and Electrolyser Applications DTU Orbit (17/10/2019) Metal Phosphates as Proton Conducting Materials for Intermediate Temperature Fuel Cell and Electrolyser Applications The present thesis presents the results achieved during my ph.d. project on a subject of intermediate temperature proton conducting metal phosphates as electrolyte materials for fuel cells and electrolysers. Fuel cells and electrolysers are electrochemical devices with high energy conversion efficiency and have been proposed as the future energy technology in association with renewable power sources. The currently available technologies are either operating at lower or higher temperatures. To achieve an intermediate temperature operation between 200 and 400 °C, a key material is the electrolyte with a proton conductivity of above 10-2S cm-1. Chapter 1 of the thesis is an introduction to basics of fuel cell and electrolyser technologies as well as proton conducting materials. Extended discussion on the proton conducting materials, a particularly phosphates is made in Chapter 2. Three major types of phosphates were systematically reviewed including solid acids or alkali hydrogen phosphates, pyrophosphates, and rare earth metal phosphates. Demonstration of the fuel cell technology based on solid acid proton conductor CsH2PO4 has inspired the active research in the area. Based on the literature survey, the thesis work is defined and outlined. Chapter 3 describes in details the theoretical background of techniques used in the present study. A significant part of the present study involves conductivity measurements with electrochemical impedance technique, which are discussed in Chapter 4. The research work starts with synthesis and investigation of three rare earth metal phosphate hydrates, which is first presented in Chapter 5. Structural and surface water as well as its stability has been investigated using thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses combined with structural modeling calculations. Conductivity results of the phosphates are presented. The rare earth metal phosphates are further explored by preparing composites with cesium dihydrogen phosphate. The properties of the composites are characterized using SEM/EDX, XRD, TGA/DTA and conductivity measurements in slightly humidified atmosphere. The results are presented in Chapter 6. In Chapter 7 the structure and conductivity mechanism of indium doped tin pyrophosphates are reported. For this purpose three synthetic techniques are employed to prepare a variety of the pyrophosphates with or without post treatments with phosphoric acid. The conductivity and its stability are studied and correlated with the phosphate morphologies. The additional solid state NMR studies have been performed in collaboration with Southern Denmark University (SDU). Chapter 8 presents the result obtained for a novel proton conductor based on cerium ultraphosphate. The ultraphosphate is found to be in form of the orthorhombic phase, whose stability is confirmed by heat treatments combined with XRD measurements. Initial measurements of the conductivity and its stability for the cerium ultraphosphate are also presented. Chapter 9 summarizes conclusions of the thesis work. Further information concerning experimental measurements is given in Appendixes.


Abstract. City Geography Markup Language (CityGML) and Industry Foundation Class (IFC) are the two most popular data exchange format for the integration of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) respectively and has been identified by many researchers as an auspicious means of data interoperability between the two domains but with challenges on the compatibility between them. The main issue is the data loss in the process of information transformation. The success of integrating these two domains (GIS and BIM objects) is a great achievement toward solving problems in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC), Facility Management (FM), Disaster Management (DM) sectors. Nevertheless, as we all know GIS and BIM are different fields used by different professionals using different software packages, used for different purposes, it is definitely face with many challenges including data interoperability, mismatch and loss of semantic information are bound to occur during the process of integration. In order to comprehend the two domains and their data models of CityGML and IFC. This paper review existing models on GIS and BIM developed by different researchers, the complementarity and compatibility of GIS and BIM on the previous integration techniques were also reviewed and finally, the paper review the integration of GIS and BIM at the data level aimed at solving different problems surrounding it by considering the transformation of coordinates at geometric level from CityGML to IFC, in order to achieve flow of information between GIS and BIM.


Conducting population studies on elusive species can be challenging. Despite intensive sampling effort, individuals can vary markedly in their trappability. These differences in detection probabilities are problematic for population estimates, where models incorporate assumptions that, if they are present within an area, all animals have an equal probability of being trapped. This study investigates the use of remote cameras to estimate detectability of a medium-sized macropod. We conducted intensive monitoring of quokkas (Setonix brachyurus) at four riparian sites in southwest Western Australia. Quokkas were trapped (seasonally over 18 months) and marked. Camera traps were placed out for 12 months in the vicinity of the trapping area. Camera trap events were reviewed and animals were classified as marked or not-marked. Animals were identified from photos as adult or juvenile and sexed (presence of pouch young, head size) where possible. Cameras indicated the presence of trap-shy animals which had not been marked during the course of the 18 months trapping, and allowed the estimation of detection probabilities for different cohorts. We conclude that camera trapping can enhance the robustness of population estimates of these elusive animals.


Education of women is an important aspect for boosting the social and economic development of the country. Promotion of Girls Education particularly at Elementary Level is to bring certain benefits for the Society in the form of social development and reconstruction. The National commitment to provide free and compulsory education to all children in the 614 years age group is now a Fundamental Right of every child in India after the passing of the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act in December, 2002. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, or 'Education for All' programme recognizes that ensuring girl's education requires changes not only in the education system but also in societal norms and attitudes. The present paper is an attempt to study the present status of elementary education of the girls of Mising tribes of Dhemaji and Jorhat district of Assam in regards to enrolment, retention, dropout and gender disparity. Mising is the second largest Tribal community of Assam after the Bodo. They are mostly found in the eight districts of upper Assam, namely, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and Sonitpur. It is one of the most backward tribes of Assam; especially women of their community are backward to a great extent. Mising tribe is in poor and low position in the field of education. Gender gap in literacy among Mising has been recorded to be the highest. Due to high illiteracy rate among the girls of the Mising community women empowerment is yet to be achieved in the proportional way. Therefore, the investigator has decided to undertake a study on the Misings of Assam specially of Jorhat and Dhemaji district, with a view to focusing on the issues of woman empowerment and socio-economic position of the women of the Mising tribes therein.


In this paper we discuss the project of digitization of the Dictionary of the Serbo-Croatian Standard and Vernacular Language. Scanning and character recognition were a particular challenge, since various non-standard character set encoding was used in the course of the almost 60-year long production of the dictionary. The first aim of the project was to formalize the micro-structure of the dictionary articles in order to parse the digitized text of and transform it into structured data stored in relational lexical database. This approach is compatible with several standard structured forms and ontologies (TEI, LMF, Ontolex, LexInfo). A lexical database model was designed in compliance with these structured forms, following mostly the lemon model. Mapping of the lexical entry markers to LexInfo and TEI enabled export of the lexical data to the mentioned formats. A software solution for the dictionary text analysis, parsing and lexical database population was developed and tested on the first and the last published volumes of the dictionary (which contain 27,141 articles in total). An evaluation of the results shows that the developed model and software solution can be successfully used for the other volumes as well.


We demonstrate efficient degenerate four-wave mixing in a laser injection-seeded solid dye laser. Phase-conjugate energy of as much as 140 times the total energy injected externally into the phase conjugator was extracted. Moreover, efficient phase-conjugate energy was obtained in the broad wavelength region from 558 to 567 nm.


Through the Fluid Power Calendar the International Journal of Fluid Power strives to keep its readers informed of conferences, meetings and workshops that may be of professional interest. Date, conference title, location, deadline, website and the name of person and points of contact for further information are desired. The Journal solicits your help in keeping the Fluid Power Calendar current by asking you to transmit conference and meeting information formally or informally by post, fax or email to Professor Monika Ivantysynova, Purdue University, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 225 South University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA, Phone: +01 765 447-1609, Fax: +01 765 448-1860, Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


This study explores water vapor turbulence in the convective boundary layer (CBL) using the Raman lidar observations from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement site located at Darwin, Australia. An autocovariance technique was used to separate out the random instrument error from the atmospheric variability during time periods when the CBL is cloud‐free, quasi‐stationary, and well mixed. We identified 45 cases, comprising of 8 wet and 37 dry seasons events, over the 5‐year data record period. The dry season in Darwin is known by warm and dry sunny days, while the wet season is characterized by high humidity and monsoonal rains. The inherent variability of the latter resulted in a more limited number of cases during the wet season. Profiles of the integral scale, variance, coefficient of the structure function, and skewness were analyzed and compared with similar observations from the Raman lidar at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. The wet season shows larger median variance profiles than the dry season, while the median profile of the variance from the dry season and the SGP site are found to be more comparable particularly between 0.4 and 0.75 zi. The variance and coefficient of the structure function show qualitatively the same vertical pattern. Furthermore, deeper CBL, larger gradient of water vapor mixing ratio at zi, and the strong correlation with the water vapor variance at zi are seen during the dry season. The median value in the skewness is mostly positive below 0.6 zi unlike the SGP site.


Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain protocol have recently received significant attention in the context of building distributed systems and foundations of the consensus problem. At the same time, the rapid development in quantum computing makes the threats to cryptography more and more concerning. In this work, we revisit the formal security of the core of the Bitcoin consensus protocol, called the Bitcoin backbone (Eurocrypt 2015), in the presence of quantum adversaries – i.e. adversaries equipped with quantum computers. We show that the security of the Bitcoin backbone holds under a quantum analogue of the "honest majority" assumption that we develop. The critical ingredient of proving security of the blockchain is to analyzing the quantum query complexity of a Chain-of-Proofs-of-Work search problem. This problem in turn reduces to a problem we call multi-solution Bernoulli search, for which we establish its quantum query complexity. This can be viewed as an extension of a threshold direct product theorem to an average-case unstructured search problem. Our proof, adding to active recent efforts, simplifies and generalizes the powerful recording technique due to Zhandry (Crypto 2019). Our analysis indicates that the security of the Bitcoin backbone protocol is guaranteed provided that the number of adversarial quantum queries is bounded so that each quantum query is worth O(p−1/2) classical ones, where p is the probability of success of a single classical query to the protocol's underlying hash function. Perhaps surprisingly, the wait time for safe settlement of transactions in the case of quantum adversaries matches (up to a constant) the safe settlement time in the classical case and thus does not result in any further overhead.


Interleukin (IL)-27, one of the most recently discovered IL-6 family cytokines, activates both the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)1 and STAT3, and plays multiple roles in pro- and anti-inflammatory immune responses. IL-27 acts on various types of cells including T, B, and macrophage through the common signal-transducing receptor gp130 and its specific receptor WSX-1, but the effect of IL-27 on hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) remains unknown. Here, we show that IL-27 together with stem cell factor (SCF) directly acts on HSCs and supports their early differentiation in vitro and in vivo. CD34(-/low)c-Kit(+)Sca-1(+)lineage marker(-) (CD34(-)KSL) cells, a population highly enriched in mouse HSCs, were found to express both IL-27 receptor subunits. In vitro cultures of CD34(-)KSL cells with IL-27 and SCF resulted in an expansion of progenitors including short-term repopulating cells, while some of their long-term repopulating activity also was maintained. To examine its in vivo effect, transgenic mice expressing IL-27 were generated. These mice exhibited enhanced myelopoiesis and impaired B lymphopoiesis in the bone marrow with extramedullary hematopoiesis in the spleen. Moreover, IL-27 similarly acted on human CD34(+) cells. These results suggest that IL-27 is one of the limited cytokines that play a role in HSC regulation.


The symbolism of religionin the Sierra Leonean collectivist society is encouraged to promote increased interdependency and social bonding among families that share similar beliefsystem. This beliefis further accentuated and translated at the dinner table when interacting socially at mealtimes. The concept of religion is very topical in the everyday lives of Sierra Leonean consumers/families, which largely determines their food purchase and consumption behaviour. This study critically evaluates the impact religion has on families and how it affects the way they interact socially at mealtimes. As a consequence, the paper elaborates and highlights the degree of influence Islam and Christianity have on the meal social interaction behaviour of families in Sierra Leone, which is considered as one of the prime factors responsible for the increased drive forcollectivism. The authors evaluated the scope of the influence of religion on families' meal consumption behaviour and provided a comparative analysis of its influence on different gender groups.


The glacimarine environment of the Antarctic Peninsula region is one of the fastest warming places on Earth today, but details of changes in the recent past remain unknown. Large distances and widespread variability separate late Holocene palaeoclimate reconstructions in this region. This study focuses on a marine sediment core collected from ca. 2000 m below sea level in the Central Bransfield Strait that serves as a key for understanding changes in this region. The core yielded a high sedimentation rate and therefore provides an exceptional high-resolution sedimentary record composed of hemipelagic sediment, with some turbidites. An age model has been created using radiocarbon dates that span the Late Holocene: 3560 cal yr BP to present. This chronostratigraphic framework was used to establish five units, which are grouped into two super-units: a lower super-unit (3560–1600 cal yr BP) and an upper super-unit (1600 cal yr BP–present), based on facies descriptions, laser particle size analysis, x-ray analysis, multi-sensor core logger data, weight percentages and isotopic values of total organic carbon and nitrogen. We interpret the signal contained within the upper super-unit as an increase in surface water irradiance and/or shortening of the sea-ice season and the five units are broadly synchronous with climatic intervals across the Antarctic Peninsula region. While the general trends of regional climatic periods are represented in the Bransfield Basin core we have examined, each additional record that is obtained adds variability to the known history of the Antarctic Peninsula, rather than clarifying specific trends.


Phenomenon of
 entanglement was justly referred by Erwin Schrodinger as the
 characteristic trait of the quantum theory. On one hand, the
 phenomenon helped a lot to clarify the conceptual foundations of the
 theory. On the other hand, the very same nonlocal, counterintuitive
 correlations that bind entangled entities are now being employed as
 a backbone resource for most of the quantum informatics tasks
 including cryptography, teleportation, entanglement swapping,
 quantum computation and many others. Therefore controlled
 engineering of entangled states becomes vitally important.
 Present work deals with four theoretical proposals for the cavity
 QED based generation of a variety of entangled atomic and cavity
 field states including Bell, W, NOON, cluster and graph states. In
 first two proposals, atom interferometry in Bragg regime has been
 utilized for the engineering of Bell, W and NOON cavity field
 states. In this respect, basic constituents of Mach-Zehnder-Bragg (MZB)
 interferometers i.e.atomic de Broglie wave mirrors and beam
 splitters have been explored in detail. It is further demonstrated
 that by manipulating split atomic de Broglie wavepackets in a MZB
 interferometer, the required states can be engineered in an
 experimentally feasible manner while utilizing time-tested standard
 cavity QED tools. This work therefore opens up a new vista for
 quantum state engineering based on atom interferometry.
 Remaining two proposals aim at the generation of atomic and cavity
 field cluster and graph states and employ dispersive as well as
 resonant atom-field interactions as architectural components of the
 phase gate. First scheme in this section utilizes the concept of
 collective eraser whereas the second proposal, the most resource
 economical one, is based on the simultaneous resonant and dispersive
 interactions of two two-level atoms with an initially vacuum state
 high-Q cavity. Here the phase gate operation and hence the state
 engineering is accomplished when cavity is detected again into
 vacuum state after culmination of the interactions. Various
 parameters affecting success probability and fidelity of the
 proposed protocol have also been elucidated briefly. The parametric
 dependence of success probability and fidelity on most crucial
 factors of imprecision in the interaction times have also been
 plotted for the sake of quantitative assessment. This section is
 also concluded by providing a comprehensive note on the experimental
 feasibility of the presented work.


Original titel: Een week in kaart - editie 2

Modified version of the publication 'Time use in the Netherlands'

The publication called Time use in the Netherlands dating from 2017 has been modified a little. Thanks to the adaptations to the publication, it now fits in better with the survey of time use called The art of juggling, which appeared at the end of 2018. These are alterations for example to the breakdown of activities that people spend their time on and the breakdown into different phases of life (family statuses). The figures are therefore slightly different from the previous version; the conclusions and insights have not been changed.

About the publication

Time use in the Netherlands focuses on the Time Use Survey of 2016, in which almost 1900 Dutch people kept track of their activities in a diary for one week. Based on that data, the researchers created a picture of how the Dutch spend their time in general, looking at various groups and phases of family life as well as at developments over the last decade. Time use in the Netherlands is a digital publication ('card stack'), consisting of a number of standalone pages or 'cards', each of which describes an aspect of how we use our time.


Abstract. Competition for scarce water resources in the Upper Klamath River Basin, Oregon has generated conflict among its stakeholders, as demonstrated by recent regulations on withdrawals from Upper Klamath Lake. Information on agricultural water usage can help assess the hydrologic impacts of irrigation and support operational decisions. This paper presents an experimental satellite-based evapotranspiration estimation system that is combined with the Variable Inflitration Capacity (VIC) hydrological model to estimate irrigation consumption, which is then used to assess the effects of irrigated agriculture on lake storage volumes and water levels. The hydrological model is calibrated with streamflow observations and used to estimate unmeasured lake inflows and guide water budget calculations. When combined with the VIC model, the satellite-based evapotranspiration estimation system shows that irrigation caused a decline of 0.3 m in average annual water levels and 0.5 m in mean October water levels, and an increase of 0.5 m in annual water level ranges at the lake from 2001 to 2005. The results demonstrate the potential of satellite data for agricultural water resource management at the regional scale.


When Edmund Wilson died in 1972 he was widely acclaimed as one of America's great literary critics. But it was often forgotten by many of his admirers that he was also a brilliant and penetrating critic of American life. In a literary career spanning half a century, Wilson commented on nearly every aspect of the American experience, and he produced a body of work on the subject that rivals those of Tocqueville and Henry Adams.In this book, George H. Douglas has distilled the essence from Wilson's many writings on America. An active reporter and journalist as much as a scholar, Wilson ranged from Harding to Nixon, from bathtub gin to marijuana. Douglas here surveys Wilson's mordant observations on the roaring twenties, the Great Depression, income tax, suburbia, sex, populist politics, the Vietnam War, the Great Society, the failure of American scholarship, pollution of the landscape, and the breakdown of traditional American values.The Wilson who emerges from this survey is a historical writer with deep and unshakable roots in Jeffersonian democracy. Among his most far-seeing and poignant books are studies of the literature of the American Civil War and of the treatment of the American Indian. Pained by the crumbling moral order, Wilson was never completely at home in the twentieth century. In politics he was neither a liberal nor a conservative as those terms are understood today. He endured those ideologies and their adherents, but his genius was that he could bring them into hard focus from the perspective of the traditional American individualist who was too pained to accept the standardized commercial world that had grown up around him. "Edmund Wilson's America" offers a distinctive overview of the nation's life and culture as seen and judged by its leading man of letters.


The paper presents an active vision system for human posture recognition, which is an important function of any assisted living system, suitable to be employed in indoor environments. Both hardware and software architectures are defined in order to meet constraints typically imposed by AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) contexts such as compactness, low-power consumption, installation simplicity, privacy preserving and non-intrusiveness. Two different approaches for feature extraction (topological and volumetric) are discussed and the related discrimination capabilities evaluated by using a statistical learning methodology. Experimental results show the soundness of the presented active vision-based solution in order to classify four main human postures (standing, sitting, bent, lying) with an adequate detail level for the specific AAL application.


The engineering of bacteria to controllably deliver therapeutics is an attractive application for synthetic biology. While most synthetic gene networks have been explored within microbes, there is a need for further characterization of in vivo circuit behavior in the context of applications where the host microbes are actively being investigated for efficacy and safety, such as tumor drug delivery. One major hurdle is that culture-based selective pressures are absent in vivo, leading to strain-dependent instability of plasmid-based networks over time. Here, we experimentally characterize the dynamics of in vivo plasmid instability using attenuated strains of S. typhimurium and real-time monitoring of luminescent reporters. Computational modeling described the effects of growth rate and dosage on live-imaging signals generated by internal bacterial populations. This understanding will allow us to harness the transient nature of plasmid-based networks to create tunable temporal release profiles that reduce dosage requirements and increase the safety of bacterial therapies.


We study the number Nk of length-k word matches between pairs of evolutionarily related DNA sequences depending on k. We show that the number of substitutions per site that occurred since two sequences evolved from their last common ancestor, can be estimated from the slope of a certain function of Nk. This approach can be generalized from contiguous word matches to so-called spaced-word matches, where mismatches are allowed at certain pre-defined positions. Based on these theoretical results, we implemented a software program for alignment-free sequence comparison called Slope-SpaM. Test runs on simulated sequence data show that Slope-SpaM can accurately estimate phylogenetic distances for distance values up to around 0.5 substitutions per position. The statistical stability of our results is improved if spaced words are used instead of contiguous words. Unlike previous methods that are based on the number of (spaced) word matches, Slope-SpaM produces accurate results, even if sequences share only local homologies. Availability: https://github.com/burkhard-morgenstern/Slope-SpaM Contact: email@example.com


The project was initiated by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency in order to improve the basis for making standards for PM-10 concentrations in urban air. Model development has been made for Norrkoeping and Gothenburg. Modelling has been necessary of both long-range and local contributions. The long-range dispersion has been simulated by the MATCH-Europe and MATCH-Sweden models, the former being a conventional dispersion model based on meteorology and emission data and the latter including also results from background air pollution measurements in Sweden and neighbouring countries. For the local scale, both car exhaust particles and resuspended particles from a traffic source inventory are dispersed in the city using meteorological data and a Gaussian dispersion model and, if needed, a street canyon dispersion submodel. For particle resuspension, a new model has been developed. The parameters of the resuspension model have been adjusted to two streets/measuring periods in Norrkoeping. At street level in Norrkoeping, the local model showed to contribute to a large part of the total concentration, especially in late winter and early spring due to resuspension. The MATCH model gives some underestimate due to the absence of organic compounds and simulation of PM-2.5 instead of PM-10. However, at some episodes in Norrkoeping and, in general, for a station of roof level in central Gothenburg and at the rural station Aspvreten, the model estimates of regional PM-2.5 concentrations constitute a larger part of the observed PM-10 concentrations. A good covariation in time measured data occurs for both the MATCH model and the local model. (A)


Recent research has emphasised that an increasing number of enterprises need computation environments for executing HPC (High Performance Computing) applications. Rather than paying the cost of ownership and possess physical, fixed capacity clusters, enterprises can reserve or rent resources for undertaking the required tasks. With the emergence of new computation paradigms such as cloud computing it has become possible to solve a wider range of problems due to their capability to handle and process massive amounts of data. On the other hand, given the pressing regulatory requirement to reduce the carbon footprint of our built environment, significant researching efforts have been recently directed towards simulation-based building energy optimisation with the overall objective of reducing energy consumption. Energy optimisation in buildings represents a class of problems that requires significant computation resources and generally is a time consuming process especially when undertaken with building simulation software, such as EnergyPlus. In this paper we present how a HPC based cloud model can be efficiently used for running and deploying EnergyPlus simulation-based optimisation in order to fulfil a number of objectives related to energy consumption. We describe and evaluate the establishment of such an application-based environment, and consider a cost perspective to determine the efficiency over several cases we explore. This study identifies the following contributions: (i) a comprehensive examination of issues relevant to the HPC community, including performance, cost, user perspectives and range of user activities, (ii) a comparison of two different execution environments such as HTCondor and CometCloud and determine their effectiveness in supporting simulation-based optimisation and (iii) a detailed performance analysis to locate the limiting factors of these execution environments.


In many applications of black-box optimization, one can evaluate multiple points simultaneously, e.g. when evaluating the performances of several different neural network architectures in a parallel computing environment. In this paper, we develop a novel batch Bayesian optimization algorithm --- the parallel knowledge gradient method. By construction, this method provides the one-step Bayes-optimal batch of points to sample. We provide an efficient strategy for computing this Bayes-optimal batch of points, and we demonstrate that the parallel knowledge gradient method finds global optima significantly faster than previous batch Bayesian optimization algorithms on both synthetic test functions and when tuning hyperparameters of practical machine learning algorithms, especially when function evaluations are noisy.


Cells with engineered circuits maintain thyroid hormone balance in hyperthyroid mice. Graves' disease is an autoimmune disease characterized by severe metabolic abnormalities due to excess thyroid hormones in the circulation (hyperthyroidism). Autoantibodies generated in this condition bind to thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) on the thyroid gland and trigger excess release of thyroid hormones, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). Thyroid receptors (TRα and TRβ) present in peripheral and central nervous tissues are nuclear hormone receptors that bind to secreted thyroid hormones and activate or repress genes involved in metabolism. Saxena et al. designed and evaluated a synthetic cellular circuit that monitored the amount of thyroid hormones and secreted an engineered protein that binds to and inhibits TSHR. The synthetic circuit comprised expression of plasmids encoding the following, all of which were controlled by the Gal4 promoter sequence: a synthetic thyroid hormone–sensing receptor (TSR) composed of TRα fused to the DNA-binding domain of yeast Gal4, which bound to the promoter sequences of the circuit genes; a human placental secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP); an enzyme that converts T4 to T3; and a high-affinity thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) antagonist (TSHantag) that binds to TSHR and competitively inhibits binding of TSH or the autoantibodies. TSR bound the Gal4 sequence in the promoters of all four of the genes in the circuit. In the absence of T3, TSR recruited corepressors, thereby suppressing the circuit. In the presence of T3, TSR recruited coactivators, thereby activating the circuit and triggering the expression and secretion of SEAP and TSHantag. After testing several cell types, transfection efficiencies and SEAP and TSHantag production and secretion were the highest in CHO-K1 cells. Bead-encapsulated CHO-K1 cells with the engineered synthetic circuit, implanted intraperitoneally in mice that are a model for Graves' disease, reduced the amount of circulating T4 when compared with control mice implanted with microencapsulated CHO-K1 cells without the TSHantag plasmid in the synthetic circuit. Thus, a self-monitoring synthetic cellular signaling circuit could help maintain metabolic homeostasis without external interventions, such as drugs or surgery, in patients with hyperthyroidism. P. Saxena, G. Charpin-El Hamri, M. Folcher, H. Zulewski, M. Fussenegger, Synthetic gene network restoring endogenous pituitary–thyroid feedback control in experimental Graves' disease. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 113, 1244–1249 (2016). [PubMed]


We examined bristle‐like appendages on the tail of the Early Cretaceous basal ceratopsian dinosaur Psittacosaurus with laser‐stimulated fluorescence imaging. Our study reveals previously unknown details of these structures and confirms their identification as integumentary appendages. For the first time, we show that most bristles appear to be arranged in bundles and that they exhibit a pulp that widens towards the bristle base. We consider it likely that the psittacosaur bristles are structurally and developmentally homologous to similar filamentous appendages of other dinosaurs, namely the basal heterodontosaurid Tianyulong and the basal therizinosauroid theropod Beipiaosaurus, and attribute the greater robustness of the bristles of Psittacosaurus to a higher degree of cornification and calcification of its integument (both skin and bristles). Although the psittacosaur bristles are probably homologous with avian feathers in their origin from discrete cell populations, it is uncertain whether they developed from a follicle, one of the developmental hallmarks of true feathers. In particular, we note a striking resemblance between the psittacosaur bristles and the cornified spine on the head of the horned screamer, Anhima cornuta, an extant anseriform bird. Similar, albeit thinner keratinous filaments of extant birds are the 'beard' of the turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, and the crown of the Congo peafowl, Afropavo congensis. All of these structures of extant birds are distinct from true feathers, and because at least the turkey beard does not develop from follicles, detailed future studies of their development would be invaluable towards deepening our understanding of dinosaur filamentous integumentary structures.


BACKGROUND
Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration of the spleen is commonly used in the diagnostic evaluation of veterinary patients. Techniques using suction delivered through a 6-20-cm(3) syringe are the most commonly described means of obtaining cytologic samples of the spleen. Comparison studies of various human lesions have shown nonaspiration techniques to produce equal or superior cytologic specimens with less blood than specimens obtained using aspiration techniques.

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to compare the quality of splenic cytology specimens obtained using aspiration and nonaspiration techniques.

METHODS
Client-owned dogs (n=24) and cats (n=7) receiving an abdominal ultrasound at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine were enrolled in the study between January and June 2005. Samples were obtained from patients with and without sonographic splenic abnormalities. Two clinical pathologists, working independently and blinded to the method of sample collection, graded the cytologic specimens using a subjective scoring system for cellularity, amount of blood, and preservation of cellular morphology.

RESULTS
Agreement between the 2 independent observers was good. Direct comparison of the 2 techniques showed that samples obtained by the nonaspiration method had higher cellularity (P=.0002), less blood (P=.0023), and similar cell morphology (P=1.0000) compared with samples obtained by the aspiration method.

CONCLUSION
These results suggest the nonaspiration technique is a superior method for obtaining a high-quality cytologic specimen from the canine and feline spleen.


Taking the canton of Basel-Stadt and the city of Basel as examples, the authors explore how the process of naturalization works in practice. They describe the procedure at different stages as well as the decision-making processes involved. The procedure of naturalization is structured by specific key moments, though there is a certain scope for maneuver in the decisions of-the authorities concerned, as the authors demonstrate. Furthermore, they point to the kinds of resources at the candidates' disposal and how these can play a role in the outcome of naturalization procedures. Certain resources may help candidates accomplish naturalization successfully; conversely whole groups of persons are confronted with difficulties in gaining naturalization due to lack of resources. The authors conclude that the crucial reason for subjective, unequal and untransparent decisions is to be found in the fact that assimilation figures as a legal requirement for naturalization.


The Papers of Andrew Jackson, Volumes 7 (1829) and 8 (1830). Edited by Daniel Feller. Laura-Eve Moss and Thomas Coens, Associate Editors. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2011. Pp. 826 [vol. 7] and 853 [vol. 8]. Cloth, $80.00 each.)Reviewed by Tim Alan GarrisonThis effort to publish the papers of Andrew Jackson began thirty years ago. Since that time, the editors of the volumes have located over 100,000 documents in archives and libraries around the world. Harold Moser edited the first six volumes, which covered Jackson's life through 1828, when the people of the United States elected the Tennessee lawyer, warrior, and politician president of the United States. With Moser's retirement, a new team of editors at the University of Tennessee, led by Daniel Feller, assumed responsibility for the project. (Moser continues to serve in an advisory capacity and remains a named editor on volumes 7 and 8.)According to Feller and his assistants, Laura-Eve Moss and Thomas Coens, "Our aim is to systematically present Andrew Jackson's full extant literary remains. We define 'papers' broadly, to mean everything written to, by, and for Jackson, or annotated by him - every piece of paper, so to speak, on which Jackson left his fingerprints" (7: ix). That is not to say that every one of those documents is published in these volumes. Because of the dramatic increase in the number of papers produced when Jackson assumed the presidency, Feller's team was required to adopt a rigorous selection strategy for the series. First, in what must have involved extremely difficult editorial choices, they decided to publish what they deemed "the most significant papers, defining significance by the widest possible criteria - those documents that most illuminate Jackson, his presidency, his country, and his times" (7: xii).The original editorial team had determined to produce sixteen volumes: six on Jackson's life before his inauguration, one for each of his eight years in presidential office, and two for his years in retirement. The volumes under review, 7 and 8, cover the first two years of Jackson's administration. Feller's team decided not to reproduce documents one could find in the Serial Set; in the Senate Executive Proceedings, which are available on the "American Memory: A Century of Lawmaking" website; or in the two volumes covering Jackson in James D. Richardson's ten-volume A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents (which are also included in the Serial Set). Also excluded from the collection are military and civil commissions, land patents, appointment letters, and printed forms with Jackson's signature; hearsay reports of comments by Jackson; communications from the president by others in his name; and published materials addressed to, but unread by or undelivered to Jackson.Feller and his team reckon that they provide for reading approximately one-fifth of the papers to or from Jackson during the period covered by these volumes. However, in appendices to each volume, they do include a calendared list of every Jackson document that archivists and scholars have recovered and information on where one might find that particular source; the result is what can best be described as a beautiful and scholar-friendly compilation that enables students of Jackson to locate, with a minimum of effort, every single pertinent document in print. Feller's team also includes in each volume a table identifying where Jackson's public presidential papers can be found, a schedule of repositories where documents were discovered, a two-page general chronology of events relevant to Jackson's life, and a list of the "principal characters" significant to him during each year.Jackson was notorious for his creative spelling and syntax, and the editorial team did not try to rehabilitate the style of the president or his correspondents. They also retained for examination Jackson's notations on incoming letters; these brief comments demonstrate that the president was particularly interested in molding his own historical legacy. …


Nurses are frequently exposed to dying patients and death in the course of their work. This experience makes individuals conscious of their own mortality, often giving rise to anxiety and unease. Nurses who have a strong anxiety about death may be less comfortable providing nursing care for patients at the end of their life. This paper explores the literature on death anxiety and nurses' attitudes to determine whether fear of death impacts on nurses' caring for dying patients. Fifteen quantitative studies published between 1990 and 2012 exploring nurses' own attitudes towards death were critically reviewed. Three key themes identified were: i). nurses' level of death anxiety; ii). death anxiety and attitudes towards caring for the dying, and iii). death education was necessary for such emotional work. Based on quantitative surveys using valid instruments, results suggested that the level of death anxiety of nurses working in hospitals in general, oncology, renal, hospice care or in community services was not high. Some studies showed an inverse association between nurses' attitude towards death and their attitude towards caring for dying patients. Younger nurses consistently reported stronger fear of death and more negative attitudes towards end-of-life patient care. Nurses need to be aware of their own beliefs. Studies from several countries showed that a worksite death education program could reduce death anxiety. This offers potential for improving nurses' caring for patients at the end of their life.


Burnout, a multifaceted psychological construct, is associated with a diverse range of undesirable physical and psychological consequences. School counsellor, employed in New South Wales (NSW) public schools, like other mental health professionals and teachers, are vulnerable to burnout that may negatively affect their work with students. While there is some international research into burnout within school counsellors, no studies have examined this within NSW school counsellors. This study, therefore, replicated Australian research by Di Benedetto and Swadling (2014), who investigated the relationships among burnout in psychologists, work-setting, mindfulness and career-sustaining behaviours (CSBs). One hundred and thirty-one NSW Department of Education (NSW DoE) school counsellors (M = 44.08, SD=11.99) were surveyed to assess self-reported burnout, mindfulness and CSB preferences. Moderate levels of burnout were reported among these school counsellors. School counsellors working in rural areas reported significantly higher burnout compared to counsellors working in Sydney metropolitan or urban (Wollongong, Newcastle, Central Coast) areas. There was a strong negative relationship between mindfulness and burnout. Specific CSBs had small to medium associations with lower burnout. Some CSB preferences were linked to higher burnout. Increasing mindfulness practices may help in the prevention and management of burnout in NSW school counsellors.


Social media has invaded elections in Mexico. However, the power of citizens through the use of this platform is still unknown. Many citizens criticize political candidates using Twitter, others build networks and some others try to collaborate with candidates. This research is focused in understanding this kind of behavior, analyzing the case of the presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto PRI in Mexico who won the presidency with a large participation but without the support of Twitter users. After two online protests against this presidential candidate-#IamnotProletariat and #Iam132-political image could have been undermined and voters could have thought differently. But this was not the case and despite of this, the candidate won. The challenge to understand this online protest and its link to the political campaign is addressed in this paper.


An OISS adviser is assigned to each international student and scholar according to their affiliated school or department. To find your OISS adviser type the name of your school or department in the search box below and you'll see their direct phone and e-mail contact information. You can also schedule an appointment to speak with your adviser in-person, by phone or by video chat. Note: If you cannot find your school, department or unit below, please email Parker Emerson [1].


In a microgrid system, distributed energy storage units are commonly employed as the energy buffers. In this paper, a dynamic power sharing method based on the state-of-charge (SoC) of each energy storage unit is proposed. Droop control is employed as the basic control strategy for the distributed energy storage units. By using the proposed method, the coefficients in the conventional droop method are adjusted according to the SoC of each energy storage module. The modules with higher SoC delivers more active power, while those with lower SoC delivers less. Meanwhile, the reactive power is equally shared in the energy storage system. The relationship between the droop coefficient and SoC are studied deeply and the small signal model is developed to verify the stability of the control system. It is found that the active power sharing speed becomes faster with higher exponent of SoC. At the same time, in order to restore the AC-bus voltage, secondary control is employed to eliminate the deviations of the voltage frequency and amplitude caused by the droop control, with the droop coefficients adjusting according to the SoCs. The model of the secondary control scheme for SoC-based droop method is developed and its stability is discussed. The theoretical analysis is demonstrated by both simulation and experimental results.


When Neale Donald Walsch was experiencing a low point in his life, he decided to write a letter to God. What he did not expect was a response and the result was Conversations with God Book 1. Book 3 takes us even further in our questioning and search for answers, dealing with the universal truths of the highest order, and the challenges and opportunities of the soul. This incredible series contains answers that will change you, your life, and the way you view other beings.


From its beginnings in Twilight fan-fiction to its record-breaking sales as an e-book and paperback, the story of the erotic romance novel Fifty Shades of Grey and its two sequels is both unusual and fascinating. Having sold over seventy million copies worldwide since 2011, E. L. James' lurid series about a sexual ingenue and the powerful young entrepreneur who introduces her to BDSM sex has ingrained itself in our collective consciousness. But why have these particular novels-poorly written and formulaic as they are-become so popular, especially among women over thirty? In this concise, engaging book, Eva Illouz subjects the Fifty Shades cultural phenomenon to the serious scrutiny it has been begging for. After placing the trilogy in the context of best-seller publishing, she delves into its remarkable appeal, seeking to understand the intense reading pleasure it provides and how that resonates with the structure of relationships between men and women today. Fifty Shades, Illouz argues, is a gothic romance adapted to modern times in which sexuality is both a source of division between men and women and a site to orchestrate their reconciliation. As for the novels' notorious depictions of bondage, discipline, and sadomasochism, Illouz shows that these are as much a cultural fantasy as a sexual one, serving as a guide to a happier romantic life. The Fifty Shades trilogy merges romantic fantasy with self-help guide-two of the most popular genres for female readers. Offering a provocative explanation for the success and popularity of the Fifty Shades of Grey novels, Hard-Core Romance is an insightful look at modern relationships and contemporary women's literature.


Negatively stained sarcoplasmic reticulum from the scallop Placopecten magellanicus presented a variety of crystalline forms, the most common being tubular structures. These were characterized by paired rows of morphological units, spaced at approximately 120 A, running diagonally across the tubules. The orthogonal unit cell (120 X 55 A) contained two units, related by a twofold axis, which probably represented the part of the Ca2+-ATPase molecule projecting from the outer surface of the membrane.


The SEC made headlines when, in its release announcing the final version of its controversial Conflict Minerals Rule, the agency estimated that the rule would cost industry between $3-$4 billion in the first year alone. These figures have been widely accepted and have anchored a heated debate about the rule's cost. But this Article proves that the estimate is baseless. The SEC engaged in a dense mathematical discussion of potential compliance expenses, but the core of its analysis rested on inapt and unsound economic models and empirical work. First, this finding means that the SEC's figures should play a muted role in the ongoing public discourse. Second, our study of the SEC's work, and the context surrounding it, sheds light on the controversy around cost-benefit analysis. The D.C. Circuit has held that the SEC, like many other agencies, must quantify and weigh the costs and benefits of its regulations. This Article provides an empirical contribution to the growing body of research that calls into doubt the deepening trust that policymakers and courts have bestowed upon this mode of analysis.


This project investigates practical uses of virtual, mobile, and mixed reality systems in industrial settings, in particular control and collaboration applications for factories. In collaboration with TCHO, a chocolate maker start-up in San Francisco, we have built virtual mirror-world representations of a real-world chocolate factory and are importing its data and modeling its processes. The system integrates mobile devices such as cell phones and tablet computers. The resulting "virtual factory" is a cross-reality environment designed for simulation, visualization, and collaboration, using a set of interlinked, real-time 3D and 2D layers of information about the factory and its processes.


The Echaurren Norte Glacier is a reference glacier for the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) network and has the longest time series of glacier mass balance data in the Southern Hemisphere. The data has been obtained by the direct glaciological method since 1975. In this study, we calculated glacier area changes using satellite images and historical aerial photographs, as well as geodetic mass balances for different periods between 1955 and 2015 for the Echaurren Norte Glacier in the Central Andes of Chile. Over this period, this glacier lost 65% of its original area and disaggregated into two ice bodies in the late 1990s. The geodetic mass balances were calculated by differencing digital elevation models derived from several sources. The results indicated a mean cumulative glacier wide mass loss of −40.64 ± 5.19 m w.e. (−0.68 ± 0.09 m w.e. a−1). Within this overall downwasting trend, a positive mass balance of 0.54 ± 0.40 m w.e. a−1 was detected for the period 2000–2009. These estimates agree with the results obtained with the glaciological method during the same time span. Highly negative mass change rates were found from 2010 onwards, with −1.20 ± 0.09 m w.e. a−1 during an unprecedented drought in Central Andes of Chile. The observed area and the elevation changes indicate that the Echaurren Norte Glacier may disappear in the coming years if negative mass balance rates prevail.


Gothic cathedrals like Chartres were built in a discontinuous process by groups of masons using their own local knowledge, measures, and techniques. They had neither plans nor knowledge of structural mechanics. The success of the masons in building such large complex innovative structures lies in the use of templates, string, constructive geometry, and social organization to assemble a coherent whole from the messy heterogeneous practices of diverse groups of workers. Chartres resulted from the ad hoc accumulation of the work of many men.


This thesis examines the role that Facilities Management (FM) can play in assisting
local government to achieve optimal and sustainable land uses. The focus of the
study is on South African local government, and in particular Cape Town. Local
government in South Africa is required in terms of legislation to promote, inter alia,
social and local economic development and to encourage community participation.
Particular emphasis is to be placed on communities that were disenfranchised under
the apartheid system. The central premise is that a social constructivist perspective
of FM is necessary in order to assist local government in the attainment of
sustainable human settlements. FM literature lacks a coherent theoretical framework
that guides the practice of FM in the public sector. In addition, a scrutiny of local
government policy within South Africa points to a limited understanding of the role
that facilities, particularly community facilities, can play in leveraging the social and
economic outcomes that are required of local government. A grounded theory
approach was adopted within a social constructivist paradigm. Field data were
collected using unstructured interviews with 60 respondents from within government
(local, provincial and quasi-); the private sector; non-government organisations; and
the community. The data show that, while a socially-constructed view of FM has the
potential to act as a mechanism for local government to achieve its constitutional
mandate, it is constrained by the structure of local government and an inability to
harness community resources. A key implication of the findings is that a social and
community perspective of FM is necessary in the management of community facilities
in the local government context in South Africa. The contribution of this socially-
constructed theory to FM is twofold. Firstly, it introduces a change in the scale of the
application of FM theory from a micro-level focus on the building, to a macro-level
focus at an urban precinct scale. Secondly, it proposes a theory to the relationship
between space, place and people within the context of public sector FM.


INTRODUCTION The term "functional traits" describes a set of characteristics of animals whose effect on the economic efficiency of cows is through reduction of costs rather than increase of product output (Groen et al., 1997). It replaced, and rightly so, the term "secondary traits", which was still used as a session heading during the 5 WCGALP at Guelph. McDaniel (1994) chairing this session, pointed out that at the time experience with genetic evaluations of health, reproductive traits, herd life and others was still limited. One of the problems he saw was the low heritability of many of the traits, another one the incompleteness and inaccuracy of data on individual cows. In the meantime research on those traits has intensified (see, e.g., the proceedings of the 6 WCGALP at Armidale). Even more significant, many data processing centres and breeding associations are nowadays routinely computing and publishing breeding value estimates even for such complicated traits (in a statistical sense) as herd life. Partly this process was stimulated by an EU-sponsored Concerted Action, with participating scientists from all EU countries, the Czech Republic, Norway, Switzerland, Israel, Canada and INTERBULL. GIFT the acronym stands for "genetic improvement of functional traits in cattle" brought these people together to discuss issues of recording and genetic evaluation of functional traits and enhanced collaborative efforts and exchange of computer programs used for the genetic analysis of functional traits. Its main activities were a series of workshops held from spring 1997 to autumn 1999. The workshops were organised by subject areas (groups of similar traits), with a final workshop on breeding objectives and selection schemes. The proceedings of all workshops were published as Interbull Bulletins 12, 15, 18, 19, 21 and 23. One of the obvious questions in current dairy cattle breeding is how to combine results from evaluations on production, functional traits and conformation. Different countries and organisations went different ways and some claim that their ways are more "balanced" than those of others. Starting from the theory of the optimal selection index, we will try to evaluate the effect of different digressions from the optimal index. We will use the index and breeding programme currently implemented in the Brown Swiss population of Austria as a reference point. From November 2002, a slightly modified index will be used in the joint evaluation system of Germany and Austria.


In this paper, we investigate a flexibly tunable multiwavelength fiber ring laser with a continuous wavelength spacing tunability, incorporating a superimposed chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) at room temperature. We exploit versatile gain media such as erbium-doped fiber (EDF) and Raman amplifiers in generating the multiwavelength fiber ring laser. The wavelength spacing of a superimposed CFBG can be continuously controlled by modifying the chirp ratio of the grating with the specially designed apparatus. After configuring a fiber ring cavity with the proposed multichannel filter, we realize stable multiwavelength fiber ring lasers at room temperature, which are based on an EDF amplifier incorporating a highly nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber or a Raman amplifier using a dispersion-compensated fiber. Power fluctuation is less than ~0.6 dB. No lasing wavelength change is severally observed for the whole tuning range. For the multiwavelength EDF laser, stable 11-wavelength simultaneous operation spaced at 0.51 nm, with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of more than ~45 dB at room temperature, is achieved. A high-quality multiwavelength Raman laser output with stable 30 lasing wavelengths spaced at 0.51 nm with a high SNR of more than ~45 dB is also realized. By applying the proposed tuning technique to both the multiwavelength EDF and Raman lasers, a wide and continuous tunability of lasing wavelength spacing is successfully achieved, which is measured to be ~ plusmn0.033 nm/mm. By controlling the pump power in the multiwavelength Raman fiber ring laser, we can control the number of lasing channels at a wavelength spacing of 0.51 nm.


The cultivated apple (Malus domestica) is one of the most important fruit crops cultivated in different regions of the world including Iran. For production and breeding of high quality apple, the knowledge of genetic diversity of the cultivated apples  is  necessary. Therefore we studied genetic diversity of 25 genotypes by using ISSR molecular markers. In present study, ten ISSR primers produced 85% polymorphism. (AGC)5GG and (GA)9C primers produced the highest number of bands, while primers (GA)9A, (GA)9A and UBC 807 produced the lowest number. Some of the genotypes showed presence of specific bands. PCoA (principal co-ordinate analysis) plot of genotypes based on geographical origin (Netherland, France, Lebonan and Iran) grouped cultivars from different geographical regions together and intermixed. UPGMA (unweighted paired group method with arithmetic average) and NJ (Neighbor Joining) dendrograms produced 4 major clusters with few subclusters in each of them indicating intra-group genetic diversity. AMOVA (Analysis of molecular variance)  test performed on molecular features of the genotypes present in the 4 clusters revealed significant difference among the clusters. This high value of within clusters genetic variation is in agreement with subclusters formed in each major cluster due to intra-population group variation. STRUCTURE plots of k = 2-7 were obtained and the best groupings was done by k =7. It indicated differences in allelic composition and frequency of the subclusters. The results showed presence of high level of genetic diversity in apple samples studied which can be used in planning further selection and hybridization of apple trees.


Construction of the JT-60SA tokamak was completed on schedule in March 2020. Manufacture and assembly of all the main tokamak components satisfied technical requirements, including dimensional accuracy and functional performances. Development of the plasma heating systems and diagnostics have also progressed, including the demonstration of the favourable electron cyclotron range of frequency (ECRF) transmission at multiple frequencies and the achievement of long sustainment of a high-energy intense negative ion beam. Development of all the tokamak operation control systems has been completed, together with an improved plasma equilibrium control scheme suitable for superconducting tokamaks including ITER. For preparation of the tokamak operation, plasma discharge scenarios have been established using this advanced equilibrium controller. Individual commissioning of the cryogenic system and the power supply system confirmed that these systems satisfy design requirements including operational schemes contributing directly to ITER, such as active control of heat load fluctuation of the cryoplant, which is essential for dynamic operation in superconducting tokamaks. The integrated commissioning (IC) is started by vacuum pumping of the vacuum vessel and cryostat, and then moved to cool-down of the tokamak and coil excitation tests. Transition to the super-conducting state was confirmed for all the TF, EF and CS coils. The TF coil current successfully reached 25.7 kA, which is the nominal operating current of the TF coil. For this nominal toroidal field of 2.25 T, ECRF was applied and an ECRF plasma was created. The IC was, however, suspended by an incident of over current of one of the superconducting equilibrium field coil and He leakage caused by insufficient voltage holding capability at a terminal joint of the coil. The unique importance of JT-60SA for H-mode and high-β steady-state plasma research has been confirmed using advanced integrated modellings. These experiences of assembly, IC and plasma operation of JT-60SA contribute to ITER risk mitigation and efficient implementation of ITER operation.


This book challenges the notion that in Urabá, Colombia, the cause of the region's violent history and unruly contemporary condition is the absence of the state. Although the book takes this locally oft-repeated claim seriously, it demonstrates that Urabá is more than a case of Hobbesian political disorder. Through this exploration of war, paramilitary organizations, grassroots support and resistance, and drug-related violence, the book argues that Urabá, rather than existing in statelessness, has actually been an intense and persistent site of state-building projects. Indeed, these projects have thrust together an unlikely gathering of guerilla groups, drug-trafficking paramilitaries, military strategists, technocratic planners, local politicians, and development experts each seeking to give concrete coherence to the inherently unwieldy abstraction of "the state" in a space in which it supposedly does not exist. By untangling this odd mix, the book reveals how Colombia's violent conflicts have produced surprisingly coherent and resilient, if not at all benevolent, regimes of rule.


Methane emitted by coal mine ventilation air (MVA) is a significant greenhouse gas. A mitigation strategy is the oxidation of methane to carbon dioxide, which is approximately twenty-one times less effective at global warming than methane on a mass-basis. The low non-combustible methane concentrations at high MVA flow rates call for a catalytic strategy of oxidation. A laboratory-scale coal-packed biofilter was designed and partially removed methane from humidified air at flow rates between 0.2 and 2.4 L min−1 at 30°C with nutrient solution added every three days. Methane oxidation was catalysed by a complex community of naturally-occurring microorganisms, with the most abundant member being identified by 16S rRNA gene sequence as belonging to the methanotrophic genus Methylocystis. Additional inoculation with a laboratory-grown culture of Methylosinus sporium, as investigated in a parallel run, only enhanced methane consumption during the initial 12 weeks. The greatest level of methane removal of 27.2±0.66 g methane m−3 empty bed h−1 was attained for the non-inoculated system, which was equivalent to removing 19.7±2.9% methane from an inlet concentration of 1% v/v at an inlet gas flow rate of 1.6 L min−1 (2.4 min empty bed residence time). These results show that low-cost coal packing holds promising potential as a suitable growth surface and contains methanotrophic microorganisms for the catalytic oxidative removal of methane.


In recent years, a new, literalist approach to managing the sustainability performanceof organizations has emerged, the makeup of which stands in stark contrastto the prevailing, incrementalist approach. Unlike the incrementalist approach,which is predicated on the view that progress in sustainability occurs whenevermarginal improvements in the social and environmental impacts of organizationsare made, the literalist approach takes a more rigorous stand. Under the literalistdoctrine (also known as context-based sustainability, or CBS), an organization'ssustainability performance is a function of what its social and environmental impactsare relative to specific norms, standards, or thresholds for what such impactsmust be in order to be sustainable. Here the literalist doctrine relies on the principleof sustainability context, or the general idea that sustainability performance assessmentsmust be made in light of social and ecological limits, and never withoutthem. Actual implementations of sustainability context in practice, however, arestill the exception, not the rule, mainly because generally-accepted guidelines forhow to do it do not yet exist. In response, this paper takes up the question of whatthe research and development needs and opportunities are in the field of CBS, andwhich must be addressed if moving sustainability context from the realm of theoryinto practice is to have any chance of succeeding. The authors begin by definingCBS, explaining the logic and epistemology behind it, and then continue by identifying and discussing specific issues of interest for further research and developmentin the social and environmental accounting domains.


The application of two techniques for the reconstruction of shape reconstruction of a metallic cylinder from scattered field measurements is studied in this paper. These techniques are applied to two-dimensional configurations, for which the method of moment (MoM) is applied to solve the integral equations. Considering that the microwave imaging is recast as a nonlinear optimization problem, an objective function is defined by the norm of the difference between the measured scattered electric fields and those calculated for each estimated metallic cylinder. Thus, the shape of a metallic cylinder can be obtained by minimizing the objective function. In order to solve this inverse scattering problem, two techniques are employed. The first one is based on dynamic differential evolution (DDE) algorithm, while the second one is an improved version of the DDE algorithm with self-adaptive control parameters, called SADDE. Both techniques are tested for the simulated data contaminated by additive white Gaussian noise. Numerical results indicate that SADDE algorithm outperforms DDE algorithm in terms of reconstruction accuracy and convergence speed.


The paper studies an effective way for Chinese enterprises to implement Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) to cut cost and increase efficiency under the impact of financial crisis. It first analyzes the problems of Chinese enterprises in equipment management, reviews the definition, benefits and five components of TPM. The paper suggests the three-stage method for Chinese enterprises to implement TPM systematically and successfully in order to deal with the difficulties and problems of Chinese enterprises in deploying TPM, which is proven effective and we hope our studies are useful for Chinese enterprises to change their extensive operation in equipment management. Key words: TPM; Autonomous maintenance; Three-stage method; Equipment management


Rapidly spreading variants of SARS-CoV-2 that have arisen in the United Kingdom and South Africa share the spike N501Y substitution, which is of particular concern because it is located in the viral receptor binding site for cell entry and increases binding to the receptor (angiotensin converting enzyme 2). We generated isogenic N501 and Y501 SARS-CoV-2. Sera of 20 participants in a previously reported trial of the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2 had equivalent neutralizing titers to the N501 and Y501 viruses.


Objective To compare healthcare use from neonatal discharge to 18 months corrected age (CA) of two groups of extremely preterm neonates (23–25 vs 26–28 weeks). Design Cohort study. Patients Infants born at ≤28 weeks and admitted in three hospital centres in Quebec, Canada (n=254). Main outcome measures Neurodevelopmental outcomes and healthcare use from neonatal discharge to 18 months CA. Results Re-hospitalisation rates occurred in 57% of children born at 23–25 weeks and in 49% of those born at 26–28 weeks. In these two age groups, by 18 months, 61% vs 59% were followed in physical or occupational therapy, 29% vs 17% were enrolled in a long-term rehabilitation program, 38% vs 28% used prescribed medication, and 59% vs 33% required medical assistive devices, respectively. Risk of re-hospitalisation was related to bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), severe brain injury, use of home oxygen or an apnoea monitor and older age at neonatal discharge. Multiple births, BPD, severe brain injury, older age at neonatal discharge and single parenthood were associated with risk of using out-patient health services above average (>2 services). Conclusion Extremely preterm children are frequently re-hospitalised during infancy and use a substantial amount of healthcare resources. These results highlight the importance of resource allocation to preterm infants for medical and rehabilitation services after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit.


EU policy-makers have focused on the creation of a "Capital Market Union" to advance the economic vitality of the EU in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09 and the Eurozone crisis of 2011-13. The hope is that EU-wide capital markets will help remedy the limitations in the EU's pattern of bank-centered finance, which, despite the launch of the Banking Union, remains tied to Member States. Capital market development will provide alternative channels for finance, which will facilitate greater resiliency, more economic integration within the EU, and more choices for savers and firms. This chapter uses the origins of the US capital market union to explore how law can advance the creation of a CMU. The chapter shows the importance of expanding the focal lens beyond investor protection to reveal the full array of ways that the legal choices of repression, substitution, and facilitation shape the private funding of economic activity.
Central to the US story was a mismatch between growing enterprises and a stunted banking system. Political choices led to a banking system populated primarily by small local banks that were ill suited to provide financing in the amounts, or with the risk, needed to fund the railroads and the follow-on industrial film expansion. The bond market stepped in, creating national and international channels for debt and then equity finance. Depression-era legal enactments strengthened these markets, through a strong disclosure regime, a powerful market regulator and enforcer (the SEC), and, through the separation of commercial and investment banking ("Glass-Steagall"), the creation of a set of private actors, investment banks, with strong incentives to develop ever more robust capital markets. These developments also helped deter states from interfering excessively in the issuance of debt or equity securities, a core challenge for any capital market union.
In arguing for a richer understanding of "financial structure law," the chapter makes some EU-specific suggestions. These focus on facilitating the growth of EU-wide asset managers, which can engage in credit intermediation similar to banks but with lower systemic risk. In marshalling individuals' retirement savings, the asset managers can provide a funding supply side to CMU.


The sensational discovery in 1922 of Tutankhamun's tomb, close on the heels of Britain's declaration of Egyptian independence, accelerated the growth in Egypt of both Egyptology as a formal discipline and of 'pharaonism'-popular interest in ancient Egypt-as an inspiration in the struggle for full independence. Emphasizing the three decades from 1922 until Nasser's revolution in 1952, this compelling follow-up to Whose Pharaohs? looks at the ways in which Egypt developed its own archaeologies-Islamic, Coptic, and Greco-Roman, as well as the more dominant ancient Egyptian. Each of these four archaeologies had given birth to, and grown up around, a major antiquities museum in Egypt. Later, Cairo, Alexandria, and Ain Shams universities joined in shaping these fields. Contesting Antiquity in Egypt brings all four disciples, as well as the closely related history of tourism, together in a single engaging framework. Throughout this semi-colonial era, the British fought a prolonged rearguard action to retain control of the country while the French continued to dominate the Antiquities Service, as they had since 1858. Traditional accounts highlight the role of European and American archaeologists in discovering and interpreting Egypt's long past. Donald Reid redresses the balance by also paying close attention to the lives and careers of often-neglected Egyptian specialists. He draws attention not only to the contests between westerners and Egyptians over the control of antiquities, but also to passionate debates among Egyptians themselves over pharaonism in relation to Islam and Arabism during a critical period of nascent nationalism.Drawing on rich archival and published sources, extensive interviews, and material objects ranging from statues and murals to photographs and postage stamps, this comprehensive study by one of the leading scholars in the field will make fascinating reading for scholars and students of Middle East history, archaeology, politics, and museum and heritage studies, as well as for the interested lay reader.


Feminism in the early 1980's in the United States revolved much around social and cultural matters such as sexual liberation, self- definition and self- realization for women. Derived from these ideas within feminism comes Alice Walker's Womanism, that is the writer's own definition of the strong and independent woman of color. This paper investigates the character Shug Avery, in The ColorPurple (1983), in relation to feminism and Womanism. It is argued that she is an empowered female because of the characteristics and attributes that come along with being a Womanist, despite moral,cultural and societal conditions that indicate marginalization for Shug and all women.


Novel amine N-halamine-grafted silica nanoparticles with core-shell structure were facilely fabricated by grafting polymeric amine N-halamine on silica nanoparticles for fighting against pathogenic bacteria. The products were characterized by different techniques such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the modified iodometric/thiosulfate technique. The antibacterial activity of the products was verified by selecting Gram-positive bacteria S. aureus and Gram-negative bacteria E. coli as models via the plate counting method and zone of inhibition study. The antimicrobial results showed that the products possess powerful bactericidal capability against both model pathogen bacteria. Such an investigation opens up a novel idea of making them the potent candidates for deactivating bacteria or even disease control


The massive penetration of the electrical network by renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, pushes the operators to extend hydropower plant units operating range to meet the transmission system operator requirements. However, in off-design operating conditions, flow instabilities are developing in Francis turbines, inducing cavitation, pressure pulsations and potentially resonance that can threaten the stability of the whole system. Reduced scale model testing is commonly performed to assess the hydraulic behaviour of the machine for industrial projects. However, it is not possible to directly transpose pressure pulsations and resonance conditions from model to prototype since the characteristics of the hydraulic circuits are different from model to prototype. In this paper, a methodology developed in the framework of the HYPERBOLE European research project for predicting the eigenfrequencies of hydropower plant units operating in off-design conditions is introduced. It is based on reduced scale model testing and proper one-dimensional modelling of the hydraulic circuits, including the draft tube cavitation flow, at both the model and prototype scales. The hydro-acoustic parameters in the draft tube are identified at the model scale for a wide number of operating conditions and, then, transposed to the full-scale machine, together with the precession frequency for part load conditions. This enables the prediction of the eigenfrequencies and resonance conditions of the full-scale generating unit.


Augmenting human computer interaction with automated analysis and synthesis of facial expressions is a goal towards which much research effort has been devoted recently. Facial gesture recognition is one of the important component of natural human-machine interfaces; it may also be used in behavioural science, security systems and in clinical practice. Although humans recognise facial expressions virtually without effort or delay, reliable expression recognition by machine is still a challenge. The face expression recognition problem is challenging because different individuals display the same expression differently. This paper presents an overview of gesture recognition in real time using the concepts of correlation and Mahalanobis distance.We consider the six universal emotional categories namely joy, anger, fear, disgust, sadness and surprise.


I have argued in other work that emotion, attentional functions, and executive functions are three interpenetrant global state variables, essentially differential slices of the consciousness pie. This paper will outline the columnar architecture and connectivities of the PAG (periaqueductal gray), its role in organizing prototype states of emotion, and the re-entry of PAG with the extended reticular thalamic activating system ("ERTAS"). At the end we will outline some potential implications of these connectivities for possible functional correlates of PAG networks that are just starting to be mapped. Overall, we will look at many lines of evidence that PAG should be conceptualized as a peri-reticular structure that has a foundational role in emotion, in generating the meaningful organization of behavior by the brain through prototype emotional states, and in allowing the various emotional systems to globally influence and tune both the forebrain and brainstem. Finally, we address implications of these concepts for what is currently understood about consciousness, underlining the need for somewhat more humility within consciousness studies about our current level of understanding of consciousness in the brain, combined with a deeper appreciation of the intrinsic connections between emotion and consciousness. One hopes that more concerted empirical interest in structures underneath the thalamus, combined with a deeper appreciation for the fundamental role that organismic and social value must have in bootstrapping awareness in the developing brain, would begin more widely to influence the fundamental lines of neuroscientific research in both emotion studies and consciousness studies.


This study provides a theoretical and methodological contribution to ongoing debates relating to the purpose and nature of international higher education. It does so by examining globalisation, lifelong learning and postgraduate international study through the voice of the individual student. The voice of the student is under represented in the literature and this research contributes by providing an in-depth, longitudinal study focusing on the student voice.

The experiences of international postgraduate students within one English university from 2009-2014 provide the research context. Their experience is explored through a number of integrated and interactive narrative based research methods: written narratives, interview narratives and narratives as conversations in action. There is a dearth of empirical research which integrates these methods. It is not an intention of this study to make generalisation claims or to claim universal applicability. However, the findings do add to knowledge relating to internationalisation, globalisation, lifelong learning and identity construction within higher education programmes.

The neoliberal economic view of motivation to become an international student is contested. This study suggests that motivation to take on a period of international study may be more complex and more heavily weighted towards passion, rather than towards an economic or employment based rationale. Participants do demonstrate many of the qualities identified for the international or globalised learner. However, international experience and international learning is largely brought about the agency of the international student, often in spite of, rather than as an outcome of their formal university programme of study. The study confirms that culture and identity are permeable and are influenced by the postgraduate student experience. However, nationality rather than being reduced is reinforced during the period of international study. The findings confirm that narrative research approaches such as those used in this research, can provide a rich learning experience for both participant and researcher. Such approaches may be of particular importance to individuals in transition stages, such as the international student.


Video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomies have been instrumental in the evolution of thoracic surgical oncology since its introduction in the early 90s. Although there is no robust data to confirm or refute its superiority over open conventional lobectomy, there have been a number of meta-analyses which have shown that VATS is safe and feasible for those undergoing radical resection for cancer. Over the years, VATS lobectomy has continued to evolve with newer techniques, less ports and better instruments. There is now an interest in performing uniportal VATS lobectomy and this is now moving to one without a need for incision in the intercostal space. Microlobectomy, originally envisaged by a group of surgeons from 6 different centres and involves using subcentimeter incisions alongside a subxiphoid utility port. Some of the technical disadvantages of VATS are that the images are 2-dimensional (2D), there is limited depth perception; and manoeuvring rigid instruments within the limited confines of the chest can make dissection difficult. The advent of robotic lobectomy has addressed some of these problems. The 3D vision is unparalleled, the endowrist seamLessly mimic human hand movements and the instrument movement within the chest is fluid. However, the high capital costs may deter smaller centres from introducing this service, especially when working within a limited budget in the public hospital. This can be circumvented by ensuring that the robot is used in a multi-specialty setting and concentrated in a few high volume tertiary centres.


Due to limited network resources for sensing, communication and computation, information quality (IQ) in a wireless sensor network (WSN) depends on the algorithms and protocols for managing such resources. In this paper, for target tracking application in WSNs consisting of active sensors (such as ultrasonic sensors) in which normally a sensor senses the environment actively by emitting energy and measuring the reflected energy, we present a novel collaborative sensing scheme to improve the IQ using joint sensing and adaptive sensor scheduling. With multiple sensors participating in a single sensing operation initiated by an emitting sensor, joint sensing can increase the sensing region of an individual emitting sensor and generate multiple sensor measurements simultaneously. By adaptive sensor scheduling, the emitting sensor for the next time step can be selected adaptively according to the predicted target location and the detection probability of the emitting sensor. Extended Kalman filter (EKF) is employed to estimate the target state (i.e., the target location and velocity) using sensor measurements and to predict the target location. A Monte Carlo method is presented to calculate the detection probability of an emitting sensor. It is demonstrated by simulation experiments that collaborative sensing can significantly improve the IQ, and hence the tracking accuracy, as compared to individual sensing.


Abstract We propose a new point of view of the Spencer cohomology appearing in the formal theory of differential equations based on a dual approach via comodules. It allows us to relate the Spencer cohomology with standard constructions in homological algebra and, in particular, to express it as a Cotor. We discuss concrete methods for its construction based on homological perturbation theory.


It is not very often that an estate tax case is featured in the Harvard Law Review, as recently happened with Estate of Andrews, 850 F. Supp. 1279 (E.D. Va. 1994). In that case, the district court concluded that the value of the right of publicity embodied in a famous decedent's name is includable in the decedent's estate under section 2033. The Harvard article claims that the case 'sent shock waves through the estate planning profession,' and that 'knowledgeable estate attorneys are scrambling to determine what famous personalities must do to protect their estates from potentially devastating tax burdens.' Federal Estate Tax and the Right of Publicity: Taxing Estates for Celebrity Value, 108 Harv. L. Rev. 683, 683 (1995). This article explores the estate planning implications of the Andrews decision.


ABSTRACT Background: Adolescent substance use is a significant public health concern due to its prevalence and associated negative consequences. Although many adolescents use substances, there is substantial heterogeneity in their use patterns. Identifying risk and protective factors that differentiate adolescents with different substance use profiles is important for preventing negative consequences for those at risk. Objective: This study identified distinct latent profiles of substance use by considering adolescents' involvement in multiple common and illicit substances as well as related problems and examined the extent to which individual and contextual factors in the family, peer, school, and neighborhood environments were related to adolescents' membership of substance use profiles. Method: Data came from 9,155 high school students (51% female; 74% European American) who completed electronic surveys in the 2009 Dane County Youth Assessment (DCYA). Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify profiles of adolescent substance involvement and related problems. Multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine associations between individual and contextual factors and latent class membership. Results: LCA identified four distinct profiles of adolescent substance use characterized by both licit and illicit substance use and related problems: Abstainers (56.3%), Alcohol-only users (25.6%), Alcohol-cigarette-marijuana users (13.8%), and Problem polysubstance users (4.3%). Controlling for demographics, individual and contextual factors were associated with adolescents' likelihoods of membership in substance use profiles; notably, the associations varied to some extent across substance use profiles. Conclusions: Substance use is heterogeneous among adolescents. Effects of risk and protective factors on substance use vary depending on adolescents' substance use patterns.


Scalable probabilistic reasoning is the key to unlocking the full potential of the age of big data. From untangling the biological processes that govern cancer to effectively targeting products and advertisements, probabilistic reasoning is how we make sense of noisy data and turn information into understanding and action. Unfortunately, the algorithms and tools for sophisticated structured probabilistic reasoning were developed for the sequential Von Neumann architecture and have therefore been unable to scale with big data. In this thesis we propose a simple set of design principles to guide the development of new parallel and distributed algorithms and systems for scalable probabilistic reasoning. We then apply these design principles to develop a series of new algorithms for inference in probabilistic graphical models and derive theoretical tools to characterize the parallel properties of statistical inference. We implement and assess the efficiency and scalability of the new inference algorithms in the multicore and distributed settings demonstrating the substantial gains from applying the thesis methodology to real-world probabilistic reasoning.
Based on the lessons learned in statistical inference we introduce the GraphLab parallel abstraction which generalizes the thesis methodology and enable the rapid development of new efficient and scalable parallel and distributed algorithms for probabilistic reasoning. We demonstrate how the GraphLab abstraction can be used to rapidly develop new scalable algorithms for probabilistic reasoning and assess their performance on real-world problems in both the multicore and distributed settings. Finally, we identify a unique challenge associated with the underlying graphical structure in a wide range of probabilistic reasoning tasks. To address this challenge we introduce PowerGraph which refines the GraphLab abstraction and achieves orders of magnitude improvements in performance relative to existing systems.


The creation of a three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystal with simple cubic (sc) symmetry is important for applications in the signal routing and 3D waveguiding of light. With a simple stacking scheme and advanced silicon processing, a 3D sc structure was constructed from a 6-in. silicon wafer. The sc structure is experimentally shown to have a complete 3D photonic bandgap in the infrared wavelength. The finite size effect is also observed, accounting for a larger absolute photonic bandgap.


Many active compressional belts contain examples of transverse rivers intersecting anticlines at their highest structural and topographic position. This unusual association between rivers and doubly plunging anticlines at relatively small scales is usually explained by some form of antecedence or superposition. In this article I suggest an alternative explanation, i.e., that river erosion unloads the crust and that this process causes local deformation to be enhanced in the vicinity of rivers. I show the plausibility of this hypothesis with the aid of a coupled three-dimensional mechanical-surface process mathematical model. The conclusion is that river incision can have a major influence on deformation of the surrounding crust if incision occurs at the same time that the crust is deforming plastically in response to regional compression. In this case, incision amplifies background deformation at a relatively small scale, leading to the formation of noncylindrical folds with culminations coinciding with river incision. In the absence of regional deformation, the response of the crust to river incision is small and of long wavelength because it is governed by flexural isostasy of relatively rigid elastic crust. Thus, whether rivers exert an influence on local deformation depends critically on the timing between river incision and regional deformation. This point may explain why in some cases, rivers appear to have had no significant influence on local deformation, whereas in other cases, they have.


This article explores the relationship between coaching and mental health issues. Coaching functions in a world that is dominated by the medical model of mental health, where problems are viewed as illnesses to be diagnosed and treated. The coaching industry also functions alongside many other helping by talking activities, such as counselling and psychotherapy. The relative mental health of individuals is often quoted as a difference between coaching and other "helping by talking" activities but this is, at best, a marketing tool and does not stand up to scrutiny in view of the diverse range of activities and viewpoints of psychological therapies. It is suggested here that a different approach to the mental health/mental ill health boundary is necessary and that by focussing on answering the question "what to do?" rather than the question "what is wrong?" the differences between coaching and other helping by talking activities can be acknowledged. The approach suggested allows for the professional and ethical management of boundary issues without the need for in-depth training in psychological dysfunction and diagnosis.


This article discusses research that was conducted to optimise new electrical-stimulation technologies and to elucidate the effects of pre-slaughter dehydration of lambs. A change in lamb processing to a focus on eating quality has increased the uptake of new electrical technologies. Our research was aimed at understanding how carcase response to electrical stimulation is affected by genotype, pulse-width, current, and frequency and time of stimulation. Although seven post-dressing electrical stimulation systems have been installed in abattoirs across Australia and two prototype pre-dressing systems and an immobiliser have been installed at a major export abattoir, more installations are needed. An indicator of animal dehydration status was developed and used at two commercial abattoirs. This study showed that a large percentage of lambs are dehydrated at the time of slaughter, which represents a potential cost to industry $5 million annually. Although several compounds for prevention of pre-slaughter dehydration in lambs were tested, none were effective.


Ultrashort pulsed lasers are used to fabricate 3D structures in single crystal CVD diamond. The interaction of the laser with diamond lattice leads to a permanent structural modification, which is highly localized at the focus. Severe spherical aberrations compromise fabrication precision below the diamond surface. We implement adaptive aberration compensation to ensure optimum fabrication performance. The nature of the structural modification is analysed for both surface and subsurface laser fabrications.