Among the many interpretations of the idea of the "sublime" during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the concept of an "apocalyptic sublime" was not formally recognized; indeed, it had to wait until the late twentieth century to emerge as a distinct aesthetic category. The term was pioneered by Morton Paley, whose study The Apocalyptic Sublime (1986) examined this concept in British art from the late eighteenth to the mid nineteenth century in works by Benjamin West, Philip James de Loutherbourg, William Blake, J.M.W. Turner, John Martin, Samuel Colman, and Francis Danby. Created during the violence and unrest of the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the Age of Reform, some of the most distinctive paintings, drawings, and engravings by these artists depicted a variety of apocalyptic events largely taken from the books of Daniel and Revelation (along with a few other popular catastrophic biblical scenes) while simultaneously drawing on the pervasive contemporary influence of Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757). (1) Despite Paley's pioneering work, the notion of an "apocalyptic sublime" that we find in English Romantic art has not been extended to the work of contemporaneous English and American Romantic writers, for some of whom it would seem particularly apt--for example, Edgar Allan Poe. It has long been recognized that Poe was steeped in contemporary aesthetic theory; indeed, Poe's poetry, tales, and critical writings demonstrate a familiarity with Burkean and other eighteenth-century theories of the sublime and beautiful as well as more recent writings on the picturesque. (2) Yet one aspect of Poe's aesthetic practice that has gone largely unnoticed is the synthesis, in a small body of his fiction and poetry, of contemporary notions of the sublime combined with a number of well-known motifs of biblical apocalyptic. "The Fall of the House of Usher" provides a representative example of the author's use of the apocalyptic sublime. "Usher" is notable for its iconographic depiction of the terrors of death. The main character of the story, Roderick Usher, attempts to transcend mortality in an idealized realm given over to the creation and enjoyment of art; yet death reappears in the form of Usher's prematurely buried "twin" sister, whose advent catalyzes the collapse of the Usher mansion and line. Poe seems to have carefully designed "Usher" around its final moments of sublime apocalyptic terror. In "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846), Poe would argue that a writer should begin a narrative with the denouement already in mind, creating a plot in which both action and tone are ineluctably related to a final dramatic effect (13-16). In keeping with this aesthetic credo, Poe designed "Usher" with a view to depicting the ineluctable onset of what the book of Job called "the king of terrors" (18:14), creating a supreme unity of effect of apocalyptic sublimity. First published in September 1839 in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, "The Fall of the House of Usher" has since assumed its place as perhaps Poe's best-known story and in the process attracted a wide range of critical commentary. (3) The tale is a tour de force of Gothic fiction, extensively borrowing from the basic components of the form as found in some of its classic productions by Walpole, Radcliffe, Lewis, Hoffman, and others. "Usher" thus features a haunted castle, medieval decor, a family curse, symbolic doubling, a morally challenged hero-villain, a physically entrapped maiden, a self-consciously naive narrator, and a deeply buried secret exposed at the climax to the story. (4) To this list of representative Gothic features in Poe's tale we may add the influence of the discourse of the sublime. It has long been recognized that Burkean ideas of sublime terror provided an important aesthetic rationale for the efflorescence of Gothic fiction in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth century. …


Experimental investigation of film cooling from two staggered rows holes, backward and forward; of opposite injection angles has been done. The forward holes row was embedded in arc trench. The aim of using arc trench is to enhance the poor mechanical properties of that in rectangular trench. The results of film cooling performance are given here in a form of adiabatic cooling film effectiveness and heat transfer coefficients. In the tests test warm air is blown through tunnel, and cold air through the plenum chamber. When the warm air flowed through the test section it heated the model downstream. Infrared camera is used to measure the model surface temperatures. The comparison with the same holes arrangements and same holes and trench dimensions between existing rectangular trench results and present arc trenched showed that the film cooling thermal performance for both cases are approximately very close with slight differences, these differences are more or less according to the values of blowing ratios


Effective hydraulic properties of porous media such as the capillary pressure–saturation relation and the hydraulic conductivity function are a direct manifestation of the underlying pore geometry. The porous structure of a macroscopically homogeneous porous medium (sintered glass) was measured in detail using X‐ray microtomography. We investigated the possibility of deriving the water characteristic on the basis of structure analysis. We compared three approaches differing in the amount of required input data, the effort of data processing, and their predictive potential. With increasing complexity, these were (i) a simple pore network model based on a few structural parameters and a simplified process model, (ii) a direct simulation of the pressure–saturation relation based on the full morphology of the porous structure together with a simplified process model, and (iii) Lattice‐Boltzmann (LB) simulations based on the full morphology of the porous structure and modeling the complete multiphase fluid dynamics. We found that the network model, the most simple approach, may be sufficient for estimating the main drainage curve, thus suggesting that the complex pore structure can be reduced to a small set of geometric properties. If dynamic effects are considered, the LB approach provides a reliable representation, but at the cost of substantial computational efforts. Since very thin water films exist in the dry range, the continuity of the water phase cannot be described correctly with the LB approach, which presently uses uniform grids.


Abstract: Various devices and test protocols have been used during isokinetic assessment of human muscle performance. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of continuous and interrupted test protocols and test device on concentric quadriceps peak torque (PT) production. PT was measured via two commonly employed isokinetic test devices (Cybex II and Kin-Corn) and test protocols (interrupted (1) and continuous (C)). Thirty-one. male subjects ( x age 23.0 ± 2.07 years, x wt 78.2 ± 12.2 kg, x ht 177.8 ± 6.45 cm) were tested at 1.08 rad/s (60°/second), 48 h apart on each device in random order. Because the devices correct for gravity differently, gravity correction was eliminated from all test conditions. Preload and damp were applied in order to replicate clinical protocols as closely as possible. Intraclass correlation coefficients (2,3) (and standard errors of measurement) were 0.88(7.52 N , m) (I) and 0.91 (7.04 N , m) (C) for the Kin-Corn, and 0.98 (3.30 N , m) (I) and 0.92 (8.42 N. m) (C) for the Cybex. A 2 x 2 within subjects ANOVA demonstrated significant differences between Cybex (damped) and Kin-Corn (preload) PT measures (P 5 0.05). An interaction for device x protocol demonstrated greater peak torque values for the I protocol (Kin-Corn: 199.1 ± 44.9 N. m, Cybex: 181.7 ± 35.0 N .m) than for the C protocol (Kin-Com: 182.2 ± 35.5 N m, Cybex: 183.3 ± 33.9 N -m) (P < 0.05) for the Kin-Com although the Cybex values were the same. Although both the interrupted and continuous protocols demonstrate high reliability, the interrupted protocol results in higher quadriceps PT values for the Kin-Com. We conclude that selection of test protocol influences assessment of quadriceps PT when using the Kin-Com isokinetic dynamometer.


This article explores the continuing evolution of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of homosexuality. In considering the Court's case law as a mechanism through which homosexuality is discursively constructed, the article examines how this discourse both enables and constrains human rights in relation to sexual orientation in contemporary Europe. The discursive construction of homosexuality that underlies the Court's interpretation of the Convention in respect of sexual orientation produces a problematic outcome for sexual minorities: whilst it has been instrumental in socialising a pan-European consensus on intimate and sexual privacy, the Court's understanding of homosexuality ultimately sustains a separation between the rights associated with the private and public spheres and, in doing so, fails to address the ongoing social discrimination experienced by gay men and lesbians.


The Tupe and Patquía formations are known for their marine, deltaic, river, and eolian deposits that record different Late Paleozoic events in the Paganzo Basin. However, in the area of the Río Francia (Province of San Juan, Argentina), these units are relevant because they are located in a strategic place of connection with the southernmost sedimentary sequences in the Paganzo Basin on the Central Precordillera. The Tupe Formation (which by palynological data would represent the late Serpukhovian-Gzhelian interval) has a minimum thickness of 140 m of bioturbed mudstones with a minor percentage of coarse to fine sandstones intercalated. In this work they are grouped into 3 facies associations: I lagoon; II barrier island and III shoreface. The Patquía Formation (from palynological data, in this locality, of Cisuralian in age), it is a typical succession of red beds with deposits of fine -grained sandstones with cross-bedding, and alternation of sandstones with mudstones. 3 facies associations were differentiated: IV anastomosed fluvial; V eolian and VI playa lake. A correlation analysis between these formations and their lithostratigraphic equivalents provided possible scenarios for the western sector of the Paganzo Basin, showing a lineament of units with coastal environment features for the Tupe Formation and equivalents at these latitudes. On the other hand, the Patquía Formation and their equivalents display a progressive continentalization from north to south.


The disposition of a novel 5HT-1a agonist, LY228729, was studied in rats after oral administration and in monkeys after both i.v. and oral administration of a radiolabeled drug. Plasma concentrations of LY228729 declined with a half-life of 2.3 and 1.5 hr in monkeys after oral dosing and i.v. administration, respectively, and 1.9 hr in rats dosed orally. Peak plasma concentrations of the N-despropyl metabolite were greater than the parent drug following oral administration in both rats and monkeys and declined with a half-life of 3.2-3.5 hr. Plasma levels of total radioactivity rapidly exceeded that of the parent drug in both species. Radioactivity was eliminated more slowly, with terminal half-lives of 39.4 hr in the monkey and 48.6 hr in the rat. The parent drug and its despropyl metabolite accounted for only a small percentage of the total radioactivity in the plasma. Following i.v. and oral administration, radioactivity was eliminated predominantly in the urine of monkeys, but was distributed evenly between the urine and feces of rats. Parent drug and the N-despropyl metabolite were the major products in rat urine. In the monkey, the major metabolite was an uncharacterized polar compound.


Abstract: A diverse panel of monoclonal antibodies was obtained from BALB/c mice immunized with two haptens structurally related to spiroperidol (SPD). Bromoacetyl derivatives of aminospiroperidol (NH2SPD) and N‐amino‐phenethylspiroperidol (NAPS) were synthesized to couple the haptens covalently to a protein carrier for immunization, thereby maintaining the butyrophenone portion of the immunogen. Hybridomas were selected based on their ability to secrete antibody that binds [3H]SPD with high affinity. Equilibrium dissociation constants for these antibodies ranged from 0.2 to > 100 nM. The antigen binding sites of the anti‐NH2SPD and anti‐NAPS antibodies were characterized in studies of the inhibition of the binding of [3H]‐SPD by a series of ligands that are either (a) structurally related to SPD or (b) structurally unrelated to the butyrophenones but known to be selective antagonists of the D2 subtype of dopamine receptor. Based on the patterns of inhibition of the binding of [3H]SPD by these compounds, 12 classes of antibody combining sites were identified. Most of these antibodies bound butyrophenones with high affinity. One anti‐NH2SPD and four anti‐NAPS antibodies also bound domperidone, a nonbutyrophenone that has a high affinity for D2 receptors. None of the antibodies bound clebopride or sulpiride, D2‐selective antagonists of the benzamide class, or the agonist dopamine.


Learning representations with diversified information remains as an open problem. Towards learning diversified representations, a new approach, termed Information Competing Process (ICP), is proposed in this paper. Aiming to enrich the information carried by feature representations, ICP separates a representation into two parts with different mutual information constraints. The separated parts are forced to accomplish the downstream task independently in a competitive environment which prevents the two parts from learning what each other learned for the downstream task. Such competing parts are then combined synergistically to complete the task. By fusing representation parts learned competitively under different conditions, ICP facilitates obtaining diversified representations which contain rich information. Experiments on image classification and image reconstruction tasks demonstrate the great potential of ICP to learn discriminative and disentangled representations in both supervised and self-supervised learning settings.


We have achieved 4.1W of 3.5-micron output from a non-critically phasematched (NCPM), type II, KTiOAsO4 (KTA) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped within the cavity of a Q-switched diode-pumped Nd: YALO laser operating at 10kHz. We adopted the simplest configuration with a compact diode-pumped Nd: YALO module pumping the singly resonant KTA OPO. Besides 4.1W of 3.5um, 10.9W of 1.5 micron and 11.3W of 1-micron radiation were obtained simultaneously.


A potential environmental risk of the field cultivation of insect-resistant (Bt-toxin expressing) transgenic maize (Zea mays) is the consumption of Bt-containing pollen by herbivorous larvae of butterflies (Lepidoptera). Maize is wind-pollinated, and at flowering time large amounts of pollen can be deposited on various plants growing in the landscape, leading to inadvertent ingestion of toxic pollen with plant biomass consumed by these butterfly larvae. To examine the possible effect of this coincidence, we focused our study on the protected butterfly Inachis io and two regions of Europe. Using climatic records, maize and butterfly phenology data, we built a simulation model of the butterfly's annual life cycle, overlaid with the phenology of maize pollen deposition on the leaves of the food plant Urtica dioica, and linked these with the dose–response curve of I. io larvae to Bt-maize pollen (event MON810). The simulations indicated that in Northern Europe, where I. io is univoltine, Bt-maize pollen would not be present on the food plant at the same time as the I. io larvae. However, in Central and Southern Europe, where I. ose–response io is bivoltine, Bt-maize pollen and the second generation I. io larvae would coincide, and an increased mortality of the larvae was predicted. This prediction differs from earlier studies which predicted negligible effect of field-grown Bt-maize on I. io larvae. Our model is an improvement over previous efforts since it is based on more detailed, empirical data, includes more biological detail, and provides explicit estimation of all model parameters. The model is open-source software and is available for re-use and for modelling the effects on other species or regions.


Background: The resurgence of civil society has largely been attributed to the sector's ability to exploit new interactive technologies and its ability to adapt its communication and mobilisation strategies. Objectives: This study focuses on how South African civil society organisations (CSOs) deploy Web 2.0 services and technologies for social advocacy and the context of this technology use. Whilst the literature points to many studies relating to the use of the Internet for advocacy, it also suggests that the role and impact of emerging technologies have not been studied in any detail in CSOs. Such studies have the potential to provide new perspectives to current theoretical frameworks and also to add to the discourse around the use of emerging technologies for advocacy. Method: A survey of South African CSOs explored the level of knowledge of social media services and revealed which services in particular were being adopted. Results: The key findings that emerged were that the sector has a low level of knowledge of social media services and an accompanying low level of adoption. These are partly explained by factors such as macro-economic policies and low levels of Internet penetration and ICT readiness. Conclusion: Further research to determine why certain social media services have been embraced more willingly than others and an analysis of the patterns of adoption to determine any underlying significance or relationships is necessary. An analysis of how CSOs build their advocacy capabilities by appropriating social media and how they thus provide alternate discourses and agendas would be instructive.


Manganese (Mn) participates in a variety of distinct physiological processes, including acting as a cofactor for several enzymes and metalloenzymes, in addition to playing a role in immune function, endocrine function, hematopoiesis, and oxidative stress regulation. Mn homeostasis is tightly regulated via intestinal absorption and hepatobiliary and intestinal excretion. In this issue of the JCI, Mercadante and colleagues explored the role of the metal transporter Slc30a10 in vivo using a mouse model system. The authors used whole-body and tissue-specific gene knockouts to show that Slc30a10 is paramount for Mn excretion in the liver and small intestines. These findings provide further insights into mechanisms for Mn homeostasis as well as potential targets for addressing Mn-associated disorders or environmental exposures.


Giorgio Agamben has emerged, in the past five years, as one of the most important continental philosophers. This burgeoning popularity of his work has largely been confined to a study of the homo sacer series. Yet these later 'political' works have their foundation in Agamben's earlier works on the philosophy of language, aesthetics and literature. From a philosophy of language and linguistics that leads to a broader theory of representation, Agamben develops a critical theory that attempts to explore the hiatuses and paradoxes that govern discursive practice across a broad range of disciplines.

Gathering some of the most important established and emerging scholars to examine his body of work, this collection of essays seeks to explore Agamben's thought from these broader philosophical and literary concerns, underpinning its place within larger debates in continental philosophy.

This volume will be a valuable addition to the understanding and reception of this major thinker. Including a contribution by Agamben himself makes it essential reading for anyone interested in his work.

Book description from publisher website at: http://www.euppublishing.com/book/978-0-7486-3462-0


Modern speech content creation tasks such as podcasts, video voice-overs, and audio books require studio-quality audio with full bandwidth and balanced equalization (EQ). These goals pose a challenge for conventional speech enhancement methods, which typically focus on removing significant acoustic degradation such as noise and reverb so as to improve speech clarity and intelligibility. We present HiFi-GAN-2, a waveform-to-waveform enhancement method that improves the quality of real-world consumer-grade recordings, with moderate noise, reverb and EQ distortion, to sound like studio recordings. HiFi-GAN-2 has three components. First, given a noisy reverberant recording as input, a recurrent network predicts the acoustic features (MFCCs) of a clean signal. Second, given the same noisy input, and conditioned on the MFCCs output by the first network, a feed-forward WaveNet (modeled via multidomain multi-scale adversarial training) generates a clean 16kHz signal. Third, a pre-trained bandwidth extension network generates the final 48kHz studio-quality signal from the 16kHz output of the second network. The complete pipeline is trained via simulation of noise, reverb and EQ added to studio-quality speech. Objective and subjective evaluations show that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art baselines on both conventional denoising as well as joint dereverberation and denoising tasks. Listening tests also show that our method achieves close to studio quality on real-world speech content (TED Talks and the VoxCeleb dataset).


Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems are increasingly being used by transit agencies for the real time monitoring of their vehicles. AVL systems can be used to improve the service given to passengers by using informat8ion on the current position of buses to maintain headways or increase reliability by improved operational control and provide an estimate of as to the arrival time of the next bus at the stop. In real-time bus tracking systems, some positional uncertainty is usually associated with eh location of buses in service that are tracked using a locational device such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Rather than raw coordinates, the location is usually better understood in terms of the landmarks along the route, particularly the named stop. Three prediction models have been implemented to estimate the location of vehicles on bus routes. Analysis indicates that one based on mining historical data for patterns gives more accurate results than regression and Kalman filter models when travel is disrupted by one-off events.


Across many countries, the rise of atypical work has been noted whereby employees are increasingly in less secure contractual situations. While this might lead to more flexible labour markets, there are potential downsides for individuals. We explore the prevalence of atypical work in Ireland which provides a fascinating case study. Ireland experienced a dramatic deterioration in its labour market around the Great Recession with unemployment rising from 4.8 per cent in 2007 to 15 per cent in 2012. This situation was also reversed somewhat quickly with unemployment falling to 8 per cent by 2016. Such dramatic swings provide the context in which we explore whether atypical work increased for new job holders with the onset of recession and whether or not this weakened as the economy recovered. We find that atypical work did increase with the recession and, although moderating, the likelihood of new jobs being atypical persisted into the recovery. This raises important questions about whether economic recovery alone will improve job quality, in addition to job numbers.


Lending to the poor is expensive due to high screening, monitoring, and enforcement costs. Group lending advocates believe lenders overcome this by harnessing social connections. Using data from FINCA-Peru, I exploit a quasi-random group formation process to find evidence of peers successfully monitoring and enforcing joint-liability loans. Individuals with stronger social connections to their fellow group members (i.e., either living closer or being of a similar culture) have higher repayment and higher savings. Furthermore, I observe direct evidence that relationships deteriorate after default, and that through successful monitoring, individuals know who to punish and who not to punish after default.


While existing literature identifies a range of factors that support trustworthy leadership, it often does so in an abstract, generalised and unproblematic way. Consequently, such evidence is frequently unable to adequately account for the enactment of leadership on a daily basis. This thesis seeks to address the lack of evidence by exploring in depth the specific and mundane ways in which trustworthy leadership is manifest in an everyday context. This work builds upon Alvesson & Sveningsson's (2003b) concept of the extra-ordinarization of the mundane, which highlights the significance of everyday and routine behaviours in informing the quality of leader-follower relations. However Alvesson & Sveningsson's focus on the ways in which followers attribute qualities to leaders according to their perceived behaviours is seen to distract attention from the role leaders play in this process, potentially portraying them as passive agents whose identity is forged by those they seek to lead. In contrast to this position, this study, which explored trustworthy leadership within school based collaborations, found that leaders play a highly active role in defining the concept of trustworthy leadership within their organisational context. Indeed understandings of trustworthy leadership both inform the nature of leaders' routine, day to day performances and evolve in response to the subsequent leader-follower interactions that occur. Thus trustworthy leadership is viewed as promoted by the exemplary reflexive performance of this role, the nature of which is constructed and reconstructed within the context of daily practice. In this way trustworthy leadership is at once scripted and improvised, structured and agentic. Furthermore, this study found that these leaders demonstrated considerable awareness of their ability to influence the broader climate of their organisation in accordance with the principles of Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977). Aspects of their performance therefore reflected varying degrees of stylisation and were symbolically undertaken to reinforce their key values through the process of dramatic realisation (Goffman, 1959). However such contrivances were potentially counter to leaders' commonly espoused values of honesty, openness and integrity, and thus posed potential ethical dilemmas for these leaders. Thus the performance of trustworthy leadership requires the ability to reconcile potential contradictions between principles and practice, whilst maintaining a high degree of authenticity for both self and audience. Recourse to the notion of professionalism may represent a positive coping strategy for leaders in such circumstances, by providing a means through which potentially negative aspects of their performance may be recast as essential [and therefore desirable] elements of their role.


This Article advocates several ways to reform the American with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) and its jurisprudence. It begins with the premise that the "otherwise qualified," "reasonable accommodation," and "undue hardship" analyses are questions that call for a focus on, respectively, the plaintiff at issue, the accommodation at issue, and the employer at issue. The article calls for the abolition of the need to demonstrate a major life activity limitation required for coverage under the statute in accommodation cases, noting that this has already effectively occurred in the context of the rest of the ADA's antidiscrimination jurisprudence. It also suggests that the "otherwise qualified" analysis, derived from the statute, be given a stronger role in both the overall analysis and the screening of appropriate plaintiffs and cases. It further urges that the "essential functions" language in the statute's definition of an "otherwise qualified" plaintiff be changes so as to evaluate the plaintiff's possession of essential, necessary, or valued skills. Without the benefit of a wealth of case law that actually applies the ADAAA to existing jurisprudence, as the ADAAA is not retroactive, this Article aims to honor the ideals, energy, and vision of Senator Kennedy, a steadfast advocate of implementing radical change to dismantle barriers and enable justice.


We investigated the feature map inside deep neural networks (DNNs) by tracking the transport map. We are interested in the role of depth--why do DNNs perform better than shallow models?--and the interpretation of DNNs--what do intermediate layers do? Despite the rapid development in their application, DNNs remain analytically unexplained because the hidden layers are nested and the parameters are not faithful. Inspired by the integral representation of shallow NNs, which is the continuum limit of the width, or the hidden unit number, we developed the flow representation and transport analysis of DNNs. The flow representation is the continuum limit of the depth, or the hidden layer number, and it is specified by an ordinary differential equation (ODE) with a vector field. We interpret an ordinary DNN as a transport map or an Euler broken line approximation of the flow. Technically speaking, a dynamical system is a natural model for the nested feature maps. In addition, it opens a new way to the coordinate-free treatment of DNNs by avoiding the redundant parametrization of DNNs. Following Wasserstein geometry, we analyze a flow in three aspects: dynamical system, continuity equation, and Wasserstein gradient flow. A key finding is that we specified a series of transport maps of the denoising autoencoder (DAE), which is a cornerstone for the development of deep learning. Starting from the shallow DAE, this paper develops three topics: the transport map of the deep DAE, the equivalence between the stacked DAE and the composition of DAEs, and the development of the double continuum limit or the integral representation of the flow representation. As partial answers to the research questions, we found that deeper DAEs converge faster and the extracted features are better; in addition, a deep Gaussian DAE transports mass to decrease the Shannon entropy of the data distribution. We expect that further investigations on these questions lead to the development of an interpretable and principled alternatives to DNNs.


The fixed coefficient 'manpower requirements" model has the advantage of providing information on the effect of changes in the industrial composition of an economy on demand for labor in highly disaggregated occupations, although at the cost of neglecting factor substitution. This study examines the ability of the fixed coefficient model to explain changes in employment in 3-digitoccupations in the United States from 1960 to 1970 and develops an "augmented requirements" model that uses changes in wages as well as fixed coefficient shifts in demand to analyze changes in employment. The study finds that (1) by themselves, the requirements shifts account for much of the change in employment among detailed occupations in the period studied; (2) demand for detailed skills is far from zero elastic; and (3) the fixed coefficient model seems to work, not because demand and supply are economically unresponsive, but because the variation in the wage structure and corresponding incentive to alter input coefficients is moderate relative to the variation in the shift in demand due to changes in industrial mix.


Environmental issues and constantly diminishing petroleum resources are considerable barriers inhibiting modernization, and vast efforts have been exerted to address these problems. Carbon fibers (CFs) are carbon materials with high mechanical strength and functionality for applications in construction, electronics, transportation, and aviation. Currently, most CFs are produced from polyacrylonitrile, a petroleum-based, unsustainable, and non-renewable chemical of relatively high price. Interestingly, lignin is an inexpensive, highly accessible, and renewable resource. It has been utilized to fabricate lignin-based carbon fibers (LCFs), which have met rapid development during the past two decades. In this review, LCFs are generalized by focusing on their steps of manufacture. Resource types and corresponding pretreatments ensure the processability of spinning and thermal treatments. Fibers are formed via spinning methods, including melt-spinning, wet-spinning, dry-spinning, and electrospinning. The next step is the most significant process of stabilization, in which fibers are oxidized, crosslinked, and thermally stabilized for pyrolysis. Subsequent to carbonization and/or additional processes (activation and graphitization), LCFs are obtained. Each step can influence the terminal performance of LCFs, which is discussed in detail. Recently produced LCFs of sub-micron size, also known as lignin-based carbon nanofibers (LCNFs), are detailed. Furthermore, attributed to the excellent performance and low cost of LCFs and LCNFs, they have been applied in various fields, predominantly for electronic devices such as batteries and supercapacitors. Our review is concluded with opinions on the potential for further advancement of this promising material.


The main purpose of imaging evaluation in male infertility is to identify and treat correctable causes of infertility, such as obstruction of the seminal tract. Various imaging modalities are available to evaluate men with obstructive infertility including scrotal ultrasonography, transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), vasography, magnetic resonance imaging, seminal vesicle aspiration, seminal tract washout, and seminal vesiculography. To date the most reliable and accurate diagnostic technique for obstructive infertility is unclear. In this review article, we report the role of these modalities in diagnosis of obstructive infertility. Scrotal sonography is the initial modality, and if patient results indicate non obstructive azoospermia as varicocele or testicular pathology they will be treated according to standard protocols for management of these pathologies. If the patient findings indicate proximal obstructive azoospermia, they can be managed by vasoepididymostomy. If the scrotal ultrasound is normal, TRUS is the second imaging modality. Accordingly, they are classified into patients with criteria of obstructive infertility without urogenital cysts where TRUS-guided aspiration and seminal vesiculography can be performed and transurethral resection of the ejaculatory ducts (TURED) will be the management of choice. In patients with urogenital cyst, TRUS-guided cyst aspiration and opacification are performed. If the cyst is communicating with the seminal tract, management will be transurethral incision of the cyst. If the cyst is not in communication, the obstruction may be relieved after cyst aspiration. If the obstruction is not relieved, TURED will be the management of choice. Sperm harvested during aspiration may be stored and used in assisted reproduction techniques. If the results of TRUS are inconclusive or doubtful, endorectal magnetic resonance imaging should be performed to serve as a "detailed map" for guiding corrective operative interventions.


This thesis presents a design for an Intelligent Educational System to support the teaching of design evaluation in engineering. The design consists of a simple computerbased tool (or 'learning environment') for displaying and manipulating infonnation used in the course of problem solving, with a separate dialogue component capable of discussing aspects of the problem and of the problem solving strategy with the user. Many of the novel features of the design have been incorporated in a prototype system called WOMBAT. The main focus of this research has been on the design of the dialogue component.

The design of the dialogue component is based on ideas taken from recent work on rational agency. The dialogue component has expertise in engaging in dialogues which support collaborative problem solving (involving system and user) in domains characterised as justified beliefs. It is capable of negotiating about what to do next and about what beliefs to take into account in problem solving. The system acquires problem-related beliefs by applying a simple plausible reasoning mechanism to a database of possible beliefs. The dialogue proceeds by turn-taking in which the current speaker constructs their chosen utterance (which may consist of several propositions and questions) and explicitly indicates when they have finished. When it is the system's turn to make an utterance, it decides what to say based on its beliefs about the current situation and on the likely utility of the various possible responses which it considers appropriate in the circumstances. Two aspects of the problem solving have been fully implemented. These are the discussion about what criteria a decision should be based on and the discussion about what decision step should be taken next. The system's contributions to the interaction are opportunistic, in the sense that at a dialogue level the system does not try to plan beyond the current utterance, and at a problem solving level it does not plan beyond the next action.

The results of a formative evaluation of WOMBAT, in which it was exposed to a number of engineering educators, indicate that it is capable of engaging in a coherent dialogue, and that the dialogue is seen to have a pedagogical purpose. Although the approach of reasoning about the next action opportunistically has not proved adequate at a problem solving level, at a dialogue level it yields good results.


Change normally occurs when there is a compelling need, and this is particularly true with engineering education. There have been many studies over the years focusing on engineering education and the need for change, but most have had little or no impact on the educational process unless they were associated with a major societal need. Today there should be no confusion as to the societal need: the growing need for alternative clean energy sources, food and fresh water shortages that are prevalent in many regions of the world, global political and social unrest due to many factors not the least of which is poverty, and growing concerns for the environment. How are the roles of engineering and engineering defined in this broader context, and how should engineering education respond? Alternative responses are explored, and we suggest strategies drawn mainly from the mechanical engineering community that we feel are relevant for engineering education generally. With extensive survey data from academia, industry, and early career engineers, we make the case for substantial change in engineering education, and we present possible scenarios.


BACKGROUND: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment technique in which photosensitizing substances are applied in tissues and excited with specific wavelengths of light energy to obtain cell destruction through photoactive cytotoxic substances. This method has been used in several skin neoplasms, with quite successful results. OBJECTIVES: To study the effects of one single session of topical delta-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) irradiated with incoherent light, in actinic keratosis (AK), superficial basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and Bowen's disease (BD). PATIENT AND METHODS: Eighty skin lesions, in 52 patients, were treated with an incoherent light source prototype built by the Service of Biomedical Engineering of Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), after the application of 20% ALA under occlusion. Thirty two (40%) were superficial BCC, 37 (46.3%) AK, and 11 (13.7%) BD. Diagnosis was confirmed by biopsy and histology in 23 cases (28.7%). RESULTS: Follow up was not available in five lesions. From the remaining 75, 41 (54.6%) were completely resolved, 22 (29.4%) showed partial remission, and 12 (16.0%) were considered as treatment failures. Considering the 35 treated AK, 23 (65.7%) presented complete response, 7 (20%) improved, and 5 (14.3%) showed no benefit after treatment. Thirty BCC were treated, 10 (33.3%) completely resolved, 13 (43.4%) improved, and 7 (23.3%) remained unaffected. From 10 treated BD, 8 (80%) resolved and 2 (20%) improved. Observed side effects were burning sensation in 24 lesions (32%), pain in 5 (6.7%), and itch in one case (1.3%). Most patients (60%) did not experience any important side effects. CONCLUSION: The results of this study are similar, in part, to the results of other studies present in the literature that used a single treatment with ALA/PDT for superficial keratinocytic neoplasms, especially for actinic keratosis and Bowen's disease.


Episodic bromine enhancement occurs over first year sea ice zones during spring, with corresponding rapid decreases in surface ozone concentrations. The release of bromine via autocatalytic heterogeneous reactions on sea-salt surfaces, including young sea ice, snow pack and aerosols, is known as a 'bromine explosion'. With the return of sunlight in spring, the rate of bromine photolysis rapidly increases, and the rresulting bromide ions react with ozone to form bromine monoxide (BrO). A frequent stable inversion layer concentrates BrO near the surface and prevents replenishment of ozone from the overlying free troposphere, resulting in rapid ozone depletion.BrO measurements have been made at Arrival Heights using zenith-sky UV- visible differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) since 1995 and multi-axis (Max-) DOAS since 1998.


There has been considerable interest over the last decade in the detection of digital coherent lightwave signals corrupted by phase noise. However, the majority of the work has been in the performance analysis of various modulation schemes. In addition, the receivers studied have, in general, been zero-phase noise optimal or ad hoc modifications of these. In this paper, we consider the design problem of constructing optimal receivers for systems using frequency shift keying (FSK). Using the innovations approach, we show the format of the optimal receiver and use a small phase noise approximation to derive suboptimal receivers. Also, receivers based on optimum linear filters are also derived. Both receivers are analyzed by simulation and performance improvements over the standard receivers are shown. Furthermore, the receivers developed can equally well be used to further improve the performance of other detection schemes such as postdetection filtering and time diversity. The methodology is also used to derive equivalent receivers for systems using on-off keying (OOK).


We present an on-line decentralised algorithm for coordinating mobile sensors for a broad class of information gathering tasks. These sensors can be deployed in unknown and possibly hostile environments, where uncertainty and dynamism are endemic. Such environments are common in the areas of disaster response and military surveillance. Our coordination approach itself is based on work by Stranders et al. (2009), that uses the max-sum algorithm to coordinate mobile sensors for monitoring spatial phenomena. In particular, we generalise and extend their approach to any domain where measurements can be valued. Also, we introduce a clustering approach that allows sensors to negotiate over paths to the most relevant locations, as opposed to a set of fixed directions, which results in a significantly improved performance. We demonstrate our algorithm by applying it to two challenging and distinct information gathering tasks. In the first–pursuit-evasion (PE)–sensors need to capture a target whose movement might be unknown. In the second–patrolling (P)–sensors need to minimise loss from intrusions that occur within their environment. In doing so, we obtain the first decentralised coordination algorithms for these domains. Finally, in each domain, we empirically evaluate our approach in a simulated environment, and show that it outperforms two state of the art greedy algorithms by 30% (PE) and 44% (P), and an existing approach based on the Travelling Salesman Problem by 52% (PE) and 30% (P).


This study accomplishes two objectives: (1) develops a model to forecast future household travel demands for a given solid waste site in Fairbanks, Alaska and (2) develops precursory techniques to evaluate the likely impacts of this demand on the network of urban roadways. A systematic random survey to determine socioeconomic and trip-making behavior was sent to 2000 (approx. 10%) of total households in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Evaluation of the 885 returned surveys determined the following household averages: age - 42, family size - 3, annual income - $51,000, garbage bag size - 30 gal., and 1.5 enroute trips per week to dispose of solid waste. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was developed to graphically represent and spatially locate essential information, such as: population and housing density distributions within Bureau of the Census tracts, distance (in seconds) between intersections and average daily traffic counts of the major arterial roadways. To further understand the existing and future impacts of solid waste disposal travel demands, a simulation model of this travel demand is developed. The preliminary model simulates solid waste disposal/collection travel on the major arterial roadways, estimates the utilization of existing and future solid waste sites, and capacity projections and hauling frequencies.


Foreign body aspiration is one of leading cause of accidental deaths among children. Early diagnosis is most important because any diagnostic delay may cause increase in mortality and morbidity. In this study, we evaluated different clinical features with which children presented along with different types of foreign body, site of impaction and outcome. We compared the diagnostic and results with other studies. Material and methods: It is a descriptive study of 95 children diagnosed to have foreign body aspiration. Each patient was examined for the age, sex, nature, site of the foreign body, interval between inhalation or the symptoms to admission in the hospital, presenting symptoms and signs, appearance of chest roentgenograms at the time of admission and results of bronchoscopy were noted. Results: In our study, maximum incidence of 35.7% occurred among children with 1-2 years of age. Only 47% of children had definitive history of foreign body aspiration. Acute onsets of respiratory symptoms were most common presenting complaints. In our study, we found that sudden onset of cough (71%), breathlessness (47%) and fever (43%) were most common presenting symptoms. On examination, unilateral diminished air entry (61%) was most common sign found. On examining chest X-rays we found that obstructive emphysema was (56%) most common radiological sign. Chest X-ray was normal in 8% of cases. Among the foreign bodies removed 86% were organic in nature and most commonly were lodged in right bronchus (48.3%).


The effect of Bacillus S11 (BS11)- and/or Bacillus P11 (BP11)-supplemented feeds on the growth performance, survival, immunoenhancement and disease resistance of cultured Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, was evaluated. Four feeding treatments of (i) regular feed (control), (ii) BS11-supplemented feed, (iii) BP11-supplemented feed and (iv) BS11-and BP11-supplemented feed were prepared and used for shrimp cultivation in closed recirculating cement tanks (~400 L) in two trials, one for juvenile and PL-30 shrimp at 60 and 90 days, respectively. The results showed that BS11 gave a higher probiotic potential than BP11 for both age groups of L. vannamei in cultivation, because the average weight and survival of shrimp fed BS11-supplemented feed were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those of the control and the other two groups. The survival of shrimp fed either BS11-or both BS11-and BP11-supplemented feed was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of the control group. In addition, the highest total haemocyte and granular haemocyte counts and phenoloxidase activity were found in shrimp fed with the BS11-supplemented feed. After challenge with Vibrio harveyi 639 (~107 CFU mL−1) by immersion, the lowest cumulative death (%) and disease resistance were clearly found in shrimp fed with the BS11-supplemented feed.


Greenhouse studies were conducted to evaluate the host suitability of cultivars of sorghum currently grown in Louisiana to Meloidogyne incognita. A total of 29 cultivars of grain sorghum were evaluated.  Nematode reproduction was highly variable among the cultivars of sorghum tested and ranged from 1,239 to 30,440 eggs/g of root and from 1,440 to 25,208 J2/500 cm3 soil on REV RV9782 and DeKalb DKS 53-67 cultivars, respectively. A second study was conducted to determine the influence of 10 populations of M. incognita from Louisiana on Dekalb DKS 53-67, REV RV9924, and REV RV9782 sorghum, rated as being susceptible, moderately susceptible, and moderately resistant, respectively. Sorghum cultivar and root-knot nematode population significantly affected nematode reproduction in a greenhouse environment. As previously determined, DEKALB DKS 53-67 was the most susceptible and REV RV9782 the least susceptible across the 10 populations of M. incognita. Across the three cultivars of sorghum, there was significantly greater reproduction by the M. incognita population from St. Landry (LARK19) than the other 9 populations. There was a significant sorghum cultivar by nematode population interaction, which influenced the number of eggs/g of root.  There were significant differences in egg production among the different populations of M. incognita on the cultivars DEKALB DKS 53-67 and REV RV9924. Despite the great variability in reproduction and broad geographical distribution of the nematode populations, no intraspecific variation of 18S and 28S ribosomal DNA was observed among them. Egg production on the resistant cultivar REV RV9782 was similar across all populations of M. incognita.  This research highlights the need to evaluate sorghum cultivars within a geographical location for susceptibility to M. incognita.


Internet provides youths with a new breeding ground for misbehavior. Cyberbullying is one of the most prevalent online misbehavior that has recently received public attention due to its potentially devastating consequences. Drawing on I3 theory, we develop a research model to investigate the driving and mitigating forces of cyberbullying perpetration. We further examine the moderating role of gender on the effect of forces on cyberbullying perpetration. An online survey of 211 university students was conducted to empirically validate the research model. Results show that both cyberbullying victimization and perceived online disinhibition can increase individual's tendency to perpetrate cyberbullying, whereas subjective norm as the inhibiting force represses the propensity to cyberbully others. Furthermore, the power of the factors influencing cyberbullying perpetration is different between male and female students. The effects of instigating and inhibiting forces are stronger for female students than for male students, while the effect of impelling force is stronger for male students than for female students. We expect that this study will not only provide a theoretical explanation of cyberbullying perpetration but also offer valuable insights to related parties in their effort to tackle cyberbullying perpetration among university students.


The VetMousetrap, a novel device that allows computed tomography (CT) of awake cats and provides a clinically supportive environment, is described. Ten normal cats were used to test the device for ambient internal oxygen, carbon dioxide levels, and temperature. Twenty-two awake normal cats were imaged using a 16-multislice helical CT unit to evaluate dose-equivalent protocols. Two different X-ray tube potentials (kV), 80 and 120, and two different helical pitches, 0.562 and 1.75, were evaluated. The signal intensity of the pulmonary parenchyma (SIlung), signal intensity of background (SIbackgr), contrast, noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were calculated. Three evaluators ranked the images for sharpness of liver margins, motion, helical, and windmill artifacts. CT was successfully completed in 20 of 22 cats. No artifacts directly related to the device were detected. Overall, 75 of 80 (94%) examinations were judged to have absent or minimal motion artifact. A statistically significant difference was found for SNR (P = 0.001) and CNR (P = 0.001) between all protocols. The higher pitch protocols had significantly lower noise and higher SNR and CNR, lower motion artifact but greater helical artifacts. A protocol using 80 kV, 130 mA, 0.5s, and 0.562 pitch with 1.25mm slice thickness, and 0.625 mm slice reconstruction interval is recommended. The VetMousetrap appears to provide the opportunity for diagnostic CT imaging of the thorax of awake cats.


Background: The effective management of patients with cancer is predicated on the right diagnoses and other relevant parameters included in the pathology report. This is particularly important in soft tissue pathology where arriving at the right diagnosis is often challenging. The aim of this study, therefore, was to perform an audit of sarcoma diagnosis and reporting in our institution. Methods: Slides of soft tissue sarcomas diagnosed in our institution over a 5-year period were reviewed with specialist soft tissue pathologists. Ancillary immunohistochemistry and fluorescent in situ hybridization were performed where necessary. The contents of the reports were assessed using a diagnostic checklist developed by the Association of Directors of Anatomic and Surgical Pathology. Results: Fifty-five of the 62 patients studied (88.7%) were correctly identified as sarcomas. However, the correct diagnoses were made in only 27 patients (43.6%). Kaposi sarcoma and dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans were the most recognized sarcomas, while leiomyosarcoma, myxofibrosarcoma, and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor were the least recognized sarcomas. The most reported parameters included the histologic type (100%) and size (89.7%), while the percentage of necrosis (0%) and the stage (0%) were the least reported parameters. Conclusion: A pattern based approach is important for the accurate diagnosis of soft tissue sarcomas. Some essential prognostic parameters and information needed for management were not included in the histopathology reports. The adoption of a structured reporting format and multidisciplinary team meetings will help to ensure the inclusion of such important information in the pathology report.


This thesis investigates the evolution of galaxies as a function of look-back time, concentrating on early-type cluster galaxies. We demonstrate that selecting galaxies in the near-infrared produces samples that are representative of the galaxy population at intermediate and high redshift, and that such samples are likely to contain approximately the same proportion of all galaxy classes independently of z, avoiding the biases introduced by optical selection criteria. We have developed observing and data processing techniques using infrared arrays that yield high precision near-infrared photometry to very faint limits. Combining such data with optical photometry for the galaxy samples, we have been able to quantify the amount of colour evolution in early-type cluster galaxies up to redshifts z ~ 0.9.At z = 0.37 the mean colour-luminosity (c-L) relation for early-type cluster galaxies is compatible in slope and zero point with that of present-day ellipticals, indicating that the bulk of the stellar population at that epoch does not show any significant colour evolution. However, the scatter around the main c-L line is significantly larger than the observational errors, and distinctively non-Gaussian. We interpret this as evidence that a large fraction (~ 60%) of the early-type members have suffered a burst of star formation (involving ~ 10% of the galaxy mass) ~ 1 Gyr prior to the epoch of observation. In the redshift range 0.5 < z < 0.9, we detect systematic colour evolution with redshift in the red cluster galaxies. In particular, at z ~ 0.9 there are no galaxies as red as present day ellipticals at all wavelengths. The detected evolution is compatible with the passive ageing of stellar populations formed before z = 2. Superimposed on that, there is evidence for subsequent bursts of star formation happening on a substantial fraction of the cluster galaxies, but affecting only a small fraction of the total galaxy mass. We suggest this may be related to the Butcher-Oemler effect observed at lower redshifts. We did not detect significant amounts of galaxy luminosity evolution at 2µm, in contrast with the results for radio galaxies. We finally propose and test three new approaches to the study of normal field and cluster galaxies beyond z = 1: a study of gravitationally lensed galaxies, a search for galaxies producing clustered metallic absorption lines in QSOs and an infrared follow-up of ROSAT X-ray detected high redshift clusters.


This study was a first attempt to portray the effects of land use and climate changes (CCs) on the hydrologic system in the Lamtakhong Basin in northeastern Thailand, which has been disturbed by various human activities, making it difficult to determine these impacts on hydrologic conditions. The hydrologic Soil and Water Assessment Tool model was set up with land use and soil data of 2002 and observed flow and weather data during 1999–2000. After the model was calibrated and validated against observed flow data during 2001–2009, its land use change scenario with input land use data of 2011 and its CC scenario with input weather data during 2010–2065 were simulated. The results showed that changing land use over the 10-year period had trivial influences on the hydrologic system, whereas changing climate over the 56-year period appeared to affect both water yields and flows. Water scarcity will tend to take place across the Lamtakhong Basin in the near future. Longer periods of severe droughts and floods might occasionally occur, particularly downstream. These findings will be useful for land and water resources managers and policy-makers to manage land and water resources in the river basin.


Disclosure rates among pre-school age victims of alleged sexual abuse were related to the type of investigative interview (forensic evaluation or forensic interview) that they received following a report of abuse. Variables expected to affect the likelihood of the child making a valid disclosure of sexual abuse including the relationship of the child to the offender and the severity of the abuse were also examined. The results indicated that children who underwent a structured, one-time 30 minute forensic interview were significantly less likely to make a valid disclosure of sexual abuse than children who underwent a semi-structured, therapeutic style evaluation over the course of several weeks. The current findings do not suggest that either offender relationship or severity of abuse significantly moderate the relationship between interview type and disclosure status. Limitations of the current study and future directions are discussed. INDEX WORDS: Sexual abuse, Interviewing methods, Forensic evaluation, Forensic interview, Pre-school age, Disclosure, Offender relationship, Child victim INTERVIEWING PRE-SCHOOL AGE VICTIMS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: INTERVIEWING METHODS AND DISCLOSURE OUTCOMES


We have fabricated organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) and implemented inverters on flexible substrates using polythiophene (PHT) as the semiconductor and polyvinylphenol (PVP) as the gate dielectric. The semiconductor was defined by inkjet printing. The poor consistency of the printing process has affected the uniformity of inkjet-printed OTFTs enormously. We also proposed a method to increase the yield by incorporating a pre-testing step during circuit fabrication. We designed and fabricated a basic unit of circuits called a thin-film transistor (TFT) array. These devices were then connected to each other to form a gate via printed nano-silver. To verify the implementation flow, we designed and measured bootstrap inverters and ring oscillator composed of them. The five-stage ring oscillator has been fabricated and oscillated at the frequency, 60 Hz, when the supply voltage is 40 V.


Do you need to get up-to-speed quickly on cognitive radio? This concise, practical guide presents the key concepts and challenges you need to know about, including issues associated with security, regulation, and designing and building cognitive radios. Written in a descriptive style and using minimum mathematics, complex ideas are made easily understandable, providing you with a perfect introduction to the technology, and preparing you to face its many future challenges.


Chinas large current account surpluses not only destabilize its macroeconomic conditions but also are also at the center of global rebalancing. The literature offered five explanations for such surpluses, most of which are important but fail to account for the recent surge and/or offer actionable policy responses. In this study, we propose an alternative hypothesis for Chinas large current account surpluses : asymmetric market liberalization and associated cost distortions. This unique reform approach was the fundamental cause of both extraordinary growth performance and growing structural imbalances during the reform period. Indeed, estimates of cost distortions provide good fits of the current account. Estimated cost distortions rose after 2004 but peaked in 2006 at 12.2 percent of GDP. The worst of the external imbalance problem may be already behind us. We argue that, for rebalancing its economy, China needs a comprehensive package focusing on further liberalization of factor markets. Exchange rate policy should be an important part, but exclusive focus on the currency could be counterproductive.


The survey was carried out to get present status of farmers, housing profile and feeding management of Black Bengal Goats. The study was performed in four districts of northern region of Bangladesh, namely Bogra, Sirajganj, Gaibandha and Rangpur. Middle aged people were more interested in rearing goat both traditional (53.75%) and commercial (60%) farming system. Males (100%) were dominant in commercial system and females (63.75%) in traditional farming system. Most of the traditional farming farmer's houses were earthen wall (76.25%) and non paved floor (71.25%). Brick wall (50%) and slatted floor (66.67%) were practiced more in commercial farming. Hundred percent farmers of commercial farming system constructed their farm away from own residence and (77.25%) traditional farming farmers house were attached with their own house without maintaining proper direction and ventilation system. 85% farmers of traditional approaches provided roadside and fallow land grasses by tethering feeding system and all commercial farming farmers cultivated fodder and fed by cut and carry feeding system after processing. Most of the traditional farming farmers (85%) did not provide any kind of concentrate mixture to their goats. In commercial farming approaches all goats were fed concentrate feed through homemade or purchased readymade feed from market. Drinking water sources of tube well (48%) and pond (49.25%) were interchangeable in traditional farming and tube well water was the main source in commercial farming approaches. In conclusion, both traditional and commercial farming approaches are practiced for goat production in northern districts of Bangladesh. This housing and feeding management for goat production are absolutely unclear. So, this study will support researchers and extension workers to develop proper strategic policies and help to take correct steps for future betterment of the Black Bengal Goats raising farmers. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. March 2017, 3(1): 61-65


Background: Most Achilles tendon ruptures are sports related. However, few studies have examined and compared the effect of surgical repair for complete ruptures on return to play (RTP), play time, and performance across multiple sports. Purpose: To examine RTP and performance among professional athletes after Achilles tendon repair and compare pre- versus postoperative functional outcomes of professional athletes from different major leagues in the United States. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and National Hockey League (NHL) athletes who sustained a primary complete Achilles tendon rupture treated surgically between 1989 and 2013 were identified via public injury reports and press releases. Demographic information and performance-related statistics were recorded for 2 seasons before and after surgery and compared with matched controls. Statistical analyses were used to assess differences in recorded metrics. Results: Of 86 athletes screened, 62 met inclusion criteria including 25 NBA, 32 NFL, and 5 MLB players. Nineteen (30.6%) professional athletes with an isolated Achilles tendon rupture treated surgically were unable to return to play. Among athletes who successfully returned to play, game participation averaged 75.4% (P < .001) and 81.9% (P = .002) of the total games played the season before injury at 1 and 2 years postoperatively, respectively. Play time was significantly decreased and athletes performed significantly worse compared with preoperative levels at 1 and 2 years after injury (P < .001). When players were compared with matched controls, an Achilles tendon rupture resulted in fewer games played (P < .001), decreased play time (P = .025), and worse performance statistics (P < .001) at 1 year but not 2 years postoperatively (P > .05). When individual sports were compared, NBA players were most significantly affected, experiencing significant decreases in games played, play time, and performance. Conclusion: An Achilles tendon rupture is a devastating injury that prevents RTP for 30.6% of professional players. Athletes who do return play in fewer games, have less play time, and perform at a lower level than their preinjury status. However, these functional deficits are seen only at 1 year after surgery compared with matched controls, such that players who return to play can expect to perform at a level commensurate with uninjured controls 2 years postoperatively.


Emancipatory practice development has a key focus on changing the culture of practice to enable more person-centredness to be developed in the care unit (ward, department or clinic). However, getting 'inside' the prevailing practice culture can be challenging and complex and it can be difficult to determine the specific aspects of culture that need to be addressed in a development programme. One way of doing this, and a key process of practice development, is observation of practice. However, many of the tools available for the observation of practice are inconsistent with the philosophy and values underpinning emancipatory practice development, i.e. they tend towards 'judgement' of quality rather than the facilitation of engagement. The WCCAT has been developed as an observation tool consistent with the philosophy and values of emancipatory practice development and is a facilitative process. In this paper we set out the framework underpinning the WCCAT, the phases involved in undertaking an observation and examples of how to use the tool in practice. An initial evaluation of the use of the tool by practice development facilitators is also provided. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The inclusion of cover crops in cropping systems brings both direct and indirect costs and benefits. The literature has shown that cover crops can improve soil conservation and productivity, potentially improving cash crop yields and decreasing cash crop production costs. Farmers will adopt cover crops if the net economic benefit of utilizing them is positive. This study examines farmers' willingness to grow cover crops as a soil conservation practice and to examine the socio-economic factors affecting their decision. Survey data collected in 2007-8 from Alabama farmers about cover crop adoption and management is utilized to estimate a cover crop adoption model.


In many regions the strength of El Niño—Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnections has varied over the last century. It is an active area of research to investigate how such changes can be related to long‐term climate variability or climate change. However, fluctuations due to the limited observational record and low signal‐to‐noise ratio also contribute to variations in the apparent strength of the teleconnections. These contributions are considered at 658 precipitation stations around the globe. For each station the probability is estimated that the observed decadal variations in the effect of ENSO on precipitation are explainable by random statistical fluctuations of a constant teleconnection. The number of stations with statistically significant decadal variations is much lower than the number with statistically significant ENSO teleconnections. It is close to the number expected from chance alone. The observed period is too short to reliably detect multiplicative decadal variability in ENSO precipitation teleconnections.


Prolonged stationary-phase is an approximation of natural environments presenting a range of stresses. Survival in prolonged stationary-phase requires alternative metabolic pathways for survival. This study describes the repertoire of mutations accumulating in starving E. coli populations in lysogeny broth. A wide range of mutations accumulate over the course of one month in stationary-phase. SNPs constitute 64% of all mutations. A majority of these mutations are non-synonymous and are located at conserved loci. There is an increase in genetic diversity in the evolving populations over time. Computer simulations of evolution in stationary phase suggest that the maximum frequency obtained by mutations in our experimental populations can not be explained by neutral drift. Moreover there is frequent genetic parallelism across populations suggesting that these mutations are under positive selection. Finally functional analysis of mutations suggests that regulatory mutations are frequent targets of selection.


A major part of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) enters the Atlantic Ocean across the Denmark Strait Sill between Iceland and Greenland. For monitoring the Global Thermohaline Circulation, the area is predestinated for long term observation of the densest NADW component, the Denmark Strait Overflow Water (DSOW). The goal of the SFB 460 program lead by the Institut f\"{u}r Meereskunde Kiel was to detect possible variations in the deep overflow across Denmark Strait sill by means of acoustic observations, both direct ADCP current measurements and bottom Pressure/ Inverted Echo Sounders (PIES). The observation array has been deployed at positions resulting from multilinear regression of simulated measurements in a high resolution overflow process model. Currently, 39 months of time series of the field experiment from 1999 to 2003 are available. During this period, the overflow, previously regarded as remarkably stable on time scale longer than a few weeks, has exhibited some interannual fluctuations concerning plume thickness, volume transport and temperature. Significance and possible correlations of these variations to external sources are investigated.


Over the last decade, supply chain management (SCM) has been studied extensively, and its importance to practitioners and academics has received a high level of recognition. However, despite major investments in SCM and supply chain integration (SCI), recent surveys indicate that businesses are struggling to achieve competitive advantage due to SCI silos. This urges us to investigate the emerging concept of SCM integration (SCMI) that is aimed to integrate various traditional supply chains (SC) across intra and interorganisational processes in practice. While there is enormous information on SCM, little is known about the supply chain management integration (SCMI) problems and possible solutions that could be identified through open discussions and brainstorming among management executives of various organisations. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study of SCMI practices via an on-line forum conducted with supply chain personnel in New Zealand. This study identified the organisations' SCM integration problems and possible solutions. The analysis reveals the major problems that are critical to be addressed and the recommended solutions, including: SCMI requires a holistic approach; two-way communication; written service level agreements; relationship management; use of new technologies and integrated software systems; strategic alliances and trust; integrated processes; effective partnership; and predictive cost/benefit analysis of SCM. The insights on the critical problems and solutions provide valuable information on business risks and uncertainty as well as recommendations to effectively employ SCM analytics for sustainability in the global market environment. We developed a SCM analytics framework for SCM


In engineering systems there is generally two classes of knowledge: objective knowledge,
which can be quantified using the laws of traditional mathematics, and subjective or
intelligent knowledge, that cannot be modeled mathematically but can be expressed in
linguistical terms. Fuzzy Logic (FL) is a method that combines these two forms of
knowledge, and as such provides a powerful tool for solving real engineering problems.
A fuzzy logic system (FLS) is the methodology of applying FL to engineering systems.
In general, a FLS can be considered as a non-linear mapping of crisp (firm) input data to
crisp output data. It is the inclusion of subjective knowledge in a FLS that leads to a
plethora of mapping possibilities, which may not be possible using traditional
mathematical modeling techniques. A fuzzy logic system consists of four main elements:
fuzzification, rule based, inference engine and deffuzification.
Fuzzy logic has been successfully adopted in many real-world automatic control systems
including automobile transmission, subway systems, industrial robots, washing machines,
cameras and air-conditioners. In contrast, the utilization of fuzzy logic in mobile
communications systems is recent and limited. Understanding general mobile
communications is essential in order to go on and develop a mobile positioning
application.
The successful applications of Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) techniques in many areas draw
a huge amount of attention to its industrial applications. However, lack of structured
methods and tools for design and analysis is preventing this revolutionary controller from
playing a more significant role in mobile communications.
A methodology to construct and analyse a FL controller to be used in mobile positioning
would significantly improve the efficiency of FLC design, increase the quality of FLC by
allowing the designer to develop and design the controller based on some specifications
and requirements, and then validate that design.


Analyzing medical data to find abnormalities is a time-consuming and costly task, particularly for rare abnormalities, requiring tremendous efforts from medical experts. Therefore, artificial intelligence has become a popular tool for the automatic processing of medical data, acting as a supportive tool for doctors. However, the machine learning models used to build these tools are highly dependent on the data used to train them. Large amounts of data can be difficult to obtain in medicine due to privacy reasons, expensive and time-consuming annotations, and a general lack of data samples for infrequent lesions. In this study, we present a novel synthetic data generation pipeline, called SinGAN-Seg, to produce synthetic medical images with corresponding masks using a single training image. Our method is different from the traditional generative adversarial networks (GANs) because our model needs only a single image and the corresponding ground truth to train. We also show that the synthetic data generation pipeline can be used to produce alternative artificial segmentation datasets with corresponding ground truth masks when real datasets are not allowed to share. The pipeline is evaluated using qualitative and quantitative comparisons between real data and synthetic data to show that the style transfer technique used in our pipeline significantly improves the quality of the generated data and our method is better than other state-of-the-art GANs to prepare synthetic images when the size of training datasets are limited. By training UNet++ using both real data and the synthetic data generated from the SinGAN-Seg pipeline, we show that the models trained on synthetic data have very close performances to those trained on real data when both datasets have a considerable amount of training data. In contrast, we show that synthetic data generated from the SinGAN-Seg pipeline improves the performance of segmentation models when training datasets do not have a considerable amount of data. All experiments were performed using an open dataset and the code is publicly available on GitHub.


Monitoring water quality in a drinking Water Distribution Network (WDN) is typically based on several sensors that are deployed on different locations of the WDN. Each sensor measures one or multiple signals, and the real challenge resides in detecting significant contaminations by analyzing these water quality signals. In practice, some detection methods may fail due to a specific design to certain forms of contaminants as well as a generic formulation with model-free algorithms. Both cases might trigger false alarms or produce no detection when a contamination occurs. Moreover the problem is hardly addressed when the underlying hydraulic regime changes over time causing fluctuations in the detection statistics. Such variation can dramatically decrease the detection performance or result to misleading analysis. Events like source shifting or tank filling are normal situations and can occur frequently depending on the operating conditions. This paper aims to deal with the variability of the contamination events under various operational conditions in water networks. The procedure is fully data-driven and leads to the extraction of meaningful temporal patterns using various data analysis techniques. This methodology can be used as a preprocessing stage to improve the performance of any algorithm to detect contaminations. The proposed approach is illustrated on a large real-world network in France and a qualitative interpretation is given to highlight a better understanding of the hydraulic regimes over time.


Childhood in the Promised Land is the first history of France's colonies de vacances , a vast network of summer camps created for working-class children. The colonies originated as a late-nineteenth-century charitable institution, providing rural retreats intended to restore the fragile health of poor urban children. Participation grew steadily throughout the first half of the twentieth century, "trickling up" by the late 1940s to embrace middle-class youth as well.

At the heart of the study lie the municipal colonies de vacances , organized by the working-class cities of the Paris red belt. Located in remote villages or along the more inexpensive stretches of the Atlantic coast, the municipal colonies gathered their young clientele into variously structured "child villages," within which they were to live out particular, ideal visions of the collective life of children throughout the long summer holiday. Focusing on the creation of and participation in these summer camps, Laura Lee Downs presents surprising insights into the location and significance of childhood in French working-class cities and, ultimately, within the development of modern France.

Drawing on a rich array of historical sources, including dossiers and records of municipal colonies discovered in remote town halls of the Paris suburbs, newspaper accounts, and interviews with adults who participated in the colonies as children, Downs reveals how diverse groups—including local Socialist and Communist leaders and Catholic seminarians—seized the opportunity to shape the minds and bodies of working-class youth. Childhood in the Promised Land shows how, in creating the summer camps, these various groups combined pedagogical theories, religious convictions, political ideologies, and theories about the relationship between the countryside and children's physical and cognitive development. At the same time, the book sheds light on classic questions of social control, highlighting the active role of the children in shaping their experiences.


CONTEXT
Combined inhibition of neprilysin and dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) has been shown to augment plasma concentrations of glucagon-like peptide-1(GLP-1) in animal models, but whether this occurs in humans is unknown.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of inhibition of neprilysin by sacubitril/valsartan alone or in combination with a DPP-4 inhibitor (sitagliptin) on plasma concentrations of GLP-1 in healthy men.

DESIGN
Two open-labeled crossover studies were performed in human subjects.

SETTING
General community.

PARTICIPANTS
Nine and 10 healthy young males were included in study 1 and study 2, respectively.

INTERVENTION
Study participants received a standardized meal (34% carbohydrates, 45% fat, 21% protein, total caloric content of 2106kJ) combined with a prior dose of either sacubitril/valsartan (194/206mg) or control in study 1, and in study 2, with a prior dose of sitagliptin (2x100mg, given ∼10 hours apart) either alone or with sacubitril/valsartan (194/206mg).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Plasma concentrations of total and intact GLP-1.

RESULTS
Sacubitril/valsartan increased postprandial plasma concentrations of total GLP-1 by 67% (tAUC0-240min: 3929±344 vs. 2348±181 min × pmol/L P=0.0023), and increased concentrations of intact GLP-1 plasma concentrations more than sitagliptin alone (tAUC0-240min: 1021±114 vs. 660±80 min × pmol/L, P=0.01). Plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin, and GIP were not significantly (P>0.10) changed upon sacubitril/valsartan treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
Sacubitril/valsartan combined with a DPP-4 inhibitor lead to markedly higher concentrations of intact GLP-1 than DPP-4 inhibition alone, supporting a role for both neprilysin and DPP-4 in the metabolism of GLP-1 in humans, a finding which may have therapeutic implications.


In this paper a new method for fixed-order output-feedback Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) controller design is presented. First, a set of stabilizing LPV controllers is given as an inner convex approximation of the non-convex set of all stabilizing LPV controllers with the same order. This characterization is based on the decoupling of the state and Lyapunov matrices appearing together in the derivative of the Lyapunov function. As a measure of performance the decay-rate related to exponential stability is considered. The efficiency of the proposed method is illustrated on an appropriate simulation example.


This paper systematically investigates whether diff erent kinds of personality characteristics influence entrepreneurial development. On the basis of a large, representative household panel survey, we examine the extent to which the Big Five traits and further personality characteristics, which are more specifically relate d to entrepreneurial tasks, influence entry into self-employment and survival of self-employed persons in Germany. The empirical analysis reveals that among the specific characteri stics in particular "risk attitudes" and "locus of control" have strong effects on entry and surviv al. With respect to the Big Five approach, in particular the traits "openness to experience" a nd "extraversion" and to a lower extent "agreeableness" and "neuroticism" help to explain e trepreneurial development. The explanatory power of the Big Five is comparable to one of the most prominent determinants of entrepreneurship – education – and approximately three times larger than parental selfemployment. JEL classification: D81, J23, M13


Atmospheric circulation patterns and the spatial variability of atmospheric chemistry and moisture transport in central West Antarctica are investigated using new 40 year long (1954–1994 A.D.) glaciochemical and accumulation rate records developed from four firn cores from this region. The core sites lie on a 200 km traverse from 82° 22′ S, 119° 17′ W to 81° 22′ S, 107° 17′ W. The glaciochemical records represent the major ionic species present in Antarctic snow: Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl−, NO3−, and SO42−. High spatial variability appears in comparisons of full record averages and poor intersite linear correlation results. Accumulation rates show 50–100% changes over distances of 50–100 km and sea-salt concentrations drop by 50% between the middle two sites. One likely contributor to the high variability seen at this spatial scale is variability in synoptic- and finer-scale meteorology. Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis shows that 80% or more of the variance in site chemistry can be attributed to two types of air masses: winter season air (50–70% of site variance) with a strong marine signature (heavy loading of sea-salt species) and summer season air (21% of the variance), marked by marine biogenic non-sea-salt SO4 plus NO3. This pattern of winter and summer regimes appears at other West Antarctic sites suggesting it may apply to the entire region. We show that a general picture of the patterns of variability in West Antarctica can best be drawn by using an analysis technique that fully exploits high resolution, multiparameter, multisite data sets.


We present a framework for approximating the metric TSP based on a novel use of matchings. Traditionally, matchings have been used to add edges to make a given graph Eulerian, whereas our approach also allows for the removal of certain edges leading to a decreased cost. For the TSP on graphic metrics (graph-TSP), we show that the approach gives a 1.461-approximation algorithm with respect to the Held-Karp lower bound. For graph-TSP restricted either to half-integral solutions to the Held-Karp relaxation or to a class of graphs that contains subcubic and claw-free graphs, we show that the integrality gap of the Held-Karp relaxation matches the conjectured ratio 4/3. The framework also allows for generalizations in a natural way and leads to analogous results for the s, t-path traveling salesman problem on graphic metrics where the start and end vertices are prespecified.


This article details analysis of hydrogen (H2) production based on polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis. This work identifies primary constraints to the success of this production pathway, primary cost drivers, and remaining Research and Development (R&D) challenges. This research assesses the potential to meet U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) H2 production and delivery (P&D) cost goals of $2 to $4/gasoline gallon equivalent (dispensed, untaxed) by 2020. Pathway analysis is performed using the DOE's main H2A modeling tool, namely, the H2A Production model, which encapsulates the standard methods of energy, emissions, and cost analysis developed by DOE's H2 and fuel cell technology teams. PEM electrolysis production pathways are analyzed for a distributed, forecourt H2 production system of 1,500 kilograms (kg) of H2 per day, and for a central, large, plant size H2 production system of 50,000 kg H2/day, for both current and future cases. The analysis is based in part on data from a technical and economic survey completed by four different PEM electrolyzer companies.Model results indicate that, for PEM electrolysis, the primary cost drivers are the electricity expenditures to run the electrolyzer and the capital cost of the electrolyzer. In the future within the electrolyzer system, the balance of plant is expected to be a greater source of cost than the electrolyzer stack due to stack reductions facilitated by operation at higher current densities whereas the balance of plant remains similarly sized for the given flow. This balance between size and cost of the stack versus balance of plant could also increase difficulties in meeting efficiency improvements in the future. The H2 cost reduction is estimated to be greater moving from a Current case to a Future case, compared with moving from a Forecourt case to a Central case.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


most of the major policy measures promised by this government to the Indian farmers have not seen the light of the day. No social security measures have been taken for farmers above the age of 60 or for other marginal and vulnerable farmers and landless labour. Many categories of farmers such as tenant farmers, sharecroppers, landless cultivators, women farmers and adivasi farmers continue to be excluded from all support systems and programmes like bank credit, crop procurement, crop insurance and various subsidies. There is no initiative towards National Land Use Policy to regulate acquisition of fertile land.


We investigated physical changes over three versions in the production
of the short historical drama, Woman with an Editing Bench (2016,
The Physical TV Company). Pearlman, the film's director and editor, had also
written about the work that editors do to create rhythms in film (Pearlman
2016), and, through the use of computational techniques employed previously
(Cutting et al. 2018), we found that those descriptions of the editing process
had parallels in the physical changes of the film as it progressed from its first
assembled form, through a fine cut, to the released film. Basically, the rhythms
of the released film are not unlike the rhythms of heartbeats, breathing, and
footfalls—they share the property of "fractality." That is, as Pearlman shaped a
story and its emotional dynamics over successive revisions, she also (without
consciously intending to do so) fashioned several dimensions of the film—
shot duration, motion, luminance, chroma, and clutter—so as to make them
more fractal.


Aims. Our goal is to test the feasibility of obtaining accurate measurements of the continuum polarization from high-resolution spectra using the spectropolarimetric mode of ESPaDOnS. Methods. We used the new pipeline OPERA to reduce recent and archived ESPaDOnS data. Several polarization standard stars and science objects were tested for the linear mode. In addition, the circular mode was tested using several objects from the archive with expected null polarization. Synthetic broad-band polarization was computed from the ESPaDOnS continuum polarization spectra and compared with published values (when available) to quantify the accuracy of the instrument. Results. The continuum linear polarization measured by ESPaDOnS is consistent with broad-band polarimetry measurements available in the literature. The accuracy in the degree of linear polarization is around 0.2−0.3% considering the full sample. The accuracy in polarization position angle using the most polarized objects is better than 5◦. Consistent with this, the instrumental polarization computed for the circular continuum polarization is also between 0.2−0.3%. Our results suggest that measurements of the continuum polarization using ESPaDOnS are viable and can be used to study many astrophysical objects.


The aim of this review article is to analyse the clinical effectiveness of total knee replacement (TKR) compared to unicondylar knee replacement (UKR) on patients. In terms of survival rates, revision rates and postoperative complications. The keywords used were: knee arthroplasty. Nearly three thousand articles were found on 25 August 2016. Of those, only twenty-five were selected and reviewed because they were strictly focused on the topic of this article. Compared with those who have TKR, patients who undergo UKR have higher revision rates at 5, 10 and 15 years. The reported overall risk of postoperative complications for patients undergoing TKR is 11%, compared with 4.3% for patients undergoing UKR. In conclusion, UKR have higher revision rates than TKR. However, an increased risk of postoperative complications after TKR.


In operational risk measurement, the estimation of severity distribution parameters is the main driver of capital estimates, yet this remains a non-trivial challenge for many reasons. Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) does not adequately meet this challenge because of its well-documented non-robustness to modest violations of idealized textbook model assumptions, specifically that the data are independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.), which is clearly violated by operational loss data. Yet even under i.i.d. data, capital estimates based on MLE are biased upwards, sometimes dramatically, due to Jensen's inequality. This overstatement of the true risk profile increases as the heaviness of the severity distribution tail increases, so dealing with data collection thresholds by using truncated distributions, which have thicker tails, increases MLE-related capital bias considerably. Truncation also augments correlation between a distribution's parameters, and this exacerbates the non-robustness of MLE. This paper derives influence functions for MLE for a number of severity distributions, both truncated and not, to analytically demonstrate its non-robustness and its sometimes counterintuitive behavior under truncation. Empirical influence functions are then used to compare MLE against robust alternatives such as the Optimally Bias-Robust Estimator (OBRE) and the Cramer-von Mises (CvM) estimator. The ultimate focus, however, is on the economic and regulatory capital estimates generated by these three estimators. The mean adjusted single-loss approximation (SLA) is used to translate these parameter estimates into Value-at-Risk (VaR) based estimates of regulatory and economic capital. The results show that OBRE estimators are very promising alternatives to MLE for use with actual operational loss event data, whether truncated or not, when the ultimate goal is to obtain accurate (non-biased) and robust capital estimates.


Faces convey rich information including identity, gender and expression. Current neural models of face processing suggest a dissociation between the processing of invariant facial aspects such as identity and gender, that engage the fusiform face area (FFA) and the processing of changeable aspects, such as expression and eye gaze, that engage the posterior superior temporal sulcus face area (pSTS-FA). Recent studies report a second dissociation within this network such that the pSTS-FA, but not the FFA, shows much stronger response to dynamic than static faces. The aim of the current study was to test a unified model that accounts for these two major functional characteristics of the neural face network. In an fMRI experiment, we presented static and dynamic faces while subjects judged an invariant (gender) or a changeable facial aspect (expression). We found that the pSTS-FA was more engaged in processing dynamic than static faces and changeable than invariant facial aspects, whereas the OFA and FFA showed similar response across all four conditions. Our results reveal no dissociation between the processing of changeable and invariant facial aspects, but higher sensitivity to the processing of changeable facial aspects by the motion-sensitive face area in the superior temporal sulcus.


This preliminary work shows ESR (Electron Spin Resonance) can be used to detect biofilms, particularly from Fe-metabolising bacteria. A film was detected by ESR as early as 1 day, hence possibly more sensitively than by fluorescent methods. Films can probably be detected as early as one hour. Spectra contain a very broad peak at g=2.13, probably due to ferrihydrite. Results of field experiments from streams and ponds in New Zealand and Japan, particularly the Minoh River, showed a general increase of ferrihydrite with time. Loss by exfoliation was later than 20 days. The rate of accumulation was faster in a nutrient-rich stagnant pond. Hematite (g=4.3) was often observed, magnetite (g=9) once, and usually small amounts of a common bacterial decay product. The latter was detected for at least 18 months film storage. ESR is a particularly good tool for observing the growth of oxic biofilms containing Fe-metabolising bacteria, and should be just as sensitive for observing Mn-metabolising bacteria in reducing conditions.