Worrisome trends in achievement have been identified for students of color in high minority, high poverty (HMHP) high schools, as they are less likely to attend college and encounter greater challenges in accessing higher education than peers in wealthier schools. To address this inequity, this article presents descriptions of how these school environments affected the motivation and attitudes of students of color in an urban Texas context considering postsecondary education, and examines how this population utilized and leveraged forms of capital to achieve their postsecondary goals. Findings from the qualitative study revealed that students found support for their higher education goals through invested teachers, counselors, community members, and peers, though they encountered unsupportive examples from these populations as well. Additionally, participants negotiated stereotypes about their schools and communities, while holding positive attitudes about their communities. Given the fact that Texas, like many other states, is an emerging majority-minority state and residential segregation is increasing across much of the nation, this article contributes to our knowledge of how an often-neglected population successfully realizes their college aspirations. At a time when more complex issues of desegregating schools and communities continue to be discussed in the public policy arena, the authors provide recommendations to researchers, educators, and parents invested in ensuring that students in HMHP high schools access college.


Ocean surface is complex and difficult to predict accurately due to its random nature. Ocean surface waves in strong wind conditions have been widely studied for last few decades. Almost half of world's winds are below 7.5 m/s and the physics of such winds contains a lot of uncertainties. The simulation of ocean waves is largely dependent on the driving winds force accuracy and source term parameterizations. However, low winds are often ignored on the perception of their lesser effect on overall results of existing models. It is important to understand the relative strength/ weaknesses of wave forecast models under low wind conditions from scientific perspective which should lead to improved wave forecast and wave-ocean-weather coupling capabilities. There are many critical thresholds involved in the initial generation and growth of wind waves whereas current parameterizations of wave models are mostly based on moderate – high wind conditions. Wave model's performance, although not very prominent, contains bias under low winds conditions and these thresholds need to be embedded in current physics of wave forecast models for more accurate simulations. In this study, WAVEWATCH III (v6.07) wave forecast model with observation based source terms parameterizations (ST6 package) is used to simulate waves on a global scale. The model's output is analyzed with a globally calibrated and cross validated global dataset of 13 altimeters to analyze its performance under low wind conditions. A relative error of −1 to 6 is observed in global significant wave heights simulated by WAVEWATCH III model compared to altimeter's measured wave heights for wind speeds less than 5ms−1.


Project Management requires a lot of decision-making, with chances of making a better decision increasing with an increase in available data. However, decision-making becomes increasingly difficult and complex as available data increases. The problem that this paper address is the lack of the ability of the rational human mind to process a large amount of data within a short period, thereby making poor decisions that could be influenced by lots of biases and reducing the chances of finding an optimal solution. This presents the need for optimization in decision-making with the aid of non- human intelligence/Artificial Intelligence. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to access the impact of Genetic Algorithms as a tool that can facilitate decision-making without sacrificing useful data that could optimize decision making. This study provides a review of genetic algorithms as an optimization tool for decision-making in project management. A comprehensive study is conducted on relevant literature from reputable journal databases. The study highlights the concept and benefits of genetic algorithm, followed by the drivers, as well as the barriers to its adoption. Findings from this paper will provide an insight into the research trend, level of adoption, and potential research areas in the use of genetic algorithms as a decision-making optimization tool. This study is expected to help project managers make a more informed decision in the adoption of decision-making optimization tools as using the right decision tool will free the human mind from mundane tasks to perform more creative tasks.


The false discovery rate measures the proportion of false discoveries among a set of hypothesis tests called significant. This quantity is typically estimated based on p-values or test statistics. In some scenarios, there is additional information available that may be used to more accurately estimate the false discovery rate. We develop a new framework for formulating and estimating false discovery rates and q-values when an additional piece of information, which we call an "informative variable", is available. For a given test, the informative variable provides information about the prior probability a null hypothesis is true or the power of that particular test. The false discovery rate is then treated as a function of this informative variable. We consider two applications in genomics. Our first is a genetics of gene expression (eQTL) experiment in yeast where every genetic marker and gene expression trait pair are tested for associations. The informative variable in this case is the distance between each genetic marker and gene. Our second application is to detect differentially expressed genes in an RNA-seq study carried out in mice. The informative variable in this study is the per-gene read depth. The framework we develop is quite general, and it should be useful in a broad range of scientific applications.


The aim of this study was to find out HIV/AIDS knowledge level, and perception of risk of infection with HIV/AIDS, of visually impaired and sighted pupils. Differences between visually impaired and sighted pupils HIV/AIDS knowledge and perception of risk of infection were studied. Descriptive survey was used to collect data. The sample included 116 pupils. The mean score for HIV/AIDS knowledge was 92.94% and 87.59% for sighted pupils and visually impaired pupils respectively. The risk perceptions mean score for sighted and visually impaired pupils was 71.08% and 68.03% respectively. There were significant statistical differences between sighted and visually impaired pupils' knowledge of HIV/AIDS and perception of risk of infection with HIV/AIDS. This study recommended the government and other stakeholders increase education programmes to address misconceptions about transmission and make available HIV/AIDS information in accessible formats for the visually impaired through Braille, audio tapes and large print visual aids.


With Microsoft HDInsight, business professionals and data analysts can rapidly leverage the power of Hadoop on a flexible, scalable cloud-based platform, using Microsoft's accessible business intelligence, visualization, and productivity tools. Now, in just 24 lessons of one hour or less, you can learn all the skills and techniques you'll need to provision, configure, monitor, troubleshoot, and use HDInsight, even if you're new to big data analytics. Each short, easy lesson builds on all that's come before: you'll learn all of HDInsight's essentials as you solve real data analytics problems. Sams Teach Yourself Big Data Analytics with Microsoft HDInsight in 24 Hours covers all this, and much more: Introduction of Big Data, NoSQL systems, its Business Value Proposition and use cases examples Introduction to Hadoop, Architecture, Ecosystem and Microsoft HDInsight Getting to know Hadoop 2.0 and the innovations it provides like HDFS2 and YARN Quickly installing, configuring, and monitoring Hadoop (HDInsight) clusters in the cloud and automating cluster provisioning Customize the HDInsight cluster and install additional Hadoop ecosystem projects using Script Actions Administering HDInsight from the Hadoop command prompt or Microsoft PowerShell Using the Microsoft Azure HDInsight Emulator for learning or development Understanding HDFS, HDFS vs. Azure Blob Storage, MapReduce Job Framework and Job Execution Pipeline Doing big data analytics with MapReduce, writing your MapReduce programs in your choice of .NET programming language such as C# Using Hive for big data analytics, demonstrate end to end scenario and how Apache Tez improves the performance several folds Consuming HDInsight data from Microsoft BI Tools over Hive ODBC Driver - Using HDInsight with Microsoft BI and Power BI to simplify data integration, analysis, and reporting Using PIG for big data transformation workflows step by step Apache HBase on HDInsight, its architecture, data model, HBase vs. Hive, programmatically managing HBase data with C# and Apache Phoenix Using Sqoop or SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) to move data to/from HDInsight and build data integration workflows for transferring data Using Oozie for scheduling, co-ordination and managing data processing workflows in HDInsight cluster Using R programming language with HDInsight for performing statistical computing on Big Data sets Using Apache Spark's in-memory computation model to run big data analytics up to 100 times faster than Hadoop MapReduce Perform real-time Stream Analytics on high-velocity big data streams with Storm Integration of Enterprise Data Warehouse with Hadoop and Microsoft Analytics Platform System (APS), formally known as SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) Step-by-step instructions walk you through common questions, issues, and tasks; Q-and-As, Quizzes, and Exercises build and test your knowledge; "Did You Know?" tips offer insider advice and shortcuts; and "Watch Out!" alerts help you avoid problems. By the time you're finished, you'll be comfortable going beyond the book to create any HDInsight app you can imagine!


This book explores the ways in which governments are putting citizens first in their policy-making endeavours. Making citizens the focus of policy interventions and involving them in the delivery and design is for many governments a normative ideal; it is a worthy objective and sounds easy to achieve. But the reality is that putting citizens at the centre of policy-making is hard and confronting. Are governments really serious in their ambitions to put citizens first? Are they prepared for the challenges and demands such an approach will demand? Are they prepared to commit the time and resources to ensure genuine engagement takes place and that citizens' interests are considered foremost? And, more importantly, are governments prepared for the trade-offs, risks and loss of control such citizen-centric approaches will inevitably involve? The book is divided into five parts: setting the scene: The evolving landscape for citizen engagement drivers for change: Innovations in citizen-centric governance case studies in land management and Indigenous empowerment case studies in fostering community engagement and connectedness case studies engaging with information technology and new media. While some chapters question how far governments can go in engaging with citizens, many point to successful examples of actual engagement that enhanced policy experiences and improved service delivery. The various authors make clear that citizen engagement is not restricted to the domain of service delivery, but if taken seriously affects the ways governments conduct their activities across all agencies. The implications are enormous, but the benefits to public policy may be enormous too.


The demand for rare earths (RE) has been intensified by their large use, especially in high technology sectors. Supply difficulties have forced RE users to seek alternative sources and invest in the development of recycling technologies and options of reuse for these elements. This article seeks to reveal the trends and ongoing changes in national and global prospects of RE. Additionally, it aims to analyze scientific collaboration networks in the area of industrial solid waste (ISW) and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) exploitation in Brazil, examining both researchers and institutions with greater representation in the field. For this purpose, social network analysis methods were used to build and analyze co-authorship networks based on scientific publications retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database. The results showed that the Brazilian collaboration network of ISW research was extremely fragmented and contained 105 different groups, which were not connected to each other. The institutional network of ISW research was composed of 125 institutions, 75.2% of them from Brazil. The Brazilian collaboration network of research in WEEE was small (37 researchers), but fragmented: researchers were divided into eight different groups that do not connect to each other. The institutional network of research in WEEE was composed by 12 institutions, nine of them from Brazil. Therefore, this article presents a network collaboration model to bring together actors involved in the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), emphasizing the potential for recovery of RE from these wastes, with the purpose of developing products and services.


Genes that are responsible for color formation within the anthocyanin and carotenoid
biosynthesis pathway have been isolated, studied and manipulated to produce novel
colors in many plant species. Therefore, in this study, the genes that are involved in
flower color formation namely CHS, F3H, DFR and PSY will be isolated and studied
in the orchid species, Oncidium goldiana. The construction of antisense cassettes will
also be carried out for CHS, DFR and PSY.
RNA was isolated from various stages of Oncidium go/diana and its purity and
concentration was determined. Partial genes of CHS (605bp), F3H (503bp), DFR
(415bp) and PSY (543bp) was isolated from flower petals by RT-PCR using
degenerate primers. A BLAST search for homology revealed that these sequences had
high homology at both the amino and nucleic acid levels with other known plantThe temporal and spatial gene expression studies using semi-quantitative RT -PCR
showed that F3H and DFR were floral specific and they had the highest expression at
the yellow buds stage. The level of CHS was the highest in partially opened flowers
and PSY was expressed at its highest levels in green buds. CHS and PSY were not
floral specific as they were also present in leaves.
The antisense cassettes were constructed for CHS, DFR and PSY. These vectors
were driven by a 35S promoter and Nos 3' terminator sequence. The CHS vector was
13'480bp, the DFR was 13380bp and PSY was 13430bp. These antisense cassettes
were suitable for transformation by biolistic gun bombardment or via Agrobacleriunt infection


Postdisaster recovery efforts of damaged civil infrastructure systems need to be optimized in order to alleviate the adverse impacts of natural disasters on local societies and economies. This paper presents an innovative framework that integrates two newly developed models for resource utilization and multiobjective optimization that are designed to optimize these recovery efforts. The developed models provide new and unique capabilities, including (1) allocating limited reconstruction resources to competing recovery projects, (2) estimating the reconstruction duration and cost associated with implementing specific recovery plans, and (3) generating optimal trade-offs between minimizing the reconstruction duration and cost. An application example is analyzed to evaluate the performance of the developed models and demonstrate their capabilities in identifying a wide spectrum of optimal reconstruction plans, where each provides a unique and nondominated trade-off between minimizing the recovery duration and cost. This allows decision makers in emergency management agencies to select and implement reconstruction plans that address various societal and economical needs in the aftermath of natural disasters.


A classic study of daily life in ancient Egypt, Everyday Life in Egypt in the Days of Ramesses the Great is the masterwork of the dean of modern Egyptologists, Pierre Montet. Renowned for its accuracy and scope, this book conveys the richness and complexity of ancient Egyptian life. The book focuses on the era of the great builders at Karnak and Luxor, the Ramesside kings (ca. 1314-1090 B.C.) and surveys both upper and lower Egypt to give a comprehensive picture of pharaonic society. Montet combines studies of monuments and tombs with data from pictorial and literary sources, including papyrus documents, to depict the experiences of royalty, priests, urban artisans and professionals, peasants and slaves. Here, too, are colorful descriptions of dwelling places, seasonal activities, holiday observances, family life, travel, justice, warfare, and the rites of burial-all enhanced by Montet's appreciation for the ancient Egyptian way of life.


On November 19, 2015, Treasury released Notice 2015-79 (the "Notice"). The Notice represents Treasury's most recent response to the second wave of inversions, i.e., transactions in which US corporations become subsidiaries of foreign corporations without a meaningful change in their underlying business or in the location of their corporate headquarters. It follows on the heels of the announcement that Pfizer Inc. is considering a merger with Allergan PLC, an inverted Irish company, and supplements Notice 2014-52 from September 2014. Unfortunately, just like Notice 2014-52, the Notice is unlikely to stem the tide, and is even unlikely to stop Pfizer/Allergan. For that, stronger executive and legislative action is needed. To understand the issues, it is important to know about the history of inversions and the three reasons that drive them.


Structural determinations as a function of temperature allowed us to model the polar properties of guanidinium iodide, C(NH)2I, in its hexagonal P63mc-symmetric phase. These results have been compared with the experimental data of the pyroelectric measurements. It has been shown that the crystal lattice polarization, arising from the ionic displacements, increases with temperature and abruptly vanishes at the first-order phase transition to the high-temperature phase of monoclinic space group P21/m. Thus, this transition non-typically lowers the crystal symmetry when temperature is increased. Moreover, the polar–non-polar symmetry change, accompanied by the crystal polarization loss, does not occur as a ferroelectric–paraelectric phase transition. This is rather uncommon, but can be rationalized by the reconstructive character of the transition and by the structural hindrances for the polarization reversal in the low-temperature phase. The reconstructive nature of the structural changes and the 3% decrease in the crystal volume can explain a large temperature hysteresis of the transition point, a strong sensitivity to the thermal history of the sample, and the metastable features of the high-temperature phase.


In tax law and theory, procedure gets short shrift. Yet sometimes, procedure makes all the difference. That seems to me to be particularly true regarding the recent publicity over the tax consequences of foreclosures on taxpayers' principal residences. H.R. 3648, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on October 4, 2007, and pending in Congress as of the date of this article, purports to address the alleged problem with the law. This article examines the pending legislation and, more importantly, examines the overlooked role of procedure in creating the problems faced by taxpayers who are told they have taxable income even when they have just taken a huge financial hit in losing their home. My thesis is that Congress is amending the wrong statute. H.R. 3648 does little to help those taxpayers who find themselves in foreclosures because it completely ignores procedure. Congress should instead amend the statutes concerning third-party reporting procedure because current statutes force both the IRS and taxpayers into an inefficient process to find the right substantive answer. While I will also make a few observations about its substance, I will focus mostly on the procedural aspects of the bill - or lack thereof. I propose an alternative statutory reform that can fix what is a very real problem for a great many taxpayers, taxpayers who theoretically owe nothing but as a practical matter get stuck with a hefty tax bill. Part I of this article reviews the substantive issue. Part II explains why the issue presented is really a procedural problem. Part III critiques H.R. 3648 and explains how true reform could be accomplished through a simpler amendment.


This is a checklist of actions for healthcare, public health, nongovernmental organizations, and private entities to use to strengthen the resilience of their community's health sector to disasters. It is informed by the experience of Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey and analyzed in the context of findings from other recent natural disasters in the United States. The health sector is defined very broadly, including-in addition to hospitals, emergency medical services (EMS), and public health agencies-healthcare providers, outpatient clinics, long-term care facilities, home health providers, behavioral health providers, and correctional health services. It also includes community-based organizations that support these entities and represent patients. We define health sector resilience very broadly, including all factors that preserve public health and healthcare delivery under extreme stress and contribute to the rapid restoration of normal or improved health sector functioning after a disaster. We present the key findings organized into 8 themes. We then describe a conceptual map of health sector resilience that ties these themes together. Lastly, we provide a series of recommended actions for improving health sector resilience at the local level. The recommended actions emphasize those items that individuals who experienced Hurricane Sandy deemed to be most important. The recommendations are presented as a checklist that can be used by a variety of interested parties who have some role to play in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery in their own communities. Following a general checklist are supplemental checklists that apply to specific parts of the larger health sector.


The southwestern continental margin of Australia (19 degrees S-22 degrees S) in the western Indian Ocean is transitional between cool-water and warm-water carbonate realms. It comprises the incipiently rimmed, flat-topped, steep-fronted Rottnest Shelf in the south, the uniform subtropical starved Carnarvon Ramp off Shark Bay, and the Ningaloo fringing reef in the north. The margin is strongly influenced by the poleward-flowing, warm, nutrient-poor Leeuwin Current, which promotes overall downwelling and strong summer equatorward-blowing winds, which generate local seasonal upwelling. The structurally quiescent northern part of the Rottnest Shelf, with minimum accommodation, is characterized by luxuriant stands of sea-grasses and macrophytes growing on coralline-encrusted hardgrounds and rooted in sediments rich in coralline algae and larger, symbiont-bearing foraminifers together with abundant cool-water elements such as bryozoans, molluscs, and small foraminifers. Halimeda is poorly calcified and does not contribute to the sediment. Azooxanthellate corals, although present, are not common. Such a sediment pattern has many analogs in the geologic record, especially the early Cenozoic. The incipient rim is a morphologically complex linear ridge system interpreted to be a buried mid-Pleistocene barrier reef or beach-dune complex. The northern part of the ridge complex is capped by the Houtman Abrolhos reef platforms. Subphotic sediments on the deep, outer shelf and upper slope, affected by seasonal upwelling, are typical cool-water, poorly sorted, bryozoan-dominated deposits rich in small foraminifers and sponge spicules. The inner part of the more structurally active Carnarvon Ramp ranges from steep eolianite cliffs to hypersaline environments of Shark Bay to the Ningaloo fringing reef. Mid-ramp sediment, especially off Shark Bay, is mostly relict or stranded and foraminifer-dominated sand with abundant Mg-calcite-cemented intraclasts. These sediments, accumulating on a relatively barren seafloor, likely represent attenuated carbonate production brought about by downwelling and episodic incursions of saline, Shark Bay-derived waters onto the ramp. The outer ramp is either planktic foraminiferal sand, sorted by strong bottom currents, or spiculitic mud. Such sedimentation patterns should typify the western margins of large ocean basins during those periods in geologic history when circumglobal equatorial circulation was active, and equatorial gateways narrow, in contrast to eras of supercontinents, when cool-water carbonate sedimentation and upwelling prevailed in similar settings. Furthermore, because low-latitude trade winds relax during glacial epochs and the cool-water, upwelling belt moves equatorward into otherwise tropical realms, temperate and subtropical sedimentation patterns in these regions should oscillate at the 100 ky scale in the stratigraphic record.


This book presents an unforgettable up-close account of the effects of World War II and the subsequent American occupation on Oita prefecture, through firsthand accounts from more than forty Japanese men and women who lived there. The interviewees include students, housewives, nurses, midwives, teachers, journalists, soldiers, sailors, Kamikaze pilots, and munitions factory workers. Their stories range from early, spirited support for the war through the devastating losses of friends and family members to air raids and into periods of hunger and fear of the American occupiers. The personal accounts are buttressed by archival materials; the result is an unprecedented picture of the war as experienced in a single region of Japan.


In recent years, citizens have become an important source of geographic information and, therefore, geo-crowdsourcing, often known as volunteered geographic information, has provided an interesting alternative to traditional mapping practices which are becoming expensive, resource-intensive and unable to capture the dynamic nature of urban environments. In order to address a gap in research literature, this paper deals with a survey conducted to assess the current state of geo-crowdsourcing, a recent phenomenon popular with people who collect geographic information using their smartphones. This article points out that there is an increasing body of knowledge of geo-crowdsourcing mobile applications in the Visegrad countries marked by the ubiquitous Internet connection and the current massive proliferation of smartphones. This article shows how geo-crowdsourcing can be used as a complement, or in some cases a replacement, to traditionally generated sources of spatial data and information in public management. It discusses the new spaces of citizen participation constructed by these geo-crowdsourcing practices. Keywords—Citizen participation, geo-crowdsourcing, egovernment, participatory mapping, mobile applications.


Abstract The authours use information gathered from 122 studies on the effects of high school diplomas on wages in different countries worldwide to carry out a meta-analysis that shows high school diplomas have a statistically significant effect on wages of nearly 8%. This effect varies whether the country is away from the tropics or whether factors such as gender, race, and continent are taken into account. The results also reveal the existence of a publication bias that tends to increase the magnitude of the sheepskin effect. Nevertheless, when the former is factored into the analysis the latter remains statistically significant.


If a set of investors plan a grand
apartment building in which they can
each afford just one apartment, they
need an architect to design a building
that is both affordable and that meets all
their needs, to negotiate with the
constructor, and to ensure follow-up.
When building capabilities for European
defence, the sole possible architect is the
European Defence Agency (EDA).
Those who have to reach consensus and
invest are the EU Member States. And
there is even a European Investment
Bank (EIB) to assist them.


This dissertation examines the effect of attentional focus and expectancy on motor performance. The theoretical basis of attentional focus effects come from previous works of internal versus external type of focuses (Wulf, 2007), which states that external type of focus is superior for learning and performing motor skills. The theoretical mechanism of external versus internal focus is explained in relation to motor automaticity. Another series of research on the similar concept of attentional focus and motor performance utilised a distraction method (dual-task paradigm) to come to a similar conclusion (Beilock, 2011). Experts' performance is not affected by distraction because their motor skills is automated and require low attentional capacity. The current research ran a series of studies to replicate and extend these previous findings and clarify some of the conflicting classification of different types of focuses. The purpose was to simplify some of the theoretical issues and enhance ecological validity for practitioners (e.g. coaches and athletes). However, current experiments did not find statistical significance of attentional focus effects on performance. Hence, the direction of the research turned to look at other variables potentially affecting performance. A key variable from the conducted experiments was identified as participants' outcome expectancy. This expectancy effect was then manipulated in the research designs of two further studies which found significant effects. Participants performed accordingly to their outcome expectation regardless of the internal, external, or distraction methodology used. This finding was discussed in terms of potential research issue and practical implications in coaching and learning area


Results from artificial recharge tests through wells in Angered, Gothenburg have made studies on geohydrological properties of tectonic zones possible. Measurements of piezometric head in bore holes were used to evaluate the transmissivity and storage coefficient of the zones by using a finite element model. The zones were considered to act as separate confined aquifers, and the values obtained were T ≡ 3-4 · 10−6 m2/s and S ≡ 4-6 · 10−5.. The hydraulic conductivity of the rock mass was then found to be greater than 2-5 · 10−8 m/s, which is in agreement with values of fractured, crystalline rock in Sweden obtained in other investigations.


Dairy farmers in Louisiana were surveyed to find out the factors leading these farmers to terminate best management practices. Results indicated that only few farmers have exited the practices once they adopt those. However, the longevity of best management practices adoption can be increased by emphasizing on education and targeting to operators who have already been in dairy practices for a longer time period.


In recent years the field of polymer tribology experienced a tremendous development
leading to an increased demand for highly sophisticated in-situ measurement methods.
Therefore, advanced measurement techniques were developed and established
in this study. Innovative approaches based on dynamic thermocouple, resistive electrical
conductivity, and confocal distance measurement methods were developed in
order to in-situ characterize both the temperature at sliding interfaces and real contact
area, and furthermore the thickness of transfer films. Although dynamic thermocouple
and real contact area measurement techniques were already used in similar
applications for metallic sliding pairs, comprehensive modifications were necessary to
meet the specific demands and characteristics of polymers and composites since
they have significantly different thermal conductivities and contact kinematics. By using
tribologically optimized PEEK compounds as reference a new measurement and
calculation model for the dynamic thermocouple method was set up. This method
allows the determination of hot spot temperatures for PEEK compounds, and it was
found that they can reach up to 1000 °C in case of short carbon fibers present in the
polymer. With regard to the non-isotropic characteristics of the polymer compound,
the contact situation between short carbon fibers and steel counterbody could be
successfully monitored by applying a resistive measurement method for the real contact
area determination. Temperature compensation approaches were investigated
for the transfer film layer thickness determination, resulting in in-situ measurements
with a resolution of ~0.1 μm. In addition to a successful implementation of the measurement
systems, failure mechanism processes were clarified for the PEEK compound
used. For the first time in polymer tribology the behavior of the most interesting
system parameters could be monitored simultaneously under increasing load
conditions. It showed an increasing friction coefficient, wear rate, transfer film layer
thickness, and specimen overall temperature when frictional energy exceeded the
thermal transport capabilities of the specimen. In contrast, the real contact area between
short carbon fibers and steel decreased due to the separation effect caused by
the transfer film layer. Since the sliding contact was more and more matrix dominated,
the hot spot temperatures on the fibers dropped, too. The results of this failure
mechanism investigation already demonstrate the opportunities which the new
measurement techniques provide for a deeper understanding of tribological processes,
enabling improvements in material composition and application design.


We use relativistic hydrodynamic numerical calculations to study the interaction between a jet and a homologous outflow produced dynamically during binary neutron star mergers. We quantify how the thermal energy imparted by the jet and the ability of the jet to escape the ejecta depend on the parameters of the jet engine and the ejecta. Under our assumptions, a collimated jet initiated at early times compared to the engine duration, we show that successful breakout of the forward cocoon shock necessitates a jet that successfully escapes the ejecta. This is because the ejecta is expanding, and the forward shock from a failed jet stalls before it reaches the edge of the ejecta. This conclusion can be circumvented only for very energetic wide angle jets, with parameters that are uncomfortable given short-duration GRB observations. For successful jets, we find two regimes of jet breakout from the ejecta: early breakout on timescales shorter than the engine duration, and late breakout well after the engine shuts off. A late breakout can explain the observed delay between gravitational waves and gamma rays in GW170817. We show that for the entire parameter space of jet parameters surveyed here (covering energies ∼1048–1051 erg and opening angles θj ∼ 0.07–0.4) the thermal energy deposited by the jet is less than that produced by r-process heating on second timescales by at least an order of magnitude. Shock heating is thus energetically subdominant in setting the luminosity of thermally powered transients coincident with neutron star mergers (kilonovae).


We carried out a one-year project to build a portable speech-to-speech translation system in a new language that could run on a small portable computer. Croatian was chosen as the target language. The resulting system was tested with real users on a trip to Croatia in the spring of 2001. We describe its basic components, the methods we used to build them, initial evaluation results, and related significant observations. This work was done in conjunction with the US Army Chaplain School; chaplains are often the only personnel in a position to communicate with local people over non-military issues such as medical supplies, refugees, etc. This paper thus reports on a realistic instance of rapidly deploying and field-testing a speech-to-speech translator using current technology.


Since its introduction half a century ago IT has become one of the most important infrastructure components of virtually any organisation. An important key area of qualitative research in information systems is interviewing decision makers. These interviews aim to disclose hidden structures within IT projects and usage to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. In this context, the definition and analysis of critical success factors for information technology projects are well established areas for qualitative research in information systems. The analysis of critical success factors is of special importance since the IT projects still suffer from high failures rates. Therefore it is an important research goal within information systems to better understand IT projects to improve their success rates. The interviews of critical success factors provide a good data basis to disclose hidden structures in this domain. Besides only quantitatively interpreting such interviews the analysis can be enriched by some qualitative methods to support quantitative analysis and may disclose formerly hidden structures within the data. Therefore the objective of the paper is to enrich the analysis of IT projects and evaluate rough sets based quantitative analysis techniques for symbolic data which are characteristic in the domain of critical success factors analysis.


In this paper we identify three major groups of people (among some of whose members there are blurred distinctions) with different views on cognitive ethology, namely, slayers, skeptics, and proponents. Our analyses are based on our reading of some published reviews of Donald Griffin's works in cognitive ethology and other clearly stated opinions concerning animal cognition, in the sense of attribution of mental states and properties such as beliefs, awareness, and consciousness. Slayers Slayers deny any possibility of success in cognitive ethology. In our analyses of their published statements, we have found that they sometimes conflate the difficulty of doing rigorous cognitive ethological investigations with the impossibility of doing so. Slayers also often ignore specific details of work by cognitive ethologists and frequently mount philosophically motivated objections to the possibility of learning anything about animal cognition. Slayers do not believe that cognitive ethological approaches can lead, and have lead, to new and testable hypotheses. They often pick out the most difficult and least accessible phenomena to study (e.g. consciousness) and then conclude that because we can gain little detailed knowledge about this subject, we cannot do better in other areas. Slayers also appeal to parsimony in explanations of animal behavior, but they dismiss the possibility that cognitive explanations can be more parsimonious than noncognitive alternatives, and they deny the utility of cognitive hypotheses for directing empirical research. Skeptics Skeptics are often difficult to categorize. They are a bit more open-minded than slayers, and there seems to be greater variation among skeptical views of cognitive ethology than among slayers' opinions. However, some skeptics recognize some past and present successes in cognitive ethology, and remain cautiously optimistic about future successes; in these instances they resemble moderate proponents. Many skeptics appeal to the future of neuroscience, and claim that when we know all there is to know about nervous systems, cognitive ethology will be superfluous (Bekoff, 1993a; it should be noted that Griffin, 1992 also makes strong appeals to neuroscience, but he does not believe that increased knowledge in neurobiology will cause cognitive ethology to disappear). Like slayers, skeptics frequently conflate the difficulty of doing rigorous cognitive ethological investigations with the impossibility of doing so. Skeptics also find folk psychological, anthropomorphic, and cognitive explanations to be off-putting. Proponents Proponents recognize the utility of cognitive ethological investigations. They claim that there are already many successes and they see that cognitive ethological approaches have provided new and interesting data that also can inform and motivate further study. Proponents also accept the cautious use of folk psychological and cognitive explanations to build a systematic explanatory framework in conjunction with empirical studies, and do not find anecdotes or anthropomorphism to be thoroughly off-putting. Some proponents are as extreme in their advocacy of cognitive ethology as some slayers are in their opposition. But most proponents are willing to be critical of cognitive ethological research without dooming the field prematurely; if cognitive ethology is to die, it will be of natural causes and not as a result of hasty slayings.


Thanks about five thousand texts of the XV-XIV century BC found in the provincial center of Nuzi, not far from Kirkuk, south of Little Zab east of the Tigris, the life of the small kingdom of Arrapha, vassal of the kingdom of Mittani, was reconstructed. Through the organization of the texts according public and private archives, it was possible to analyze the economic and social situation (divided into at least seven classes) of the small state in a systematic way. About the general, economic aspects, if the data concerning the Temple administration are meagre, the palace of Nuzi, that was not the 'Palace' of a capital, is an interesting example of provincial administration, interested in direct production activities, as owner of fields and flocks, in processing activities (through artisans and workers in its service), collection and distribution of goods. It was equipped with its own staff and was involved in the collection of taxes and forwarding them to the capital. Another element taken into consideration is the archive of the prince ilwa-teup, which is the working model of a large property. In it, the economic activities, strictly linked to social status of ilwa-teup, were diversified: activities related to agriculture, livestock, business, including loans with or without interest; preparation and storage of military equipment, or horse farm activities. The extremely complex organization of this large structure may be a useful model for understanding some aspects of the management of the Nuzi palace. As far as the agriculture, aspects relating to the ownership, possession or availability of land have been taken into account, with the analysis of so-called 'real-estate adoptions' ("t.uppi maru¯ti"). In this kind of contracts an 'adopter' yielded a portion of his land to an 'adopted' as a share of the inheritance, receiving in return a gift, in barley, silver or other assets. This is a type of contract that distinguishes Nuzi from other Near Eastern areas, although not unique to just the realm of Arrapha. This analysis has also taken into consideration agricultural production, breeding and processing activities ('industrial' and craft), documented by both rations and personnel lists in private and palace archives, where the names of many trades and professions are mentioned. Moreover, the archaeology offers the evidence of many high quality objects (glass, pearls, vases, etc.) found in the excavations of Nuzi. Since the reign of Arrapha is located on the crossing of two important trade routes, one from east to west and the other north to south, a major movement of goods affects it, both within and abroad. In the realm of Arrapha, as in other contemporary realities, there were forms of 'public' and private trade. Operationally, the pivot was the figure of the merchant (LU.DAM.GAR = tamka¯ru), which can take on a dual role: the commercial agent for the palace and the private merchant. These aspects mainly concern metals (copper, tin, bronze, silver and gold), that were operated by the palace or large private archives, such as ilwa-teup's, and was funded by professional merchants; metals were entrusted to a responsible individual to achieve the artifacts required. Moreover, metals could be considered a material of high value for the security of the state, given that they were within the manufacture of weapons of offense and defense.


Orientation: Today's competitive work environment requires organisations and employees to successfully cope with challenges to maintain healthy levels of well-being. It is, therefore, imperative to investigate which organisational and psychological factors contribute to well-being in employees.Research purpose: This study served to analyse whether psychological capital (PsyCap) mediates the relationship between perceived organisational support (POS) and well-being.Motivation for the study: In light of the positive psychology movement, this study aimed to investigate how positive constructs actively contribute to employee well-being. Knowledge of organisational and psychological factors that enhance well-being in employees will be of great benefit to organisations that aim to create positivity in the workplace in order to avoid the negative consequences of work-related stress and a toxic work environment.Research approach/design and method: A cross-sectional, non-experimental design, applying convenience and snowball sampling, was used to recruit 159 South African employees who completed an online survey that assessed the constructs under investigation.Main findings: It was found that POS, PsyCap and well-being are positively correlated to one another. Moreover, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that PsyCap fully mediates the relationship between POS and well-being.Practical/managerial implications: These findings imply that organisations should be committed to target their employees' PsyCap to enhance well-being in their workforce.Contribution/value-add: The findings show that it is not sufficient just to provide organisational support to enhance well-being. Organisations also need to acknowledge the important role of their employees' PsyCap to ensure that they are well equipped to deal with challenges in the workplace while maintaining healthy levels of well-being.


Abstract In this work, the occurrence of contaminants in drinking water sources was described in relation to their treatment options based on both conventional (e.g., coagulation-flocculation, sedimentation filtration, and chlorination) and advanced treatment techniques (e.g., membrane filtration, ozonation, and biofiltration). However, due to apparent drawbacks of these methods (e.g., formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs)), it is desirable to develop an alternative option for safe drinking water. In this respect, biochar is recognized as an effective candidate to resolve the limitations in treating common pollutants typically occurring in drinking water such as microbial contaminants, inorganic contaminants, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). As biochar can exhibit different types of interactions with adsorbates, its sorption processes can be explained by diverse mechanisms, e.g., π-π electron donor-acceptor interactions, complexation, precipitation, H-bonding, and electrostatic attraction. In light of the attractive features of biochar (e.g., enhanced sorption properties, cost-effectiveness, and environmentally friendly nature), we offer in-depth discussion on biochar-based water treatment technologies for large-scale water purification operation. Highlights Occurrence of various contaminants in drinking water sources are discussed. Human health impacts of exposure to drinking water contaminants are highlighted. Performances and limitations of conventional and advanced water treatment technologies are discussed. Potentials of pristine and modified biochars for drinking water purification are emphasized. Feasibility and importance of biochar-based large-scale water treatment technologies are highlighted. Graphical Abstract


Abstract A meta-analysis of 44 studies that conduct a private, external and/or total social cost comparison among conventional and electric vehicles shows that, independent of the studies' goals, the results are often misleading. This distortion occurs because of the omission of one or more relevant cost components and/or the impact of divergent and often unspecified assumptions, which is demonstrated through three detailed examples. Although 30 studies compared private costs, one-third only considered purchase and fuel costs and ignored other costs. Charging infrastructure and residual value were only considered in four and eight studies, respectively. Thirty-five authors performed an external cost evaluation, of which 12 were expressed in monetary terms. The majority of the non-monetary studies only consider one external polluting factor, which is generally CO2/GHG, whereas the monetary studies generally evaluate four or more polluting factors. Furthermore, this article drafts a methodological checklist that (1) defines the preferred evaluation methods according to the study goals, (2) includes all private and external costs in the production, acquisition, usage and disposal stages as well as the existing policy measures and (3) lists the general assumptions that should be specified. This checklist enhances consistent comparability among various social cost studies of different vehicle types, and it supports policy-makers in drafting evidence-based transportation policy conclusions.


Thiol oligomers were copolymerized with a triallyl ether by a photoinduced polymerization process. These oligomeric thiol-ene systems comprise the same duced polymerization process. These oligomeric thiol-ene systems comprise the same components as a photopolymerized thiol-ene-acrylate ternary system, yet the photopolymerized networks have much lower glass transition temperatures. An investigation into the effect of oligomeric thiol design on network formation was conducted by analyzing the reaction kinetics and thermal/mechanical properties of the thiol-ene networks. Real-time FTIR analysis shows that total conversion is >90% for all thiols investigated. Photo-DSC analysis shows that the maximum exotherm rate is roughly equivalent for all of the thiols when the equivalent weight of the thiol is taken into account. As would be expected, the glass transition temperature and tensile strength increase with thiol functionality and lower thiol equivalent weight for thiols with functionality from 2 to 4. Films made using the oligomeric thiols have essentially the same glass transition temperatures and tensile modulus values regardless of thiol design. These results distinguish the method for generation of networks consisting of an initial Michael reaction of thiols and acrylates followed by a photoinitiated copolymerization with a multifunctional ene from the traditional photolysis of the corresponding thiol-ene-acrylate ternary systems with no Michael reaction.


Collaborative working methods offer the hope of reduced waste, lower tendering costs and improved outputs. The costs of tendering may be influenced by the introduction of different working methods. Transaction cost economics appears to offer an analytical framework for studying the costs of tendering, but it is more to do with providing explanations at the institutional/industry level, not at the level of individual projects. Surveys and interviews were carried out with small samples in UK. The data show that that while tendering costs are not necessarily higher in collaborative working arrangements, there is no correlation between costs of tendering and the way the work is organized. Practitioners perceive that the benefits of working in collaborative procurement routes far outweigh the costs. Tendering practices can be improved to avoid waste, and the suggested improvements include restricting selective tendering lists to 23 bidders, letting bidders know who they are competing with, reimbursing tendering costs for aborted projects and ensuring that timely and comprehensive information is provided to bidders.


Increasing antibiotic resistance and an ever stricter control on the use of antibiotics are a driving force to develop alternative means of infection prevention and treatment. A promising alternative is the use of Host Defense Peptides (HDPs). HDPs are important effector molecules of the innate immune system with both antimicrobial and pleiotropic immunomodulatory functions. In this thesis the potential of the chicken HDP cathelicidin 2 (CATH-2) is investigated to serve as a template for the development of anti-infectives for the poultry industry. Firstly, expression of endogenous CATH-2 and avian β-defensin 9 (AvBD9) was examined in chicken embryos and developing chicks. AvBD9 was predominantly found in enteroendocrine cells throughout the intestine, the first report of in vivo HDP expression in this cell type, and showed stable expression levels during development. CATH-2 was exclusively found in heterophils; these cells decreased after hatch in most of the examined organs including spleen, bursa and small intestine. In two infection experiments, the stable D-amino acid analog of CATH-2 (D-CATH-2) was administered to chickens, either in ovo at 3 days before hatch or intramuscularly posthatch. Using in ovo injection of labelled CATH-2 peptides, uptake of the peptide by the embryo was seen from 4 hours after injection onwards followed by accumulation in the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract. Importantly, in ovo D-CATH-2 administration partially protected chicks against a systemic Salmonella infection or a respiratory E. coli infection in the first week posthatch. Lower mortality and greatly reduced morbidity based on lesion scores was seen. In the E. coli infection model, D-CATH-2 treatment reduced airsac bacterial loads at 7 days post infection. Intramuscular D-CATH-2 treatment at days 1 and 4 posthatch was less effective in protecting chicks against E. coli infection, while an additional intramuscular injection posthatch did not increase the protective effect of D-CATH-2 against Salmonella compared to in ovo treatment alone. In both infection models, in ovo D-CATH-2 treatment increased peripheral blood leukocyte and heterophil numbers at 2 days post infection and in addition, E. coli infection-induced lymphopenia was prevented. To investigate the mechanism responsible for this protection, immune status and microbiota of non-infected in ovo D-CATH-2 treated chicks were analyzed at 7 days posthatch. In three consecutive studies, no effects on numbers and functions of immune cells were found and only small changes were seen in gene expression of PBMCs. This indicates that D-CATH-2 does not affect the chick's immune system in the absence of an infectious stimulus. Intestinal microbiota composition was highly variable between studies, suggesting it to be strongly influenced by environmental factors. In both studies, in ovo D-CATH-2 treatment caused significant reduction of Ruminococcaceae and Butyricicoccus in the cecum and Escherichia/Shigella in both ileum and cecum. In summary, this thesis present important steps in investigating CATH-2 as a template for new anti-infectives. Most importantly, protective effects of this peptide after in ovo administration have been shown against two important bacterial poultry pathogens, with efficacy up to 10 days after administration.


This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the history of democracy in Africa and explains why the continent's democratic experiments have so often failed, as well as how they could succeed. Nic Cheeseman grapples with some of the most important questions facing Africa and democracy today, including whether international actors should try and promote democracy abroad, how to design political systems that manage ethnic diversity, and why democratic governments often make bad policy decisions. Beginning in the colonial period with the introduction of multi-party elections and ending in 2013 with the collapse of democracy in Mali and South Sudan, the book describes the rise of authoritarian states in the 1970s; the attempts of trade unions and some religious groups to check the abuse of power in the 1980s; the remarkable return of multiparty politics in the 1990s; and finally, the tragic tendency for elections to exacerbate corruption and violence.


The pollution terms of trade (PTT) index first introduced and estimated by Antweiler (1996) allows to identify if trade-embodied emissions are on average larger in exports than in imports. His empirical results were based on the tradecomposition (between-sector) part of the PTT and revealed rather paradoxically that exports of rich countries were on average dirtier than their imports. Using a new database on SO2 manufacturing emissions that includes variation of emission intensities across countries, sectors and over time, this paper extends the earlier work by identifying two additional effects: the between-country and the technique effect. As it turns out, these two effects run opposite to the between-sector effect, and more than compensate it. Hence, the overall pattern is that high income countries tend to have lower PTT indices, meaning that their exports are cleaner than their imports, while in low income countries the reverse is observed.


With network security measures becoming more and more complicated, it became essential to provide programmers with the capability to write applications that are generic with respect to security. The Common Authentication Technology (CAT) Working Group of Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) acknowledged this need and developed the Generic Security Service Application Programming Interface (GSS-API). After ten years of experience with GSS-API, the Kitten (GSS-API Next Generation) Working Group was formed to continue this development. This paper looks at the current issues that Kitten faces in improving the GSS-API.


BACKGROUND
Apple pomace is generated in huge quantities in juice-processing industries the world over and continuous efforts are being made for its inclusive utilization. In this study, apple seeds separated from industrial pomace were used for extraction of oil. The fatty acid composition, physicochemical and antioxidant as well as in vitro anticancer properties of extracted oil were studied to assess its suitability in food and therapeutic applications.

RESULTS
The fatty acid composition of seed oil revealed the dominance of oleic (46.50%) and linoleic acid (43.81%). It had high iodine (121.8 g I 100 g⁻¹) and saponification value (184.91 mg KOH g⁻¹ oil). The acid value, refractive index and relative density were 4.28 mg KOH g⁻¹, 1.47 and 0.97 mg mL⁻¹, respectively. The antioxidant potential (IC₅₀) of apple seed oil was 40.06 µg mL⁻¹. Cytotoxicity of apple seed oil against CHOK1, SiHa and A549 cancer cell lines ranged between 0.5 ± 0.06% and 88.6 ± 0.3%.

CONCLUSION
The physicochemical properties of apple seed oil were comparable with edible food oil, indicating its better stability and broad application in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Apple seed oil could be a good source of natural antioxidants. Also, the in vitro cytotoxic activity against specific cell lines exhibited its potential as an anticancer agent.


Epidermal nevi are common congenital skin lesions with an incidence of 1 in 1,000 people; however, their genetic basis remains elusive. Germline mutations of the FGF receptor 3 (FGFR3) cause autosomal dominant skeletal disorders such as achondroplasia and thanatophoric dysplasia, which can be associated with acanthosis nigricans of the skin. Acanthosis nigricans and common epidermal nevi of the nonorganoid, nonepidermolytic type share some clinical and histological features. We used a SNaPshot multiplex assay to screen 39 epidermal nevi of this type of 33 patients for 11 activating FGFR3 point mutations. In addition, exon 19 of FGFR3 was directly sequenced. We identified activating FGFR3 mutations, almost exclusively at codon 248 (R248C), in 11 of 33 (33%) patients with nonorganoid, nonepidermolytic epidermal nevi. In 4 of these cases, samples from adjacent histologically normal skin could be analyzed, and FGFR3 mutations were found to be absent. Our results suggest that a large proportion of epidermal nevi are caused by a mosaicism of activating FGFR3 mutations in the human epidermis, secondary to a postzygotic mutation in early embryonic development. The R248C mutation appears to be a hot spot for FGFR3 mutations in epidermal nevi.


A common and important problem arising in the study of networks is how to divide the vertices of a given network into one or more groups, called communities, in such a way that vertices of the same community are more interconnected than vertices belonging to different ones. We propose and investigate a testing based community detection procedure called Extraction of Statistically Significant Communities (ESSC). The ESSC procedure is based on p-values for the strength of connection between a single vertex and a set of vertices under a reference distribution derived from a conditional configuration network model. The procedure automatically selects both the number of communities in the network and their size. Moreover, ESSC can handle overlapping communities and, unlike the majority of existing methods, identifies "background" vertices that do not belong to a well-defined community. The method has only one parameter, which controls the stringency of the hypothesis tests. We investigate the performance and potential use of ESSC and compare it with a number of existing methods, through a validation study using four real network data sets. In addition, we carry out a simulation study to assess the effectiveness of ESSC in networks with various types of community structure, including networks with overlapping communities and those with background vertices. These results suggest that ESSC is an effective exploratory tool for the discovery of relevant community structure in complex network systems. Data and software are available at http://www.unc.edu/~jameswd/research.html.


AbstractInjected CO2 at the Sleipner storage site is migrating into several thin layers. Using a tuning relationship, two different layer thicknesses can give the same reflection amplitude, and it is then not possible to go from amplitudes to CO2 layer thicknesses without further constraints. Exploiting spatial and time-lapse dependencies in the reflection amplitude maps makes it possible to resolve this ambiguity and create layer thickness maps when the CO2 flow is gravity dominated. The topography of the sealing cap rock was used as an optimization parameter. Tests were done on synthetic data and real data from the Sleipner CO2 injection. The resulting topography map for the Sleipner case deviated by 5.3 m on average from simple time-depth mapping, which is within the mapping uncertainty. Although the predictive power is limited, outputs of the method can be used to check if the flow matches a gravity-dominated model or if other flow mechanisms are needed to explain the observations.


Among the different sources of regional growth, agglomeration economies, both internal to regions and external to regions (spillovers) play a primary role. However the presence of agglomeration economies may obstacle the path toward cohesion making rich (poor) regions become richer (poorer). While, according to New Growth Theory and New Economic Geography, there is no doubt that internal economies may lead to divergence, the debate on the role of external economies on convergence is still open. Much, of course, depends on the spatial extension of spillovers. The aim of this work is to study the spatial dimension of spillovers using the framework of cross-region growth regression. In particular we seek to explain whether the intensity of spillover is either completely exogenous or it can be explained by some endogenous regional characteristics. Results indicate that the intensity of externalities is determined by a) the regional geographical position and b) the distance from neighbors with high growth rates. While the first is completely exogenous, the second is not. Curiously enough, infrastructural endowments and factors commonly assumed to induce agglomeration do not contribute to explain the intensity of spillovers. Results have important policy implications. Since spillovers characterize more core regions, which are well connected to other rich regions, than periphery, the presence of these externalities may foster the increase of disparities between core and periphery, making harder to reach the objective of cohesion.


The paper analyzes the adoption of agro-ecological techniques by a group of small family farmers in a region of the State of Parana. The sample of the farmers to be interviewed was obtained by applying a methodology of fast rural assessment and relied on the work of a non governmental organization (AS-PTA) that has the major responsible for the technological change in the region. A typology of producers and agrarian systems was obtained, which made it possible to evaluate the technological trajectories followed. A negative correlation was observed between the capitalization level of the farm unity and the adoption of agro-ecological techniques, suggesting that the latter are being introduced as a low risk strategy to improve the production conditions within a context of labor abundance and capital scarcity. The paper concludes that it is worth to support those farmers in their decision through more focused public policies (credit and scientific research).


The management of dredged sediments is an increasing issue for harbours and local authorities. Consequently, contaminated sediments are the subject of intense technology development, such as beneficial reuse or in situ treatment. However, current decision analysis approaches, such as comparative risk assessment, benefit-cost analysis, and life cycle assessment, do not offer a comprehensive approach for incorporating the varied types of information and multiple stakeholder and public views [1]. In this context, the EU Interreg-funded CEAMaS project promote the beneficial re-use of marine sediments in civil engineering applications, in a sustainable, economic and socially acceptable manner. The objective of this paper is to support management alternatives for dredged marine sediments based in two main criteria: The first one is compliance to legislation related to sediment management, which differs in each country. The second criteria are the physical, mechanical and chemical properties of dredged marine sediments, which define the possible civil engineering applications and other reuse options according to national legal frameworks and standards. It allows also the selection of a treatment process (if needed) and to determine other reuse operational options. Methods: The methodology of this study is based on the development of a database on the legislations related to sediment management in CEAMaS project partner countries (Ireland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands), and on the mechanical, physical and chemical requirements of various civil engineering applications (such as infrastructure, coastal protection works or as a building material, ...). An experimental work is then carried out at the laboratory scale. Dredged marine sediments from different locations are characterised, according to various national standards and common characterisation methods for sludge properties. Engineering suitability and environmental compliance are both addressed for all samples by each partner according to its national methodology. This methodology allows a comparison of each sediment properties with the reference values of each national legislation. Therefore, it identifies the potential civil engineering applications for various sediment types, and the different possible treatment processes (if needed). Results and discussion: The first samples show contaminant values in excess of national standards but not necessarily for the same contaminants for all countries. They show a large range of mineral and engineering properties, reflecting their sedimentological and geographic origin. This leads them towards different possible applications. Based on the database and laboratory works, a tool is being developed for the application to different dredged marine sediments. This tool is based mainly on regulatory and technical aspects for the management alternatives of sediments, by connecting sediment's composition and characteristics with reuse application requirements and sludge treatment procedures In the CEAMaS project, the economic feasibility and the social aspects are also considered for re-use options of marine sediments in civil engineering applications. A Multicriteria Decision Analysis framework will be developed for guiding individual decisionmakers to choose the best reuse option of sediments, depending on the criteria of interest.


This paper presents a RANS turbulent combustion model for CH4/H2/air mixtures which includes the effect of heat losses and flame stretch. This approach extends a previous model concept designed for methane/air mixtures and improves the prediction of flame stabilization when hydrogen is added to the fuel. Heat loss and stretch effects are modelled by tabulating the consumption speed of laminar counter flow flames in a fresh-to burnt configuration with detailed chemistry at various heat loss and flame stretch values. These computed values are then introduced in the turbulent combustion model by means of a turbulent flame speed expression which is derived as a function of flame stretch, heat loss and H2 addition. The model proposed in this paper is compared to existing models on experimental data of spherical expanding turbulent flame speeds. The performance of the model is further validated by comparing CFD predictions to experimental data of an atmospheric turbulent premixed bluff-body stabilized flame fed with CH4/H2/air mixtures ranging from pure methane to pure hydrogen.


Background: Hyperlipidemia increases mortality and is common with kidney-disease. New-onset hyperlipidemia (NOHL) among patients wait-listed and after transplantation may impact costs and graft-survival of patients with kidney disease. Methods: Using the United States Renal Data System, we compared the costs to Medicare associated with or without NOHL in wait-listed patients in the second and first year pre-transplant and transplanted patients in the first and second year post-transplant. We also examined the impact on graft-survival of NOHL. Results: New onset hyperlipidemia was especially expensive when it occurred well before transplantation. When compared with individuals with no hyperlipidemia, patients with early onset hyperlipidemia cost an extra $15,228 in the two years before transplantation and an extra $14,673 in the two years following transplantation. As has been found in prior studies, patients without any NOHL had the worst graft survival rates. Conclusions: Although NOHL was associated with increased pre- and post-transplant costs, patients diagnosed with NOHL between the second year before and second year after transplantation experienced higher graft-survival rates than those without NOHL by 2-years post-transplantation. Prior studies attribute this relationship to inflammation and malnutrition, which result in lower cholesterol levels and worse outcomes.


Many financial analysts remain wary of the growing genomics industry. Although a record number of self-proclaimed genomics firms went public last year, and a few established firms saw their stock prices temporarily skyrocket in anticipation of the completion of the human genome, longtime observers note that most genomics companies have yet to turn a profit. Even some high-profile players, such as information broker Celera Genomics of Rockville, Maryland, are still struggling to figure out how they will ultimately make money ([see sidebar][1]).

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/291/5507/1203


Prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)), a major COX metabolite, plays important roles in several facets of tumor biology. We characterized the contribution of the PGE(2) EP2 receptor to cancer-associated immune deficiency using EP2(-/-) mice. EP2(-/-) mice exhibited significantly attenuated tumor growth and longer survival times when challenged with MC26 or Lewis lung carcinoma cell lines as compared with their wild-type littermates. While no differences in T cell function were observed, PGE(2) suppressed differentiation of DCs from wild-type bone marrow progenitors, whereas EP2-null cells were refractory to this effect. Stimulation of cells in mixed lymphocyte reactions by wild-type DCs was suppressed by treatment with PGE(2), while EP2(-/-)-derived DCs were resistant to this effect. In vivo, DCs, CD4(+), and CD8(+) T cells were significantly more abundant in draining lymph nodes of tumor-bearing EP2(-/-) mice than in tumor-bearing wild-type mice, and a significant antitumor cytotoxic T lymphocyte response could be observed only in the EP2(-/-) animals. Our data demonstrate an important role for the EP2 receptor in PGE(2)-induced inhibition of DC differentiation and function and the diminished antitumor cellular immune responses in vivo.


Periodicity and trend are features describing an observed sequence, and extracting these features is an important issue in many scientific fields. However, it is not an easy task for existing methods to analyse simultaneously the trend and dynamics of the periodicity such as time varying frequency and amplitude, and the adaptivity of the analysis to such dynamics and robustness to heteroscedastic dependent errors are not guaranteed. These tasks become even more challenging when there are multiple periodic components. We propose a non‐parametric model to describe the dynamics of multicomponent periodicity and investigate the recently developed synchro‐squeezing transform in extracting these features in the presence of a trend and heteroscedastic dependent errors. The identifiability problem of the non‐parametric periodicity model is studied, and the adaptivity and robustness properties of the synchro‐squeezing transform are theoretically justified in both discrete and continuous time settings. Consequently we have a new technique for decoupling the trend, periodicity and heteroscedastic, dependent error process in a general non‐parametric set‐up. Results of a series of simulations are provided, and the incidence time series of varicella and herpes zoster in Taiwan and respiratory signals observed from a sleep study are analysed.


There is a close relationship between surface water and groundwater in semi-arid and arid areas of China, and thus researching on the interactions of them is of importance for reasonable water resources development. This paper took Bulang River basin as case study, analysis and discussion were conducted to water chemistry and isotopes tests results of water samples. The results show that surface water in Bulang River basin mainly relies on precipitation recharge, partially on groundwater recharge, the hydrochemistry type of surface water is mainly Ca-HCO3 with low salinity.


European Union membership affects budgetary practices in Britain and France much more than the conventional literature acknowledges. Budgetary Europeanisation, defined as the process of adaptation of budgetary processes to EU pressures, involves not merely the compliance of budgetary aggregates to EU guidelines but mainly changes in bureaucratic practices, methods and strategies. Budgetary institutions have become hybrid because of the growing entanglement of national and EU budgetary procedures; therefore the conventional national approach to budgeting is outdated. The impact on budgeting is greater on spending than on taxing because unanimous voting safeguards national governments' sovereignty on taxation. The thesis isolates various pressures which contribute to budgetary Europeanisation (competition, substitution, regulation, lobbying and demand by Member States). It explains strategic differences between Britain and France. The Euro-PES mechanism and the Fontainebleau agreement in the UK explain the non-maximisation strategy of British administration, which contrasts to the French, based on the "principe de constance" and sectoral rates-of-return. The thesis compares the processes of adaptation of bureaucratic mechanisms to the consequences of EU membership in different policy domains (Agriculture, Transport and Health). It concludes that the degree of adaptation of EU pressures is higher when national bureaucrats often interact with international actors because they are better able to influence decisions at EU level (a major difference between Transport and Health). It confirms the link between budgetary Europeanisation and the amount of EU finance in departments' budgets, but it shows that this link is a secondary explanation of differences in degrees of Europeanisation. Finally, the thesis shows how EU programmes promoted shifts in national decision-making, with greater effect on the processes of decision-making than on the substance of policy. This analysis suggests that national administrations retain a large margin of manoeuvre both in policy-making and in finance, and through their participation in the EU budgetary process.


This thesis investigates statutory executive stock option (ESO) disclosures by Australian listed companies, and their nature, extent and association with governance characteristics. The study is motivated by the limited prior Australian studies that find evidence of low levels of compliance with ESO disclosures (Nelson and Percy, 2005), and by the changes in Australia's regulatory environment over the financial years 2001 to 2004. Arising from these motivations, three research questions are addressed: 1) what is the nature and extent of compliance with ESO disclosures in annual reports and does it change over time?, 2) how does corporate governance influence compliance with ESO disclosures?, and 3) what other factors influence compliance with ESO disclosures? Based on prior research and an application of agency theory, the research questions are addressed by systematically evaluating ESO disclosure compliance, and by modelling and testing the governance and other factors associated with companies' disclosure practices over the 2001 to 2004 study period.

Within the agency framework, it is argued that effective governance mechanisms mitigate agency costs by decreasing information asymmetry through increased disclosure. Hence it is predicted that internal governance mechanisms, including the effectiveness of the board of directors, the effectiveness of the audit committee, the existence of a compensation committee, and management incentives are associated with the level of compliance with ESO disclosures. In addition, external governance mechanisms are predicted to influence compliance with ESO disclosures. Specifically, it is predicted that firms responded positively to the increased media and regulatory scrutiny on financial reporting practices as a result of major corporate collapses in Australia and the United States. Furthermore, it is predicted that regulatory intervention, in the form of new and comprehensive ESO disclosure requirements, as well as the authoritative guidance on valuing options and active enforcement efforts by ASIC, have contributed to increased levels of compliance.

Using a combination of univariate and multivariate procedures, compliance and governance characteristics are tested over the financial years 2001 to 2004, to capture the changes in compliance over time and to examine the hypothesised relationships. The results of this thesis indicate that Australian companies do not fully comply with ESO disclosure requirements. Nevertheless, the results show that overall compliance has increased progressively from 2001 to 2004, suggesting that the increased scrutiny of companies' financial reporting practices following major corporate collapses has motivated companies to increase compliance. Notably, compliance has increased after the introduction of new and more comprehensive disclosure requirements for ESOs, as well as increased authoritative guidance and enforcement efforts by ASIC. However, despite the overall evidence of improvement in compliance levels, the results continue to reveal management's reluctance to disclose ESO information that may be considered sensitive (for example, price and value-related information).

The multivariate results indicate that firms with a larger board of directors and a larger audit committee are more likely to encourage greater levels of compliance with ESO disclosures. However, a larger board of directors appears to take a holistic approach to monitoring company activities by encouraging higher overall compliance rather than focusing on specific, sensitive disclosures. Where a less independent Chairperson is present, the firm is more likely to disclose more sensitive information only, indicating a substitution effect whereby firms mitigate the agency problems associated with this lack of independence by increasing sensitive disclosures. Also, where the Chief Executive Officer's remuneration is relatively larger, companies are less forthcoming about ESO information. With respect to the influence of external corporate governance, the findings indicate that companies identified as poor performers by the Australian Shareholders' Association (a measure of external governance) exhibit lower levels of overall compliance, but not compliance with sensitive disclosures. This latter finding suggests that poorly performing firms provide similar levels of sensitive and important information as other firms, possibly to direct attention away from the low performance of the company.

Consistent with prior disclosure research, other factors associated with compliance include leverage, where firms that are more highly leveraged disclose more sensitive information in an effort to become more transparent to creditors, thus reducing their monitoring costs. The use of a Big 4 auditor (a proxy for auditor quality) is associated with overall compliance, which indicates that external auditors primarily ensure that the financial report as a whole is compliant with the regulations, rather than identifying sensitive disclosures in detail, particularly where these disclosures may not have a material effect. Lastly, performance (as measured by profit or lossmaking status) is negatively associated with compliance.

By investigating in detail the nature and extent of compliance with ESO disclosures over time and its relation to governance characteristics, the findings of this study demonstrate that while companies appear to lack full compliance with ESO disclosures, compliance has increased over time with active regulatory enforcement and assistance and comprehensive disclosure requirements. Of particular interest, is that the nature of compliance illustrates the very low levels of compliance with important, but sensitive, components of the required ESO disclosures. Importantly, the adoption of stronger governance structures appears to enhance compliance with ESO disclosures, including sensitive disclosures. Therefore, the findings of this study have important implications for corporate regulators, standard setters, financial statement preparers, shareholders and other users of financial reports with an interest in ESOs.


Breast cancer continues to be a leading cause of mortality among women. While at an early stage, localized breast cancer is easily treated; however, advanced stages of disease continue to carry a high mortality rate. The discrepancy in treatment success highlights that current treatments are insufficient to treat advanced-stage breast cancer. As new and improved treatments have been sought, one therapeutic approach has gained considerable attention. Oncolytic viruses are uniquely capable of targeting cancer cells through intrinsic or engineered means. They come in many forms, mainly from four major virus groups as defined by the Baltimore classification system. These vectors can target and kill cancer cells, and even stimulate immunotherapeutic effects in patients. This review discusses not only individual oncolytic viruses pursued in the context of breast cancer treatment but also the emergence of combination therapies with current or new therapies, which has become a particularly promising strategy for treatment of breast cancer. Overall, oncolytic virotherapy is a promising strategy for increased treatment efficacy for advanced breast cancer and consequently provides a unique platform for personalized treatments in patients.


Information theoretic measures form a fundamental class of measures for comparing clusterings, and have recently received increasing interest. Nevertheless, a number of questions concerning their properties and inter-relationships remain unresolved. In this paper, we perform an organized study of information theoretic measures for clustering comparison, including several existing popular measures in the literature, as well as some newly proposed ones. We discuss and prove their important properties, such as the metric property and the normalization property. We then highlight to the clustering community the importance of correcting information theoretic measures for chance, especially when the data size is small compared to the number of clusters present therein. Of the available information theoretic based measures, we advocate the normalized information distance (NID) as a general measure of choice, for it possesses concurrently several important properties, such as being both a metric and a normalized measure, admitting an exact analytical adjusted-for-chance form, and using the nominal [0,1] range better than other normalized variants.


The selective catalytic conversion of biomass-derived syngas into ethanol is thermodynamically feasible at temperatures below roughly 350 degrees C at 30 bar. However, if methane is allowed as a reaction product, the conversion to ethanol (or other oxygenates) is extremely limited. Experimental results show that high selectivities to ethanol are only achieved at very low conversions, typically less than 10%. The most promising catalysts for the synthesis of ethanol are based on Rh, though some other formulations (such as modified methanol synthesis catalysts) show promise.


In the fifth century A.D., Proclus served as head of the Academy in Athens that had been founded 900 years earlier by Plato. Proclus was the last great systematizer of Greek philosophy, and his work exerted a powerful influence in late antiquity, in the Arab world, and in the Renaissance. His treatise On the Eternity of the World formed the basis for virtually all later arguments for the eternity of the world and for the existence of God; consequently, it lies at the heart of neoplatonic philosophy and the controversy between pagans and Christians at the end of antiquity. Proclus's eighteen Arguments were quoted within John Philoponus' polemic against him, written in the sixth century; but the opening pages of the sole extant manuscript, which contained the first Argument, have been lost. In this book, Helen Lang and A.D. Macro present the seventeen Arguments preserved by Philoponus and translate them as an independent work. The first Argument, which survives in Arabic, is also included and makes this the only complete edition of On the Eternity of the World since antiquity. This bilingual edition comprises the seventeen Arguments (II-XVIII) in Greek and English, along with an introduction, synopses, and detailed notes which help readers with or without Greek to understand them philosophically and historically. Two appendices complete the volume: the Arabic text of the first Argument, also with English translation and notes, and the first modern edition of an important Latin translation from the Renaissance. In a valuable introduction, Lang and Macro examine the complex history of these Arguments. Together with its excellent annotations, and English and Greek texts en face, the publication of Proclus's On the Eternity of the Worldmakes available an influential work by a major figure in the history of late Greek philosophy.


Features are the final project in this class. In these multi-source productions students must develop a longer, more complex narrative. They can approach this project from the perspective of journalism or public relations. The PR pieces generally promote a cause or group. The journalism pieces examine an issue or question. You can stream the full video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiLZ4FxuB8U


District heating networks (DHN) are becoming an energy-saving and cost-effective alternative to conventional conversion systems (boilers, chillers, combined heating and power systems) and appear as a vector of the energy transition because of the diversity of the energy sources that can be used for their operation. They are increasingly used in cogeneration and more efficiently when operating at lower temperature levels. Indeed, many previous works were able to simulate thermal and hydraulic losses of different structures of networks. These works have been carried out in several European countries, notably in Switzerland, Great Britain but also in countries such as Denmark and Sweden. The approach for representing the networks and the simulation models could be complex to use for a general optimization purpose. This paper presents a new approach and methodology to represent the structure of the network in order to simplify models while performing accurate calculations for the thermal and hydraulic losses in the systems. The key parameters for the design and operation of the advanced heating/cooling network such as the nominal capacity of the network and the range of the working conditions (flow rates, minimum heating/cooling capacity, differential temperature on the substations) can be easily defined in hourly basis. A typical application for a set of high-performance buildings in the BlueFACTORY district (Fribourg, Switzerland) has been considered to simulate different structures (branched, mesh or mixed network systems) of advanced thermal networks. The performances, in term of pressure drop and thermal losses on the pipes, are determined in function of the geometric and operational parameters of the network. It includes the configurations of decentralized substation units (heat exchangers, heat pumps, or mixed substations) for heating and hot water production.


The Lower-Middle Miocene Kucukkuyu Formation crops out extensively in the Edremit Gulf area (NW Turkey). In this study, shale samples from this unit were investigated to evaluate source rock characteristics, depositional conditions, and hydrocarbon potential. Outcrop samples of the Kucukkuyu Formation were taken from different locations and analyzed by Rock-Eval pyrolysis, vitrinite reflectance (Ro), stable carbon isotope (δ13C), total sulfur (TS), gas chromatography (GC), and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The total organic carbon (TOC) values range from 0.23 to 6.1 wt.% with an average of 1.76 wt.% for the northern samples and 0.24 to 2.82 wt.% with an average of 1.66 wt.% for the southern samples around the Edremit Gulf. Hydrogen index (HI) values were up to 606 and 712 mg HC/g TOC in the north and south of the gulf, respectively. Organic matter type in the formation consists predominantly of Type II and III kerogen with a minor component of Type I kerogen. Tmax values ranging from 414 to 496 $^{\circ}$C in the north and 423 to 446 $^{\circ}$C in the south of the gulf indicate that most samples are at the beginning of the oil generation window and are thermally immature or early-mid-mature. Vitrinite reflectance (Ro) and biomarker maturity parameters support this result. Based on geological observations, biomarker distributions, and TOC/TS ratios, the Kucukkuyu Formation was deposited in a freshwater to slightly brackish water environment under anoxic-suboxic conditions with organic matter input from aquatic organisms and from terrestrial higher plants. According to Rock-Eval pyrolysis data, the Kucukkuyu Formation mostly has medium to good hydrocarbon-generation potential. However, as these potential source rocks are in general immature and/or early-mature, the hydrocarbon potential of the study area is very limited.


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Low-pressure (micro- and ultrafiltration) membranes are increasingly being used in water reclamation processes treating secondary or tertiary effluent from wastewater treatment plants. The main challenge remains the fouling of membrane surface/pores by organic matter which prevents efficient operation. The extent of this fouling strongly depends on feed water quality as well as membrane properties. The aim of this study is to characterize wastewater effluent organic matter (EfOM) and to describe its fouling behavior in relation to various membrane properties (pore size, charge, material, hydrophobicity) through evaluation with stirred cell experiments, elemental analysis, 13 C-NMR spectroscopy, and atomic force spectroscopy. Four membranes are tested - one ultrafiltration (UF) membrane and three microfiltration (MF) membranes - with bulk EfOM, derived from the Boulder, Colorado, USA, wastewater treatment plant, as well as with EfOM isolates. The hydrophobic microfiltration membrane is most seriously fouled by bulk Boulder EfOM, while the two hydrophilic membranes (MF, UF) made of cellulose acetate are the least fouled. Differences between the flux decline curves of various membranes are less distinct with isolates than with bulk EfOM. The transphilic isolate (TPIA-Bld) exhibited a higher fouling potential than the hydrophobic isolate (HPOA-Bld). This behaviour is due to the different chemical characteristics of the isolates, namely the higher percentage of hetero-atoms (oxygen and nitrogen) of the transphilic isolate compared to the hydrophobic isolate. Finally, atomic force microscope (AFM) images present clear evidence of fouling. AFM is clearly able to detect the fouling layer, although it has not been possible to distinguish between pore blockage and surface fouling thus far.