We use a limited information environment to mimic the state of confusion in an experimental, repeated public goods game. The results show that reinforcement learning leads to dynamics similar to those observed in standard public goods games. However, closer inspection shows that individual decay of contributions in standard public goods games cannot be fully explained by reinforcement learning. According to our estimates, learning only accounts for 41 percent of the decay in contributions in standard public goods games. The contribution dynamics of subjects, who are identified as conditional cooperators, differ strongly from the learning dynamics, while a learning model estimated from the limited information treatment tracks behavior for subjects, who cannot be classified as conditional cooperators, reasonably well.


Estimates of species richness have been used to assess how community diversity changes across space and time. Here, we elucidate the bias that can arise when applying a popular sampling method (i.e., fixed number of belt‐transects) to census coral community richness when the size of the reef and the regional species pools vary. Based on surveys of 148 patch reefs in 3 sub‐regions of the Western Atlantic, we show that a fixed subsampling approach underestimated coral species richness of the reef as reef size increased; though this bias is minor for the entire region. The percentage of the true reef richness captured by sub‐sampled transects declined by 6% for every 10‐fold change in reef size. However, in Belize, the most speciose sub‐region sampled, coral richness was underestimated by 15% solely as a result of a 10‐fold increase in reef size. Increasing sampling effort (nr of transects) per reef was not able to correct for this underestimation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this sampling bias is not an artifact of larger reefs simply being more diverse, and hence, requiring greater sampling efforts. Rather, these results suggest that coral species in diverse regions are distributed in accordance with the variety of spatially structured microhabitats present on a reef, rather than distributing randomly across the reef surface. Furthermore, these patterns seem to be highly scale‐dependent. As such, sampling protocols should consider the size of the reef to be surveyed as well as the regional species pool to ensure accurate estimates of coral diversity.


What is the force of attraction of cities? Leading explanations include the advantages of a concentrated market and knowledge spillovers. This paper develops a model of firm location decisions in which it is possible to distinguish the importance of the concentrated-market motive from other motives, including knowledge spillovers. A key aspect of the model is that it allows for the firm to choose multiple locations. The theory is applied to study the placement of manufacturing sales offices. The implications of the concentrated-market motive are found to be a salient feature of U.S. Census micro data. The structural parameters of the model are estimated. The concentrated-market motive is found to account for approximately half of the concentration of sales offices in large cities.


Algorithm selection approaches have achieved impressive performance improvements in many areas of AI. Most of the literature considers the offline algorithm selection problem, where the initial selection model is never updated after training. However, new data from running algorithms on instances becomes available when algorithms are selected and run. We investigate how this online data can be used to improve the selection model over time. This is especially relevant when insufficient training instances were used, but potentially improves the performance of algorithm selection in all cases. We formally define the online algorithm selection problem and model it as a contextual multi-armed bandit problem, propose a methodology for solving it, and empirically demonstrate performance improvements. We also show that our online algorithm selection method can be used when no training data whatsoever is available, a setting where offline algorithm selection cannot be used. Our experiments indicate that a simple greedy approach achieves the best performance.


This paper presents a theoretical analysis of a silicon all-optical modulator based on free-carrier injection by two-photon absorption (TPA) in a highly light-confining structure. In spite of the weak optoelectronic properties of silicon, strong light confinement allows high modulation depths in very compact devices requiring low-energy pump pulses. This analysis is applied to 1-5 mum radius silicon ring resonators with the pump pulse coupled on-chip and including in the model the scattering loss due to sidewall roughness originating from the fabrication process. The calculations show that using this scheme, modulation depths greater than 80% can be achieved, with no more than 3 pJ of pump pulse energy, at speeds on the order of 10 GHz


Commodity prices have been rising at unprecedented rates over the last two years. The primary objective of this paper is to assess if and how firms pass through upstream cost increases to final good prices. First, we investigate what happens to the shelf prices (the regular prices) of goods that contain significant amounts of a commodity whose price has changed. The objective is to document patterns of price rigidity depending on the share of the commodity in the final good that is sold to consumers. For example, given an abnormal commodity price change in wheat, what happens to the shelf regular price of bread, wheat cereals, and other goods that contain wheat? Commodity pass-through patterns for ready to eat cereal (smallest share of commodity in final product) and fresh chicken (largest share of commodity in final good) are investigated. Second, we also assess what happens to the net prices consumers pay (that is the regular price net of discounts offered). One possible way to pass through a cost increase is to reduce the frequency of promotional discounts, or offer smaller discounts to consumers. Upstream commodity input prices used in our investigation are wheat and corn futures prices, to account for upstream inputs, and flour and chicken feed producer price sub indices for downstream cost shocks. We combine several datasets for this empirical analysis: commodity prices, commodity price indices, and scanner data on prices for a variety of goods, over a four year time period and across several stores in California, belonging to a large retail chain. We construct quantity weighted price indices within two product categories sold in the supermarket, where prices are weighted by pre-determined quantity weights to obtain shelf price indices and net price indices. For each of the commodities, regressions will be run using store-level product (UPC) weekly data. The reduced form regressions consist of projecting the shelf price index, as well as the net price index, on commodity prices, other explanatory variables and on region and time dummies. The point estimates measure the effect of residual changes in commodity prices, net of seasonal and regional effects, on the prices consumers face when making purchase decisions. We also construct a variable that measures the frequency of price discounts and relate that variable to the same explanatory variables. We estimate pass through behavior using the above three different measures of retail price activity controlling for cost proxies, store-level fixed-effects and regional time trends using panel data estimation techniques. Results suggest that an important part of retail price variation comes from promotional activities, and the usual shelf price index would underestimate the true pass through coefficient. To deal with omitted variables and price stickiness we included a lagged dependent variable, using the Arellano-Bond dynamic panel estimator. For Chicken the results show that using standard information on regular shelf price leads to an underestimation of the true pass-through coefficient. For Cereal, using standard shelf prices leads to an overestimation of the pass-through coefficient reflecting the importance of storability faced by consumers and retailers, and industry characteristics in the sale dynamics. Not only do our cost pass-through estimates account for sales we also provide dynamic multipliers for grain commodity price increases to supermarket shelf prices. The estimated dynamic elasticities are not as small as one might expect from a naive model. The elasticity of cereal price with respect to flour is over 1 and the elasticity of chicken price with respect to chicken feed was 30 percent. These estimates would imply a very large price increase in cereal and chicken over the last several years. There are fewer sales when commodity prices go up. From this we would conclude that net prices should be used for pass-through analysis.


The main econometric issue in testing the Lucas hypothesis (1973) in a times series context is the estimation of the variance conditional on past information. The ARCH model, proposed by Engle (1982), is one way of specifying the conditional variance. But the assumption underlying the ARCH specification is ad-hoc. The existence of ARCH can sometimes be interpreted as evidence of misspecification. Under the assumption that a monetary policy regime is continuously changing, a time-varying-parameter (TVP) model is proposed for the monetary growth function. Based on Kalman filtering estimation of recursive forcast errors and their conditional variances, the Lucas hypothesis is tested for the U.S. economy (1964.1 - 1985.4) using monetary growth as an aggregate demand variable. The Lucas hypothesis is rejected in favor of Friedman's (1977) hypothesis: the conditional variance of monetary growth affects real output directly, not through the coefficients on the forcast error term in the Lucas-type output equation.


Technology of metal die casting is characterized by production of casts complicated as to shape yet with positive mechanical properties and with high repeatability of production. However, casts are porous to a certain extent which eventually reduces their mechanical properties. One of the significant methods of porosity reduction of casts rests in correct design of a gating system. The submitted paper studies the influence of cross-section area of a runner on air entrapped in the cast volume. Seven alternatives of runners with the identical structural organization and variable cross-section area were compared. In case of a gating system design there was an assumption made that the runner with the largest cross section would deliver the lowest possible velocity to the melt before reaching the runner which would result in the lowest possible values of air entrapment. The air entrapment in the cast volume is evaluated behind the cores which were evaluated as critical points with regards to further processing. The results reached during examination of the melt flowing through runners proved the aforementioned assumption, yet the values of air entrapment in die casts volume did not show remarkable differences. In its final part, the paper clarifies the reached results and recommendations which should be taken into consideration when designing the gating system structure.


This paper attempts to explore the experiences of Malay ado-lescents with conduct problems within the Malaysian context of globalisation. It is undeniable that to some extent globalisation offers opportunities for a country to progress to be a greater and more competitive nation. In fact, the Malaysian government is highly inspired by the concept of globalisation in progressing towards the vision of becoming a developed nation by the year 2020. Nevertheless, globalisation as a process is very demanding requiring a lot of changes in the Malaysian political, cultural, economic, educational and social landscape. In addition, many of the changes require inculcating foreign cultural values that tend to be inconsistent with local practices. Without adequate preparation, such inconsistency potentially affects the locally defined well-being among vulnerable groups, especially adolescents. There is consistent evidence that shows a significant relationship between changes with respect to globalisation and conduct problems among adolescents. However, how far the affected adolescents understand and adapt with the globalisation process, particularly in the Malaysian context remains elusive. Therefore, it is essential to explore their understandings and experiences on different aspects of globalisation that significantly affect their lives.


Finding maximally sparse representations from overcomplete feature dictionaries frequently involves minimizing a cost function composed of a likelihood (or data fit) term and a prior (or penalty function) that favors sparsity. While typically the prior is factorial, here we examine non-factorial alternatives that have a number of desirable properties relevant to sparse estimation and are easily implemented using an efficient and globally-convergent, reweighted l1-norm minimization procedure. The first method under consideration arises from the sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) framework. Although based on a highly non-convex underlying cost function, in the context of canonical sparse estimation problems, we prove uniform superiority of this method over the Lasso in that, (i) it can never do worse, and (ii) for any dictionary and sparsity profile, there will always exist cases where it does better. These results challenge the prevailing reliance on strictly convex penalty functions for finding sparse solutions. We then derive a new non-factorial variant with similar properties that exhibits further performance improvements in some empirical tests. For both of these methods, as well as traditional factorial analogs, we demonstrate the effectiveness of reweighted l1-norm algorithms in handling more general sparse estimation problems involving classification, group feature selection, and non-negativity constraints. As a byproduct of this development, a rigorous reformulation of sparse Bayesian classification (e.g., the relevance vector machine) is derived that, unlike the original, involves no approximation steps and descends a well-defined objective function.


Great brands and great leaders have similar qualities. In the past few weeks South African media have been swept up by the frenzy around the disciplinary hearing of Julius Malema (ANCYL President) by the African National Congress mother body. I can only imagine how frustrating the process must be for a mother body trying to discipline what appears to be a leader in the making and a formidable politician.


The current proposal for a Common European Sales Law (CESL) makes a number of empirical claims in support of its argument that differences in contract law among Member States are stifling trade, and that CESL will address these barriers to cross-border trade. These empirical claims rest largely on citations to a number of Flash Eurobarometer surveys and other surveys of businesses and consumers. A closer look at these surveys reveals that the cited statistics do not support the claims that contract-law-related obstacles present special barriers to cross-border trade for small- and medium-sized enterprises and consumers. Instead, a more ambiguous picture emerges - one that may suggest reconsideration of several of the design features of CESL. I conclude that a more careful assessment of the empirical foundations for CESL (whether in its current or a revised form) is necessary.


Layari River is a small ephemeral stream of 50 km length and bisects Karachi, before flowing into Arabian Sea at Manora Channel. It is a seasonal river but received large quantities of sewage and industrial effluents in Karachi which naturally affect the ecology of river. The invertebrate macrofauna of the river was studied in order to determine the effect of various pollutants on the faunal distribution.

About 12,495 specimens were collected from January, 1982 to December, 1985 from the Layari River. These include about 9,495 specimens of molluscs, 1,000 specimens of aquatic insects, 1,000 specimens of annelids and about 1,000 specimens of crustacea. Molluscs constitute large number of species and the present ,work is undertaken to study only the systematics and ecology of molluscan fauna of the Layari River.

The collections belong to three classes of mollusc, namely, Gastropoda (about 8,541 specimens), Bivalvia (about 900 specimens) and Scaphopoda (about 54 specimens). No living bivalve was found in this river.

Gastropods are the most dominating molluscs both qualitatively and quantitatively. They are represented by 31 species. The class Bivalvia is represented by 27 species while only one species of the class Scaphopoda is present in this river.

Only 59 species are recorded from the Layari River. Among these, 38 species are new records for Pakistan.

Maximum number of molluscs are usually found in the highly saline deltaic part of the river. The less polluted freshwater part of the river contains comparatively small number of molluscs while none are found in the highly polluted waters of the river. These observations indicate strong effects of salinity and pollution on the molluscan distribution. Other studied physico-chemical factors (pH, O2, C02 etc.), however, appeared to have no prominent effect on the distribution of molluscs.

Studies of the molluscs distribution of the Layari River indicate an alarming level of pollution in this river. If this pollution is allowed to continue at the present rate then the whole flora and fauna of the river would vanish creating an (ecological disbalance. Immediate steps should be taken by the Government to decrease the pollution of the river, so that the river may live again.


From the swooping concrete vaults of the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport to the 630-foot-tall Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the iconic designs of Eero Saarinen (1910-1961) captured the aspirations and values of mid-20th-century America. Potent expressions of national power, these and other Saarinen-designed structures-including the GM Technical Center, Dulles International Airport, and John Deere headquarters-helped create the international image of the United States in the decades following World War II. Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future offers a new and wide-ranging look at the entire scope of Saarinen's career. This is the first book on Saarinen to incorporate significant research and materials from the newly available archives of his office, and includes the most complete portfolio of Saarinen's projects to date-a chronological survey of more than 100 built and unbuilt works, previously unpublished photographs, plans, and working drawings. Lavishly illustrated, this major study shows how Saarinen gave his structures an expressive dimension and helped introduce modern architecture to the mainstream of American practice. In his search for a richer and more varied modern architecture, Saarinen became one of the most prolific and controversial practitioners of his time.


Abstract This paper describes recent progress in magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) study of high-beta plasmas of the Large Helical Device. Control of the plasma aspect ratio (Ap) in the range of 6.3 to 8.3 was done in order to optimize the configuration for high-beta plasma production and to investigate the MHD characteristics. The experiments brought a maximum average beta of 4.3% at the Ap = 6.6 configuration. MHD activities in the periphery are dominantly observed in such a high-beta region, and their amplitudes increase with decreasing magnetic Reynolds number (S) and have clear dependence on the S parameter. When the plasma aspect ratio is increased, minor collapse due to the m/n = 1/1 mode without rotation occurs. It is enhanced further by the plasma current reducing magnetic shear and degrades the beta value by >50%. The results are expected to give important information on the operation regime and the future design of the helical fusion reactor and to contribute to experimental knowledge of ideal and resistive instability.


Kuru, a familial degenerative disease of the nervous system occurring in a restricted area of the Highlands of New Guinea, has apparently been transmitted to chimpanzees, but not to any other of the many experimental hosts tried. Transmission of the kuru syndrome from chimpanzee to chimpanzee has now been effected, with a shortening of the incubation period to 1 year from the 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years found on intracerebral passage of human brain tissue to chimpanzee. Other chimpanzees have been inoculated to determine the size and heat stability of the agent, its presence outside the nervous system, and its pathogenicity by other routes of inoculation.


The principal objectives and scope of the study: The goal of this thesis is to ultimately propose how prediction markets may be used to select the best possible portfolio of projects in a not-for-profit setting. The first logical principal objective is to identify a quality signal that demarcates a good from a bad market prediction (or decision). Upon doing so, the second principal objective of configuring prediction markets (into a decision market) to decide if a project should be in or out of the project portfolio, and importantly the probability that this selection is the best possible one, is achievable. This objective is achieved via a novel theoretical model introduced in this thesis and by three investigations to test the theory. The third and final principal objective is to consider synthesize the finding of this thesis to propose how to improve current prediction markets and create a new type of prediction and decision market that is augmented or embedded with the quality signal identified by the thesis theory and investigations.

Due to time and budget constraints the scope of this thesis does not extend to building a real-world implementation of the prediction and decision market types introduced by this thesis for real-world organizations. However, at the time of writing a joint venture arrangement between the university and other stakeholders is in development to implement this thesis' decision market for project selection in possibly two not-for-profit organizations.

The methodology employed: The keystone and novel contribution of this thesis is the identification of a quality signal that can be used to improve prediction and decision markets. The methodology to achieve this is to first establish a theoretical model that builds upon the work of previous research but that provides an original contribution in its focus on quality signals in prediction markets.

The idealized theoretical model suggests a possible quality signal candidate denoted as relevant information level i.e. the proportion of the market bids that are conditioned on private information. Given relevant information is arrived at theoretically, it is important to robustly test the hypotheses that increasing relevant information increases the probability of prediction and decision markets attaining the best possible (fully informed) predictions and decision respectively.

The first investigation is a computer simulated control-treatment setup in which each control and treatment prediction (and decision) market is identical in every way except for the relevant information level. The statistical significance of relevant information level is then analyzed. The benefit of computer simulations is the large number of prediction and decision market games that can be run. The weakness is that all traders are rational. Therefore, the second investigation incorporates, into the prediction and decision markets, human participants.

The second investigation involves a prediction market web-game created by the PhD candidate. Multiple prediction market web-games are run in a control-treatment setup in which relevant information is allowed to vary with all else being held the same for each control and its treatment. The statistical significance of relevant information level is then analyzed. The strength of this investigation is the incorporation of human idiosyncrasies; however, the weakness is this investigation remains within the confines of the laboratory setting. Hence the third and final investigation involves the analysis of real-world prediction market data.

The analysis of real-world prediction market data is undertaken to extend the testing of the hypotheses into a real-world setting. The strength of this is that the hygienic conditions of the laboratory are removed, however, the weakness is the potential endogeneity and confounding problems that can arise. To counter these potential problems, a control function approach is used to control for endogeneity and a fine strata continuous propensity score approach is used to control for confounding.

Summary of the results: The new theoretical model finds relevant information level to be a sufficient and necessary condition for prediction and decision markets to attain the best possible predictions and decision respectively. The computer simulations find that increasing relevant information level is a statistically significant effect that leads to improving the probability of prediction and decision markets attaining the best possible predictions and decisions. The prediction market web-games with human participants also confirms that relevant information is a statistically significant effect that when increased leads to increasing the probability of attaining the best possible prediction. Finally, the analysis of real-world prediction market data confirms that relevant information is a statistically significant effect that when increased leads to increasing the probability of attaining best possible decisions.

The principal conclusions: There are several conclusions able to be drawn from this thesis as follows:

Relevant information level is robustly tested in this thesis as a quality signal for prediction and decision markets to demarcate good prediction and decisions from bad ones. This is the key contribution by this thesis to research on prediction and decision markets. Prior to this work there existed no metric to assess the quality of a prediction or decision emanating from these markets. Without such a 'quality' metric, confidence in the associated predictions and decisions would remain logically unjustified. Hence 'relevant information level', as a quality signal, proposed and robustly tested by this thesis brings with it the ability to justly demarcate a good prediction or decision from a bad one.

Current real-world prediction markets may be simply augmented with a publicized measure of their relevant information level to improve markets in much the same way that Akerlof quality signals do so. That is, the implication of this thesis does not require radical changes to current real world prediction and decision markets. Rather, by simply publicising the 'relevant information level' metric, the confidence warranted in a prediction or decision market is revealed. In much the same way that Akerlof quality signals were embodied in small changes (e.g., second-hand car guarantees), 'relevant information level' as a quality signal is a small change i.e. publicising and therefore a guarantee of the efficacy of a prediction or decision market.

The new prediction and decision markets that were built in this thesis have the potential to select the best possible portfolio of projects. With high quality decision market selection comes the confidence that the best possible selection is made. The selection of the best possible portfolio of projects is a logical extension to this feature. Establishing a means of measuring how well prediction and decision markets select the best possible portfolio of projects is an important and novel contribution by this thesis. The ultimate goal of confidently guiding project selection so as to best leverage scare economic resources is made possible in this thesis.


The asymmetric synthesis of long chain di- and tri-amino polyols is reported. The developed methodology is based on the functionalization of 3,3'-methylenebis{[6-(benzyloxy)methoxy]cyclohept-3-en-1-ol} derivatives that allows the selective introduction of amine moieties on defined positions of polyketide fragments. The versatile strategy disclosed here requires few purification steps and may generate a large panel of stereoisomers.


beta-Defensins are cationic peptides with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity that may play a role in mucosal defenses of several organs. They have been isolated in several species, and in humans, two beta-defensins have been identified. Here, we report the identification of two genes encoding beta-defensin homologues in the rat. Partial cDNAs were found by searching the expressed-sequence-tag database, and primers were designed to generate full-length mRNA coding sequences. One gene was highly similar to the human beta-defensin-1 (HBD-1) gene and mouse beta-defensin-1 gene at both the nucleic acid and amino acid levels and was termed rat beta-defensin-1 (RBD-1). The other gene, named RBD-2, was homologous to the HBD-2 and bovine tracheal antimicrobial peptide (TAP) genes. The predicted prepropeptides were strongly cationic, were 69 and 63 residues in length for RBD-1 and RBD-2, respectively, and contained the six-cysteine motif characteristic of beta-defensins. The beta-defensin genes mapped closely on rat chromosome 16 and were closely linked to the alpha-defensins genes, suggesting that they are part of a gene cluster, similar to the organization reported for humans. Northern blot analysis showed that both RBD-1 and RBD-2 mRNA transcripts were approximately 0.5 kb in length; RBD-1 mRNA was abundantly transcribed in the rat kidney, while RBD-2 was prevalent in the lung. Reverse transcription-PCR indicated that RBD-1 and RBD-2 mRNAs were distributed in a variety of other tissues. In the lung, RBD-1 mRNA expression localized to the tracheal epithelium while RBD-2 was expressed in alveolar type II cells. In conclusion, we characterized two novel beta-defensin homologues in the rat. The rat may be a useful model to investigate the function and contribution of beta-defensins to host defense in the lung, kidney, and other tissues.


The baculoviral IAP repeat (BIR) is a zinc-binding fold. Some BIR-containing proteins (BIRCs), including several from insect viruses, insects and vertebrates, are inhibitors of cell death and act by binding to active caspases. Their ability to do so can be antagonized by pro-apoptotic insect proteins such as Grim, HID and Reaper, or the mammalian protein Diablo/Smac. Members of one structurally distinct subgroup of BIR-containing proteins, which are present in yeasts and Caenorhabditis elegans as well as insects and vertebrates, do not act as caspase inhibitors; instead, they are required for chromosome segregation and cytokinesis, and act in concert with inner centromere protein (INCENP) homologues and aurora kinase homologues.


Abstract It has become something of a truism that organisational and political environments are internationalised, and that policy making is informed at least in part by increased understanding of what takes place in parallel domains and jurisdictions. Leaders and policy makers learn about, from and with their counterparts elsewhere. By the same token, the international meeting, workshop or seminar has become a more prominent part of professional, organisational and political routines. This paper asks simply: what do we learn by meeting? While both learning and meeting can be readily dismissed as operations of a crude construction of power, the paper is interested in what might remain. It is notable, for example, that international encounters are often highly valued by participants, albeit in ways they find difficult to express. What do participants experience in meeting, and what do they know differently as a result? Drawing on seminal work by Margeret Mead and others, and using ethnographic and documentary methods, the paper describes processes of introduction, presentation, recognition, confusion, socialisation, communication and reporting. Conceived as a microstudy of purportedly macrolevel activity, it is meant both as an exercise in analytic interpretation and as a resource for participants and practitioners.


Most of the work on interpretable machine learning has focused on designing either inherently interpretable models, which typically trade-off accuracy for interpretability, or post-hoc explanation systems, whose explanation quality can be unpredictable. Our method, ExpO, is a hybridization of these approaches that regularizes a model for explanation quality at training time. Importantly, these regularizers are differentiable, model agnostic, and require no domain knowledge to define. We demonstrate that post-hoc explanations for ExpO-regularized models have better explanation quality, as measured by the common fidelity and stability metrics. We verify that improving these metrics leads to significantly more useful explanations with a user study on a realistic task.


The work present in this thesis was aimed at assessing the efficacy of lithium in the acute treatment of mania and for the prophylaxis of bipolar disorder, and investigating the value of plasma haloperidol concentration for predicting response to treatment in schizophrenia. The pharmacogenetics of psychotropic drugs is critically appraised to provide insights into interindividual variability in response to pharmacotherapy, In clinical trials of acute mania, a number of measures have been used to assess the severity of illness and its response to treatment. Rating instruments need to be validated in order for a clinical study to provide reliable and meaningful estimates of treatment effects, Eight symptom-rating scales were identified and critically assessed, The Mania Rating Scale (MRS) was the most commonly used for assessing treatment response, The advantage of the MRS is that there is a relatively extensive database of studies based on it and this will no doubt ensure that it remains a gold standard for the foreseeable future. Other useful rating scales are available for measuring mania but further cross-validation and validation against clinically meaningful global changes are required. A total of 658 patients from 12 trials were included in an evaluation of the efficacy of lithium in the treatment of acute mania. Treatment periods ranged from 3 to 4 weeks. Efficacy was estimated using (i) the differences in the reduction in mania severity scores, and (ii) the ratio and difference in improvement response rates. The response rate ratio for lithium against placebo was 1.95 (95% CI 1.17 to 3.23). The mean number needed to treat was 5 (95% CI 3 to 20). Patients were twice as likely to obtain remission with lithium than with chlorpromazine (rate ratio = 1.96, 95% CI 1.02 to 3.77). The mean number needed to treat (NNT) was 4 (95% CI 3 to 9). Neither carbamazepine nor valproate was more effective than lithium. The response rate ratios were 1.01 (95% CI 0.54 to 1.88) for lithium compared to carbarnazepine and 1.22 (95% CI 0.91 to 1.64) for lithium against valproate. Haloperidol was no better than lithium on the basis of improvement based on assessment of global severity. The differences in effects between lithium and risperidone were -2.79 (95% CI -4.22 to -1.36) in favour of risperidone with respect to symptom severity improvement and -0.76 (95% CI -1.11 to -0,41) on the basis of reduction in global severity of disease. Symptom and global severity was at least as well controlIed with lithium as with verapamil. Lithium caused more side-effects than placebo and verapamil, but no more than carbamazepine or valproate. A total of 554 patients from 13 trials were included in the statistical analysis of lithium's efficacy in the prophylaxis of bipolar disorder. The mean follow-up period was 5-34 months. The relapse risk ratio for lithium versus placebo was 0.47 (95% CI 0.26 to 0.86) and the NNT was 3 (95% CI 2 to 7). The relapse risk ratio for lithium versus imipramine was 0.62 (95% CI 0.46 to 0.84) and the NNT was 4 (951% Cl 3 to 7), The combination of lithium and imipramine was no more effective than lithium alone. The risk of relapse was greater with lithium alone than with the lithium-divalproate combination. A risk difference of 0.60 (95% CI 0.21 to 0.99) and an NNT of 2 (95% CI 1 to 5) were obtained. Lithium was as effective as carbamazepine. Based on individual data concerning plasma haloperidol concentration and percent improvement in psychotic symptoms, our results suggest an acceptable concentration range of 11.20-30.30 ng/mL A minimum of 2 weeks should be allowed before evaluating therapeutic response. Monitoring of drug plasma levels seems not to be necessary unless behavioural toxicity or noncompliance is suspected. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, which are mainly determined by genetic factors, contribute to interindividual and interethnic variations in clinical response to drugs. These variations are primarily due to differences in drug metabolism. Variability in pharmacokinetics of a number of drugs is associated with oxidation polymorphism. Debrisoquine/sparteine hydroxylase (CYP2D6) and the S-mephenytoin hydroxylase (CYP2C19) are polymorphic P450 enzymes with particular importance in psychopharmacotherapy. The enzymes are responsible for the metabolism of many commonly used antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs. The incidence of poor metabolisers of debrisoquine and S-mephenytoin varies widely among populations. Ethnic variations in polymorphic isoenzymes may, at least in part, explain ethnic differences in response to pharmacotherapy of antipsychotics and antidepressant drugs.


Relocation of production to countries with low labour cost have induced increased labour market flexibility, which has been praised as a silver bullet for economic growth and low unemployment. Within a unionised oligopoly framework, in which a multi-national firm has the option to relocate its production to a foreign country, we analyse the welfare implications of both centralised and flexible wage setting regimes. For very low foreign wages, wage flexibility leads to higher welfare than a rigid centralised regime. In contrast, for 'intermediate' wage levels in the foreign country, an industry-wide uniform wage leads to higher social welfare than flexible wages.


Indigenous Studies is a rapidly growing field of enquiry both nationally and internationally. The internationalisation of the discipline is dependent on its interdiciplinarity and on the collaborative efforts of interdisciplinary scholars. Colonised Indigenous people globally share similar experiences despite differences in histories and contexts. In collaborative situations, dedicated scholarship brings together Indigenous people and allies who are committed to the global expansion of Indigenous knowledge through shared understandings of experiences and histories. Collective efforts can improve curriculum development, enhance opportunities for publication, bring scholars together in conferences and symposia and provide opportunities for new research networks for Indigenous scholarship. This paper addresses spheres of collaborative and collective endeavours that continue to reap benefits nationally and internationally in the field of international Indigenous Studies.


There is increasing evidence that species diversity enhances the temporal stability (TS) of community productivity in different ecosystems, although its effect at the population and tree levels seems to be negative or neutral. Asynchrony in species responses to environmental conditions was found to be one of the main drivers of this stabilizing process. However, the effect of species mixing on the stability of productivity, and the relative importance of the associated mechanisms, remain poorly understood in forest communities. We investigated the way mixing species influenced the TS of productivity in Pinus sylvestris L. and Fagus sylvatica L. forests, and attempted to determine the main drivers among overyielding, asynchrony between species annual growth responses to environmental conditions, and temporal shifts in species interactions. We used a network of 93 experimental plots distributed across Europe to compare the TS of basal area growth over a 15‐year period (1999–2013) in mixed and monospecific forest stands at different organizational levels, namely the community, population and individual tree levels. Mixed stands showed a higher TS of basal area growth than monospecific stands at the community level, but not at the population or individual tree levels. The TS at the community level was related to asynchrony between species growth in mixtures, but not to overyielding nor to asynchrony between species growth in monospecific stands. Temporal shifts in species interactions were also related to asynchrony and to the mixing effect on the TS. Synthesis. Our findings confirm that species mixing can stabilize productivity at the community level, whereas there is a neutral or negative effect on stability at the population and individual tree levels. The contrasting findings regarding the relationships between the temporal stability and asynchrony in species growth in mixed and monospecific stands suggest that the main driver in the stabilizing process may be the temporal niche complementarity between species rather than differences in species' intrinsic responses to environmental conditions.


In extreme ultraviolet lithography, imaging errors due to thermal deformation of reticles are becoming progressively intolerable as the source power increases. Despite this trend, such errors can be mitigated by adjusting the wafer and reticle stages based on a set of predicted deformation-induced displacements. Since this control scheme operates online, an accurate low-order model is necessary. However, finite element modeling of the reticle and its adjacent components leads to a large-scale thermo-mechanical model that should be simplified. First, parameters of the model's initial thermal condition are reduced to only a few from which numerous initial conditions can be accurately reconstructed. This entails placement of temperature sensors at the corresponding locations, and for this purpose, the discrete empirical interpolation method (DEIM) is utilized. Then, linear and nonlinear model reductions are performed via the proper orthogonal decomposition method and DEIM, respectively. The resultant model is employed in the Kalman filter to estimate the parameters of the reticle's temperature-dependent coefficient of thermal expansion from several displacement measurements and to subsequently predict the displacements that are used for control. By processing the outputs from the simulated large-scale model, this filter is shown to perform successfully, even in the presence of an unexpected initial condition.


Separation is one of the major problems for fruit juices producers. Although this
separation is a normal occurrence in fruit juices but consumers associate it with low in
quality. The objective of this study is to find the best combination of stabilisers in
order to minimise the separation in pink guava juice produced. Three types of
stabiliser combination was tested, they are carboxymethyl cellulose with xanthan
gum, carboxymethyl cellulose with arabic gum and carboxymethylcellulose with
pectin and the ratio of 70:30 were used for all combinations. Physical analysis
including total soluble solid value, viscosity, colour, cloudiness and particle size
determination were carried out. Sensory evaluation was conducted for taste, aroma,
colour, mouthfeel and overall acceptability attributes. From the result obtained, the
physical analysis conducted showed that xanthan gum provides highest viscosity and
total soluble solid, and low in cloudiness. While for arabic gum, the result obtained
was almost similar to the control but with lowest particle size distribution which
indicated greater particle uniformity. While pectin gave highest particle size
distribution. Based on consumer acceptability, consumers cannot detect the presence
of stabiliser added, therefore all different combination of stabilisers studied in this
project can be used for stabilisation of pink guava juice.


Abstract. In this study we explore the sensitivity of satellite observations of the Ring effect (at various wavelengths) to atmospheric aerosol properties. Compared to clouds, aerosols have a rather weak influence on the Ring effect, thus the requirements on the accuracy of the measurements and the radiative transfer simulations are high. In this study, we show that for moderate and high aerosol optical depth (AOD), Ring effect observations are sensitive enough to yield information not only on the AOD, but also on the absorbing properties of aerosols and the aerosol layer height. The latter two quantities are especially important for the determination of the radiative effects of aerosols. Our investigations are based on observations by the satellite instrument SCIAMACHY on ENVISAT (2004–2008) and on model simulations using the Monte-Carlo radiative transfer model McArtim. In addition to the Ring effect we investigate the impact of aerosols on the absorptions of the oxygen molecule (O2) and dimer (O4) as well as the radiance. In general good consistency between measured and simulated quantities is found. In some cases also systematic differences occurred, which are probably mainly related to the strong polarisation sensitivity of the SCIAMACHY instrument. Our study indicates that Ring effect observations have important advantages for aerosol retrievals: they can be analysed with high accuracy in various wavelength ranges; and depending on the wavelength range, they show different sensitivities on aerosol properties like single scattering albedo, optical depth or layer height. The results of this study are of particular interest for future aerosol inversion algorithms for satellite instruments with reduced polarisation sensitivity and smaller ground pixels, capable of measuring the Ring effect with higher accuracy.


A collection of essays on America by the author of London Fields, Money and Yellow Dog. At the age of ten, when Martin Amis spent a year in Princeton, New Jersey, he was excited and frightened by America. As an adult he has approached that confusing country from many arresting angles, and interviewed its literati, filmmakers, thinkers, opinion-makers, leaders and crackpots with characteristic discernment and wit. Included in a gallery of Great American Novelists are Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Joseph Heller, William Burroughs, Kurt Vonnegut, John Updike, Paul Theroux, Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. Amis also takes us to Dallas, where presidential candidate Ronald Reagan is attempting to liaise with born-again Christians. We glimpse the beau monde of Palm Beach, where each couple tries to out-Gatsby the other, and examine the case of Claus von Bulow. Steven Spielberg gets a visit, as does Brian de Palma, whom Amis asks why his films make no sense, and Hugh Hefner's sybaritic fortress and sanitized image are penetrated. There can be little that escapes the eye of Martin Amis when his curiosity leads him to a subject, and America has found in him a superlative chronicler. "From the Trade Paperback edition."


A million Australians went to Bali last year, following the millions of others who have made their way across Asia over the past century. Many travellers returned thinking they knew Asia and their personal experiences helped shape popular attitudes. This absorbing book unpacks their experiences, showing how their encounters changed the way Australians thought about themselves in the world. Visiting the Neighbours tells the story of Australian relations with Asia from the bottom up, examining the experiences of some of the millions of travellers and tourists who headed to the region over more than a hundred years. Merchants, missionaries, pilgrims, soldiers, hippies, diplomats, backpackers all had an impact on diplomacy and international relations. Agnieszka Sobocinska's book is a bold and important step in understanding the intersection between popular opinion, prejudice and international relations as Australia stands at the precipice of the Asian Century. 'Sets out a range of fascinating and different roles played by Australians in Asia.' - Michael Wesley, author of There Goes the Neighbourhood: Australia and the rise of Asia. '...Puts travel to Asia firmly on the 'Asia-literacy' map. This is not only a richly detailed, subtly argued and historically informed study of the Australian traveller in Asia. It is also smart, sharp and a very good read.' - David Walker, BHP Billiton Chair of Australian Studies, Peking University. Shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards - University of Southern Queensland History Book Award.


One of the reasons of pavement failure is weak subgrade, which causes rutting, alligator cracking, and upheaval. To prevent sub grade failure, adequate compaction as in the specification must be carried out. Proper quality assurance and quality compliance (QA/QC) procedure must be followed to ensure that compaction is carried out adequately. Existing Public Work Department (PWD) Specification for Road Work (JKR7SPJ/88) relating to compaction only require in-situ field density test and moisture content to ensure that compaction is carried out correctly. There is no
specification on the determination of subgrade strength although the strength of subgrade in terms of elastic modulus is important as input in pavement design. Therefore, there is a need to obtain the in-situ subgrade strength to ensure that the pavement is correctly designed. This research details a study on road subgrade using three types of in-situ devices undertaken on six 150-metres length flexible pavement subgrade test sections. The devices used in this study include the in-situ CBR, Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DC?) and Portable Falling Weight Deflectometer
(PFWD). Tests using these devices were carried out at specified spacing on the test sections to determine the subgrade CBR, DCP-PR in (mm/blow) and elastic modulus values. The results obtained for laboratory CBR (unsoaked and soaked), in-situ CBR,
DCP-PR in (mm/blow) and modulus subgrade were analysed and correlated to develop models to relate the values obtained. It was found that there is a reasonable relationship between the in-situ CBR and the laboratory unsoaked CBR values. The relationship between in-situ CBR with the DCP-PR in (mm/blow) values was found to be conclusive as high positive values of correlation were obtained. The relationship between in-situ CBR with the P-FWD modulus values was found to be inconclusive. The relationship obtained between DCP and P-FWD is a positive correlation. It is
recommended that DCP test be included in all PWD road construction specification so that the subgrade strength of the pavement could be checked to meet the desired requirement.


The rfbO9 gene cluster, which is responsible for the synthesis of the lipopolysaccharide O9 antigen, was cloned from Escherichia coli O9:K30. The gnd gene, encoding 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, was identified adjacent to the rfbO9 cluster, and by DNA sequence analysis the gene order gnd-rfbM-rfbK was established. This order differs from that described for other members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. Nucleotide sequence analysis was used to identify the rfbK and rfbM genes, encoding phosphomannomutase and GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase, respectively. In members of the family Enterobacteriaceae, these enzymes act sequentially to form GDP-mannose, which serves as the activated sugar nucleotide precursor for mannose residues in cell surface polysaccharides. In the E. coli O9:K30 strain, a duplicated rfbM2-rfbK2 region was detected approximately 3 kbp downstream of rfbM1-rfbK1 and adjacent to the remaining genes of the rfbO9 cluster. The rfbM isogenes differed in upstream flanking DNA but were otherwise highly conserved. In contrast, the rfbK isogenes differed in downstream flanking DNA and in 3'-terminal regions, resulting in slight differences in the sizes of the predicted RfbK proteins. RfbMO9 and RfbKO9 are most closely related to CpsB and CpsG, respectively. These are isozymes of GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase and phosphomannomutase, respectively, which are thought to be involved in the biosynthesis of the slime polysaccharide colanic acid in E. coli K-12 and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. An E. coli O-:K30 mutant, strain CWG44, lacks rfbM2-rfbK2 and has adjacent essential rfbO9 sequences deleted. The remaining chromosomal genes are therefore sufficient for GDP-mannose formation and K30 capsular polysaccharide synthesis. A mutant of E. coli CWG44, strain CWG152, was found to lack GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase and lost the ability to synthesize K30 capsular polysaccharide. Wild-type capsular polysaccharide could be restored in CWG152, by transformation with plasmids containing either rfbM1 or rfbM2. Introduction of a complete rfbO9 gene cluster into CWG152 restored synthesis of both O9 and K30 polysaccharides. Consequently, rfbM is sufficient for the biosynthesis of GDP-mannose for both O antigen and capsular polysaccharide E. coli O9:K30. Analysis of a collection of serotype O8 and O9 isolates by Southern hybridization and PCR amplification experiments demonstrated extensive polymorphism in the rfbM-rfbK region.


Land rights and tenure systems are an important factor behind poor housing and inefficient land-use in developing country cities. In Kampala, Uganda, four systems of land tenure coexist, allowing a detailed study of the effects of these on household and firm location decisions. Spatially disaggregated data across the city suggest that the presence of a traditional land tenure system (called mailo) skews land-use towards informal housing and away from productive activities. Using a structural model of the city we show that this due to mailo having a positive value for occupants of informal housing, attributable to mailo-specific amenity benefits and/ or rent caps. We use the model to investigate the effect of converting all mailo land in the city to leasehold. Despite direct loss of amenity experienced by mailo residents, aggregate city income may rise substantially because of more efficient land-use. Manufacturing firms move into formerly mailo areas and form new clusters of activity. This increases urban wages, particularly among the low skilled, and raises aggregate urban real incomes by 2% in the absence of localisation economies and as much as 6.7% in the presence of such economies of scale.


Evaluating and characterizing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) is critical to subscribers shopping for alternative ISPs, companies providing reliable Internet services, and governments surveying the coverage of broadband services to its citizens. Ideally, ISP characterization should be done at scale, continuously, and from end users. While there has been significant progress toward this end, current approaches exhibit apparently unavoidable tradeoffs between coverage, continuous monitoring and capturing user-perceived performance.
 In this paper, we argue that network-intensive applications running on end systems avoid these tradeoffs, thereby offering an ideal platform for ISP characterization. Based on data collected from 500,000 peer-to-peer BitTorrent users across 3,150 networks, together with the reported results from the U.K. Ofcom/SamKnows studies, we show the feasibility of this approach to characterize the service that subscribers can expect from a particular ISP. We discuss remaining research challenges and design requirements for a solution that enables efficient and accurate ISP characterization at an Internet scale.


AIMS
To present and discuss the significance of a bead program in assisting families to put together the story of a child's journey through cardiac intervention. The main focus of the article is the importance to families of developing a narrative in making sense of the experience of discovering their child has a cardiac condition and how this is enhanced by the bead program.

BACKGROUND
The Heart Beads Program involved giving families beads related to procedures and processes the children undergo while they are in hospital. Research on narratives related to illness suggests that forming a narrative that incorporates the health condition facilitates the ability to talk about these experiences and helps to make sense of and deal with the stressors related to such traumatic life events.

DESIGN
A qualitative methodology was used to evaluate the program employing semi-structured interviews and content analysis following a grounded theory approach.

METHODS
Interviews were undertaken with 11 families to highlight their experiences of being involved in the Heart Beads Program. Themes were identified from the interviews and critical discussion was used to structure and connect the themes.

RESULTS
The major theme that emerged from the analysis of the interviews was the importance of the beads in enabling the telling of the child's story. Five subthemes were identified in this theme: symbolism, encouraging/uplifting, acknowledgement, connection with others and imagining the future. The themes are outlined and expressed through specific comments from interviews.

CONCLUSIONS
The Heart Beads are seen as presenting a significant way for children and families to comprehend their time in hospital as part of the child's life story.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
The program can offer the opportunity for health care professionals to relate to the child and family's story and to engage with that story in a person centred way.


This paper explores how the use of imputed earnings data to measure income in the Survey of Income and Program Participation affects the observed relationship between household income volatility and food insufficiency. The study finds that the inclusion of imputed earnings data when measuring income volatility substantially understates the association between large drops in household income and food insufficiency. After excluding observations with imputed earnings, large drops in income are associated with a 1.3 percentage point increase in the probability of food insufficiency, although the


A family of recombinant mink cell focus-forming viruses (MCF) was derived by inoculation of NFS mice with a Friend murine leukemia virus, and their genomes were analyzed by RNase T1-resistant oligonucleotide fingerprinting. The viruses were obtained from the thymuses and spleens of preleukemic and leukemic animals and were evaluated for dualtropism and oncogenicity. All these isolates induced cytopathic foci on mink cells but could be classified into two groups based on their relative infectivities for SC-1 (mouse) or mink (ATCC CCL64) cells. One group of Friend MCFs (F-MCFs) (group I) exhibited approximately equal infectivities for SC-1 and mink cells, whereas a second group (group II) infected mink cells 1,000- to 10,000-fold more efficiently than SC-1 cells. Structural analyses of the F-MCFs revealed that group I and group II viruses correlated with recombination of Friend murine leukemia virus with two distinct, but closely related, endogenous NFS proviral sequences. No correlation was found between the type of F-MCF and the tissue of origin or the disease state of the animal. Furthermore, none of the F-MCF isolates were found to be oncogenic in NFS/N or AKR/J mice. F-MCFs of both groups underwent extensive substitution of ecotropic sequences, involving much of the gag and env genes of group I F-MCFs and most of the gag, pol, and env genes of group II F-MCFs. All F-MCF isolates retained the 3' terminal U3 region of Friend murine leukemia virus. Comparison of the RNAs of the F-MCFs with RNAs of MCFs derived from NFS.Akv-1 or NFS.Akv-2 mice indicated that the F-MCFs were derived from NFS proviral sequences which are distinct from the sequences contained in NFS.Akv MCF isolates. This result suggested that recombination with particular endogenous proviral sequences to generate MCFs may be highly specific for a given murine leukemia virus.


Muscle performance might be temporarily impaired by high-intensity exercise performed during a competition or training session. The attenuation in muscular strength may be transitory, lasting minutes, hours, or several days following training or competition (Barnett, 2006). Longer-lasting impairment in muscle strength accompanied by a reduction in range of motion, an increase in muscle proteins in the blood, an inflammatory response, muscle swelling, and delayed onset muscle soreness is referred to as exercise induced muscle damage (EIMD) (Clarkson and Hubal, 2002; Barnett, 2006; Paulsen et al., 2012).

Different modalities have been used to improve recovery from a damaging bout of exercise (Barnett, 2006). Among the most common treatment approaches used to reestablish muscular function are active recovery, compression garments, massage, stretching, anti-inflammatory drugs, and cryotherapy (Cheung et al., 2003; Barnett, 2006; Bishop et al., 2008). A relatively novel modality of cryotherapy is whole-body cryotherapy (WBC), which consists of brief exposure (2–3 min) to extremely cold air (−100 to −195°C) in a temperature-controlled chamber or cryocabin (Banfi et al., 2010; Hausswirth et al., 2011; Fonda and Sarabon, 2013). Sessions of partial-body cryotherapy (PBC), in which the head is not exposed to cold, has also been used as a similar modality of WBC (Hausswirth et al., 2013). According to Hausswirth et al. (2013), WBC and PBC session decreased skin temperature, however, WBC induced a greater decrease compared to PBC. In addition, the tympanic temperature was reduced only after the WBC session. Moreover, parasympathetic tone stimulation was greater following the WBC session. Although WBC has been used since the end of the 1970s in the treatment of rheumatic diseases (Ksiezopolska-Pietrzak, 2000; Metzger et al., 2000; Rymaszewska et al., 2003), it has only recently been used with the purpose of hastening recovery from muscle damage by decreasing the inflammatory process linked to EIMD (Banfi et al., 2010). A logic model proposed by Costello et al. (2013) consisted of the physiological, neuromuscular, and perceptual effects following exposure to WBC which may interact to increase performance. However, a mechanistic model for how WBC may improve symptoms related to EIMD has to this point not been provided (Costello et al., 2013). Thus, the purpose of this manuscript was to briefly address a possible mechanism related to improved recovery from muscle damage by WBC.


The feedstocks used in Powder Injection Moulding (PIM) are formed by solid particles incorporated into a binder with presence of surfactant enabling manufacturing of highly concentrated suspensions. Relatively even distribution of particles is violated in the close vicinity of the walls. A thin layer adjacent to the walls is pre-dominantly occupied by the binder only and at the interface wall-binder so-called wall slip occurs. Success and acceptance of an injection moulding step in PIM process primarily subjects to this wall slip phenomenon. The wall slip was qualitatively and quantitatively measured using a capillary rheometer equipped with the dies of different entrance angles. It was proved that this differentness has a significant impact on an appearance of wall slip (its intensity). Using four PIM feedstocks reliable slip velocity values of highly filled compounds were obtained for conical dies contrasting to the results with flat dies used in the majority of studies.The feedstocks used in Powder Injection Moulding (PIM) are formed by solid particles incorporated into a binder with presence of surfactant enabling manufacturing of highly concentrated suspensions. Relatively even distribution of particles is violated in the close vicinity of the walls. A thin layer adjacent to the walls is pre-dominantly occupied by the binder only and at the interface wall-binder so-called wall slip occurs. Success and acceptance of an injection moulding step in PIM process primarily subjects to this wall slip phenomenon. The wall slip was qualitatively and quantitatively measured using a capillary rheometer equipped with the dies of different entrance angles. It was proved that this differentness has a significant impact on an appearance of wall slip (its intensity). Using four PIM feedstocks reliable slip velocity values of highly filled compounds were obtained for conical dies contrasting to the results with flat dies used in the majority of studies.


One of the important reactive halogenated dicarboxylic acids used in the synthesis of flame retardant unsaturated polyester resins is 1,4,5,6,7,7-hexachlorobicyclo [2.2.1] hept-5-ene-2,3-dicarboxylic acid (HET acid). In the present investigation four different oligoesters are synthesized using HET acid as the diacid component and 1,2-ethane diol, 1,2-propane diol, 1,3-propane diol and 1,4-butane diol as the aliphatic diols. Melt condensation technique in vacuum is used for the synthesis of the oligoesters. The number average molecular weights of the oligoesters are determined using end group analysis. The degree of polymerization is estimated to be 3–5. The structural characterization is done using FTIR and NMR (1H and 13C) techniques. In the present investigation, TGA-FTIR studies for the different oligoesters are carried out in nitrogen atmosphere. The materials are heated from ambient to 600 °C at a heating rate of 20 °C/min. The main volatile products identified are CO, HCl, H2O, CO2, hexachlorocyclopentadiene and HET acid/anhydride. The evolution profile of these materials with respect to the structure of the oligoesters is discussed in detail and presented. The importance of β-hydrogens in the diol component and the plausible mechanism for the flame retardant behavior of these oligoesters are presented.


Language is a system that people need to share their ideas, thoughts or opinion in which it is formed by sounds, gesture and other symbols to express. One of important languages used for communication by most of countries in the world is English. In Indonesia, English as a foreign language is taught to the students beginning from Elementary School up to University level. It is one of education programs that must be increased and developed at school to create the intellectual and quality of the student, including mentally retarded students. Learning and understanding English are not as easy as learning our own language, especially for mentally retarded students because they are included into abnormal students.
The purpose of this study was to discover and to answer the question through application of the scientific procedure. In this study, the researcher used descriptive design. It was aim to describe the techniques of teaching English used by the teacher, the problems that faced by the teacher and the teacher's ways to cope those problems in using techniques of teaching English for mentally retarded students at SLB – C Sumber Dharma Malang. As her instruments, the researcher used interview and observation. There were used because she needed data from the teacher who taught English for mentally retarded students at SLB – C Sumber Dharma Malang.
In SLB – C Sumber Dharma Malang especially SMALB, the teacher used repetition and modeling techniques to teach the students. According to the teacher, these techniques were the most effective techniques for the mentally retarded students. The teacher of this school said that she faced some problems when teaching and learning process. This reality caused there was not standardized textbook from the government that was suitable for the mentally retarded students. Besides, the students were low intelligences and difficulties to understand the materials. To make it easier for the students to understand the materials, the teacher had to be able to choose the materials by herself that appropriate with the student's ability. She also explained the materials three times and guided the students until they understood the materials.


We present evidence of denitrification on the continental slopes of the Ulleung Basin (UB) and the Eastern Japan Basin (EJB) near the Tatar Strait (TtS) in the East/Japan Sea (EJS), despite its high water column dissolved oxygen concentrations. Some nutrient concentration data deviate significantly from the fitted regression line of nitrate (N) vs. phosphate (P) in deep waters, indicating a loss of nitrate in the region. The EJS has a lower N/P ratio (ca. 12.4 below 300 dbar) than a traditional Redfield ratio (16). The N/P ratio and oxygen concentration are substantially lower at several locations whose depths are close to the sediment-water interface, near TtS (500-1100 dbar) and in UB (1100-2200 dbar). The decreased nitrate concentration is smaller than the expected nitrate level (a low N/P ratio of<12.4), and a secondary nitrite peak near the bottom of these two regions: taken collectively, both indicate the presence of denitrification in the bottom layer. It is speculated that active re-mineralization and denitrification may occur simultaneously along the rich organic matter bottom layer on the slope environment. Denitrification rates are estimated at ~3-33 μmol N m^(-2) d^(-1). Current estimates do not support the previous idea of basin-wide denitrification in EJS, although the N/P ratio is low like in other hypoxic/anoxic seas. A better understanding of the denitrification process is necessary for predicting future changes of nitrogen cycle in the well-oxygenated EJS considering the decadal-scale physical and biogeochemical changes that have occurred.


Metabolic studies in ectothermic vertebrates are, almost always, conducted at a constant temperature, a valid and recommended procedure in most instances. However, for long term measurements, for example during snakes digestion, keeping experimental temperature constant subjects the animals to a condition potentially quite diverse from what animals may experience in nature. Thus, we investigated the influence of constant (20°C, 25°C, and 30°C) and fluctuating (circadian thermoperiod cycles of 20:30°C, 12:12 h) temperatures regimes on the post-prandial metabolic response of the Crossed pit viper, Bothrops alternatus. Maximum oxygen consumption rates ( ˙ VO2peak) during digestion increased with temperature, while the time to reach these rates (Tpeak) and the duration of the digestive process decreased as temperature was elevated. Both, scope ( ˙ VO2peak/RMR) and SDA coefficient were not influenced by temperature. When compared to the results obtained at constant 25°C (which is equivalent to the average temperature of the fluctuating regime), the fluctuating temperature regime caused a decrease in RMR and ˙ VO2peak accompanied by an increase in digestion duration. Thermal regime did not affect the energetic cost of digestion in B. alternatus.


Chemical and physical (abiotic) conditions can be determining factors of community assembly and invasibility, but can this observation be used as a practical tool for habitat creation? Serpentine soils, in particular, have three abiotic components thought to confer invasion resistance: a low Ca:Mg ratio, low water‐retention capacity, and high concentrations of heavy metals. Consequently, not only do some serpentine‐adapted native plants persist only on serpentine soils, but also the community members that depend upon those plants become dependent upon serpentine as well. In an effort to provide additional habitat for the threatened and serpentine‐restricted Bay checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha bayensis), we experimentally altered a non‐serpentine site to mimic the abiotic conditions of serpentine. Attempts to lower the Ca:Mg ratio of soils through the addition of MgSO4 were unsuccessful. We then altered soil depth through the addition of gravel beds to determine the effects of water stress on native and non‐native community composition. We found that shallow soils had lower water content and correspondingly had significantly lower non‐native species richness and cover. The results present promising means, but also cautionary information, for habitat creation efforts and demonstrate the possible utility of edaphic manipulation in abating non‐native plant invasions. None of the experimental plots supported communities capable of sustaining E. editha populations, emphasizing that the manipulation of physical conditions is only likely to be successful in coordination with other restoration techniques.


Objective: To determine the efficacy of high-intensity laser therapy (HILT) on arthropathy of the hands in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Design: A double-blinded randomized, controlled study. Setting: Outpatient setting Participants: Fifty patients, 30–50-years-old, suffering from arthropathy of the hands were randomly assigned either into the experimental group, received HILT plus the routine physical therapy program or the control group, received sham HILT plus the same routine physical therapy program. Intervention: All treatment interventions were applied at a frequency of three sessions per week for eight weeks. Outcome measures: Handgrip strength, joints swelling counts, joints tenderness counts, visual analog scale (VAS) were measured before and after eight-weeks of interventions. Results: There were statistically significant differences in handgrip strength, joint swelling count, joint tenderness count and VAS in favor of the study group (P < 0.05). After eight-weeks of intervention, the mean (SD) for handgrip strength, joint swelling counts, joint tenderness count, and pain score was 28.34 ± 8.3 kg, 4.4 ± 2.18, 5 ± 2.1, and 35.6 ± 13.87 mm in the study group, and 22.96 ± 8.76 kg, 7.36 ± 2.14, 9.08 ± 1.63, and 58.8 ± 10.54 mm in the control group, respectively. The MD (95%CI) for handgrip strength, joint swelling counts, joint tenderness count, and pain score was 5.38(0.53,10.23) kg, −2.96(−4.19, −1.73), −4.08(−5.15, −3.01), and −23.2(−30.2, −16.2) mm between groups, respectively. Conclusions: Adding HILT to the routine physical therapy program might be more effective than routine physical therapy program alone in improving handgrip strength, decreasing joint swelling counts, joint tenderness counts, and pain in patients with arthropathy of the hands.


Lifelogging is a research topic that is receiving increasing attention and although lifelog research has progressed in recent years, the concept of what represents a document in lifelog retrieval has not yet been sufficiently explored. Hence, the generation of multimodal lifelog documents is a fundamental concept that must be addressed. In this paper, I introduce my general perspective on generating documents in lifelogging and reflect on learnings from collecting multimodal lifelog data from a number of participants in a study on lifelog data organization. In addition, the main motivation behind document generation is proposed and the challenges faced while collecting data and generating documents are discussed in detail. Finally, a process for organizing the documents in lifelog data retrieval is proposed, which I intend to follow in my PhD research.


Electrical accidents can usually lead to severe skin burns and soft tissues damages, but also to uncommon, but often neglected various osteoarticular and dental injuries, such as fractures, dislocations, osteonecrosis, dentition injuries and heterotopic ossification of soft tissues. This review highlights the complete spectrum of osteoarticular and dental injuries previously described in literature in relation to electrocution accidents, with their pattern, diagnosis, clinical and imaging assessment, treatment guidelines, severity and possible risk factors, accordingly to localization and pathophysiology. Fractures and dislocations usually occur after a traumatic event related to electrical injuries, but they can be rarely produced by violent tetanic muscle contractions, due to electrical current passage. The practitioners involved in the management of the electrocuted patients need to bear in mind the possibility of skeletal injuries. All electrocuted patients with suggestive symptoms and signs such as pain, swelling, bone tenderness, and functional impairment, should be examined carefully and in detail, both clinically and by imaging studies. The early recognition, the confirmation by imaging studies and the prompt orthopedic or dental treatment ensure a favorable result and remove the deleterious possible complications.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the estimated prevalence of malnutrition using the World Health Organization's (WHO) child growth standards versus the National Center for Health Statistics' (NCHS) growth reference, to examine the relationship between exclusive breastfeeding and malnutrition, and to determine the sensitivity and specificity of nutritional status indicators for predicting death during infancy.

METHODS
A secondary analysis of data on 9424 mother-infant pairs in Ghana, India and Peru was conducted. Mothers and infants were enrolled in a trial of vitamin A supplementation during which the infants' weight, length and feeding practices were assessed regularly. Malnutrition indicators were determined using WHO and NCHS growth standards.

FINDINGS
The prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight in infants aged < 6 months was higher with WHO than NCHS standards. However, the prevalence of underweight in infants aged 6-12 months was much lower with WHO standards. The duration of exclusive breastfeeding was not associated with malnutrition in the first 6 months of life. In infants aged < 6 months, severe underweight at the first immunization visit as determined using WHO standards had the highest sensitivity (70.2%) and specificity (85.8%) for predicting mortality in India. No indicator was a good predictor in Ghana or Peru. In infants aged 6-12 months, underweight at 6 months had the highest sensitivity and specificity for predicting mortality in Ghana (37.0% and 82.2%, respectively) and Peru (33.3% and 97.9% respectively), while wasting was the best predictor in India (sensitivity: 54.6%; specificity: 85.5%).

CONCLUSION
Malnutrition indicators determined using WHO standards were better predictors of mortality than those determined using NCHS standards. No association was found between breastfeeding duration and malnutrition at 6 months. Use of WHO child growth standards highlighted the importance of malnutrition in the first 6 months of life.


Leading international organisations presently argue that a transition to 'climate-smart agriculture' (CSA) is an obligatory task to ensure food supply for an anticipated nine billion people by 2050. Despite the rubric's newfound importance, the conceptual underpinnings of CSA are often left unclear. Focusing on the World Bank's framework, this paper critically interrogates the principles and concepts that underpin CSA. It argues that while CSA provides greater policy space for more holistic approaches to agriculture, it nonetheless operates within an apolitical framework that is narrowly focused on technical fixes at the level of production. This depoliticised approach to the global food system tends to validate existing policy agendas and minimise questions concerning power, inequality and access. By highlighting four strong tensions that permeate the CSA framework, the paper extols the need to greatly widen the scope of debate. To this end, it proposes an alternative 'climate-wise' framework to foreground the inherently political dimensions of food and agriculture in an era of climatic change.


Two CLOSELY RELATED ASPECTS of Artificial Intelligence t,hat have received comparatively little attention in the recent literature are research methodology and the analysis of computational techniques that span multiple application areas. We believe both issues to be increasingly significant, as Artificial Intelligence matures into a scienceand spins off major application efforts. It is imperative to analyze the repertoire of AI methods with respect to past experience, utility in new domains, extensibility, and functional equivalence with other techniques, if N is to become more effective in building upon prior results rather than continually reinverking the proverbial wheel. Similarly, awareness of research methodology issues can help plan future research by learning from past successes and failures. We view the study of research methodology to be similar to the analysis of operational AI techniques, but at a met,a-level; that is, research methodology analyzes the techniques and methods used by the researchers themselves, rather than their programs, to resolve issues of selecting interesting and tract,able problems to investigate, and of deciding how to proceed with t,heir investigations. A public articulation of methodological issues that typically remain implicit in the literature may provide some helpful orientation for new researchers and broaden the perspective of many AI practitioners.


Myalgic encephalomyelitis, ME, previously also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a heterogeneous, debilitating syndrome of unknown etiology responsible for long-lasting disability in millions of patients worldwide. The most well-known symptom of ME is post-exertional malaise, but many patients also experience autonomic dysregulation, cranial nerve dysfunction and signs of immune system activation. Many patients also report a sudden onset of disease following an infection. The brainstem is a suspected focal point in ME pathogenesis and patients with structural impairment to the brainstem often show ME-like symptoms. The brainstem is also where the vagus nerve originates, a critical neuro-immune interface and mediator of the inflammatory reflex which regulate systemic inflammation. Here we report the results of a randomized, placebo-controlled trial using intranasal mechanical stimulation (INMEST) targeting the vagus nuclei, and higher centers in the brain of ME-patients and induce a sustainable, ∼30% reduction in overall symptom scores after eight weeks of treatment. By performing longitudinal, systems-level monitoring of the blood immune system in these patients, we uncover chronic immune activation in ME, as well as immunological correlates of improvement that center around the IL-17 axis, gut-homing immune cells and reduced inflammation. The mechanisms of symptom relief remains to be determined, but transcriptional analyses suggest an upregulation of disease tolerance mechanisms. We wish for these results to bring some hope to patients suffering from ME and inspire researchers to help test our new hypothesis that ME is a condition caused by a failure of inducing disease tolerance upon infection and persistent immune activation.


Abstract Correctional facilities continue to be built to hold an ever-growing inmate population that must be managed by competent correctional officers. This study utilized three subjectmatter expert groups to create and validate the core competencies required to be a highperforming correctional officer. The first group of eight high-performing correctional officers from the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office created the initial list of competencies. The second group of eight expert correctional consultants rated the competency list. The third group of sixteen senior correctional administrators from outstanding sheriffs offices and correctional facilities in the United States also rated the competencies. The core competencies were clustered into roles and compared to the Correctional Leadership Competency Model advanced by the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Institute of Corrections in 2005. The Correctional Officer Competency Model may be used by the corrections industry to develop today's highperforming correctional officers and those of tomorrow.


Laminin‐1 is an extracellular matrix protein composed of three polypeptide chains that are designated α1, βT1, and γ1. We investigated the expression of laminin α1, β1, and γ1 subunit chains during several stages of rabbit fetal lung development. Utilizing polyclonal antibodies directed against human placental laminin and immunoblot analysis, we found that the highest levels of laminin α1, β1, and γ1 subunit chains in the fetal lung were present on day 26 of gestation (term = 31 days), coincident with the initiation of alveolar epithelial cell differentiation. Levels of the laminin chains were approximately five times higher in fetal lung at day 26 of gestation than in adult lung tissue. Different temporal patterns of laminin α1, β1, and γ1 subunit chain expression were observed, data suggestive that the chains are independently regulated during lung development. Laminin was localized to the basement membranes of bronchi, bronchioles, preal‐veolar ducts, and blood vessels in fetal lung tissue, as shown by immunostaining with polyclonal laminin antibodies. A similar staining pattern was observed in adult lung tissue, but the alveolar wall was also stained. Laminin was also observed surrounding a few mesenchymal cells in fetal lung on day 19 of gestation; the number of positive mesenchymal cells increased with lung development. Laminin α1 subunit chains, detected using a monoclonal antibody, were present in the basement membranes of bronchi, bronchioles, preal‐veolar ducts, and blood vessels in fetal lung tissue. No laminin α1 chain staining was observed in the mesenchyme of early fetal lung tissue. Using a monoclonal antibody, laminin β1 subunit chains were immunolocalized in the basement membranes of bronchi, bronchioles, in prealveolar ducts, and surrounding some mesenchymal cells in fetal lung tissue. Laminin α1 and β1 subunit chains in adult lung tissue were present in basement membranes of airways, blood vessels, and alveoli. Thus, changes in the localization and accumulation of laminin near the time of alveolar type I and type II epithelial cell differentiation suggest that laminin may play a role in mediating the differentiation of these cell types during rabbit fetal lung development. ©1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The aim of this article is to take a fresh look at Romanticism's arch 'infidel', Thomas Paine. My approach is to place his key work The Age of Reason (1795) in the context of what Derrida in Spectres of Marx calls 'spectropolitics'. Derrida coins this term to describe the way in which 'effectivity phantamolizes itself,' and I want to use Derrida's insight to explore the specifically visual dimension of Paine's 'phantomal' image. I will show that there are three components to the spectropolitical transformation of Paine: his demonization in the 1790s as the diabolical seducer of the common reader; his 'resuscitation' in the post-war period by Richard Carlile and other 'apostles'; and the ironic conjunction between this contested 'apotheosis' of Paine and his Deistical debunking of Christian revelation as vulgar spectacle. I focus my discussion around George Cruikshank's print The Age of Reason (1819) in order to show that caricature was a major spectropolitical force in the Romantic period and the apposite cultural medium for negatively 'phantamolizing' Paine, though this tactic always ran the risk of further enhancing his 'cult' status in radical martyrology. The larger critical aim of the article is to open up a new area in Romantic studies: to redefine Romanticism in terms of 'spectropolitics' gives popular visual media such as caricature a primary rather than secondary critical function, and it allows us to rethink and revalue the 'phantasmagoric' transformation of Romantic politics and culture.


This paper presents a novel robotic system to characterize and retrain reaching in rats. This robot is intended to be a research platform for the rehabilitation of forelimb movements in rats. In this paper, we focus on the design of this robotic system. We present the design requirements, mathematical models, and details of the physical device. A parallel mechanism with a special alignment of the component chains is used to accommodate observed reaching motions of a rat's forelimb. Additionally, we demonstrate the use of this robot to record forelimb trajectories. Three healthy rats were used to record repeated reaching motions while the robot applied nearly zero force. We believe that this robotic system can be used in future training studies with rats who have impaired arm motions due to a neurological insult.


The extreme and constant cold of the Southern Ocean has led to many unusual features of the Antarctic fauna. One of these, polar gigantism, is thought to have arisen from a combination of cold-driven low metabolic rates and high oxygen availability in the polar oceans (the "oxygentemperature hypothesis"). If the oxygen-temperature hypothesis indeed underlies polar gigantism, then polar giants may be particularly susceptible to warming temperatures. We tested the effects of temperature on performance using two genera of giant Antarctic sea spiders (Pycnogonida), Colossendeis and Ammothea, across a range of body sizes. We tested performance at four temperatures spanning ambient (-1.8°C) to 9°C. Individuals from both genera were highly sensitive to elevated temperature, but we found no evidence that large bodied pycnogonids were more affected by elevated temperatures than small individuals; thus, these results do not support the predictions of the oxygen-temperature hypothesis. When we compared two species, C. megalonyx and A. glacialis, C. megalonyx maintained performance at considerably higher temperatures. Analysis of the cuticle showed that as body size increases, porosity increases as well, especially in C. megalonyx, which may compensate for the increasing metabolic demand and longer diffusion distances of larger animals by facilitating diffusive oxygen supply.


Since direct numerical simulations of buoyancy driven flows cannot be computed at high Rayleigh numbers, a dynamically less complex mathematical formulation is sought. In the quest for such a formulation, we consider regularizations (smooth approximations) of the non-linearity: the convective term is altered to reduce the production of small scales of motion by means of vortex stretching. In doing so, we propose to preserve the symmetry and conservation properties of the convective terms exactly. This requirement yielded a novel class of regularizations [Comput Fluids 2008;37:887] that restrain the convective production of smaller and smaller scales of motion in an unconditionally stable manner, meaning that the velocity cannot blow up in the energy-norm (in 2D also: enstrophy-norm). The numerical algorithm used to solve the governing equations preserves the symmetry and conservation properties too. In the present work, a criterion to determine dynamically the regularization parameter (local filter length) is proposed: it is based on the requirement that the vortex stretching must stop at the scale set by the grid. Therefore, the proposed method constitutes a parameter-free turbulence model. The resulting regularization method is tested for a 3D natural convection flow in an air-filled (Pr = 0.71) differentially heated cavity of height aspect ratio 4. Direct comparison with DNS results at Rayleigh number 6.4 10 6 Ra 6 10 shows fairly good agreement even for very coarse grids. Finally, the robustness of the method is tested by performing simulations with Ra up to 10. A 2/7 scaling law of Nusselt number has been obtained for the investigated range of Ra. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Alex Salmond, a talented politician in charge of Scotland's devolved government since 2007, is mounting the biggest challenge to the British union state in its 300-year history. His fast-growing Scottish National Party wants Scotland to cease being the invisible country of Europe and to embrace independence. This book argues that if the Union is demolished, change will remain elusive and Scotland will continue to be run by the close-knit administrative, commercial and religious elites who have dominated the country for centuries. Tom Gallagher contends that the SNP remains fixated by resentment towards England and has no strategy for reviving a struggling economy and the deep-seated social problems which disfigure urban Scotland. He argues that the SNP are not committed to independence, that the SNP is a super-unionist party, that it recoils from popular sovereignty and is an enthusiastic backer of the EU's plans for a post-national Europe based on federalist rule from Brussels, and that it endorses a radical multi-culturalism that devalues individual citizenship and places Scotland at the mercy of globalization. Gallagher's hard-hitting analysis will stir emotions and generate debate, especially his claim that if the SNP triumphs it will reinforce the authoritarian trends which have disfigured Scottish history and contributed to heavy emigration. He passionately believes that moral and practical energies need to be released if Scotland is to renew itself, but fears that as long as the country is seen in romantic and propagandistic terms, this overdue transformation will be stillborn.


This report presents the findings of the 2006 Hong Kong United Nations International Crime Victim survey. This was the first time the UNICVS was conducted in Hong Kong SAR China. For this reason, no trends in crime over time are available but where appropriate, the results are compared with those of other main cities in the developed and the developing world. The report shows crime victimization rates for ten types of common crimes: car theft, theft from car, household burglary and attempted burglary, robbery, personal theft, assault, and sexual victimization. In addition, the report examines non-conventional crimes such as corruption and bribery, and consumer fraud. A unique feature of the Hong Kong UNICVS is a set of questions on cyber victimization. The report also presents information on other topics related to criminal justice such as reporting to the police and the police response to victimization, fear of crime, crime prevention measures, and opinions about police and sentencing. Hong Kong's residents attitudes to restorative justice and victims' participation in the justice process are also examined. In 2006, the Hong Kong government conducted its regular Crime Victim Survey. This provides a unique opportunity to compare the results of the CVS and the UNICVS, and assess the ways in which different methodologies impact on the results of crime victimization surveys.


The majority of dog bite accidents happen at home and involve children under the age of 7 (Kahn et al, 2003) and a familiar dog. The prevalence of bites in children is double as in the general population (Kahn et al 2004) and often children suffer from dog bites resulting in facial injuries (Bernardo et al, 2002, Kahn et al, 2003; Schalamon et al, 2006). 55% children suffer post-traumatic stress disorder following a substantial bite (Peters et al, 2004). According to research these bites are independent of the size of the dog (Kahn et al, 2003), therefore it is unclear why young children get bitten mainly in the face and neck area. As often children's behaviour triggers bite injuries, we studied children's physical distance to an object and the role of smell and mobility of an object on children's facial proximity (leaning in) behaviour. We tested this with novel objects and toy animals in children aged 4, 5 and 6 years. Children showed intrusive facial proximity especially with moving items (eg, animates/ toy animals) or novel items. Children under the age of 5 years showed significantly more proximity behaviours than older children. In addition, we also gathered first evidence that children show clear leaning in behaviour with small animals. Thus, we can now make parents aware of younger children's intrusive inspection behaviour, integrate this knowledge in prevention messages and contribute to reduction in bite injuries, especially to children's faces.


Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) is an important tool in biomedical research and preclinical applications that can provide visual inspection of and quantitative information about imaged small animals and biological samples such as vasculature specimens. Currently, micro-CT imaging uses projection data acquired at a large number (300-1000) of views, which can limit system throughput and potentially degrade image quality due to radiation-induced deformation or damage to the small animal or specimen. In this work, we have investigated low-dose micro-CT and its application to specimen imaging from substantially reduced projection data by using a recently developed algorithm, referred to as the adaptive-steepest-descent-projection-onto-convex-sets (ASD-POCS) algorithm, which reconstructs an image through minimizing the image total-variation and enforcing data constraints. To validate and evaluate the performance of the ASD-POCS algorithm, we carried out quantitative evaluation studies in a number of tasks of practical interest in imaging of specimens of real animal organs. The results show that the ASD-POCS algorithm can yield images with quality comparable to that obtained with existing algorithms, while using one-sixth to one quarter of the 361-view data currently used in typical micro-CT specimen imaging.


ABSTRACT Dowel-type connections in timber structures should be typically designed in a way that, if the load bearing capacity is exceeded, desirable ductile failure should likely occur, i.e. yielding of the metal dowel or embedment of the timber. However, the probability of brittle failures cannot be completely avoided in many cases. If the connection is loaded parallel to the grain direction, splitting, row-shear, plug/block shear and tensile failure are examples of such brittle failure modes. To ensure a beneficial structural performance locally and sufficient structural robustness globally, the probability of such brittle failures should be kept at a sufficiently low level. However, in the current version of EN1995, the probability of such failure is not considered explicitly. The final aim of the presented research study is to develop a rational approach for the consideration of brittle failure in timber connections with dowel-type fasteners and steel plates loaded parallel to the grain, consistently with the partial factor method. As a first step, a probabilistic model has been used to study the susceptibility to brittle failure and provide a rational basis for the calibration of a "brittle overstrength factor". The results of this study are reported in the current contribution.