Interest in front-mounted implements has increased during the last couple of years. One drawback of the commercially available front linkages is, however, that they have been unable to move sideways. Jonsson (1983) formulated the conditions that must be fulfilled to build a front-mounted three-point hitch that allows lateral movements of the implement since it centres the implement. This is done in two different ways, depending on the implement. Directional implements are centred if the lower links of the hitch converges in the direction of travel. This was first shown by Makanjuola & Cowell (1970). The return velocity of the implement depends on the convergence of the lower links. Non-directional implements are more difficult to centre. While directional implements centre due to the linkage geometry, non-directional implements centre due to the internal forces in the linkage. Jonsson (1983) formulated a criterion of stability: (FT/FR) > (LC/LA) where FT= Force in upper link. FR= The implement's resulting force on the linkage. LC= Lateral distance between the linkage's instantaneous centre and the centre of resistance. LA= Distance between the instantaneous centre and the upper link forces. If the stability criterion is true in every possible position that the three-point linkage can reach, a non-directional implement will centre after a. disturbance. In this work, a front-mounted self-centring three-point hitch of that kind was built and tested. The hitch was tested in combination with five different implements: 1. A one-furrow fully-mounted plough. During the work the plough proved to be self-centering and steerable. The plough was, however, very sensitive to the linkage adjustments. This was primarily due to the short upper link and mast height. On the other hand, the short top link functioned as a depth control. As the working depth of the plough changed, the change of the share pitch brought the tool back to its original depth. 2. Hoe. With this implement this front-coupling was superior to the conventional rear-mounted type. According to the driver's wish, the linkage was easily adjusted to slow or fast reaction. A slowly reacting implement compensates better for bad driving in rowcrops than a fast reacting one. On the other hand, the turning radius increases. It is also better from the ergonomic point of view to have this kind of implement in front of the driver. 3. Harrow. During the tests the harrow usually, but not always, centred itself. In extreme conditions the harrow's clod-crusher nullified the centring ability. A harrow with a jointed cross-shaft ought to be self-centering. The joint will permit vertical movement of the implement. Thereby the clod-crusher cannot interfere with the upper link-forces. 4. Single tine. The front coupling was also tested with a single tine. This was done to test a pure non-directional implement. With the tine the centring was good and the front-mounted three-point hitch behaved as expected. 5. Single disc. In order to test a pure directional implement, a single disc was mounted to the hitch. During the tests the return velocity of the implement was measured at different cross-shaft lengths. A dependence between the length of the cross-shaft (the convergence) and the return velocity was indicated, in spite of severe disturbances during the tests. The tested type of front-linkage probably has a greater developing potential than the ones available on the market today. The self-centring front-linkage reduces the stress on the tractor, the linkage and the implement more than the conventional front-linkages. The driver ergonomy is improved by using front-mounted implements instead of rear mounted. A lot of work is however needed, before this type of linkage can be commercially available. The adjustment of the coupling needs to be simplified. Some kind of regulating device for working depth is also needed to fully use the advantages of front-mounting.


SUMMARY A calculation model using Excel® has been developed in order to be able to compare different production systems for pigs. The model can be found on the Internet at the following web address: http://www.jbt.slu.se/jos.botermans/modell-gris.html and is freely available. Using this model, the economic consequences of animal welfare measures can be calculated. In addition, the effect of different production systems can be tested, such as, farrowing pen systems, weaning systems, FTS pen systems, systems for organic production, etc. Even production systems from different countries can be compared. This model does not only take into consideration the extra costs (e.g., housing costs, labour costs), but also can take into consideration the effect of extra intake or savings in investment funding (as for example, feed, medicine, etc.). The economic results for a herd using the Swedish standard and the economic results from a herd with a different production system can therefore be calculated and compared. The user can change the parameters which he/she considers to be of importance for the different production system. Three examples of how the model may be used are presented in this report. In the first example, production data taken from Jonasson & Andersson (1997) were used to determine if the extra costs incurred due to the implementation of the Swedish Animal Protection Regulations using our own model were of the same size as in their report. It was found that the extra costs were 0.40 SEK per kg meat in comparison to the 0.51 SEK reported by Jonasson & Andersson (1997). However, Jonasson & Andersson had calculated that there were antibiotics in the feed in the system according to the EU regulations, and antibiotic free feedin the system according to the Swedish regulations. However, the present report used the parameter antibiotic free for both systems. Therefore it can be concluded that the results according to the model tested were of the same size as that reported by Jonasson & Andersson (1997). In the second example, a Danish and a Swedish pig production system were compared using the same feed prices, interest levels and labour costs per hour for both systems. However, the genetic material and production conditions (different ages at weaning, slaughter weights, etc.) differed between the two production systems. In this comparison the production costs in the Swedish system were 0.46 SEK higher per kg meat than that for the Danish system. It should be noted that consideration was not taken to the higher costs of establishment in Denmark due to the requirement for sufficient field area per animal. Comparisons 1 and 2 provided an indication of how much the Swedish Animal Protection Regulations increased production costs. The true answer probably would be between 0.40-0.50 SEK per kg meat and this was lower than that proposed by many other workers. However, this result was true for modern, newly built animal housing with good production and high work efficiency. If the user of the model considered that some data which has been entered is incorrect, he/she will be able to go into the program and adapt the parameter to the values which he/she considered to be suitable. In the third example, a comparison between electronic sow feeding (ESF-system) and feeding sows in feeding stalls was made. The production data were obtained from Olsson & Svendsen (1997), and were based on studies carried out with "older generation" electronic feeding stalls, housing the animals from weaning to farrowing. Besides the lower housing costs, using ESF also led to a lower intake due to fewer weaned pigs and higher special costs incurred for recruitment. Thus the production costs were 0.48 SEK per kg meat higher for the ESF system than for a system using feeding stalls for dry sows.


The light propagation within an absorbing medium and the reflection and refraction at the interface of two absorbing media are studied. By using the unit vectors denoting the planes of constant field amplitude and constant phase respectively, the light propagation and attenuation are described by the effective refractive indices which depend on both the complex refractive index of the medium and the angle between the unit vectors. With the expression for the light propagation, the corresponding Snell's law and the expression of Fresnel coefficients are obtained, which can be applied to describe the reflection-refraction event at the interface between an arbitrary combination of transparent and absorbing media.


This article studies the role of judgment devices in the emergence of markets for singularities. In particular, it seeks to understand how specific judgment devices become dominant in resolving uncertainty within these markets. Building on Karpik's seminal theory, we argue that institutional environments (e.g. government regulations, political economic factors, the level of informality within business environments) as well as the level of expertise of consumers, co-determine which devices come to be used in new markets. Empirically, we focus on the emerging market for contemporary art in China. While auctions and auction prices are widely used in valuing contemporary art in China, this is highly illegitimate in international art markets. We argue that auctions act as a judgment device in China because of strong government backing, because other validating organizations, such as museums and art critics, are seen as untrustworthy, and because auctions send strong, easily interpretable signals to novice collectors.


In 2008, Vale, the Brazilian mining giant signaled a significant transformation in the dry bulk shipping industry. The firm ordered the biggest vessels, ever constructed, called the Valemaxes (400,000 tons deadweight) to transport its iron ore from Brazil to China. The destination between these countries is far and in comparison with the company's big Australian competitor costlier. Vale needed to cut its transportation cost and one solution was the economies of scale in ship size. Constructing bigger vessels with twice the transporting capacity of the traditionally chartered Capesize vessels can provide significant cost reduction. This strategy raised fears of monopolistic attempts over this route resulting in a ban by the Chinese authorities leading to Vale's shipping cost increase. This paper, analyzes the operational and economic aspects of the fleet of Valemaxes and attempts to find out the formation of the transportation cost after the imposition of the unexpected ban.


Hepatitis E virus nanoparticle (HEVNP) is an orally stable, mucosa-penetrating delivery platform for noninvasive, targeted delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents. HEVNP does not carry HEV genomic RNA and is incapable of replication. The key characteristics that make HEVNP an ideal and unique vehicle for diagnostic and therapeutic delivery include surface plasticity, resistance to the harsh environ-ment of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, significant payload capacity, platform sustainability, and safety. Furthermore, HEVNP is easily produced using currently available expression/purification technologies; can be easily formulated as a liquid, powder, or solid; and can be distributed (and stored) without the need for a temperature-controlled supply chain.


The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss the performance and stability of a tailless micro aerial vehicle
with flexible articulated wings. The dihedral angles can be varied symmetrically on both wings to control the aircraft
speed independently of the angle of attack and flight-path angle, while an asymmetric dihedral setting can be used to
control yaw in the absence of a vertical tail.Anonlinear aero-elastic model is derived, and it is used to study the steady-state performance and flight stability of the micro aerial vehicle. The concept of the effective dihedral is introduced, which allows for a unified treatment of rigid and flexible wing aircraft. It also identifies the amount of elasticity that is necessary to obtain tangible performance benefits over a rigid wing. The feasibility of using axial tension to stiffen the wing is discussed, and, at least in the context of a linear model, it is shown that adding axial tension is effective but undesirable. The turning performance of an micro aerial vehicle with flexible wings is compared to an otherwise identical micro aerial vehicle with rigid wings. The wing dihedral alone can be varied asymmetrically to perform rapid turns and regulate sideslip. The maximum attainable turn rate for a given elevator setting, however, does not increase unless antisymmetric wing twisting is employed.


Sea ice features a dense inner pack ice zone surrounded by a marginal ice zone (MIZ) in which the sea ice properties are modified by interaction with the ice-free open ocean. The width of the MIZ is a fundamental length scale for polar physical and biological dynamics. Several different criteria for establishing MIZ boundaries have emerged in the literature—wave penetration, floe size, sea ice concentration, etc.—and a variety of definitions for the width between the MIZ boundaries have been published. Here, three desirable mathematical properties for defining MIZ width are proposed: invariance with respect to translation and rotation on the sphere; uniqueness at every point in theMIZ; and generality, including nonconvex shapes. The previously published streamline definition is shown to satisfy all three properties, wherewidth is defined as the arc length of a streamline through the solution to Laplaces's equation within theMIZ boundaries, while other published definitions each satisfy only one of the desired properties.When definingMIZ spatial averagewidth from streamline results, the rationale for averaging with respect to distance along both MIZ boundaries was left implicit in prior studies. Here it is made rigorous by developing and applying the mathematics of an analytically tractable idealization of MIZ geometry—the eccentric annulus. Finally, satellite-retrieved Arctic sea ice concentrations are used to investigate how well streamline-based MIZ spatial average width is approximated by alternative definitions that lack desirable mathematical properties or local width values but offer computational efficiency.


The human genes for growth hormone (GH), chorionic somatomammotropin (CSH), and a third growth hormone-like gene (GHL) have been located on chromosome 17 in humans. DNA fragments of 2.6, 2.8, and 9.5 kilobase pairs containing GH, CSH, and GHL, respectively, were identified in human genomic DNA, and a 7.5-kilobase DNA fragment related to growth hormone DNA sequences was found in mouse cells. In somatic hybrids of human and mouse cells containing reduced numbers of human chromosomes, but a normal complement of mouse chromosomes, the mouse, 7.5-kolobase DNA fragment was always present, whereas the 2.6-, 2.8-, and 9.5-kilobase human fragments were present only when human chromosome 17 was also present.


Riparian zones are vegetated strips of land located on each side of a watercourse or adjacent to a stationary water body. Ideally, the attributes of a riparian zone should include among others uninterrupted continuum of vegetation cover, appropriate vegetation structure and lateral width where ecological, social and economic functions should take place. However, despite their significance as urban landscape elements, riparian zones are facing pollution, encroachment and degradation from urban land uses in Nairobi River Basin. This is a result of improper determination, use and management. The implications of this stated problem include failure to filter polluted surface run-off, riverbank erosion, increased incidences of flooding and soil erosion, and death of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems that depend on riparian vegetation for survival. The cost of this problem to Kenya as a nation is monumental. The main objective of this study was to assess factors that affect the determination, use and management of riparian zones in Nairobi River Basin. The study sought to answer the question of whether the policy and institutional factors, land use and biophysical factors, as well as, professional and land users' factors influence conservation of riparian zones in the basin. This was with a view of developing an integrated model of conservation of riparian zones. The study followed a descriptive research design which employed a mixed strategy involving quantitative and qualitative methods. Secondary data was collected using archival method. Primary data collection relied on questionnaires, observations and scheduled interviews as the main methods. The technique of content analysis assisted in grouping qualitative data thematically that was presented in a narrative form. Statistical data were mainly analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS), and summarized in percentages. The data was presented in tables and graphs to provide visual relationships between variables. However, geographical information systems (GIS) spatial techniques were used to examine the physical extent of the zones in relation to adjoining land uses. The study established that weak policy and institutional framework have led to haphazard and incompatible multiple uses of the zones. In particular, planning and development control mechanisms are weak and there are unclear land administration guidelines and procedures to secure the riparian width and vegetation. Land use and biophysical factors are also not taken into account when formulating and implementing policies while professionals and land users have limited or no roles at all in securing riparian zones. As a result, these factors have played a major role in the continued indiscriminate invasion and ecological deterioration of riparian zones in the basin. In conclusion, there is improper determination, use and management of riparian zones in Nairobi River Basin. Therefore, the areas that physically and ecologically fall in these riparian zones are encroached and degraded by urban land uses. The study recommends among others, an integrated model for effective determination, use and management of riparian zones.


Humans prove theorems by relying on substantial high-level reasoning and problem-specific insights. Proof assistants offer a formalism that resembles human mathematical reasoning, representing theorems in higher-order logic and proofs as high-level tactics. However, human experts have to construct proofs manually by entering tactics into the proof assistant. In this paper, we study the problem of using machine learning to automate the interaction with proof assistants. We construct CoqGym, a large-scale dataset and learning environment containing 71K human-written proofs from 123 projects developed with the Coq proof assistant. We develop ASTactic, a deep learning-based model that generates tactics as programs in the form of abstract syntax trees (ASTs). Experiments show that ASTactic trained on CoqGym can generate effective tactics and can be used to prove new theorems not previously provable by automated methods. Code is available at this https URL.


ABSTRACT Although it is still in its formative stages, the idea of inclusionary housing in South Africa's constitu tional con text is inescapable. The typical characteristic of inclusionary housing is that a developer is required or encouraged to dedicate a specified portion of her housing development project to the provision of affordable housing. This raises concerns about the possible violation of developers' property rights because it affects their investment backed expectations regarding future earnings. Since municipalities are the chief agents of the implementation of inclusionary housing, it is important to investigate how they can respond effectively to the property related concerns of developers. This article conducts an overview discussion of the concept of property in South African law, with a special focus on how property regulation can be anchored on the "givings" concept. It then explores the legal mechanisms through which municipalities can pay financial incentives to housing developers to ensure the growth of a housing stock that is geared for affordability as well as social and economic integration. We undertake a critique of the current statutes governing local government financial management and illustrate their inadequacy. It is concluded that inclusionary housing can only succeed in South Africa if legal policy recognises the need for financial payments to developers that go beyond mere compensation for excessive regulation of property rights. Keywords: Property, deprivation, inclusionary housing, incentivisation, future earnings, financial incentives, immaterial interests, givings.


Some find the rise in direct democracy to be a clear and present danger to the interests of minority groups when ballot measures curtail minority group rights. In the past, at-large election schemes have diluted minority voting strength; initiatives, which are really "'at-large elections' on issues instead of candidates" can have the same effect. There is an argument that ballot propositions serve their function well, allowing the people to express their will through direct democracy, in a way that finds each voter on the winning side of many initiative campaigns. The argument is based on the rationale that the varied factions and special interests of society would prevent a majority from coming to agreement on any law that would be unjust or would not promote the general welfare. The outcome is different in the category of initiatives that directly target minorities. Given that such initiatives generally involve curtailing, rather than expanding, minority rights, it is not surprising that with most of these initiatives, the losing side was the one that the majority of minority voters selected. Goodman points out that even blocks as large as the voting majority in the state of California can perceive that it is in their interest to infringe on the rights of minorities as they did with the anti-affirmative action Proposition 209 in 1996 and the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 in 2008. When research on voting patterns is extended beyond the state of California, one finds that initiatives restricting civil rights are approved by voters at a much greater rate than initiatives generally. In Part II of this article, Goodman begins with a brief explanation of the history and justifications for direct democracy and then addresses challenges and critiques of this method of legislating. She then analyzes social science literature to promulgate a list of six "persuasion factors" that operate in ballot campaigns to influence voter decision-making. In Part III Goodman analyzes the print, internet, and audio-visual advertisements for the anti-affirmative action ballot measures in the 2008 election cycle, evaluating how the media campaigns made use of the persuasion factors to influence election outcomes. Part IV proposes solutions for lessening the impact of media bias and persuasion "tricks", to provide voters with more accurate information about the ballot measures that they face in each election.


Nowadays, Pakistan faces sever environmental problems in spite of existing laws willing to defend the sustainable environment. In today's environmental crisis, print media has a unique role to play among various stakeholders which consists of policy makers, Government, NGO's and the public at large level. No one can deny from the role of print media as a source of information about education for millions of readers. There are many newspapers such as national Urdu, English and regional published daily in Pakistan. In Pakistan, media is also divided language with series of media in vernacular languages including Sindhi, Punjabi and Pashto. In this research, the content analysis of three newspapers Daily Dawn, Daily Jang and Daily Kawish was done of 2016, year to check the Length and Frequency of five major environmental issues Water Crisis, Agriculture Crisis, Pollution, Climate change and Deforestation. The data of following issues were analyzed by using tabulations month wise and finally year wise. English newspaper Dawn has given more coverage to these concerned issues, while secondly Urdu Jang newspaper has given coverage and Kawish has covered less number of stories regarding five major environmental issues.


We employed a parametric version of the comparison Stroop paradigm to investigate the processing of numerical magnitude and physical size under task-relevant and -irrelevant conditions to investigate two theoretical issues: (1) What is the neural fate of task-irrelevant information? (2) What is the neural basis of the resolution of the conflict between task-relevant and -irrelevant information? We show in 18 healthy adults that numerical magnitudes of numbers call for higher processing requirements than physical sizes. The enhanced activation elicited by numerical magnitudes is not modulated by task relevance, indicating autonomous processing. Moreover, the normal behavioral distance effect when the numerical dimension is task relevant and reversed distance effect when it is not show that autonomous processing fully encodes numerical magnitudes. Conflict trials elicited greater activation in bilateral inferior frontal gyri, right middle frontal gyri, and right superior frontal gyri. We postulate two sources to the conflict, namely, at cognitive and response levels.


Background: Between May 2017 and May 2019, 18 Salmonella outbreaks in Canada were linked to raw chicken, resulting in the recall of 13 chicken products. Most of these products contained frozen raw breaded chicken, such as chicken nuggets, chicken fries, and breaded chicken burgers. (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2019) These products are especially risky for consumers because they may appear precooked, resulting in inadequate food safety measures being taken. (Catford, Ganz, & Tamber, 2017). Due to this concern, as of April 1, 2019, all frozen raw breaded chicken product manufacturers are required to follow one of four Salmonella control measures set out by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The simplest option for processors is to precook their products to destroy Salmonella bacteria and produce a ready-to-eat product. (Government of Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, & Food Safety and Consumer Protection Directorate, 2019a) Methods: Data was collected from all frozen chicken products available at 14 retail locations in Metro Vancouver that were randomly selected in previous studies carried out in 2018 and 2019 by the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) students. The processing status of the products surveyed in this study (n=466) was compared to those collected in the previous studies done in 2018 and 2019, respectively (n=383; n=415). Other information collected included whether product packaging contained statements of internal temperature, requirements for thermometer use, and additional food safety instructions. Data on these parameters collected in the current study (n=466) were compared to similar data collected in 2008 (n=24) and in 2018 (n=67). Photos were taken of all product labels and relevant data from the photos was compiled in Microsoft Excel. Statistical analyses were done using chi-square tests performed using NCSS 2019 software. Results: The proportion of surveyed frozen chicken products that were cooked as opposed to raw increased from 38% in 2018 to 41% in 2019 to 69% in 2020. The proportion of products containing statements regarding required internal temperatures increased from 58% in 2008 to 96% in 2018 and then decreased to 86% in 2020. 0%, 4.5%, and 1.7% of products surveyed in 2008, 2018, and 2020, respectively, included an indication to use a food thermometer. 79%, 57%, and 25% of products surveyed in the same years included additional food safety statements. Conclusions: This study showed that the ratio of cooked to uncooked frozen chicken products available to consumers in the Metro Vancouver area has increased since the CFIA's Salmonella control measure requirements for frozen breaded chicken manufacturers were implemented in 2019. The 28% and 26% increase since 2018 and 2019, respectively, suggests that many frozen chicken product manufacturers are complying with the CFIA requirements by using a validated cook process to reduce Salmonella in their products. This study also showed that, since 2019, there has been a significant decline in the proportion of frozen chicken products that contain information about internal cooking temperatures and additional food safety information on their packaging.


Lava flows pose a risk to infrastructure and communities near many volcanoes. Although the emplacement processes of low-viscosity basaltic lava flows are relatively well studied, the infrequency of silicic eruptions has limited our understanding of the emplacement of high-viscosity rhyolitic lavas. The 2011-2012 eruption of Puyehue-Cordon Caulle in southern Chile provided a unique opportunity to make scientific observations of an active rhyolitic lava flow. The thesis utilises a multiscale approach to draw comparisons between the emplacement of mafic and silicic lavas by building on the established understanding of basaltic flows. The thesis demonstrates the similarities and differences in the emplacement of cooling-limited lavas at contrasting ends of the compositional spectrum. Observations and quantitative models of lava flow lengthening demonstrate that advance of the Cordon Caulle lava flow was controlled in its latter phases by a cooled surface crust, which suggests similarities to the rheological control of cooling-limited basaltic lava flows. Cessation in flow advance was followed by breakout formation, the first such observations in a rhyolitic lava flow. Breakout formation was triggered by a pressure build-up at the flow margins, due to continued supply of lava along preferential thermal pathways, as well as late stage vesiculation of the flow core. The breakouts developed a morphological range classified into domed, petaloid, rubbly and cleft-split, which reflect the results of advance and inflation processes. Many silicic lavas show pumice diapirs and crease structures at their surface, but such features were rarely observed at Cordon Caulle. The inferred strong surface crust of the Cordon Caulle lava flow, as well as higher viscosity than other rhyolite lava flows, may have locally impeded upwelling to the lava surface, so favouring breakout formation. Insights gained from Cordon Caulle will aid the interpretation of ancient silicic lava flows, and help anticipate the hazards posed by future eruptions of rhyolitic lava.


The evidence of persistent differentials in the growth and in the labour market performance among regions of Europe calls for a comprehensive analysis of the recent evolution of the position of the more backward area within the European Union. Evolution of regional differentials in GDP per head cannot be understood, according to the point of view expressed in this paper, without a joint analysis of the tendencies at the level of of the two complementary factors in the determination of total product of an area - productivity of the employed population, and the employment rate (employed to total population). Dispersion of income, productivity, and employment rates among the regions belonging to the Objective I area of European regional policies are investigated; an analysis of the evolution of measures of a development gap of these regions with respect to average European standards is considered. In general, it appears that convergence of income and a catch up process, for the regions within the Objective I area, has been taken place, nothwithstanding the evidence of convergence of productivity, by stagnant or declining employment rates reflecting inability ot match labour supply through additional flows of jobs. We have tentatively called this situation of locally improving productivity performance and lack of sufficient capacity of absorption of labour, as one of a neodualistic growth.


Surprise Attack Humans conduct the largest ecological experiment ever by continually moving species between continents. For example, the harlequin ladybird beetle, native to Asia, has become highly invasive in many regions after being introduced for biological control, but we do not understand why this species should so readily outcompete native ladybirds. Vilcinskas et al. (p. 862; see the Perspective by Reynolds) show that harlequin beetles have parasitic microsporidia within their hemolymph, which are fatal to other ladybird beetles that prey on harlequin beetle eggs and larvae. Harlequin beetles thus have an innate advantage over species that are otherwise equivalent in their abilities, but this sort of competitive advantage can be hard to spot. Invasive ladybugs harbor microsporidia that kill nonresistant beetles contributing to the original residents' decline. [Also see Perspective by Reynolds] Invasive species that proliferate after colonizing new habitats have a negative environmental and economic impact. The reason why some species become successful invaders, whereas others, even closely related species, remain noninvasive is often unclear. The harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis, introduced for biological pest control, has become an invader that is outcompeting indigenous ladybird species in many countries. Here, we show that Harmonia carries abundant spores of obligate parasitic microsporidia closely related to Nosema thompsoni. These microsporidia, while not harming the carrier Harmonia, are lethal pathogens for the native ladybird Coccinella septempunctata. We propose that intraguild predation, representing a major selective force among competing ladybird species, causes the infection and ultimate death of native ladybirds when they feed on microsporidia-contaminated Harmonia eggs or larvae.


In this paper, we present an optimal, low-complexity method of transmitting digitally compressed imagery through interference-dominated and frequency-selective fading channels. The proposed method combines a wavelet-based image coder that employs phase scrambling and variable quality-of-service (VQoS) channel-optimized trellis-coded quantization (COTCQ), and VQoS multicarrier (MC) power allocation across the channel. Optimal image quality is achieved through a joint iterative process between the image coder and MC allocation algorithm. Using our VQoS allocation method, we show that the image quality can be improved significantly, as compared to an approach that uses a fixed QoS allocation across the channel. Further, this improvement extends to a variety of channels, including those that exhibit jamming interference and frequency-selective fading. The method is also shown to be computationally efficient.


This study analyzes different strategies of plasma actuation of premixed swirl flames at pressures up to 3 bar. A wide range of applied voltages and pulse repetition frequencies (PRF) is considered, resulting in different combinations of nanosecond repetitively pulsed (NRP) discharge regimes, NRP glow and NRP spark discharges. Electrical characterization of the discharges is performed, measuring voltage and current, and deposited energy and power are evaluated. The effectiveness of the plasma actuation is assessed through images of OH* chemiluminescence from the flame. From these images, the distance of the center of gravity of the flame to the burner plate is evaluated, with and without plasma actuation. The results show that strategies which involve a high percentage of NRP sparks are effective at improving flame anchoring at atmospheric pressure, while they are detrimental at higher pressures. Therefore, high applied voltage and low PRF are preferable at atmospheric pressure, while the opposite is observed at elevated pressures. Moreover, it is found that a ratio of plasma power to thermal power of the flame around 1% is the best compromise between a strong actuation of the flame and a reasonable deposited electrical power. Explanations for these results are proposed.


The transport of particles in magnetically confined plasmas is of great importance for the development of fusion energy. It will determine techniques for fuelling, for controlling impurity concentrations and for the removal of the alpha particles produced by fusion reactions. The issues related to particle transport have received, until relatively recently, less attention than those regarding heat transport. Besides the greater experimental difficulty of measuring particle transport, this may explain why our understanding of this subject is still incomplete. The aim of this thesis is to document and tentatively interpret the experimental density profile behaviour in the TCV (Tokamak a Configuration Variable) and JET (Joint European Torus) tokamaks in the framework of different theoretical and semi-empirical models. The TCV tokamak is well suited to transport studies due to its extreme shaping capability, which allows the exploration of a wide range of different plasma conditions. This versatility is matched by the powerful and flexible electron cyclotron heating (ECH) system on TCV, which allows a control of the local power deposition profiles and current drive profiles. A study of particle transport on the JET tokamak has allowed us to compare the results of TCV to those of a much larger device and supplement the TCV study with the analysis in reactor relevant high confinement regime (H-mode). The experimental information was compiled into a database of density profiles in steady state, containing nearly 1000 samples for TCV and 600 samples for JET. The data analyzed covered a wide range of discharge conditions, including low confinement regime (L-mode) and H-mode discharges, ECH, ICH (ion cyclotron heating), LHCD (low hybrid), beam heated plasmas and include fully current drive discharges. The most relevant parameters which influence the density profiles were determined by regression. A detailed analysis of the particle sources showed that edge fuelling in TCV and JET cannot be responsible for density gradient in the plasma bulk, confirming the presence of particle convection or a 'pinch'. The existence of an anomalous pinch was unambiguously demonstrated both on JET and on TCV by the observation of peaked density profiles in stationary, fully relaxed, fully current driven discharges and hence in the absence of the neoclassical Ware pinch. An unexpected difference in the parameter dependencies was found in L-and H-modes. In TCV and JET, density gradient lengths (or profile peaking parameters) in L-mode were found to depend on magnetic shear with no dependence on collisionality. This lack of collisionality dependence in L- mode is inconsistent with current theoretical models. H-mode density profiles in JET, on the other hand, are clearly dependent on collisionality in agreement with theory and a prior observation on ASDEX-Upgrade, while exhibiting only a weak or no dependence on shear and temperature profiles. It was found that for TCV and JET, L mode density peaking can be interpreted as being due to turbulent equipartition, which assumes conservation of the magnetic moment and the longitudinal invariant during transport. The observation of a reduction of peaking in TCV with ECH supports drift wave turbulence theory, which predicts the appearance of outward particle convection, when trapped electron modes are destabilized. In JET H-mode, the weak secondary correlation of peaking with the electron-ion temperature ratio Te/Ti, may also be considered, at least quantitatively, as being supportive of drift wave turbulence theory.


The concept of a quasihomogeneous source is introduced. Unlike a source that is strictly homogeneous in its statistical properties, a quasihomogeneous source may be finite. Many physical sources, both primary and secondary ones, are adequately approximated by this model. Coherence and radiometric properties of light generated by such sources (assumed, for simplicity, to be planar) are discussed and an important reciprocity relation is shown to exist between light in the far zone and in the source plane. This relation implies that the degree of coherence in the far zone is given by the classic form of the van Cittert-Zernike theorem, even though the source may have a high degree of spatial coherence over arbitrarily large areas. The reciprocity relation also provides a generalization of a recently derived result that expresses the angular dependence of the radiant intensity in terms of the degree of spatial coherence of light in the source plane. The dependence of all the basic radiometric quantities on the distribution of the optical intensity across the source and on the degree of spatial coherence of the light emerging from the source is discussed and is illustrated, for some typical sources, by computed curves.


We introduce two corpora gathered on the web and related to computer-mediated communication: blog posts and blog comments. In order to build such corpora, we addressed following issues: website discovery and crawling, content extraction constraints, and text quality assessment. The blogs were manually classified as to their license and content type. Our results show that it is possible to find blogs in German under Creative Commons license, and that it is possible to perform text extraction and linguistic annotation efficiently enough to allow for a comparison with more traditional text types such as newspaper corpora and subtitles. The comparison gives insights on distributional properties of the processed web texts on token and type level. For example, quantitative analysis reveals that blog posts are close to written language, while comments are slightly closer to spoken language.


This paper offers a first empirical investigation of how labor taxation (income and payroll taxes) affects individuals' well-being. For identification, we exploit exogenous variation in tax rules over time and across demographic groups using 26 years of German panel data. We find that the tax effect on subjective well-being is significant and positive when controlling for income net of taxes. This interesting result is robust to numerous specification checks. It is consistent with several possible channels through which taxes affect welfare including public goods, insurance, redistributive taste and tax morale. JEL Classification: H21, H41, I38


The latest World Bank estimates of real GDP per capita for China are significantly lower than previous ones. We review possible sources of this puzzle and conclude that it reflects a combination of factors, including substitution bias in consumption, reliance on urban prices which we estimate are higher than rural ones, and the use of an expenditure-weighted rather than an output-weighted measure of GDP. Taking all these together, we estimate that real per-capita GDP in China was 50% higher relative to the U.S. in 2005 than the World Bank estimates.


Objective. To test the hypothesis that the decision to use epidural analgesia during labor is influenced not only by the woman and her background but also by the local cultural practice in the delivery unit. Design. Population‐based cohort study. Setting. All delivery units in Sweden. Population. A nationwide sample of 2,529 women. Methods. Data were collected by questionnaires in early pregnancy and two months after birth, and from the Swedish Medical Birth Register. Logistic regression analysis was conducted, adjusted for gestational age, induction of labor and infant birthweight. Main outcome measures. Epidural analgesia during labor. Results. The odds of having an epidural analgesia were more than twice as high in the Stockholm region (odds ratio (OR) 2.4; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7–3.4) and three times higher in middle‐north Sweden (OR 3.0; 95% CI 1.7–5.3) compared with the south of Sweden. Of the maternal factors, nulliparity was the strongest predictor (OR 6.3; 95% CI 5.1–7.9), followed by a prenatal belief that epidural analgesia would be needed (OR 3.5; 95% CI 2.8–4.4). Conclusion. The hypothesis of the study was confirmed. The woman and her background as well as the local cultural practice in the delivery unit matter with regard to the use of epidural analgesia.


Canine leproid granuloma (CLG) is a mycobacterial cutaneous disease characterised by the presence of nodular skin lesions most commonly affecting the head and the dorsal aspect of the pinna (Malik and others 1998, Conceicao and others 2011, Smits and others 2012). Affected dogs appear otherwise healthy, and in the majority of cases the lesions tend to heal spontaneously over the course of weeks to months (Malik and others 1998). CLG has a wide distribution and was first reported in Africa (Zimbabwe) in 1973. Since then, all published cases of CLG have originated in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil or the USA (Malik and others 1998, Foley and others 2002, Conceicao and others 2011, Smits and others 2012). To date, no case of this disease has been reported in Europe.

The mycobacterium responsible for CLG has not yet been isolated, but molecular investigations based either on 500 bp of the 16S rRNA gene (Hughes and others 2000) or on the ITS1 region (Fyfe and others 2008) identified a mycobacterial species closely related to members of the Mycobacterium simiae clade in nodular skin lesions of dogs. This paper describes the clinical features of the first reported case of CLG in Europe (to our knowledge), and the molecular investigation of the aetiological agent.

A three-year-old female German shorthaired pointer was presented to the dermatology service of the Internal Medicine Department at the University of Sassari for the evaluation of a skin nodule affecting the dorsal area of the right pinna. The skin lesion was previously treated with a topical therapy containing 1 per cent gentamycin (Gentalyn cream; Schering Plough Spa, Milan, Italy) with no signs of improvement. The dog was housed with three other dogs and lived outside all year, received regular vaccination and treatment for parasites. The owner …


1 Once neglected, the role of facilitative interactions in plant communities has received considerable attention in the last two decades, and is now widely recognized. It is timely to consider the progress made by research in this field. 2 We review the development of plant facilitation research, focusing on the history of the field, the relationship between plant–plant interactions and environmental severity gradients, and attempts to integrate facilitation into mainstream ecological theory. We then consider future directions for facilitation research. 3 With respect to our fundamental understanding of plant facilitation, clarification of the relationship between interactions and environmental gradients is central for further progress, and necessitates the design and implementation of experiments that move beyond the clear limitations of previous studies. 4 There is substantial scope for exploring indirect facilitative effects in plant communities, including their impacts on diversity and evolution, and future studies should connect the degree of non‐transitivity in plant competitive networks to community diversity and facilitative promotion of species coexistence, and explore how the role of indirect facilitation varies with environmental severity. 5 Certain ecological modelling approaches (e.g. individual‐based modelling), although thus far largely neglected, provide highly useful tools for exploring these fundamental processes. 6 Evolutionary responses might result from facilitative interactions, and consideration of facilitation might lead to re‐assessment of the evolution of plant growth forms. 7 Improved understanding of facilitation processes has direct relevance for the development of tools for ecosystem restoration, and for improving our understanding of the response of plant species and communities to environmental change drivers. 8 Attempts to apply our developing ecological knowledge would benefit from explicit recognition of the potential role of facilitative plant–plant interactions in the design and interpretation of studies from the fields of restoration and global change ecology. 9 Synthesis: Plant facilitation research provides new insights into classic ecological theory and pressing environmental issues. Awareness and understanding of facilitation should be part of the basic ecological knowledge of all plant ecologists.


In evaluating the performance of detectors such as the orthogonal subspace projection (OSP) detector, it is often assumed that the model under which the detector is constructed is the correct model. However, in practice, the ability to identify all background endmembers might be limited. Consequently, the OSP detector would use only a subset of all background endmembers. In this paper, we consider consequences of using such incomplete information. To this end, we contrast between two detectors, one that uses all endmembers and another one that uses only some endmembers. The remaining endmembers might be unknown or deliberately discarded if we believe that this would improve the detector performance. We provide formulas for detection power of the two detectors. We also calculate their relative efficiency, which is a useful tool for comparison of detectors without directly calculating the detection power. We then show some theorems that help us in understanding relationships between the power detection of the two detectors. We also provide numerical results demonstrating the consequences of our theorems in specific scenarios. We show when the detector using more information is more powerful, but we also show examples of the opposite to be true. Practical consequences of using a given number of endmembers in the OSP detector are evaluated using an AVIRIS hyperspectral image. The results show that using too many endmembers is not beneficial for the OSP detector, and the optimal number of endmembers to be used depends on the size of the target and the desired false alarm level.


Based on work spanning a decade, this study of the Maquipucuna area-on the western slopes of the Andes discusses the climate, vegetation, ecological relationships, and flora, and emphasizes the importance of the Maquipucuna area as a biological reserve. In addition to the checklist of the flora, which enumerates 1,650 species (including 228 species of pteridophytes and over 200 species of orchids), appendices give information on floristic composition of communities, distribution of epiphytes, and elevational ranges of families and genera. The illustrations include a map, landscapes, and characteristic species.


This paper proposes a method for estimating eccentricity that corresponds to an incident angle to a fovea sensor. The proposed method uses Fourier-Mellin Invariant descriptor to estimate rotation, scale, and translation, by taking both geometrical distortion and non-uniform resolution of a space-variant image from the fovea sensor into account. The following 2 points are focused in this paper. One is to use multi-resolution images by Discrete Wavelet Transform for reducing noise caused by foveation properly. Another is to use a variable window function (although the window function is generally used for reducing DFT leakage caused by both ends of a signal) for changing an effective field of view (FOV) in order not to sacrifice high accuracy. The simulation compares the root mean square (RMS) of the foveation noise between uniform and non-uniform resolutions, when a resolution level and a FOV level are changed, respectively. The result shows the proposed method is suitable for the wide-angle space-variant image by the fovea sensor, and, moreover, it does not sacrifice high accuracy in the central FOV. Another simulation result examines a reliable resolution level.


We present a Gaussian Mixture model for detecting different types of figurative language in context. We show that this model performs well when the parameters are estimated in an unsupervised fashion using EM. Performance can be improved further by estimating the parameters from a small annotated data set.


High throughput instruments and analysis techniques are required in order to make good use of the genomic sequences that have recently become available for many species, including humans. These instruments and methods must work with tens of thousands of genes simultaneously, and must be able to identify the small subsets of those genes that are implicated in the observed phenotypes, or, for instance, in responses to therapies. Microarrays represent one such high throughput method, which continue to find increasingly broad application. This project has improved microarray technology in several important areas. First, we developed the hyperspectral scanner, which has discovered and diagnosed numerous flaws in techniques broadly employed by microarray researchers. Second, we used a series of statistically designed experiments to identify and correct errors in our microarray data to dramatically improve the accuracy, precision, and repeatability of the microarray gene expression data. Third, our research developed new informatics techniques to identify genes with significantly different expression levels. Finally, natural language processing techniques were applied to improve our ability to make use of online literature annotating the important genes. In combination, this research has improved the reliability and precision of laboratory methods and instruments, while also enabling substantially faster analysis and discovery.


Advances in the semantic web allow indigenous peoples to seek a greater voice on the Internet that reflects how they structure their knowledge of landscape. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – computerized mapping and spatial databases – is used to develop a culturally protected area for the Cree in northern Quebec, Canada. We first characterize GIS and then describe several GIS applications, many of which related to epistemologies and ontologies of the land. We focus on one specific application: geospatial ontologies for hydrography. We found that GIS could store and organize landscape related language and this storing and organizing allowed for mapping and modeling information. GIS was useful for ontology representation, but its utility depended on the stage of ontology development.


We study the history of terms-of-trade booms (during 1970–2012), with a focus on Latin America, through the prisms of a simple metric that quantifies the associated income windfall. We also document saving patterns during these episodes and propose a measure of how much of the income windfall was saved. We find that Latin America's terms-of-trade shocks of the last decade have not differed much in magnitude from those observed during the 1970s, but that the associated windfall have been substantially larger. While aggregate saving increased more than in past episodes, the share of the windfall saved (the marginal saving rate) seems to be lower, suggesting that greater aggregate saving reflects mainly the sheer size of the windfall rather than a greater 'effort' to save it. Finally, we find evidence that, while savings during the boom help to increase post-boom income, the composition of such savings matters. Specifically, in past episodes, savings allocated to foreign asset accumulation appear to have contributed more to post-boom income than those devoted to domestic investment.


Abstract Nonresponse rates have been growing over time leading to concerns about survey data quality. Adaptive designs seek to allocate scarce resources by targeting specific subsets of sampled units for additional effort or a different recruitment protocol. In order to be effective in reducing nonresponse, the identified subsets of the sample need two key features: 1) their probabilities of response can be impacted by changing design features, and 2) once they have responded, this can have an impact on estimates after adjustment. The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is investigating the use of adaptive design techniques in the Crops Acreage, Production, and Stocks Survey (Crops APS). The Crops APS is a survey of establishments which vary in size and, hence, in their potential impact on estimates. In order to identify subgroups for targeted designs, we conducted a simulation study that used Census of Agriculture (COA) data as proxies for similar survey items. Different patterns of nonresponse were simulated to identify subgroups that may reduce estimated nonresponse bias when their response propensities are changed.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Heterostyly is a floral polymorphism that has fascinated evolutionary biologists since Darwin's seminal studies on primroses. The main morphological characteristic of heterostyly is the reciprocal placement of anthers and stigmas in two distinct (distyly) floral morphs. Variation in the degree of intermorph sexual reciprocity is relatively common and known to affect patterns of pollen transfer within species. However, the partitioning of sexual organ reciprocity within and between closely related species remains unknown. This study aimed at testing whether intermorph sexual reciprocity differs within vs. between primrose species that hybridize in nature and whether the positions of sexual organs are correlated with other floral traits.

METHODS
Six floral traits were measured in both floral morphs of 15 allopatric populations of Primula elatior, P. veris and P. vulgaris, and anther-stigma reciprocity was estimated within and between species. A combination of univariate and multivariate approaches was used to test whether positions of reproductive organs were less reciprocal between than within species, to assess correlations between sexual organ positions and other corolla traits, and to quantify differences between morphs and species.

KEY RESULTS
The three species were morphologically well differentiated in most floral traits, except that P. veris and P. vulgaris did not differ significantly in sexual organ positions. Overall, lower interspecific than intraspecific sexual organ reciprocity was detected. This decrease was marked between P. elatior and P. vulgaris, intermediate and variable between P. elatior and P. veris, but negligible between P. veris and P. vulgaris.

CONCLUSIONS
Differences in anther and stigma heights between the analysed primrose species were of the same magnitude or larger than intraspecific differences that altered pollen flow within other heterostylous systems. Therefore, it is possible to suggest that considerable reductions of sexual organ reciprocity between species may lower interspecific pollen flow, with potential effects on reproductive isolation.


Background Ethanol, a commonly available agent, has been used to successfully ablate cystic and solid lesions in the pancreas. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of an ethanol injection into the porcine pancreas and observe the time-dependent image changes in the pancreatic parenchyma. Methods Pure ethanol was injected into the pancreatic tail using a 25-gauge EUS needle with direct ultrasound guidance under celiotomy: 1 mL and 2 mL were injected, respectively. The abdomen was closed after the injection. MRI was performed before the procedure, immediately after, and on postoperative day (POD) seven. Blood samples were taken before the procedure and on PODs one, three, five, and seven. The pigs were euthanised on POD seven. Results Immediately after the injection, linear high signal areas in the pancreatic tail on T2 and rounded speckled high signal areas on DWI images were detected in both animals, measuring 35 × 32 mm in the 1 mL injected pig and 42 × 38mm in the 2 mL injected pig. After POD seven, rounded high signal areas were noted on T2 images, measuring 22 × 18 mm and 36 × 28 mm respectively. On POD one, the 1 mL injected animal had a 53% elevation in serum amylase while the 2 mL injected animal had a 66% elevation. Histologically, cystic and necrotic changes in the parenchyma were observed, measuring 23 × 22 mm and 40 × 35 mm respectively. Conclusions Our results, which are limited to normal pancreas, suggested that a 1 mL injection caused localised changes within the pancreas while a 2 mL injection induced more widespread changes beyond the pancreas. The effective area of ethanol was widespread immediately after injection, and then the area was reduced with cystic and necrosis changes.


The understanding of the fundamental geometric and electronic properties of metal-organic hybrid interfaces is a key issue on the way to improving the performance of organic electronic and spintronic devices. Here, we studied the adsorption heights of copper-II-phthalocyanine (CuPc) and 3,4,9,10-perylene-tetracarboxylic-dianhydride (PTCDA) on a ${\mathrm{Pb}}_{1}{\mathrm{Ag}}_{2}$ surface alloy on Ag(111) using the normal-incidence x-ray standing waves technique. We find a significantly larger adsorption height of both molecules on the Pb-Ag surface alloy compared to the bare Ag(111) surface which is caused by the larger size of Pb. This increased adsorption height suppresses the partial chemical interaction of both molecules with Ag surface atoms. Instead, CuPc and PTCDA molecules bond only to the Pb atoms with different interaction strength ranging from a van der Waals--like interaction for CuPc to a weak chemical interaction with additional local bonds for PTCDA. The different adsorption heights for CuPc and PTCDA on ${\mathrm{Pb}}_{1}{\mathrm{Ag}}_{2}$ are the result of local site-specific molecule-surface bonds mediated by functional molecular groups and the different charge donating and accepting character of CuPc and PTCDA.


- Introduction

There is limited understanding of how young adults' driving behaviour varies according to long-term substance involvement. It is possible that regular users of amphetamine-type stimulants (i.e. ecstasy (MDMA) and methamphetamine) may have a greater predisposition to engage in drink/drug driving compared to non-users. We compare offence rates, and self-reported drink/drug driving rates, for stimulant users and non-users in Queensland, and examine contributing factors. - Methods

The Natural History Study of Drug Use is a prospective longitudinal study using population screening to recruit a probabilistic sample of amphetamine-type stimulant users and non-users aged 19-23 years. At the 4 ½ year follow-up, consent was obtained to extract data from participants' Queensland driver records (ATS users: n=217, non-users: n=135). Prediction models were developed of offence rates in stimulant users controlling for factors such as aggression and delinquency. - Results

Stimulant users were more likely than non-users to have had a drink-driving offence (8.7% vs. 0.8%, p < 0.001). Further, about 26% of ATS users and 14% of non-users self-reported driving under the influence of alcohol during the last 12 months. Among stimulant users, drink-driving was independently associated with last month high-volume alcohol consumption (Incident Rate Ratio (IRR): 5.70, 95% CI: 2.24-14.52), depression (IRR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.07-1.52), low income (IRR: 3.57, 95% CI: 1.12-11.38), and male gender (IRR: 5.40, 95% CI: 2.05-14.21). - Conclusions

Amphetamine-type stimulant use is associated with increased long-term risk of drink-driving, due to a number of behavioural and social factors. Inter-sectoral approaches which target long-term behaviours may reduce offending rates.


Objective To investigate the clinical factors influencing the treatment efficacy of microsurgery on patients with cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). Methods One hundred and eleven patients,admitted to our hospitals from January 1,2003 to December 31,2009 and underwent microsurgical cerebral AVMs resection were chosen in our study; their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed.The functional neurological status was classified with modified Rankin scale 7 d and 6 months after surgery. Binary logistic regression models were applied to test the effect of patient gender, age,intra-cerebral hemorrhage,and the size,deep venous drainage pattern and location of AVMs on long-term and short-term treatment efficacy. Results Twenty-nine patients (26.1%) showed new neurological deficits 7 d after the surgery.Univariate analysis and multivariate analysis demonstrated that deep venous drainage, eloquent location and large size of AVMs, high Spetzler-Martin grading aneurysms and no intra-cerebral hemorrhage were significantly associated with new early neurological deficits (P<0.05),while gender and age of the patients had no significant association with new early neurological deficits (P>0.05).The scores of neurological status scale in patients with Spetzler-Martin grading Ⅰ,Ⅱ and Ⅲ were significantly different between 7 d and 6 months after the surgery (P<0.05). Conclusion AVMs patients having deep venous drainage,eloquent location and large size of AVMs,and having aneurysm and intra-cerebral hemorrhage may be the risk factors of new early neurological deficit after microsurgical resection; analyzing the Spetzler-Martin grading before surgery can help to determine the treatment options.

Key words:
Arteriovenous malformation; Microsurgery; Neurological deficit; Risk factor


"By the end of the 1970s, the Bangladesh seafood processing industry had expanded rapidly. But sanitary facilities, technology adaptation, and adequate training did not keep pace. Shrimp exports suffered in the late 1970s, and the U. S. Food and Drug Administration placed seafood imports from Bangladesh under automatic detention. This was only the beginning of the export market problems arising from substandard product safety and quality that Bangladesh's shrimp industry faced over the next two decades. This case study illustrates the actions taken by Bangladesh, with the aid of external partners, to overcome substantial obstacles to participation in world shrimp markets." from Text


This thesis is based on studies in which the suitability of various gas chromatography (GC) injection techniques was examined for the determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and carbazoles, two groups of compounds that are thermally labile and/or have high boiling-points. For such substances, it is essential to introduce the samples into the GC system in an appropriate way to avoid degradation and other potential problems. In addition, different types of gas chromatographic column system and mass spectrometric detectors were evaluated for the determination of PBDEs.Conventional injectors, such as splitless, on-column and programmed temperature vaporizing (PTV) injectors were evaluated and optimized for determination of PBDEs. The results show on-column injection to be the best option, providing low discrimination and high precision. The splitless injector is commonly used for "dirty" samples. However, it is not suitable for determination of the high molecular weight congeners, since it tends to discriminate against them and promote their degradation, leading to poor precision and accuracy. The PTV injector appears to be a more suitable alternative. The use of liners reduces problems associated with potential interferents such as polar compounds and lipids and compared to the hot splitless injector, it provides gentler solvent evaporation, due to its temperature programming feature, leading to low discrimination and variance.Increasing the injection volume from the conventional 1-3 µL to >50 µL offers two main benefits. Firstly, the overall detection and quantification limits are decreased, since the entire sample extract can be injected into the GC system. Secondly, large volume injections enable hyphenation of preceding techniques such as liquid chromatography (LC), solid phase extraction and other kinds of extraction. Large-volume injections were utilized and optimized in the studies included in this thesis.With a loop-type injector/interface large sample volumes can be injected on-column providing low risk of discrimination against compounds with low volatility. This injector was used for the determination of PBDEs in air and as an interface for the determination of carbazoles by LC-GC. Peak distortion is a frequently encountered problem associated with this type of injector that was addressed and solved during the work underlying this thesis.The PTV can be used as a large volume injector, in so-called solvent vent mode. This technique was evaluated for the determination of PBDEs and as an interface for coupling dynamic sonication-assisted solvent extraction online to GC. The results show that careful optimization of the injection parameters is required, but also that the PTV is robust and yields reproducible results.PBDEs are commonly detected using mass spectrometry in electron capture negative ionization (ECNI) mode, monitoring bromine ions (m/z 79 and 81). The mass spectrometric properties of the fully brominated diphenyl ether, BDE-209, have been investigated. A high molecular weight fragment at m/z 486/488 enables the use of 13C-labeled BDE-209 as an internal surrogate standard.


In March 1997, Delaware Health and Social Services (DHSS) initiated a services
integration pilot project called "No Wrong Door" (NWD). Through a common screening and
intake process, staff work with clients to identify needs and make appropriate referrals for
services, regardless of the Division in which the services are offered. This process provides
access to services from any point of entry and promotes a holistic approach to addressing the
health and human service needs of Delaware's vulnerable families and individuals. NWD has
been piloted at the Hudson State Service Center in Newark and at the Williams State Service
Center and its satellite site, Carroll's Plaza, in Dover. All Department staff at those locations
participate and new clients (as well as those whose eligibility is being re-determined) who visit
those sites are offered the opportunity to go through the assessment interview and receive
referrals to other services they might need.


The shift of commodity hardware from single- to multi-core processors in the early 2000s compelled software developers to take advantage of the available parallelism of multi-cores. Unfortunately, only few---so-called embarrassingly parallel---applications can leverage this available parallelism in a straightforward manner. The remaining---non-embarrassingly parallel---applications require that their processes coordinate their possibly interleaved executions to ensure overall correctness---they require synchronization. Synchronization is achieved by constraining or even prohibiting parallel execution. Thus, per Amdahl'€™s law, synchronization limits software scalability. In this dissertation, we explore how to minimize the effects of synchronization on software scalability. We show that scalability of synchronization is mainly a property of the underlying hardware. This means that synchronization directly hampers the cross-platform performance portability of concurrent software. Nevertheless, we can achieve portability without sacrificing performance, by creating design patterns and abstractions, which implicitly leverage hardware details without exposing them to software developers. We first perform an exhaustive analysis of the performance behavior of synchronization on several modern platforms. This analysis clearly shows that the performance and scalability of synchronization are highly dependent on the characteristics of the underlying platform. We then focus on lock-based synchronization and analyze the energy/performance trade-offs of various waiting techniques. We show that the performance and the energy efficiency of locks go hand in hand on modern x86 multi-cores. This correlation is again due to the characteristics of the hardware that does not provide practical tools for reducing the power consumption of locks without sacrificing throughput. We then propose two approaches for developing portable and scalable concurrent software, hence hiding the limitations that the underlying multi-cores impose. First, we introduce OPTIK, a new practical design pattern for designing and implementing fast and scalable concurrent data structures. We illustrate the power of our OPTIK pattern by devising five new algorithms and by optimizing four state-of-the-art algorithms for linked lists, skip lists, hash tables, and queues. Second, we introduce MCTOP, a multi-core topology abstraction which includes low-level information, such as memory bandwidths. MCTOP enables developers to accurately and portably define high-level optimization policies. We illustrate several such policies through four examples, including automated backoff schemes for locks, and illustrate the performance and portability of these policies on five platforms.


Introduction In the 1990s a new way of evaluating performance improvement in the business industry was introduced. The balanced scorecard (BSC) emerged as a conceptual framework for organizations to use in translating their strategic objectives into a set of performance indicators. Rather than focusing on operational performance and the use of quantitative financial measures, the BSC approach links the organization's strategy to measurable goals and objectives in four perspectives: financial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth (Niven 2003). The purpose of this article is to evaluate the use of the BSC in the nonprofit sector, specifically at an institution of higher education. Case studies in higher education and personal perspectives are presented, and the opportunities for and challenges of implementing the BSC framework in higher education are discussed. Balanced Scorecard Principles Achievement of equilibrium is at the core of the BSC system. Balance must be attained among factors in three areas of performance measurement: financial and nonfinancial indicators, internal and external constituents, and lag and lead indicators. Equilibrium must also be attained between financial and nonfinancial measures; nonfinancial measures drive the future performance of an organization and are therefore integral to its success. Further, the use of nonfinancial measures allows problems to be identified and resolved early, while they are still manageable (Gumbus 2005). The sometimes contradictory needs of internal constituents (employees and internal processes) and external stakeholders (funders, legislators, and customers) should be equally represented in the scorecard system (Niven 2003). A key function of the BSC is its use as a performance measurement system. The scorecard enables organizations to measure performance through a variety of lead and lag indicators relating to finances, customers, internal processes, and growth and development (Niven 2003). According to Niven (2003), lag indicators are past performance indicators such as revenue or customer satisfaction, whereas lead indicators are "the performance drivers that lead to the achievement of the lag indicators" (p. 23). The BSC's cascading process results in a consistent focus at all levels of the organization. The BSC framework provides tools to assist business organizations in mapping their performance improvement strategies and establishing connections throughout the various levels of the organization. Additionally, the framework identifies cause-and-effect relationships. The strategy map component of the BSC provides a graphical description of the organization's strategy, including the interrelationships of its elements. This map is considered the blueprint for the organizational plan (Lichtenberg 2008). Further, the BSC's cascading process gives the organization a tool for taking the scorecard down to departmental, unit, divisional, or individual measures of performance, resulting in a consistent focus at all levels of the organization. Ideally, these measures of performance at the various levels directly relate to the organizational strategy; if not, the organization is just benchmarking its metrics. The cascading of the scorecard also presents employees with a clear image of how their individual actions make a difference in relation to the organization's strategic objectives. The cascaded scorecard creates alignment among the performance measurement outcomes throughout the various levels of the organization (Lichtenberg 2009). The BSC has evolved into a powerful communications tool and strategic management system for profit-based organizations. Harvard Business Review has recognized the framework as one of the top 75 most influential ideas in the 21st century (Niven 2003). Its successful use in the for-profit arena has been clearly demonstrated, but does it have applicability in the nonprofit sector, specifically in institutions of higher education (IHEs)? …


Global warming occurs when air pollutants collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation, and as much as 80% of global warming is caused by carbon dioxide alone. Many metropolitan cities like Delhi, India have carbon dioxide (CO2) levels 11 times higher than the levels recommended by the World Health Organization. Prior research has mainly concentrated on removing CO2 from sources like automobile exhaust and industry effluents. However, there has been limited research pertaining to the use of hydroxides to reduce CO2 in ambient air. We therefore conducted experiments to identify the most suitable hydroxide in solid form to capture low concentrations of CO2. Furthermore, we explored the possibility of using an electrically-charged drone to reduce CO2 in the air using a solid hydroxide. Our results indicate that sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is most suitable for scrubbing CO2 from air, with up to 90% reduction in carbon dioxide levels under the experimental conditions. Since the troposphere stretches up to 13 km above sea level and military drones can fly up to 18 km above sea level, drone attachments with CO2-absorbing chemicals could potentially clean the air at all levels in the troposphere. Our study provides a possible solution to mitigate the harmful impacts of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere.


Low onion (Allium cepa L.) seed yields frequently occur
without obvious reasons, particularly with hybrid varieties.
Solutions to the problem need to be found to insure
seed for bulb onion production. Water and temperature
stress in the umbel may be factors during hot,
dry, sunny weather. We investigated the relationship of
umbel temperature to ambient and umbel conditions and
the effects of periodic wetting of the umbels. Onions were
grown in a field experiment at Kimberly, Idaho on Portneuf
silt loam sail (Durixerollic Calciorthids; coarse-silty,
mixed, mesic) using commercial practices except that
periodic sprinkling was provided with a rotating-head
sprinkler irrigation system when temperatures exceeded
certain levels. Sprinkling for five min reduced floret
temperatures as much as 15 C below ambient. The florets
remained cool for 20 to 40 min, depending on umbel maturity,
wind speed, and air temperature and humidity.
Nearly mature umbels were hotter and required more
sprinkling to keep cool. Five min of sprinkling every 20
to 30 min usually provided adequate cooling. A specially-designed
temperature sensor was found to successfully
simulate the behavior of an onion floret during wetting
and drying, permitting direct control of the initiation,
duration, and frequency of sprinkling. Excessive temperatures
did not occur during the experiment, so seed yields
were similar on and unsprinkled plots. While
we have shown that periodic sprinkling will provide umbel
cooling and minimize undesirable effects on pollination,
similar studies need to be conducted in hotter, major
seed producing areas to establish economic benefits.


Efficiently utilizing off-chip DRAM bandwidth is a critical issue in designing cost-effective, high-performance chip multiprocessors (CMPs). Conventional memory controllers deliver relatively low performance in part because they often employ fixed, rigid access scheduling policies designed for average-case application behavior. As a result, they cannot learn and optimize the long-term performance impact of their scheduling decisions,and cannot adapt their scheduling policies to dynamic workload behavior.We propose a new, self-optimizing memory controller design that operates using the principles of reinforcement learning (RL)to overcome these limitations. Our RL-based memory controller observes the system state and estimates the long-term performance impact of each action it can take. In this way, the controller learns to optimize its scheduling policy on the fly to maximize long-term performance. Our results show that an RL-based memory controller improves the performance of a set of parallel applications run on a 4-core CMP by 19% on average (upto 33%), and it improves DRAM bandwidth utilization by 22%compared to a state-of-the-art controller.


Seaweeds are able to modify the chemical environment at their surface, in a micro‐zone called the diffusive boundary layer (DBL), via their metabolic processes controlled by light intensity. Depending on the thickness of the DBL, sessile invertebrates such as calcifying bryozoans or tube‐forming polychaetes living on the surface of the blades can be affected by the chemical variations occurring in this microlayer. Especially in the context of ocean acidification (OA), these microhabitats might be considered as a refuge from lower pH, because during the day photosynthesis temporarily raises the pH to values higher than in the mainstream seawater.
We assessed the thickness and the characteristics of the DBL at two pH levels (today's average surface ocean pH 8.1 and a reduced pH predicted for the end of the century, pH 7.7) and seawater flows (slow, 0.5 and fast, >8 cm/s) on Ecklonia radiata (kelp) blades. Oxygen and pH profiles from the blade surface to the mainstream seawater were measured with O2 and pH microsensors for both bare blades and blades colonized by the bryozoan Membranipora membranacea.
The DBL was thicker in slow flow compared with fast flow and the presence of bryozoans increased the DBL thickness and shaped the DBL gradient in dark conditions. Net production was increased in the low pH condition, increasing the amount of oxygen in the DBL in both bare and epiphytized blades. This increase drove the daily pH fluctuations at the blade surface, shifting them towards higher values compared with today's pH. The presence of bryozoans led to lower oxygen concentrations in the DBL and more complex pH fluctuations at the blade surface, particularly at pH 7.7.
Overall, this study, based on microprofiles, shows that, in slow flow, DBL microenvironments at the surface of the kelps may constitute a refuge from OA with pH values higher than those of the mainstream seawater. For calcifying organisms, it could also represent training ground for harsh conditions, with broad daily pH and oxygen fluctuations. These chemical microenvironments, biologically shaped by the macrophytes, are of great interest for the resilience of coastal ecosystems in the context of global change. -- Keywords : Bryozoan ; Ecomechanics ; Epiphytism ; Hydrodynamic ; Microhabitat ; pH ; Seaweed.


: Purpose: A company's relational potential expresses the sum of all relations with the entities in the environment and their combinations used to achieve the company's objectives. This cooperation can be assessed in terms of the relationship's duration, repeatability, degree of maturity, and benefits. The aim of this article is to assess the importance of these features for building and maintaining inter-organizational relations in various forms. Design/Methodology/Approach: This article presents findings from the research conducted using a sample of 66 relations developed by 10 companies operating in different sectors. The correlations between individual pairs of variables were analyzed using chi-square statistics at α = 0.05. The strength of relations was determined using Cramer's V coefficient and Pearson's C (contingency) coefficient. Findings: The research results indicate a significant correlation between the examined relationship characteristics (benefits, duration, maturity, and repeatability). We have shown that the more diverse the company's relational potential is, and the more benefits individual relations provide, the more often the company repeats the relations (co-operates) with external entities. Simultaneously, the most advantageous relations are those maintained for up to one year or over 7 years. Enterprises are most often willing to repeat the relations that have reached the stage of maturity. Practical Implications: The results of this research can help modern companies to plan the duration and repeatability of relationships with selected entities considering the expected benefits and the degree of maturity of the cooperation. Originality/Value: Understanding the correlation between the repeatability of the relationship and its benefits, as well as between the duration of the relationship and its maturity, and linking it to the types (forms) of cooperation with other entities contributes to the current state of knowledge.


This paper deals with Frederik Opperman and his son, Adam, the founding fathers of Oppermansgronde, a rural area for people legally classified ""coloured"", in the south-western Orange Free State, South Africa. Broadly speaking, the term ""coloured"" in South Africa denotes a person of mixed descent. A variety of laws define a socalled ""coloured"" person. Of these, the Population Registration Act (Act 30 of 1950, as amended) is the most fundamental piece of legislation. Oppermansgronde in the Jacobsdal and Fauresmith districts is comprised of six adjacent farms, Droogleegte No. 121, Winkelhaak No. 120, Doomhoek No. 128, Poortjiesdam No. 125, Volstruiskooi No. 279, and Jakkalsput No. 229, and is 34185,91 hectares in extent. The communal occupation rights of the inhabitants are protected in terms of Adam Opperman's will and subsequent legislation. Frederik and Adam's contribution towards the establishment of Oppermansgronde and the later development of a perception of an identity specific to this area is tentatively assessed.


Aerobic organisms require oxygen to produce ATP, the energy unit of the cells. To ensure adequate ATP production, cells developed several different adaptation processes to meet variations in oxygen supply. Central in the molecular adaptation is the hypoxia-inducible factor HIF, a transcription factor that regulates the expression
of several dozens of target genes that are involved in systemic as well as cellular adaptation processes. HIF belongs to the basic helix-loop-helix/Per-ARNT-Sim
(bHLH/PAS) family of transcription factors and is composed of a constantly expressed HIF-b and an oxygen-labile HIF-a subunit [3]. The HIF-a subunit is tightly
regulated by a family of HIF proly-4-hydroxylases (PHDs) that use oxygen as substrate to hydroxylate two prolines in a LxxLAP motif within the HIF-a protein enabling pVHL-mediated E3 ubiquitin ligase binding resulting in HIF-a
ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation [3-5]. There are three major PHD isoforms termed PHD1, PHD2 and PHD3. PHD2 is thought to be the key regulator of HIF-a [6, 7].
In the work presented herein we attempted to find novel PHD2-interacting proteins.
Using yeast 2-hybrid methodology, we discovered three novel PHD2 interactors:
helicase with zinc finger domain (HELZ), zinc finger and BTB domain containing protein (ZBTB) 3 and KIAA0556. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that HELZ, similar
to HIF-a, has two highly conserved LxxLAP domains. However, in contrary to HIF-α, HELZ protein levels were not regulated by the PHD function. Furthermore,
hypoxia had no effect on HELZ mRNA levels as well as subcellular localization and HELZ was not involved in the regulation of HIF-transcriptional activity.
To ensure proper function, cells developed adaptation mechanisms allowing rapid response to change in their physiological environment. Protein translation plays a
central role in these adaption processes, since it allows an immediate response even when gene transcription is lacking. Translation initiation, the rate limiting step of
protein translation, involves many proteins including initiation factors, ribosomal subunits and general RNA binding proteins. One key player in this regulation is the
poly(A) binding protein (PABP) that binds to the poly(A) tail of all poly-adenylated mRNAs and brings about their circularization, a process that facilitates translation
initiation [8, 9]. We found that HELZ associates with PABP via its PAM2 motif, a protein interaction motif found in various PABP interactors [10]. Furthermore,
interaction with PABP suggested a role for HELZ in protein translation, in particular in translation initiation. Indeed, siRNA-mediated HELZ knock down reduced and
transient overexpression of HELZ induced the translation of a heterologous luciferase gene reporter as well as general protein translation. This stimulatory function was
independent of the HELZ helicase function as well as the prolines found within the HELZ LxxLAP motifs as demonstrated by site-directed mutagenesis analysis. In
addition, polysomal shift analysis revealed impaired translation initiation in HELZsilenced HeLa cells supporting the notion that HELZ functions in translation
initiation. Mechanistically, we were able to show that HELZ promotes cell proliferation and most strikingly, HELZ strongly impairs ribosomal protein S6 phosphorylation without affecting S6 protein expression.
In summary, we suggest a role for HELZ as novel translation initiation factor that promotes cell proliferation as well as S6 phosphorylation.


This article proposes an assessment of the ingestion doses potentially received by people living in the Japanese areas most severely affected by the radioactive deposits due to the Fukushima nuclear accident. The assessment distinguishes two consecutive periods: the first 2 months (March 15th to May 15th 2011) and the rest of the year 2011, according to the two main foodstuff contamination periods identified (Renaud et al. , 2013). On the basis of the worst-case hypothesis that can reasonably be made, the estimated doses are much lower than they might have been in other circumstances, on account of generally moderate levels of contamination for most foods, early evacuation of the most severely affected areas and the consumption bans ordered by the Japanese authorities. Thus, a single ingestion of 100 g of leafy vegetables in the early days by a one-year-old child living in non-evacuated localities near Iitate and Kawamata could have led to an equivalent dose to the thyroid of about 25 mSv; and to a thyroid dose of about 140 mSv for the rather unrealistic scenario of a daily consumption. Because of the rapid decrease in the contamination of vegetables and a much weaker contamination of other crops, and thanks to measures taken by the authorities (prohibition of consumption, use of certain fodder, etc.), the ingestion doses potentially received during the remainder of the year 2011 are estimated to be below 1 mSv. In the event that sales limits would have been ignored, only repeated consumption of mushrooms would have led to doses above that level. Even with the worst-case hypotheses, the doses potentially caused by ingestion are much lower than those resulting from outdoor exposure to radioactive deposits: approximately several millisieverts in a year for the population living in the non-evacuated localities near Iitate and Kawamata.


We specify a cache coherence protocol for cache-only shared memory multiprocessor architectures using the $\pi$-calculus. The analysis of the specification of the protocol is discussed, with emphasis on the use of the modal $\mu$-calculus to express correctness properties. The protocol specification is expressed using recursion variables inside parallel composition and thus it does not adhere to the syntactic requirements for finite control. We argue that the specification still belongs to a class of $\pi$-calculus processes for which model checking and bisimilarity checking is decidable. The relaxation of the syntactical requirement for finite control permits more natural specifications to be made. We expect that specifications which are naturally expressed using recursion variables inside parallel compositions but still permit decidable analyses are common in practise.


Introductory The studies of Day and Shepherd 2 at Kilauea have demonstrated the presence of water in the unaltered lava gases at this volcano, and that chlorine and fluorine are present only in very small amount. They have also shown that the gases at the time of their escape from the lava were in a state of unstable chemical equilibrium, and that they were undergoing interreactions which, being exothermic, might in part explain the maintenance of the high temperature of the lava. Without entering into discussion of these results, it may be said that they were of such a character that it was deemed advisable to extend the observations and studies to other volcanoes. There were several special reasons for this. The confirmation of the presence of water at other volcanoes was a matter of interest in connection with Brun's hypothesis, though this may now be considered as definitely disproved by . . .


In this thesis dissertation we address the problem of semantic heterogeneity in the context of agent communication, We argue that current solutions based on ontologies and ontology matching do not capture completely the complexity of the distributed, dynamic and open-ended nature of multiagent systems, and that they usually do not reckon with the interaction-oriented purpose of communication. Our central thesis is that semantic alignment is also relative to the particular interaction where agents are engaged in, and that in such cases the interaction should be taken into account and brought into the alignment mechanism.

We firstly present a formal model for a semantic alignment procedure that incrementally aligns differing conceptualisations of two or more agents relative to their respective perceptions of the environment or domain where they are acting in. It hence makes the situation in which the alignment occurs explicit in the model. We call this approach Situated Semantic Alignment (or SSA), and we fall back on channel theory, Barwise and Seligman's theory of information flow to carry out the formalisation.

The understanding that semantic alignment is often interaction-dependent is specifically studied in Interaction-Situated Semantic Alignment (I-SSA), which can be seen as a particularisation of the model mentioned above. We also provide a formal foundation for I-SSA, but this time based on a mathematical construct inspired from category theory that we call communication product. In addition, we describe an alignment protocol and a matching mechanism that agents can follow in order to benefit in practice from this approach.

The I-SSA technique is implemented in SICStus Prolog and its viability is proven by means of an exhaustive abstract experimentation and a thorough statistical study through combinations of analyses of variance and Tukey tests. Furthermore, we present a case study about travel reservation that gives us the possibility to put I-SSA within the context of current state-of-the-art techniques. Although a deeper examination is required, this example shows that I-SSA is better suited for semantic alignment when interaction is specially relevant. Also it helps us to highlight the differences between this approach and more standard approaches for semantic alignment.


The Preparatory Academy was established in September, 1999 to improve academic achievement and reduce the dropout rate of at-risk high school students in a mid-Atlantic state. The study looks at the Preparatory Academy as a dropout prevention program for high school students. Students attending the Preparatory Academy are one or more years behind grade level and have not been successful in a general education setting. In addition, the students are identified by the school division as being at-risk of not graduating from high school. The Preparatory Academy was designed to address the increasing drop out rate and to advance students one or two grade levels in one school year, whereby giving them an opportunity to reach their age appropriate grade.

A qualitative design methodology was chosen to evaluate the Preparatory Academy effectiveness from the eyes of the students who were successful in the program. Eight participants who successfully completed the Academy during the 2004-2005 academic year were selected from each participating high school. Students participated in focus groups and answered questions about their experiences, their beliefs, and their perceptions while in the Preparatory Academy. Seven staff members, three administrators, two teachers, and two guidance counselors, were interviewed to clarify Academy procedures and policies.

The results of this study show that the Preparatory Academy is perceived by students to be an effective dropout prevention program. Students reported an increased commitment to graduation from high school and reported an increase in grade point average. In addition, data revealed students having a positive change in their attitude toward themselves and their education. When asked about the reason, the students gave credit to the Preparatory Academy.