[1] The purpose of this study is to investigate the pathways and the ventilation of source water masses of the upper and intermediate waters of the Arctic Ocean. For the Arctic and subarctic domain a coupled ice-ocean general circulation model is set up to be integrated for several decades. It is driven by a climatological seasonal cycle of monthly mean atmospheric data from 1980 to 1989 and by restored sea surface salinities. Passive tracers are used to visualize and interpret the modeled flow and to compare it with observations. The model is able to reproduce known features of the Arctic Ocean circulation like the inflow of two branches of Atlantic origin via the Fram Strait and the Barents Sea and their subsequent passage at middepths in several cyclonic circulation cells. The fate of these Atlantic source water masses, river water, and Bering Strait inflow water in the model are studied. The branch crossing the Barents Sea is subject to an intense heat loss and ice formation. As a result, water of this branch leaves the shelf toward the central part of the Arctic Ocean not only at the surface but also in denser varieties, which finally feed the central Arctic at halocline and middepths. The lightest part turns northward and finally westward joining the Transpolar Drift; the densest part (200–1000 m depth) moves eastward along the continental slope. A similar path is taken by the Atlantic water branch from the Fram Strait. The inflowing branch over the Barents Sea turns out to be the dominant source for the lower Atlantic Water layer in the Arctic Ocean in this investigation. Atlantic tracers starting in Fram Strait need 6 years to reach the northern Laptev Sea slope. Travel times to return to Fram Strait are 15–20 years along the Lomonossov Ridge and about 30 years along the continental slope of the Canadian Basin. Tracers that mark the Pacific Water or the Mackenzie River Water flow eastward and leave the Arctic mainly via the Canadian Archipelago. The Siberian River water tracers at the surface penetrate far into the Canadian Basin before they join the Transpolar Drift. The travel times of the river water from the river mouths are 2–3 years to the shelf edge and 12–14 years to Fram Strait.


In this paper we introduce a Gentzen calculus for (a functionally complete variant of) Belnap's logic in which establishing the provability of a sequent in general requires two proof trees, one establishing that whenever all premises are true some conclusion is true and one that guarantees the falsity of at least one premise if all conclusions are false. The calculus can also be put to use in proving that one statement necessarily approximates another, where necessary approximation is a natural dual of entailment. The calculus, and its tableau variant, not only capture the classical connectives, but also the 'information' connectives of four-valued Belnap logics. This answers a question by Avron.


The study analyzes the use of human albumin in hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, using inpatient data from the information system of Brazil's health system between 1999 and 2001. Death was the main outcome as patients died in 32% of admissions in which human albumin was used as compared with 4% of all admissions in the same period and region. The Charlson Comorbidity Index was included for risk adjustment. Human albumin was used in 10,111 in-patients more than 1 year old. 87,774 50-ml bottles of 20% human albumin were consumed at a cost of US$ 1,755. The main diagnoses were neoplasms (29.1%), diseases of the digestive system (17.5%) and circulatory system (16%). Death rate increased with age, public ownership of the hospital, clinical services (as opposed to surgical services), length of stay and use of intensive care. Death was associated with use of more than four bottles of human albumin (PR: 1.30; 99%CI: 1.23-1.37), adjusted for severity and speciality. The results are cause for concern as they may be related to poor compliance with guidelines, excess of risk to patients and unnecessary expenses for the public health system.


Wavelets and radial basis functions (RBF) are two rather distinct ways of representing signals in terms of shifted basis functions. An essential aspect of RBF, which makes the method applicable to non-uniform grids, is that the basis functions, unlike wavelets, are non-local-in addition, they do not involve any scaling at all. Despite these fundamental differences, we show that the two types of representation are closely connected. We use the linear splines as motivating example. These can be constructed by using translates of the one-side ramp function, or, more conventionally, by using the shifts of a linear B-spline. This latter function, which is the prototypical example of a scaling function, can be obtained by localizing the one-side ramp function using finite differences. We then generalize the concept and identify the whole class of self-similar radial basis functions that can be localized to yield conventional multiresolution wavelet bases. Conversely, we prove that, for any compactly supported scaling function, there exist a one-sided central basis function that spans the same multiresolution subspaces. The central property is that the multiresolution bases are generated by simple translation without any dilation.


The problem of neighborhood deterioration is keenly visible in Detroit today, but Detroit's housing struggles are not unique. Like most of America, the Detroit metropolitan area is racially fragmented, and minority neighborhoods are the most likely to be impoverished and failing. Detroit's problems of housing abandonment and neighborhood decay are both caused and exacerbated by decades of housing segregation and inequality. The "American Dream" has always been one of equal opportunity, but there can be no equality of opportunity when there is such stark inequality among home environments. Detroit's neighborhood decline is a symptom of the city's population loss and its mounting fiscal crisis that recently culminated in bankruptcy. Although the city's bankruptcy raises numerous financial issues to be resolved, Detroit can only create a sustainable future by addressing its regional housing inequities as well. In addition, as a recipient of federal housing funds, Detroit shares in the legal mandate to "affirmatively further fair housing." The Fair Housing Act created this obligation nearly fifty years ago, but in 2015, the Supreme Court's Inclusive Communities decision and the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing ("AFFH") Rule issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") has breathed new life into this mandate. It is therefore not only pragmatic, but also requisite, that the city and state governments deliberately attempt to racially integrate housing as they simultaneously try to address the thousands of vacant and abandoned homes in and around Detroit.As a first step to affirmatively furthering fair housing, the city and state governments should aggressively root out and remove all legal and economic barriers to racial housing integration, including zoning and restrictive covenants that make it difficult for minority residents to live in "high opportunity" neighborhoods. In a related vein, governments must reverse the trend of concentrating low-income housing in predominantly minority communities. The city must also ensure that its revitalization efforts in the city's core and its treatment of abandoned properties are designed to significantly decrease housing segregation. Affirmatively furthering fair housing will require local control of zoning, housing, and development to give way to the regional, state and national interests in creating a sustainable, equitable, and integrated future for Detroit.Prioritizing de-segregation while still addressing the problem of numerous abandoned properties can allow Detroit to find a silver lining in the gray cloud of its current vacancy crisis in that vacant properties could present an opportunity to address the city's persistent and destructive racial housing inequality. Not only could affirmative integration efforts in Detroit create a revitalized and more stable metropolitan area, but also, if successful, Detroit could provide a case study example for other highly segregated cities around the country. Deliberately creating diverse communities is the key not only to regional economic stability, but also to national racial social harmony.This article discusses the causes and effects of racially segregated housing and the role of local control in the context of Detroit's past decline and hoped-for revitalization. This article also explores the fair housing implications of government efforts to address neighborhood decline and to encourage revitalization.


A White Paper issued by the Labour government--under Prime Minister Tony Blair--in January 2003 outlines potentially sweeping changes in how British universities might be funded and regulated. These changes would build on three major paradigm shifts and experiments in system building in higher education in the United Kingdom since World War II: the creation and subsequent collapse of a binary system of higher education that included both universities and polytechnics; a decrease in governmental funding and an increase in regulations; and the introduction of student fees into the previously exclusively government-funded higher education sector. The Labour government's new White Paper proposes both to increase funding and to diversify the sources, and more controversially, to allow universities to set their own fees. At the same time, it continues to rely on an accountability and regulatory bureaucracy, and incentive funding, to encourage enrollment growth and to expand access to underserved populations.


This paper presents a method to achieve high-speed and high-accuracy 3D surface measurement using a custom-designed mechanical projector and two high-speed cameras. We developed a computational framework that can achieve absolute shape measurement in sub-pixel accuracy through: 1) capturing precisely phase-shifted fringe patterns by synchronizing the cameras with the projector; 2) generating a rough disparity map between two cameras by employing a standard stereo-vision method using texture images with encoded statistical patterns; and 3) utilizing the wrapped phase as a constraint to refine the disparity map. The projector can project binary patterns at a speed of up to 10,000 Hz, and the camera can capture the required number of phase-shifted fringe patterns with 1/10,000 second, and thus 3D shape measurement can be realized as high as 10,000 Hz regardless the number of phase-shifted fringe patterns required for one 3D reconstruction. Experimental results demonstrated the success of our proposed method.


Liver metastasis is the main cause of colorectal cancer related mortality. CXCR4 is necessary for the outgrowth of colon cancer micrometastasis. CXCR4 gene expression and serum total lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase and alkaline phosphatase levels are often increased in patients with colorectal cancer. RNA interference is a well recognized pathway involved in cellular defense against viral invasion and post transcriptional regulation. This technology has emerged as a promising new strategy for the study of functional genomics and drug target validation. It is currently being evaluated in clinical trials as a potential therapy for cancers. This study aims to evaluate the transfection efficiency of three biodegradable polymers as carriers for CXCR4 siRNAI, II to treat liver metastasis from colorectal cancer in vitro on mouse colon cancer cells (CT26.WT) and human colon cancer cells (HT29) and in vivo balb/c mice. In this study, dextran spermine, pullulan spermine and dextran hexamine were used as non-viral vectors for in vitro and in vivo CXCR4 siRNAs. Characterization of the morphology, size and stability of CXCR4 siRNAs cationized dextran were performed using transmission electron microscopy, particle sizer and zeta potential. CXCR4 expression in human colorectal cell line HT29 was measured by real-time reverse transcription PCR and immunocytochemistry. Cell proliferation assay, cell cycle analysis, acridine orange/propidium iodide staining and ultrastructural changes of cells using transmission electron microscopy were also studied as biological evaluations. Among three carriers studied, dextran spermine showed smallest size 99.25±4.3 nm with suitable zeta potential 34.15±1.55 mV. These findings were further supported by RT PCR that showed more silencing has been achieved by CXCR4 pool siRNA/dextran spermine in comparison to pullulan spermine and dextran hexamine. The percentage of viability for dextran spermine was higher than pullulan spermine and dextran-hexamine. Animal study demonstrated that inhibition of CXCR4 gene with CXCR4 siRNAI, II/dextran spermine was more efficient than naked CXCR4 siRNAI, II and also post treatment follow transfection of tumor cells more efficient than just transfection cells treatment with naked CXCR4 siRNAI, II or CXCR4 siRNAI, II/dextran spermine.CXCR4 expression was correlated with serum total lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase and creatine kinase. These data show that CXCR4 expression lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase and creatine kinase may be useful markers to predict liver metastasis in colorectal cancer. Dextran spermine demonstrated improved transfection efficiency in siRNA therapy.


Using a social reproduction framework, this article explores how reproduction of rural working class households is rearticulated to capitalist production in India. Our analysis of the conditions in India reveals that the interaction of three institutions—market, state and household—has imposed the burden of reproduction on women. In turn, women's work is dependent on private and common lands. This link, between the role of women's unpaid labour in reproducing rural households and the fact that this work remains largely dependent on land, constitutes a failure of the Indian economy to provide decent livelihoods. It also reasserts gender equity as a contemporary and unresolved question in the midst of India's agrarian transition and underscores the importance of instituting agrarian reforms and state intervention at levels sufficient for social reproduction.


This paper illustrates our approach of building an integrated knowledge-based design environment, which facilitates knowledge delivery mechanisms. The KID (Knowing-In-Design) design environment provides a specification and a construction components which allow a user to specify design problem requirements at abstract levels, and to form a solution by direct manipulation in a domain of kitchen floor plan design. A partial problem specification and solution construction given through the components represent the user's task at hand to be shared with the design environment. The environment dynamically identifies and informs of a possible breakdown in a partial design, and delivers information from the knowledge bases that are inferred to be relevant to the identified task at hand. The study of KID indicates not only that the system has improved design processes, but also that the delivery mechanism is an effective method to elicit knowledge from designers, addressing the knowledge acquisition problem.


Ground control, one of the key elements in mine safety, is an issue that warrants continuous improvement in the underground coal industry. The United States experienced over 3,300 injuries and 42 deaths between 2006 and 2012 from the fall of a roof or rib (MSHA, 2015). Out of the underground coal mining methods, room and pillar retreat mining lacks significant research to adequately understand the rockmass behavior associated with the process. A microseismic monitoring system was installed in a retreat mine in Southwest Virginia to provide more information about the changing stress conditions created by retreating and ultimately reduce risk to miners. Microseismicity has been proven to be an acceptable method of monitoring stress redistribution in underground coal mines and assist in explaining rockmass behavior (Luxbacher, et al, 2007). An array of geophones was placed underground along a single retreat panel to record failures due to stress redistribution throughout one panel of retreat. These microseismic events were located, and their moment magnitudes were found. An analysis was completed to observe the redistribution of stress and related gob formation throughout the panel's retreat. Expectations for the gob formation were consistent with the distribution of microseismic events. Over 13,000 microseismic events were found in 1.5 months of monitoring. Approximately 2,800 of these events were well enough located to provide analysis of the changing underground stress conditions from the retreat process. On average, recorded microseismic events during retreat produced a moment magnitude of -0.9, with no events higher than a magnitude of 2.0.


In this paper, we present a brief exposition of the history of the secured credit card, beginning with its origins in California in the 1970s. We present a series of stylized facts based on a December 2015 cross section of the secured card market. We find that most secured cards require an annual fee, tend not to have promotional offers or rewards, and often have higher purchase annual percentage rates than their unsecured counterparts. We also find that the percentage of secured card accounts in a delinquency status is more than double that of unsecured cards and that far fewer secured cards are inactive compared with unsecured cards. In addition, the annual income of secured card consumers is about 43 percent lower than unsecured card consumers. Last, we examine how the credit scores of consumers opening a secured card account change during the first two years of account history. We find that keeping a secured card account open is correlated with improved creditworthiness, while closing an account, either in good standing or in default, is correlated with significantly reduced creditworthiness.


The Corner Brook Lake area, located at the eastern margin of the Humber zone in central western Newfoundland, was mapped on a reconnaissance scale in order to sketch the salient features of its geology, which until now has been very poorly understood. -- The area is underlain mainly by a metamorphosed and deformed sedimentary cover sequence deposited during Hadrynian-Ordovician time on a Grenvillian basement complex, part of which outcrops in the area. The cover consists of basal clastic rocks, which underlie the eastern half of the map area, stratigraphically overlain by carbonate rocks, which occupy the western half of the area and are continuous with the extensive Cambro-Ordovician carbonate bank sequence of western Newfoundland. The area also includes allochthonous Cambro-Ordovician clastic and ophiolite-derived rocks, a small Siluro-Devonian granitoid pluton, and Carboniferous clastic rocks. -- Five distinct deformation events (D1-D5) are recognized, representing the effects of three regional orogenic events - the Middle Ordovician Taconic (D1/D2), the Devonian Acadian (D3) and the Carboniferous to Permian Alleghenian (D4/D5) orogenies. The intensity of deformation decreased after a peak during the Taconic, and a single, lower amphibolite facies metamorphic peak reached during the Taconic and Taconic-Acadian interkinematic Interval was followed during the Acadian by lower greenschist facies conditions. Three major east-dipping thrust faults are delineated, and their long histories, involving initiation during Taconic and subsequent reactivations during Acadian and Alleghenian orogenies, are outlined. The thrusts superpose the highly deformed and metamorphosed basement and lowermost cover rocks on the Cambro-Ordovician carbonate sequence, and in combination with west-verging folds account for the general westward, tectonic transport in the area. -- The tectono-stratigraphic features of the area clearly reflect the Hadrynian-Ordovician construction and Middle Ordovician and later destruction of the ancient continental margin of eastern North America, the Number zone. -- The more significant results of this study include: delineation of the stratigraphic and structural features of the eastern part of the area; firm establishment of the Grand Lake Brook group as part of the Cambro-Ordovician carbonate sequence, and its recognition as a stratigraphic and structural link across the major thrust zones with the Hadrynian-Cambrian metaclastic sequence in the eastern part of the area; identification of the earliest deformation events (D1/D2) in both the carbonate and metaclastic terranes and the correlation of these events with the Taconic Orogeny, implying the earliest post-Grenvllle deformation in this part of the Humber zone was due to Taconic Orogeny in Middle Ordovician time.


Arizona is adding long-term care to its prepaid, capitated alternative to Medicaid. This article discusses the potential for this major cost-control experiment. Experience suggests that those able to quality for long-term care will fare better than the poor did in the previous system. However, limiting eligibility will be the primary means of controlling costs; significant price competition is not likely to develop. The bidding process will serve more to transfer risk to contract providers than to improve program efficiency. Potential cost savings will be more than offset by an increased identification of need.


In the near future, large computer networks will be connection oriented,
with at least the data link connectivity being provided by the Asynchronous
Transfer Mode.
(ATM) networks. However, these networks may have to
communicate with the existing network which predominantly use Internet
Protocol (IP). Running Internet Protocol over Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Network has been a contentious issue due to the inefficient segmentation of
Internet Protocol packets into Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells. In
this thesis, the current protocols and standards pertaining to Internet
Protocol over Asynchronous Transfer Mode are discussed and overheads
involved in placing Internet Protocol packets into Asynchronous Transfer
Mode cells, taking Logical Link Control/Sub Network Attachment Point
Encapsulation into consideration, are analysed to find out the cell utilization
of Asynchronous Transfer Mode cell in carrying the Internet Protocol
packets. The Wide Area Network (WAN) oriented traffic for our analysis is
collected from the Internet Traffic Archive. Analysis of the trace results show that the Asynchronous Transfer Mode
cell utilisation is better in carrying the user information if the Internet
Protocol packet are sizes larger. It is observed that ranges of Internet
Protocol packets require similar number of Asynchronous Transfer Mode
cells. At small values of Internet Protocol packets, the efficiency of
Asynchronous Transfer Mode cell in carrying the user information is
significantly low due to the Logical Link Control Encapsulation, padding and
the trailer overheads. The Asynchronous Transfer Mode Cell utilization is
better in Virtual Circuit (VC) based multiplexing, saving 8 bytes of
encapsulation for each packet, thus improving the Asynchronous Transfer
Mode (ATM) cell utilization marginally. It is seen that 80% of the Internet
Protocol packet length varies from 54 to 200 bytes for which cell utilisation
varies from 50%-to 82%. However, the average cell utilisation is 84% in the
20,000 packets observed since 20% of the Internet Protocol packet length is
greater than 1000 bytes.


Summary The microscopic study of smear preparations of tumor tissue, prepared by a variety of cytological technics, has revealed the presence of inter- and intracellular fungal structures. Spores and developing conidia may be easily mistaken, in preparations made by routine histological technics, for lymphocytes and other blood cells. Mycelial forms of the fungi were readily isolated from transplanted, induced, and spontaneous tumors of the mouse and from human tumors. Fungi Imperfecti related to the Blastomycete group have been isolated from all types of tumor, including human neoplasms, and from mouse leukemias. In mice, a second form of fungus, apparently specific for the host strain, is frequently encountered.


Introduction There has been a steep rise in the use of drugs during sex by some men who have sex with men (MSM), with associated increases in sexual risk for HIV and other STIs. This 'Chemsex' has been described, but there is a lack of theoretical perspectives applied to this particular phenomenon. We aimed to assess participants' reasoning and conceptualisation of Chemsex and situate this within theoretical frameworks. Methods This study presents data from telephone interviews with 15 MSM attending sexual health clinics following a risk of HIV and accessing post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Interviews were conducted as part of a larger interventional study, which used an adapted version of Motivational Interviewing to explore risk behaviour and support change. We used Framework analysis on interview transcripts in order to understand participants' perspectives on the use of chemsex. Results Participants conceptualised their chemsex and HIV risks in their psycho-social context, highlighting the influence of the psycho-socio-cultural challenges of homophobic marginalisation and the 'gay scene' on their behaviour. Narratives of loneliness and difficulties in forming satisfying social and sexual relationships were repeatedly identified. Discussion Multiple influences of stigma, minority stress and maladaptive coping (including drug-use) are seen to contribute to syndemic 'risk-environments' in which chemsex and risk behaviours are played out. Interventions to address the harms of chemsex must recognise the complex psychosocial context of risk, and shift the responsibility for change from vulnerable individuals to a shared responsibility distributed across social, political and institutional contexts.


There is a growing need to incorporate database integrity subsystems into large information systems in engineering design environments and real-time control and monitoring environments. The objectives of the integrity subsystem are to provide a user interface for constraint specification, to compile the specification into enforcement strategies, and to check data integrity at both compile-time and run-time. The approach proposed by this research is to develop the conceptual view of the database using the Entity Relationship Model (ERM). Users' queries and semantic constraints can be specified by an ER-based data language, the Applicative Data Language (ADL). Any ADL constraint specification is compiled into both a compile-time and a run-time checking strategy for enforcement. The integrity subsystem, then, automatically maintains the consistency of data whenever there is a change in the database state. The basic constructs of ADL are data structures, functions, and predicates. It takes advantage of the semantic clarification of objects and relationships in the Entity Relationship Model by doing, first, an object level computation and , then, a data element level computation. The object level computation determines how objects are associated with each other. The data element computation, on the other hand, examines the data values of those associated objects and derives new relations from these values. A semantic constraint, therefore, is formulated as a computation procedure that maps the current database state to a TRUE or FALSE value. The computational syntax of ADL allows us to compile directly each constraint specification into a transition digraph for compile-time constraint checking. This research proposes the incremental computation strategy for efficient run-time constraint checking. The objective of the strategy is to do run-time constraint checking without full evaluation of the database. The entire computation procedure centers around the user's update. It propagates the incremental changes along the transition digraph to infer the effect of the update upon the new truth value of the semantic constraint. This research concludes that ADL with its generality in semantic constraint modeling and its enforcement strategies at both compile-time and run-time is adequate as the architecture for an integrity subsystem supporting an Entity Relationship database. CHAPTER


Background: Depression is prevalent in the diabetic population. Primary care physician is busy in treating diabetes and depression among them goes unnoticed. According to the American Diabetic Association, two out of three are not able to achieve glycaemic control. Diabetes and depression both share complex cause-effect relationship. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of antidepressants on glycaemic control among the adult diabetic population suffering from depression. Method: Cochrane database was systematically searched with search strategy andonly parallel randomized clinical trial with antidepressant and placebo group were considered. Outcome measures were HbA1c, Fasting blood glucose, weight, body mass index, treatment adherence. Data extraction form were adapted from Cochrane. Two researchers identified studies and extracted data independently. Revman was used for meta-analysis and risk of bias. Level of evidence was generated using Gradepro. Results: Out of 394 studies, six studies fulfilling the eligibility criteria were pooled for analysis. Using mean difference (MD), meta-analysis showed significant evidence of glycaemic control in favor of antidepressant treated diabetic population compared to placebo group (n = 6 studies) (MD = -0.32%; 95% CI = -0.57 to 0.08).Weight, BMI does not show a any significant mean difference between two groups. Conclusions and Implications of Key Findings: There is moderate level of evidence that antidepressants improve the glycaemic control in diabetic population suffering from depression. Understanding and treating the mental and psychological determinant with adequate control of depression should be emphasized for the diabetic population.


A high-resolution (sub-metre, ~ 100 kyr) study of the palynology (dominantly dinoflagellate cyst) and host-rock (major-element and stable isotope) geochemistry is presented for three Upper Cretaceous Chalk sections from onshore UK. A total of 411 samples from the Banterwick Barn borehole (Berkshire, Cenomanian - Coniacian) and Gun Gardens outcrop (East Sussex, Cenomanian - Turonian) in the Anglo-Paris Basin, and the Trunch borehole (North Norfolk, Cenomanian - Campanian) in the southern North Sea Basin, contained diverse assemblages, including 212 dinocyst and acritarch species. One questionably new genus Cordosphaeridium?, two new species C? swanjartochii and Chatangiella spinosum, one new subspecies Senoniasphaera rotundata alveolata and two morphotypes of Exochosphaeridium bifidum are recorded. Odontochitina diversus is a new name proposed for Odontochitina sp. A of Costa & Davey (1992). The first fully quantitative absolute abundance data for dinocysts from Upper Cretaceous sequences have been produced, and these indicate that stratigraphically significant spatial and temporal trends occur. Palynological data have been calibrated chronostratigraphically by macrofossils and provide the most detailed record to date of dinocyst biostratigraphy for the Upper Cretaceous of NW Europe. Bioevents identified in the Banterwick Barn borehole, and confirmed using additional data from southern English sites, are graphically correlated to comparable events in the Trunch borehole to develop a robust bioevent stratigraphy for onshore UK. This is integrated with dinocyst data from NW Europe and a new dinocyst zonation scheme, consisting of five zones and nine subzones (the latter providing ~ 1 Myr resolution), from the uppermost Cenomanian to lower Campanian is proposed: Litosphaeridium siphoniphorum Zone (? - uppermost Cenomanian); Cyclonephelium membraniphorum Zone (uppermost Cenomanian - Turonian); Senoniasphaera rotundata alveolata Subzone (lower - mid-Turonian); Raetiaedinium truncigerum Subzone (upper Turonian); Oligosphaeridium pulcherrimum Zone (Coniacian); Senoniasphaera rotundata rotundata Subzone (lower Coniacian); Cyclonephelium filoreticulatum Subzone (upper Coniacian); Spinidinium echinoideum Zone (Santonian); Trithyrodinium sp. A Subzone (lower - mid-Santonian); Chatangiella spinosum Subzone (mid- upper Santonian); Rhynchodintopsis aptiana Zone (upper Santonian - lower Campanian); Senoniasphaera protrusa Subzone (upper Santonian - lower Campanian); Thalassiphora? spinosa Subzone and ChatangielIa manumii Subzone (lower Campanian),
A new palaeoecological model based on dinocyst assemblage composition, absolute abundance, diversity and environmental proxy data (Gonyaulacacean and peridinioid - gonyaulacoid ratios, stability/predictability ecological concepts, stable-isotopes) is developed. The primary control on dinocyst assemblages are suggested to be sea-level, relative-water depth and sea-surface temperature. Dinocyst assemblages have been compared to sequence stratigraphic interpretations. Salinity variations were probably negligible in the Anglo-Paris and North Sea basins during the Late Cretaceous and variations in lithofacies are not considered to have significantly effected the overall assemblage abundance. Cluster analysis of geochemical and absolute abundance data suggests that the variation in the clastic / carbonate flux had an effect on the abundance of individual species. Species are grouped into three main clusters that correspond to clastic-associated, and carbonate-associated elements, and a facies independent group. The palaeoecological interpretation of these groupings is unclear, but they suggest that major differences in the ecology of cyst-producing dinoflagellates occurred in the Late Cretaceous. Dinocyst and geochemical data from the Cenomanian / Turonian boundary (CTB) at Gun Gardens, indicate that the palaeoenvironmental conditions giving rise to a major change in the flora during the CTB event were a response to normal oceanographic conditions operating during the Late Cretaceous transgression. The migration of taxa toward shallow-water refugia is suggested to be the cause of the apparent extinction, and was not a result of an expanding oxygen-minimum zone, as proposed by previous authors.
Major similarities between the major-element geochemical profiles from southern and eastern England are demonstrated, with consistent trends observed for Sr and the molar element / Al ratios of constituents associated with the clastic fraction (i.e. Si, Ti). This chemostratigraphic framework is calibrated by high-resolution dinocyst data, and by stage and macrofossil zone boundaries. Individual elements have limited correlation value, but when all elements are considered together they provide an excellent chemostratigraphic tool. A comparison with published data from the Danish Subbasin, suggests that the chemostratigraphic framework can be applied over distances of> 650 km. Detailed ([delta]sup]13 C and [delta][sup]18 O stable-isotope profiles from the Trunch borehole demonstrate that Northern Province chalk show greater similarities to Gennan rather than southern English sections.


This study aimed to evaluate the effect of contemplation and meditation (CM) training, with a focus on developing great compassion, on the psychological well-being (PWB) of adolescents. Participants (N = 51, mean age = 15.8) were randomly allocated to either CM training (n = 26) or a comparison group (n = 25). Both groups completed measures of PWB before and after the intervention. Adolescents who received CM training showed statistically significant increases in environmental mastery and personal growth, as well as decreased negative affect compared to the comparison group. Girls in the experimental group also showed a significant decrease in negative affect compared with boys in the experimental group. Both the experimental and comparison groups demonstrated increased life satisfaction, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, autonomy, and purpose in life. There were no changes in positive affect and positive relations with others for both groups.


[1] An algorithm that determines the 670-nm top-of-atmosphere (TOA) albedo of ice clouds over ocean using Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectance (POLDER) multidirectional measurements is developed. A plane-parallel layer of ice cloud with various optical thicknesses and light scattering phase functions is assumed. For simplicity, we use a double Henyey-Greenstein phase function to approximate the volume-averaged phase function of the ice clouds. A multidirectional reflectance best-fit match between theoretical and POLDER reflectances is used to infer effective cloud optical thickness, phase function and TOA albedo. Sensitivity tests show that while the method does not provide accurate independent retrievals of effective cloud optical depth and phase function, TOA albedo retrievals are accurate to within ∼3% for both a single layer of ice clouds or a multilayer system of ice clouds and water clouds. When the method is applied to POLDER measurements and retrieved albedos are compared with albedos based on empirical angular distribution models (ADMs), zonal albedo differences are generally smaller than ∼3%. When albedos are compared with those on the POLDER-I ERB and Cloud product, the differences can reach ∼15% at small solar zenith angles.


The idea of "only knowing" a collection of sentences, as proposed by Levesque, has been previously shown to be very useful in characterizing knowledge-based agents: in terms of a specification, a precise and perspicuous account of the beliefs and non-beliefs is obtained in a monotonic setting. Levesque's logic is based on a first-order modal language with quantifying-in, thus allowing for de re versus de dicto distinctions, among other things. However, the logic and its recent dynamic extension only deal with the case of a single agent. In this work, we propose a first-order multiagent framework with knowledge, actions, sensing and only knowing, that is shown to inherit all the features of the single agent version. Most significantly, we prove reduction theorems by means of which reasoning about knowledge and actions in the framework simplifies to non-epistemic, non-dynamic reasoning about the initial situation.


This study aimed to determine the diagnostic utility of mast cell densities in distinguishing neurotised ("neural") melanocytic naevi from neurofibromas. Three groups of lesions were studied: neurofibromas, neural naevi, and naevi showing no neural change (control naevi). A Giemsa stain was used to demonstrate mast cells. The median mast cell density in the neurotised naevus group was significantly higher (p < 0.005) than that of both the neurofibroma and control naevus groups, but the distributions of the individual density counts overlapped considerably. The sensitivity and specificity of the mast cell density as a potential discriminator between neurotised naevi and neurofibromas, determined in relation to the optimal discrimination value obtained using Bayes' minimum cost decision rule, were low. It is concluded that mast cell density on its own is of little use as a classification tool but could be of value in the context of a multivariate decision rule.


Portable Document Format (PDF) is a page-oriented, graphically rich format based on PostScript semantics and it is also the format interpreted by the Adobe Acrobat viewers. Although each of the pages in a PDF document is an independent graphic object this property does not necessarily extend to the components (headings, diagrams, paragraphs etc.) within a page. This, in turn, makes the manipulation and extraction of graphic objects on a PDF page into a very difficult and uncertain process.The work described here investigates the advantages of a model wherein PDF pages are created from assemblies of COGs (Component Object Graphics) each with a clearly defined graphic state. The relative positioning of COGs on a PDF page is determined by appropriate 'spacer' objects and a traversal of the tree of COGs and spacers determines the rendering order. The enhanced revisability of PDF documents within the COG model is discussed, together with the application of the model in those contexts which require easy revisability coupled with the ability to maintain and amend PDF document structure.


The most effective adhesives for wood joints have a moisture content between 8% and 12%. Apparently a monomolecular layer of water between the wood and the adhesive is necessary to provide the adhesive force, through hydrogen bonds. To correlate other factors with the new theory, an extensive microscopic study of glue joints in wood is being made. Research is directed to the various stresses and to the importance of such other factors as penetration of adhesives, surface texture and density, and surface damage before gluing.4. E. Marian, Forest Products Laboratory, Berkeley.


"Consumers have only partial knowledge before making a purchase decision, but can acquire more-detailed information. Marketing makes it easier or harder for these consumers to do so. When consumers are "ex ante" heterogeneous, the firm might choose an intermediate marketing strategy for two quite different reasons. First, as a nonprice means of discrimination-it can make information only partially available, in a way that induces some, but not all, consumers to acquire the information. Second, when the firm cannot commit to a given investment in ensuring quality, the marketing and pricing strategy can act as a commitment device." Copyright (c) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc..


Comparative genomics has shown that ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii) contain more copies of many genes than other vertebrates. A large number of these additional genes appear to have been produced during a genome duplication event that occurred early during the evolution of Actinopterygii (i.e. before the teleost radiation). In addition to this ancient genome duplication event, many lineages within Actinopterygii have experienced more recent genome duplications. Here we introduce a curated database named Wanda that lists groups of orthologous genes with one copy from man, mouse and chicken, one or two from tetraploid Xenopus and two or more ancient copies (i.e. paralogs) from ray-finned fish. The database also contains the sequence alignments and phylogenetic trees that were necessary for determining the correct orthologous and paralogous relationships among genes. Where available, map positions and functional data are also reported. The Wanda database should be of particular use to evolutionary and developmental biologists who are interested in the evolutionary and functional divergence of genes after duplication. Wanda is available at http://www.evolutionsbiologie.uni-konstanz.de/Wanda/.


Investor and writer Howard Marks is a co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, the world's largest distressed debt investor. Recognized in the investment community for his memos to Oaktree clients, Marks uses these missives to inform clients about his investment strategies, his opinions about market opportunities and risks, and his insights about the economy. He is also the author of a 2011 book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor.In November 2015, Marks spoke with members of the Journal of Investment Consulting Editorial Advisory Board about his investment philosophy and Oaktree's corporate culture.


Depression slows wound healing in patients with chronic wounds. The prevalence of depressive symptoms differs in the literature and the current understandings of factors related to depression in patients with wounds have been limited. To investigate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and the associated factors in patients with wounds, we performed this retrospective study in which depressive symptoms were evaluated with the Patient Health Questionnaire 9‐item (PHQ‐9). Valid PHQ‐9 scores were collected from 222 patients (112 males and 110 females; age: 64.1 ± 15.8) out of 260 consecutive patients evaluated at an outpatient physical therapy wound clinic during 2012–2015. The proportion of patients with minimal to severe depressive symptoms was 81.5% [80.8% in patients with venous leg ulcers (VLUs) and 82.0% in non‐VLUs]; 22.1% patients with wounds had scored positive for depression (moderate to severe depressive symptoms). Specific proportions of positive depression screening were 26.6% in patients with VLUs and 18.8% in non‐VLU patients, and 14.1 and 40.0% in patients with wounds <90 and ≥ 90 days as of initial examination, respectively. PHQ‐9 scores were significantly decreased from 5.85 ± 6.01 at initial examination to 3.42 ± 4.35 at last visit (p < 0.001). The odds of a positive depression screening was 3.20 (95% CI = [1.49, 6.87]) in patients with wounds ≥ 90 days (vs. < 90 days) and 2.53 (95% CI = [1.26, 5.08]) in patients with pain related to the wounds (vs. without pain), after patients' age, gender, and race were controlled for. No difference was found in proportions of positive depression screening between VLUs and other wound diagnoses. Depressive symptoms were common in patients with wounds, especially in patients with wounds ≥90 days and with pain related to the wounds at initial examination. Therefore, clinicians should take into consideration patients' mental status upon management of wounds.


The main complaint most often experienced patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) it was packed. One nursing interventions to increase confidence in the efforts to overcome the shortness of the COPD patient self-efficacy pursed lip breathing. This study aims to determine the effect of self-efficacy pursed lip breathing to decrease tightness and increased oxygen saturation of patients with COPD. The study design was a randomized controlled trial to study design pretest-posttest design. The study involved 36 respondents using block randomization technique respondents are divided into 18 intervention and 18 control group respondents. The results of statistical analysis showed that there were significant differences decrease tightness and increased oxygen saturation between the intervention and control groups after the intervention, with p <0.001. Self efficacy pursed lip breathing can be used as an alternative airway management nursing intervention in COPD patients.


The sex‐role reversed pipefish Syngnathus typhle is a member of the Syngnathidae, a family of fishes in which males brood embryos on their body surface. As in most ectotherms, embryonic development is highly temperature dependent in syngnathids and male brooding periods are extended when water temperatures are reduced. The influence of temperature on reproduction is expected to effectively truncate the breeding season and reduce fecundity in cold waters, potentially enhancing the opportunity for both fecundity and sexual selection. We studied spatial variation in the morphology and reproductive biology of S. typhle in five European populations which vary in latitude and water temperature. Microsatellite analyses indicated that the average number of male mates per population ranged between 1.3 and 3.7. The frequency of multiple mating by males was negatively correlated with the degree of sexual size dimorphism in each population, suggesting that disproportionate increases in female fecundity may be able to compensate for increased male brood pouch capacity. Both sexes were larger and males had an increased brood size where water temperatures during the breeding season were lower. Morphological variation among populations may be mediated by differences in fecundity selection associated with different optimal reproductive strategies in cold and warm water environments.


In this study, we set out to determine if home intravenous (i.v.) antibiotic therapy in adult patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) is a feasible, effective and less costly alternative to hospitalization, and to assess the impact of home therapy on quality of life. The study was a prospective, randomized, two-factor mixed design involving adults presenting with respiratory exacerbations of CF. Patients were randomized such that they were discharged home after 2-4 days, or remained in hospital. Seventeen patients had 31 admissions (13 home and 18 hospital). Following 10 days of therapy, there were no significant differences between home or hospital arms with respect to body weight, 12 minute walking distance, sputum weight, pulse oximetry, or improvement in lung function (forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), or forced vital capacity (FVC)). Patients who remained in hospital were less fatigued and noted a greater degree of mastery. Patients discharged early noted less disruption to their family life, personal life and sleeping pattern. The total cost for the home therapy arm was approximately half that of the hospital therapy arm. Home intravenous antibiotic therapy in patients with cystic fibrosis was a feasible, cost-effective alternative to receiving therapy in hospital. Although there was no clinical compromise associated with home therapy, there were advantages and disadvantages in terms of quality of life.


The rapid depletion of aquifers around the world is a growing concern. This depletion raises important questions at national and local levels about different aspects of groundwater over-exploitation and related social and political implications. Iran is a country which has historically relied on groundwater resources for development purposes, but in recent decades it has experienced a progressive decline in water levels of aquifers across the country. Groundwater policies and measures to control overabstraction have largely failed to restore the groundwater balance. This paper explores some of the key aspects of Iran's persistent groundwater overabstraction problem. It addresses the demographic, legal, infrastructural, economic, socio-institutional, bureaucratic, and knowledge and expertise challenges as they affect water distribution and water security. The paper illustrates how technocratic knowledge-making, myopic policymaking, and populist lawmaking related to groundwater use have caused mismanagement at the national level and overabstraction at the local level. It is therefore essential that policy reforms pertaining to groundwater be guided by transformative visions in different areas of governance. A consistent, transparent, and integrated legal and institutional framework for law enforcement must be developed; the social and political costs of enforcing regulations must be reduced; and local communities must be included in lawand policy-making as well as implementation.


In this paper, a performance optimisation based on the exergetic/ecological coefficient of performance (ECOP) criterion has been performed for an irreversible simple, regenerative and cogeneration gas turbine systems by using exergy analysis method. The ECOP objective function defined as the ratio of exergy output to the loss rate of availability (or total exergy destruction). The obtained results were matched against those obtained using the power output and exergy efficiency. The design parameters under the optimal conditions have been derived numerically and their effects on the engine's performance have been discussed. The effect of the design parameters such as pressure ratio of compressor, cycle temperature ratio, isentropic efficiencies of turbine and compressor, effectiveness of the regenerator and pinch point temperature difference have also been investigated. The results obtained from this paper will provide guidance for the design of simple, regenerative and cogeneration gas turbine systems and can be used for selection of optimal design parameters.


We report on the result of a campaign to monitor 25 HATSouth candidates using the Kepler space telescope during Campaign 7 of the K2 mission. We discover HATS-36b (EPIC 215969174b, K2-145b), an eccentric ( ) hot Jupiter with a mass of and a radius of , which transits a solar-type G0V star (V = 14.386) in a -day period. We also refine the properties of three previously discovered HATSouth transiting planets (HATS-9b, HATS-11b, and HATS-12b) and search the K2 data for TTVs and additional transiting planets in these systems. In addition, we also report on a further three systems that remain as Jupiter-radius transiting exoplanet candidates. These candidates do not have determined masses, however pass all of our other vetting observations. Finally, we report on the 18 candidates that we are now able to classify as eclipsing binary or blended eclipsing binary systems based on a combination of the HATSouth data, the K2 data, and follow-up ground-based photometry and spectroscopy. These range in periods from 0.7 day to 16.7 days, and down to 1.5 mmag in eclipse depths. Our results show the power of combining ground-based imaging and spectroscopy with higher precision space-based photometry, and serve as an illustration as to what will be possible when combining ground-based observations with TESS data.


Like our Moon, the majority of the solar system's satellites are locked in a 1:1 spin-orbit resonance; on average, these satellites show the same face toward the planet at a constant rotation rate equal to the satellite's orbital rate. In addition to the uniform rotational motion, physical librations (oscillations about an equilibrium) also occur. The librations may contain signatures of the satellite's internal properties. Using stereophotogrammetry on Cassini Image Science Subsystem (ISS) images, we measured longitudinal physical forced librations of Saturn's moon Mimas. Our measurements confirm all the libration amplitudes calculated from the orbital dynamics, with one exception. This amplitude depends mainly on Mimas' internal structure and has an observed value of twice the predicted one, assuming hydrostatic equilibrium. After considering various possible interior models of Mimas, we argue that the satellite has either a large nonhydrostatic interior, or a hydrostatic one with an internal ocean beneath a thick icy shell. The precise difference between rotational and orbital periods suggests an unexpected interior for one of Saturn's moons. What's inside Saturn's tiniest moon? The icy body Mimas is the smallest of Saturn's main moons, only slightly wider than Switzerland. Like our own Moon, Mimas is tidally locked in its orbit and shows nearly the same face to Saturn at all times. The rotational and orbital periods continually overtake each other slightly, however, so that the moon would appear to rock back and forth as viewed from Saturn. Tajeddine et al. measured these movements with the Cassini spacecraft to see what they reveal about the moon's interior. Surprisingly, the data are consistent with models for a subsurface ocean or an elongated core. Science, this issue p. 322


User behavior data in recommender systems are driven by the complex interactions of many latent factors behind the users' decision making processes. The factors are highly entangled, and may range from high-level ones that govern user intentions, to low-level ones that characterize a user's preference when executing an intention. Learning representations that uncover and disentangle these latent factors can bring enhanced robustness, interpretability, and controllability. However, learning such disentangled representations from user behavior is challenging, and remains largely neglected by the existing literature. In this paper, we present the MACRo-mIcro Disentangled Variational Auto-Encoder (MacridVAE) for learning disentangled representations from user behavior. Our approach achieves macro disentanglement by inferring the high-level concepts associated with user intentions (e.g., to buy a shirt or a cellphone), while capturing the preference of a user regarding the different concepts separately. A micro-disentanglement regularizer, stemming from an information-theoretic interpretation of VAEs, then forces each dimension of the representations to independently reflect an isolated low-level factor (e.g., the size or the color of a shirt). Empirical results show that our approach can achieve substantial improvement over the state-of-the-art baselines. We further demonstrate that the learned representations are interpretable and controllable, which can potentially lead to a new paradigm for recommendation where users are given fine-grained control over targeted aspects of the recommendation lists.


Geolocation, the process of identifying the precise location in the world where a photo or video was taken, is central to many types of investigative work, from debunking fake news posted on social media to locating terrorist training camps. Professional geolocation is often a manual, time-consuming process that involves searching large areas of satellite imagery for potential matches. In this paper, we explore how crowdsourcing can be used to support expert image geolocation. We adapt an expert diagramming technique to overcome spatial reasoning limitations of novice crowds, allowing them to support an expert's search. In two experiments (n=1080), we found that diagrams work significantly better than ground-level photos and allow crowds to reduce a search area by half before any expert intervention. We also discuss hybrid approaches to complex image analysis combining crowds, experts, and computer vision.


Nine Vibracores from the backbarrier marsh at Whale Beach, New Jersey, reveal three large-scale overwash deposits associated with historic and prehistoric storms. The uppermost and smallest overwash fan was deposited in the Ash Wednesday northeaster of March 5‐8, 1962. A second more substantial overwash fan between 100 and 35 cm depth dates to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. This fan was most likely deposited during the 1821 hurricane, the only intense hurricane to make landfall in New Jersey in the past 350 yr. A third, larger overwash fan between 200 and 300 cm depth was deposited between A.D. 1278 and 1438 and is likely the result of a prehistoric intense hurricane strike. The combination of historical and stratigraphic evidence indicates that two intense hurricanes (winds . 50 ms 21 ) have likely made landfall on the southern New Jersey coast in the past 700 yr, resulting in an annual landfall probability of 0.3%.


Economics is a matter of choice and growth, of interaction and exchange among individuals. Because property rights define the rules of these interactions and the objects of exchange, it is vital to fully understand the institutions and implications of the various property-rights regimes. With over 20 original and specially commissioned chapters, this book takes the reader from the historical and moral foundations of the discipline to the frontiers of scholarly research in the field.


This paper presents a challenge to the community: given a large corpus of written text aligned to its normalized spoken form, train an RNN to learn the correct normalization function. We present a data set of general text where the normalizations were generated using an existing text normalization component of a text-to-speech system. This data set will be released open-source in the near future.
We also present our own experiments with this data set with a variety of different RNN architectures. While some of the architectures do in fact produce very good results when measured in terms of overall accuracy, the errors that are produced are problematic, since they would convey completely the wrong message if such a system were deployed in a speech application. On the other hand, we show that a simple FST-based filter can mitigate those errors, and achieve a level of accuracy not achievable by the RNN alone.
Though our conclusions are largely negative on this point, we are actually not arguing that the text normalization problem is intractable using an pure RNN approach, merely that it is not going to be something that can be solved merely by having huge amounts of annotated text data and feeding that to a general RNN model. And when we open-source our data, we will be providing a novel data set for sequence-to-sequence modeling in the hopes that the the community can find better solutions.
The data used in this work have been released and are available at: this https URL


Thermal alteration is one of the adverse effects of flow regulation sharpened in recent years due to climate changes. In this work, we characterize the thermal regime of a highly regulated river located in Northern Italy, which is the emissary of Lake Maggiore. The thermal characteristics of the study reach are influenced by the presence of two dams and by climate warming. In the 15-year monitored period (1999-2013) a significant increase of the mean annual river temperature (i.e., +1.8°C) was indeed recorded. Minimum and maximum water temperatures were detected in correspondence of low-flow periods in February and August, respectively. During August the temperature reached a maximum of 27°C, that is a value below the upper thermal limit of tolerance for most of the aquatic taxa collected in the study area. Moreover, the local presence of seeps and the interaction with groundwater play an important ecological role by guaranteeing patches of cool water to the aquatic communities. Nevertheless, the sensitive early life stages of fish species that spawn in spring/summer may be affected by the high summer temperatures and the expected future climate warming. The wider range of temperatures preferred by alien fish species could result into a competitive disadvantage for autochthonous species. The current minimum flows established by local laws as environmental flows appeared to be able to guarantee an acceptable thermal alteration in morphologically heterogeneous reaches where river/groundwater interaction occurred, at least within the current climatic conditions.


We measured a wide range of transport rates for five different sand/gravel mixtures in a laboratory flume. Each mixture used the same gravel, and sand was added to produce mixtures containing 6, 15, 21, 27, and 34% sand. Control of other variables allows us to isolate the effect of bed sand content on transport. As sand content increases, gravel transport rates increase by orders of magnitude, even though the proportion of gravel in the bed decreases. The increase in gravel transport rate is most rapid over the range of bed sand content between 15 and 27%. The increase in transport rate is larger than predicted using standard scaling relations between transport rate and grain size, indicating that models of transport and sorting and predictions of stream channel response to sand inputs need to be revised to account for the influence of sand content. Bed surface grain size was measured at the end of each run. Surface grain size varied with sand content but showed little or no coarsening with flow strength and transport rate. This casts doubt on the idea that armor layers form at small flows and weaken or vanish with increasing flow and transport rate.


Tremlova B., P . ·tarha, F. BuAka, Z. Gistingrova, J. Hrabu: The Effect of Sterilization on Size and Shape of Fat Globules in Model Processed Cheese Samples. Acta vet. Brno 2006, 75: 419-425. Model cheese samples from 4 independent productions were heat sterilized (117 °C, 20 minutes) after the melting process and packing with an aim to prolong their durability. The objective of the study was to assess changes in the size and shape of fat globules due to heat sterilization by using image analysis methods. The study included a selection of suitable methods of preparation mounts, taking microphotographs and making overlays for automatic processing of photographs by image analyser, ascertaining parameters to determine the size and shape of fat globules and statistical analysis of results obtained. The results of the experiment suggest that changes in shape of fat globules due to heat sterilization are not unequivocal. We found that the size of fat globules was significantly increased (p < 0.01) due to heat sterilization (117 °C, 20 min), and the shares of small fat globules (up to 500 µm 2 , or 100 µm 2 ) in the samples of heat sterilized processed cheese were decreased. The results imply that the image analysis method is very useful when assessing the effect of technological process on the quality of processed cheese quality.


The hepatitis B virus (HBV) envelope protein carrying the surface antigen (HBsAg) is assembled with cellular lipids in mammalian cells into empty viral envelopes. In a study to evaluate the capacity of such particles to present foreign peptide sequences in a biologically active form, in-phase insertions were created in the S gene encoding the major envelope protein. One of the sequences inserted was a synthetic DNA fragment encoding a poliovirus neutralization epitope. Mammalian cells expressing the modified gene secreted hybrid particles closely resembling authentic 22-nanometer HBsAg particles. These particles reacted with a poliovirus-specific monoclonal antibody and induced neutralizing antibodies against poliovirus. The results indicate that empty viral envelopes of HBV may provide a means for the presentation of peptide sequences and for their export from mammalian cells.


Digestive physiology has played a prominent role in explanations for terrestrial herbivore body size evolution and size-driven diversification and niche differentiation. This is based on the association of increasing body mass (BM) with diets of lower quality, and with putative mechanisms by which a higher BM could translate into a higher digestive efficiency. Such concepts, however, often do not match empirical data. Here, we review concepts and data on terrestrial herbivore BM, diet quality, digestive physiology and metabolism, and in doing so give examples for problems in using allometric analyses and extrapolations. A digestive advantage of larger BM is not corroborated by conceptual or empirical approaches. We suggest that explanatory models should shift from physiological to ecological scenarios based on the association of forage quality and biomass availability, and the association between BM and feeding selectivity. These associations mostly (but not exclusively) allow large herbivores to use low quality forage only, whereas they allow small herbivores the use of any forage they can physically manage. Examples of small herbivores able to subsist on lower quality diets are rare but exist. We speculate that this could be explained by evolutionary adaptations to the ecological opportunity of selective feeding in smaller animals, rather than by a physiologic or metabolic necessity linked to BM. For gigantic herbivores such as sauropod dinosaurs, other factors than digestive physiology appear more promising candidates to explain evolutionary drives towards extreme BM.


Legal specialization is an unexceptional aspect of the profession of law because specialization and concentration are expected of lawyers. There has been a transformation in lawyers' understanding of the reasons justifying their position in society and, therefore, a transformation in their understanding of what it means to be a "professional." The ideological reasons for this transformation include: (1) the influence of the ABA in promulgating and proselytizing specialization standards; (2) a continuing insistence by the legal profession of the importance of the idea of a unified bar; (3) the large increase in size and influence of the legal academy, consisting of persons usually "specializing" (as teacher, scholar, or consultant) in no more than a few subject areas of law; (4) the American culture's amazing faith in experts, and the ever-narrowing refinements of expertise; (5) and, most importantly, a continued belief by lawyers in the ideals of "professionalism," an ideal that distinguishes the practice of law from business. Although American lawyers have rarely defined "professionalism" in clear terms, they have relied repeatedly upon two justifications of the idea of law as a profession: (1) the acquisition of the particularized knowledge of law; and (2) independence from both clients and the market when engaged in the practice of law. The history of the legal profession's treatment of specialization is interwoven with the profession's views of the importance of knowledge and independence. For the profession to view legal specialization favorably, proponents of specialization needed to alter the profession's understanding of those two measures. Time and persistence allowed those advocates to succeed. Their success precipitated a new understanding of the lawyer's work and duty.


FARSIDE (Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark ages and Exoplanets) is a Probe-class concept to place a low radio frequency interferometric array on the farside of the Moon. A NASA-funded design study, focused on the instrument, a deployment rover, the lander and base station, delivered an architecture broadly consistent with the requirements for a Probe mission. This notional architecture consists of 128 dual polarization antennas deployed across a 10 km area by a rover, and tethered to a base station for central processing, power and data transmission to the Lunar Gateway. FARSIDE would provide the capability to image the entire sky each minute in 1400 channels spanning frequencies from 100 kHz to 40 MHz, extending down two orders of magnitude below bands accessible to ground-based radio astronomy. The lunar farside can simultaneously provide isolation from terrestrial radio frequency interference, auroral kilometric radiation, and plasma noise from the solar wind. This would enable near-continuous monitoring of the nearest stellar systems in the search for the radio signatures of coronal mass ejections and energetic particle events, and would also detect the magnetospheres for the nearest candidate habitable exoplanets. Simultaneously, FARSIDE would be used to characterize similar activity in our own solar system, from the Sun to the outer planets, including the hypothetical Planet Nine. Through precision calibration via an orbiting beacon, and exquisite foreground characterization, FARSIDE would also measure the Dark Ages global 21-cm signal at redshifts z=50-100. The unique observational window offered by FARSIDE would enable an abundance of additional science ranging from sounding of the lunar subsurface to characterization of the interstellar medium in the solar system neighborhood.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
To test prospective associations between cannabis disorder symptoms/frequency of cannabis use and health issues and to investigate stability versus transience in cannabis use trajectories.

DESIGN
Two waves of data collection from the longitudinal Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors (C-SURF).

SETTING
A representative sample of young Swiss men in their early 20s from the general population.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 5084 young men (mean age 19.98 ± 1.19 years at time 1).

MEASUREMENTS
Cannabis use (life-time use, frequency of use, cannabis disorder symptoms) and self-reported measures of health issues (depression, mental/physical health, health consequences) were assessed. Significant changes in cannabis use were tested using t-test/Wilcoxon's rank test for paired data. Cross-lagged panel models provided evidence regarding longitudinal associations between cannabis use and health issues.

FINDINGS
Most of the participants (84.5%) remained in the same use category and cannabis use kept to similar levels at times 1 and 2 (P = 0.114 and P = 0.755; average of 15 ± 2.8 months between times 1 and 2). Cross-lagged panel models showed that cannabis disorder symptoms predicted later health issues (e.g. depression, β = 0.087, P < 0.001; health consequences, β = 0.045, P < 0.05). The reverse paths from health issues to cannabis disorder symptoms and the cross-lagged panel model between frequency of cannabis use and health issues were non-significant.

CONCLUSIONS
Patterns of cannabis use showed substantial continuity among young Swiss men in their early 20s. The number of symptoms of cannabis use disorder, rather than the frequency of cannabis use, is a clinically important measure of cannabis use among young Swiss men.


Telomerase is a key component of the telomere length maintenance system in the majority of eukaryotes. Telomerase displays maximal activity in stem and cancer cells with high proliferative potential. In humans, telomerase activity is regulated by various mechanisms, including the interaction with telomere ssDNA overhangs that contain a repetitive G‐rich sequence, and with noncoding RNA, Telomeric repeat‐containing RNA (TERRA), that contains the same sequence. So these nucleic acids can compete for telomerase RNA templates in the cell. In this study, we have investigated the ability of different model substrates mimicking telomere DNA overhangs and TERRA RNA to compete for telomerase in vitro through a previously developed telomerase inhibitor assay. We have shown in this study that RNA oligonucleotides are better competitors for telomerase that DNA ones as RNA also use an alternative binding site on telomerase, and the presence of 2′‐OH groups is significant in these interactions. In contrast to DNA, the possibility of forming intramolecular G‐quadruplex structures has a minor effect for RNA binding to telomerase. Taking together our data, we propose that TERRA RNA binds better to telomerase compared with its native substrate – the 3′‐end of telomere DNA overhang. As a result, some specific factor may exist that participates in switching telomerase from TERRA to the 3′‐end of DNA for telomere elongation at the distinct period of a cell cycle in vivo. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Certain standard, indeed classic, varieties of war have become so rare and unlikely that they could well be considered to be obsolescent, if not obsolete. Moreover, much, but not all, of what remains of war is substantially opportunistic predation waged by packs of criminals, bandits, and thugs who engage in warfare in much the same way as they often did in medieval and early modern Europe: as mercenaries recruited or dragooned by weak (or even desperate) state governments or as warlord gangs developed within failed or weak states. Much of this warfare could be reduced or substantially eliminated by disciplined police and military forces and, in their new era of essential consensus in the wake of the Cold War, the developed countries could create mechanisms for policing civil warfare. However, they are likely to do so with any sort of reliability only where their interests seem importantly engaged or where they manage to become self-entrapped. Rather, the key lies in the establishment of competent domestic military and policing forces, tracing a process Europe went through in the middle of the last millennium. Indeed, much of the civil warfare that persists in the world today is a function of the extent to which inadequate governments exist. Of late, there seems to have been an increase in the number of countries led by effective people who, instead of looting and dissipating their country's resources, appear to be dedicated to adopting policies that will further its orderly development. Thus, while far from certain, a further (or continuing) decline in a most common remaining kind of war does seem to be an entirely reasonable prospect.


The rise of the terrorist organization, ISIS which has an ultimate objective of restoring the caliphate (Islamic world) is considered as the most significant development in international jihadism since 9/11. ISIS is no more a concern confined only to Iraq and Syria but has also raised genuine concerns in the Indian security establishment about the radicalization of Indian Muslim youth. ISIS certainly has the potential to destabilize the social fabric and rule of law in India, if timely steps are not taken. The present paper reviews the possible threat of ISIS to India and discusses various facets associated with identifying and combating this global challenge to humanity. It is proposed that this issue should be viewed as a national crisis and handled at the central level with efficient use of modern technology. Creating a sense of collective responsibility and public awareness are also of utmost importance.


Lithium metal battery is a promising candidate for high‐energy‐density energy storage. Unfortunately, the strongly reducing nature of lithium metal has been an outstanding challenge causing poor stability and low coulombic efficiency in lithium batteries. For decades, there are significant research efforts to stabilize lithium metal anode. However, such efforts are greatly impeded by the lack of knowledge about lithium‐stable materials chemistry. So far, only a few materials are known to be stable against Li metal. To resolve this outstanding challenge, lithium‐stable materials have been uncovered out of chemistry across the periodic table using first‐principles calculations based on large materials database. It is found that most oxides, sulfides, and halides, commonly studied as protection materials, are reduced by lithium metal due to the reduction of metal cations. It is discovered that nitride anion chemistry exhibits unique stability against Li metal, which is either thermodynamically intrinsic or a result of stable passivation. The results here establish essential guidelines for selecting, designing, and discovering materials for lithium metal protection, and propose multiple novel strategies of using nitride materials and high nitrogen doping to form stable solid‐electrolyte‐interphase for lithium metal anode, paving the way for high‐energy rechargeable lithium batteries.


The subject of the Paper is an analysis of the key categories used in administrative law of Lithuania, because their number was gradually increasing after the restoration of Independence and the issues bound with their interrelations are not widely discussed upon in scientific references. Immediately after the restoration of Independence (11 March, 1990), the basis of regulation of administrative law in Lithuania was the state governing, then, after the transfer to the state power organizing in accordance with the doctrine on power distribution recognized in democratic states, the category of "executive authorities" was started to use simultaneously in administrative law. Both above-mentioned categories were used for a period about ten years; however, the category of "state governing" preserved its prior dominating position in theory and practice of administrative law. Since June 1999, one more new category, i.e. "public administration", started to be used in administrative law of Lithuania. The concepts of "executive authorities", "state governing (administration)" and "public administration" differ in the extent of governing and the subjects involved in implementation of the above-mentioned activities. The term "executive authorities" is narrower than the concepts of "state governing (administration)" and "public administration". It is the narrowest category among the above-listed in respect of extent, however, it is the basis of the said categories in the functional and institutional aspects. Namely, institutions of the executive authorities form the organization structure of the said systems and in fact ensures a state governing. On the other hand, the executive authorities are provided the key power for implementation of laws and other important problems of state governing. If assessed in the context of Lithuania, the term "state governing (administration)" is wider than the concept "executive authorities". Such a opinion is supposed on the base of the provisions of the Law of Republic of Lithuania on Public Administration. In addition to executive authorities, the subjects of state administration include institutions that are not a part of the system of institutions of executive authorities, however, engaged in execution of functions of executive character (public administration). This group includes institutions responsible and accountable to Seimas of Republic of Lithuania or the President of the Republic. The term "public administration" unites the both abovementioned categories, i.e. the concepts of "executive authorities" and "state governing (administration)" are constituent parts of this term, so the category of "public administration" may be treated as the widest concept. It should be noted that the term "public administration" also involves local selfgoverning institutions that are not considered subjects of state administration and other administration subjects provided with public administration functions that are delegated to them by the state according to the procedure set in laws and other legal norms.


Most current literature on knowledge and technology transfer (Appropriability Model, Dissemination Model, and Knowledge Utilization Model), describe the process of transfer in details, but has limitation in terms of their application in contemporary high-tech industries since most studies have not provided plausible explanation on levels and factors affecting transfer of knowledge and/or technology. To overcome these limitations, the four levels of knowledge and technology transfer are suggested: Knowledge and Technology Creation (Level I), Sharing (Level II), Implementation (Level III), and Commercialization (Level IV). Comprehensive literature identifies sixteen variables affecting the process and results of knowledge and tec hnology transfer. The survey results show four key factors in knowledge and technology transfer: Communication, Distance, Equivocality, and Motivation. Communication refers to the degree to which a medium is able to efficiently and accurately conveys task-relevant information and media while distance involves both physical and cultural proximity. Equivocality refers to the degree of concreteness of knowledge and technology to be transferred while motivation involves incentives for and the recognition of the importance of knowledge and technology transfer activities. Further analysis shows that there are four distinctive clusters and they show very contrasting characteristics in terms of four key factors. The careful mapping of the four clusters on the four key factors show very informative knowledge and technology transfer patterns, the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Grid. Finally, actions to increase communication interactivity and motivation, and to reduce cultural distance and equivocality are suggested.


Let $G$ be a graph randomly selected from ${\bf G}_{n, p}$, the space of Erdős-Renyi Random graphs with parameters $n$ and $p$, where $p \geq {\log^6 n\over n}$. Also, let $A$ be the adjacency matrix of $G$, and $v_1$ be the first eigenvector of $A$. We provide two short proofs of the following statement: For all $i \in [n]$, for some constant $c>0$ $$\left|v_1(i) - {1\over\sqrt{n}}\right| \leq c {1\over\sqrt{n}} {\log n\over\log (np)} \sqrt{{\log n\over np}}$$ with probability $1 - o(1)$. This gives nearly optimal bounds on the entrywise stability of the first eigenvector of (Erdős-Renyi) Random graphs. This question about entrywise bounds was motivated by a problem in unsupervised spectral clustering. We make some progress towards solving that problem.


Multiprotein chromatin remodelling complexes show remarkable conservation of function amongst metazoans, even though components present in invertebrates are often present as multiple paralogous proteins in vertebrate complexes. In some cases these paralogues specify distinct biochemical and/or functional activities in vertebrate cells. Here we set out to define the biochemical and functional diversity encoded by one such group of proteins within the mammalian Nucleosome Remodelling and Deacetylation (NuRD) complex: Mta1, Mta2 and Mta3. We find that, in contrast to what has been described in somatic cells, MTA proteins are not mutually exclusive within ES cell NuRD and, despite subtle differences in chromatin binding and biochemical interactions, serve largely redundant functions. Nevertheless, ES cells lacking all three MTA proteins represent a complete NuRD null and are viable, allowing us to identify a previously undetected function for NuRD in maintaining differentiation trajectory during early stages of lineage commitment.


Watermelon chlorotic stunt virus (WmCSV) is a bipartite begomovirus and one of the destructive watermelon viruses in the south and south-eastern Iran. WmCSV is responsible for huge losses of watermelon production in these regions. In this study, 11 commercial watermelon cultivars from the most current available cultivars were selected and used to evaluate their reaction against WmCSV by agroinoculation method with an infectious clone of the virus. Results showed that cultivar PS of Crimson Sweet watermelon, and Proseed, WLNOOL-201046 and Charlee cultivars of Charleston Gray watermelon are relatively less susceptible to WmCSV with infection rate of 24.4, 52.17, 67.74 and 74.07%, respectively, whereas watermelon plants of the rest of the cultivars were completely susceptible. In addition, four relatively resistant cultivars were differently reacted to WmCSV infection and among them, Proseed cultivar showed the mildest symptoms. The infectious construct is a rapid tool to evaluate the reaction of cultivars and can facilitate the identification of the resistant genetic sources against viral diseases.


Step-by-step, The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit shows how to create, manage, and sustain a dynamic membership program that will help a social change organization thrive. Written for both new and well-established social change organizations, this book is grounded in proven marketing techniques. It gives managers and executive directors the information and tools needed to understand their current members and attract new ones, and it walks organizations through the process of linking program goals with membership goals. The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit includes a wealth of illustrative examples and sample membership publications. Schedules for typical membership tasks keep organizations on track, and the easily reproducible worksheets and checklists and the companion Web site help readers design a program that can be adapted to meet the unique needs of their individual organization. The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit will help executive directors, development directors, staff and board members, and other volunteers involve the community, build program effectiveness, and diversify and strengthen their organization's funding base.


Our aim is to optimize wavelet-based feature extraction for differentiating between the classical versus atypical pattern of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) in volumetric CT. Our proposal is to act on the bandwidth of steerable wavelets while maintaining their tight frame property. To that end, we designed a family of maximally localized wavelet pyramids in 3-D for a continuously adjustable radial bandwidth [Ω,π], Ω G [π/4, π/2]. The proposed wavelets are coupled with a rotation-covariant directional operator based on the Riesz transform, which provides characterizations of the organization image directions independently from their local orientations. The influence of the wavelet bandwidth on the classification performance was found to be large with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values in [0.784,0.921]. This demonstrated the importance of finding the minimum spatial support of the wavelet required to leverage the wealth of morphological tissue properties in the vicinity of the lung boundaries.


My dissertation research is developing an approach to identify and explain errors in a knowledge graph constructed by extracting entities and relations from text. Information extraction systems can automatically construct knowledge graphs from a large collection of documents, which might be drawn from news articles, Web pages, social media posts or discussion forums. The language understanding task is challenging and current extraction systems introduce many kinds of errors. Previous work on improving the quality of knowledge graphs uses additional evidence from background knowledge bases or Web searches. Such approaches are dicult to apply when emerging entities are present and/or only one knowledge graph is available. In order to address the problem I am using multiple complementary techniques including entitylinking, common sense reasoning, and linguistic analysis.


Abstract. We present three years of Apparent Oxygen Utilization Rates (AOUR) estimated from oxygen and tracer data collected over the ocean thermocline at monthly resolution between 2003 and 2006 at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site. We estimate water ages by calculating a transit time distribution from tritium and helium-3 data. The vertically integrated AOUR over the upper 500 m, which is a regional estimate of export, during the three years is 3.1 ± 0.5 mol O2 m−2 yr−1. This is comparable to previous AOUR-based estimates of export production at the BATS site but is several times larger than export estimates derived from sediment traps or 234Th fluxes. We compare AOUR determined in this study to AOUR measured in the 1980s and show AOUR is significantly greater today than decades earlier because of changes in AOU, rather than changes in ventilation rates. The changes in AOU are likely a methodological artefact associated with problems with early oxygen measurements.


The aim of this paper is to understand emerging learning conditions, when a visual analytics is implemented and used in K 12 (education). To date, little attention has been paid to the role visual analytics (digital media and technology that highlight visual data communication in order to support analytical tasks) can play in education, and to the extent to which these tools can process actionable data for young students. This study was conducted in three public K 12 schools, in four social science classes with students aged 10 to 13 years, over a period of two to four weeks at each school. Empirical data were generated using video observations and analyzed with help of metaphors by Latour. The learning conditions are found to be distinguished by broad complexity characterized by four dimensions. These emerge from the actors' deeply intertwined relations in the activities. The paper argues in relation to the found dimensions that novel approaches to teaching and learning could benefit students' knowledge building as they work with visual analytics, analyzing visualized data.


It's a common complaint: the United States is overrun by rules and procedures that shackle professional judgment, have no valid purpose, and serve only to appease courts and lawyers. Charles R. Epp argues, however, that few Americans would want to return to an era without these legalistic policies, which in the 1970s helped bring recalcitrant bureaucracies in line with a growing national commitment to civil rights and individual dignity. Focusing on three disparate policy areas - workplace sexual harassment, playground safety, and police brutality in both the United States and the United Kingdom - Epp explains how activists and professionals used legal liability, lawsuit-generated publicity, and innovative managerial ideas to pursue the implementation of new rights. Together, these strategies resulted in frameworks designed to make institutions accountable through intricate rules, employee training, and managerial oversight. Explaining how these practices became ubiquitous across bureaucratic organizations, Epp casts today's legalistic state in an entirely new light.


Surgical suture is a medical device used to hold body tissues together after an injury or surgery. Application generally involves using a needle with an attached length of thread. Surgical sutures are normally classified into two types, absorbable and non-absorbable. They can also be classified based on their construction, either mono-filament or multi-filament and also whether they are made from natural or synthetic materials. Sutures can also be classified according to their usage e.g. cardiovascular sutures, ophthalmic sutures, general sutures, orthopaedic sutures etc. Common problems associated with the choice of suture material include increased risk of infection, foreign body reactions, and inappropriate mechanical responses, particularly decreases in mechanical properties over time. Improved suture materials are therefore needed. As a high- performance material with excellent tensile strength, spider silk fibres are an extremely promising candidate for use in surgical sutures. However, the biochemical behaviour of individual silk fibres braided together has not been thoroughly investigated. In the present study, we characterise the inflammatory response produced from silk sutures and absorbance time.


"An Analysis of the Afghan Resistance against Soviet Invasion." is an expost facto analytical study of Soviet-Afghan war (1979-89). This analysis is based on the hypothesis that resistance movements, historically, are rooted in the culture and value system. Seen from this point of view, the Afghans struggle against Soviet occupation was intellectually, culturally and operationally tribal in nature.
This study is carried out in the context of Saur Revolution of April 27, 1978 and Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. These two historic events gave birth to one of the greatest guerrilla movements of the twentieth century. The Afghan resistance was an indigenous outburst against the policies and programmes of a pro-Marxist government in a tradition-bound religio-tribal society. Former Soviet Union's military intervention internationalized this internal conflict in 1980. The regional and extra-regional players to Afghan conflict exploited the tribalism of Afghans to their own advantage. Afghans heroic and steely resistance compelled Soviet Union to withdraw. But the disinterest on the part of Afghan resistance leaders and local commanders and their foreign sponsors to
turn this tribal-guerrilla movement into a viable political organization led to its fragmentation shortly after the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan.
Since this is an expost facto analytical study, qualitative approach
is adopted to define the events. Very important documents about Afghanistan war, which were state secrets until recently have been used as primary sources to reach a logical conclusion. Interviews of conducted. Besides, (lie literature on Afghanistan war which was mostly in Pushto and Dari, after the fall of Dr. Najeeb government in April 1992 by former Afghan army generals and PDPA leaders has been used as a major primary source, alley being verified from other sources.
Besides proving the validity of the hypothesis, in this study certain important questions have been raised and answered logically. These include: Why did the resistance conic into being? Whether the origin and growth of the resistance was spontaneous or it was a well thought out phenomenon? What were the ideological and social foundations of this resistance? How and why this nibble turned into a formidable guerrilla force? What were the shortcomings of this resistance? And why this religio-tribal national liberation movement returned to its origins tribalism and infighting the root causes of its failure. In the context of this research work, it has also been proved that Saur Revolution was a monolithic PDPA action and the Soviet Union had nothing to do with that. The former USSR had no intention to militarily intervene in Afghanistan, neither it had any designs to extend its control up to the Indian Ocean. But the Soviets had to own the Saur Revolution and they sent forces under political and strategic compulsions.


Our design for this project began with building a strong understanding of the current production process. A meeting with the manager, Anna Nakayama, provided a detailed overview of the entire process and outlined some areas of concern. In addition, she provided us with access to critical data such as standard operating procedures and inventory spreadsheets. From there, time studies were conducted for each of the 8 types of chocolate. These time studies helped identify three main issues facing Cal Poly Chocolates. The first issue is in the packaging area of production. The process is entirely manual and has become a large bottleneck. Secondly, there is a need for a reordering system due to packaging supplies frequently being unavailable. And lastly, Cal Poly Chocolates recently faced the challenge of changing facilities and they have yet to find an efficient layout to optimize their process flow. In an attempt to eliminate the bottleneck in production, research into a packaging machine was conducted. From there, the total cost of ownership was calculated as well as a return on investment to determine if the purchase was feasible. We discovered the machine will dramatically cut the packaging process times and provide a greater production capacity. To solve the issue of unavailable material, three different reorder systems were developed. There was a need for three different systems due to the variation in demand and order sizes. Assuming the employees are well trained and the demand is monitored correctly, these systems should solve Cal Poly Chocolate's stockout issues. Finally, to aid Cal Poly Chocolates in their facility change we developed a proposed layout that saved thirty feet in excess travel distance. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank Anna Nakayama for allowing us to visit the Cal Poly Chocolates facility, and for her cooperation throughout the duration of the project.


The emotional connections that humans feel with other humans seem quite distinct from the 'oceanic feeling' that confronts us when solitary mortals face the great waters. Uniting these discourses requires drawing together the myriad resources of sea poetry, canonical novels, and multiple theoretical traditions from Freudian psychoanalysis to the 'blue' (or oceanic) humanities and contemporary environmental studies. Shifting from narrowly human to post-human ways of understanding our human and nonhuman surroundings enables the novels of Austen and Cervantes to speak to the theoretical perspectives of Luce Irigaray, Sigmund Freud and John Dewey, as well as contemporary figures such as Allan Sekula, Karin Animoto Ingersoll and Christopher Connery. Principles of connection and 'experience' unearth new ways of imagining the relationships among humans and between humans and the nonhuman environment that seem particularly valuable in our own moment of ecological crisis and catastrophe.