Background: Evaluation of children with fever without localising signs (FWLS) has barely changed in the USA since 1993 despite reduced invasive disease after the introduction of Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine and conjugate pneumococcal vaccine (PCV7). PCV7 is now recommended in the UK for children under 2 years of age, and new NICE guidelines have been issued for managing feverish children in the UK in anticipation of PCV7's efficacy. We compared rates of bacterial infections in children aged 3–36 months with FWLS in the pre- and post-PCV7 eras to define current trends and evaluate existing guidelines. Methods: We identified all paediatric blood cultures performed in an emergency department before and after PCV7. We subsequently identified all children aged 3–36 months with FWLS and reviewed their medical records. Results: We identified 148 patients with FWLS in the pre-PCV7 period and 275 patients after PCV7. There were 17 positive cultures before PCV7 (10 pathogens and seven contaminants) and 14 positive cultures (but only one pathogen) after PCV7. This represented a 94.6% decrease overall (p = 0.009) and a 100% decrease in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Rates of urinary tract infections (UTIs) were unchanged (6.8% vs 7.6%); UTIs are now the most prevalent bacterial infection in this group. Over 50% of patients still received empirical antibiotics. Conclusions: Based on our data, the emphasis in managing children with FWLS should be on diagnosing UTI. Guidelines for evaluating children with FWLS in countries using PCV7 should emulate the NICE model and reflect the trends identified in this study.


The title of this session asks about the roles of money or credit in the transmission of monetary and real shocks. Our answer, repeated in different forms for more than two decades, is that the analysis of the transmission process is incomplete without both the money and credit markets and their interaction.
For many years, economists ignored the role of the credit markets. Recently, there has been some change. Concerns about financial fragility, banking failures, debt default and loan rationing focussed attention on credit markets. Reexamination of experience during the early 1930's (Ben Bernanke, 1983) raises an issue about whether credit market shocks operated 1) as an independent, or exogenous, impulse supplementing and reinforcing the monetary decline, or 2) as part of the interaction of credit, money (and other financial) markets.


This thesis is concerned with recently discovered high-pressure (HP) zirconium- and hafnium nitrides having cubic Th3P4-type structure, c-M3N4 (M=Zr or Hf). These compounds belong to a rapidly growing group of new hard HP nitrides exhibiting advanced properties. The research was focused on (i) synthesis of macroscopic amounts of c-M3N4, (ii) investigation of their solid state structure, composition and morphology and (iii) measurement of properties related to potential industrial applications of these compounds as hard wear-resistant materials. Nitrogen-rich starting materials for high-pressure high-temperature (HP/HT) synthesis of c-M3N4, namely nanocrystalline powders of M3N4+x with distorted NaCl-type structure, had to be prepared in this work because they were not commercially available. They were obtained via HT ammonolysis of the corresponding metal dialkylamides, M[N(C2H5)2]4, at moderate temperatures up to 873 K. Both, c-Zr3N4 and c-Hf3N4, were synthesized from the nanocrystalline M3N4+x powders applying a pressure of 12 GPa and a temperature of 1873 K using a multi-anvil HP-apparatus. The products were characterized using various techniques including powder XRD (Rietveld refinement), TEM, EPMA, SEM/EDX and Raman spectroscopy. In the case of zirconium nitride, formation of a single phase crystalline material was verified by both XRD and TEM. The presence of a small amount of oxygen in the sample, revealed by EPMA, suggested the formation of oxygen-bearing zirconium(IV) nitride (or oxynitride) having Th3P4-type structure, c-Zr2.86(N0.88O0.12)4. The measured composition was found to correspond to the general formula Zr3-u(N1-uOu)4 which fulfils the electrical neutrality condition. A high quality of the Rietveld structure refinement of the powder XRD data for c-Zr2.86(N0.88O0.12)4 supported the above findings. Further, the assignment of the structure of the obtained oxygen-bearing zirconium nitride to the Th3P4-type was confirmed by Raman spectroscopic measurements. In contrast to zirconium nitride, a minor oxidation of the hafnium nitride sample led to formation of a mixture of oxygen-poor c-Hf3N4 and an oxidic material. The latter was evident from the XRD, EPMA, and SEM/EDX measurements. A detailed analysis of the powder XRD patterns and Rietveld refinement suggested that the oxidic material is comprised of a mixture of the known γ-Hf2N2O and oI-HfO2. The last part of the thesis concerned the investigation of the properties of the synthesized materials. The bulk moduli of c-Zr2.86(N0.88O0.12)4 and c-Hf3N4 were determined via their quasi-hydrostatic compression in a diamond anvil cell up to 45 GPa. The obtained values are B0=219 GPa (B'0=4.4) and B0=227 GPa (B'0=5.3) for c-Zr2.86(N0.88O0.12)4 and c-Hf3N4, respectively. The reduced elastic modulus, Er=224 GPa, of porous c-Zr2.86(N0.88O0.12)4 (volume fraction porosity of 0.3) was measured using nanoindentation techniques. Combining B0 and Er values, the lower limits of the shear modulus G0=96 GPa, and of the Young's modulus E0=252 GPa were determined for the oxygen-bearing c-Zr3N4. The nanoindentation hardness and Vickers microhardness, HV(1), of the porous zirconium nitride sample were measured to be 18 GPa and 12 GPa, respectively. Using a relation between hardness and volume fraction porosity, suggested in the literature, the HV(1) of the fully dense c-Zr3N4 was estimated to exceed 25 GPa. The indentation fracture toughness of 3.2 MPa m^1/2 for porous c-Zr2.86(N0.88O0.12)4 was evaluated from the Vickers indentation cracks. The linear thermal expansion coefficient of the oxygen-bearing c-Zr3N4 was found to increase from 6.6×10^6 1/K at room temperature to about 14×10^6 1/K at 873 K. Onset of the material oxidation in air was observed at 773 K. Finally, the obtained results were compared with existing experimental and theoretical data for c-M3N4 and for other related technological materials and discussed with respect to potential industrial applications of c-M3N4.


The exhibition concerns the Transatlantic Slave Trade, its abolition and modern slavery. The focus is on the lives and personal stories of slaves from Argentina, Cuba, Jamaica, the United States and Bahrain. The 2 works by Alice Kettle depict portraits of cotton slaves. These portraits act as companion pieces showing the past and present of cotton production, foundational to 20th century British prosperity and centered in the North West. These works show slavery bound into the sites of production, consumption and trade of cotton. Adam represents the plantation slaves of the 18th and 19th centuries. This work uses an old cotton table cloth with embroidered cutwork acting like tattoos or the branding iron marks signifying ownership and slavery. These symbolise the circularity of continental slave trading and cotton. The production of the raw cotton material for Cottonopolis, the metropolis of 19thc textile production in Lancashire, drove the industrial revolution. Arkwright's new steam driven textile opened in 1781, placed Manchester as the international centre of global cotton manufacture. The cottons that were woven in Manchester were shipped to Africa from Liverpool and exchanged for African slaves, who were subsequently taken across the Atlantic to be sold to cotton farmers in the American South. The British then purchased the raw cotton at low prices to ship back to Britain. The second work shows the modern day sweatshop slave, who works in the factories of the Indian subcontinent and Bangledesh, to supply cheap clothing for the western clothing market. Both portraits seek to elevate and dignify the slavery and comment on the nature of freedom. Cotton in its material symbolises the political, geographical and socio-economic connections between Gujurat and Lancashire. It offers a reflection on the nature of post colonialist discourse.


Studies of Lu–Hf isotope systematics in meteorites have produced apparent "ages" that are older than Pb–Pb ages and older than the estimated age of our solar system. One proposed explanation for this discrepancy is that irradiation by cosmic rays caused excitation of 176Lu to its short-lived isomer that then underwent rapid decay to 176Hf. This explanation can account for apparent excesses in 176Hf that correlate with Lu/Hf ratio. Mass balance requires that samples with measurable excess in 176Hf should also have measurable deficiencies in 176Lu on the order of 1‰–3‰. To unambiguously test the accelerated decay hypothesis, we have measured the 176Lu/175Lu ratio in terrestrial materials and achondrites to search for evidence of depletion in 176Lu. To a precision of 0.1‰ terrestrial standards, cumulate and basaltic eucrites and angrites all have the same 176Lu/175Lu ratio. Barring a subsequent mass-dependent fractionation event, these results suggest that the apparent excesses in 176Hf are not caused by accelerated decay of 176Lu, and so another hypothesis is required to explain apparently old Lu–Hf ages.


PEEVA, Zh. H., 2009. The role of temperament over the maternal selectivity behavior in primiparous dairy sheep. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 15: 583-588 The aim of this study was to investigate the role of temperament over the selective maternal behaviour in primiparous dairy sheep by means of the test "Selectivity towards alien and own lamb". The test has been carried out in the individual cage, where the dam and young(s) were normally reared until the 7th day after birth, for five minutes per each lamb (alien first and own). The data of the following primiparous animals were used: 11 Calm (C) and 13 Nervous (N). The number of animals in each temperament group were selected according to the following criterion: type of lambing (single, twins); date of lambing ±10 days. The following parameters were recorded: Latency to aggressiveness; Aggressiveness frequency; Access to the udder; Time spent to the udder; Withdrawing from lamb; High-pitch and low pitch bleats and their latencies; Temperament was assessed in all 250 dairy ewes of the breed "Synthetic Bulgarian Dairy Population" from the experimental flock at the Research Institute of Agricultural Science (Stara Zagora), by different methods. The most typical animals of the C and N types were used. It was established that the temperament influenced the maternal selectivity behavior and reactivity toward alien and own lambs in primiparous dairy sheep. The sheep of C temperament demonstrated stable maternal selectivity behavior toward alien and own lambs. The lambing stress at the first parity caused significant negative effect on the maternal selective behavior in the animals of N temperament. They showed a hesitation in recognition between alien and own lamb, which was a sign of higher fear susceptibility compared to this of C


We are now living through a transformational period marked by a fading American empire and an emerging global landscape. Recent years have seen globalization gain breadth and depth as the internet has leveled the playing field, more countries are producing and selling goods, and capital moves more freely. Despite twenty years of a very expensive dollar, U.S. exports have held their ground, and the World Economic Forum currently ranks the United States' $14 trillion economy as the world's most competitive. (1) Yet three years ago, the United States received a loud wake-up call in terms of its position as the nucleus of global finance. In 2005, twenty-four of the world's twenty-five largest initial public offerings (IPOs) were floated on exchanges outside the United States. (2) In a parallel development, the twelve non-U.S, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) established then have grown to control roughly US$2.5 trillion. (3) These upheavals coincided with the introduction of a new principles-based uniform system of accounting standards in the European Union (EU), known as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These guidelines have since been adopted by more than 100 countries. (4) In response to these changes and to the recent market turmoil, the United States moved in August 2008 to adopt IFRS, conceding that it could no longer function in the global economy by prescribing American rules for other countries to follow. (5) The adoption of IFRS not only makes the United States more competitive in the world economy, it also provides a catalyst for change in the world's regulatory and legal frameworks utilized by all global market participants. On 27 August 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), America's financial markets watchdog, made the landmark decision to adopt IFRS in an effort to promote the sharing of financial information across geographical boundaries by standardizing terminology. The Commission allowed large American-based multinationals to begin using IFRS for their annual reports as early as 2009 and expects that most firms will voluntary switch to the standards by 2010. (6) A road map for their mandatory adoption by 2016 has also been proposed. (7) This last measure was the latest in a string of proposals under the leadership of SEC Chairman Christopher Cox designed to bring American and foreign markets closer together. Announcing the decision, he hailed the new standards as a move to an "international language of disclosure, transparency and comparability," saying that the proposed road map marks a cautious step forward from the previously dominant U.S. standards. (8) Despite the success of the new standards in integrating regional and global markets, reducing compliance costs by eliminating the need for reconciliation and lowering the cost of capital, IFRS only established their first real foothold in the United States in late 2007. On 15 November, the SEC announced it would allow foreign companies access to U.S. capital markets while reporting under IFRS. (9) That unanimous vote instantly affected roughly 1,100 companies with U.S. listings, along with any companies planning U.S. IPOs. (10) At the same time, the SEC started contemplating changes that would grant domestic firms the choice between reporting under IFRS or the previous set of accounting rules--known as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). There were a number of considerations in favor of embracing IFRS. If the new accounting regime forced firms to be more forthcoming in what and how they report, investors would be better off. The lower costs and universality of IFRS also promised greater market access for foreign businesses. Until the November move by the SEC, if a European company wanted to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or any other U.S. exchange, it had to engage in a costly reconciliation between its IFRS-compliant financial records and the results under GAAP. (11) THE BUILDUP TO IFRS The adoption of IFRS was the United States' answer to a leveling of the playing field it had once defined and an attempt to counterbalance the negative externalities of competition with emerging countries. …


Vaccination strategies for protection against sexually transmitted diseases are lacking due to an incomplete understanding of genital tract T cell responses. This thesis dissects the generation of T helper subsets, including the recently discovered Th17 subset, during genital tract infection with a common sexually transmitted pathogen, Chlamydia trachomatis, and addresses vaccine requirements for the generation of genital tract CD4 + T cell immunity. Our studies demonstrate the presence of anatomically distinct T helper differentiation patterns in the genital tract. C57BL/6 mice were infected with C. trachomatis and the response in the upper genital tract (UGT) was found to be dominated by Th1 cells, whereas the lower genital tract (LGT) hosted Th2 cells in the presence of IL-10-producing DCs. Additionally, Treg and Th17 responses were demonstrated in both the UGT and LGT following infection. For the generation of T cell-mediated immunity against infection, costimulatory signals through CD28 were critical. We found that T helper differentiation and Treg responses to infection were impaired in both the UGT and LGT of CD28 -/- mice. In contrast, in the absence of ICOS-signaling we observed enhanced elimination of bacteria and the development of protective immunity. Here, intense Th1 cell differentiation dominated and we found reduced regulation through both IL-10 and FoxP3 + Tregs. Paradoxically, in mice lacking both CD28 and ICOS molecules (DKO), primary infection with C. trachomatis was eliminated more rapidly than in CD28 -/- mice. These mice failed to develop protective immunity against reinfection similarly to CD28 -/- mice. As in ICOS -/- mice, Th1 differentiation in the LGT was enhanced in DKO mice. This indicated that ICOS costimulation modulates the immune response even in the absence of CD28-signaling, leading to augmented inflammatory immune responses in the genital tract during C. trachomatis infection. The generation of CD4 + T cell immunity is also key to vaccination against other STDs. Because of this we studied intravaginal (i.vag) immunization for priming of CD4 + T cells in the genital tract. We investigated the requirements for progesterone or estradiol for successful immunization. Both intranasal and i.vag delivery of cholera toxin conjugated to ovalbumin peptide (CT-OVA) induced T cell responses in the draining lymph node, however, i.vag immunizations were absolutely required in order to attract T cells to the genital tract mucosa. In conclusion, the results presented in this thesis provide evidence of anatomically divided T cell immune responses to C. trachomatis in the genital tract. Understanding of T cell responses in the genital tract are has important implications for the generation of protective immunity and immunopathology.


We prove that neural networks with a single hidden layer are capable of providing an optimal order of approximation for functions assumed to possess a given number of derivatives, if the activation function evaluated by each principal element satisfies certain technical conditions. Under these conditions, it is also possible to construct networks that provide a geometric order of approximation for analytic target functions. The permissible activation functions include the squashing function (1 ex)1 as well as a variety of radial basis functions. Our proofs are constructive. The weights and thresholds of our networks are chosen independently of the target function; we give explicit formulas for the coefficients as simple, continuous, linear functionals of the target function.


The study involves two main parts. The first part is focused on conducting an online initial study by gathering data in relation to industrial requirements of IT graduates, which are produced by higher learning institutions in Malaysia. Therefore, in order to fulfill this, three sets of online surveys were created to capture data from the IT graduates, institutions and industries. These surveys were posted online and the data sampling were collected for a period of time. The data collection from this part is later used by the second part of the project in which the results of the study are displayed. This second part is the development of a website which shall be used by the IT graduates, institutions of higher learning and industries as a point of reference, in a way that it could be used both as providing data and information as well as getting data and information. In this part too, the sampling data collected from the first part are analyzed by the developed system to produce various results reflecting the IT sector. Based on the results of the analysis produced by the system, various drawbacks between IT graduates, institutions and industries are identified and discussed. The main drawback indicates that there is no collaboration involved among the three entities which resulting in no cooperation and sharing of information. Therefore, in order to resolve these drawbacks, it is suggested that various strategies are identified and outlined in order to achieve collaboration among the IT graduates, institutions of higher learning and industries. The website can be identified as a meeting point to achieve collaboration among the three entities by which it provides data to the institution and IT graduates on what industry requires and at the same time it ensures that industry recruits the IT graduates with the relevant skills.


BACKGROUND: A serological test that could help to diagnose tuberculosis, especially smear negative disease, would contribute to patient management. METHODS: Levels of antibody to distinct antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were assessed for their value in the diagnosis and management of pulmonary tuberculosis. Serum was taken from 52 patients who were smear positive, from 27 patients who were smear negative but with evidence of active tuberculosis (sputum culture positive in 16, response to antituberculosis chemotherapy in 11), from 11 patients with old healed tuberculosis (pre-antibiotic era), and from 39 healthy subjects vaccinated with BCG. RESULTS: In smear positive tuberculosis an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay using a single 38 kDa antigen gave a diagnostic sensitivity of 80% with a 100% specificity. In smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis, however, combination of the 19 kDa antigen, lipoarabinomannan (ML 34 epitope), and hsp 65 (TB 78 epitope) was needed to achieve a sensitivity of 64% with a specificity of 95%. Recurrent and extensive radiographic disease with a poor prognosis was associated with high anti-38 kDa and low anti-14 kDa antibody levels in patients with active disease. Patients with less pulmonary cavitation had high anti-19 kDa titres. Bacteriological relapse during treatment was indicated by a rise in anti-14 kDa (TB68 epitope) antibodies. Four patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection showed no anti-38 kDa antibody. CONCLUSION: Antigen or epitope specific serology may help in the diagnosis, assessment of prognosis, and monitoring of chemotherapy in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.


Objective: The aims of these studies were (a) to investigate the relationship between attentional bias and eating disorders and (b) examine the impact of psychological treatment on attentional bias. Method: The first study compared performance on a pictorial dot probe of 82 female patients with clinical eating disorders and 44 healthy female controls. The second study compared the performance of 31 patients with eating disorder on the same task before and after receiving 20 weeks of standardized cognitive behavior therapy. Twenty-four patients with eating disorder served as wait-list controls Results: With the exception of neutral shape stimuli, attentional biases for eating, shape, and weight stimuli were greater in the patient sample than the healthy controls. The second study found that attentional biases significantly reduced after active treatment only. Conclusion: Attentional biases may be an expression of the eating disorder. The question of whether such biases warrant specific intervention requires further investigation. © 2008 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2008


This working paper provides a context for the assessment of hopes that there might be a transformation in political accountability in Africa as a result of previously powerless and voiceless populations having their agendas strengthened via interactive media. It describes the ways in which many radio programmes, on which the voices of audience members are heard live on air, are brought into being through the 'sponsorship' of groups that already have significant power and voice. These include political parties, foreign aid donors, and local and international Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), all of which have incentives to use interactive media as a tool of evangelism – to secure public engagement with, and endorsements for, their preferred visions. Using the case of Zambia, it emphasises the negotiating strategies that journalists and station owners deploy to secure resources while maintaining space to allow hosts and audience members, rather than solely sponsors, to shape the agenda of on-air discussions.


OBJECTIVE
To report and describe the possible correlation of a change in syringe sale policy at a community pharmacy with an adverse clinical outcome.

SETTING
Providence, RI, in summer 2009.

PATIENT DESCRIPTION
27-year-old white woman with a long-standing history of chronic relapsing opiate addiction and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection.

CASE SUMMARY
The patient presented to the hospital emergency department with 5 days of severe diffuse pain, swelling in her hands and feet, and several days of rigors with fevers, sweats, and chills. She was diagnosed with sepsis resulting from a disseminated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection. The patient was treated with intravenous antibiotics, neurosurgical drainage of an epidural abscess, intensive care unit care for 1 week, and acute hospitalization for 8 weeks.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Not applicable.

RESULTS
A few weeks before the patient was hospitalized, pharmacists at her local neighborhood pharmacy decided to stop selling syringes in packages of 10. Instead, syringes were sold at a minimum quantity of 100. The patient did not know where to obtain sterile syringes and began reusing syringes.

CONCLUSION
The patient introduced pathogenic bacteria from her skin into her bloodstream through unsafe injection practices. The change in syringe sale policy at her local pharmacy likely inadvertently contributed to this severe and life-threatening situation. Consideration of the implications of syringe sale policy must include an understanding of the barriers that influence individual pharmacist's decisions regarding particular store policies that affect over-the-counter syringe sales. Legalized sale of nonprescription syringes in community pharmacies alone is not enough to curb the epidemic of unsafe injection practices in the United States. All medical risks that are inherent in the use of unsafe syringes, including blood-borne viral pathogens (e.g., HIV, HCV) and bacterial infections (e.g., MRSA), should be considered.


Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and enhancing forest carbon stocks (REDD+) is a performance-based payment mechanism currently being debated in international and national environmental policy and planning forums. As the mechanism is based on conditionality, payments must reflect land stewards' level of compliance with carbon-efficient management practices. However, lack of clarity in land governance and carbon rights could undermine REDD+ implementation. Strategies are needed to avoid perverse incentives resulting from the commoditization of forest carbon stocks and, importantly, to identify and secure the rights of legitimate recipients of future REDD+ payments. We propose a landscapelevel approach to address potential conflicts related to carbon tenure and REDD+ benefit sharing. We explore various landtenure scenarios and their implications for carbon ownership in the context of a research site in northern Laos. Our case study shows that a combination of relevant scientific tools, knowledge, and participatory approaches can help avoid the marginalization of rural communities during the REDD+ process. The findings demonstrate that participatory land-use planning is an important step in ensuring that local communities are engaged in negotiating REDD+ schemes and that such negotiations are transparent. Local participation and agreements on land-use plans could provide a sound basis for developing efficient measurement, reporting, and verification systems for REDD+.


While visual saliency models are approaching maturity, their auditory counterparts remain in their infancy. This is mainly due to the difficulties of gathering basic data, and oversimplifications such as an assumption of monaural signals. Moreover, conventional testing approaches for evaluating auditory saliency models tend to be overly simplistic. To address these shortcomings, we developed an experimental procedure for testing auditory saliency along with more formalized stimulus-selection criteria to support more versatile and ecologically relevant saliency models. This work is described, along with an analysis of some relevant acoustical correlates that emerge from the experiments. The results motivate the formulation of a measure of sound complexity and appear to favor time-domain, rather than frequency-domain analysis to describe saliency. Finally, some conclusions are drawn regarding the definition of an expanded feature set to be used for auditory saliency modeling and prediction in the context of natural, everyday sounds.


In efforts to dissect and describe the various forms of crime organized over computers and cyber-networks, the present paper follows McIntosh's (as cited in Sheptycki, 2014b) study of the 'organization of crime', to likewise develop a discourse on the 'organization of cybercrime'. Speci cally, the paper describes the organization of piracy, hacking, terrorism, and cryptomarkets, revealing the varying motivations and goals of parties involved. Pro t oriented or idealistic, ephemeral or long lasting, aptitude based or simplistic, the descriptions of the various organizational aspects are intended to provoke academic inquiry that succeeds in weakening descriptions of cybercrime as a uniformly organized activity.The author concludes by offering recommendations based in the organizational contexts of cybercrime to guide policy makers in developing more comprehensible solutions to cyber threats. Particularly, these recommendations surround surveillance, problem de nitions, and technical expertise.


The current study is aimed at investigating the basic soil behavior involved in a TBM-EPB excavation and the capability of the Modify Cam Clay (MCC) model is verified for the analysis of the soil settlement in cohesive soils. Tunnel excavation in urban areas can engender considerable ground movements, which is known as one of the complicated issues that may have negative effects on the extant structures. In this paper, the construction of the second line of the Mashhad metro is considered as a case study. Each section of the ground was modeled by two constitutive models, namely MCC and Mohr-Coulomb (MC). Afterwards, the results of numerical analyses and monitoring data were compared with each other. In addition, real parameters of soil, such as volume loss and the inflection point, were obtained via empirical approaches verified by tunnel monitoring. Numerical modeling was performed by FLAC3D software. Based on the transverse and longitudinal sections settlement, the MCC model showed high capabilities of predicting the surface settlement in comparison to the MC model. Finally, using the MCC model was chosen as a rational strategy to predict the soil behavior especially for soft clay with low pre-consolidation ratio or normal consolidation.


Removal of copper from polluted water by plant leaves was studied using 15 species. Copper was recovered in variable percentages depending on the species and pH value of the solution. Copper recovery from a 20 mg/L copper solution ranged between 88% (in poplar leaves) and 33% (in oak leaves). For all leaves studied, maximum copper recoveries were found to be between pH 4 and 6 depending on the plant species. At pH 2 the copper was not removed by the plant leaves studied. Adsorption was suggested as the main mechanism for the reaction between copper ions and plant leaves with a reaction order equal to one.


A modification of the Spacecraft Plasma Interaction Software has been undertaken under ESA contract 4000107327/12/NL/AK (SPIS-DUST). The primary goal is to provide mission designers with an engineering tool capable of predicting charged dust behavior in a given plasma environment involving a spacecraft / exploration unit in contact with complex topological features at various locations of the Moon's surface. The tool also aims at facilitating dust contamination diagnostics for sensitive surfaces such as sensors optics, solar panels, thermal interfaces, etc. In this paper, the new user interface and the new numerical solvers developed in the frame of this project is presented. The pre-processing includes the building of a 3D lunar surface from a topology description (i.e. a point list), an interface to position the spacecraft and a merging interface for the spacecraft elements in contact with the lunar surface. Concerning the physical models, the new solvers have been developed in order to model the physics of the ejection of the dust from the soils, the dusts charging and transport in volume and the dust interaction and contamination of the spacecraft. The post-processing includes the standard outputs of SPIS for the electrostatic computation and the plasma plus dedicated instruments for the diagnosis of the dusts. A set of verification test cases are presented in order to demonstrate the new capabilities of this version of SPIS in realistic conditions.


In this paper, a new approach for the near infrared sub-bandgap detection in Si-based devices is investigated. In particular, the design, the realization and the characterization of a back illuminated silicon resonant cavity enhanced Schottky photodetectors, working at 1.55 μm, are reported. The photodetectors are constituted by Fabry-Perot microcavity incorporating a Schottky diode. The working principle is based on the internal photoemission effect enhanced by cavity effect. Performances devices in terms of responsivity, free spectral range, finesse and estimated bandwidth are reported.


The months leading up to the Supreme Court's blockbuster decision on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were characterized by a prodigious amount of media coverage that purported to analyze how the legal challenge to Obamacare went mainstream. The nation's major newspapers each had a prominent story describing how conservative academics, led by Professor Randy Barnett, had a long-term strategy to make the case appear credible. In the first weeks after the ACA's passage, the storyline went, the lawsuit's prospects of success were thought to be virtually nil. Professor (and former Solicitor General) Charles Fried stated that he would "eat a hat...made of Kangaroo skin" if the challenge were successful. But, as the case went through the system, the predictions evolved to the point where many believed that the ACA would be struck down. A (rapidly diminishing) group of observers maintained their prediction that the ACA would be upheld, but even then, most of those individuals focused exclusively on Commerce Clause grounds.In the midst of this speculation came an important article by Robert Cooter and Neil Siegel arguing that the ACA should be upheld as a valid exercise of the tax power. They argued — in a draft placed online two months before the oral argument in the case — that there was a key distinction between penalties and taxes. Applying that framework, they argued that the ACA was not a penalty because penalties have the effect of preventing conduct (thereby producing little revenue) and the ACA's minimum cover-age provision, by contrast, was projected to raise oodles of revenue. It is fair to say that this article had little to no impact on the media predictions that were being bandied about as the case wound its way through the Supreme Court. The Commerce Clause remained everyone's focus.


High dimensional feature space could potentially hinder the efficiency and performance for machine learning, and high correlations between features may further increase the redundancy and diminish performance of learning algorithms. Domain ontology provides relationships and similarities between concepts in the specific area, and thus can be used to reduce redundancy by clustering concepts and revealing their functionality. In this paper, we study the problem of using high dimensional medication data to predict the probability of 30-Day heart failure readmission. We propose a feature reduction method for high dimensional dataset using a combination of two drug ontologies. By creating a tree structure of the combination, the method uses a greedy strategy to obtain a subset of features, which may have higher correlation with the class label but lower correlation with each other. Experimental results show that our methods improve the performance of heart failure readmission prediction (using only drug data) comparing to existing feature reduction methods without drug domain ontologies.


In Search of Community is a collection of thirteen essays by former students of Dr. Werner Stark, influential historian of social thought. The work opens with an introduction succinctly relating an outline of Stark's life's work encompassing the historical framework that influences him, and the personal events that shape his outlook and scholarship. The essayists address the entire range of central subjects of the sociological discipline by focusing on four areas of scientific debate: the epistemic (Sociology of Knowledge), the theoretical (Social Thought), the societal (Social Bond), and the religious (Sociology of Religion). Those four areas were also of substantive concern to Werner Stark and his extraordinary range and depth of knowledge is reflected in this collection of essays.


Evolution of compositions in time, space, temperature or other covariates is frequent in practice. For instance, the radioactive decomposition of a sample changes its composition with time. Some of the involved isotopes decompose into other isotopes of the sample, thus producing a transfer of mass from some components to other ones, but preserving the total mass present in the system. This evolution is traditionally modelled as a system of ordinary differential equations of the mass of each component. However, this kind of evolution can be decomposed into a compositional change, expressed in terms of simplicial derivatives, and a mass evolution (constant in this example). A first result is that the simplicial system of differential equations is non-linear, despite of some subcompositions behaving linearly. The goal is to study the characteristics of such simplicial systems of differential equations such as linearity and stability. This is performed extracting the compositional differential equations from the mass equations. Then, simplicial derivatives are expressed in coordinates of the simplex, thus reducing the problem to the standard theory of systems of differential equations, including stability. The characterisation of stability of these non-linear systems relays on the linearisation of the system of differential equations at the stationary point, if any. The eigenvelues of the linearised matrix and the associated behaviour of the orbits are the main tools. For a three component system, these orbits can be plotted both in coordinates of the simplex or in a ternary diagram. A characterisation of processes with transfer of mass in closed systems in terms of stability is thus concluded. Two examples are presented for illustration, one of them is a radioactive decay.


This paper reviews the book "What's wrong with microfinance?" edited by Thomas Dichter and Malcolm Harper (2007). Many articles of the book mention different micro-credit programs in the world and make sociological analysis and interpretations. Many writers connect micro-credit with other societal problems such as capitalism, commercialization of micro-financing, high interest of rates, peer pressure coercive loan repaying provisions and profit making neo-liberal agenda affect the poor through micro financing. The paper reviews the articles from the author's micro-credit working experience in terms of people's quantitative (economic) growth and qualitative (social livelihood improvement) development. The easy also reviews debates issues raised by different writers in the book and addresses missing points found in the articles. Moreover, this paper draws attention micro finance programs need public and private financial supports to increase loan disbursement size with less interest rate for micro-entrepreneurs' micro-enterprise development. The micro-credit programs should emphasize and run with human economics instead profit making economics. In addition, the business incubation/mentoring support and citizenry skills development services are essentials for quantitative and qualitative development of the micro-borrowers. Moreover, rehabilitation schemes in crisis period can assist delinquent borrowers to revive their businesses when their business is in crisis.


Intermediaries are key actors that facilitate, and sometimes drive, migration within and across borders. By providing information and extending critical services in many stages of migration and in places of origin, transit and destination, legitimate intermediaries build migrants' capabilities and expand their range of choice — the very essence of human development. However their value is, in many cases, overshadowed by the costs they impose on migrants, from charging exorbitant fees to outright abuse of basic human rights. Clearly, there is much room for intervention to shape intermediaries' operations in more positive directions. Available policy levers are many, from imposing a system of regulation to fostering government-mediated migration. In weighing these policy options, there is rarely a bright line separating legitimate services and reasonable costs on one hand, and exploitative fees or practices on the other. This can be addressed by adopting a framework that recognizes the importance of identifying the nature of scarcity and recognizing how migrants can best overcome the constraints of scarce information, access and employment opportunities. Success will also depend on introducing parallel efforts centered on empowering migrants, monitoring the intermediating industries, building institutional capacity and drafting migration policies that reflect realities on the ground.


Chapman Sociology and the Stereotype of the Criminal (19 68) Hb: 0-415-26407-3 Chibmall Law and Order News (1977) Hb: 0-415-26408-1 Emery Freedom and Justice within Walls: The Bristol Prison Experiment (1970) Hb: 0-415-26409-X Wolfgang and Ferracuti The Subculture of Violence (1967) Hb: 0-415-26410-3 Gibbens and Ahrenfeldt Cultural Factors in Delinquency 1966) Hb:0-415-26411-1 Glueck and Glueck Ventures in Criminology (1964) Hb: 0-415-26412-X Miller Growth to Freedom (1964) Hb:0-415-26413-8 Roshier and Teff Law and Society in England (1980) Hb: 0-415-26414-6 Wilkins Social Deviance: Social Policy, Action and Research (1964) Hb: 0-415-26415-4 Willet Criminal on the Road (1964) Hb: 0-415-26416-2


Why do children from some minority groups and children living in poverty do poorly in school when compared to white middle-class children? Researchers have offered a large number of different answers to this question. One of the most popular answers has been based on the notion of "decontextualized language." This article argues that this widely influential answer is wrong and misleading, because it is based on a poor theory of how human language works. In turn, I will suggest a better theory of language with which to pursue the question.


Marine renewable energies are promising enablers of a cleaner energy future. Some technologies, like wind, are maturing and have already achieved commercial success. Similar to their terrestrial counterparts, marine renewable energy systems require energy storage capabilities to achieve the flexibility of the 21st century grid demand. The unique difficulties imposed by a harsh marine environment challenge the unencumbered rise of marine renewable energy generation and storage systems. In this study, the fundamentals of marine renewable energy generation technologies are briefed. A comprehensive review and comparison of state‐of‐the‐art novel marine renewable energy storage technologies, including pumped hydro storage (PHS), compressed air energy storage (CAES), battery energy storage (BES), hydrogen energy storage (HES), gravity energy storage (GES), and buoyancy energy storage (ByES), are conducted. The pros and cons, and potential applications, of various marine renewable energy storage technologies are also compiled. Finally, several future trends of marine renewable energy storage technologies are connoted.


Are you considering going vegan, but you're not sure how to start? Are you already committed to an animal-free diet, but are unclear about how to get proper nutrients? Vegan for Life is your comprehensive, go-to guide for optimal plant-based nutrition. Registered dietitians and long-time vegans Jack Norris and Virginia Messina debunk some of the most persistent myths about vegan nutrition and provide essential information about getting enough calcium and protein, finding the best supplements, and understanding the "real deal" about soy. Covering everything from a six-step transition plan to meeting calorie and nutrient needs during pregnancy and breastfeeding, Vegan for Life is the guide for aspiring and veteran vegans alike, complete with an easy-to-use food chart, tasty substitutions, sample menus, and expansive resources.


Wherever there have been nuclear weapons and nuclear fission, there have also been cameras. Camera Atomica explores the intimate relationship between photography and nuclear events, to uncover how the camera lens has shaped public perceptions of the atomic age and its anxieties. Co-published to coincide with a major exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2014. Photographs have a crucial place in the representation of the atomic age and its anxieties. Camera Atomica examines narratives beyond the "technological sublime" that dominates much nuclear photography, suppressing representations of the human form in favour of representations of B-52 bombers and mushroom clouds. The book proposes that the body is the site where the social environment interacts with the so-called "atomic road": uranium mining and processing, radiation research, nuclear reactor construction and operation, and weapons testing. Cameras have both recorded and - in certain instances - provided motivation for the production of nuclear events. Their histories and technological development are intimately intertwined. All photographs, including nuclear photographs, have the capability to function affectively by working on the emotions and fascinating audiences. Through a wide range of visual documentation, Camera Atomica raises questions such as: what has the role of photography been in underwriting a public image of the bomb and nuclear energy? Has the circulation of photographic images heightened or lessened anxieties, or done both at the same time? How should the different visual protocols of photography be understood?


Mobile Ad hoc network (MANETs) is rapidly growing as an important area of wireless communication with the revolutionary inventions in the mobile devices. Efficient routing protocols make MANETs reliable. Despite the considerable simulation works, still more investigation is required in the performance evaluation of routing protocols for multimedia traffic especially Variable Bit Rate(VBR).In this paper, we will conduct a number of simulations for the performance evaluation of two popular routing protocols of MANET, namely AODV and DSR, for VBR multimedia traffic using Real Time Protocol(RTP).We will investigate the performance using four metrics-packet received, throughput, routing overhead and network load.


Considerable evidence now shows that making a reference to the self in a task modulates attention, perception, memory, and decision-making. Furthermore, the self-reference effect (SRE) cannot be reduced to domain-general factors (e.g., reward value) and is supported by distinct neural circuitry. However, it remains unknown whether self-associations modulate response execution as well. This was tested in the present study. Participants carried out a perceptual-matching task, and movement time (MT) was measured separately from reaction-time (RT; drawing on methodology from the literature on intelligence). A response box recorded 'home'-button-releases (measuring RT from stimulus onset); and a target-key positioned 14cm from the response box recorded MT (from 'home'-button-release to target-key depression). MTs of responses to self- as compared with other-person-associated stimuli were faster (with a higher proportion correct for self-related responses). We present a novel demonstration that the SRE can modulate the execution of rapid-aiming arm-movement responses. Implications of the findings are discussed, along with suggestions to guide and inspire future work in investigating how the SRE influences action.


Primary liver cancer is an extremely malignant disease, and 80% of patients are found in Asian countries. Th e APPLE Meetings have been initiated to provide a platform for regional and international experts to exchange information on the latest advancements in primary liver cancer treatment. Th e meetings are aimed at bridging gaps in the basic science and clinical aspects of liver cancer among specialists, with the ultimate aim of disseminating the results of laboratory research and clinical trials in liver cancer among professionals.


Holoprosencephaly (HPE) is a rare congenital brain malformation associated with multiple midline facial defects. This anomaly is resulted from the failure of diverticulation and cleavage of primitive prosencephalon during weeks 4-8 of gestation. HPE is the most common forebrain developmental anomaly in human with the incidence rate of 0.49-1.2 cases per 10,000-20,000 term births. In this study, we described a case of HPE in a neonate with gestational age of 32 weeks. Antenatal ultrasonographic diagnosis was performed, and the infant was presented with macrocephaly, bilateral microphthalmia, hypotelorism, proboscis and ambiguous genitalia.


Background and aims: IBD includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis is 2 inflammations. Symptoms of IBD include abdominal pain, diarrhea and fever, but symptoms of the intestinal tract or other organ involvement can be seen in abundance. Hematologic Anemia is a common complication of IBD that occurs in 6% to 74% of patients. In other words, anemia is the most common extraintestinal complication. This leads to reduced quality of life, reduce the time wasted at work and frequent admissions. Anemia treatment has a positive effect on quality of life in patients with IBD. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and types of anemia and related factors such as the severity of intestinal disease activity, age, sex, duration of disease in patients with ulcerative colitis is designed. Methods: In this study, patients with ulcerative colitis in Golestan Research Center of Gastroenterology and Hepatology records and during the last six months has been the result of colonoscopy were recruited with written consent. Check list of index of disease activity was completed for them. Then presented to the laboratory for blood samples and a blood sample to measure hemoglobin, ferritin, serum iron, B12, folate and TIBC were taken from them. A sample of 55 people. After the measurement data with the results of the statistical tests analyzed the prevalence of anemia and its variants and anemia associated with disease activity index, age, sex, duration of disease was determined last. Results: This study was conducted with 54 patients with ulcerative colitis. In terms of age, the average age of the participants was 34.13 years (SD) age of 10.49 years. 51.9% of the participants were female and 48.1% were male., 55.6% of patients with mild disease activity and 44.4% had severe disease activity. In people who have severe disease activity, anemia significantly more than those who were moderately active. However, due to the small sample size statistically significant association was not found among them. (P Value>0.05) Prevalence of anemia in patients with ulcerative colitis significant correlation with gender, age and duration of disease. (P Value>0.05) in the prevalence of different types of anemia, 42.4% of patients had anemia of chronic disease. 24.3% had iron deficiency anemia. 6% with B12 deficiency were seen in 27.3% Mixed anemia. Conclusion: The results show high prevalence of anemia in patients with ulcerative colitis was. Even in many of the patients in the absence of anemia, iron laboratory abnormalities were observed. The age, gender and duration of illness and anemia past relationship was not statistically significant. The incidence of anemia in patients with more severe disease activity, significantly more than those who had mild disease activity. In connection with the frequency of anemia in patients with ulcerative colitis, the most common type of anemia, anemia of chronic disease, and in later grades, anemia Mixed, iron deficiency anemia and anemia caused by B12 deficiency, respectively.


Abstract The contributions of different physical phenomena to the reactivity temperature coefficient (RTC) in typical light water moderated lattices have been assessed. Using the APOLLO2 code with the CEA93 cross-section library based on JEF2.2 data, we have analyzed the main French experiments available on the RTC: the CREOLE and MISTRAL experiments. In these experiments performed in the EOLE critical facility located at CEA/Cadarache, the RTC has been measured in both UO2 and UO2-PuO2 pressurized water reactor-type lattices. Our calculations have shown that the calculation error in UO2 lattices is <1 pcm/°C, which is considered as the target accuracy for reactor design calculations. On the other hand the calculation error in mixed oxide lattices is more significant in both low- and high-temperature ranges: An average error of -2 ± 0.5 pcm/°C is observed at low temperatures, and an error of +3 ± 2 pcm/°C is obtained for temperatures >250°C. Our analysis has shown that the negative error in the low-temperature range is linked to the thermal spectrum shift effect, which is strongly dependent on the thermal shapes of the cross sections of plutonium isotopes, whereas the positive error in the high-temperature range is mainly linked to the water density effects.


"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages." WN I.ii.2


Imitation learning, and robot learning in general, emerged due to breakthroughs in machine learning, rather than breakthroughs in robotics. As such, evaluation metrics for robot learning are deeply rooted in those for machine learning, and focus primarily on data efficiency. We believe that a better metric for real-world robot learning is time efficiency, which better models the true cost to humans. This is a call to arms to the robot learning community to develop our own evaluation metrics, tailored towards the long-term goals of real-world robotics.


Long weekly hours of keyboard use may lead to or aggravate carpal tunnel syndrome. The effects of typing on fluid pressure in the carpal tunnel, a possible mediator of carpal tunnel syndrome, are unknown. Twenty healthy subjects participated in a laboratory study to investigate the effects of typing at different wrist postures on carpal tunnel pressure of the right hand. Changes in wrist flexion/extension angle (p = 0.01) and radial/ulnar deviation angle (p = 0.03) independently altered carpal tunnel pressure; wrist deviations in extension or radial deviation were associated with an increase in pressure. The activity of typing independently elevated carpal tunnel pressure (p = 0.001) relative to the static hand held in the same posture. This information can guide the design and use of keyboards and workstations in order to minimize carpal tunnel pressure while typing. The findings may also be useful to clinicians and ergonomists in the management of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome who use a keyboard. © 2008 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 26:1269–1273, 2008


A significant number of patients undergo mastectomies and breast reconstructions every year using many surgical-based techniques to reconstruct the nipple-areolar complex (NAC). Described herein is a tissue engineering approach that may permit a human NAC onlay graft during breast reconstruction procedures. By applying decellularization, which is the removal of cellular components from tissue, to an intact whole donor NAC, the extracellular matrix (ECM) structure of the NAC is preserved. This creates a biologically derived scaffold for cells to repopulate and regenerate the NAC. A detergent-based decellularization method was used to derive whole NAC scaffolds from nonhuman primate rhesus macaque NAC tissue. Using both histological and quantitative analyses for the native and decellularized tissues, the derived ECM graft was assessed. The bioactivity of the scaffold was evaluated following cell culture with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). The data presented here demonstrate that scaffolds are devoid of cells and retain ECM integrity and a high degree of bioactivity. The content of collagen and glycosaminoglycans were not significantly altered by the decellularization process, whereas the elastin content was significantly decreased. The proliferation and apoptosis of seeded BMSCs were found to be approximately 65 and <1.5%, respectively. This study characterizes the successful decellularization of NAC tissue as compared to native NACs based on structural protein composition, lubricating protein retention, the maintenance of adhesion molecules, and bioactivity when reseeded with cells. These histological and quantitative analyses provide the foundation for a novel approach to NAC reconstruction.


Injection pressure applied in geological Carbon dioxide (CO2) storage must exceed the existing pore pressure in the reservoir rock to sequestrate supercritical CO2 underground. However, high injection pressure generates new fractures or reactivates existing faults in the rock mass, triggering seismic activities. Therefore, the maximum allowable reservoir rock injection pressure must be assessed as an essential parameter to secure CO2 injection before proceeding with geological CO2 storage. The failure criteria for saturated Yutengping Sandstone, which is a reservoir rock at Tiehchenshan, is investigated in this study using consolidated drained triaxial compression tests. The Mohr circles of in-situ stresses under different coefficients of critical fault friction and various depths are then drawn. The maximum allowable reservoir layer injection pressure was obtained through the relationship between the Mohr circles and failure criteria. The failure criterion for peak strength could be used in evaluating the generation of new fractures in intact rocks. The failure criterion for residual strength could be used in assessing the injection pressure causing slip on existing faults. This assessment method is therefore applicable in the preliminary analysis on the suitability and safety of a geological CO2 storage site. Article history: Received 2 March 2012 Accepted 13 November 2015


We consider the convex hull $P_{\varphi}(G)$ of all satisfying assignments of a given MSO formula $\varphi$ on a given graph $G$. We show that there exists an extended formulation of the polytope $P_{\varphi}(G)$ that can be described by $f(|\varphi|,\tau)\cdot n$ inequalities, where $n$ is the number of vertices in $G$, $\tau$ is the treewidth of $G$ and $f$ is a computable function depending only on $\varphi$ and $\tau.$
In other words, we prove that the extension complexity of $P_{\varphi}(G)$ is linear in the size of the graph $G$, with a constant depending on the treewidth of $G$ and the formula $\varphi$. This provides a very general yet very simple meta-theorem about the extension complexity of polytopes related to a wide class of problems and graphs. As a corollary of our main result, we obtain an analogous result % for the weaker MSO$_1$ logic on the wider class of graphs of bounded cliquewidth.
Furthermore, we study our main geometric tool which we term the glued product of polytopes. While the glued product of polytopes has been known since the '90s, we are the first to show that it preserves decomposability and boundedness of treewidth of the constraint matrix. This implies that our extension of $P_\varphi(G)$ is decomposable and has a constraint matrix of bounded treewidth; so far only few classes of polytopes are known to be decomposable. These properties make our extension useful in the construction of algorithms.


The object of this work is to test the unscavenged prechamber ignition system on a 150 kW cogeneration engine feed with biogas. The engine performances in term of fuel conversion efficiency are observed and the reduction potential f the exhaust emissions below the Swiss limit are verified (NOx CO : 400 and 650 mg/Nm3, 5 % O2 and 0 % relative humidity) ; and the non-limited HC emissions too. The interesting variables are the air-fuel ratio, the fuel composition, the compression ratio and the spark-timing. The aim of this work is to reach at least 36 % in fuel conversion efficiency with exhaust gas emissions lower than the regulations limits without exhaust gas after-treatment. The engine used is a turbocharged spark ignited Liebherr G926 TI, 10 L, 6 cylinders in line engine fitted with combustion prechambers (with a volume of 3 % of the cylinder volume). As a first step, the engine fuel supply has been modified to allow the use of natural gas / CO2 mixtures to simulate biogas. Natural gas tests have been performed with direct ignition and prechamber ignition as references. The same experimental conditions have been applied for the simulated biogas tests. Different spark timing advances have been tested in the configuration with the initial compression ratio of 12,0. Afterwards new pistons have been developped to reach a compression ratio of 13,3. Two different CO2 proportions (20 % and 40 %) have been used to observe the influence of CO2 in fuel on the performances. With a compression ratio of 12,0, 40 % of CO2 inducee a CO reducion of 15 % and an HC reduction of 8 % for the same NOx emissions with a slight reduction of 1 % in fuel conversion efficiency, compared to pure natural gas. The results for the compression ratio of 13,3, a spark timing of 8 caBTDC, of 1,63 and 39,5 % CO2 are a fuel conversion efficiency of 38 % and NOx and CO emissions below the swiss limit. Those performances and emissions are compared to the ones obtained for the natural gas with a compression ratio of 12,0 and prechamber ignition. The use of a compression ratio of 13,3 instead of 12,0 allows to balance the loss in fuel conversion efficiency due to the 40 % of CO2 . If the percentage of CO2 is lower then the efficiency is higher but the CO and HC emissions too. Moreover, it seems better to use a higher compression ratio than a sooner spark timing (see fig. 29, 30, 31). Those tests demonstate that the CO2 does not modify the combustion process nor the prechamber ignition mode. This study shows that gas engines with unscavenged prechambers could allow a significant boost in energy conversion from biogas while keeping the emissions within the tough Swiss limits.


By changing the mole fraction of water (χwater) in the solvent acetonitrile (MeCN), we report a simple procedure to control nanostructure morphology during electrodeposition. We focus on the electrodeposition of palladium (Pd) on electron beam transparent boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes. Three solutions are employed, MeCN rich (90% v/v MeCN, χwater = 0.246), equal volumes (50% v/v MeCN, χwater = 0.743) and water rich (10% v/v MeCN, χwater = 0.963), with electrodeposition carried out under a constant, and high overpotential (-1.0 V), for fixed time periods (50, 150 and 300 s). Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) reveals that in MeCN rich solution, Pd atoms, amorphous atom clusters and (majority) nanoparticles (NPs) result. As water content is increased, NPs are again evident but also elongated and defected nanostructures which grow in prominence with time. In the water rich environment, NPs and branched, concave and star-like Pd nanostructures are now seen, which with time translate to aggregated porous structures and ultimately dendrites. We attribute these observations to the role MeCN adsorption on Pd surfaces plays in retarding metal nucleation and growth.


During a one year longitudinal study, the dietary intake and growth of 50 vegetarian children aged 7-11 years was compared with that of 50 age-, sex- and race-matched omnivores. Diet was assessed at 6 month intervals using three, 3-day diet diaries and follow-up interviews. Anthropometric measurements (height, weight, mid-arm circumference, biceps and triceps skinfolds) were similarly taken 3 times. Multiple stepwise regression was used to control for non nutritional factors that affect growth. A questionnaire was administered at baseline to all children and their parents, to determine socio-economic status, health related behaviour and parents, ' height. Finger-prick blood samples were obtained from a sub-sample to measure haemoglobin (n=35 pairs) and cholesterol (n=32 pairs). Activity profiles were obtained using 12 hour heart-rate telemetry (n=20 pairs). Vegetarian and omnivorous groups were similar for socioeconomic group and health related behaviour. The predicted growth increment (0.47cm) of the vegetarians was significantly greater (p=0.05)' than that of the omnivores. Energy and sugars intakes of the vegetarians were significantly lower than those of the omnivores, fat and iron intakes were similar, whilst P: S ratio, NSP and calcium intakes were higher. The mean (SD) haemoglobin level of the vegetarians (11.8 (0.2g/dl)) was significantly below (p=0.04) that of the omnivores (12.4 (0.2)g/dl) but cholesterol levels were similar. Heart-rates were slightly higher for the vegetarians than the omnivores. The diet of the vegetarian children more closely resembled current recommendations although they need to be as vigilant as omnivores to reduce their intake of fat, and care is needed to ensure optimal iron status. The results of this study suggest that vegetarian children who include dairy products grow at least as well as those children who eat meat.


A middle-grades homework intervention was investigated to determine if variations in prompting families to be involved with mathematics homework would influence their level of involvement. The extent to which family involvement was a predictor of student achievement in mathematics was also examined, as were the relationships among family involvement, student achievement, and parent education level. Families in the 2 prompted groups were significantly more involved with mathematics homework than were families in the no-prompt group. Level of family involvement was not significantly related to student achievement on the post-test. However, students across the 3 groups whose parent(s) held a 4-year college degree scored significantly higher on the post-test than did students neither of whose parents held a college degree, even though reported levels of family involvement were nearly identical across parent education levels. Qualitative data elicited in follow-up interviews with family members indicated that "quality of involvement" with homework merits examination in future research.


ABSTRACT We demonstrate that German retail investors have very heterogeneous requirements pertaining to 'sustainable investments' as a group, based on a representative survey ( = 1014). According to investment behavior we identify three investor groups: 'Sustainable and Responsible' (SR) investors, and conventional investors that are either 'generally interested' (INT) or 'not interested' (CONV) in investing in ethical-ecological investments. The most frequently selected screening criteria are identical for SR, INT and CONV investors. However, measures of intra-group and inter-group heterogeneity indicate that these three groups are heterogeneous with very individual demands regarding sustainable investments. Therefore, it is more important to aid the investor in his search for a fund that meets his screening preferences than to create a fund that tries to anticipate investor groups' screening preferences.


We investigated the potential association between endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene polymorphism and erectile dysfunction (ED). The study was carried on 60 males with ED. All patients were subjected to medical and sexual history taking including the international index of erectile function (IIEF-5) questionnaire, general and genital examination and combined injection and stimulation test (ICI). Patients with a negative response were evaluated through a penile dynamic duplex to clarify the etiology of ED. eNOS genotype polymorphism was determined by restriction fragment length polymorphism(RFLP). The mean age of patients was 49.7 years and mean ED history duration was 3.45 years. The prevalence of diabetes and hypertension were 51.7% and 16.7%, respectively. The main cause of ED in the studied cases was venoocclusive (43.3%), the least common was the arteriogenic (20%). A psychogenic etiology was present in the remaining 37.7%of patients. The most common eNOS genotype was GG(46.7%), followed byGT (43.3%), then TT (10%). There was significant correlation between the grade of ED and eNOS genotype. eNOS gene polymorphism might contribute to the genetic susceptibility to ED. However, this link needs to be confirmed in larger studies.


The importance of road surfacing for good safety performance has been understood from the earliest days of motorised transport. Laser profilometers offer new ways of assessing road surfaces but little has been done to match this information to the crash histories of roads. Macrotexture, defined as surface irregularities between 0.5 mm and 50 mm in height, seems particularly promising as indicator of satisfactory road surface on high speed roads. This paper briefly reviews existing studies, and reports results of two exploratory studies. The first of these examined the relationship between macrotexture and crashes, and revealed a moderate but consistent increase in crashes when sensor-measured texture depth fell below 0.4 mm. The second study examined the relation between macrotexture, rutting and roughness, and their relation to crashes. There was a stronger association between macrotexture and crashes in the second study, probably because crash data and survey data were more closely associated in time. The relationships between the variables and their relation to crashes will be described. Discussion will focus on how this information can be used to manage road surfacing to provide safer travel conditions and how this information can be used in risk management for the road system.


This paper shows that announced credible disinflations under inflation targeting lead to a boom in a standard New Keynesian model (i.e. a disinflationary boom). This finding is robust with respect to various parameterizations and disinflationary experiments. Thus, it differs from previous findings about disinflationary booms under monetary targeting.


MOTIVATION
The discovery of novel biological knowledge from the ab initio analysis of post-genomic data relies upon the use of unsupervised processing methods, in particular clustering techniques. Much recent research in bioinformatics has therefore been focused on the transfer of clustering methods introduced in other scientific fields and on the development of novel algorithms specifically designed to tackle the challenges posed by post-genomic data. The partitions returned by a clustering algorithm are commonly validated using visual inspection and concordance with prior biological knowledge--whether the clusters actually correspond to the real structure in the data is somewhat less frequently considered. Suitable computational cluster validation techniques are available in the general data-mining literature, but have been given only a fraction of the same attention in bioinformatics.

RESULTS
This review paper aims to familiarize the reader with the battery of techniques available for the validation of clustering results, with a particular focus on their application to post-genomic data analysis. Synthetic and real biological datasets are used to demonstrate the benefits, and also some of the perils, of analytical clustervalidation.

AVAILABILITY
The software used in the experiments is available at http://dbkweb.ch.umist.ac.uk/handl/clustervalidation/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Enlarged colour plots are provided in the Supplementary Material, which is available at http://dbkweb.ch.umist.ac.uk/handl/clustervalidation/.


Contemporary sociology of punishment has identified a shift in penal policies during the last quarter of the 20th century, part of which is a transformation of punishment practices from an "old penology" based on the rehabilitation ideal to a new technocratic and managerial penology challenging this ideal (Feeley and Simon, 1992). This paper hypothesizes that it would have been difficult for violence risk assessment to know its current success in the Western world had it not proceeded to an esoterization of empirical research. Esoterization of recidivism research is a process of epistemological complexification that obfuscated the two major difficulties faced by academics during the larger part of the 20th century. This process has apparently solved the two main types of critique faced by violence risk evaluation research: (1) the inconsistency critique – results concerning the "good predictors" of recidivism are too inconsistent to be ready for use by an administration; and (2) the undecidability critique – scientists cannot neutrally "decide" what is the best dangerousness assessment tool, as it is primarily an political and ethical choice between liberty and security. Drawing on a recent meta-analysis and on an original demonstration,I show that instead of answering the two fundamental critiques, contemporary methods have hid and displaced them. Overall, this paper intends to contribute to the understanding of the shifts within scientific research that allowed for a new penology to compete with the old ideals of rehabilitation, and concludes in trying to draw a parallel between the newfound strangeness of an ethical choice determined by "new" radar technology methods and the classical strangeness of "older" truth-producing methods such as ordeals, arithmetical proofs, and clinical psychiatric expertise.


The potential for herbicide injury with preemergence herbicides is greater with soybean than corn. The risk increases with environmental conditions that reduce crop vigor and growth rate, and also with heavy rain that moves the herbicide to the depth of the germinating seed or emerging seedling. Much of the state has experienced these conditions, thus it is likely symptoms will be found in many fields as people return to the field with the improved weather. Disciplines Agricultural Science | Agriculture This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cropnews/2423 2/14/2019 Evaluating Herbicide Injury on Soybean | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2017/05/evaluating-herbicide-injury-soybean 1/7 Integrated Crop Management Evaluating Herbicide Injury on Soybean May 25, 2017 The potential for herbicide injury with preemergence herbicides is greater with soybean than corn. The risk increases with environmental conditions that reduce crop vigor and growth rate, and also with heavy rain that moves the herbicide to the depth of the germinating seed or emerging seedling. Much of the state has experienced these conditions, thus it is likely symptoms will be found in many fields as people return to the field with the improved weather. Sulfentrazone (Authority mixes) and flumioxazin (Valor) are Herbicide Group (HG) 14 (PPO inhibitors) products with a relatively high risk of injury. Injury is most likely when rain increases herbicide availability as the hypocotyl approaches or emerges through the soil surface. Symptoms include necrotic lesions on the cotyledons and hypocotyl, and often are more severe in poorly drained areas of the field (Figure 1). In worse case scenarios, the hypocotyl can be girdled, resulting in plant death (Figure 2). The herbicide may contact the apical bud, this results in malformed leaves and occasionally death of the primary stem. Since HG 14 herbicides are contact materials, soybean usually recover quickly from the injury, except in cases where the hypocotyl is girdled or apical bud is damaged. The low use rate of saflufenacil (Sharpen) in soybean reduces, but doesn't eliminate, the risk of injury with this product. 2/14/2019 Evaluating Herbicide Injury on Soybean | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2017/05/evaluating-herbicide-injury-soybean 2/7 Figure 1. Necrotic lesions on cotyledons due to HG 14. Figure 2. Girdled stem associated with heavy rain at emergence and HG 14. HG 15 (amide-type) are less likely to cause soybean injury than HG 14 products. The most common symptom is development of heart-shaped leaflets (Figure 3). Soybean typically grow out of this very quickly. An interaction between HG 15 products and flumioxazin reduces soybean tolerance, therefore increasing the potential for adverse crop response (Figure 4). Fields treated with tank mixes of these products or Fierce (flumioxazin + pyroxasulfone) prior to the heavy rains may exhibit symptoms. 2/14/2019 Evaluating Herbicide Injury on Soybean | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2017/05/evaluating-herbicide-injury-soybean 3/7 Figure 3. Malformed leaves occasionally caused by HG 15. 2/14/2019 Evaluating Herbicide Injury on Soybean | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2017/05/evaluating-herbicide-injury-soybean 4/7 Figure 4. Damage to growing point from combination of flumioxazin, pyroxasulfone, and heavy rain at emergence. Metribuzin (HG 5) causes interveinal chlorosis and necrosis on emerged leaves (Figure 5). Symptoms typically appear on unifoliates and the first trifoliate leaves, later-emerging leaves are usually unaffected. In worst-case scenarios, two or three nodes of leaves may be killed. The risk increases in fields with high pH soils due to greater availability of the herbicide. 2/14/2019 Evaluating Herbicide Injury on Soybean | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2017/05/evaluating-herbicide-injury-soybean 5/7 Figure 5. Interveinal chlorosis/necrosis caused by metribuzin. Image provided by Aaron Hager, U of Ill. Pendimethalin and trifluralin (HG 3) cause swelling of the hypocotyl, reduced root growth, and delayed emergence (Figure 6). Injury is most likely where cool, wet soils slow emergence, therefore increasing absorption of the herbicide into the emerging soybean. 2/14/2019 Evaluating Herbicide Injury on Soybean | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2017/05/evaluating-herbicide-injury-soybean 6/7 Figure 6. Swollen hypocotyls associated with HG 3 products and cool, wet weather. Image provided by Aaron Hager, U of Ill. Crop injury is a risk associated with using herbicides, the lower herbicide tolerance of soybean than corn increases the likelihood of damage. Most preemergence products used in soybean are either contact or xylem mobile herbicides, thus little herbicide reaches the growing point under most situations. This increases the likelihood that injured crops will quickly recover from the damage, minimizing the risk of yield loss. Where injury is evident, stand counts should be taken to determine if stand loss has occurred, fields should be closely monitored over the next few weeks to document recovery, and finally, any field operations that could place additional stress on the crop should be avoided until normal growth resumes. I appreciate Aaron Hager at University of Illinois providing the images of HG 3 and 5 injury. While I lived through the era when those products were widely used and injury was common, I failed to convert my 35 mm slides to digital format, thus I didn't have the images until Aaron stepped up. Links to this article are strongly encouraged, and this article may be republished without further permission if published as written and if credit is given to the author, Integrated Crop Management News, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. If this 2/14/2019 Evaluating Herbicide Injury on Soybean | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2017/05/evaluating-herbicide-injury-soybean 7/7 article is to be used in any other manner, permission from the author is required. This article was originally published on May 25, 2017. The information contained within may not be the most current and accurate depending on when it is accessed. Category: Weeds Crop: Soybean Tags: herbicide injury crop response Author: Bob Hartzler Professor of Agronomy Dr. Bob Hartzler is a professor of agronomy and an extension weed specialist. He conducts research on weed biology and how it impacts the efficacy of weed management programs in corn and soybean. Dr. Hartzler also teaches undergraduate classes in weed science and weed identificatio...


The only continuous, step-by-step tutorial on the essentials of this manufacturing software If you want to get up and running quickly on the industry-leading 3D mechanical design software, Autodesk Inventor 2010: No Experience Required is your perfect resource. It quickly teaches the essential skills and demonstrates the software using a continuous, real-world tutorial project. Once you understand the interface and how to use Inventor conventions, you'll begin actually designing and modeling a project from start to finish. Along the way, you'll learn the "why" behind each step. Learn to use the interface and Inventor conventions Understand sketching commands and best practices, then move into both regular and sheet metal specific part modeling Understand how to join parts into assemblies to create a single, digital prototype of a box fan Create and distribute accruate part and assembly drawings, learn about functional design concepts, and use Inventor's Design Accelerator features Discover how to work with Inventor weldments and create, render, and distribute compelling visualizations of the final design using Inventor Studio The companion website provides "before and after" tutorial files, enabling you to jump in at any point and compare your work with the author's results Autodesk Inventor 2010: No Experience Required gives you all the instruction you need to begin using this powerful 3D mechanical design tool.


Let G be a cyclic group of order n. With respect to polynomial-time non-uniform generic reductions, the Diffie-Hellman problem and the discrete logarithm problem are equivalent in G if and only if n contains no multiple large prime factors. The Diffie-Hellman decision problem is equivalent to the Diffie-Hellman problem in G if and only if all prime factors of n are small.


Parsing diverse nerve cells into biological types is necessary for understanding neural circuit organization. Morphology is an intuitive criterion for neuronal classification and a proxy of connectivity, but morphological diversity and variability often preclude resolving the granularity of discrete cell groups from population continuum. Combining genetic labeling with high-resolution, large volume light microscopy, we established a platform of genetic single neuron anatomy that resolves, registers and quantifies complete neuron morphologies in the mouse brain. We discovered that cortical axo-axonic cells (AACs), a cardinal GABAergic interneuron type that controls pyramidal neuron (PyN) spiking at axon initial segment, consist of multiple subtypes distinguished by laminar position, dendritic and axonal arborization patterns. Whereas the laminar arrangements of AAC dendrites reflect differential recruitment by input streams, the laminar distribution and local geometry of AAC axons enable differential innervation of PyN ensembles. Therefore, interneuron types likely consist of fine-grained subtypes with distinct input-output connectivity patterns.


Increasing obesity in the UK population includes expectant mothers.1 Data from local antenatal clinics(3391 deliveries and 3826 women booked in 2011) show that the number of women with a BMI> 30 (O) and BMI>50 (SO) are rising particularly in the last 5 years (Fig. 1). We wished to determine the respiratory consequences and maternal outcome for these women. Abstract P266 Figure 1 We examined obese women with a BMI >50 Kg/m2 (SO) who gave birth in 2011 and matched them against non-obese (BMI <30) women (N) who delivered on the same day. The percentage of SO v N women respectively who gave a history of asthma, diabetes and depression, was 67% v 17%, 50% v 0% and 50% v 17% respectively. Mean Oxygen saturation in (O and SO) women, supine at rest and awake was 98% and in N 99%. This difference was statistically significant (p = 0.016, unpaired t test, 26 df). Snoring was seen in 67% (O & SO) v 40% N (p = 0.07, χ2). No difference was seen in the mean Epworth sleepiness scores (ESS; 0 6.2 v N 6.6) suggesting ESS is insensitive in these patients. Mean (range) heart rate at rest awake was 84.7 (72–106) bpm in SO and O, v 81.5 (70–99) in N (p= 0.66, unpaired t test) Mean (range) weight gain during pregnancy in N was 10 (1–16)Kg v 6.3 (–5 – 20) Kg in SO and O (p=0.17, unpaired t test). 100% N but only 67% SO women delivered babies with an acceptable birth weight defined as 2.7–4.0Kg. 37.5% of O and SO women had miscarriages v 8.3% N (p=0.066, χ2). We conclude that obesity, particularly in SO, is associated with an increasing burden on the respiratory and psychological health of expectant mothers, on the outcome of their pregnancies and hospital services. Reference Heslehurst N, Ells LJ, Simpson H, Batterham A, Wilkinson J, Summerbell CD (2007)Trends in Maternal Obesity incidence rates, demographic predictors, and health inequalities in 36,821 women over a 15-year period. BJOG 114:187–94. We acknowledge support of Consultant obstetricians, anaesthetists and Midwifery staff.


The Rayleigh scattering has to be largely suppressed in high-Q whispering-gallery modes in microspheres because of restrictions imposed on scattering angles by cavity confinement. Earlier estimates of the fundamental limit for the quality factor in fused-silica microspheres are revisited, and Q≃1012 is predicted in few-millimeter-size fused-silica spheres, if the surface hydration problem is ovecome. Particular effects of surface scattering losses are analyzed, and the manifestation of scattering in the form of intermode coupling is calculated. The predominant effect of counterpropagating mode coupling (intracavity backscattering) is analyzed in the presence of a mode-matched traveling-wave coupler. As much as 100% resonance reflection regime is shown to be feasible.


Abstract. Substantial uncertainties still exist in the scientific understanding of the possible interactions between urban and natural (biogenic) emissions in the production and transformation of atmospheric aerosol and the resulting impact on climate change. The US Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program's Carbonaceous Aerosol and Radiative Effects Study (CARES) carried out in June 2010 in Central Valley, California, was a comprehensive effort designed to improve this understanding. The primary objective of the field study was to investigate the evolution of secondary organic and black carbon aerosols and their climate-related properties in the Sacramento urban plume as it was routinely transported into the forested Sierra Nevada foothills area. Urban aerosols and trace gases experienced significant physical and chemical transformations as they mixed with the reactive biogenic hydrocarbons emitted from the forest. Two heavily-instrumented ground sites – one within the Sacramento urban area and another about 40 km to the northeast in the foothills area – were set up to characterize the evolution of meteorological variables, trace gases, aerosol precursors, aerosol size, composition, and climate-related properties in freshly polluted and "aged" urban air. On selected days, the DOE G-1 aircraft was deployed to make similar measurements upwind and across the evolving Sacramento plume in the morning and again in the afternoon. The NASA B-200 aircraft, carrying remote sensing instruments, was also deployed to characterize the vertical and horizontal distribution of aerosols and aerosol optical properties within and around the plume. This overview provides: (a) the scientific background and motivation for the study, (b) the operational and logistical information pertinent to the execution of the study, (c) an overview of key observations and initial findings from the aircraft and ground-based sampling platforms, and (d) a roadmap of planned data analyses and focused modeling efforts that will facilitate the integration of new knowledge into improved representations of key aerosol processes and properties in climate models.


This article comprises a set of six responses to 'The demonisation of politicians: moral panics, folk devils and MPs' expenses' by Matthew V. Flinders, also published in this issue of the journal. The authors are Domonic A. Bearfield, Alastair Campbell, Martin Gainsborough, Peter Riddell, Klaus Segbers and Gerry Stoker.


Due to its growth at exponential rate offshore software development has become a common way of producing software by software organizations from highly industrialized countries in Europe and North America. Previous studies have revealed that some of these organizations use agile project management frameworks in managing and running their offshore software projects. Blending agile principles and offshore software development appears to raise a contradiction as the two notions have opposite characteristics. This research focuses the implementation of agile project management frameworks such as Scrum in offshore software projects. The research project was performed by reviewing relevant literature and analyzing the results obtained from the interviews conducted to Cambio Healthcare Systems AB, a Swedish software company that offshore its software projects with Creative Technologies Pty Ltd located in Sri Lanka. The interviews were conducted to Swedish based staff involved in offshore software projects with their Sri Lankan partners. The research findings indicate that offshore software development is a challenging business and requires close monitoring to minimize its challenges. Some of the challenges include dispersion, loss of communication richness and cultural differences between the parties involved. Moreover even though the agile project management frameworks and offshore software development principles differ in nature, the findings have revealed that software organizations such as Cambio make use of these differences to minimize the challenges they face in their respective offshore software projects. The main conclusions drawn from this research is that there is not much evidence that the application of agile project management frameworks such as Scrum is feasible enough to combat the challenges. This research suggests for further research studies to collect information from staff in both offshore and onshore sites in order to formulate enough evidence on whether to apply these strategies or not.


Sol LeWitt, who once worked as a draftsman for I. M. Pei, has said of his own directions for drawings executed by collaborators that, "The contribution brought by the draftsman may not be predicted by the artist, even when the artist is also the draftsman." This separation of the plan, the written score for a work, from its execution and the finished piece lies at the center of the work for which LeWitt is best known, whose execution he entrusts to strangers. "Wall Drawings" tracks the creation of one recent work, beginning with the plan, so spare that it looks as though it might have arrived at the gallery by fax, and continuing through to a schematic drawing on the wall, then figures on stepladders drawing intently, their faces clear but their pencils blurred. Close-ups of their scribbles and images of the completed work are followed by a picture of the triumphant cast, a curtain call.


Summary The experience of the first twelve years of mining operations at Knob Lake, Quebec, has shown that severe ground-water problems exist in the mining area. These conditions are a result of a high water-table, active recharge rates and high permeability values of the geological formations, which in turn have enhanced the instability of artificial slopes. In order to account for these factors in obtaining optimum mine-design criteria, a detailed geotechnical programme combining hydrological, geohydrological, geochemical and soil mechanics investigations with the standard development programme of economic property evaluation is proving to be an efficient framework within which to conduct these investigations. More specifically, the hydrological programme is focused on water-balance studies for selected ground-water basins, while the geohydrology studies encompass water-table and pore-pressure measurements and the construction of flow nets for both ground-water basins and local areas (ore zones). The geochemical programme, now in its initial stages, is being invoked to define ground-water flow by utilizing certain minor and trace elements as natural ground-water tags. Chemical equilibrium of the major elements dissolved in the ground-water, with the minerals in the aquifers and aquicludes, may assist in defining ground-water flow domains or boundary conditions and residence times, in distinguishing between steady and non-steady states and, finally, in proportioning water-well discharges. The soil mechanics investigations are centred on obtaining shear-strength data, studying the distribution of discontinuities and defining slip geometries. An outline of some of these studies and case studies of some slope features are presented.


The virtual workshop took place on May 18-20, 2021. It was a follow-up from the December 2020 NIH Workshop on Ultra Large Chemistry Databases. A major theme emerging from the December 2020 workshop was the fact that all the databases of a billion or more structures are virtual. For each virtual molecule the question then arises of whether, or how, it can be synthesized. The organizers therefore assembled speakers to give presentations about how reaction-related data are represented, captured, managed in databases, analyzed, used for drug design, applied in robotics, and exchanged locally as well as globally. This report summarizes talks from 27 practitioners in the reaction informatics field. The aim is to represent as accurately as possible the information that was delivered by the speakers; the report does not seek to be evaluative. The themes, in the order used for this report, were reaction representations, file formats, and standards; sources of reaction data; AI and machine learning applications of reaction-related data in de novo drug design, synthetic accessibility, synthesis planning, reaction prediction etc.; and automation and progression toward autonomous synthesis.


This project utilized emerging technologies such as mobile
broadband videoconferencing along with web-based software and materials (http://www.cyscience.com.au) to enhance the provision of science and mathematics in rural and remote schools in Northern Queensland. The paper tracks the role of technology in the development and implementation of the CY Science project. It will explore how technology enabled a successful classroom project to evolve into a regional program and beyond. It will look at technology as a creative tool for teachers as well as its benefits and shortcomings as a means of teacher professional development. The project involved the distribution of 202 inquiry based science kits and utilized different methods of accompanying professional development to over 60 schools, primarily across northern Australia. The findings of the SiMERR National Survey into Science, Maths and ICT education in rural and regional Australia (Lyons, Cooksey, Panizzon & Parnell, 2006) concluded that "science teachers in provincial and remote areas indicated a significantly higher unmet need for a broad range of professional development activities than did those in provincial cities or metropolitan areas" (p. vi). This study investigates and reports on the existing research literature, the perceived benefits of the project to teachers' satisfaction with professional development and tracks the changes to classroom practice that teachers and key stakeholders attribute to participation in the project.


Abstract: This paper considers one aspect of social transitions in post-Communist Eastern Europe: that of attitudes to economic change. Although much has been written about economic and political transformation, little has been done in a systematic way with regard to the attitudes of the population to economic change. Furthermore, most studies are one-country studies and it is apparent that there is growing diversification between the transition paths of different Eastern European countries, making comparative research all the more important. The future of market capitalism in the region depends upon its acceptance by the people of Eastern Europe. Here we draw upon a 10 nation study of Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovenia and Croatia to compare economic values in the region. There are altogether 10,441 interviews with a cross section of the population. Using multivariate analysis, we define five value groups according to three dimensions: individualism-collectivism, orientation to macro or micro economic levels and degree of dependence upon state or market. The five groups are Macro-marketeers, Individualists, Collectivists, Pessimists and Economically Depressed. In this articlewe explore the social characteristics associated with these different value-orientations.;