETs.
Up until this research started, no research activity has focused on studying the major parameters of MANETs. These parameters are the speed at which nodes travel inside the network area, the number of nodes in the network and the data size generated per second. These are referred to as mobility speed, network size and traffic load respectively. The investigation has reported that changes made to these parameters values have a major effect on network performance.
Existing research on backoff algorithms for MANETs mainly focuses on using external information, as opposed to information available from within the node, to decide the length of backoff timers. Such information includes network traffic load, transmission failures of other nodes and the total number of nodes in the network. In a mobile network, acquiring such information is not feasible at all times. To address this point, the second part of this thesis proposes new backoff algorithms to use with MANETs. These algorithms use internal information only to make their decisions. This part has revealed that it is possible to achieve higher network throughput and less average packet delay under different values of the parameters mentioned above without the use of any external information.
This work proposes two new backoff algorithms. The Optimistic Linear-Exponential Backoff, (OLEB), and the Pessimistic Linear-Exponential Backoff (PLEB). In OLEB, the exponential backoff is combined with linear increment behaviour in order to reduce redundant long backoff times, during which the media is available and the node is still on backoff status, by implementing less dramatic increments in the early backoff stages. PLEB is also a combination of exponential and linear increment behaviours. However, the order in which linear and exponential behaviours are used is the reverse of that in OLEB. The two algorithms have been compared with existing work. Results of this research report that PLEB achieves higher network throughput for large numbers of nodes (e.g. 50 nodes and over). Moreover, PLEB achieves higher network throughput with low mobility speed. As for average packet delay, PLEB significantly improves average packet delay for large network sizes especially when combined with high traffic rate and mobility speed. On the other hand, the measurements of network throughput have revealed that for small networks of 10 nodes, OLEB has higher throughput than existing work at high traffic rates. For a medium network size of 50 nodes, OLEB also achieves higher throughput. Finally, at a large network size of 100 nodes, OLEB reaches higher throughput at low mobility speed. Moreover, OLEB produces lower average packet delay than the existing algorithms at low mobility speed for a network size of 50 nodes.
Finally, this work has studied the effect of choosing the behaviour changing point between linear and exponential increments in OLEB and PLEB. Results have shown that increasing the number of times in which the linear increment is used increases network throughput. Moreover, using larger linear increments increase network throughput.


In this paper we build on a view of change and innovation stemming from institutional complexity in service ecosystems, that is, institutionally enabled and constrained systems of service systems, and give suggestions on how such conditions can be designed to facilitate innovation. W e conceptualize service ecosystems as near-decomposable complex systems in which change is enabled through the co-existence of alternative, overlapping and conflicting institutionalized views on problems and solutions, and draw from social network theory to understand how such institutional complexity emerges both between and within actors in service systems. We then connect these theoretical insights with practice and give guidance on how institutional complexity can be created and how opportunities for interaction and collaboration between diverse and conflicting views on problems and solutions can be fostered.


TO THE EDITOR: Research has shown that intravenous, but not oral ascorbate, can produce concentrations selectively toxic to cancer cells, which has renewed the interest in ascorbate as therapy for cancer.1,2 The protocol was approved by the ethics committee of The Center for Improvement of Human Functioning, Wichita, KS. Written informed consent was obtained. Methods. We conducted a mini-pilot study to perform a pharmacokinetic characterization of intravenous ascorbate (Mega-C-Acid Plus, Merit Pharmaceuticals, CA). Dose escalation infusion schemes (15–65 g, 5 cycles over a month) were used in a patient with prostate cancer (75-yold white male, 73 kg). Results. Table 1 shows average values of the corresponding parameters for each dosing scheme. Typical plasma ascorbate disposition after intravenous infusion was observed. Discussion. The elimination half-lives were slightly longer than those previously reported (0.5–1 h) at supra-physiological levels (above 70 μM).3,4 Capacity-limited nonlinearity could not be postulated from this data set, but it should not be ruled out in other settings. Although a linear relationship between dose and AUC was observed, there appears to be a deviation when doses of 65 g are administered. However, if there was complete saturation of tubular reabsorption, we would expect higher clearance values than observed (in comparison with average clearance due only to glomerular filtration rate in humans, 6 L/h). Considering the processes that can potentially contribute to the total renal clearance, it can be assumed that significant tubular reabsorption accounted for the slower ascorbate excretion in this patient; that is, renal clearance (ie, the major component of systemic ascorbate clearance) was not as extensive as expected because the ascorbate reabsorption may have reduced the net ascorbate fraction from that previously removed on a single glomerular pass through the patient's kidneys. Under disease state conditions, Hickey's dynamic flow model predicts maximum ascorbate recycling by renal tubular reabsorption.4 Because these pumps could be considered a capacity-limiting step, the higher ascorbate turnover rate at megadoses in healthy subjects could be assumed to be a result of saturation of ascorbate reabsorption after renal excretion. However, the postulated role of ascorbate in maintaining or reestablishing a reducing internal environment might make a difference. Tissue stores are thought to be near saturation at 60 mg, and increased excretion would occur at higher doses.3-5 This information is supported by studies with healthy humans; therefore, the conclusions are based on facts that need to be revised for patients with malignancies, which are demanding higher ascorbate levels (at millimolar range) than healthy cells. Consequently, the consumption of higher ascorbate amounts by these tissues may account for most of the systemic ascorbate in excess. Under such a condition, megadosage will saturate neither the tubular ascorbate reabsorption nor the sodium-dependent transporters, which results in longer systemic half-life, slower clearance, and probably a smaller apparent volume of distribution (higher concentrations due to reabsorption) than expected. The information obtained from this preliminary pharmacokinetic assessment of ascorbate at megadoses allows a better understanding of its disposition in cancer patients. This information will help us to optimize the dosage to be used in a perspective clinical trial in order to maximize the therapeutic benefits.


The stereoscopic highlighting technique is a new emerging technique that supports using the depth cue in 3D devices as a highlighting technique for general nodelink representations. One of the main abilities of this technique is isolating the specific graph portions to magnify them for a detailed exploration without resorting other highlighting attributes such as color or shape. In this paper, we measure the accuracy of this technique by evaluating the ability of general users in reading the variation of depth values to encode some data aspects. To achieve this goal, we carried out a controlled user-study in which we asked users from different backgrounds to perform a specified set of tasks. The results show that using the depth cue in stereoscopic devices is readable for medium data sizes with at most three or four different layers. This can be useful in classifying the data set into a set of categories according to the depth value of the elemental layer.


Abstract Basic operational principles of synthetic aperture radar systems are reviewed, with an emphasis on the data processing requirements. The techniques of image formation for these systems are covered, using either optical or digital techniques. Examples of imagery are shown to illustrate the data processing results. SAR processing capabilities as they exist worldwide are summarized.


A series of experiments on techniques and time of sowing, and weed management of legumes Clitoria ternatea cv Milgarra, Centrosema pascuorum cv Cavalcade and cv Bundey, and Lablab purpureus cv Highworth, was conducted in East Nusa Tenggara (in the islands of Timor, Flores, and Sumba) in order to determine proper technique and time of sowing and weed management, which would be efficient in labor use and sufficient biomass production. Treatments of sowing techniques included dibble, furrow (covered and not covered), and broadcast (harrowed and not harrowed); while sowing time consisted of early wet season (December-January), mid of wet season (February-March) and the end of wet season (April-May), while weed managements consisted of weeded and unweeded treatments. The experiments employed block randomized design with four replications using plot sizes of 3 x 4 m to 4 x 5 m, depending on the availability of land for the experiments. The results of the experiments showed that the best sowing technique with the highest plant population  at 4 weeks after planting was dibbling (42 plants/m²), followed by furrow, while the lowest plant population was obtained at the broadcast technique (9-20 plants/m²). Similarly, the highest biomass production was obtained in the dibbling technique (1.75 to 2.5 tons DM/ha per harvest at 12 weeks after planting in Ende, and 4-5 ton DM/ha in Nagekeo), followed by furrow technique covered or not covered (1-1.3 tons DM/ha in Ende and 3.5-4 tons DM/ha in Nagekeo), and the lowest in broadcast technique (0.3-1 ton DM/ha in Ende and 2-2.5 ton DM/ha in Nagekeo). However, considering the labor requirement and cost, it was recommended that furrow technique to suit the small farmer practices in the region. Weed management showed that weeded treatment (keep legume cleaned of weeds) gave significantly better (P<0.05) biomass production compared with to that of unweeded treatment. It can be seen also that weed had more suppressing effects on Clitoria ternatea , compared to that of Lablab purpureus , especially when the plants were sown in the early wet season.


The ongoing use and protection of traditional medicines presents unique challenges for authorities, practitioners and stakeholders. With changes in the international intellectual property environment and biodiversity regulation, the Thai government has responded to ensure that traditional medicines, texts, traditional medical formulas, medicinal plants and herbs are protected through the development of a sui generis law. Drafted in 1999, the Act on Protection and Promotion of Thai Traditional Medicinal Intelligence is now being implemented in stages. Recent incidents, including controversies surrounding local and foreign patents over a Thai medicinal herb named kwao krua (Pueraria mirifica), have given impetus to traditional medicines protection, but have also tested the utility and implementation of the act by the Thai Department of Public Health. This article discusses the issues and implications in Thailand, while also reflecting on the approaches for traditional medicines protection internationally and in other countries.


This chapter explores how and for which societal governance purposes fundamental rights are applied by national and European courts in cases concerning litigations between private parties. After having analysed how the horizontal effect of national and EU fundamental rights works and which policy goals it serves, this chapter attempts to answer the question whether this use of fundamental rights is legitimate and desirable. This question is looked at from the background of a normative-individualistic understanding of fundamental rights. The analytical part of this chapter includes the proposition of a new doctrine: the double indirect horizontal effect of fundamental rights. This could help the Court of Justice develop its jurisprudence towards a better consideration of the non-economic human interests protected by EU fundamental rights. This chapter comes to the conclusion that, in applying fundamental rights horizontally, both the Court of Justice and the national courts seem to regularly give preference to certain societal policies over others. However, this does not mean that fundamental rights are instrumentalized. On the contrary, in the analysed cases, the pursuit of societal policies goes hand in hand with the strengthening of the basic interests of all individuals directly concerned. This confirms the normative-individualistic paradigm.


This paper explores trends shown by technology based companies in the Cambridge area over the cycles of the past two decades. Influences from the macro-economy include the impact of the information revolution on the area, the recession of the early 1990s and the technology crash of 2000. The expansion of the cluster of Cambridge tech firms over time reflects the extent to which firm entries have exceeded exits since the 1960s and the high survival rates of new firms. There has been sector-specific volatility in the current decade, pre-figuring economic difficulties since evident elsewhere. In order to reveal the dynamics behind trends at the cluster level, data are examined by sector, size and cohort. This shows that the decline in firm numbers between 2002 and 2006 reflects the founding of large numbers of short-lived IT software firms during the technology boom.Branches of corporations headquartered elsewhere have increasingly been attracted to the area but the larger tech based businesses in the Cambridge area are found to be those long-standing to Cambridge. Branch firms were more prone to closure and relocation than the larger indigenous firms with their accumulated local competence. Biotech and R&D experienced steady growth through the 1990s and 2000s with an increase in firm and job numbers. The biotechnology sector contracted along with the recent reduction in venture capital but the R&D sector continued to grow.Cambridge technology firms have been attractive targets for acquisition by corporations seeking to improve their innovation performance by buying promising technology. The number of acquisitions rose during the boom years, particularly in Biotech and IT, with associated cutbacks in employment in acquired units. The boom in venture capital investment and the incidence of acquisition during the boom period may be related. VCs seek early exit from their investments and acquisition rates fell along with the fall in local venture capital funding.After 2004, the fall in the number of tech start-ups (as compared with county VAT registrations for all new firms) and increasing numbers of exits, indicate that Cambridge tech-based firms were experiencing pressures specific to high tech. Long term effects of lower firm entries will depend on survival rates and the growth of surviving firms. During the recession of the early 1990s, a smaller cohort of tech start-ups achieved higher survival rates than those started in boom years. The number of new firms active in emerging technology sectors points to continuing innovation and diversity among firms in the Cambridge technology cluster despite a contraction in numbers of start-ups which anticipated the economic downturn. In the current financial situation, knowledge based firms engaged in technological and creative activity are more important than ever as providers of exports and of the skills of the future.


Altered patterns of malaria endemicity reflect, in part, changes in feeding behavior and climate adaptation of mosquito vectors. Aquaporin (AQP) water channels are found throughout nature and confer high-capacity water flow through cell membranes. The genome of the major malaria vector mosquito Anopheles gambiae contains at least seven putative AQP sequences. Anticipating that transmembrane water movements are important during the life cycle of A. gambiae, we identified and characterized the A. gambiae aquaporin 1 (AgAQP1) protein that is homologous to AQPs known in humans, Drosophila, and sap-sucking insects. When expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, AgAQP1 transports water but not glycerol. Similar to mammalian AQPs, water permeation of AgAQP1 is inhibited by HgCl2 and tetraethylammonium, with Tyr185 conferring tetraethylammonium sensitivity. AgAQP1 is more highly expressed in adult female A. gambiae mosquitoes than in males. Expression is high in gut, ovaries, and Malpighian tubules where immunofluorescence microscopy reveals that AgAQP1 resides in stellate cells but not principal cells. AgAQP1 expression is up-regulated in fat body and ovary by blood feeding but not by sugar feeding, and it is reduced by exposure to a dehydrating environment (42% relative humidity). RNA interference reduces AgAQP1 mRNA and protein levels. In a desiccating environment (<20% relative humidity), mosquitoes with reduced AgAQP1 protein survive significantly longer than controls. These studies support a role for AgAQP1 in water homeostasis during blood feeding and humidity adaptation of A. gambiae, a major mosquito vector of human malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.


Unparalleled in human experience, the Internet, or simply the Net, is the code word for the technosocial accident that gives large numbers of people the means by which they can speak for themselves in public. This is an ironical reversal of the historical social patterning of asymmetrical, centralizing communicating technologies that have molded all of the social relations of modern society. The problematic for this distributed communication capability will be manifest in struggles around the legitimacy of self-expression, assembly, and privacy, in all of their forms. However, unlike the mass mediated discourse where, as the ''audience'' object, we observed these externalized struggles by a narrow other, encounters with distributed media are palpable and subjective, and will be increasingly played out on the common terrain of local community. In initiating unconditional public access to the Net, community networks, or FreeNets, began the long process of blurring the distinction between the public and priv...


Over the past three decades, rivers have become a fascinating and popular subject of scholarly interest, not only in the field of environmental history, where river histories have developed into a distinct subgenre, but also in the emerging field of environmental humanities. In this scholarship, rivers have often been reconceptualized as socio-natural sites where human and non-human actors interact with the natural world, generating complex legacies, path dependencies, and feedback loops. Furthermore, rivers have been described as hybrid "organic machines," whose energy has been utilized by humans in many different ways, including the harvesting of both hydropower and salmon. Indeed, as several environmental historians have noted, in many regions of the world, watercourses have been transformed by technology to such an extent that they increasingly resemble enviro-technical assemblages rather than natural waterways. Rivers have also been discussed through the lens of "eco-biography," a term coined by Mark Cioc in his influential monograph on the Rhine River, a book informed by "the notion that a river is a biological entity—that it has a 'life' and 'a personality' and therefore a 'biography'." Quite surprisingly, despite this "river turn" (to use Evenden's phrase), rivers have played a marginal role in recent American Studies scholarship. To address this gap, this issue of RIAS brings together scholars from different disciplines, countries, and continents to analyze a wide variety of river experiences, histories, and representations across the American hemisphere and beyond. Hence the title of this volume, Rivers of the Americas, should be seen as both an allusion to the Rivers of America book series (a popular series of sixty-five volumes, each on a particular US river, published between 1937 and 1974) and as a reminder of the still untapped potential of hemispheric, transnational, and comparative modes of critical engagement with rivers in American Studies.


Curious about Linux, the amazing alternative operating system? Not sure which of the zillion different variations is right for you, or how to find out? How wise you are to think of Linux All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies! Because Linux offers so many options, this book helps you narrow them down by giving you five popular Linux distributions on a DVD Debian GNU/Linux, Fedora, openSUSE Linux, Ubuntu, and Xandros. You get everything you need to test-drive all five, including the instructions to install and use any of them. But thats just the beginning! Linux All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies includes eight individual minibooks, each devoted to a specific aspect of Linux: Linux Basics Linux Desktops Networking Internet Administration Security Internet Servers Programming Youll find out how to: Understand the Linux kernel Create a network and connect a Linux PC to the Internet Use Internet services including Web, Mail, News, FTP, NFS, and DNS. Set up a Windows server using Samba Use Perl, shell, and C programming with Linux Manage system and network security and administration Work with the OpenOffice.org productivity tools and other applications that come with Linux So what are you waiting for? Linux All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies is like having a guided tour of the wonderful world of Linux!


The ¨stirring¨ of the problem of illegal constructions in Greece, during the last decade, that followed the issue of five consecutive laws regarding their integration in the country΄s official urban planning in the period 2009-2017, has led to a short-lived race of declaring and legitimizing illegal, constructions on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of popular owners. This institutional reform becomes, increasingly, significant in combination with the contemporary fiscal reform and the relevant tax burdening of realty owners. The timeless popular investment shelter of building ownership, for the first time after WWII, loses its immunity and becomes an unbearable tax weight, transforming popular illegal constructions into the national tool for transforming the country΄s real-estate map. Our ability to translate the outcome of this ¨crisis¨, through our route through all the past time, will define the quality of life in our new urban environment, but most important, our own standard of living and our future.


This analysis deals with the indirect regulator, wherefrom the behavior of the direct regulator is deduced as a limiting case. The prime mover is looked upon as "independent of the load": a change in the adjusting power (to be applied) for the control link (as, for example, in relation to the adjusting path (eta) with pressure valves or the rudder of vessels) does not modify the actions of the prime mover. Mass forces and friction are discounted; "clearance" also is discounted in the transmission links of the regulator.


Tactile percepts were consistently elicited in the hand of a person with cervical spinal cord injury using intracortical microstimulation of the somatosensory cortex. A sense of touch Touch is essential for hand use. Yet, brain-controlled prosthetic limbs have not been endowed with this critical sense. In a new study by Flesher et al., microelectrode arrays were implanted into the primary somatosensory cortex of a person with spinal cord injury and, by delivering current through the electrodes, generated sensations of touch that were perceived as coming from his own paralyzed hand. These sensations often felt like pressure, could be graded in intensity, and were stable for months. The authors suggest that this approach could be used to convey information about contact location and pressure necessary for prosthetic hands to interact with objects. Intracortical microstimulation of the somatosensory cortex offers the potential for creating a sensory neuroprosthesis to restore tactile sensation. Whereas animal studies have suggested that both cutaneous and proprioceptive percepts can be evoked using this approach, the perceptual quality of the stimuli cannot be measured in these experiments. We show that microstimulation within the hand area of the somatosensory cortex of a person with long-term spinal cord injury evokes tactile sensations perceived as originating from locations on the hand and that cortical stimulation sites are organized according to expected somatotopic principles. Many of these percepts exhibit naturalistic characteristics (including feelings of pressure), can be evoked at low stimulation amplitudes, and remain stable for months. Further, modulating the stimulus amplitude grades the perceptual intensity of the stimuli, suggesting that intracortical microstimulation could be used to convey information about the contact location and pressure necessary to perform dexterous hand movements associated with object manipulation.


Advances in the media and entertainment industries, including streaming audio and digital TV, present new challenges for managing and accessing large audio-visual collections. Current content management systems support retrieval using low-level features, such as motion, color, and texture. However, low-level features often have little meaning for naive users, who much prefer to identify content using high-level semantics or concepts. This creates a gap between systems and their users that must be bridged for these systems to be used effectively. To this end, in this paper, we first present a knowledge-based video indexing and content management framework for domain specific videos (using basketball video as an example). We will provide a solution to explore video knowledge by mining associations from video data. The explicit definitions and evaluation measures (e.g., temporal support and confidence) for video associations are proposed by integrating the distinct feature of video data. Our approach uses video processing techniques to find visual and audio cues (e.g., court field, camera motion activities, and applause), introduces multilevel sequential association mining to explore associations among the audio and visual cues, classifies the associations by assigning each of them with a class label, and uses their appearances in the video to construct video indices. Our experimental results demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach.


List of Illustrations ix List of Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii Glossary and Abbreviations Used in Archival Citations xvii Introduction: Experiencing Russia's Civil War 1 PART ONE: POLITICS 1. Revolution on the Volga 15 2. Languages of Power: How the Saratov Bolsheviks Imagined Their Enemies 43 3. The Rise and Fall of the Saratov "Republic" 74 4. Cadres Resolve All: The Communists in Power 107 5. Co-optation amid Repression: The Revolutionary Communists and Other Socialist Parties in Saratov Province 142 PART TWO: SOCIETY AND REVOLUTIONARY CULTURE 6. A Community in Disarray, a Community in the Making 175 7. The Cultural Practices of Provincial Communism 208 8. Narratives of Self and Other: Saratov's Bourgeoisie 246 9. Not Seeing Like a State: The Red Guard Assault on Capital 282 10. Peasants in a Workers' Revolution 312 11. "Given His Class Position, a Worker Can Be Nothing but a Communist" 348 12. A Provincial Kronstadt, Another Tambov? 379 Conclusion 409 Bibliographical Essay 417 Index 424 The Bibliography for this book can be found in its entirety on the Princeton University Press website, www.pupress.princeton.edu/biblios/raleigh


Kikuchi Fujimoto disease (KFD) was first described in Japan in 1972 almost simultaneously by Kikuchi and Fujimoto. It is a rare, selflimiting, benign form of histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis, which can be mistaken for tuberculosis, lymphoma or systemic lupus erythematosus. Although the pathogenesis of KFD is not fully understood, infectious and autoimmune etiologies have been proposed. It generally presents as cervical lymphadenopathy with associated systemic signs and symptoms. Definitive diagnosis requires histopathological examination of the affected lymph nodes. There are only few cases described in the literature, as far as we are aware we report the first case of KFD in the Dominican Republic.


We consider the problem of accurately estimating the reliability of workers based on noisy labels they provide, which is a fundamental question in crowdsourcing. We propose a novel lower bound on the minimax estimation error which applies to any estimation procedure. We further propose Triangular Estimation (TE), an algorithm for estimating the reliability of workers. TE has low complexity, may be implemented in a streaming setting when labels are provided by workers in real time, and does not rely on an iterative procedure. We prove that TE is minimax optimal and matches our lower bound. We conclude by assessing the performance of TE and other state-of-the-art algorithms on both synthetic and real-world data.


This study examines the international evidence on long-run neutrality (LRN) of money based on low frequency data from five emerging ASEAN economies, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, using a nonstructural reduced-form bivariate ARIMA model proposed by Fisher and Seater (1993). Empirical evidence shows that the classical proposition cannot be rejected with respect to real export except for Thailand. However, the LRN test results are not robust to changes in money supply in countries under study with respect to real output. The narrow monetary aggregate seems to have greater impact on Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand economic activities as compared to the other two countries.


This best-selling guide from authors Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas has been the go-to tutorial and reference book for photography/design professionals and the textbook of choice in college classrooms for decades. This edition includes their trademark features of clear, concise, step-by-step instructions; hundreds of full-color images; screen captures of program features; and supplemental tips and sidebars in every chapter. Among the new CS6 features covered in this extensively updated guide are: Field Blur, Iris Blur and Tilt-Shift filters; Properties panel; Exporting and Importing presets; Content-Aware Move tool and Content-Aware option for the Patch tool; Timeline panel for video editing; Photographic Toning libraries for Gradient Map adjustments; and Open Type options. Improved CS6 features covered: Crop tool options and features, Adjustment Brush tool in Camera Raw, and Vector masks. New and updated Photoshop CS6 features are clearly marked with bright red stars in both the table of contents and main text. Includes Free eBook and Video Access In addition to concise, step-by-step explanations of core tools and tasks, with plenty of helpful screen shots to keep you on track as you work, Photoshop CS6: Visual QuickStart Guide includes an hour-long HD video and eBook. In addition to reading about how to use the tool, you can watch it in action. You can also download digital versions of this book to load on the mobile device of your choice so that you can continue learning whenever and wherever you are. We provide you with both the ePub and PDF to ensure that you get the experience that best suits your viewing needs.


The Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are not only progressing in the deepening of economic integration among themselves, but are also active in pursuing free trade agreements (FTAs) with their strategic economic partners (SEPs). It is generally expected that the implementation of all existing ASEAN-led FTAs will provides benefits to all enterprises in individual ASEAN member states (AMS) in the forms of greater export opportunities and greater availability of raw materials, intermediate inputs and capital goods with competitive prices and better quality. However, there are concerns over the extent to which MSMEs in individual AMS have benefited from these commercial pacts. Although literature on this issue is limited, available evidence suggests that MSMEs are by far the least active economic actors in the region to make use of such trade agreements. Aside from identifying key challenges and opportunities confronted by ASEAN-based MSMEs in taking advantage of ASEAN-led FTAs, this article also provides practical and policy recommendations that could allow the greater use of these FTAs by these enterprises.


We present a Bayesian method for characterizing the mating system of populations reproducing through a mixture of self-fertilization and random outcrossing. Our method uses patterns of genetic variation across the genome as a basis for inference about pure hermaphroditism, androdioecy, and gynodioecy. We extend the standard coalescence model to accommodate these mating systems, accounting explicitly for multilocus identity disequilibrium, inbreeding depression, and variation in fertility among mating types. We incorporate the Ewens Sampling Formula (ESF) under the infinite-alleles model of mutation to obtain a novel expression for the likelihood of mating system parameters. Our Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm assigns locus-specific mutation rates, drawn from a common mutation rate distribution that is itself estimated from the data using a Dirichlet Process Prior model. Among the parameters jointly inferred are the population-wide rate of self-fertilization, locus-specific mutation rates, and the number of generations since the most recent outcrossing event for each sampled individual.


Complementary and alternative treatments (CATs), in widespread use all over the world, are broadly defined as any treatments which do not follow standard medicinal practice. However, much international research has shown that the prevalence of using CATs as a treatment is increasing, especially in neurological diseases. Unfortunately, published data estimating the prevalence and spectrum of neurological disorders and that studied the usage of CATs in Saudi Arabia are very limited. To assess the CAT prevalence among pediatric neurology disorder and determine its effectiveness. A cross-sectional study targeted Saudi Arabia pediatric neurologists were conducted through an electronic questionnaire in July 2017. A total of 62 physician out of 75 (83%) participated. The result showed that the commonest CAT is Multivitamins (83.9%), omega-3 (66.1%) and Nootropil (33.9%). (6.5%) of participating patient's use CAT always while (93.5%) sometimes. Regarding the benefits, 40.3% noticed sometimes, and 58.1% chose no benefit. 78.1% never encounter side effects while 12.9% experienced sometimes. The CAT consumption reasons were 80.6% developmental delay, 46.8% no definitive treatment and 43.5% epilepsy. In conclusion, the usage of CAT is common in almost all countries with the higher percentage in neurology than in other pediatric specialties. The most commonly used CAT in Saudi Arabia are the Multivitamins, omega 3, and Nootropil. As CATs are tremendously popular among neurological cases, physicians are encouraged to question their patients about its use and gain more information with the goal being to be able to give evidence-based advice. Physicians should also review their consumer files to ensure minimal to no side effects. Finally, more studies are recommended aimed at parents to discover any correlations between the usage of CATs and any notable effects.


Factor inhibiting hypoxia-inducible factor (FIH) is an asparaginyl hydroxylase, and hydroxylation of Asn of HIF (hypoxia-inducible factor) by FIH disrupts the interaction of HIF with the transcriptional coactivators CBP/p300. FIH activity is inhibited during hypoxia. Cockman et al. performed a yeast two-hybrid screen for proteins that interacted with FIH and found and confirmed the interaction with three ankryrin repeat domain (ARD)-containing proteins. Other ARD-containing peptides were also found to be substrates for FIH-dependent Asn hydroxylation. The interaction with the p105 precursor of the p50 component of the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) transcription factor and with IκBα were characterized further. Interactions between the endogenous proteins were demonstrated by coimmunoprecipitation, and the interaction of p105 with FIH required Asn678. In vitro assays showed that in the presence of p105 or IκBα, FIH activity was stimulated, and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry confirmed that p105 and IκBα were hydroxylated in vivo. RNA interference experiments showed that hydroxylation was dependent on FIH and hydroxylation of IκBα was decreased by hypoxic conditions. Despite using several different experimental approaches, the authors failed to show a clear consequence of ARD hydroxylation on NF-κB activity. Thus, it remains to be determined whether Asn hydroxylation is serving a structural role or is a regulatory posttranslational modification that alters the activity or interactions of these newly defined substrates. M. E. Cockman, D. E. Lancaster. I. P. Stolze, K. S. Hewitson, M. A. McDonough, M. L. Coleman, C. H. Coles, X. Yu, R. T. Hay, S. C. Ley, C. W. Pugh, N. J. Oldham, N. Masson, C. J. Schofield, P. J. Ratcliffe, Posttranslational hydroxylation of ankyrin repeats in IκB proteins by the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) asparaginyl hydroxylase, factor inhibiting HIF (FIH). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 103, 14767-14772 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text]


"Owning and Managing Forests" is both an accessible overview of the privileges, rights, and obligations that accompany forest ownership and a guidebook to help active forest owners and managers use laws to their advantage and avoid the pitfalls of expensive and exhausting litigation. The book is a revised, expanded, and updated edition of "Legal Aspects of Owning and Managing Woodlands", published in 1998 by Island Press and named Best Forestry Book of the Year by the National Woodland Owners Association. This edition provides current information on recent changes in property, environmental, and tax laws, while also discussing new directions in forest management. It offers expanded treatment of topics including private property, searching property records, easements, estate planning, timber sale contracts, working with forestry professionals, and how to pass woodlands intact to future generations. The book also describes the many different facets of trusts, changes in forestland taxation methods, and new licensing and certification options. Included, too, is a section on avoiding disputes and how to use alternative dispute resolution methods to avoid costly, troubling, and time-consuming court battles. "Owning and Managing Forests" provides clear and concise descriptions of often-confusing concepts and difficult subjects, and addresses issues in a competent yet conversational tone. Anyone involved with owning or managing forestland will find the book an essential guide and reference.


As the body of Information Systems (IS) research on social media grows, it faces increasing challenges of staying relevant to real world contexts. We analyze and contrast research on social media in the e-government field and in IS research, by reviewing and categorizing 63 studies published in key journal outlets, in order to identify and complement research foci and gaps. We find that, in comparison with egovernment social media research, IS studies tend to adopt an abstract view of the individual user, focus on a monetary view of value added by social media, and overlook the role of contextual factors. We thus propose an extended framework for mapping social media research, by including a focus on the role of context and environment, and identify a research agenda for future studies on social media-related phenomena relevant to real world contexts.


We have developed and implemented a new sampling strategy to better represent very wealthy individuals in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Our strategy is based on the empirical regularity that the very wealthy have at least part of their assets invested in businesses, and that businesses document shares of relevant shareholders in their books. Our results show that combined analysis of the SOEP and the new sample (SOEP-P) provides meaningful insights into individuals at the top end of the wealth distribution in Germany. The SOEP-P population has about 21 times higher net wealth on average than the regular SOEP population. Comparing millionaires (net worth ≥ 1M Euros) to the rest of the population, a number of noticeable differences emerge. Millionaires differ from the non-rich population with regard to portfolio allocation, demographics, careers, personality, satisfaction with life, and satisfaction with other important life domains.


Legionnaires' disease was thought to be an atypical and easily recognized form of pneumonia for several years after the 1976 Philadelphia epidemic. Astute clinicians began to question the characterization of the illness as clinically unique, and in a seminal prospective study of community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia, researchers showed that Legionnaire's disease could not be distinguished on presentation from non-Legionnaires' disease cases of pneumonia. This study was followed by several others showing that neither community-acquired nor nosocomial Legionnaire's disease could be accurately distinguished on presentation from other common pneumonias on clinical, laboratory, and roentgenographic grounds. Each study found one or two differences between Legionnaire's disease and other pneumonias, often differing from one study to another. Another recent approach that has been taken to detect Legionnaires' disease is the analysis of blood acute phase reactant levels. Researchers measured blood procalcitonin and neopterin levels in pneumonia patients with and without Legionnaires' disease, which showed that patients with pneumococcal pneumonia had higher levels of procalcitonin and lower levels of neopterin than did Legionnaires' disease patients and that procalcitonin levels increased with greater disease severity regardless of diagnosis. Several types of probably noninfectious extrapulmonary disease have also been recognized since the 1976 Legionnaires' disease epidemic.


In this paper we demonstrate that intra-industry trade (or FDI) between identical countries could produce the observed deterioration in the relative wages of unskilled workers. This involves a model of North-North integration through either increased trade flows or increased MNE-based production. Our motivation in this regard is arguments to the effect that trade cannot be responsible for the observed labour market trends because trade with developing countries is quantitatively too small to have significant labour market effects. We also introduce a relatively unexploited class of model that possesses attractive properties with respect to the explicit incorporation of firm-theoretic considerations in trade models. Victims of Progress: Economic Integration, Specialization, and Wages for Unskilled Labor ABSTRACT: In this paper we demonstrate that intra-industry trade (or FDI) between identical countries could produce the observed deterioration in the relative wages of unskilled workers. This involves a model of North-North integration through either increased trade flows or increased MNE-based production. Our motivation in this regard is arguments to the effect that trade cannot be responsible for the observed labour market trends because trade with developing countries is quantitatively too small to have significant labour market effects. We also introduce a relatively unexploited class of model that possesses attractive properties with respect to the explicit incorporation of firm-theoretic considerations in trade models. In this paper we demonstrate that intra-industry trade (or FDI) between identical countries could produce the observed deterioration in the relative wages of unskilled workers. This involves a model of North-North integration through either increased trade flows or increased MNE-based production. Our motivation in this regard is arguments to the effect that trade cannot be responsible for the observed labour market trends because trade with developing countries is quantitatively too small to have significant labour market effects. We also introduce a relatively unexploited class of model that possesses attractive properties with respect to the explicit incorporation of firm-theoretic considerations in trade models.


We present a novel algorithm that solves the distributor's pallet packing problem. In contrast to existing algorithms, our method optimizes stack stability in addition to stack volume. Furthermore, our algorithm explicitly handles cases where the construction of homogeneous layers of packages with equal height is impossible due to differences in package heights and quantities. The algorithm is a nested beam search that separately optimizes local and global evaluation criteria. We show successful results on both real world and synthetic data sets, compare our performance to an existing algorithm and demonstrate experimental applications in simulation and on a real palletizing robot.


The ubiquity of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sewage sludges is now well documented. Since PAHs exhibit carcinogenic/mutagenic behaviour concern has been expressed over their fate following sludge application to agricultural soils. This paper presents a resume of the behaviour of sludge applied PAHs in soils and their propensity to transfer from the soil into plant tissues. This information is used to assess the environmental significance of PAHs in sludge amended soils. Sludge PAH inputs to the U.K. environment are compared with other known sources, such as waste disposal and atmospheric deposition and the possible impact of sludge application on human exposure is considered. It is concluded that at present there is


Background: The presence of multi-vessel disease (MVD) has been reported to be associated with worse prognosis in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Identification of optimal strategies for treating such patients is the subject of considerable interest and controversy.
Objective: The aim of our study is to compare the in-hospital and short-term prognosis for patients presenting with STEMI who were treated by two different modalities. The treatment varied between target vessel revascularization (TVR) and complete revascularization (CR) in patients with MVD undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (p-PCI).
Methods: A total of 40 patients with recent STEMI and MVD undergoing p-PCI were randomized to CR (group A) or TVR (group B) during p-PCI and followed up for 6 months after hospital discharge. The patients were followed-up for incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) (in-hospital, and at 1 and 6 months after discharge), contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) improvement at 6 months.
Results: Forty patients (mean age 55.2 ± 9.1 years; 33 males and 7 females) with comparable risk factors in the two groups were recruited in this study. Six months later, the patients in group A showed better improvement in systolic function as estimated by 2D echocardiography LVEF % (54.3 ± 9.1 to 58.4 ± 6.2; P-value 0.002) compared to group B (54.9 ± 5.2 to 55.7 ± 6.7; P-value 0.55). This improvement was more in patients with anterior wall myocardial infarctions. The incidence of MACE in both groups was comparable during the hospital stay and at 1 and 6 months follow-up. There were two MACE cases in group B, and no such case was observed in group A at 1 and 6 months follow-up (P-value 0.14). With regard to CIN, both groups showed similar results (2 cases in group A and 1 case in group B; P-value 0.54). The patients with door-to-balloon time less than 90 minutes were associated with better LVEF in comparison to those with a door-to-balloon time of more than 90 minutes (57.1 ± 6.3 vs. 50.5 ± 7.3; P-value 0.005).
Conclusion: The results of our study showed that CR is safe during p-PCI and is associated with better left ventricular EF at 6 months, especially in anterior myocardial infarction.


In the past several decades, transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions have been proved to be one of the most useful and reliable tools for C−C bond formation. However, the prefunctionalized organometallic substrates are often sensitive to air and water, relatively expensive and generate stoichiometric byproducts, all of which remain major disadvantages and limit their applications. According to the guideline of the twelve principles of green chemistry, direct C−H activations are emerging as potential alternatives to conventional cross-coupling reactions due to their atom- and step-economy, which compares favorably to traditional organic synthesis. Indeed, C−H activation has been identified to be a powerful tool for constructing complicated molecules from simple precursors. First, an unprecedented ruthenium(II)-catalyzed C–H cyanation on arenes by using bench stable, readily accessible and user-friendly N-cyano-N-phenyl-p-toluenesulfonamide (NCTS, 13) as the cyanation reagent was accomplished. Second, an ortho- and para-selective ruthenium-catalyzed C(sp2)–H oxygenation of phenol derivatives was developed, which provides a new strategy for the synthesis of phenol derivatives. Third, a novel type of manganese-catalyzed annulation of acrylates by imines via organometallic C–H bond activation was developed, which provided a new approach to valuable carbocyclic β-amino acid derivatives. Fourth, the first manganese-catalyzed C–H aminocarbonylation with good yields, highly functional group tolerance and broad substrate scope was developed. Fifth, a versatile manganese(I)-catalyzed allylation of inert C–H bond with allyl carbonates by C–O bond cleavage has been developed.


We report on a method to generate a stationary interference pattern from two independent optical sources, each illuminating a single slit in Young's interference experiment. The pattern arises as a result of the action of surface plasmons travelling between sub-wavelength slits milled in a metal film. The visibility of the interference pattern can be manipulated by tuning the wavelength of one of the optical sources.


The effect of chemical exposure on the degradation of material properties is important to material evaluation and selection for both commercial and military products. Described here are a set of enhancements to a traditional chemical-material compatibility database that were required to support the early selection of chemically resistant materials in a concurrent engineering environment. This initial phase in the development of an integrated chemical-material compatibility system included: organization of tests into a comprehensive scheme, test selection for the initial screening tests in the scheme, the increased standardization of test procedures and reports required to support database queries, and the control of data set flow from the test laboratory directly to the database. Emphasized here is the design of modular database files based on material, chemical, and test specification descriptors that are indexed to the resulting test properties database module. ASTM Committee E49 formats were employed where available. The polymeric material documentation has been implemented by development of a menu-driven laboratory database version of ASTM Guide for the Identification of Polymers (Excludes Thermoset Elastomers) in Computerized Material Property Databases (E 1308-92). Examples are provided from the screening test found in the initial section of the test method scheme. One is able to execute a rapid paperless transfer of predictive and experimental screening results to the chemical-material compatibility database, query the results to eliminate a substantial fraction of materials and rank a more limited set of candidate materials to provide a useful "deselection" capability.


We investigated interactions between the corallivorous gastropod Coralliophila violacea and its preferred hosts Porites spp. Our objectives were to experimentally determine whether tissue loss could progress in Porites during or after Coralliophila predation on corals with and without tissue loss and to histologically document snail predation. In 64% of feeding scars, tissue regenerated within 3 wk, leaving no trace of predation. However, in roughly 28% of scars, lesions progressed to subacute tissue loss resembling white syndrome. In feeding experiments, scars from snails previously fed diseased tissue developed progressive tissue loss twice as frequently as scars from snails previously fed healthy tissue. Scars from previously healthy-fed snails were 3 times as likely to heal as those from previously diseased-fed snails. Histology revealed marked differences in host responses to snails; P. cylindrica manifested a robust inflammatory response with fewer secondary colonizing organisms such as algae, sponges, and helminths, whereas P. rus showed no evident inflammation and more secondary colonization. We conclude that lesion progression associated with Coralliophila may be associated with secondary colonization of coral tissues damaged by predator-induced trauma and necrosis. Importantly, variation at the cellular level should be considered when explaining interspecific differences in host responses in corals impacted by phenomena such as predation.


Introduction Lagoons are enclosed water basins at the boundary between the land and the ocean; they usually have one or a number of streams entering around the perimeter and are open to the ocean at one or a number of entrances. Lagoons are shallow and the motion of water within them is governed by a delicate balance between tidal forces, wind stresses, bottom friction and density induced pressure forces. In general, ocean water enters a lagoon via deeper channels whereas the river inputs enter through alluvial fans. The freshwater, being lighter, overflows the lagoon waters whereas the entering ocean water, being heavier, underflows. This leads to a strong vertical stratification in the main channels and a general horizontal stratification in the shallows. Much work has been done on estimating the net horizontal mixing in large water bodies and, in general, it is assumed that the water column is fully turbulent and the horizontal scales of motion range from the size of the lagoon to millimetres and vertical scales from the depth to millimetres. Under such conditions it is assumed that there is a cascade of energy similar to normal turbulent shear flow (Tennekes and Lumley, 1972). For water bodies which have dimensions in the tens of kilometres, it is found both by fitting the results from numerical models (Di Silvio and Fiorillo, 1981) and from large scale field comparisons (Dronkers el al. 1981) that a horizontal diffusion coefficient of the order of 50 to 500 m s" is applicable.


Increasing numbers of old and sick patients who are no longer eligible for prolonged invasive implantation surgery have encouraged many researchers to investigate the development of a Mechanical Circulatory Support (MCS) device with more reliability and less possible invasive complications, which would benefit the majority of patients. This thesis will test experimentally and numerically the feasibility of installing an MCS device, as a bridge to destination, in the descending aorta, in a series configuration with the heart. To this end, a multi-chamber Simulator of the Cardio-Vascular blood-flow Loop (SCVL) was designed to simulate the in-vitro flow rates, pressures and other parameters representing normal and diseased conditions of the human cardiovascular system. The multi-chamber SCVL includes models for all four chambers of the heart, and the systemic as well as the pulmonic circulations. Next, a comprehensive study was conducted using the SCVL system to compare the novel in-series placement of the pump, in the descending aorta, with traditional in-parallel placements. Then, a comprehensive numerical study was conducted using the modified Concentrated Lumped Parameter (CLP) model developed by the same team. The numerical results are compared and verified by the experimental results under various conditions. The results for the pump installed in the descending aorta show that the pressure drop, upstream of the pump, facilitates the cardiac output as a result of after-load reduction. However, at the same time the generated pressure drop at the proximal part of the descending aorta induces a slight drop in the carotid perfusion which will be autoregulated by the brain in a native system. Further, the pressure rise downstream of the pump improves the blood perfusion in the renal artery. The pulse wave analysis show that the placement of the pump in the descending aorta leads to improved pulsatility which is beneficial for end-organ functionality in the native cardiovascular system.


Objective Like many sports involving high speeds and body contact, head injuries are a concern for short track speed skating athletes and coaches. While the mandatory use of helmets has managed to nearly eliminate catastrophic head injuries such as skull fractures and cerebral haemorrhages, they may not be as effective at reducing the risk of a concussion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance characteristics of speed skating helmets with respect to managing peak linear and peak rotational acceleration, and to compare their performance against other types of helmets commonly worn within the speed skating sport. Materials and methods Commercially available speed skating, bicycle and ice hockey helmets were evaluated using a three-impact condition test protocol at an impact velocity of 4 m/s. Results and discussion Two speed skating helmet models yielded mean peak linear accelerations at a low-estimated probability range for sustaining a concussion for all three impact conditions. Conversely, the resulting mean peak rotational acceleration values were all found close to the high end of a probability range for sustaining a concussion. A similar tendency was observed for the bicycle and ice hockey helmets under the same impact conditions. Conclusion Speed skating helmets may not be as effective at managing rotational acceleration and therefore may not successfully protect the user against risks associated with concussion injuries.


This paper introduces a new type of brain emotional learning inspired models (BELIMs). The suggested model is utilized as a suitable model for predicting geomagnetic storms. The model is known as BELPM which is an acronym for Brain Emotional Learning-based Prediction Model. The structure of the suggested model consists of four main parts and mimics the corresponding regions of the neural structure underlying fear conditioning. The functions of these parts are implemented by assigning adaptive networks to the different parts. The learning algorithm of BELPM is based on the steepest descent (SD) and the least square estimator (LSE). In this paper, BELPM is employed to predict geomagnetic storms using the Disturbance Storm Time (Dst) index. To evaluate the performance of BELPM, the obtained results have been compared with the results of the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS).


Trust is essential in the e-business world: to allow the cooperation needed in this setting, independent service providers have to trust each other and, also, end-users have to trust service providers. Trust Management, i.e. the process of establishing trust amongst the parties involved in a transaction, can be carried out using different approaches, methods and technologies. The end-user is an important party involved in this process. Trust Perception models attempt to understand the end-user's point of view and the pattern he adopts to trust a service over the Internet. In this chapter the authors provide a state of the art for Trust Management in e-business. They review the most important Trust Management technologies and concepts including credentials and PKI, reputation, authorization and access control, trust policies, and trust languages. A conceptual map is presented clarifying the meaning and the links between different elements of a Trust Management system. Moreover, the authors discuss the end-user's Trust Perception. The chapter presents a literature study on Trust Perception models and introduces the new model, able to list the trust signals the end-user considers to make trust decision. Examples of such signals can be the reputation of a website, the use of security protocols, the privacy policies adopted, and the look and feel of its user interface. Finally, the directions of future work are presented, and conclusions are drawn.


Unpredictable events (UE) are major factors that cause disruption to everyday bus operation. In
the occurrence of UE, the main resources - crews and vehicles - are affected, and this leads to
crew schedule disruption. One way to deal with the problem is crew rescheduling. Most of the
current approaches are based on static schedules do not support rescheduling in a real-time
scenario. They have the ability to reschedule but a new complete schedule is produced without
concerning the real time situation. The mathematical approaches which are used by most
scheduling packages have the ability to search for optimum or near optimum schedules but they
are usually slow to produce results in real-time because they are computationally intensive when
faced with complex situations. In practice, crew or bus rescheduling is managed manually, based
on the supervisor's capabilities and experience in managing UE. However, manual rescheduling
is complex, prone to error and not optimum, especially when dealing with many UE at the same
time.
This research proposes the CRSMAS (Crew Rescheduling System with Multi Agent System)
approach as an alternative that may help supervisors to make quick rescheduling decisions by
automating the crew rescheduling process. A Multi Agent System (MAS) is considered suitable
to support this rescheduling because agents can dynamically adapt their behaviour to changing
environments and they can find solutions quic~ly via negotiations and cooperation between them.
To evaluate the CRSMAS, two types of experiment are carried out: Single Event and Multiple
Events. The Single Event experiment is used to find characteristics of crew schedules that
influence the crew rescheduling process while the Multiple Events experiment is used to test the
capability of CRSMAS in dealing with numerous events that occur randomly. A wide range of
simulation results, based on real-world data, are reported and analysed. Based on the experiment
it is concluded that CRSMAS is suitable for automating the crew rescheduling process and
capable of quick rescheduling whether facing single events or multiple events at the same time,
the success of rescheduling is not on ly dependant on the tool but also to other factors such as the
characteristics of crew schedules and the period of the UE, and one limitation of CRSMAS that
was discovered is it cannot simulate different type of events at the same time. This limitation is
because in different events there are different rules but, in Virtual World, agents can only
negotiate with one set of rules at a time.