Hydrogen sulfide is a highly toxic and corrosive gas which is one of the larger pollutants of the atmosphere. The burning of the gas releases sulfur dioxide which is also a corrosive and toxic gas. Cleaning of this gas is necessary not only for pollution abatement but also for effective use of the gas mixtures like natural gas, biogas etc for end use application like power generation in IC engines where the presence of hydrogen sulfide at higher concentration corrodes the internal parts of the engines in a very short operational duration of run. This paper addresses the removal of hydrogen sulfide from biogas generated by ETP's and STP's by a patented ISET process which is a modified liquid redox process developed at CGPL, IISc, Bangalore and which has been tested on commercial scale quite extensively and which has installed power generation capacity of 4.8 MWe. The hydrogen sulfide concentration is brought down from the designed level (volume percentage of biogas) to less than 50 ppm and the hydrogen sulfide is oxidized to elemental sulfur that is precipitated and is filtered. The process consists of two stage countercurrent scrubbing of hydrogen sulfide from biogas using a chelated polyvalent metal ion which undergoes reduction, followed by removal of precipitated sulfur in the filtration unit and the oxidation of the reduced metal ion using oxygen in the air, for recycling. As a case study, one of the installation at USWL, which has recorded around 20,000 hours after its installation is considered. The system has scrubbed around 3.6 million m of biogas and generated 5.1 million units of electrical energy during the period. At an average concentration of around 4.5 % hydrogen sulfide in the raw gas, the amount of H2S removed is 0.16 million m and 200 tons of sulfur precipitated. Use of the scrubber has helped in improving the overall efficiency of conversion to electricity and reduced the emissions. The operating cost works out to be 2.5 US cents per kWh.


The Supreme Court's May 2018 decision in McCoy v. Louisiana has been hailed as a decisive statement of the priority of the value of a criminal defendant's autonomy over the fairness and reliability interests that also inform both the Sixth Amendment and the ethical obligations of defense counsel. It also appears to be a victory for the vision of client-centered representation and the humanistic value of the inherent dignity of the accused. However the decision is susceptible to being read too broadly in ways that harm certain categories of defendants. This paper offers a couple of cautionary notes, in response to McCoy, regarding the ethical obligations of defense counsel. The most important caution is that, as a matter of constitutional law and professional ethics, the preference for autonomy and the standard allocation of decision making authority presupposes a fully competent client, not a client who merely passes the extremely low constitutional bar of competency to stand trial. A client capable of participating in a fully autonomous way in the representation is far more than minimally competent. Where the client has diminished capacity to make adequately considered decisions in connection with a representation, the usual division of decision making authority within the lawyer-client relationship breaks down. The Supreme Court's 2008 decision in Indiana v. Edwards muddles the issue considerably by recognizing a gray area between competency to stand trial and entitlement to self-representation under Faretta v. California. The self-representation right in Faretta is based on the same autonomy interests that animate McCoy. Autonomy is a capacity, and the Edwards decision questions whether a client lacking this capacity can participate in the representation in the usual way. Edwards therefore casts considerable doubt on whether autonomy should have the same priority over fairness and reliability interests in a representation involving a borderline-competent defendant. Observing that a lawyer's decision has the effect of limiting the client's autonomy is the beginning of the recognition of a complicated issue, not the end of the analysis. In many cases the lawyer should respect a client's fully-informed decision regarding the representation. There will be other cases, including the representation of questionably competent clients, in which the client's autonomy interest must be subordinated to other legal values. This ranking should not be conducted on an ad hoc basis but in a principled way. This paper therefore proposes a sliding-scale approach to autonomy and other professional values, in which the most important consideration is a balance between the importance of the decision and the client's capacity to participate in a meaningful way in the representation. A clearly competent, well-informed client still has the right to make what a lawyer believes to be unreasonable decisions regarding the representation. However, the threshold for concluding that a client is competent and a decision is fully informed should be set sufficiently high to ensure the protection of "gray area" client and also to provide appropriate incentives to trial counsel to conduct a thorough investigation and mount an effective defense.


Over the last century the United States and many other countries have implemented a wide variety of social protection programs, including health care coverage for the poor and elderly, Social Security, unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation. The first large-scale social insurance program in the United States was workers' compensation, which was introduced at the state level during the 1910s. Workers' compensation shifted the tort rules governing workplace accidents from negligence liability to a form of strict liability whereby the employer was expected to replace up to two-thirds of a worker's lost earnings for all serious accidents occurring in the workplace. This change in the liability rules led to a substantial rise in the post-accident benefits that injured workers received. Like many other social insurance programs, the modern workers' compensation system has been plagued by escalating costs.(1) Numerous reforms have been offered, including shifting more of the financial burden of workplace accidents onto workers. In an effort to illuminate the public debate over workers' compensation, our research has two main objectives. First, we hope to improve the understanding of the economic effects of the law's adoption in the early twentieth century, so that policy-makers will realize the consequences of reversing the trend toward more generous accident compensation for injured workers. Second, in our historical investigation of the original purposes of enacting workers' compensation in the 1910s, we wish to point out some of the potential pitfalls of returning to a form of negligence liability in which workers would be held more financially responsible for their workplace accidents. In their time, progressive reformers hailed workers' compensation widely as a financial boon for injured workers, providing them and their families substantially higher and more certain post-accident benefits than they would have received under the negligence liability system. Under negligence liability around the turn of the century, relatively few workers received awards in court. Since a court decision could take up to five years, and the outcome was always highly uncertain, most injured workers or their families accepted out-of-court settlements. Because the employer was not legally compelled to pay anything if he had not been negligent, roughly 43 percent of the families of fatal accident victims received no payments prior to workers' compensation.(2) The mean levels of compensation for all families of fatal accident victims ranged from about 58 percent of a year's income to 112 percent. By contrast, when workers' compensation was enacted in various states after 1910, nearly all workers' families received compensation. The average compensation ranged from about two to four times annual income, depending on the state. Social reformers saw workers' compensation as a great victory for workers, presuming that the sharp rise in post-accident benefits actually represented a redistribution of income. However, increases in employer-mandated benefits often led to large enough wage declines to pay for the increase in expected benefits fully.(3) Our analysis of the coal mining, lumber, and construction industries in the early twentieth century suggests that nonunion workers essentially "bought" the more generous and more certain benefits mandated by workers' compensation laws through lower real wages. Union workers, on the other hand, experienced much smaller wage offsets.(4) Wage Offsets We constructed three panel datasets that included the primary occupations in the coal, lumber, and unionized building trades industries, for over 20 states from 1907 to 1923. Our regression results imply that workers in the nonunionized lumber industry experienced roughly a dollar loss in annual earnings for each dollar increase in expected accident benefits that workers' compensation promised. In the nonunionized sector of the coal industry, the offset was larger, at about two to three dollars for each dollar increase in expected benefits. …


In this paper I try to demonstrate how Byzantine law, a subject odd and exotic at first sight provides a piece of the puzzle that helps us to complete the big picture, the origins of our European legal identity. I refer to some concrete examples of legal interaction between the Byzantine and the Western side of Europe in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries – a period in which the ius commune began to take shape – and explain the method I used step by step, the specific challenges I confronted in the sources and the outcomes of this approach. The comparative legal study of documents of the medieval period at a European level can help us to answer the question whether, long before the making of today's Europe, today's European countries were already connected by common legal forms.


- Provides practical solutions to the business problem of distributing training to multiple locations
 - Introduces a new and practical way to use assessment to create a sustainable training and development function
 - Shows how those involved with training and development can make bottom line contributions to the company
 - Provides a model for calculating return on investment (ROI) for technology based programs

 In this era of rapid globalization, human resource development professionals in every type of organization face the problem of managing training and development across many different, often widely dispersed, sites. Training Across Multiple Locations offers a comprehensive, proven model for designing, building and assessing every aspect of a multiple location training and development (T&D) system. Stephen Krempl and R. Wayne Pace detail how to integrate training from multiple locations into a comprehensive organizational strategy, and how corporate training can align those multiple locations with a single corporate vision.

 Training Across Multiple Locations draws from numerous real-life examples to show how distance learning technology-including intra-nets, web-based training, and computer-based training-is being used to manage multi-point training at companies like Motorola, Ford, Boeing, Kinko's, Hewlett-Packard, and others. With technology, the authors reveal, training organizations are able to extend their reach and distribute training over a far wider audience in ways that may make current approaches to training less relevant and even obsolete. And perhaps most importantly, they provide a model for calculating return on investment (ROI) for these technology-based programs.

 Krempl and Pace present a detailed review process for evaluating the effectiveness of multiple location training and development systems and provide specific advice on how to conduct the review and how to share data to enhance unit effectiveness. They also include a unique questionnaire that helps teams assess how well they are carrying out their T&D responsibilities and how well they are integrating their activities into the corporate business plan.

 Training and development functions survive by maintaining relationships with critical decision-makers at all levels in the organization. This process is often described in terms of politics and power-but Training Across Multiple Locations treats the issue simply in terms of how to get the job done. The unique process described in this book will encourage better preparation and more informed discussions and decisions, allowing managers to better anticipate problems and stay on top of key issues.


This paper uses exogenous variation in electoral rules to test the predictions of strategic voting models and the causal validity of Duverger's Law. Exploiting a regression discontinuity design in the assignment of single-ballot and dual-ballot (runoff) plurality systems in Brazilian mayoral races, the results indicate that single-ballot plurality rule causes voters to desert third placed candidates and vote for the top two vote getters. The effects are stronger in close elections and cannot be explained by differences in the number of candidates, as well as their party affiliation and observable characteristics.


Background: Physical education teacher education (PETE) programmes have been identified as a critical platform to encourage the exploration of alternative teaching approaches by pre-service teachers. However, the socio-cultural constraint of acculturation or past physical education and sporting experiences results in the maintenance of the status quo of a teacher-driven, reproductive paradigm. Previous studies have reported successfully overcoming the powerful influence of acculturation, resulting in a change in PETE students' custodial teaching beliefs and receptiveness to alternative teaching approaches. However, to date, limited information has been reported about how PETE students' acculturation shaped their receptiveness to an alternative teaching approach. This is particularly the case for PETE recruits identified in the literature as most resistant to change. Purpose: To explore the features and experiences of an alternative games teaching approach that appealed to PETE recruits identified as most resistant to change, requiring a specific sample of PETE recruits with strong, custodial, traditional physical education teaching beliefs, and whom are high-achieving sporting products of this traditional culture. The alternative teaching approach explored in this study is the constraints-led approach (CLA), which is similar operationally to Teaching Games for Understanding, but distinguished by a neurobiological theoretical framework (nonlinear pedagogy) that informs learning design. Participants and setting: A purposive sample of 10 Australian PETE students was recruited for the study. All participants initially had strong, custodial, traditional physical education teaching beliefs, and were successful sporting products of this teaching approach. After experiencing the CLA as learners during a games unit, participants demonstrated receptiveness to the alternative pedagogy. Data collection and analysis: Semi-structured interviews and written reflections were sources of data collection. Each participant was interviewed separately, once prior to participation in the games unit to explore their positive physical education experiences, and then again after participation to explore the specific games unit learning experiences that influenced their receptiveness to the alternative pedagogy. Participants completed written reflections about their personal experiences after selected practical sessions. Data were qualitatively analysed using grounded theory. Findings: Thorough examination of the data resulted in establishment of two prominent themes related to the appeal of the CLA for the participants: (i) psychomotor (effective in developing skill) and (ii) inclusivity (included students of varying skill level). The efficacy of the CLA in skill development was clearly an important mediator of receptiveness for highly successful products of a traditional culture. This significant finding could be explained by three key factors: the acculturation of the participants, the motor learning theory underpinning the alternative pedagogy and the unit learning design and delivery. The inclusive nature of the CLA provided a solution to the problem of exclusion, which also made the approach attractive to participants. Conclusions: PETE educators could consider these findings when introducing an alternative pedagogy aimed at challenging PETE recruits' custodial, traditional teaching beliefs. To mediate receptiveness, it is important that the learning theory underpinning the alternative approach is operationalised in a research-informed pedagogical learning design that facilitates students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the approach through experiencing and or observing it working.


In February 2017, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR) released a damning report of human rights abuses perpetrated
against the Rohingya. The report was based on interviews with Rohingya fleeing
from Myanmar since 9 October 2016, with research continuing up to January 2017.
Many recounted personal experiences of violence and physical, life-threatening harm.
The report received some attention among humanitarian agencies (many of which have
been banned from accessing Rakhine state) but was largely ignored by the international
press. Headlines that week focused on the Trump administration's attempts to defend
its travel ban. This poem contains fragments and modifications of the report. It is not
an attempt to supplant the voices of those at the heart of the report, but—by stripping
down its language—an attempt to make (and mend) our ways of reading (and hearing)
their stories.


In many developing countries, supermarkets are expanding rapidly. This affects farmers' marketing options. Previous studies have analyzed welfare effects of smallholder participation in supermarket channels from a static perspective, using cross‐section data. We develop a conceptual framework and use panel data to better understand participation and impact dynamics. The analysis focuses on vegetable producers in Kenya. Participation in supermarket channels is associated with income gains. However, many farmers have dropped out of the supermarket channel due to various constraints. The initial income gains cannot be sustained when returning to the traditional market. Organizational support may be needed to avoid widening income disparities.


1 Clínica Cirurgia Plástica Beauté, Belém, PA, Brazil. 2 Universidade Estadual de Botucatu, Botucatu, SP, Brazil. 3 Clínica Particular, Caen, Normandia, França. Conflicts of interest: none. Is largely known that the facial nerve virtually can be injured in every facial lift. Even though its importance, it is difficult to find in the literature articles related to this theme. Complete or incomplete facial paralysis after a facial procedures, may become a very uncomfortable situation between the patient and the surgeon, that is why we propose in this article a guide which intends to help avoid, identify and manage a facial nerve injury in the event of a face lift. Identifying Facial palsy before the surgery: Intending to make the pre-op facial assessment as simple as possible, we suggest a systematic approach examination. Avoiding facial nerve injury during face lifting: Several technical details are discussed along the text aiming to minimize the risk of nerve damage during the surgical procedure. What to in the event of a post-operative facial palsy: The authors propose a logical approach to the facial palsy, suggesting a planning for diagnosis, classification of the lesion and a rational treatment for the injury. Conclusion: This article presents a guide showing some safe technical options to avoid nerve damage during rythidoplasty, how to identify the lesion and treat it if necessary. ■ ABSTRACT


Avian Influenza Disease (AI) is a disease that can cause high mortality up to 100% in laying hens so it is very harmful. One of the strategic steps of AI disease control and prevention is vaccination by inducing immunity before infection with avian influenza disease. AI vaccine development strategy is needed to increase the company's market share of the organization. The purpose of this research is to analyze the development strategy of AI vaccine according to the requirement of laying chicken breeder in West Java. Data analysis uses quality function deployment (QFD). The result of the research indicates that the consumer's priority of absolute weight is the composition (5,51), laboratory service (3,78), certification (3,42) and price (3,33). Technical requirements as a step to translate customer requirements into technical steps to achieve a match between AI vaccines developed with consumer desires from absolute weight values is to make coctail compositions 89, set competitive prices (75), to vary the packaging volume (64) ) and from the relative weight value of making the coctail composition 88, setting the competing price (65), making the product innovation a viral content update based on disease progression in the field (56), making the smaller dosage pack volume (55). Managerial implications based on research results which is recommended to manufacturers to meet consumer needs is to focus on development, improvement, planning and control to the priority of the variables that are concerned with designing AI vaccine products. Keywords: avian influenza, laying hens, strategies of improving, vaccine AI, quality function deployment


Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Since 1974, wheat in the United States has been protected from stem rust by the combined effects of barberry eradication, use of early maturing winter wheat cultivars in the central Great Plains, and breeding wheat cultivars with multiple genes for resistance. Eradicating barberry eliminated the sexual cycle of the stem rust fungus and removed local sources of stem rust tinoculum in the northern U.S. after about 1925. Severe stem rust epidemic continued to occur periodically, because the stem rust fungus can overwinter in its asexual stage in the Southeast and in southern Texas and it spreads north through the Great Plains when weather conditions are favorable. Early maturing winter wheat cultivars developed in Oklahoma and Kansas after 1940 generally escape damage, because they mature before stem rust becomes severe. After 1955, spring wheat cultivars with multiple genes for resistance prevented further epidemics in the northern Plains. Effective stem rust resistance was bred into winter wheat cultivars in Nebraska after 1965 and the Southeast after 1974. Most resistance to stem rust in wheat is race-specific, but it has remained effective for decades because: 1) eliminating the stem rust sexual stage curtailed production of new races every year; and 2) use of resistant wheat has reduced the stem rust population to such a low level that only a few races are left, which can be contained by continued resistance breeding. However, barberry bushes are beginning to reappear in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and intense efforts to breed scab resistance in wheat are diluting existing stem rust resistance. Scab resistance comes from rust-susceptible sources. Stem rust could reemerge as a devastating disease of wheat if efforts to control it are relaxed.


New high performance computing (HPC) applications recently have to face scalability over an increasing number of nodes and the programming of special accelerator hardware. Hybrid composition of large computing systems leads to a new dimension in complexity of software development. This paper presents a novel approach to gain insight into accelerator interaction and utilization without any changes to the application. It leverages well established methods for performance analysis to accelerator hardware, allowing a holistic view on performance bottlenecks of hybrid applications. A general strategy is presented to get dynamic runtime information about hybrid program execution with minimal impact on the program ???ow. The achievable level of detail is exemplarily studied for the CUDA environment and the OpenCL framework. Combined with existing performance analysis techniques this facilitates obtaining the full potential of hybrid computing power.


Since the completion of the Human Genome Project, knowledge about the genetic basis of many traits and common diseases has increased substantially (Kessler et al., 2007). As progress in the field of genetics continues to occur at a rapid pace, there is growing concern about the social and ethical consequences of these advances. One area of concern that merits more empirical research is the impact of messages linking genetic traits with racial differences. Research in this area is important because recent studies have shown that casting race as a biological marker can provide justification for a racially inequitable status quo and for the continued social marginalization of historically disadvantaged groups (Williams & Eberhardt, 2008). At the same time, most of the U.S. public is at the early stages of forming beliefs and attitudes about genomics, and the media are largely influential in citizens' awareness and understanding of genetics (Smith, 2007). This dissertation examines the effects of messages about genetics, race, and health on public opinion about personalized medicine and health policy. A series of three experiments embedded in online surveys were used to assess the impact of racial cues and controllability attributions on audience's opinions about current health topics and policies related to personalized medicine and genetics. Results provide evidence that racial cues and controllability attributions in health messages are consequential in shaping public opinion about genetics and medicine, as well as related policy preferences. Messages about medical advances related to genetics may raise issues of trust and acceptance among minority groups, while in-group racial cues may mitigate these concerns. Framing health risks as either controllable (behavioral) or uncontrollable (genetic) influences peoples' opinions, causal attributions for disease, and health policy preferences. These effects were also conditioned by relevant background variables, including education, political ideology, and racial attitudes. The findings support the idea that information about genetics, race, and health function within an intricate structure of attitudes and beliefs (Condit & Bates, 2005). Implications of these findings are discussed and directions for future research are proposed. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Communication First Advisor Dr. Joseph Cappella Second Advisor Dr. Michael Delli Carpini This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/60 Third Advisor Dr. Vincent Price


The importance of service strategies has highly increased lately. Increasing competitive intensity and decreasing product margins drive more and more manufacturing companies to move along the product-service continuum towards extending their service business. While widely agreed that services offer new growth potentials, the literature falls short of explaining if service strategies are stable, and if and how companies move between them over time. Based on three longitudinal samples from a 1997, 2001 and 2004 surveys on 97 European manufacturing companies, we identified service strategies using factor and cluster analysis, which served as input for studying strategic changes in the service strategies. Identified service strategies comprise customer service strategy (augment product offerings with customer service), after-sales service providers (basic services for the installed base to ensure proper product functioning), customer support service providers (advanced preventive services to optimize product utilization), outsourcing partners (assume risk and responsibility for customer's operating processes), and development partners (use development competencies to co-produce R&D services with customers). Our research shows that while initially existing strategy types are rather stable, new additional types emerge during the second half of the study. Also, results indicate that many companies change strategy and which patterns of change predominate.


In this article I draw out a fundamental difference between Kant's and Husserl's take on the problem of necessity in a contingent world. I do so by investigating in detail a well-known common feature of both philosophies, namely a basic understanding of necessary laws of objectivity and cognition in terms of necessary unities of synthesized manifolds. The fundamental difference between Kant and Husserl that I trace here concerns the radically different ways in which the two philosophers understand the origin of unity. While Kant maintains that all necessary unity, also of the contingently given, has its origin in the "synthetic unity of the understanding", Husserl describes how it emerges in and from the given itself in "syntheses of coinciding". As a result, the Kantian account leaves us with the famous conclusion that reason only finds in the contingent world those necessities that it has itself put into it, while, according to Husserl, rigorous science identifies and describes necessities, i.e., necessary unities of synthesized manifolds, in a systematic course of genuine discovery.


We present a systematic, metre-scale characterisation of the 3D morphometry of an esker on Mars, and the first attempt to reconstruct the multi-stage dynamics of esker formation on Mars. Eskers are sinuous ridges comprising sediment deposited by meltwater draining through ice-confined tunnels within or beneath glaciers. Detailed morphometric insights into eskers on Mars are important for (i) informing morphometric tests of whether sinuous ridges elsewhere on Mars are eskers, and (ii) informing modelling experiments which aim to reconstruct the glaciological and environmental controls on esker formation on Mars. We use a digital elevation model generated from High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images to characterise the height and width of an extremely rare esker associated with a late-Amazonian-aged viscous flow feature (debris-covered glacier) in NW Tempe Terra, Mars. Our measurements suggest that the NW Tempe Terra esker is a 'stacked' formation comprising an underlying 'lower member' ridge that is superposed by a narrower 'upper member' ridge. We used a novel morphometric approach to test whether the apparent stacking records two distinct esker deposition regimes (either within the same drainage episode, or within temporally-separated drainage episodes). This approach posits that esker crest morphology is controlled by primary esker formation processes and, by extension, that portions of eskers with similar crest morphologies should have similar morphometric relationships. We predicted the morphometric relationships described by the constituent upper and lower member ridges based on 'reference relationships' observed for morphologically-similar portions of the esker where no evidence of stacking was observed. Our observations corresponded well with the predicted relationships, supporting our stacked esker hypothesis. We propose conceptual models, which invoke spatial and temporal variations in sediment supply and meltwater discharge, to explain the stacked morphology. These models are informed by morpho-sedimentary relationships observed along eskers on Earth.


Realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions transformed via the Unitary Correlation Operator Method (UCOM) or the Similarity Renormalization Group (SRG) have proven to be a suitable starting point for the description of closed-shell nuclei via mean-field methods like Hartree-Fock (HF). This allows the treatment of a number of heavy nuclei with realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions, which would otherwise only be possible with phenomenological interactions. To include three-nucleon forces in an approximate way, the UCOM or SRG transformed interactions can be augmented by a three-body contact interaction, which is necessary to reproduce measured charge radii.
However, many interesting nuclei, including those near the neutron drip line, are far away from closed shells. These nuclei are of great importance for modeling nucleosynthesis processes in the universe, but experiments can only be performed at a few research facilities.
In this work, the Hartree Fock (HF) approach with realistic interactions is extended to light deformed nuclei. Pairing correlations are not taken into account. A crucial step in this process is to allow deformed ground states on the mean-field level, as only nuclei with at least one closed shell can be described with spherical HF ground states. To restore the rotational symmetry in the lab frame, exact angular-momentum projection (AMP) is implemented. Constrained HF calculations are used for an approximate variation after projection approach. The AMP-HF description of open-shell nuclei is on par with the pure HF description of closed-shell nuclei. Charge-radii and systematics of binding energies agree well with experiment. However, missing correlations, lead to an underestimated absolute value of the binding energy. Projection on higher angular momenta approximately reproduces the energy systematics of rotational bands.
To describe collective excitations, the Random Phase Approximation (RPA) constitutes a well tested approach, which can also be extended to deformed HF states. In this case, the angular-momentum projection is implemented on the level of transition amplitudes. A strong effect of the AMP is only seen for the electric isoscalar monopole transition, where it improves the agreement with experiment. For deformed HF states, the RPA shows a much stronger fragmentation of the collective states than in the spherical case. Intrinsic transition densities are used to assess the amount of spurious center-of-mass or rotational contaminations to excitations calculated in the RPA framework.
Another approach to excited states is given by the Multi-Configuration Hartree-Fock method, where preliminary studies show very promising results.


This paper considers cross-lingual image annotation, harvesting deep visual models from one language to annotate images with labels from another language. This task cannot be accomplished by machine translation, as labels can be ambiguous and a translated vocabulary leaves us limited freedom to annotate images with appropriate labels. Given non-overlapping vocabularies between two languages, we formulate cross-lingual image annotation as a zero-shot learning problem. For cross-lingual label matching, we adapt zero-shot by replacing the current monolingual semantic embedding space by a bilingual alternative. In order to reduce both label ambiguity and redundancy we propose a simple yet effective approach called label-enhanced zero-shot learning. Using three state-of-the-art deep visual models, i.e., ResNet-152, GoogleNet-Shuffle and OpenImages, experiments on the test set of Flickr8k-CN demonstrate the viability of the proposed approach for cross-lingual image annotation.


Environmental health is among the priority areas of public health, and the current professional communities are intensively engaged with it. The main objective of the study is to quantify regional disparities of preventable mortality in Slovakia and to study the extent of the influence of selected environmental factors on changes in the development of its values. A cross-sectional linear regression model is used to quantify effects of environmental factors on the preventable mortality. Also, cluster analysis is used to identify regions with similar levels of air pollution. Environmental factors were selected based on the study of the World Health Organization. From the point of view of the influence of environmental factors on preventable mortality in the case of men, statistically significant connection to sewerage, SO2 production, and production of particulate matter was demonstrated. In the case of women, equally important factors showed connection to sewerage and SO2. The results of this study point to significant regional disparities in preventable mortality and a different degree of impact of environmental factors. Preventable mortality is above the Slovak average in most of the least-developed districts. Even in this group, there are significant differences.


In this paper, a novel non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)-based device-to-device (D2D) communications framework is proposed. A major novelty of the proposed framework is that it introduces the new concept of ``D2D group" which utilizes NOMA transmission, enabling one D2D transmitter to communicate with multiple D2D receivers simultaneously. Based on the considered framework, a resource allocation optimization problem is formulated, where multiple D2D groups are allowed to reuse the same subchannel. The objective of this work is to maximize the system sum rate by satisfying the signal-to-interference- plus-noise (SINR) constraints of both D2D and traditional cellular users. Note that the formulated problem is non-deterministic polynomial-time (NP) hard in nature, thus a novel resource allocation algorithm based on the many- to-one two-sided matching theory is proposed for obtaining a suboptimal solution. It is proved that the proposed algorithm converges to a stable state within limited number of iterations. Numerical results illustrate that: i) the proposed algorithm is an effective approach for obtaining near- optimal performance with acceptable complexity; and ii) the proposed NOMA-based D2D framework is capable of achieving promising gains over traditional orthogonal multiple access (OMA)-based D2D framework.


Abstract Mormonism's founder Joseph Smith created a complex and hieratic priestly structure within a radically democratizing nation. His stated goal was to convey to all the faithful what he believed to be his own powers of prophecy and priestly mediation of divine presence. Thus, out of historiographic arguments about where to place Mormonism within the narrative of antebellum religious polity there arises a potentially more essential question: how did early Mormonism sustain any structural coherence, much less the order it was famous for? This essay argues that Smith avoided the atomization of his movement by creating three power structures and assigning every believer a status in each. Thus, status was not absolute or static: it shifted as the person moved among the three sites of power. Or, in other words, the degree and nature of the authority held by anyone at any give time was particular to the locus of the power – office, council, or kinship – not the person. These shifting status relationships stabilized Mormonism's potentially self-destructive antinomianism and, as a historiographical matter, have been mistaken for populism. The power struggles this occasioned within his movement, particularly over Smith's inclusion of women in his priestly hierarchy, weakened his vision of reciprocal authority and shifting jurisdiction. Compromised by romanticized gender norms, but not abandoned, this power structure continues to constitute the governing structure of Mormonism, leaving it still republican in style, not substance. Historiographically, it is hoped that this closer analysis of Mormonism's polity illuminates the existence of alternatives to regnant tropes on the nature of antebellum religion and contributes to better understanding of the means by which at least one perfectionist religion has survived notwithstanding its radically antinomian tendencies.


Lake Tanganyika, East Africa, has a simple pelagic food chain, and trophic relationships have been established previously from gut‐content analysis. Instead of expected isotopic enrichment from phytoplankton to upper level consumers, there was a depletion of 15N in August 1999. The isotope signatures of the lower trophic levels were an indicator of a recent upwelling event, identified by wind speed and nitrate concentration data, that occurred over a 4‐d period several days prior to sampling. The isotope structure of the food web suggests that upwelled nitrate is a nutrient source rapidly consumed by phytoplankton, but the distinctive signature of this nitrate is diluted by time averaging in the upper trophic levels. This time averaging is a consequence of the fact that the isotopic signature of an organism is related to variable nitrogen sources used throughout the life of the organism. This study illustrates the importance of recognizing differences in time averaging among trophic levels.


Introduction: One of the most important responsibilities of a rugby coach towards players is that of injury prevention and advice. Often these responsibilities fall solely on the coach, but sometimes he has the benefit of sports medical personnel at his service. Therefore in order for the coach to best service this sport and industry, his/her knowledge and perception of Chiropractic and other sports medical personnel is critical. Objective: To establish an understanding of Durban rugby coaches' perceptions and knowledge of Chiropractic to formulate initiatives aimed at bridging gaps and building co-operation between coaches and various medical personnel that they have at their disposal. Methods: A survey was distributed to 149 rugby coaches within 23 high schools and 67 rugby coaches within 24 rugby clubs, resulting in a total of 219 rugby coaches in the greater Durban area received a questionnaire for completion and return. Results: Of the 85 coaches that participated (38.8% response rate), the majority were White (95%), male (99%), with a mean age of 37.36 years and coached at the amateur level (65.1%). School coaches dominated the participants with 67.1% with 61 (71.8%) having obtained a rugby coaching qualification and 26 (30.6%) having another professional sport, fitness or medical qualification besides that of rugby coaching. Most (94.9%) participants referred players to a health professional for examination and / or treatment. This included Physiotherapists, 80% of the time, GPs 70.6% of the time and Chiropractors, 60% of the time. Twenty-nine (34.1%) had a Chiropractor on their medical management team and 28 (96.6%) said it was a positive experience. Of those who did not have a Chiropractor on the team, 82.4% said they would consider it in the future. Over half (65.5%) had personally been treated by a Chiropractor. The 3 most frequent conditions associated with Chiropractic included: Disc herniation (42.6%), low back pain (36.1%) and whiplash (32.8%). Notwithstanding this outcome, the level of knowledge was low with the mean knowledge score (an aggregate knowledge score derived statistically from all questions relating to the knowledge of Chiropractic) of the group was 55.8% (SD 21.9%), even though the range varied from 0 to 96%. Although the coaches' knowledge of Chiropractic was low, most participants (76.2%) had a favourable view of the Chiropractic profession. Furthermore the coaches perception of Chiropractic related significantly to their knowledge (p = 0.037). In addition the higher their knowledge scores the more positive their view. Conclusion: This study established what knowledge base is available that could promote rugby coaches greater understanding of the Chiropractic profession and related medical personnel. There was a positive association between increased knowledge and a better perception of Chiropractic, suggesting that if knowledge were improved, then perception and attitude towards Chiropractic and related medical personnel would further improve. This increased awareness may improve knowledge, understanding, communication and utilization with the Chiropractic profession and related medical personnel and ultimately these professions within rugby may gain a greater level of acceptance.


BACKGROUND
Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and adverse cardiac events. Screening for CAD is therefore an important part of preoperative evaluation for kidney transplant candidates. There is significant interest in the role of non-invasive cardiac investigations and their ability to identify patients at high risk of CAD.

OBJECTIVES
We investigated the accuracy of non-invasive cardiac screening tests compared with coronary angiography to detect CAD in patients who are potential kidney transplant recipients.

SEARCH METHODS
MEDLINE and EMBASE searches (inception to November 2010) were performed to identify studies that assessed the diagnostic accuracy of non-invasive screening tests, using coronary angiography as the reference standard. We also conducted citation tracking via Web of Science and handsearched reference lists of identified primary studies and review articles.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included in this review all diagnostic cross sectional, cohort and randomised studies of test accuracy that compared the results of any cardiac test with coronary angiography (the reference standard) relating to patients considered as potential candidates for kidney transplantation or kidney-pancreas transplantation at the time diagnostic tests were performed.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
We used a hierarchical modelling strategy to produce summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves, and pooled estimates of sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity analyses to determine test accuracy were performed if only studies that had full verification or applied a threshold of ≥ 70% stenosis on coronary angiography for the diagnosis of significant CAD were included.

MAIN RESULTS
The following screening investigations included in the meta-analysis were: dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) (13 studies), myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) (nine studies), echocardiography (three studies), exercise stress electrocardiography (two studies), resting electrocardiography (three studies), and one study each of electron beam computed tomography (EBCT), exercise ventriculography, carotid intimal media thickness (CIMT) and digital subtraction fluorography (DSF). Sufficient studies were present to allow hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) analysis for DSE and MPS. When including all available studies, both DSE and MPS had moderate sensitivity and specificity in detecting coronary artery stenosis in patients who are kidney transplant candidates [DSE (13 studies) - pooled sensitivity 0.79 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.88), pooled specificity 0.89 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.94); MPS (nine studies) - pooled sensitivity 0.74 (95% CI 0.54 to 0.87), pooled specificity 0.70 (95% CI 0.51 to 0.84)]. When limiting to studies which defined coronary artery stenosis using a reference threshold of ≥ 70% stenosis on coronary angiography, there was little change in these pooled estimates of accuracy [DSE (9 studies) - pooled sensitivity 0.76 (95% CI 0.60 to 0.87), specificity 0.88 (95% CI 0.78 to 0.94); MPS (7 studies) - pooled sensitivity 0.67 (95% CI 0.48 to 0.82), pooled specificity 0.77 (95% CI 0.61 to 0.88)]. There was evidence that DSE had improved accuracy over MPS (P = 0.02) when all studies were included in the analysis, but this was not significant when we excluded studies which did not avoid partial verification or use a reference standard threshold of ≥70% stenosis (P = 0.09).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
DSE may perform better than MPS but additional studies directly comparing these cardiac screening tests are needed. Absence of significant CAD may not necessarily correlate with cardiac-event free survival following transplantation. Further research should focus on assessing the ability of functional tests to predict postoperative outcome.


Mounting evidence suggests that behavioral factors depress wealth accumulation. Although much research and policy focuses on asset accumulation, for many households debt decumulation is more efficient. Yet the mass market for debt reduction services is thin. So we develop and pilot test Borrow Less Tomorrow (BoLT), a behavioral approach to debt reduction that combines a simple decision aid, social commitment, and reminders. Results from a sample of free tax-preparation clients with eligible debt in Tulsa (N=465) indicate strong demand for debt reduction: 41% of those offered BoLT used it to make a plan to accelerate debt repayment. Using random assignment to BoLT offers, we find weak evidence that the BoLT package offered reduces credit card debt.


Recent regulatory incentives (E911) and numerous location-based services and applications currently require accurate urban and indoor positioning, which are challenging environments for Global Navigation Satellite Systems. This article investigates a means for enhancing positioning through the use of signals-of-opportunity based on the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing modulation. The use of digital video broadcast-terrestrial signals to develop and test a pseudorange estimation method employing real signals is presented. The test bench to do so is thoroughly presented. The first testing results with real signals are then investigated in an urban environment showing a potential accuracy of about 11 meters RMS with a mean bias on the order of 9 meters.


How can an antiparallel DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) strand be duplicated by a DNA polymerase that synthesises DNA in only one direction? This paradox of DNA synthesis on the lagging strand was dissolved by discovery of Okazaki fragments. The major components of the bacterial replication fork include replicative helicase, primase and DNA polymerase. The loading of replicative helicase, DnaB, is the most critical step for assembly of a primosome, a protein complex responsible for duplex unwinding and primer RNA (ribonucleic acid) synthesis at the replication fork. DNA polymerase may be an asymmetric dimer, each of which may concurrently synthesise leading or lagging strand. Several different modes of primosome assembly have been identified in bacteria. At oriC (origin of chromosome), DnaA-dependent primosome is assembled for initiation of a round of DNA replication, whereas PriA-dependent primosome is assembled at stalled replication forks to facilitate replication restart.

Key Concepts:

Initiation of DNA replication: DNA replication is initiated by the initiator protein, which specifically recognises and binds to the origin sequence and recruits other primosome components including a DNA helicase.

Leading and lagging strands: Leading strand is the one in which the direction of DNA chain elongation and overall fork movement is the same and lagging strand is the one in which they are opposite.

Replicative helicase: An enzyme which catalyses continuous unwinding of the parental duplex DNA at the replication fork.

Replication fork: The site of DNA replication where two replicating single-stranded DNA separates.

Primer RNA: A short stretch of RNA, the 3′-terminus of which is utilised by DNA polymerases for DNA elongation.

Primosome: A name given to the protein complex capable of duplex DNA unwinding and primer RNA synthesis at the replication fork.

Stalled replication fork: A replication fork the movement of which is blocked by internal and external 'replication stress' including DNA damages and depletion of nucleotide precursors.

Replication restart: The process of reassembly of primosome at a stalled replication fork to resume DNA chain elongation.

Keywords:

replication fork;
Okazaki fragment;
DNA polymerases;
primer RNA;
replication restart


Classic research on human factors has found that automation never fully eliminates the human operator from the loop. Instead, it shifts the operator's responsibilities to the machine and changes the operator's control demands, sometimes with adverse consequences, called the "ironies of automation." In this article, the authors revisit the problem of automation in the era of social media, focusing on privacy concerns. Present-day social media automatically discloses information, such as users' whereabouts, likings, and undertakings. This review of empirical studies exposes three recurring privacy-related issues in automated disclosure: insensitivity to situational demands, inadequate control of nuance and veracity, and inability to control disclosure with service providers and third parties. The authors claim that "all-or-nothing" automation has proven problematic and that social network services should design their user controls with all stages of the disclosure process in mind.


This work is the result of a collaborative research project between the univer-
sity (Department of Aerospace Engineering at University of Naples "Federico
II") and an industrial partner (Alenia Aeronautica at Pomigliano d'Arco).
The aim of this project was to design, with the help of nite element analy-
sis and the experimental tests, an aircraft wing leading edge structure with
innovative materials, that satises the optimization of requirements such as
weight and performance. This study was driven by the industrial demand
to improve the design rules necessary to the evaluation of the structural
response of a leading edge when subjected to bird-strike.
The rst step was the material characterization: an extensive series of
materials was tested to determine stiness and strength properties on glass-
based ber metal laminate. Static tests were performed to determine the
stress-strain curve, dynamic tests to evaluate material strain rate sensitivity
at medium rate regime and, impact tests to determine the threshold for
impact energy which correspond to visible impact damage.
Afterwards several congurations of an one-bay component of a typical
wing leading edge were built and subjected to the bird-strike tests carried
out at Alenia plant by an air pressure gas gun facility. Various materials,
lay-up distribution and boundary conditions were investigated. The numer-
ical nite element simulations were performed using the commercial explicit
integration code MSc/Dytran. This work describes the basic assumptions of the analyses, i.e. bird properties, composite failure modes, and the way in
which the simulations have been carried out in an industrial environment.
Numerical simulations were able to predict that the bird did not penetrate
the leading edge skin. The nal correlation between numerical and experi-
mental showed that good correlation was achieved.
Finally the tests were useful to design and test a new conguration of
leading edge structure able to satisfy the bird-strike requirement according
to the Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR part 25, section 25.631 "Bird-strike
Damage"). Compliance with this section we studied the conguration of the
C27J aircraft, that presents a cruise velocity of 464km/h (=250kts), so the
impact speed with an 8-pound bird is a potentially serious and damaging
event that must be accounted for the design of
ight critical aircraft com-
ponents. The starting thickness of the n C27J airplane's aluminium alloy
leading edge was 0.8mm with a weight of 12.1kg. Before this work, to satisfy
the airworthiness standards about the bird-strike damages, the thickness of
the aluminium alloy leading edge was increased to 3.2mm with a skin weight
of 36.8kg, this thickening involved a weight increasing of 305% related to
skin thickness of 0.8mm.
After this research work, to certicate the empennage structure after im-
pact with an 8-pound bird according to requirements, a innovative composite
conguration has been studied, which oered an amount weight of 18.2kg
producing a weight conservation of 51% related to leading edge in aluminium
alloy with a thickness of 3.2mm. Furthermore this research project allows to
validate a ribless conguration about the leading edge; this solution aided
the manufacturing reducing the rib's installation onto the leading edge struc-
ture. The leading edge conguration in the ber metal laminate and ribless
has been tested at impact with an 8-pound bird at a speed of 250kts and
the test has been considered highly satised and it has met the quality of
requirements.


In 2013, the Large Hadron Collider provided proton-lead and lead-proton collisions at the center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair √sNN=5.02 TeV . Van der Meer scans were performed for both configurations of colliding beams, and the cross section was measured for two reference processes, based on particle detection by the T0 and V0 detectors, with pseudo-rapidity coverage 4.6 < η < 4.9, -3.3 < η < -3.0 and 2.8 < η < 5.1, -3.7 < η < -1.7, respectively. Given the asymmetric detector acceptance, the cross section was measured separately for the two configurations. The measured visible cross sections are used to calculate the integrated luminosity of the proton-lead and lead-proton data samples, and to indirectly measure the cross section for a third, configuration-independent, reference process, based on neutron detection by the Zero Degree Calorimeters.


Skill shortages in regional Australia are having a profound effect upon regional sustainability and renewal. The causes and drivers of skill shortages involve a complex interplay between macroeconomic trends and proximal causes. This paper draws together recent policy initiatives and research on skill shortages in the Australian context and the implications this has for regional Australia. Skilled migration has become a key element in Australia's strategy to address major human capital issues and imperatives and specific reference is made to regional skilled migration initiatives as a "glocalised" response to regional skill shortages. Recent reforms in migration policy towards a demand-driven, economic modelling system, has seen greater input from states/ territories and regions into the required skills and types of targeted skilled migration programs needed to assist in meeting regional skill shortages. The paper reviews several pieces of research on regional skilled migration before concluding with some key issues and directions for future research in relation to the role and effectiveness of the regional skilled migration scheme in assisting Australia to address regional skill shortages.


In this paper, the software of SMARTFIRE is applied to simulation a fire process at a long-distance passenger transport station . The results of SMARTFIRE can be used as environment condition of occupant evacuation. The software of Building EXODUS is applied to simulation the evacuation process with and without fire. Evacuation times with different number of occupants are calculated. If the density of occupants is relatively small, pedestrian flow during evacuation can take on a dilute state because of the large quantity of exits on public site. And evacuation time changes a little with the increase of the number of occupants in low range of density. If the density of occupants is comparatively big, the phenomena of queuing up at the exits and assembling at the bottlenecks will take place, resulting in an obviously long evacuation time; The influences of the use ratios of exit are analyzed, and balancing the use ratio of each exit can obviously improve the efficiency of evacuation; The influences of the fire simulated by SMARTFIRE are also analyzed. In addition to the factors of low visibility and low walking speed, the change of evacuation routes and the imbalance of the use ratio of each exit are also very important factors of fire.


We believe that conservation practice is sometimes inhibited by misguided respect for the cultural background in which conservation problems occur. This respect may be rooted in a philosophical standpoint asserting that culturally distinct values cannot be objectively judged against one another, and that those values are therefore equally valid. Here we consider the influence of this school of thought, known as "moral relativism", in the context of the moral basis for biodiversity conservation as it is currently understood. We provide examples – in wildlife consumption, land management, and tolerance for releasing invasive species – where we suspect that such relativism has been influential. Although pragmatic constraints associated with human cultures may limit action for achieving conservation goals, we suggest that there are compelling arguments for the advocacy of universal principles, based on science, to protect biodiversity for current and future generations of people.


The reliability of SAC-based solder alloys has been extensively investigated after the prohibition of lead in the electronics industry owing to their toxicity. Low-temperature solder (LTS) alloys have recently received considerable attention because of their low cost and reduced defects in complex assemblies. The shear and fatigue properties of individual solder joints were tested using an Instron micromechanical testing system in this research. Two novel solder alloys (Sn-58Bi-0.5Sb-0.15Ni and Sn-42Bi) with low melting temperatures were examined and compared with Sn-3.5Ag and Sn-3.0Ag-0.8Cu-3.0Bi. The surface finish was electroless nickel-immersion gold (ENIG) during the test. Shear testing was conducted at three strain rates, and the shear strength of each solder alloy was measured. A constant strain rate was used for the cyclic fatigue experiments. The fatigue life of each alloy was determined for various stress amplitudes. The failure mechanism in shear and fatigue tests were characterized using scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). The results revealed that Sn-3.0Ag-0.8Cu-3.0Bi had superior shear and fatigue properties compared to other alloys, but was more susceptible to brittle failure. The shear strain rate affected the failure modes of Sn-3.0Ag-0.8Cu-3.0Bi, Sn-58Bi-0.5Sb-0.15Ni, and Sn-42Bi; however, Sn-3.5Ag was found to be insensitive. Several failure modes were detected for Sn-3.5Ag in both shear strength and fatigue tests.


The presented paper deals with low frequency electromagnetic field application on Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. Experiments performed through wide frequency range have shown selective frequency dependent biological response, which could be successfully predicted by ion parametric resonance theory proposed by V. V. Lednev. Although observed results give satisfying answer to questions whether or not electromagnetic fields could affect cell cultures even at non-thermal levels, the research presented herein opens a multitude of questions about the exact physical mechanisms underlying the observed microorganism behavior, as the theory discussed within the scope of this article is still not completely unambiguous.


In the nineties, neoliberalism simultaneously provided the context for the Internets rapid uptake in the United States and discouraged public conversations about racial politics. At the same time many scholars lauded the widespread use of text-driven interfaces as a solution to the problem of racial intolerance. Todays online world is witnessing text-driven interfaces such as e-mail and instant messaging giving way to far more visually intensive and commercially driven media forms that not only reveal but showcase peoples racial, ethnic, and gender identity. Lisa Nakamura, a leading scholar in the examination of race in digital media, uses case studies of popular yet rarely examined uses of the Internet such as pregnancy Web sites, instant messaging, and online petitions and quizzes to look at the emergence of race-, ethnic-, and gender-identified visual cultures. While popular media such as Hollywood cinema continue to depict nonwhite nonmales as passive audiences or consumers of digital media rather than as producers, Nakamura argues the contrarywith examples ranging from Jennifer Lopez music videos; films including the Matrix trilogy, Gattaca, and Minority Report; and online joke sitesthat users of color and women use the Internet to vigorously articulate their own types of virtual community, avatar bodies, and racial politics. Lisa Nakamura is associate professor of speech communication and Asian American studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is the author of Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet and coeditor, with Beth Kolko and Gilbert Rodman, of Race in Cyberspace.


Radar data reveal how sensitive the Greenland Ice Sheet is to long-term climatic changes [Also see Report by MacGregor et al.] Earth's large ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are major contributors to sea level change. At present, the Greenland Ice Sheet (see the photo) is losing mass in response to climate warming in Greenland (1), but the present changes also include a long-term response to past climate transitions. On page 590 of this issue, MacGregor et al. (2) estimate the mean rates of snow accumulation and ice flow of the Greenland Ice Sheet over the past 9000 years based on an ice sheet-wide dated radar stratigraphy (3). They show that the present changes of the Greenland Ice Sheet are partly an ongoing response to the last deglaciation. The results help to clarify how sensitive the ice sheet is to climate changes.


Abstract. The accuracy of marine data products from the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) operated on board the Envisat platform is investigated with the aid of in situ geographically distributed measurements from different European seas. The assessment focuses on standard products from the 2012 data update commonly identified as 3rd Reprocessing. Results indicate atmospherically corrected data affected by a negative bias of several tens percent at the 413 nm center wavelength, significantly decreasing to a few percent at 560 nm and increasing again at 665 nm. Such an underestimate at the blue center wavelengths leads to an average overestimate of the algal-1 MERIS pigment index largely exceeding 100% for the considered European seas. A comparable overestimate is also observed for the algal-2 pigment index independently determined from top-of-atmosphere radiance through the application of neural networks.


Terrain surveying using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is being applied to many areas such as precision agriculture or battlefield surveillance. A core problem of the surveying task is the coverage path planning problem (CPP); it is defined as the task of determining a path for an unmanned aerial vehicle so that it observes all points of a target area. State-of-the-art planners solve the problem for a unique region. However, in some operations, for example search and rescue, it is important to plan a path that covers more than a single area. We propose a method for solving the CPP for disjoint areas. The general problem is modeled as a rural postman problem which has been demonstrated to be NP-Hard. Our solution relies on dividing the problem into two steps: optimization of the visiting order and optimization of the flight lines orientation. The method is validated through several simulations using real parameters. In addition, it is fast enough for being implemented onboard.


Presidents have been making domestic policy since George Washington appointed the nation's first postmaster general. But as the institutional presidency has grown with the passage of time and crisis, presidents have become increasingly active as agenda setters, decision makers, coalition builders, and implementers of a much larger portfolio of federal domestic policies. By the 1950s, the textbook image of a presidency-centered government was in full blossom, and expectations for presidential leadership of domestic policy were at what appears to have been a twenty-year post-World War II peak (see Cronin 1975). The prevailing wisdom today is that this presidency-centered vision of policy making was an inappropriate reading of both constitutional intent and legislative reality. Few scholars have made the revisionist case more effectively on constitutional grounds than Jones (1994): "Focusing exclusively on the presidency can lead to a seriously distorted picture of how the national government does its work," he warns in his award-winning assessment. "The plain fact is that the United States does not have a presidential system. It has a separated system" (p. 2). As Jones argues, a president's impact on the domestic agenda is limited by resources, advantages, and strategic position. Some presidents enter offices with greater opportunity, some with less, but all are bound by constitutional checks and balances. To expect the president's agenda to remain dominant year after year is to ignore the normal ebb and flow of power built into the very fiber of the federal system. At the same time, few have made a more rigorous critique of the presidency-centered approach on the basis of legislative realities than Edwards and Wood (1996). Surveying a vast inventory of presidential activity, the two argue that presidents do more following than leading when they set the policy agenda. Paying attention to the media and events is hardly surprising, according to Edwards and Wood, "because presidents have limited institutional resources and do not desire to be influential on all issues. As risk averse actors, however, they are ever watchful and respond when other institutions deem and issue worthy of greater consideration" (p. 26). None of the revisionists suggest that the presidency is irrelevant to domestic policy, of course. Bond and Fleisher (1990) argue that "a president's greatest influence over policy comes from the agenda he pursues and the way it is packaged" (p. 230). Jones (1994) notes that presidents retain "significant influence in setting priorities, certifying certain issues, proposing policy solutions, and reacting to policy initiatives of others (such as those increasingly offered by more policy-active members of Congress)"(p. 181), and the ubiquitous Edwards and a second coauthor Barrett (1998), conclude their analysis of 268 presidential proposals by acknowledging that "the president is very successful in obtaining agenda space for his potentially significant legislative proposals.... Once on the agenda, 40 percent of presidential initiatives become law, nearly twice the rate of congressional initiatives" (p. 19). Rather, the revisionists merely suggest that a president's influence is more conditional than some researchers, including myself, may have suggested in past studies of the modern record. As I acknowledge in the preface to the third edition of The President's Agenda (Light 1999a), the "twenty years covered in the first edition of this book seemed like a very long time to me in 1980." But in doubling the number of years covered in the analysis, this third edition provides a very different portrait of the agenda-setting process.... It is entirely possible, as I argue in the new chapter that caps this edition, that there is less room today for policy innovation as new party politics, budget pressures, and demographic destiny work their will in constraining presidential imagination. …


This paper proposes a microfounded model featuring frictional labor markets that generates procyclical R&D expenditures as a result of optimizing behavior by heterogeneous monopolistically competitive firms. This allows to show that business cycle fluctuations affect the aggregate endogenous growth rate of the economy. Consequently, transitory shocks leave lasting level effects. This mechanism is responsible for economically significant hysteresis effects that increase the welfare cost of business cycles by two orders of magnitude relative to the exogenous growth model. I show that this has serious policy implications and creates ample space for policy intervention. I find that several static and countercyclical subsidy schemes are welfare improving.


This paper tests the expectations hypothesis (EH) using US monthly data for bond yields spanning the 1952-2003 sample period and ranging in maturity from 1 month to 10 years. We apply the Lagrange multiplier test developed by Bekaert and Hodrick (2001) and extend it to increase the test power: (a) by introducing economic variables as conditioning information; and (b) by using more than two bond yields in the model and testing the EH jointly on more than one pair of yields. While the conventional bivariate procedure provides mixed results, the more powerful testing procedures suggest rejection of the EH throughout the maturity spectrum examined. JEL classi…cation: G10; E43.


Abstract As part of the project studying the fundamentals of carbonate reservoir pore/fracture scale physics and chemistry within the Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre at Imperial College London, sponsored by Qatar Petroleum, Shell and Qatar Science and Technology Park, we present experimental data on the dynamics of fluid-rock interaction during acid injection in carbonate rock. This has implications for CO2 sequestration in geological sinks as well as in well acidization that has been used in carbonate reservoirs to enhance oil recovery. The effect of grain size distribution and flow rate on dissolution kinetics was studied in laboratory columns packed with calcite grains at ambient conditions. For each set of different experiments the columns were packed with 150-250µm (fine), 300-500µm (medium) and 600-850µm (coarse) calcite grains. The evolution of fluid-rock interaction was investigated by using inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) to study the time dependent profiles in Ca2+ cation concentrations inside the column and in the effluent stream. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) imaging technique was performed prior to, and after, acid injection to illuminate the nature of calcite dissolution at the rock surface. ICP-AES and SEM analysis highlighted the complex nature of the dissolution, characterized by the creation of additional surface roughness and wormholes in single grains that resulted in the formation of a more heterogeneous porous medium. The in situ Ca2+ concentration, measured by slicing the column at the outlet, is greater than the effluent concentration, confirming that Ca2+ residesin stagnant regions of the pore space. After starting acid injection, the chemical reaction occurs in the column, resulting in a gradual increase in Ca2+ concentration in the effluent that eventually reaches a steady-state value. Thus, the time needed to reach this steady state defines an important time-dependent reaction dynamics regime. The duration of this regime is longer as the grain size distribution becomes finer. As the finer media has a more complex structural heterogeneity, the corresponding surface area takes a longer time to be reached by the injected acid and the transport of the created products takes a longer time to breakthrough. This implies a transport-limited reaction.


The Vehicle Routing Problem or VRP is an approach represented by the problems that faces a vehicle to transport goods on a route (origin-destination) under a defined time and distance. An instance is a set of data prepared specifically in order for analysis and exploration (Column 1 indicates the number of nodes, usually the number 1 is the depot, column 2 is the x coordinate, column 3 is the y-coordinate, column 4 is the demand to be covered by the node) that it was done in MATLAB R2014a software which runs the algorithm VRP with capacities (CVRP), with the structure already mentioned. For their analysis was necessary to use instances obtained from NEO. This paper presents a comparative between instances to solve CVRP and determine which one offers the best solution.


This analysis examined the lifestyle correlates of weight loss maintenance in 1428 participants of a slimming organisation, who had been members for a mean SD of 16 16 months, had lost 13.8% 9.2% weight and were trying to maintain, or increase, their weight loss during a subsequent 6 month study period. Data were collected as part of the DiOGenes study(1). Ethical approval was given by the University of Surrey Ethics Committee. Adults were recruited between August 2006 and July 2008 from Slimming World. Subjects completed lifestyle measures at two time points, measurement 1 (M1) at the start of the study and nominally six months later (measurement 2 (M2)). Participants' weights (using calibrated scales) were taken from group records for M1, M2, six months before (measurement 0) and when they initially enrolled. They were free to continue following the weight-loss programme as they wished during this study, and there was no intervention other than completing the questionnaires. At M1 and M2 meal frequency (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and snacking between meals were assessed using a 5-point Likert scale (daily to <once/week). Physical activity was assessed using the Baecke Physical Activity Questionnaire(2), which assesses three areas of habitual physical activity level from the previous 12 months, occupational physical activities, physical exercises in leisure (sports), leisure physical activities and a total score. A further question about physical activity level at work was included. Lifestyle habits were assessed using questions adapted from the Self Report of Habit Index(3), which measured the strength of important behaviours relating to weight control, (being physically active, frequent consumption of fruits and vegetables, following a healthy diet and consumption of low fat foods). Regular lunch consumption was associated with further weight loss (p = 0.002). Borderline evidence suggested snacking between meals was associated with weight regain (p = 0.057). Dietary habits relating to "eating a healthy diet" or "eating low-fat foods" were related to weight loss when reported at the second measurement, but not at the first and were related to Weight loss maintenance over the six months. The reported strengths of these two habits explained 3.8% and 0.7% of the variance in change in percentage body weight, respectively. When looking at change in habit strength over the six months, people for whom "eating a healthy diet", "eating low fat foods" or "eating fruits and vegetables" had become stronger habits tended to have more successful weight changes. The correlations were significant, but very weak (R2 = 0.03, 0.019 and 0.01 respectively). People who were more active at the first measurement went on to lose less or gain more weight over the following six months (p = 0.035). In contrast, higher "being physically active" habit scores at the second measurement correlated with more weight loss (p = 0.013). All significant effects only explained a small proportion of the variance in weight loss maintenance. These and other data suggest that the habits of successful weight loss maintainers are heterogeneous because people adopt individual lifestyle behaviour profiles. Specific correlates while significant, only explain a small proportion of the variance in weight outcomes for the whole group. This work was part of the Diet, Obesity and Genes project (www.diogenes-eu.org) funded by the European Commission (contract #: Food-CT-2005- 513946) in the Food Quality and Safety Priority of the Sixth Framework Program.


1. The cardiovascular effects of enkephalins have been tested in normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats. Methionine-enkephalin and leucine-enkephalin increased blood pressure and heart rate after infusion into the brain ventricles. 2. After intravenous injection, blood pressure was increased by methionine-enkephalin and leucine-enkephalin, but heart rate was increased by methionine-enkephalin only. 3. Propranolol treatment reduced the increases in blood pressure following intraventricular methionine-enkephalin and leucine-enkephalin, while only the methionine-enkephalin-induced increases in heart rate were reduced by propranolol. 4. Heart rate and blood pressure responses after intravenous administration of methionine-enkephalins and leucine-enkephalin were not affected by propranolol. 5. Since opioid peptides occur in the blood and in regions of the brain involved in blood pressure regulation, the demonstrated cardiovascular effects to intraventricular and intravenous enkephalins support a role of these peptides in central and peripheral mechanisms of blood pressure control.


Mobile backhaul describes the connectivity between cellular radio base stations and the associated mobile network operator's (MNO's) core network. Previously, this was known as `transmission' but during the 1990s, the term backhaul was adopted. This chapter will review the development of mobile backhaul for the global system for mobile communications (GSM), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) and long-term evolution (LTE), including LTE-Advanced radio access technologies. Original GSM terrestrial transmission interfaces were defined as time division multiplexing (TDM), within Europe and elsewhere these were based on 2.048 Mbps E1 circuits. These circuits could be multiplexed via the plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) standards to realise higher order transmission systems. The introduction of UMTS brought a new requirement to support asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology within the mobile backhaul domain. ATM is a fixed length cell switching technology which is carried over TDM transmission systems such as PDH and SDH. The evolution of mobile networks from predominately voice-centric to increasingly data-centric operation resulted in the development of High Speed Downlink Packet Access technologies which, together with advanced uplink technologies, resulted in the need to significantly scale the capacity of mobile backhaul networks. To address the need for scalability mobile backhaul evolved from n × E1 and TDM systems to Carrier Ethernet, there was however a few challenges to address to support this migration, firstly, the end points on base stations and network controllers were all TDM based and secondly, the E1 circuits provided a deterministic synchronisation signal via the native line code which ensured the base station operated within its allocated radio frequency channels. To address the first requirements, there was widespread adoption of pseudo-wire technology, whereas the second challenge was addressed by the introduction of Synchronous Ethernet or alternatively by the deployment of a local or packet-based synchronisation reference. Overtime, the base station and network controllers migrated to native Ethernet interfaces and therefore supported end-to-end Carrier Ethernet transmission with an Internet Protocol (IP) transport network layer. LTE was introduced with native Ethernet and IP support, the LTE radio interface offers significantly higher peak and average data rates than previous generations of cellular radio access networks. To support the deployment of LTE technology, the need for combined GSM, UMTS and LTE backhaul and the growing trend towards network sharing between MNOs, resulted in 1 Gbps Carrier Ethernet backhaul solution being deployed. This increase in backhaul capacity requirements effectively ruled out copper twisted-pair-based technologies in favour of ever more optical fibre and high-capacity microwave and millimetre wave radio backhaul technologies. The ongoing development of LTE-Advanced features, such as carrier aggregation, continues to drive the capacity of backhaul networks, whereas new products and services ensure constant evolution of performance with lower latency and reduced packet error loss rates becoming the norm.


Terminalia species are well recognised in traditional medicine. They are known for producing fruits and nuts which are edible and possess pharmacotherapeutic properties. They also have ornamental purposes in urban areas where they are found. These species are used by traditional healers in the treatment and management of diabetes mellitus, its complications and other related ailments that are involved in the pathophysiological process of this disease. Research has been extensively done to validate these antidiabetic claims scientifically as well as understand the mechanism and mode of antidiabetic action. This chapter proposes to highlight the antidiabetic activities of Terminalia species found in Nigeria.


The flora of the higher mountains of New Guinea has been the object of several extensive collecting trips in the past forty years. Until quite recently, however, a serious gap in our knowledge was the very scanty information available from the area between Mount Wilhelmina in the West and Mount Sarawaket and Mount Albert Edward in the East. Recently Mount Wilhelm, the highest mountain in this area and also the highest mountain in the Eastern half of the island, was visited on several occasions when botanical collections were made. The following collections are the most extensive ones and these are the only ones studied for this paper: In medio July, 1956 R. Pullen and myself spent ten days on the mountain with a camp near Lake Aunde as our base. In end July—early August, 1956 J.S. Womersley collected in the same area and some more collections were made in August, 1957 by R. G. Robbins. On these three occasions the mountain was approached from the East from Keglsugl in the Upper Chimbu Valley, along the valley locally known as Pindaunde. Alpine grassland comes down in this and other valleys to an altitude of ca 11000 feet (ca 3300 m), but on the steeper slopes and on the ridges the forest and shrubbery does not disappear until about 12500 feet (ca 3750 m). Pindaude, which down to 11000 feet (3300 m) is clearly of glacial origin, has a flat, ill-drained valley floor with peaty grassland, and fairly steep, locally rocky, lateral slopes which are covered with a subalpine forest, towards higher altitudes changing into alpine shrubbery. This shrubbery becomes patchy higher up and finally disappears at ca 12300 feet (ca 3690 m). Above that altitude, individual shrubs occur up to ca 12800 feet (ca 3840 m).


The growing development of Instagram in the community, especially in Indonesia, also varies the character of the people who use social media. A person's personality can be seen from his Instagram account to the interests and habits of someone. There are several facts related to today's social media users, where 85.2% of the respondents follow influencers on their social media. This phenomenon is the background of researchers where, many tourists today rely heavily on information that they only know from Instagram, both from direct destination, travel bloggers/influencer even from their own friends especially users in Generation Y, who lived on the internet and they are very competent to use it to find information about products. The aim of this paper is to find out the influence of Instagram Travel Influencer on Visiting Decisions, for tourists who use Instagram as social media for their main information searching tools.The data in this study are quantitative and use analysis of Coefficient Correlation Test, Simple Linear Regression Analysis, and Correlation Product Moment. Data collection techniques used are interviews, observations, questionnaire, literature studies and document from Travel Influencer. The results of this study is there is a strong relationship as 0.634 shown from Influencer Travel to visiting decisions for a tourist destination.  Also 59.1% of the dependent variables can be predicted from a combination of all independent indicators.Through the analysis of this study, all tourist destination suggested to work together with Travel Influencer to promote their place. With Instagram, users can easily find information to evaluate alternatives before deciding to visit a tourist destination. It can maximize revenue from each company or tourist destination in promotion.


This article analyzes the intersection of psychology with global development policy and practice, reviewing how gender as a concept is negotiated and understood amongst men and women in rural Malawi. We argue that gender, considered from a psychological perspective, has been narrowed down to meet the standards of global policy actors. By empowering individuals to "self-actualize," policy implementers expect social and economic spin-off effects such as lower birth rates, higher education levels, and poverty reduction. The focus on individuals acts to obscure the broader structural power inequities, is especially prevalent in rural Malawi. To explain this, we use Haslam's idea of "concept creep," on how psychological concepts tend to affect other institutional traditions. The everyday understandings of gendered life described here show how gender is a fluid concept that shifts according to cultural, social, and ideological norms.


In spring 2006, biomass burning aerosols from eastern Europe were transported extensively to Finland, and to other parts of northern Europe. They were observed as far as in the European Arctic. In the first part of this paper , temporal and spatial evolution and transport of these biomass burning aerosols are monitored with MODIS retrieved aerosol optical depth (AOD) imagery at visible wavelengths (0.55 µm). Comparison of MODIS and AERONET AOD is conducted at Tõravere, Estonia. Then trajectory analyses, as well as MODIS Fire Mapper products are used to better understand the type and origin of the air masses. During the studied four-week period AOD values ranged from near zero up to 1.2 at 0.55 µm and the linear correlation between MODIS and AERONET was very high (∼0.97). Temporal variability observed within this four-week period was also rather well explained by the trajec-tory analysis in conjunction with the fire detections produced by the MODIS Rapid Response System. In the second part of our study, the surface measurements of global and UV radiation at Jokioinen, Finland are used to study the effect of this haze episode on the levels of surface radiation. We found reductions up to 35% in noon-time surface UV irradi-ance (at 340 nm) as compared to typical aerosol conditions. For global (total solar) radiation, the reduction was always smaller, in line with the expected wavelength dependence of the aerosol effect.


Daily alterations of routines and protocols create high, yet so far unmet demands for intelligent reaction monitoring, quality control and data management in molecular biology laboratories. To meet such needs, the "internet of things" is implemented here. We propose an approach which combines direct tracking of lab tubes, reactions and racks with a comprehensive data management system. Reagent tubes in this system are tagged with 2D data matrices or imprinted RFID-chips using a unique identification number. For each tube, individual content and all relevant information based on conducted experimental procedures are stored in an experimental data management system. This information is managed automatically but allow scientists to engage and interfere via user-friendly graphical interface. Tagged tubes are used in connection with a detectable RFID-tagged rack. We show that reaction protocols, HTS storage and complex reactions are easily planned and controlled.


The holograms considered are formed from opaque or transparent diffracting objects which are contained in an aperture illuminated with a coherent, collimated, quasimonochromatic beam of light. It has been shown that the intensity distribution in the near-field of the aperture, but in the far-field of the individual objects which are contained in the aperture, is given by a function whose essential term represents the interference between the Fraunhofer diffraction pattern from the object and the coherent background. The hologram thus formed is referred to as a Fraunhofer or far-field hologram because of the imposed condition. The reconstruction, which is accomplished by placing the recorded hologram in another coherent collimated quasimonochromatic beam and again going to the far-field of the individual objects, yields an intensity which is essentially the original object distribution. In the far-field region of the individual objects for which this result is valid, the reconstruction is seen to be devoid of the evidence of a virtual image. One advantage of this particular method is that the virtual image which appears in the conventional (Fresnel) hologram method creates no problem here since it reduces to a constant for the far-field approximation.


We achieved intra- and intermolecular C(sp(3))-H alkoxylation of benzylic positions of heteroaromatic compounds using CuBrn (n = 1, 2)/5,6-dimethylphenanthroline (or 4,7-dimethoxyphenanthroline) and ((t)BuO)2 as a catalyst and an oxidant, respectively. The reaction proceeded at both terminal and internal benzylic positions of the alkyl groups. The intramolecular alkoxylation was performed on a gram scale.


Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a heterogeneous disease with a very variable clinical outcome. New biological markers, such as cytogenetic abnormalities or mutation status, have become important prognostic factors. Whole-genome sequenc‐ ing studies have revealed novel genomic mutations, NOTCH1, SF3B1, BIRC3, TP53 and MYD88 being the most important. All these mutations have also been associated with the disease outcome. The treatment of CLL has evolved favourably in recent years. However, adverse events or chemorefractoriness occurs in some cases. Luckily, an increasing number of compounds are under development with promising results. Some of these new targeted therapies include B-cell receptor inhibitors, new anti-CD20 antibodies, Bcl-2 inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs or chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). In this chapter, we will conduct a review of the new prognostic markers of CLL, the relationship they have with each other to build prognostic scores, the role they have in guiding treatment decisions and the novel therapies that have emerged recently with immunologic, biochemical and genetic targets.


Waste: A Handbook for Management gives the broadest, most complete coverage of waste in our society. The book examines a wide range of waste streams, including: household waste (compostable material, paper, glass, textiles, household chemicals, plastic, water, and e-waste); industrial waste (metals, building materials, tires, medical, batteries, hazardous mining, and nuclear); societal waste (ocean, military, and space); and the future of landfills and incinerators. Covering all the issues related to waste in one volume helps lead to comparisons, synergistic solutions, and a more informed society. In addition, the book offers the best ways of managing waste problems through recycling, incineration, landfill and other processes. Features: co-author Daniel Vallero interviewed on NBC's Today show for a segment on recycling; scientific and non-biased overviews will assist scientists, technicians, engineers, and government leaders; all main types of waste, including household, industrial, and societal; and strong focus on management and recycling provides solutions.


The controlled aldol condensation between an aliph. ketone and an acetaldehyde equiv. remains a challenge. One soln. to this evergreen problem consists of the nucleophilic addn. of acetylene to the ketone and the subsequent isomerization of the resulting 3-hydroxy-1-alkyne to the corresponding 2-alkenal. So far, however, the latter step could only be executed with acid-insensitive substrates. The authors now present a milder, three-step method which extends the scope of the procedure considerably. In the first step, the 3-hydroxy-1-alkynes RCMeOHC.tplbond.CH (R = Me, Ph, Me2CH:CHCH2CH2, Q, CH2:CH, HC.tplbond.C) are converted into 2-propynyl ethylene glycol monoethers RCMe(OCH2CH2OH)C.tplbond.CH; these then undergo base-catalyzed cyclization to give the dihydro-1,4-dioxepins (I and II; R = same as above), which are hydrolyzed in acidic medium in the third and final step to give ketones RCMeOHCOMe (R = same as above) and a,b-unsatd. aldehydes RCMe:CHCHO (R = same as above), resp. Thus, RCMe(OCH2CH2OH)C.tplbond.CH (R = Q) (prepn. given) was treated with Me3COK in Me3COH for 12 h at 85 Deg to give a 4:96 mixt. of I (R = Q) and II (R = Q) in 95% yield. II (R = Q) was hydrolyzed by 6 M HCl in THF under reflux for 5 h to give 90% RCMe:CHCHO (R = Q). [on SciFinder (R)]


Background: We aimed to describe the previously unstudied relationship between circuit pressures and circuit clotting, here labeled as 'artificial kidney failure' (AKF), in patients receiving continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). Methods: We performed an observational study of CRRT-treated critically ill patients to continuously record the multiple CRRT circuit pressures. Results: Three patterns of access outflow dysfunction (AOD) were also noted: severe, moderate and mild. Compared with circuits without AOD, circuits experiencing at least one AOD episode had shorter lifespans (14.2 ± 12.7 vs. 21.3 ± 16.5 h, p = 0.057). This effect was more obvious with moderate or severe AOD (8.7 ± 4.6 vs. 20.6 ± 15.7 h, p = 0.007). If any AOD events occurred within the first 4 h, the sensitivity and specificity in predicting early-immediate AKF were 53.4 and 94.4%, respectively. Conclusions: Early and intermediate AKF during CRRT is most likely dependent on AOD, which is a frequent event with variable severity.


The multi-armed bandit formalism has been extensively studied under various attack models, in which an adversary can modify the reward revealed to the player. Previous studies focused on scenarios where the attack value either is bounded at each round or has a vanishing probability of occurrence. These models do not capture powerful adversaries that can catastrophically perturb the revealed reward. This paper investigates the attack model where an adversary attacks with a certain probability at each round, and its attack value can be arbitrary and unbounded if it attacks. Furthermore, the attack value does not necessarily follow a statistical distribution. We propose a novel sample median-based and exploration-aided UCB algorithm (called med-E-UCB) and a median-based ϵ-greedy algorithm (called med-ϵ-greedy). Both of these algorithms are provably robust to the aforementioned attack model. More specifically we show that both algorithms achieve O(log T) pseudo-regret (i.e., the optimal regret without attacks). We also provide a high probability guarantee of O(log T) regret with respect to random rewards and random occurrence of attacks. These bounds are achieved under arbitrary and unbounded reward perturbation as long as the attack probability does not exceed a certain constant threshold. We provide multiple synthetic simulations of the proposed algorithms to verify these claims and showcase the inability of existing techniques to achieve sublinear regret. We also provide experimental results of the algorithm operating in a cognitive radio setting using multiple software-defined radios.