Previous work indicated that a subclass of mouse spleen dendritic cells (DC), those bearing CD8alpha, expresses the Fas ligand and restricts peripheral CD4 T cell responses by initiating Fas-mediated apoptosis. To determine whether a similar regulation applies to CD8 T cells, they were purified from normal or from TCR-transgenic mice, and then cultured with purified splenic CD8+ DC or CD8- DC presenting either alloantigens or the specific Ag for the TCR transgene. In all systems studied, the proliferative response of CD8 T cells was markedly less on stimulation with CD8+ DC compared with conventional CD8- DC. However, the basis of this restricted proliferation in response to CD8+ DC was totally different for CD8 T cells than for CD4 T cells. The reduced proliferation of CD8 T cells occurred later in the response than with CD4 T cells. In contrast with CD4 T cells, the reduced proliferation of CD8 T cells occurred even with T cells from Fas-deficient Ipr mice, or with DC from Fas ligand-deficient gld mice, indicating that Fas-induced apoptosis was not involved. Also, in contrast with CD4 T cells, the reduced proliferation of CD8 T cells was completely reversed by the addition of exogenous IL-2. Furthermore, cultures of CD8 T cells with CD8+ DC were found to be deficient in IL-2 production. Accordingly, although CD8+ DC are very efficient at stimulating CD8 T cells into cell division, they are deficient at stimulating endogenous cytokine production. The implications of these different DC regulatory systems are discussed.


Do elections reduce or increase the risk of autocratic regime breakdown? This article addresses this contested question by distinguishing between election events and the institution of elections. The authors propose that elections stabilize autocracies in the long term but at the price of short-term instability. Elections are conducive to regime survival in the long run because they improve capacities for co-optation and repression but produce short-term instability because they serve as focal points for regime opposition. Drawing on data from 259 autocracies from 1946 to 2008, the authors show that elections increase the short-term probability of regime failure. The estimated effect is retained when accounting for the endogeneity of autocratic elections; this finding is critical, since some autocrats may or may not hold elections because of perceived effects on regime survival. The authors also find that this destabilizing effect does not operate in the long term. They find some, although not as strong, evidence that elections stabilize autocratic regimes in the medium to long term, despite their destabilizing immediate effects. These temporal effect patterns are present for both executive and legislative elections, and they are robust to using different measures, control variable strategies, and estimation techniques. In line with expectations, both effect patterns are much clearer for multiparty autocratic elections than for completely uncontested elections.


Analyses of multispectral satellite data indicate accelerated glacier decline around the globe since the 1980s. By using digitized glacier outlines inferred from the 1973 inventory and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite data from 1985 to 1999, we obtained area changes of about 930 Alpine glaciers. The 18% area reduction as observed for the period 1985 to 1999 (−1.3% a−1) corresponds to a seven times higher loss rate compared to the 1850–1973 decadal mean. Extrapolation of area change rates and cumulative mass balances to all Alpine glaciers yields a corresponding volume loss of about 25 km3 since 1973. Highly individual and non‐uniform changes in glacier geometry (disintegration) indicate a massive down‐wasting rather than a dynamic response to a changed climate. Our results imply stronger ongoing glacier retreat than assumed so far and a probable further enhancement of glacier disintegration by positive feedbacks.


The main objective of this paper is to model the power coefficient in order to optimize the design of a horizontal axis wind turbine rotor to ensure the optimum aerodynamic power production, based on statistical Design of Experiment (DOE). Sophisticated aerodynamics of the wind turbine and blade geometry is discussed and used to generate the optimum chord and twist distribution of the rotating blades. The dependent variables for the power coefficient are found to be as the pitch angle, number of blades, and chord and twist distribution. A nonlinear model of the power coefficient based on the dependent variable and their interactions is investigated with the adoption in a 2K factorial design. The significance of the variables as well as the power coefficient model is ensured by the analysis of variance table and scree plots. Interaction plots revealed that the high value of pitch angle and low value of number of blades has the dominant contribution on the power coefficient, while chord and twist distribution is less significant. The results obtained can be used for feasibility study, optimization, and control of the wind turbine system.


Nineteenth-century Britain saw an explosion of periodical literature, with the publication of over 100,000 different magazines and newspapers for a growing market of eager readers. The Victorian periodical press became an important medium for the dissemination of scientific ideas. Every major scientific advance in the nineteenth century was trumpeted and analyzed in periodicals ranging from intellectual quarterlies such as the Edinburgh Review to popular weeklies like the Mirror of Literature, from religious periodicals such as the Evangelical Magazine to the atheistic Oracle of Reason. Scientific articles appeared side by side with the latest fiction or political reporting, while articles on nonscientific topics and serialized novels invoked scientific theories or used analogies drawn from science.The essays collected in Science Serialized examine the variety of ways in which the nineteenth-century periodical press represented science to both general and specialized readerships. They explore the role of scientific controversy in the press and the cultural politics of publication. Subject range from the presentation of botany in women's magazines to the highly public dispute between Darwin and Samuel Butler, and from discussions of the mind-body problem to those of energy physics. Contributors include leading scholars in the fields of history of science and literature: Ann B. Shteir, Jonathan Topham, Frank A. J. L. James, Roger Smith, Graeme Gooday, Crosbie Smith, Ian Higginson, Gillian Beer, Bernard Lightman, Helen Small, Gowan Dawson, Jonathan Smith, James G. Paradis, and Harriet Ritvo.


A two-stage (carbon oxidation stage one, ammonia oxidation stage two) biological aerated filter was operated for 10 months on-site at a domestic wastewater treatment plant. Over the study, the system was operated at different hydraulic loading rates that resulted in a range of applied organic and ammonia mass loadings. Performance was monitored regularly for water quality parameters in the effluent and along the length of the reactors. It was found that nitrification performance was significantly influenced by organic loading rates greater than 1.2 kg cBOD5/m -d. Additional experiments were conducted in which a constant mass of ammonia was applied (Phase 1: 1.40 ± 0.08 kg NH3-N/m-d; Phase 2: 1.31 ± 0.02 kg NH3-N/m -d) to the N column, the second stage of the system, over a range of hydraulic loading rates (5.1 15.8 m/h). Phases of testing were defined by the background hydraulic loading rate applied to the system (Phase 1: 8.3 m/h; Phase 2: 7.1 m/h) at which the reactors were allowed to reach a steady effluent quality for at least one week prior to testing. Organic loading was minimized and kept relatively constant throughout the hydraulic loading rate experiments (0.65 ± 0.2 kg cBOD5/m-d) in order to obtain an evaluation of nitrification capacity with minimal competition from heterotrophic bacteria. Results indicated that nitrification performance improved by 17% as the applied velocity increased over the indicated range. A steady-state biofilm model capable of predicting substrate flux was applied to the data in an attempt to explain the improvement in performance with hydraulic loading rate from a fundamental standpoint. Mass transfer coefficients, KL, were derived from the model for conditions in which the experimentally observed flux correlated with the model predictions. Derived KL values were lower than estimations offered by correlation equations but increased with velocity at a similar rate. The model failed to account for changes that may have occurred in biofilm kinetics and structure throughout the length of the reactor.


BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to determine if protocol-driven normoglycemic management in trauma patients affected glucose control, ventilator-associated pneumonia, surgical-site infection, and inpatient mortality.

METHODS
A prospective, consecutive-series, historically controlled study design evaluated protocol-driven normoglycemic management among trauma patients at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Those mechanically ventilated > or =24 hours and > or =15 years of age were included. A glycemic-control protocol required insulin infusion therapy for glucose >110 mg/dL. Control patients included those who met criteria, were admitted the year preceding protocol implementation, and had hyperglycemia treated at the physician's discretion.

RESULTS
Eight hundred eighteen patients met study criteria; 383 were managed without protocol; 435 underwent protocol. The protocol group had lower glucose levels 7 of 14 days measured. After admission, both groups had mean daily glucose levels <150 mg/dL. No difference in pneumonia (31.6% vs 34.5%; p = .413), surgical infection (5.0% vs 5.7%; p = .645) or mortality (12.3% vs 13.1%; p = .722) occurred between groups. If one episode of blood glucose level was > or =150 mg/dL (n = 638; 78.0%), outcomes were worse: higher daily glucose levels for 14 days after admission (p < .001), pneumonia rates (35.9% vs 23.3%; p = .002), and mortality (14.6% vs 6.1%; p = .002). One or more days of glucose > or =150 mg/dL had a 2- to 3-fold increase in the odds of death. Protocol use in these patients was not associated with outcome improvement.

CONCLUSIONS
Protocol-driven management decreased glucose levels 7 of 14 days after admission without outcome change. One or more glucose levels > or =150 mg/dL were associated with worse outcome.


We show that information about social relationships can be used to improve user-level sentiment analysis. The main motivation behind our approach is that users that are somehow "connected" may be more likely to hold similar opinions; therefore, relationship information can complement what we can extract about a user's viewpoints from their utterances. Employing Twitter as a source for our experimental data, and working within a semi-supervised framework, we propose models that are induced either from the Twitter follower/followee network or from the network in Twitter formed by users referring to each other using "@" mentions. Our transductive learning results reveal that incorporating social-network information can indeed lead to statistically significant sentiment classification improvements over the performance of an approach based on Support Vector Machines having access only to textual features.


The main aim of the study is to explore 15 high achieving English language learners' accounts of their undertakings in learning English in a Thai upper secondary school. The researcher adopts the view of social learning, particularly in reaching better understandings of the learners' experiences in learning English. As there exists a tendency to gauge learners' success in English based on examinations, this study asserts that language learning involves more than a cognitive process, thus values the social aspects of experiential English learning. The focus lies on investigating the perceptions of these high achieving English language learners of their success in learning English as well as the influences contributing to it. Two methods are used to collect data: focus groups and interviews. The findings indicate the participants' perceptions of their own success in learning English in three main aspects: English language ability, examination performance and skills in teaching others. In particular, the ability to speak English fluently and correctly appears to be of utmost importance for a successful English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learner. It is also found that most learners identify their own performance in class, the teacher, including teacher rapport, and school culture as contributing to their English learning achievement. In focusing on the learners' perceptions and their actual experiences, insights into how the learners actually undergo the learning opportunities provided by the education system can be obtained. To understand the extent to which innovations in English language teaching and learning have been successful, the everyday realities of the language classroom and school have to be accentuated.


We suggest a method for equivalent transformation of a quantile optimization problem with discrete distribution of random parameters to mixed integer programming problems. The number of additional integer (in fact boolean) variables in the equivalent problems equals to the number of possible scenarios for random data. The obtained mixed integer problems are solved by standard discrete optimization software. Applications to nancial portfolio optimization are considered. Results of a numerical experiment are presented.


Author(s): Touzani, Samir; Pritoni, Marco; Singh, Reshma; Granderson, Jessica | Abstract: As data science comes to buildings, the promise of using machine learning and novel sources of data has received much attention. Advances in machine learning and computer vision algorithms, combined with increased access to unstructured data (e.g., images and text), have created an opportunity for automated extraction of building characteristics – cost-effectively, and at scale. Acquisition of features such as footprint are time consuming and costly to acquire with today's manual methods, but can be streamlined through intelligent software-based solutions applied to satellite images. When combined with aerial RGB and thermal images, full 3D geometries and thermal maps can be constructed to determine additional characteristics such as window to wall ratio, height, number of stories and envelope thermal characteristics. In this paper we present three contributions to accelerate these high potential opportunities: (1) a methodical analysis of how these features can be integrated into today's simulation and data driven software tools to enhance efficiency measure identification and owner/operator decision making; (2) development and accuracy testing of open source deep neural network methods to extract building footprints from satellite imagery, including the curation and application of openly available GIS datasets for training and continued development by others; and (3) an open framework for drone-based image capture and creation of 3D building geometries. This work represents an important bridge between high-level studies that span diverse application areas and those that detail point solutions yet cannot be easily replicated or extended.


A fundamental problem of finding software applications that are highly relevant to development tasks is the mismatch between the high-level intent reflected in the descriptions of these tasks and low-level implementation details of applications. To reduce this mismatch we created an approach called EXEcutable exaMPLes ARchive (Exemplar) for finding highly relevant software projects from large archives of applications. After a programmer enters a natural-language query that contains high-level concepts (e.g., MIME, datasets), Exemplar retrieves applications that implement these concepts. Exemplar ranks applications in three ways. First, we consider the descriptions of applications. Second, we examine the Application Programming Interface (API) calls used by applications. Third, we analyze the dataflow among those API calls. We performed two case studies (with professional and student developers) to evaluate how these three rankings contribute to the quality of the search results from Exemplar. The results of our studies show that the combined ranking of application descriptions and API documents yields the most-relevant search results. We released Exemplar and our case study data to the public.


Many scientists return to the MBL summer after summer to teach or do research. When we asked why, their answers included words like "recharge", "magical", " inspire", "interact", "connections", "learn", and "life changing". Clearly the MBL, and similar institutions that bring scientists together, impact researchers' lives long after the summer sun has set.


In this study I want to survey which plays preschool teachers thinks are accepted in preschool and wish aren't. I also found it relevant to investigate when and why they choose to interrupt a play and what happens when they do? My interest for the possibility that we might judge by some values was the reason for my question formulations and for the follow-up questions in my interview. For my survey I used semi-structured interviews to get a deeper knowledge about this domain and for the opportunity to ask further supplementary questions.The results show how preschool teachers accept most of the plays and that those plays that aren't accepted and in need of being disrupted or to be changed mostly are plays where someone could be hurt or violated. It also shows that the preschool teachers think that they should regulate or interrupt children´s plays as little as possible because most of the time interruption turns the plays in a negative direction.My conclusion is that preschool teachers are willing to see children's intentions but there are also norms and values that regulate what´s accepted or not.


Virus-like symptoms (due to banana streak virus, cucumber mosaic virus, or both) have been observed in plants of Musa hybrids (TMPx) and local landraces included in multilocational trials in sub-Saharan Africa. Virus-like symptom incidence in these multilocational trials was analyzed using the additive main effect multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model. There were significant differences in virus-like symptom incidence among environments, which was highest in the cool, rainy season (14% to 42%) and lowest in the warm, dry season (<10%). Genotypes showed significantly different responses to virus(es), which depended on the environment. There were no plants of AA and AAA bananas showing virus-like symptoms (0% incidence), whereas ABB cooking bananas and a cooking banana hybrid (ABB x AA) seldom showed virus-like symptoms (<2% incidence). The AAB French plantains appeared to have a similar genotypic response to virus(es) (about 10% virus-like symptom incidence) and were regarded as less susceptible than the False Horn plantain 'Agbagba', which showed virus-like symptoms in most of the environments (average 21% incidence). Hence, 'Agbagba' should be considered a susceptible indicator host because it has a stable susceptible host response to Musa virus(es). Plantain hybrids (AAB x AA) showed virus-like symptoms ; however, there were significant differences in genotypic response to the virus(es) among various hybrids (11% to 60%). Epistasis due to transgressive segregation may control the susceptibility of TMPx germplasm to Musa virus(es). The AMMI1 model revealed that an increase in clonal susceptibility resulted in a more unstable response to the virus. Similarly, phenotypic instability was associated with an increase in clonal resistance. Environments with very low (dry season) or very high (rainy season) incidence of virus-like symptoms had unstable virus expression. Scoring virus symptoms in cool environments with low rainfall and low potential evapotranspiration provided an unbiased assessment of genotypic response to Musa virus(es). The AMMI2 model showed that seasonal rather than locational diversity accounted for most of the interaction patterns. This finding may indicate a low level of strain differentiation in the region.


Acoustic Sound Source localization using signal processing is required in order to estimate the direction from where a particular acoustic source signal is coming and it is also important in order to find a soluation for hands free communication. Video conferencing, hand free communications are different applications requiring acoustic sound source localization. This applications need a robust algorithm which can reliably localize and position the acoustic sound sources. The Steered Response Power Phase Transform (SRP-PHAT) is an important and roubst algorithm to localilze acoustic sound sources. However, the algorithm has a high computational complexity thus making the algorithm unsuitable for real time applications. This thesis focuses on describe the implementation of the SRP-PHAT algorithm as a function of source type, reverberation levels and ambient noise. The main objective of this thesis is to present different approaches of the SRP-PHAT to verify the algorithm in terms of acoustic enviroment, microphone array configuration, acoustic source position and levels of reverberation and noise.


The United Kingdom is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050, a target that will only be achieved by transforming the way that energy is supplied and used. At the same time there are anxieties about the security of energy provision in terms of European dependency on natural gas and the reliability of electricity supply. This book explores in detail those factors which could help or hinder the attainment of the UK's climate change targets, and how these factors interact with the parallel objective of maintaining a robust and secure energy system. The book is the result of a major national energy research effort by the UK Energy Research Centre, which includes some of the UK's leading energy experts. The results and recommendations are essential reading for policymakers, professionals, researchers, and anyone concerned with achieving large-scale reductions in carbon emissions, both from the UK and internationally.

The book begins by exploring the evolution of the UK energy system over recent decades: the trends, technologies and environmental impacts related to energy use, and the structures and institutions of governance that have influenced this evolution. It then moves on to changes in energy policy to emphasise decarbonisation and resilience, and introduce the approach to scenarios and modelling used in the rest of the book. Later chapters explore different aspects of the uncertainties that may enable or constrain the creation of a low-carbon, resilient UK energy system, related to accelerated technology development, the creation of an infrastructure to support de-centralised energy and microgeneration, to lifestyle and behaviour change, and to public attitudes to wider environmental impacts associated with energy system change.


This thesis examines, through the history of one
infantry regiment, aspects of the Territorial Force,
created in 1908, in its peacetime and wartime existence.
It is a pioneering work of social history, since it
concentrates on describing the social and organisational
characteristics of a Regiment in both peace and war.
Though the Leeds Rifles cannot be claimed to be a
'typical' Territorial Regiment, many of its characteristics
were common to units of the Territorial Force and,
through the history of this Regiment, a number of general
themes, of morale, discipline, and attitudes, recruitment
and organisational style can be explored.

The opening section of the thesis describes the
legacy of the Leeds Rifle Volunteers, 1859-1908, to the
Territorial Regiment, and the local and social organisation
continuities that can be perceived.. The remainder of the
thesis is divided into the peacetime period, 1908-1914,
where the "Citizen-soldier" of the Territorial Force was
largely a citizen, and the wartime period, 1914-1918,
where the soldierly elements were more necessary and
notable. Similar themes and continuities pervade these
two sections also, though increasingly from late 1916 the
'local' character of the Leeds Rifles became less central
to the social history of the Regiment.

The thesis offers a contribution to the general
social history of the period 1908-1918, and to Leeds
history in particular. It also seeks to place the
experience of this one Regiment in the context of other
studies of the social dynamics of "Western" military
organisations and to make a contribution to the development
of such studies. In an appendix, the methodological
problems of an exploration of this type are also considered.


This study accomplishes three things. First, it presents a detailed discussion of benefitcost analysis and how public officials use this information to impact and improve capital budgeting decisions. Second, it applies the theory of benefit-cost analysis to a real project: the Conference Center in San Marcos, Texas. Finally, this research pinpoints the motivation behind building the Conference Center and whether city officials used internal analysis to assess need or if the decision was based on perceived indirect benefits and/or other political factors. A discussion detailing benefit-cost analysis identifies how to properly assess the benefits and costs associated with a project using monetary amounts. The conceptual framework links these benefits and costs associated with conference centers to existing scholarly literature. The operationalization of the benefit and cost variables from the conceptual framework are identified, showing how the research measured each variable of the project. To ensure a credible study, an appropriate discount rate and time horizon were used to calculate the viability of the project. The decision criteria of present value and net present value were used to determine the viability of the project. The results of the benefit-cost analysis of the Conference Center project found that the project is not economically viable at either discount rate. However, indirect (external) benefits from the project are expected to economically benefit the City and outweigh the costs of the conference center. This project will be the first of its size in the I-35 corridor between San Antonio and Austin and is expected to attract business, association, and organizational meetings.


In this thesis we take upon different approaches for estimating reliability of individual classification predictions made by classifiers based on supervised learning.
The general definition of the term reliability is the ability to perform required functions under stated conditions. In machine learning, we refer to accuracy, as in the ability to provide accurate predictions. We face the problem that measures of reliability are not quantitatively defined. We can therefore only conceive estimates. Reliability estimates of individual predictions provide valuable information that could be beneficial in individual predictions assessment of use.
For the needs of our thesis we develop several methods for reliability estimation based on existing approaches of local methods and the variance of a bagged model. We test our methods on various available real-life and artificial datasets and compare our methods with those based on inverse transduction.
Methods were tested on 20 different datasets on 7 classification models and the estimates were calculated using 11 measures of similarity. We applied three statistical methods to our results. We came to a conclusion that these tests do not give clear results, as Q-Q plots only vaguely support calculated correlation. Correlation tests show potential of estimates LCV and BAGV as they demonstrated best on average performance. Second-comers with good result were estimates TRANS1 and CNK, while other estimates failed to excel.


This year, millions of beginner-to-intermediate-level users will be searching for the easiest possible way to master Excel 2010's new features - and, with Easy Microsoft Excel 2010, you'll find exactly what you're looking for. This full-color, utterly simple, step-by-step book has been carefully crafted to provide instant access to the 100+ tasks you'll find most useful and valuable. As with all books in the Easy series, it's designed to teach visually: you never have to work your way through lengthy text explanations. Its large typeface makes it even more accessible to all readers - especially senior readers whose needs are disregarded by most computer books. Written by an experienced Microsoft Excel trainer and author, Easy Microsoft Excel 2010 walks you through the easiest, fastest, most direct procedures for getting the results they're looking for.Coverage includes: getting started fast; managing, viewing, and editing workbooks; formatting data; using formulas, functions, charts, and graphics; analyzing data; printing; and even advanced techniques. Along the way, you will learn how to make the most of many of Excel 2010's most powerful innovations, such as Sparklines and the Excel Web App. 100+ hands-on, step-by-step tasks show novices and inexperienced upgraders the easiest, fastest, most direct way to accomplish common tasks Written by an experienced Microsoft Excel trainer and author Fully revamped for Excel 2010's most powerful new tools and features Large typeface improves readability and appeals to senior readers ignored by most computer books


Background: KAI-1/CD82 is a tumor suppressor gene with decreased gene expression being associated with increased invasive ability of oral squamous cell carcinoma and as hypothesized for various odontogenic cysts and tumors. p53 protein functions in G1-S phase of the cell cycle to allow the repair of damaged DNA. In the present study, p53 and KAI-1 expression was investigated using monoclonal antibodies in the various odontogenic cysts. Aims: To detect KAI-1 and p53 expression in radicular cysts, dentigerous cysts, and odontogenic keratocysts (OKCs) and to assess the relation between p53 and KAI-1 expression in the aforementioned cysts. Materials and Methods: The present study included histopathologically diagnosed cases of radicular cysts, dentigerous cysts, and OKCs for the expression of KAI-1 and p53 antibodies. Results: Among odontogenic cysts, radicular cysts expressed maximum positivity of KAI-1 (20.92%) while p53-positive cells were maximum in OKC (4.04%). The correlation between KAI-1 and p53 expression in the various odontogenic cysts was not found to be significant. Conclusion: The increased KAI-1 expression in the radicular cysts and its downregulation in OKCs may be indicative of aggressive clinical behavior and the fact that OKCs are hypothesized as neoplastic rather than being developmental in origin.


We present evidence that the visual analysis of Chinese characters by skilled readers is based upon well-defined orthographic constituents. These functional units are the recurrent, integral stroke-patterns, not the individual strokes as previously thought. The speed of simultaneous "same-different" comparisons of Chinese characters is affected by the number of these orthographic units and, for "different" judgements, by the proportion of mismatching units, but not by the number of individual strokes. We further define a category of orthographic unit, referred to here as the "lexical radical", which requires strict positional regularity within each composite character. Violation of positional regularity results in illegal non-characters. In contrast, recombination of orthographic units (stroke patterns) with the lexical radical in its regular position forms a regular pseudocharacter. We show that real characters are matched faster than pseudocharacters and non-characters—a word superiority effect in Chinese. Pseudocharacters are matched faster than non-characters, a pseudoword advantage in Chinese. We also present evidence suggesting that individual stroke patterns may be better recognized in real characters than in pseudocharacters and non-characters—a word superiority effect in terms of unit recognition. These results support the hypothesis that the functional orthographic unit in the recognition of Chinese characters, comparable to the letter in alphabetic word recognition, is the recurring integral stroke pattern.


[1 Kings 19:19-21 The Message] Elijah went straight out and found Elisha son of Shaphat in a field where there were twelve pairs of yoked oxen at work plowing; Elisha was in charge of the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak over him. Elisha deserted the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, "Please! Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye—then I'll follow you." "Go ahead," said Elijah, "but, mind you, don't forget what I've just done to you." So Elisha left; he took his yoke of oxen and butchered them. He made a fire with the plow and tackle and then boiled the meat—a true farewell meal for the family. Then he left and followed Elijah, becoming his assistant.


Financial crises in developing and transition countries have often proven disruptive to policies and programmes due to procyclical trends in government spending growth. Given the importance and significant proportion of public budgets devoted to education and health, cuts in government expenditures during recessions potentially place social programmes at risk. This paper analyses the experiences from 1995–2007 for 131 countries, projects fiscal social spending to 2013, and examines specific issues around fiscal social spending in the current crisis, including donor responses and government and household coping mechanisms. Growth rate trends in education and health spending fluctuate over time, with greater volatility in education. Despite the variation on growth rate trends, absolute levels of fiscal spending rise steadily over time, with brief flat trends over one or two years, reflecting periods of GDP growth decline. Public spending tends to be more counter-cyclical for education compared to health. While sharp declines in growth rates of fiscal social spending are projected, they are balanced by projected increases in absolute spending over the 2008–2013 period.


We investigate the formation of brown dwarfs and very low mass stars through the gravitational fragmentation of infalling gas into stellar clusters. The gravitational potential of a forming stellar cluster provides the focus that attracts gas from the surrounding molecular cloud. Structures present in the gas grow, forming filaments flowing into the cluster centre. These filaments attain high gas densities due to the combination of the cluster potential and local self-gravity. The resultant Jeans masses are low, allowing the formation of very low mass fragments. The tidal shear and high-velocity dispersion present in the cluster preclude any subsequent accretion, thus resulting in the formation of brown dwarfs or very low mass stars. Ejections are not required as the brown dwarfs enter the cluster with high relative velocities, suggesting that their disc and binary properties should be similar to that of low-mass stars. This mechanism requires the presence of a strong gravitational potential due to the stellar cluster implying that brown-dwarf formation should be more frequent in stellar clusters than in distributed populations of young stars. Brown dwarfs formed in isolation would require another formation mechanism such as due to turbulent fragmentation.


Regression models for de facto currency regime classification are complemented by inferential techniques for tracking the stability of exchange rate regimes. Several structural change methods are adapted to these regressions: tools for assessing the stability of exchange rate regressions in historical data (testing), in incoming data (monitoring) and for determining the breakpoints of shifts in the exchange rate regime (dating). The tools are illustrated by investigating the Chinese exchange rate regime after China gave up on a fixed exchange rate to the US dollar in 2005 and to track the evolution of the Indian exchange rate regime since 1993.


The literature regarding the diversity of ectoparasites and their interaction with their hosts remains largely inadequate in Malaysian tropical rainforest. We investigate the interaction patterns and specialization of ectoparasites infesting terrestrial small mammals (rodents and scandents) in Peninsular and Malaysian Borneo from samples made in 16 localities between 2008 and 2010. A total of 3,235 individuals of ectoparasites were collected during field surveys, resulting in an interaction network involving 47 ectoparasites that were distributed on 23 species of small mammals. The overall specialization index H2′ of all ectoparasites and host species was 0.67 which was considered moderate. Ticks appeared to be generalist with specialization index (H2′ = 0.35) while lice showed higher specialization (H2′ = 1) in selecting host species. The most diverse parasite assemblage was found on S. muelleri (Hs_w = 1.96). Specialization indices among ectoparasite species (dp) ranged from 0.03 to 1 while the indices among host species (dh) ranged from 0.20 to 1. Incomplete field data may have contributed to the high specialization indices. This study is significant as it can enhance our understanding the emergence and management of potential zoonotic diseases in Malaysia.


Akt [also known as protein kinase B (PKB)] is deregulated in many human cancers. Sarbassov et al. have identified an enzyme in Drosophila and human cells that initiates its activation. Upon association with the cytoplasmic protein rictor, the cytoplasmic kinase mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) phosphorylates a critical hydrophobic motif in Akt/PKB. This modification is required for full activation of Akt and its subsequent regulation of cell survival. In contrast, association of mTOR with another cytoplasmic protein, raptor, does not target Akt and is sensitive to the drug rapamycin. Reduced expression of mTOR or rictor blocked Akt activity, which suggests that the complex may serve as an effective target in cancer cells for drug development. D. D. Sarbassov, D. A. Guertin, S. M. Ali, D. M. Sabatini, Phosphorylation and regulation of Akt/PKB by the rictor-mTOR complex. Science 307, 1098-1101 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text]


In the first book to offer a comprehensive analysis of family law in the European Union, McGlynn argues that a traditional concept of 'family' which has many adverse effects - on individuals, on families (in all their diverse forms), and indeed on the economic ambitions of the EU is forming the basis for the little-recognised and under-researched field of EU family law. This book examines three different aspects of family life - childhood, parenthood and partnerships - and critically analyses existing EU law in relation to each. It examines the emerging field of EU family law, providing a highly sceptical account of recent developments and a robust challenge to the arguments in favour of the codification of European civil law, including family law.

* First book to offer a comprehensive analysis of 'family' and family law in the EU

* Offers a robust challenge to the arguments in favour of the codification of European civil law, including family law, arguing for reform based on human rights principles

* Offers an innovative, conceptual study of diverse fields of substantive EU law


Governments, central banks, and private companies make extensive use of expert and market-based forecasts in their decision-making processes. These forecasts can be affected by terrorism, which should be considered by decision makers. We focus on terrorism, as a mostly endogenously driven form of political uncertainty, and use new econometric tests to assess the forecasting performance of market and professional inflation and exchange-rate forecasts in Israel. We show that expert forecasts are better than market-based forecasts, particularly during periods of terrorism. However, forecasting performance and abilities of both market-based and expert forecasts are significantly reduced during such periods. Thus, policymakers should be particularly attentive to terrorism when considering inflation and exchange-rate forecasts.


In her survey of current attitudes towards Shakespeare in the American theatre, Felicia Hardison Londre argues that Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, and All's Well that Ends Well have been replaced as problem plays in the Shakespearean canon by The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello. These three plays focus attention on late twentieth-century anxieties about gender, race, and ethnicity, and have provoked some heated discussions in rehearsal rooms, theatre reviews, and scholarly conferences and publications in the last decade. Londre goes on to argue that from her survey of American theatre directors, Othello is seen as the least problematic of these 'politically incorrect' plays, since Paul Robeson's performance as Othello in 1943 'initiated the gradual process of transferring ownership of the role from white actors in blackface to black actors' (p. 87). Although Londre concludes that the 'racial make-up of the cast does not appear today to be a significant factor in the designation of Othello as a problem play,' the difficulties of Othello for scholars are still felt acutely, and have produced a range of critical responses since the mid-1980s which in many ways chart the significant changes in Shakespearean scholarship in that time. Indeed, the distance between theatre professionals' and scholars' attitudes to the racial politics of Othello is typical of a broader distance between the practices of the theatre and the academy.


This article argues that in federalist systems constitutional interpretation should be decentralized so that it is shared equally by federal and state level courts. It is commonly accepted that democracy and pluralism are two grounds for a federal system, since they allow experimentation in sub-national parts of the country and allow the legal system to reflect local differences. However, this rationale is often not extended to defend the decentralization of constitutional interpretation. The goal of this article is to present an argument in favor of this extension. Specifically, it explores the cases of Mexico and the United States, two federalist regimes which have resolved differently the issue of constitutional adjudication.


Despite decades of progress, women remain underrepresented in the upper part of the earnings distribution, a phenomenon often referred to as the "glass ceiling." We review the recent research trying to explain this phenomenon. After briefly revisiting gender differences in education, we turn our attention to a body of work that has argued that gender differences in psychological attributes are holding back women's earnings; we pay particular attention to the research that has aimed to test the relevance of these gender differences in psychological attributes in the field. We then review another active area of research that has returned to a more classical explanation focused on the challenges women may face when trying to juggle competing demands on their time in the workplace and in the home, particularly when the home includes children. We discuss recent work documenting women's greater demand for flexibility in the workplace, as well work measuring the labor market penalties associated with such demand for flexibility, particularly in the higher paying occupations in the economy. We highlight possible countervailing forces (both at work and at home) that may explain why these work-family considerations may remain highly relevant to today's glass ceiling despite reduced time spent in non-market work and a trend toward a more equal division of non-market work between the genders. Finally, we discuss the role that public policy and human resource practices may play in adding more cracks to the glass ceiling.


In adversarial attacks intended to confound deep learning models, most studies have focused on limiting the magnitude of the modification so that humans do not notice the attack. On the other hand, during an attack against autonomous cars, for example, most drivers would not find it strange if a small insect image were placed on a stop sign, or they may overlook it. In this paper, we present a systematic approach to generate natural adversarial examples against classification models by employing such natural-appearing perturbations that imitate a certain object or signal. We first show the feasibility of this approach in an attack against an image classifier by employing generative adversarial networks that produce image patches that have the appearance of a natural object to fool the target model. We also introduce an algorithm to optimize placement of the perturbation in accordance with the input image, which makes the generation of adversarial examples fast and likely to succeed. Moreover, we experimentally show that the proposed approach can be extended to the audio domain, for example, to generate perturbations that sound like the chirping of birds to fool a speech classifier.


The selection and maintenance of a specific percept during binocular rivalry have often been considered to be relatively automatic and influenced primarily by low-level stimulus attributes such as contrast and luminance. However, numerous studies have identified other, higher-level, factors that substantially influence perceptual selection, dominance, and suppression in binocular rivalry. These factors include the configuration of stimulus elements, the spatial and temporal context in which the rivaling stimuli are presented, and manipulations of attentional and pharmacological state. The studies summarized in this chapter broaden traditional conceptions of binocular rivalry as a competition between populations of stimulus-selective neurons and demonstrate that multiple factors can operate over extended spatial and temporal scales to modulate the competitive processes underlying perceptual selection.


The visibility of the shell-focusing singularity in Szekeres space-time\char22{}which represents quasispherical dust collapse\char22{}has been studied on numerous occasions in the context of the cosmic censorship conjecture. The various results derived have assumed that there exist radial null geodesics in the space-time. We show that such geodesics do not exist in general, and so previous results on the visibility of the singularity are not generally valid. More precisely, we show that the existence of a radial geodesic in Szekeres space-time implies that the space-time is axially symmetric, with the geodesic along the polar direction (i.e. along the axis of symmetry). If there is a second nonparallel radial geodesic, then the space-time is spherically symmetric, and so is a Lema\^{\i}tre-Tolman-Bondi space-time. For the case of the polar geodesic in an axially symmetric Szekeres space-time, we give conditions on the free functions (i.e. initial data) of the space-time which lead to visibility of the singularity along this direction. Likewise, we give a sufficient condition for censorship of the singularity. We point out the complications involved in addressing the question of visibility of the singularity both for nonradial null geodesics in the axially symmetric case and in the general (nonaxially symmetric) case, and suggest a possible approach.


Abstract Countries around the world consider whistleblowing a first and often best early warning system for corruption and regulatory failure because whistleblowers are usually organizational insiders with first-hand knowledge of complex systems often impenetrable and unintelligible to outsiders. Why then do whistleblowers, these harbingers of wrongdoing, suffer censure and reprisals? The answer to this question sparked this case study of a whistleblower's concerns regarding the effectiveness of Health Canada's drug approval process in 1996 and the resulting impact on the whistleblower, the organization and ultimately the implications for public safety and accountable government. The methods used were process-tracing, in-depth interviews and data and document review. The results suggested problems with culture in the main organization Health Canada, possibly exacerbated by deregulation. The conclusion is a multi-faceted approach to addressing culture is needed before whistleblower protection legislation can work and accountable organizations can flourish.


Purpose: To develop a fast Monte Carlo code based on EGSnrc for accurate dose calculation around brachytherapy sources. Method and Materials: Sources and phantom geometries are modeled by using the Multi‐geometry technique which allows various predefined geometry elements (eg, sources, applicators, catheters) a phantom geometry. Sources such as an HDR Ir‐192 source and LDR I‐125 or Pd‐103 seed sources were modeled. One or more sources from a database can be duplicated many times and placed in arbitrary locations. Besides the above sources, BrachyDose can calculate dose around a miniature x‐ray‐tube source since it is based on EGSnrc. It also can use CT data in the phantom geometry. Variance reduction techniques are applied to speed up computation time. Dose is calculated by scoring the collision kerma using a tracklength estimator. There is an option to reuse every photon which escapes from a seed as if it came from every seed in the implant with same direction relative to the seed itself. Results: The speed of the BrachyDose calculation is specified by the time required to attain an average of 2\% statistics in the central region of an implant of 125 seeds spaced at 5 mm separation in a 1000 cm∧3 cubic phantom. The time required scales roughly as the inverse of the volume of the voxels. On an 2.4 MHz CPU, the computation time is 510 s for 1 mm voxels. The DVHs for 1 mm voxels are significantly different from those in 2 mm voxels. Changing phantom material from water to prostate tissue causes the dose to vary by +/−5% vs dose to water, depending on distance from the seeds. Conclusions: The Monte Carlo code developed is fast enough for routine clinical applications. Calculated dose values include inter‐seed effects and other effects from tissue inhomogeneities.


An air jack is used for raising vehicles from the ground comprising custom made bellows, a hose member which is adapted to connect the exhaust system of a vehicle to the bellows and a check valve for preventing the release of exhaust gases, from the ball after it has been inflated. The jack uses pressure of exhaust air to lift the vehicle off the ground.


Abstract Since the associations of fermented dairy foods intake with risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remained inconsistent, we carried out this meta-analysis on all published cohort studies to estimate the overall effect. We searched the PubMed and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) databases for all articles within a range of published years from 1980 to 2018 on the association between fermented dairy foods intake and CVD risk. Finally, 10 studies met the inclusion criteria for this study, with 385,122 participants, 1,392 Myocardial infarction, 4,490 coronary heart disease (CHD), 7,078 stroke, and 51,707 uncategorized CVD cases. Overall, statistical evidence of significantly decreased CVD risk was found to be associated with fermented dairy foods intake (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.76–0.91). In subgroup analysis, cheese and yogurt consumptions were associated with decreased CVD risk (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.80–0.94 for cheese and OR = 0. 78, 95% CI = 0.67–0.89 for yogurt). Our meta-analysis indicated that fermented dairy foods intake was associated with decreased CVD risk.


This report describes how the scale-model aircraft can be built when the Reynolds number is out of range for using dynamic similitude method. Due to lack of time and budget for designing an actual model for testing, Cessna 172 was used to calculate the size of the temporary scale-model aircraft. The method that was used for this project was matching aerodynamic coefficients such as drag coefficient or lift coefficient of the prototype and the model. Based on this method, the takeoff distance, landing distance and the rate of climb of the model came out to be 218 ft, 91 ft and 11.1 fpm respectively. Since the performance data of the actual Cessna 172 is already given, calculating those data from the model was avoided.


Our work is motivated by a platform we're building to support a new style of distributed programming, in which users drag and drop live components into live documents, often without needing to write new code. The capability requires a multicast layer that scales in dimensions not previously explored. In particular, live documents generate large numbers of multicast groups with irregular overlap. Traditional reliable multicast protocols were conceived for a single group at a time, and multi-group configurations can trigger costly resource contention. Quicksilver Scalable Multicast 1 (QSM) solves these problems using two kinds of mechanisms. First, we introduce several techniques to aggregate traffic when groups overlap. But we also identify a previously unnoticed linkage between memory footprint and CPU consumption, motivating a second class of techniques that minimize memory use and CPU loads. The resulting system is fast, scales well, and is stable under stress. Moreover, our techniques should be applicable in other high-performance distributed systems.


Context: Knee and ankle joint arthrometers are designed to increase the precision and objectivity of clinical measures of joint laxity and mechanical stiffness. The LigMaster™ is a relatively new multijoint arthrometer that can be used to perform instrumented orthopedic special tests at the knee, ankle, shoulder and elbow. To date, few lower extremity studies have been conducted with this device. Objective: To establish the intrarater test-retest reliability of measuring the mechanical properties of knee and ankle ligaments with the LigMaster™ multijoint arthrometer. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Research laboratory. Participants: 40 healthy, physically-active adults (20 women, 20 men; age = 22.7±2.0 yrs; height = 171.1 + 12.1 cm; mass = 71.1 + 13.9 kg). Main Outcome Measures: At the knee, the Lachman, posterior drawer, varus and valgus stress tests were performed, with displacement and slope values obtained under loads of 90 N and 130 N. At the ankle, the anterior drawer test and inversion talar tilt test were performed, with displacement and slope values obtained at 125 N and 150 N loads. For each participant, these 6 tests were performed on two occasions on the same day and test results were used to calculate intrarater test-retest reliability. Results: The test-retest reliability of one examiner performing instrumented Lachman, posterior drawer, varus and valgus stress tests ranged from "excellent" to "good to fair" (ICC3,1 = 0.85 to 0.53). The intrarater reliability of the knee slope values for the posterior drawer test, varus and valgus stress tests were also "excellent" to "good to fair" (ICC3,1 = 0.82 to 0.51). The intrarater reliability of ankle degree for the inversion talar tilt test and ankle displacement for ankle anterior drawer test at 125 N and 150 N were between "excellent" and "good to fair" (ICC3,1 = 0.79 to 0.62). The intrarater reliability of the ankle slope value for the ankle anterior drawer test "good to fair" (ICC3,1 = 0.54). Conclusion: The instrumented Lachman, valgus, and varus stress tests at the knee and inversion talar tilt test as performed with the LigMaster™ arthrometer on healthy, physically-active adults had moderate reliability. Conversely, the posterior drawer test and the ankle anterior drawer test had markedly lower levels of intrarater reliability. While this device has capabilities unlike any other commercially-available arthrometer, the LigMaster™ software generates joint displacement and mechanical stiffness values that are proprietary and thus unique to this device. These non-standard values do not correspond with output from other commercially-available arthrometers, making direct comparisons with published knee and ankle arthrometer studies difficult, if not impossible.


This thesis describes investigations into a number of coating processes using experimental, analytical and computational techniques.

The first problem, considered experimentally, is that of reverse roll coating with a liquid reservoir positioned directly above horizontally aligned rollers. Measurements
of the film thickness as a function of the height of fluid in the reservoir and speed ratio are presented. When the wetting line is located downstream of the nip, either
a decrease in the height of the associated hydrostatic head or an increase in the speed ratio causes a reduction in the thickness of the outgoing film. However, when the wetting line is located upstream of the nip the opposite is found to be true.

The bead-break instability in forward meniscus coating is considered both experimentally and analytically. Agreement between predictions from a simple mathematical model of the stable bead and experimentally determined meniscus positions
is seen to be excellent. A perturbation hypothesis is used to predict the onset of the bead-break instability, at which the upstream meniscus accelerates rapidly towards
the downstream one, so the two collide and the bead collapses. The results from the model compare well with experiments. An outline of a method for using the
bead-break instability as a design criterion is also presented.

Typically in a slot, blade or knife coater the downstream meniscus is assumed to pin at a corner of the coating device. In chapter 5, a series of experiments and a
corresponding computational study, are presented which illustrate that the meniscus can advance up the face of such coating devices (in this case a roll-flat plate system). Reducing the corner angle is seen to reduce the size of the climb region and the associated recirculation at this point at the downstream meniscus. It is also shown
that the meniscus can detach from the corner and retreat into the gap, which can in turn give rise to the ribbing instability.

An offset gravure coating arrangement is considered in chapter 6. The coating arrangement is split into two areas of study - the offset gravure nip and the kiss coating bead. An experimental investigation of the offset nip with the two rolls vertically aligned and running at the same speed in forward mode reveals two ways in which the metered film thickness can be influenced. Either increasing the nip force by pressing the two rolls together or decreasing the roll speeds causes a reduction in the metered film thickness. At higher speeds the metered film thickness is observed to asymptote to a limiting value, the value of which depends on the gravure pattern.

The reverse mode kiss coating bead operating at speed ratios greater than one is also investigated. Experiments reveal that under these conditions, all the fluid is
transferred from the roll surface to the web and the two make contact due to the generation of a sub-ambient pressure field within the bead. Two models based on lubrication theory are derived, one assuming an infinitely tensioned web and a second that incorporates the effect of web flexibility. The latter is found to give much better agreement with the experimental data. Finally a perturbation hypothesis is applied to these to models in order to predict the onset of the ribbing instability,
both of which are found to give reasonable agreement with the experimental data.

Finally, the results of a systematic experimental investigation of reverse mode direct gravure coating is reported, where the web runs directly over a gravure roll surface. This wide ranging parametric study illustrates the effect of the operating parameters on the final film thickness. Key findings are that speed ratio, fluid properties and cell shape and size can significantly influence the final film thickness. For a fixed roll
speed it is observed that as the web speed is increased the gravure bead becomes unstable. This results in streaking on the web, and gives an upper limit to the speed ratio.


Ethnography has played a large role in fan studies; thus, any mention of ethnography in conjunction with fan studies is unsurprising. Ethnography's use of performance studies and the subsequent emphasis on embodied practice, however, creates new intersections between ethnography and the fan. Thus far, the fan has been relegated to the position of ethnographic subject. We argue here that the fan can be viewed as an ethnographer proper, mining ethnographic fragments from the source material in order to explore and explain the workings of a fictive culture within a fictive universe. The nature of fan production when viewed in such a manner is highly dramaturgical in nature. To account for this within the ethnographic framework, we use the term ethnodramaturg to describe how the fan works within a fictive universe to study and create dramatic story lines based within that world. Performatively, the fan enacts the ethnographer's in-betweenness. Both fan and ethnographer are not of the culture and yet not not of the culture they explore and attempt to explain. In ethnography, this means the subject is simultaneously observed and created through the use of ethnographic objects, or fragments. These fragments are then displayed or dramatically deployed independently of that source. Fan-produced media, having been excised from the source material, can be viewed as ethnographic fragments. Fans, as ethnodramaturgs, carve out discrete objects of the fictive world for study and link them together in a performative story line.


The Stanmore-Kingston Splat is a graphical display of the goals and achievements of amputee rehabilitation patients using the Locomotor Capability Index. The chart is in a radial polygram form with the sectors coloured and shaded. Three scores can be shown: The patient's capability at delivery of the prosthesis, the goals set for rehabilitation, and the final achievement after the programme. The main advantages are rapid, easy reading for a therapist and convenient use when discussed with the patient at goal setting or progress review. The Splat is being used at Stanmore Disablement Services Centre and an extension to other centres is planned.


There are strong motivating factors for more effective performance measurement practices in software development. Astute practices in this domain are lauded to improve efficiency and effectiveness. However previous studies have shown that measurement in software is intricate, complex and fraught with challenges. Consequently it is poorly managed in practice. Our research seeks to better understand performance management in a real world software development setting in order to identify the challenges and generate a roadmap for improvement. This paper presents findings from an inductive analysis of a radical measurement program in a global software organization. Our study investigates the level at which non-compliance with best practice can explain the company's disappointing results. We found that a narrow focus on projects, rather than on organizational goals, has seriously hindered its success. We also found that the rate of change in the organization as a whole was impinging on the effective implementation of its measurement program. An analysis of the results demonstrates just how challenging software measurement is. The findings provide an evaluation of best practice relative to the literature that is informed by real industry experience.


To any style conscious Londoner in the sixties just two places mattered: the King's Road and Carnaby Street. By the end of the decade the whole world came to see and be seen, to take part in the theatre that played out of the new boutiques and onto the street. From the sleek modernist tailoring of 'Top Gear' and 'His Clothes' to the nostalgic dressing up box style of the World's End boutiques, at the heart of it all were the young designers whose conviction to make and sell clothes on their own terms generated an explosion of talent which lasted and evolved over twenty years, leaving an indelible mark in fashion history. 'Boutique London' follows the journey of the first risk-takers like Mary Quant and John Stephen, to the celebrity salons of Ossie Clark, 'Mr Fish' and 'Granny Takes a Trip', stopping along the way to include the weird and the wonderful, the glamorous and the bizarre. With in-depth profiles of over thirty retailers and lavish illustrations, the clothes, interiors and characters of 'Boutique London' are as diverse as they are colourful, vividly bringing to life a vanished London, which changed the way we shop forever.


PMUs play an essential rule in monitoring and control of power network. However, it is not possible to install PMUs at all buses of network, due to economical and technical constrains. Therefore, optimal PMU placement (OPP) is done to obtain full observability of network with minimum number of PMUs and maximum redundancy. On the other hand, presence of HVDC links in power network and operating in islanded condition impose new constraints on OPP problem. Therefore, OPP considering all of mentioned goals is presented in this paper. Binary integer linear programming (BILP) is used as solver algorithm, due to linear and binary characteristics of problem. OPP is tested on IEEE 14-bus test system and different contingencies consist of single PMU failure, single line outage and occurrence of simultaneous events are studied and presented in the paper.


Malfunctions in the glutamatergic system of the central nervous system have been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), tauopathies, and Parkinson's disease (PD). A non-invasive measurement of glutamate would enhance our understanding of neurodegenerative processes and potentially facilitate early diagnosis. The current method for measuring glutamate in vivo is proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1HMRS) although it has poor spatial resolution and weak sensitivity to glutamate changes. The primary objective of this thesis was to measure pathology induced changes in glutamate levels in mouse models of neurodegeneration using a novel magnetic resonance imaging technique, glutamate chemical exchange saturation transfer (GluCEST) imaging. Several studies were performed in three mouse models of neurodegeneration: the APP-PS1 transgenic model of amyloid-beta pathology of AD, the PS19 transgenic model of tau pathology, and the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) neurotoxin model of PD. Glutamate levels derived from GluCEST imaging were correlated with results from 1HMRS and immunohistochemistry (IHC). The primary IHC antibodies that were investigated include markers of phosphorylated tau protein, synapse density, neuron density, glial cell reactivity, a glutamate transporter, and an NMDA receptor. GluCEST contrast correlated with 1HMRS-derived glutamate levels in the striatum of APP-PS1 mice (R2=0.91) and the thalamus of PS19 mice (R2=0.64). However, GluCEST detected deficits in PS19 mice four months earlier than 1HMRS, highlighting the method's enhanced sensitivity to glutamate. Demonstrating the advantage of high spatial resolution, GluCEST imaging measured sub-hippocampal dynamics in glutamate levels in the aging PS19 mouse. A gradient in glutamate levels along the mouse hippocampus was also measured in vivo using GluCEST. While hippocampal glutamate levels were significantly decreased in early stages of PS19 tauopathy, glutamate levels in the dentate gyrus (DG) and cornu ammonis (CA1) increased at 9-13 months. Decreased GluCEST was concurrent with synapse loss and occurred before structural volume loss. Elevated GluCEST was associated with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunostaining in late stages of the PS19 tauopathy model and in the striatum of the MPTP PD model. Results of this work demonstrate the use of GluCEST imaging to study regional and temporal variations in glutamate in different pathologies associated with neurodegeneration. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics First Advisor Ravinder Reddy This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1672


A new bridgeless powerfactor correction (PFC) converter is proposed in this paper. The proposed converter isbased on single-ended primary inductor converter (SEPIC). In the proposed converter, conductionlosses are reduced and efficiency is improved by eliminating bridge diodes. In addition, input currentripple is significantly reduced by utilizing coupled inductors. Like a conventional SEPIC PFCconverter, the proposed converter provides almost unity power factor (PF). Steady-state analysis ofthe proposed converter is performed. Experimental results based on a prototype are alsoprovided to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed converter.


The recent exponential increase in the use of engineered nanoparticles (eNPs) means both greater intentional and unintentional exposure of eNPs to microbes. Intentional use includes the use of eNPs as biocides; unintentional exposure results from the fact that eNPs are included in a variety of commercial products (paints, sunscreens, cosmetics.) Many of these eNPs include heavy metals or metal oxides such as titanium dioxide, silver, gold, zinc and zinc oxide. The fact that early studies of the impact of metallic nanoparticles achieved approximately 90% lethality to Ag, Cu eNPs, suggests that genetic variants are already circulating in bacteria that can be co-opted to provide heavy metal eNP resistance. This project has utilized laboratory experimental evolution to evolve eNP resistance in the bacterium Escherichia coli (K12 MG1655 strain.). This is currently being validated by demonstrating the greater fitness of evolved strains versus ancestral strains in the presence of different sized and coated silver nanoparticles (10nm, 40nm, citrate-coated, PVP-coated) as well as phenotypic changes in the bacterial cell wall (as measured by Atomic Force Microscopy, AFM.). Finally, the bacterial genomes of the evolved and ancestral strains were resequenced. The genomic basis of this complex phenotype was determined. The practical application of such knowledge cannot be underestimated since nature is already evolving nanoparticle resistant bacteria. Thus knowledge of the nature of the physiological, morphological, and genomic mechanisms of resistance will be essential to deploy sustainable use of NPs as biocides, and to prevent unintentional environmental damage.


Rationale Since 2009, a team of staff from the School of the Arts and the library have collaborated to develop a series of learning and teaching activities aimed at improving students' research skills. The focus has been on research methods that merge design theory and studio practice, providing students with real world research skills that are authentic within the context of design (Dimmock, Hoon and MacLellan, 2013). Specifically, the team has worked to develop students' research ability through the visual analysis of primary artefacts. For the conference, the team will deliver an interactive workshop modelling visual analysis, which mirrors an assessment undertaken by second year Graphics and Illustration students. In this assessment, students select an artefact from the University of Northampton special collections and analyse it in terms of the aesthetic, cultural and technical data encoded in the artefact (Hoon, 2013). This exercise is then used as a springboard for the students to conduct further research through direct engagement with specialist museums, agencies, archives and libraries. Workshop participants will be given the opportunity to discuss how this pedagogy could be used in their own subject. The team is now also working on an OER for the Skills Hub (LLS, 2013) that will model this research methodology. Content and Delivery Methods The workshop will cater for up to 20 participants working in groups. The facilitators will explain the process of visual analysis and each group will be provided with an artefact to examine according to its aesthetic, technical and cultural qualities. Groups will then be asked to consider how they would use the observations from their visual examination as a springboard for further research.


The Austrian national strategy for the fruit and vegetable sector provides a framework for the producer organisation's sustainable operational programmes. One main objective of the national strategy is the bundling of production in order to improve the competitiveness of the fruits and vegetables producers. According to the agricultural census 2010, the share of production value of producer organisations in the fruit and vegetables sector, has constantly risen since 1999 and amounted to 53% in 2010. When analysing the number of projects and the expenditure of funds, it was found that a majority of financial resources was invested into the improvement of marketing activities / conditions and product quality. In order to justify ongoing public support in future, it will become necessary to stress the benefits of the operational programmes for the general public. This could be achieved, for example, by focusing on environmental measures. Already, integrated production has become the standard production method in the sector. Other environmental measures within the national strategy aimed at the reduction of resources in production (such as pesticides or energy). For these measures no improvements could be measured due to lacking monitoring data. For future evaluations, indicators need to be defined more clearly and precisely, in order to make the achievement of objectives measurable and visible.


Background Even though most medical care occurs in ambulatory settings, the patient safety movement originated in, and has been mainly focused on, adverse events in hospitalized patients. However, it is increasingly clear that the ambulatory setting is critically important. Ambulatory care differs substantially from inpatient care in ways that affect patient safety hazards and interventions. To better understand the scope of ambulatory care safety issues and the types of evaluations that have been reported for ambulatory patient safety practice (PSP), we have been tasked by AHRQ to provide an overview of key issues relating to the interventions. Purpose This Technical Brief had the following guiding questions: What are the evidence-based hospital patient safety practices that may be applicable to the ambulatory care setting? What are the ambulatory care patient safety practices that have been studied in the literature? Which ones have not been broadly implemented or studied beyond a single ambulatory care center? What tools, settings, and other factors (such as implementation of Patient-Centered Medical Home and team-based care) may influence the implementation and spread of ambulatory care patient safety practices? Methods We integrated insights from discussions with eight Key Informants (KIs) with a literature scan of 28 safety topics/strategies. Findings KIs identified medication safety, diagnosis, transitions, referrals, and testing as important ambulatory care safety topics, and strategies that addressed communications, health IT, teams, patient engagement, organizational approaches, and safety culture as the most important strategies. The literature search found a moderate number of published intervention evaluations for e-prescribing, medication errors and adverse events, pharmacist-based interventions, and transitions from hospital to ambulatory care. There were few published evaluations of interventions for other targets/strategies. These results will assist AHRQ in developing a research agenda in ambulatory patient safety. Summary and Implications Both key informant interviews and the literature scan reveal important differences between inpatient and ambulatory safety. There are significant gaps in ambulatory safety research, including a notable lack of studies on patient engagement and timely and accurate diagnosis. Key informants recommend prospective, large-scale studies in diverse ambulatory settings to develop and test ambulatory safety interventions.


Modelling the dynamics of credit derivatives is a challenging task in finance and economics. The recent crisis has shown that the standard market models fail to measure and forecast financial risks and their characteristics. This work studies risk of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) by investigating the evolution of tranche spread surfaces and base correlation surfaces using a dynamic semiparametric factor model (DSFM). The DSFM offers a combination of flexible functional data analysis and dimension reduction methods, where the change in time is linear but the shape is nonparametric. The study provides an empirical analysis based on iTraxx Europe tranches and proposes an application to curve trading strategies. The DSFM allows us to describe the dynamics of all the tranches for all available maturities and series simultaneously which yields better understanding of the risk associated with trading CDOs and other structured products.


The enigmatic even-denominator fractional quantum Hall state at Landau level filling factor ν=5/2 is arguably the most promising candidate for harboring Majorana quasiparticles with non-Abelian statistics and, thus, of potential use for topological quantum computing. The theoretical description of the ν=5/2 state is generally believed to involve a topological p-wave pairing of fully-spin-polarized composite fermions through their condensation into a non-Abelian Moore-Read Pfaffian state. There is, however, no direct and conclusive experimental evidence for the existence of composite fermions near ν=5/2 or for an underlying fully-spin-polarized Fermi sea. Here, we report the observation of composite fermions very near ν=5/2 through geometric resonance measurements and find that the measured Fermi wave vector provides direct demonstration of a Fermi sea with full spin polarization. This lends crucial credence to the model of 5/2 fractional quantum Hall effect as a topological p-wave paired state of composite fermions.


This thesis project uses various Industrial design methods to create a concept that will evolve a sandbox into a more versatile and interesting playing area. By using parts that can be attached to the frame of the sandbox many different versions can be built to suit different demands and needs. The concept also uses lights and decorated panels to make the sandbox more interesting and visible in today's colorful playgrounds.The project is based on the meaning different stakeholders could have in the product. Research has shown that products made with the help of stakeholders has a better chance to be realized. The findings from research by interviews, fieldtrips and library studies were used as reference when sketching and building sketch-models. Sketching is used both for ideation and for explanatory pictures and has been a big part of the project. Many of the sketches and photos can be seen in the report and in the attachments.


Max Beckmann's "Pierrette und Clown" (Pierrette and Clown), 1925, is undoubtedly one of the major works in the collection of the Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany. In this painting, damages can be seen, described as protrusions. These are blisters and crater-like holes, filled with metallic soap aggregates. Painting samples and cross-sections of the ground layer have been examined by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and by confocal synchrotron radiation micro-X-ray fluorescence (CSRμXRF) in order to get compositional and spatial distribution information about the components and their behaviour. The analyzed samples of the unpainted ground layer consist of lithopone (ZnS·BaSO4), as several bulges resembling small blisters, presumably protrusions in the nascent state. Direct CSRμXRF measurements on closed blisters showed that these blisters have a high concentration of zinc in the centre with surrounding layers of barium and strontium. Relatively small amounts of lead have been recorded. In order to determine the composition of the organic compounds (e.g.fatty acids) and of the inorganic pigments (lead white, zinc white, lithopone), Raman spectroscopy has been successfully applied to flakes of an opened protrusion. The obtained Raman spectra could be assigned to derivatives of fatty acids and lithopones. These results allow conclusions to be made about the chemical behaviour by measuring the identical sample spot of the protrusion with CSRμXRF as well as Raman spectroscopy.


We introduce the idea of Synthetic Acoustic Ecology (SAC) as a vehicle for transdisciplinary investigation to develop methods and address open theoretical, applied and aesthetic questions in scientific and artistic disciplines of acoustic ecology. Ecoacoustics is an emerging science that investigates and interprets the ecological role of sound. It draws conceptually from, and is reinvigorating the related arts-humanities disciplines historically associated with acoustic ecology, which are concerned with sonically-mediated relationships between human beings and their environments. Both study the acoustic environment, or soundscape, as the literal and conceptual site of interaction of human and non-human organisms. However, no coherent theories exist to frame the ecological role of the soundscape, or to elucidate the evolutionary processes through which it is structured. Similarly there is a lack of appropriate computational methods to analyse the macro soundscape which hampers application in conservation. We propose that a sonically situated flavour of Alife evolutionary agent-based model could build a productive bridge between the art, science and technologies of acoustic ecological investigations to the benefit of all. As a first step, two simple models of the acoustic niche hypothesis are presented which are shown to exhibit emergence of complex spectro-temporal soundscape structures and adaptation to and recovery from noise pollution events. We discuss the potential of SAC as a lingua franca between empirical and theoretical ecoacoustics, and wider transdisciplinary research in ecoacoustic ecology.


Top European and American scholars contribute to this cutting-edge volume on little-researched areas of environmental and resource economics. Topics include spatial economics, poverty and development, experimental economics, large-scale risk and its management, organizational economics, technological innovation and diffusion and many more.


Backdating is a much misunderstood and largely unexplored subject. It involves a wide range of conduct, some of which is an integral part of everyday law practice. To the layperson, backdating connotes wrongdoing. The propriety of backdating, however, depends upon its purpose and effect. Every lawyer should be capable of distinguishing legitimate backdating from improper backdating. Unfortunately, the dividing line is often far from clear. Little guidance exists on backdating, notwithstanding its pervasiveness, the complexity of determining its propriety, and the serious consequences of a misjudgment. An in-depth examination of the day-to-day backdating issues that most business lawyers face cannot be found in the literature. This Article begins to fill that void. This Article explains the different meanings of backdating, explores the reasons why it is difficult to distinguish legitimate backdating from improper backdating, examines the impact of disclosure on the propriety of backdating, and develops an analytical approach to assist business lawyers in wrestling with the difficult situations most will confront in their daily practices. By illuminating the subject, it is hoped that this Article will begin a much needed dialogue about backdating.


Cross-region dynamic connectivity, which describes spatio-temporal dependence of neural activity among multiple brain regions of interest (ROIs), can provide important information for understanding cognition. For estimating such connectivity, magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) are well-suited tools because of their millisecond temporal resolution. However, localizing source activity in the brain requires solving an under-determined linear problem. In typical two-step approaches, researchers first solve the linear problem with general priors assuming independence across ROIs, and secondly quantify cross-region connectivity. In this work, we propose a one-step state-space model to improve estimation of dynamic connectivity. The model treats the mean activity in individual ROIs as the state variable, and describes non-stationary dynamic dependence across ROIs using time-varying auto-regression. Compared with a two-step method, which first obtains the commonly used minimum-norm estimates of source activity, and then fits the auto-regressive model, our state-space model yielded smaller estimation errors on simulated data where the model assumptions held. When applied on empirical MEG data from one participant in a scene-processing experiment, our state-space model also demonstrated intriguing preliminary results, indicating leading and lagged linear dependence between the early visual cortex and a higher-level scene-sensitive region, which could reflect feed-forward and feedback information flow within the visual cortex during scene processing.


Many astrophysical applications involve magnetized turbulent flows with shock waves. Ab initio star formation simulations require a robust representation of supersonic turbulence in molecular clouds on a wide range of scales imposing stringent demands on the quality of numerical algorithms. We employ simulations of supersonic super-Alfvénic turbulence decay as a benchmark test problem to assess and compare the performance of nine popular astrophysical MHD methods actively used to model star formation. The set of nine codes includes: ENZO, FLASH, KT-MHD, LL-MHD, PLUTO, PPML, RAMSES, STAGGER, and ZEUS. These applications employ a variety of numerical approaches, including both split and unsplit, finite difference and finite volume, divergence preserving and divergence cleaning, a variety of Riemann solvers, and a range of spatial reconstruction and time integration techniques. We present a comprehensive set of statistical measures designed to quantify the effects of numerical dissipation in these MHD solvers. We compare power spectra for basic fields to determine the effective spectral bandwidth of the methods and rank them based on their relative effective Reynolds numbers. We also compare numerical dissipation for solenoidal and dilatational velocity components to check for possible impacts of the numerics on small-scale density statistics. Finally, we discuss the convergence of various characteristics for the turbulence decay test and the impact of various components of numerical schemes on the accuracy of solutions. The nine codes gave qualitatively the same results, implying that they are all performing reasonably well and are useful for scientific applications. We show that the best performing codes employ a consistently high order of accuracy for spatial reconstruction of the evolved fields, transverse gradient interpolation, conservation law update step, and Lorentz force computation. The best results are achieved with divergence-free evolution of the magnetic field using the constrained transport method and using little to no explicit artificial viscosity. Codes that fall short in one or more of these areas are still useful, but they must compensate for higher numerical dissipation with higher numerical resolution. This paper is the largest, most comprehensive MHD code comparison on an application-like test problem to date. We hope this work will help developers improve their numerical algorithms while helping users to make informed choices about choosing optimal applications for their specific astrophysical problems.


This study analyzes the dynamic impacts of the production factors capital, labor and lands as well as total factor productivity (TFP) in agriculture economic growth for the period from 1972 to 2009. The results suggest that as the TFP increases labor decreases, and that the modernization of agriculture has brought technological innovations that uses less labor in the production process. The variance historical decomposition of forecast errors indicated that during the 1970´s and 1980´s, agricultural product was larger than expected. This was only possible due to the high productivity's gains occurred at that time. During the 1990´s and 2000´s, while productivity continued to increase the potential output growth, factors such as low investment and decreasing land expansion limited the agricultural economic growth, which was lower than expected.


This study applies a successive oligopoly model, with an unobservable non-linear tariff between upstream and downstream firms, to analyze the possible anti-competitive effects of an upstream merger in the Norwegian food sector (specifically, the market for eggs). The theoretical predictions are that an upstream merger may lead to higher average prices paid by downstream firms and at the same time no changes in the prices paid by consumers. Consistent with the theoretical predictions it is found that the merger had no effect on consumer prices, but led to higher average prices paid by the downstream firms to the merged firm.


From a case study under the village level study (VLS), it has been found that in the drought agriculture year 2002-03, the farmers of Uttar Pradesh followed their best choice and own outlook for risk aversion and invariably preferred those crops and techniques which involved damage control and low investment and provided insurance against loss. The water harvesting for irrigation, intercropping, growing of low-value crops, high concentration for fodder and grain rather than grain alone, and preferential low-use of monetary inputs are some of the means commonly used by the farmers during droughts. It has been concluded that rainfall probability analyses would be a component of agricultural managing/ reducing risk while large area of the Indo-Gagetic plains is falling in the state. The major weakness in generating this type of information and analysis is that it provides no specific information about the upcoming season with which the farmer must deal. Some suggestions have been given to mitigate risk in agriculture. Need has been pointed out for preparing a draught vulnerability index for different districts. It has been realized that the IMD's monsoon forecast methodology needs some serious re-thinking. The intensive climate information /farmer interface intensification of watershed programme; tighter agriculture risk management, and sustained crop diversification will have to be considered. It has been suggested that the preparedness measures can be taken by two different agencies: the assisting agency, and the drought-prone areas themselves. Drawing on field information assembled from drought relief performance, state government may develop a way of drawing inference from experience. A particular activity in drought situation should be analyzed and assessed by degree of success, with the region given for the results. These judgments may be recorded and filed in a retrieval system called 'lessons learnt'; which could be used as a useful reference source in deciding such question as what quantities are required to care for a particular number of people under a particular kind of environment or situation. The contingency plan for drinking water, irrigation water, food security, cropping system, drought warning system and research on drought- resistant varieties of crops may be updated.


"Rough Crossings" is the astonishing story of the struggle to freedom by thousands of African-American slaves who fled the plantations to fight behind British lines in the American War of Independence. With gripping, powerfully vivid story-telling, Simon Schama follows the escaped blacks into the fires of the war, and into freezing, inhospitable Nova Scotia where many who had served the Crown were betrayed in their promises to receive land at the war's end. Their fate became entwined with British abolitionists: inspirational figures such as Granville Sharp, the flute-playing father-figure of slave freedom, and John Clarkson, the 'Moses' of this great exodus, who accompanied the blacks on their final rough crossing to Africa, wher they hoped that freedom would finally greet them. 'This brilliant book by the leading historian of our times about a subject of great significance will delight professional historians and entrance the reading public. "Rough Crossings" succeeds in all respects. It is a 'tour de force' and a landmark in historical scholarship.' - Trevor Burnard, "Times Higher Education Supplement". '...Schama's gift for plunging us into the very centre of the action, whether in Charleston, London or on the African coast, makes reading an exhilarating experience. ' - Ellen Gibson Wilson, "Daily Telegraph".


This is about the changing scope of criminal law, the changing borders between criminal law, administrative law and civil liability and the abolition of some crimes for philosophical as well as for practical reasons. Safety and security in any society depend on a balanced assignment of tasks for criminal, regulatory and civil sanctions. This balance might change over time with cultural, technical and economic developments. The incomplete theories of criminal punishment can only provide very limited guidance. Retribution theory remains silent on the scope of criminal punishment, specific deterrence cannot explain some of the basic and undisputed facts of criminal law and general deterrence cannot explain why criminal punishment is not harsher than what we observe. Should we in the light of economic reasoning expect or demand a withering away of criminal sanctions and their replacement by administrative sanctions and civil liability when a country becomes rich? It is shown that this is not without pitfalls and widely rejected in European countries, especially in Germany, unlike in the USA. Replacing prison sentences with criminal fines might be more advisable. It is also shown, that the punishment of victimless crimes lacks convincing legitimacy and may for economic reasons remain less effective in terms of deterrence than for all other crimes. Both reasons call for decriminalization of victimless crimes. These are the topics for my lecture.


This paper revisits the problem of learning a k-CNF Boolean function from examples, for fixed k, in the context of online learning under the logarithmic loss. We give a Bayesian interpretation to one of Valiant's classic PAC learning algorithms, which we then build upon to derive three efficient, online, probabilistic, supervised learning algorithms for predicting the output of an unknown k-CNF Boolean function. We analyze the loss of our methods, and show that the cumulative log-loss can be upper bounded by a polynomial function of the size of each example.


-------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT-------------------------------------------------------------Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of wireless mobile nodes dynamically forming a temporary network without the use of any existing heterogeneous network infrastructure. Quality of Service (QoS) support for MANET is a challenging task due to dynamic topology and limited resource. The main purpose of QoS routing is to find a feasible path that has sufficient resources to satisfy the constraints. Ant based technique is a stochastic approach for solving optimization problems like routing in mobile ad hoc networks. This technique is based around on the study of collective behavior in decentralized self organized system. In this paper we describe an overview of the research carried out in Ant Based QoS routing for MANET.


We present a novel algorithm for efficient removal of rolling shutter distortions in uncalibrated streaming videos. Our proposed method is calibration free as it does not need any knowledge of the camera used, nor does it require calibration using specially recorded calibration sequences. Our algorithm can perform rolling shutter removal under varying focal lengths, as in videos from CMOS cameras equipped with an optical zoom. We evaluate our approach across a broad range of cameras and video sequences demonstrating robustness, scaleability, and repeatability. We also conducted a user study, which demonstrates preference for the output of our algorithm over other state-of-the art methods. Our algorithm is computationally efficient, easy to parallelize, and robust to challenging artifacts introduced by various cameras with differing technologies.


This article offers a critical examination of the smartphone application Scruff, a gay geosocial networking service targeted primarily at bears that boasts a user base of more than five million individuals in more than 180 countries. Using a case study of gay geosocial networking, the article argues for a theoretical reworking of the relationships among embodiment, space, and digital media. Geosocial services such as Scruff, by virtue of their emphasis on bodies and locations that can be accessed offline, complicate notions that online interactions are displaced, disembodied, and ethereal. By layering a virtual, but still spatialized network of users atop existing physical locations, Scruff straddles the online–offline divide and indicates how bodies, places, and identities are discursively constructed through the interplay of virtual and physical experience.


The structural and electronic properties of a series of SrMnO3 thin films grown on different substrates leading to different biaxial strains are examined by means of aberration-corrected high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). Here, we report a comprehensive theoretical investigation on the impact of oxygen nonstoichiometry and strain on the O-K and Mn-L-2,L-3 electron energy-loss near-edge structures of SrMnO3 with the aid of the all-electron density functional theory code WIEN2K. Our experimental and theoretical EELS data reveal pronounced peak-height changes and energy shifts as a function of strain, which are ascribed to differences in the oxygen vacancy density rather than to a direct effect of lattice distortions. In addition, we find that the formation of oxygen vacancies in SrMnO3 is likely to be enhanced by tensile strain. Compared to the unstrained material, the vacancy formation energy is reduced by 0.25 eV under 3.78% tensile strain.