Summary A 45-year-old female was referred for endocrine evaluation of an incidental mass (31×24 mm in diameter) on the right adrenal gland. The patient was normotensive and nondiabetic, and had no history of generalised obesity (body weight, 46 kg at 20 years of age and 51.2 kg on admission); however, her waist-to-hip ratio was 0.97. Elevated urinary free cortisol levels (112–118 μg/day) and other findings indicated adrenocorticotrophic hormone-independent Cushing's syndrome due to right adrenocortical adenoma. Echocardiography before adrenalectomy revealed concentric left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy with a particular increase in interventricular septum thickness leading to impaired systolic and diastolic functions. Upon surgical remission of hypercortisolism, the asymmetric hypertrophy disappeared and the cardiac dysfunctions were considerably ameliorated. Although the mechanism(s) by which excessive cortisol contributes to LV wall thickness remain(s) unclear, serial echocardiography and cardiac multidetector-row computed tomography may support the notion that abnormal fat deposition in the myocardium owing to hypercortisolism appears to be an important factor for the reversible change in the cardiac morphology. Learning points Patients with Cushing's syndrome occasionally exhibit severe LV hypertrophy related to systolic and diastolic dysfunctions although they have neither hypertension nor diabetes mellitus. Biological remission of hypercortisolism can normalise structural and functional cardiac parameters and help in differentiating the cardiac alterations induced by excessive cortisol from those induced by other diseases. Excessive lipid accumulation within the heart before myocardial fibrosis may be implicated in reversible alterations in the cardiac morphology by Cushing's syndrome. Early diagnosis and treatment of Cushing's syndrome appear to be pivotal in preventing irreversible cardiac dysfunctions subsequent to cardiovascular events and heart failure.


The New York State Board of Regents and Commissioner of Education have identified a set of clear performance standards for students in New York State that matches the knowledge and skills they will need to function successfully as productive citizens in the 21st century. To match these standards, the New York State Department of Education has developed new Regents Examinations, which all students will be required to pass to graduate from high school, and new examinations in 4th and 8th grades that serve as important intermediate checkpoints in assessing student progress. Justice Leland DeGrasse wrote in *Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. State of New York* (719 N.Y.S.2d 475, 150 Ed. Law Rep. 834, January 9, 2001) that "[T]he court holds that the education provided New York City students is so deficient that it falls below the constitutional floor set by the Education Article of the New York Constitution" (p. 4). He continued, "In the course of reforming the school finance system, a threshold task that must be performed by defendants is ascertaining, to the extent possible, the actual costs of providing a sound basic education in districts around the State" (p. 115). The objective of this study is to develop estimates of the costs of financing the achievement of higher standards. The key tools employed to estimate the cost of adequacy are education cost functions and cost of education indexes. The cost function approach uses statistical methods to extract from actual data the relationship between characteristics of students, the cost of living in an area, and the spending required to meet different performance standards. As long as recent history is a good predictor of the near future, the cost function approach should provide reasonably accurate estimates of the cost of adequacy.


This paper discusses an algorithm to make a quadruped machine walk dynamically and omnidirectionally following a real-time command from an operator. To produce a smooth body motion at high speed locomotion, we introduced a new gait, named the "intermittent trot gait", in which a four-leg-supporting phase and a two-diagonal-leg-supporting phase appear in orders. In this gait, the pitching and rolling motion of the body is suppressed to a lower level than that of the other gaits because the dynamic effects of the swinging legs almost cancel each other. To realize the intermittent trot gait, new algorithms to plan a landing point and body motion are discussed. A landing point is decided by considering an operator command and conversion to the standard leg formation. A body motion is planned to produce dynamic stability and to follow speed and direction commands. By using these algorithms, a mechanical vehicle TITAN VI can walk omnidirectionally, smoothly following a real-time operator command. The top speed is 1 m/sec on flat terrain and 125 mm/sec on 105 mm up and down over rough terrain.


Language permeates all areas of the school curriculum. This book looks closely at what this means by focusing on the activities over a six year period of a secondary school's Language and Learning committee. This book should be of interest to students of education, practising teachers.


This dissertation studies for the first time the history of varnishing and glazing in relation to the use of drying oils in the workshop of the medieval painter until the late sixteenth century. Results from technical research and historical reconstructions will be combined with an analysis of medieval written sources, such as encyclopedias, lapidaries, and the numerous recipes that can be found in art technological manuscripts. The spectacular verisimilitude in the paintings of Jan van Eyck (ca. 1390-1441) breaks in a revolutionary way with everything that had been made before his time. In the sixteenth century, Van Eyck's novel way of painting even resulted in the famous story that he invented a drying oil that enabled his remarkable technique. By now we know that this 'invention story' cannot be true, because oil paint had been used since at least the twelfth century. It is true however, that, to make his paintings, Van Eyck exploited a technique that was only possible with oil: glazing. Glazes are thin, translucent paint layers of saturated color that allow light to pass through and finally reflect back through the paint. This way, the painting illuminates itself, as it were, from the inside out. Glazing has a long history and, before Van Eyck, was used mainly to substitute precious materials with paint. Medieval painters for instance, used glazes on metal foil or leaf to imitate the translucent splendor of gemstones, stained glass windows and enamel. Likewise, written sources provide ample evidence of the importance of glazing in relation to the art of making Ersatz. They show for example, that oil was specially prepared to make it more translucent and glossy when ground with certain pigments. Varnishes made with drying oils also need to be studied as an important part of this history of imitation. Next to their protective function, they were employed to give the shine and brilliance of enamel and precious stones to objects made out of paint. When yellow colorants were added, varnishes could even be employed to imitate gold on silver leaf or tin foil. From the 1420s onwards, Jan van Eyck and his contemporaries no longer produced works characterized by Ersatz, but instead used glazes and opaque paint to represent, with meticulous skill, translucent glow and reflective luster. Whereas we might never know the precise nature of Van Eyck's 'secret', with this study we now have a history of the painting technique that helps explain the birth of northern renaissance painting.


Protected natural areas have traditionally played an important role in tourist destinations. There are over one hundred thousand of these areas throughout the world and to date, their landscapes and biodiversity have constituted the main factor attracting visitors. Although these components have not lost their power to attract, many tourist destinations now highlight the relationship between nature and traditional culture. On one hand, the planning and management of natural areas have fundamentally been based on biophysical aspects; hence, their name. But, on the other, the socioeconomic perspective is of great importance and should be incorporated further into this management. The professional field of the sciences of 'nature', which so far has played a major role in these areas, along with the disciplines of social sciences and humanities, faces the challenge of integrating their analysis methods, which can be directly applied to an understanding of the dynamics of present-day tourism. This integration could consider protected areas and territories beyond their physical boundaries. Our team, with experience in the development of environmental analysis models applied to the zoning and subsequent declaration of these areas, has proposed a new procedure for evaluating carrying capacities and tourism potentialities, integrating environmental (landscape), anthropological (local society and visitors) and socioeconomic (living standard and quality of life of local population) perspectives. The research relates this kind of components through multivariate analyses, geo-referenced databases and questionnaires. The pathway of the model is landscape functioning (ecosystem) and its function for society (ecosystem services).


Older adults threw tennis balls for force and accuracy to examine their
adaptability to different task demands. Twenty-one (13 women, 8 men)
participants were videotaped as they performed five force and five accuracy
throws. The developmental level of each throw was determined; resultant
ball velocities also were examined. Roberton's (1977, 1978) movement components
were used in the former analysis. The typical pattern of gender
differences occurred for both movement component and velocity measures.
Men performed at higher levels than women. Only minor force versus accuracy
differences were found in the movement patterns used by either men
or women; none of these differences were significant. Clear task differences
occurred for ball velocities. Men's forceful throws were faster than those
for accuracy; women's throws did not differ for the two tasks. The generally
lower developmental level of women's throws accounted for gender differences
in velocity. Insufficient task differences may explain the lack of clear
contrast in movement patterns.


A novel polymer, by molecularly imprinting glutathione (GSH), capable of being directly utilized in the aqueous phase, was developed for uptaking GSH. To significantly improve cross-linking density of this molecular imprinted polymer (MIP), the pseudoternary phase diagram of N,N′-methylene-biacrylamide, methanol, and water was investigated to increase solubility of NMBA. Subsequently, key fabrication variables, including a functional monomer, cross-linker, and initiator quantity, polymerization temperature, and time were optimized. Under optimum conditions, the maximum adsorption capacity of GSH approached 27 mg g–¹, and the separation degree was as high as 2.84. The Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis results from GSH-MIP and the control indicated that the high adsorption capacity and selectivity of GSH originated from the arrangement of functional groups and cavities. Additionally, this MIP demonstrated appealing long-time stability and reusability. The adsorption kinetics could be well described by a pseudo-first-order model, while the thermodynamics of the adsorption process could be described by neither classic Langmuir nor Freundlich model. The adsorption and separation study was applied in urine, and the adsorption rate was 90.30%, the desorption rate was 75.32%, and the purity was 58.74%.


This paper examines asset-price bubbles in an economy where a nondepletable asset (e.g., land) can provide transaction services, using a variant of the cash-in-advance model. When a landowner can borrow money immediately using land as collateral, one can say that land essentially provides a transaction service. The transaction services that such an asset can provide increase as its price rises, since the asset owner can borrow more money against the asset's increased value. Thus an asset-price bubble can emerge due to the externality of self-reference, wherein the asset price reflects the transaction services that it can provide, while the amount of the transaction services reflects the asset price. If the collateral ratio of the asset (¥o' and money supply (m) are not very large, a steady state equilibrium exists where the asset price has a bubble component and resource allocation is inefficient; if ¥o'and/or m become large, the bubble component of the asset price vanishes and the equilibrium allocation becomes efficient. The paper shows that in the case where the equilibrium concept is relaxed to allow for sticky prices and a temporary supply-demand gap, an equilibrium exists where a bubble develops temporarily and eventually bursts.


CONTEXT
Dynamic shoulder motion can be captured using video capture systems, but reliability has not yet been established.

OBJECTIVE
To compare the reliability of 2 systems in measuring dynamic shoulder kinematics during forward-elevation movements and to determine differences in these kinematics between healthy and injured subjects.

DESIGN
Reliability and cohort.

SETTING
Research laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS
11 healthy subjects and 10 post-superior labrum anteroposterior lesion patients (SLAP).

INTERVENTION
Contrasting markers were placed at the hip, elbow, and shoulder to represent shoulder elevation and were videotaped in 2 dimensions. Subjects performed 6 repetitions of active elevation (AE) and active assisted elevation of the shoulder, and 3 trials were analyzed using Datapac (comprehensive system) and Dartfish (basic system).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Amplitudes and velocities of the shoulder angle were calculated. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), and levels of agreement (LOA) were used to determine intersystem and intertrial reliability.

RESULTS
For AE, the amplitude maximum (ICC = .98-.99, SEM = 2-3°, LOA = -9° to 5°) and average velocity (ICC = .94-.97, SEM = 1°/s, LOA = -4° to 1°/s) indicated excellent intersystem reliability between systems. Intratrial reliability for minimum velocity was moderate for Datapac (ICC = .64, SEM = 4°/s, LOA = 7°/s) and poor for Dartfish (ICC = .52, SEM = 20°/s, LOA = 37°/s). Cohort results demonstrated for AE a greater amplitude for healthy v SLAP (139° ± 11° v 113° ± 13°; P = .001) and interaction for an average velocity increase of 2°/s in healthy and decrease of 2°/s in SLAP patients over the 3 trials (P = .02).

CONCLUSIONS
Reliability ranges provide the means to assess the clinical meaningfulness of results. The cohort differences are supported when the values exceed the ranges of the SEM; hence the amplitude results are meaningful. For dynamic shoulder elevation measured using video, the assessment of velocity was found to produce moderate to good reliability. The results suggest that with these measures subtle changes in both measures may be possible with further investigations.


Dissolution testing and physiological based pharmacokinetic modeling are the essential methods during drug development. However, there is a lack of a sound approach and understanding of the parameter that controls dissolution and absorption of amorphous formulations. Robust dissolution conditions and setup and PBPK models that have a predictability of in vivo results will expedite and facilitate the drug development process. In this project, cefuroxime axetil, CA (Zinnat® as the amorphous formulations); itraconazole, ITR (Sporanox® as the amorphous formulation) and a compound undergoing clinical trial, Compound X, CX (CX tablet as the amorphous formulation) were chosen. The design of experiments for the in vitro dissolution studies using different apparatus, media and setup which closely simulate the physiological condition of humans (CA and ITR) and dogs (CX) were implemented. The dissolution of CA, ITR and CX formulations was successfully characterised using different dissolution apparatus, setting and media (compendial, biorelevant and modified media) to simulate the changes of pH, contents, hydrodynamic conditions (flow rate and rotation speed) in human gastrointestinal tract (fasted and fed state). The change of hydrodynamics combined with media change that corresponded to the physiological conditions created with USP apparatus 4 and biorelevant dissolution media were able to mimic the in vivo performance of the tested formulations. Furthermore, surface UV dissolution imaging methodology that could be used to understand the mechanism of CA and ITR (Active compounds and their amorphous formulations) dissolution were developed in this project. The UV images developed using surface UV imaging apparatus provided a visual representation and a means for the qualitative as well as quantitative assessment of the differences in dissolution rates and concentration for the model compounds used. In this project, validated PBPK models for fasted state (CA, ITR) and fed state (CA, ITR and CX) were developed. These models incorporated in vitro degradation, particle size distribution, in vitro solubility and dissolution data as well as in vivo human/ dog pharmacokinetics data. Similarly, the results showed that level A IVIVCs for all three model compounds were successfully established. Dissolution profiles with USP apparatus 4 combined with biorelevant media showed close correlation with the in vivo absorption profiles. Overall, this project successfully provides a comprehensive biorelevant methodology to develop PBPK models and IVIVCs for orally administered amorphous formulations.


"A lack of data often makes biological management decisions difficult and has been an area of contention in the debate over the approval of transgenic crops. Our knowledge of agricultural and natural systems is limited and our ability to gain additional information, quickly and effectively, is often handicapped by statistical complexity. To adequately cope with this requires new approaches and models that integrate decision-making and management. This paper describes one possible approach to the integration of decision-making and management, which may have application for the regulatory approval of transgenic crops. In many situations countries wishing to approve transgenic crops will have limited data on the environmental performance of the crop. The approach outlined in this paper looks at how related information, possibly collected from other countries, might be used to help inform decisions about the approval of transgenic crops. This is done within an integrated decision-making and management framework." Authors' Abstract


Lifestyle is the primary prevention of diabetes, especially type-2 diabetes (T2D). Nutritional intake of olive oil (OO), the key Mediterranean diet component has been associated with the prevention and management of many chronic diseases including T2D. Several OO bioactive compounds such as monounsaturated fatty acids, and key polyphenols including hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein, have been associated with preventing inflammation and cytokine-induced oxidative damage, glucose lowering, reducing carbohydrate absorption and increasing insulin sensitivity and related gene expression. However, research into the interaction of OO nutraceuticals with lifestyle components, especially physical activity is lacking. Promising postprandial effects have been reported when OO or other similar monounsaturated fatty acids was the main dietary fat compared with other diets. Animal studies have shown a potential anabolic effect of oleuropein. Such effects could be further potentiated via exercise, especially strength training, which is an essential exercise prescription for individuals with T2D. There is also an evidence from in vitro, animal and limited human studies for a dual preventative role of OO polyphenols in diabetes and cancer, especially that they share similar risk factors. Putative anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory mechanisms and associated gene expressions resulting from OO phenolics, have produced paradoxical results making suggested inferences from dual prevention T2D and cancer outcomes difficult. Well-designed human interventions and clinical trials are needed to decipher such a potential dual anti-cancer and anti-diabetic effects of OO nutraceuticals. Exercise combined with OO consumption, individually or as part of a healthy diet is likely to induce reciprocal action for T2D prevention outcomes.


Many manufacturing industries, including the computer industry, have seen large increases in productivity growth rates and have experienced a reduction in average establishment size and a decrease in the variance of the sizes of plants. A vintage capital model is introduced where learning increases productivity on any given technology and firms choose when to adopt a new vintage. In the model, a rise in the rate of technological change leads to a decrease in both the mean and variance of the size distribution.


Temporary skid trail stream crossings have repeatedly been identified as having considerable potential to introduce sediment to streams. Forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) have proven to be effective for controlling erosion and subsequent sedimentation, yet few studies have quantified sedimentation associated with various levels of BMPs for skidder stream crossings. Three skid trail stream crossing BMP treatments were installed and replicated three times to quantify BMP efficacy for reducing sedimentation. BMP treatments were: (1) slash, (2) mulch and grass seed, and (3) mulch, grass seed, and silt fence. Water samples were collected daily both upstream and downstream from operational skidder stream crossings for one year following timber harvesting and BMP treatment installation. Samples were evaluated for total suspended solids (TSSs). Results indicate that both slash and mulch treatments effectively reduced TSS following harvesting. Slash could be the preferred method of stream crossing closure, due to lower cost, especially if application is incorporated into logging operations. However, if slash was being utilized for biomass and was not available, seed and mulch is a viable option for stream crossing closure. The mulch, seed, and silt fence treatment was the most expensive treatment and led to increased TSS, probably due to silt fence installation disturbances near the streams. Thus, silt fences should not be installed directly adjacent to streambanks, if other alternatives exist. 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Book synopsis: Fiction by writers of Muslim background forms one of the most diverse, vibrant and high-profile corpora of work being produced today - from the trail-blazing writing of Salman Rushdie and Hanif Kureishi, which challenged political and racial orthodoxies in the 1980s, to that of a new generation including Mohsin Hamid, Nadeem Aslam and Kamila Shamsie. This collection reflects the variety of those fictions. Experts in English, South Asian, and postcolonial literatures address the nature of Muslim identity: its response to political realignments since the 1980s, its tensions between religious and secular models of citizenship, and its manifestation of these tensions as conflict between generations. In considering the perceptions of Muslims, contributors also explore the roles of immigration, class, gender, and national identity, as well as the impact of 9/11.

This volume includes essays on contemporary fiction by writers of Muslim origin and non-Muslims writing about Muslims. It aims to push beyond the habitual populist 'framing' of Muslims as strangers or interlopers whose ways and beliefs are at odds with those of modernity, exposing the hide-bound, conservative assumptions that underpin such perspectives. While returning to themes that are of particular significance to diasporic Muslim cultures, such as secularism, modernity, multiculturalism and citizenship, the essays reveal that 'Muslim writing' grapples with the same big questions as serve to exercise all writers and intellectuals at the present time: How does one reconcile the impulses of the individual with the requirements of community? How can one 'belong' in the modern world? What is the role of art in making sense of chaotic contemporary experience?


Nikola Tesla's life is as interesting for his idiosyncrasy as it is for his brilliance. The inventor's mind knew no limits and his incredible sense of possibility rings through his memoir. This authoritative volume of "My Inventions" includes three additional articles by Tesla which were published in "The Electrical Experimenter" magazine and represent the breadth of his interests: "Tesla would pour Lightning from Airships to Consume Foe" (1916), "The Action of The Eye" (1893), "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy" (1900). Samantha Hunt, author of "The Invention of Everything Else", contributes an introduction to Tesla's works, separating fact from fiction (there are published works out there that attest Tesla was an alien), while maintaining the natural awe of Tesla's eccentric existence.


In the present study, a novel atmospheric river (AR) detection scheme based on column‐integrated water vapor and column‐integrated water vapor flux is presented and applied for the Iberian Atlantic Margin (IAM) and a wider area covering the North Atlantic Ocean for the period 1979–2013. The seasonal cycle in AR frequency over the North Atlantic exhibits a relatively small amplitude, being more pronounced toward the east and south of the oceanic basin, as it is increasingly related to the seasonal cycle in storm activity and the meridional displacement of the subtropical high. In the eastern North Atlantic, downwind of the North American continent, it shows a more complex behavior. The interannual variability of AR frequency is weak across the entire North Atlantic, and it does not present consistent long‐term spatiotemporal patterns. For the southern IAM, AR occurrence is slightly enhanced by the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation during the previous days. Up to 80% of the anomalous precipitation events (above the 95th percentile) in the IAM are associated with ARs; these values exceed 90% in winter and decrease to 75% in spring when convection not related to ARs becomes a significant precipitation mechanism. Moisture advection within ARs is thus a very important contributor to anomalous precipitation. Likewise, the strength of the associated storm systems and the characteristics of the ARs themselves are also very relevant factors. The percentage of total ARs linked to anomalous precipitation is relatively low, only reaching 20% where topographic features are favorable.


The work described in this thesis consists of synthesis. structure and bioactivity of some new heterocyclic compounds. The compounds included in this thesis are seven membered ring compounds, which contain heteroatoms nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur. Few six membered ring compounds were also synthesized which contain nitrogen and oxygen atoms. The seven membered compounds include different 3-substituted phenyl- 5,6-dihydro-7 H-1,4,2- oxathiazepin-7-one (78-97), 4,I,3-benzoxathiazepin-5-one (123-137), pyrido[2,3e][I,4,2]oxathiazepin-5-one (161-173), 5,6-dihydro-7H-1,,4,2-oxathiazepin-7-one(188-192), 6-[(acetyloxy)amino]-3-(4-substitutedphenyl)-5,5-dimethyl-5,6-dihydro-7 H-1,4,2 oxathiazepin-7-one (197-198). These compounds were prepared by treating hydroximinoyl chlorides with different mercapto acids. These acids included 3-mercaptopropanoic acid, 2mercaptosalicylic acid. 2-mercaptonicotinic acid. cysteine and penicilamine. The first step in the synthesis of these compounds was the formation of oximes by treating aldehydes with hydroxylamine hydrochloride. The variety of aldehydes was selected for this work with aromatic and heteroaromatic nuclei. The second step was the conversion of these oximes to the hydroximinoyl chlorides. This step was carried out by treating oximes with different chlorinating agents, NCS and BTMAICI4. These hydroximinoyl chlorides in the next step were treated with different mercapto acids to give oxime acids. The reaction was carried out in the presence of base, triethyl amine. The last step was cyclization and carried out by adding DCC as cyclizing agent to the reaction mixture. The chemical reactivity of these compounds was investigated by carrying out different reactions. Thus oxathiazepines were treated with phosphorus pentasulphide, primary and secondary amines, LiAlH4 and alcohol to get thiones. amides, alcohols and esters respectively. It was found that the same ring cleaved product was obtained under both acidic and basic conditions. Ring also cleaved in case of reaction with amine, alcohol and LiAlH4. The synthesis of another class of six membered ring compounds i.e. 1,2,4-oxadiazin-5-one and 6,6-dimethyl-1,2,4-oxadiazin-5-one (217-221) was also carried out by treating amidoximes with chloroacetyl chloride and 2-bromo-2-methylpropanoyl bromide. The amidoximes were prepared by treating hydroximinoyl chloride with different primary and secondary amines which include benzylamine, 2-aminopyridine, 2-chloroaminobenzene, 1-naphthylamine, 4-aminopyridine, cyclopropylamine, dibenzylamine and diisopropylamine. 7,7-dimethyl-3,5-disubstituteddihydro-1H-[1 ,3]thiazolo[3,4-c][1,3]oxazol-l-one(199-201) were also synthesized by the reaction of aldehydes with Penicillamine. The compounds thus formed were characterized by different spectroscopic techniques like UV, IR, 1H, 13C NMR, COSY, HMQC, DNMR and mass spectral analysis. NOE experiments were performed to confirm the stereochemistry of the hydroximinoyl chlorides, oxime acids and amidoximes. These compounds were found to have Z- configuration. Elemental analysis and X-ray crystal analysis was also carried out in many cases. The synthesized compounds after characterization were subjected to biological activity testing; antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and antidiabetic activities. Some of the compounds were found to exhibit excellent antibacterial and antifungal activity. The oxime acids proved to be good antioxidants while a few oxathiazepines have also shown good antidiabetic activity.


This report presents the findings of research on anti-social behaviour (henceforth ASB) in London. The research explored the impact of ASB on the lives of Londoners and examined how agencies are responding to problems of ASB across London. The overall aim of the research was to inform, and set the context for, the development of the London Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy. The strategy is being produced by 11 cross-London agencies with shared responsibilities for tackling ASB, and establishes a regional framework for action on ASB.


The technology development has been continuing to solve the cost problem, aiming to reduce work time, to streamline the existing machines to be more efficient and productive, including designing the devices to replace human labor. In present paper, the author has an idea to develop and transform the old press machine which has faced the issues of the deteriorated helix core, bunt motor when overloaded, less productivity to hydraulic cylinder. This paper examined the development of the coconut oil pressing machine from old model to hydraulic cylinder system. In operating principles, the developed machine uses the motor pumping the hydraulic oil into hydraulic pump, the oil fuel was restricted by hydraulic pump to increase the pressure transmitted to the solenoid valve which is responsible for changing the direction of the oil flow, resulting that the cylinder moves up and down under the control system. The cylinder presses the coconut pulp The study of the development of coconut oil press machine was initiated by drying the 3 kg coconut pulp in the sun to obtain the 0.2038 kg (or 160 ml) coconut oil. In this study, the hydraulic cylinder presses 3 kg dried coconut pulp into 1.1858 kg (or 946 ml) coconut oil, or accounted for 83.08% as compared the old machine. The payback period is within 29 days.


National Highways of Bangladesh, where majority of fatal accident takes place, are considered as the accident-prone location. Statistics revealed that despite some major initiatives undertaken to improve road safety, death rate at National Highways of Bangladesh is quite high compared to other developed as well as developing nations. To understand the relationship between injury severity and accident factors, investigation concentrate on different influential factors are responsible for injury severity. Micro Computer Accident Analysis Packages (MAAP5), data of Bangladesh Police from 2004-2015, is used in this investigation to identify the probability of fatal and grievous injury. Preliminary analysis revealed that almost 80% accident recorded as fatal accident and majority of the accidents occurred in fair-weather condition, at straight portion of the road, in non-rush hour and in broad daylight. Conversely, three level of injury severity (dependent variables) was considered in the econometric analysis namely, fatal, grievous and simple injury. Ordered Probit Model examined the dependent variables based on several explanatory variables such as time factors, road geometry, environmental conditions, vehicle categories, driver attitudes, passenger and pedestrian behavior. Considering different level of independent variables, it is found that under the heading of "collision type", "hit Pedestrian" is the statistically significant variable that creates severe injury. Considering vehicle characteristics, non-motorized vehicle, bus and motorcycle was found to be the most vulnerable group of road users in Bangladesh and the probability of fatal injury is much higher for vehicle with multiple defects. This investigation also pointed on some remedial measures that will help the decision maker to set up long as well as short term strategies. For instance, installation of physical barrier at the accident-prone location will minimize the pedestrian fatalities and isolation of non-motorized vehicle and motorcyclist from main carriageway, which would dramatically reduce injury severity on highways. Finally, this investigation also provides some specific guideline for future steps on injury severity analysis in Highways of Bangladesh.

 Key words: National Highway, Fatal Accident, Ordered Probit Model, Variables


Alaska is generally considered to be a place that is one of the last great escapes from air pollution. However, they have not spent a winter in Fairbanks or the nearby village of North Pole, where the daily average PM_(2.5) concentration was 170 μg/m^3 in December 2012 according to the Alaska Deparbnent of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Air Monitoring Network. In this study, source apportionment using Positive Factorization Matrix (EPA PMF 5.0) has been conducted based on the 2005 to 2012 Fairbanks PM_(2.5) compositional data including elements, sulfate, nitrate, ammonia, elemental carbon (EC), and organic carbon (DC) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency speciation network. Seven sources were identified: soil, gasoline, sulfate, diesel, wood smoke, road salt, and nitrate. The average contributions to PM_(2.5) of these seven sources were 3.4%, 16.3%,19.5%, 14.3%, 40.5%, 1.5%, and 4.5%, respectively. Wood smoke provided the highest contributions to PM_(2.5). Its contributions were the lowest in 2007 (3.5 μg/m^3) and peaked in 2009 (5.7 μg/m^3) The winter contributions of sulfate, nitrate, diesel, road salt, and wood smoke were all substantiajly higher compared to other seasons. Wood smoke is the only source with weekend's contribution greater than the weekdays' corresponding to the times when residential wood combustion is more likely to occur. The contributions of diesel, wood smoke, and sulfate were approximately doubled on violation days (daily average PM_(2.5) higher than 35 μg/m^3) compared to all days. This finding indicates that winter heating is the most important factor affecting the air quality in Fairbanks. In the future, additional source apportionment using other receptor models and tracers will need to be conducted to confirm these results.


The aim of this thesis was to develop and apply the latest proteomics techniques to study protein translation events in disease models of primary astrocytes and neuronal cells. Since this research involves limited sample amounts such as primary neuronal cultures, we first benchmarked an automated phosphopeptide enrichment method for its sensitivity in protein phosphorylation analysis. We further applied a pulsed labeling technique to study protein translation events in two separate studies on Vanishing White Matter disease (VWM) and synaptic plasticity. The hallmark of VWM disease is a mutation in a subunit of the eIF2B protein, which is involved in initiation of protein translation. The proteomics profiling showed differently regulated proteins in wild type and astrocytes carrying a mutation in eIF2B. The here identified differently translated proteins differ from their "normal" counterparts in aspects of their 5' UTRs, indicative for a deregulated protein synthesis in eIF2B mutated astrocytes. This altered synthesis seems to lead to an increase of proteins in the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) and the secretory pathway. Possibly, increased disulfide bridge formation in the ER results in oxidative stress. A small-scale metabolic screen highlighted changes in the metabolites 6-phospho-gluconate, NAD+ and NADPH between wild type and VWM astrocytes, which together with an increased Pros1 expression support the hypothesis of increased oxidative stress in VWM astrocytes. We then combined the benchmarked phosphoproteomcis technique with the pulsed labeling technique to study synaptic plasticity through a specific form of long term depression (mGluR-LTD) in neuronal cells. This form of synaptic plasticity relies on protein synthesis and the internalization of AMPA-type glutamate receptors. Several kinases with important roles in mGluR-LTD could be predicted from the acquired phosphoproteomics data, which were later validated in a separate experiment. Furthermore, changes in protein phosphorylation in the AMPA receptor endocytosis pathway upon mGluR-LTD were identified, whereby Intersectin-1 was validated as a vital player in this pathway. The research in this thesis is concluded with a study into the function of Shank proteins in mGluR-LTD. Shank scaffolding proteins are directly linked to specific forms of autism and are known to play a role in mGluR-LTD. An immunopurification assay in combination with results from chapter 4 pointed towards a role for Shank proteins in proteasome activity modulation. The Shank immunopurification showed the identification of known Shank interactors, such as Homer, but also confirmed the interaction of the Shank proteins with the proteasome. Lastly a gel-based proteasome activity assay showed reduced proteasome activity in Shank knockdown compared to control neurons, highlighting the role of Shank proteins in proteasome regulation.


The experiment was conducted on January 28 to june 30, 2013 in Peatland Experimental garden, Agriculture Faculty, University of Riau, Rimbo Panjang Village, Tambang district Kampar regency. The experimental design used was randomized block design consisting of 8 treatment in the 3 groups at different soil conditions that required 24 units of the experiment. Data were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance, followed by Duncan's test New Multiple Range Test (DNMRT) at the level of 5%. Variables measured were the age flower appearance, age of harvest, plant height, dichotomous height, stem diameter, canopy width, fruit length, fruit diameter, weight per fruit and fruit weight per plant. The results showed that genotypes tested had adaptability and yield are quite good in peatland and different between genotypes. Genotype C-5 x C-120, C-5 x C-159 and TM 999 has a plant height, larger stem diameter, day to flowering and harvesting are faster. Dichotomous high owned by genotype         C-5 x C-159, C-19x C-120 and TM 999, while the long pieces owned by genotype C-5 x C-159 and C-19 x C-120 and weight per fruit and weight highest fruit per plant owned by genotype C-5 x C-120. Keyword : Capsicum annum , peatland and yield


Background The Azores archipelago lies at the limit of whale shark (WS) distribution in the North Atlantic, where sporadic sightings of "pintado" (local name) date back to the early tuna fishing operation from the mid XX century. From 1998 and 2008, only nine adult whale shark sightings had been confirmed by the Azores Fisheries Observer Program. However, from 2008 onwards there has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of reported adult individuals around the most southern island of Santa Maria. A recent study found that this increase in sighting frequency was related to an increase in local SST (above 22.5°C), and decrease in chlorophyll-a, with local variation around the large seamounts in the area. While whale sharks and tuna have long been known to associate, the nature and motivation of these associations remains unclear. Moreover the WS-tuna associations in the region remain to be characterized as well as the potential impact of fishing these associations. Approach In this study, we analysed a 13-year observer dataset (1998–2011) from the pole-and-line tuna fisheries from the Azores EEZ to investigate the regional behaviour (distribution in catch abundance and composition) of three tuna species, skipjack, bigeye and albacore during this period. We also examined how these patterns have responded to the environmental drivers, the distribution and abundance of whale sharks and compared whale shark associated fishing events and events targeting free swimming schools. We also detailed an elaborate protocol to guide future research to investigate the impact of fishing the WS-tuna associations and test the "functional bycatch" theory by combining state of the art electronic tracking and behaviour technology with physiological proxies of stress and condition of both whale shark and tuna. Results Changes in the distribution the tuna species were evident with the centre of gravity found closest to the whale shark aggregations in the latter years (2008 in particular) and was independent of fishing effort. Between 2008 and 2011 for the areas where whale sharks have been found we find the associated whale shark fishing events have significantly more individuals of skipjack and bigeye tuna and the area surrounding the eastern islands (Santa Maria etc.) also yielded the highest catches per fishing event. The albacore did not show any significant variation in CPUE for either predictor. Overall, catch rates of tuna were higher and multi-species aggregations were more likely when associated with whale sharks. Conclusions Preliminary results suggest that the presence of WS during the tuna fishing season may have an effect on fishing yields and tuna species composition of catches. It is also apparent that the fishing fleet behaviour could be responding to WS distribution and abundance. Our results support the need to investigate the potential detrimental effects that fishing WS-tuna associations may have on both the WS and tuna.


This feature issue on "Optical Materials for Flat Panel Displays" of Optical Materials Express spotlights recent advances in optical materials for information display applications. It comprises 12 papers primarily on liquid-crystal and light-emitting materials and their devices. It is hoped that the present special theme issue encourages and stimulates further research endeavors into novel optical materials with improved optical or electro-optical properties, their mechanisms of operation, and their promoted device performance for potential flat-panel-display applications.


'Pilot testing is very good and the coverage of reliability and validity is well-developed and well-written' - Bonnie Rader, California State University, Long Beach. 'Mark Litwin does a great job of constructing 'friendly' examples, and keeping the tone of the text more of a conversation than an excerpt from a graduate level psychometrics or statistics textbook. He also includes a chapter on multicultural issues and how they affect every phase of survey design and use' - Patrick R. Powaser, Personnel Psychology. 'How can you pilot test new and established surveys? How can you improve the accuracy of your survey? Chock full of examples and clear explanations, this book will show you how to assess and interpret the quality of collected survey data by thoroughly examining the survey instrument used. Litwin covers: 'Measuring reliability' (including test-retest, alternate-form, internal consistency, interobserver, and intraobserver reliability), 'Measuring validity' (including content, criterion, and construct validity), 'Creating and using a codebook', 'How to pilot test new and established surveys', 'How to scale and score a survey'. Kudos to the author. These topics represent a potentially complicated and difficult set of concepts that was well (and painlessly) explained' - Carol J. Lancaster, Medical University of South Carolina. 'Very useful because, in addition to providing the standard definitions of the different methods to assess reliability and validity of a survey instrument, it gives concrete and clear examples of each type. The examples illustrating content and criterion validity are superior to most seen in research methodology texts' - Sohmi Sengupta, Health Education Research.


The impacts of climate change on polar cultural heritage have received an increasing attention in recent years within the field of heritage research. Less attention has been place on other processes of global change affecting the Arctic, where cultural heritage plays an important role – industrialization and de-industrialization. In recent years the circumpolar Arctic has been affected by a global mining boom, triggered by high world market prices on minerals as well as notions of the Arctic as a future arena for resource extraction in the wake of climate change. This mining boom is affecting communities in much of the Arctic region and holds a central place in debates about sustainable development there. A central item of these discussions focus on the question of how to handle the physical remains of mining sites once the boom is over and the activities have seized. The attitudes to abandoned mining sites differ across the Arctic. In some cases they have been perceived as unwanted legacies of problematic pasts, making land reclamation a preferred strategy. In other cases abandoned mines and associated infrastructures have been re-defined as cultural heritage and have become anchor points for local identities and a resource for new economies.The objective of this paper is to present preliminary results from a research project aiming to explain these differences in order to understand under which circumstances abandoned large-scale resource extraction sites can be turned into resources for new futures in post-industrial Arctic communities. The focus is on the European Arctic, but in a circumpolar and bi-polar comparative perspective. The main questions are: how have different groups of actors interpreted and used physical remains of abandoned resource extraction operations, and why? Which policies are needed to turn abandoned resource extraction sites into resources for constructing new futures in the Arctic? By addressing these questions, the field of industrial heritage studies can make an important contribution to the discussion on sustainable futures in the Arctic.


Abstract : Organizations that are using the CERT? Resilience Management Model and organizations that are considering using it want information about the business value of implementing resilience processes and practices, and how to determine which ones to implement. This report describes the SEI research study that begins to address this need. It includes a discussion of the completed phase 1 study and a proposed phase 2 project. Phase 1 included forming a hypothesis and set of research questions and using a variety of techniques to collect data and evaluate whether resilience practices have a discernible (measurable) effect on operational resilience--that is, an organization's ability to continue to carry out its mission (provide critical services) in the presence of operational stress and disruption. The outcomes of phase 1 provide the foundation for the proposed phase 2. The longer term goal includes developing a quantitative, validated business case for prioritizing and implementing specific resilience practices, including decision criteria for selecting and measuring investments in improved resilience.


Purpose: The work considers the application of the quality of the care profile in hospital care, trying to obtain an overview of the resources used in the entire emergency management process in order to understand the information necessary for setting up improvement of activities. The analysis, combines theoretical reflections and empirical evidence relating to the treatment of the COVID-19 virus, develops the approach in question within the complex process of establishing a more effective and efficient care path. Design/Methodology/Approach: The choice of the field survey, is based on the qualitative method and in particular through the use of the case study, finds justification with the study objective and with the nature of the phenomenon investigated. This method lends itself to the need to observe the phenomena being analyzed in the environment of natural manifestation, even in the presence of other variables such as, the peculiarity of the managerial approach of the structure being investigated. Taking into account the current lack of knowledge on the subject being analyzed (COVID-19), the research is also based on a study of exploratory cases. Exploratory studies are appropriate when the understanding of the phenomenon under analysis from a theoretical (clinical) point of view is still in the embryonic stage. More generally, case studies are aimed at understanding complex organizational phenomena. The investigation concerns the Alfa Hospital in Calabria, selected as a study unit on the basis of some considerations. From a territorial point of view it operates in a vast provincial area. The strong focus on share capital is an important element in relation to the issue of quality as it represents a meta-condition for starting efficiency and planning processes. In addition, from an organizational point of view, the Company participated as a partner in projects on issues relating to emergency management. The Company is the regional reference hospital, DEA II level, regional HUB headquarters and COVID-19 Center. It is the reference point of the SPOKE centers, ensuring the highly specialized functions related to the emergency / urgency, coordinating the activity of the networks at local-regional and national level. Findings: The research focuses on the collection of data that represent the effort made by the Company in the construction of a theoretical-practical framework that acts as a reading key for the interrelation of emergency management with the Company's specific organizational-management model within the path concerning the provision of health services and the related care profiles having as central inspiring logic the centralization of the patient. Practical Implications: Consistent with what happened in other sectors of the Public Administration, where the process of change has as its objective the search for efficiency and efficacy, in Italy there is growing awareness that an efficient, effective and fair health service must be considered a critical success factor for the economic and social development of the country. The health system is at the center of great attention, having to demonstrate that it is adequately using the constantly decreasing resources available to it, in the face of a growing demand for health. Originality/value: The need for a growing orientation towards performance and the use of programming tools in the healthcare sector has been consolidated in the overall process of public administration corporatization. In this context, pathologies characterized by the length of care paths and high complexity in terms of treatment and complications must be considered. These pathologies are important in epidemiological terms, absorbed resources and potential for improvement from the point of view of intervention policies, public health services and efficiency.


We analyze the impact of share repurchases on liquidity based on a new comprehensive data set of realized share repurchases in the US, which covers 50,204 repurchase months between 2004 and 2010. Using instrumental variable analysis, we show that repurchases unequivocally improve liquidity and suggest that endogenous controls have confounded results in earlier studies. Liquidity also influences how firms execute repurchase programs. Repurchases provide liquidity when other investors sell the firm's stock or in times of crisis. No evidence exists that firms reduce liquidity when they trade on private information.


This paper investigates a spatial multiplexing MIMO scheme with beamforming and space-time block coding (STBC) for downlink transmission. It combines SM-STBC with beamforming under high spatial correlated channel, and has the advantages of the three techniques. The proposed scheme utilizes beamforming weights to build uncorrelated virtual channels based on uplink direction of arrival (DOA) estimation, and we calculate weights with the help of the water-filling power allocation. The Butler fixed beamforming network is deployed to receive parallel data streams due to its ability to form orthogonal beams. We also propose a matching algorithm linking each data stream to corresponding receive beam, and give the order of successive interference cancellation detection. So the system can transmit parallel data streams as well as providing beamforming and diversity gain. Simulation results show the proposed scheme has a better performance than the benchmark systems under the same spectrum efficiency, and it is suitable for the rich scattering environment.


The ability to assess rheological properties of neat cement grout, such as those used in structural repair and for filling post-tension ducts, is of special interest for the evaluation of the ease of pumping, spreading into place, and filling of narrow spaces. There is an increasing need to identify dependable and simple test methods that can characterize the consistency of specialty cement grouts and reflect variations in rheological properties during handling and placement. Several tests can be used to evaluate the rheological characteristics of a cement grout suspension, including precise methods for the determination of rheological parameters and simple procedures to assess fluidity. Rheological properties can be accurately determined by using a coaxial cylinder viscometer. However, the use of such a viscometer is mainly limited to the laboratory, and simple methods including the mini-slump spread and the modified Marsh cone tests are usually employed in the field to verify the consistency for quality control. This paper attempts to establish relationships between rheological parameters and fluidity values obtained using simple test methods. Relationships are also determined between the wash-out resistance of structural cement grout and various fluidity and rheological parameters. The derived relationships are based on a wide variety of cement grouts covering up to 210 data points. The various grouts were prepared with W/C ranging between 0.30 and 0.50, Type I and III portland cements, as well as various silica fume replacement values (up to 8% by mass), blast-furnace slag contents of 20 to 60%, fly ash substitutions of 10 to 30%, and limestone filler replacements of up to 30%. The investigated grouts incorporated melamine- and naphthalene-based high-range water reducer, welan gum and cellulose-based viscosity-modifying admixtures, as well as set-retarding admixture. Test results highlight the difficulties of relying on a single empirical test to evaluate the fluidity of a given grout. Correlations between various simple measurements of fluidity and wash-out mass loss and apparent viscosities determined at different shear rates indicate that the mini-slump and wash-out mass loss measurements correspond well to viscosities determined at low-shear rates (5.1 s-1). In contrast, the modified Marsh cone measurement corresponds well to viscosity determined at high-shear rates ranging between 340 and 510 s-1. Because of the pseudo-plastic behavior of structural cement grouts, field quality control tests should include fluidity assessment at low and high shear rates to adequately evaluate the rheological behavior of the grouts.


U S Endocrinology would like to welcome colleagues from the endocrinology community to contribute articles to the Summer and Winter 2018 editions. US Endocrinology is an open access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the publication of timely articles that aim to provide practical advice relevant to the clinical setting on the diagnosis and treatment of endocrine conditions. Authors are invited submit original research, review articles, case reports, and editorials across all areas of endocrinology, for consideration. US Endocrinology is particularly interested in reports of real-world studies and topical review articles that provide a concise overview of the latest clinical trial data and developments in the field for busy physicians. Authors can submit their manuscript directly through the Editorial Manager site (details below) and the journal's editor is happy to receive any presubmission enquiries you may have. Accepted articles are published open access, both in print and online, and authors are encouraged to publish accompanying multimedia content alongside the article. q We look forward to working with you. Sharing knowledge helps it grow. Sanjay Kalra and the US Endocrinology team If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it Margaret Fuller


Adulteration of food products has become a common problem in many countries. Adulteration may take the form of substitution of one species for another whereby the food products from one species have been mixed intentionally with either similar substitute material or cheaper species. In most cases, food manufacturers often choose lard as a substitute ingredient for oil because it is cheap and easily available. However, the usage of pork and lard is a serious matter in Islam because foods containing ingredients from pig sources are haram (unlawful or prohibited) for Muslims to consume. Therefore, a reliable technique for detection of pork and lard adulteration in food products is necessary in order to protect Muslim consumers from intentional or non- intentional fraud. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) techniques have been developed for species identification in various types of food products such as canned fish, peanut and milk. These techniques are proven to be rapid and specific in detecting species adulteration. In this study, rapid methods using PCR and ELISA were utilized to detect pork and lard adulteration in selected food products. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and species-specific PCR detection of the conserved region in the mitochondrial (mt) cytochrome (cyt) b gene and mt 12S rRNA gene, respectively, for species identification from raw meat, fat and three types of food products were optimized and developed. Genomic DNA of raw meats, fats and sausages were successfully extracted and were found to be of good quality. Genomic DNA was not detected from the extraction of casing samples and the yield of genomic DNA extracted from bread and biscuit samples were very low. PCR amplifications of mt cyt b gene and 12S rRNA gene produced DNA fragments of approximately 360 bp and 387 bp, respectively from the meat samples. However, no amplification product was observed from the bread and biscuit samples. The amplicons from the mt cyt b gene amplification were then digested with RE BsaJI resulting in species-specific RFLP profiles. The cyt b PCR-RFLP and species-specific PCR identification yielded excellent results for detection of pig derivatives in food products Crude protein were successfully extracted from three types of food products and subjected to ELISA. Using this technique, ten samples were shown to be contaminated with pig derivatives. Positive results were confirmed by observing the colour changes in the well of the ELISA plate. This technique highlighted an alternative in detection of pig derivatives in food products. From these studies, the utilization of PCR-RFLP and the utilization of mt cyt b and 12S rRNA gene in detecting pork and lard adulteration in selected food products were demonstrated. The use of ELISA was also shown to be fast and reliable in identification of pork and lard adulterated food products. However, PCR-RFLP and specific PCR techniques were determined to be better detection techniques for pork and lard adulteration in food products compared to ELISA. The findings from this study can serve as a basis of reference for the research in halal food authentication.


We introduce SparseVM, a method that registers clinical-quality 3D MR scans both faster and more accurately than previously possible. Deformable alignment, or registration, of clinical scans is a fundamental task for many clinical neuroscience studies. However, most registration algorithms are designed for high-resolution research-quality scans. In contrast to research-quality scans, clinical scans are often sparse, missing up to 86% of the slices available in research-quality scans. Existing methods for registering these sparse images are either inaccurate or extremely slow. We present a learning-based registration method, SparseVM, that is more accurate and orders of magnitude faster than the most accurate clinical registration meth-ods. To our knowledge, it is the first method to use deep learning specifically tailored to registering clinical images. We demonstrate our method on a clinically-acquired MRI dataset of stroke patients and on a simulated sparse MRI dataset. Our code is available as part of the VoxelMorph package at http://voxelmorph.mit.edu/.


We consider optimization of composite objective functions, i.e., of the form $f(x)=g(h(x))$, where $h$ is a black-box derivative-free expensive-to-evaluate function with vector-valued outputs, and $g$ is a cheap-to-evaluate real-valued function. While these problems can be solved with standard Bayesian optimization, we propose a novel approach that exploits the composite structure of the objective function to substantially improve sampling efficiency. Our approach models $h$ using a multi-output Gaussian process and chooses where to sample using the expected improvement evaluated on the implied non-Gaussian posterior on $f$, which we call expected improvement for composite functions (\ei). Although \ei\ cannot be computed in closed form, we provide a novel stochastic gradient estimator that allows its efficient maximization. We also show that our approach is asymptotically consistent, i.e., that it recovers a globally optimal solution as sampling effort grows to infinity, generalizing previous convergence results for classical expected improvement. Numerical experiments show that our approach dramatically outperforms standard Bayesian optimization benchmarks, reducing simple regret by several orders of magnitude.


In a recent essay in ELR, David Coursen queries whether environmental justice policies, which seek to avoid disproportionate environmental burdens on poor and minority communities, are on a 'collision course' with the Equal Protection Clause. In concluding that a potential collision is more illusory than real, Coursen offers a number of reasons why governmental actions to promote environmental justice have not been challenged in court and, even if they were to be, would not be subjected to strict judicial scrutiny. In this essay, I respond to Coursen's query. I argue that Coursen's Article is important for highlighting the curious fact that, to date, no equal protection challenge to an environmental justice policy has been adjudicated in the courts, even though these policies are explicitly race-conscious and would seem vulnerable to such challenge. Yet, one might fairly ask whether Coursen's quest to explain this fact at once proves too much and too little. On the one hand, Coursen makes too much of the potential constitutional obstacles that a challenger might face if a claim were to be brought. On the other hand, Coursen makes too little of the fact that existing environmental justice policies fall short of using race as a decisionmaking criterion to alter or change the structure of environmental regulatory decisions, which are largely based on technical, quantitative decisions subject to judicial deference. It is this latter reason, one might plausibly argue, that accounts for the lack of constitutional challenges to existing environmental justice policies. That is, perhaps environmental justice policies have remained relatively uncontroversial, both as a constitutional and policy matter, because they have not sought to use race as a criterion or means to adjust or redistribute levels of environmental protection to vulnerable minority populations.


The best–documented example of rapid climate change that characterized the so–called 'greenhouse world' took place at the time of the Palaeocene–Eocene boundary: introduction of isotopically light carbon into the ocean–atmosphere system, accompanied by global warming of 5–8 °C across a range of latitudes, took place over a few thousand years. Dissociation, release and oxidation of gas hydrates from continental–margin sites and the consequent rapid global warming from the input of greenhouses gases are generally credited with causing the abrupt negative excursions in carbon– and oxygen–isotope ratios. The isotopic anomalies, as recorded in foraminifera, propagated downwards from the shallowest levels of the ocean, implying that considerable quantities of methane survived upward transit through the water column to oxidize in the atmosphere. In the Mesozoic Era, a number of similar events have been recognized, of which those at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary, in the early Toarcian (Jurassic) and in the early Aptian (Cretaceous) currently carry the best documentation for dramatic rises in temperature. In these three examples, and in other less well–documented cases, the lack of a definitive time–scale for the intervals in question hinders calculation of the rate of environmental change. However, comparison with the Palaeocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) suggests that these older examples could have been similarly rapid. In both the early Toarcian and early Aptian cases, the negative carbon–isotope excursion precedes global excess carbon burial across a range of marine environments, a phenomenon that defines these intervals as oceanic anoxic events (OAEs). Osmium–isotope ratios (187Os/188Os) for both the early Toarcian OAE and the PETM show an excursion to more radiogenic values, demonstrating an increase in weathering and erosion of continental crust consonant with elevated temperatures. The more highly buffered strontium–isotope system (87Sr/86Sr) also shows relatively more radiogenic signatures during the early Toarcian OAE, but the early Aptian and Cenomanian–Turonian OAEs show the reverse effect, implying that increased rates of sea–floor spreading and hydrothermal activity dominated over continental weathering in governing sea–water chemistry. The Cretaceous climatic optimum (late Cenomanian to mid Turonian) also shows evidence for abrupt cooling episodes characterized by episodic invasion of boreal faunas into temperate and subtropical regions and changes in terrestrial vegetation; drawdown of CO2 related to massive marine carbon burial (OAE) may be implicated here. The absence of a pronounced negative carbon–isotope excursion preceding the Cenomanian–Turonian OAE indicates that methane release is not necessarily connected to global deposition of marine organic carbon, but relative thermal maxima are common to all OAEs. 'Cold snaps' have also been identified from the Mesozoic record but their duration, causes and effects are poorly documented.


Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking Vis-A-Vis Human Life – A Review
Use of drug is as old as age of human. Drugs as medicine are meant to help sick people, but in drug abuse, people use drugs to alter their brain function in harmful and dangerous ways. Drug abuse is now become an emerging health hazard for the common man who is living in the country with population blast. Drug abuse means any use of drugs that causes physical, psychological, legal or social harm to the user or to others who are affected by the drug user's behavior. India has a long and prosperous history of cultivation, production and use of drugs, particularly traditional and age old use of locally produced plant based natural drugs like opium and cannabis. In present article, historical aspect of drug abuse, current trends in drug abuse and illicit trafficking, risk factors of drug abuse and involvement of youth, preventive measures to be used had been discussed.


High-energy gamma-ray emission from the Galactic plane above ~100 MeV is composed of three main contributions: diffuse emission from cosmic ray interactions in the interstellar medium, emission from extended sources, such as supernova remnants and pulsar wind nebulae, and emission from isolated compact source populations. The diffuse emission and emission from the extended sources provide the dominant contribution to the flux almost everywhere in the inner Galaxy, preventing the detection of isolated compact sources. In spite of this difficulty, compact sources in the Galactic plane can be singled out based on the variability properties of their gamma-ray emission. Our aim is to find sources in the Fermi data that show long-term variability. We performed a systematic study of the emission variability from the Galactic plane, by constructing the variability maps. We find that emission from several directions along the Galactic plane is significantly variable on a time scale of months. These directions include, in addition to known variable Galactic sources and background blazars, the Galactic ridge region at positive Galactic longitudes and several regions containing young pulsars. We argue that variability on the time scale of months may be common to pulsars, originating from the inner parts of pulsar wind nebulae, similarly to what is observed in the Crab pulsar.


The black‐backed jackal Canis mesomelas, henceforth jackal, has re‐emerged as a threat to South African sheep farmers. This sparked contestation between farmers and conservationists over the reasons for their return and the relative merits of lethal and non‐lethal approaches to protecting livestock. Three separate reviews of the scientific literature converged on the same broad conclusion that lethal control of jackals is probably ineffective, but that more scientific research is necessary, especially on farms. We draw on historic evidence and recent research across a range of disciplines to show that jackal diet and behaviour varies regionally and alter in response to changing threats and opportunities. More data will not support generalisable conclusions and have already been eclipsed by broad‐scale changes in the political, economic and ecological landscapes of South Africa. Reduced government support for farmers, rising production costs and falling product prices, together with an increasing frequency of droughts, have conspired to weaken the collective management hand of farmers and, ultimately, contributed to a decline in the sheep farming industry. Many sheep farmers have sold their land to non‐commercial 'lifestyle' farmers or expanding nature reserves, creating a growing network of safer spaces for jackals to persist, from which their offspring can sink into neighbouring commercial farmland. When these landscape‐level changes are combined with the wide phenotypic plasticity and catholic diet of the jackal, we should be neither surprised at their resurgence nor contented with suggestions that more ecological research is likely to facilitate any sustainable solutions.


In this paper we address the problem of computing the probability response time distribution of periodic tasks scheduled on a uniprocessor systems. Our framework assumes an arbitrary non-idling preemptive scheduling policy that may be either a fixed-priority scheduler (such as Rate Monotonic - RM) or a dynamic-priority scheduler (such as Earliest Deadline First - EDF). At the same time, our framework can handle arbitrary execution time distributions arbitrary deadlines providing numerically accurate results. We also show how the framework can be extended to compute the correlation coefficients between the response times of different jobs by performing the joint analysis.


A fundamental problem for artificial intelligence is identifying perceptual primitives from raw sensory signals that are useful for higher-level reasoning. We equate these primitives with initially unknown recurring patterns called motifs. Autonomously learning the motifs is difficult because their number, location, length, and shape are all unknown. Furthermore, nonlinear temporal warping may be required to ensure the similarity of motif occurrences. In this paper, we extend a leading motif discovery algorithm by allowing it to operate on multidimensional sensor data, incorporating automatic parameter estimation, and providing for motif-specific similarity adaptation. We evaluate our algorithm on several data sets and show how our approach leads to faster real world discovery and more accurate motifs compared to other leading methods.


Purpose: Medical tourism service requires involvement of multiple parties from the service network, however medical tourism is not well studied from a supply chain management perspective. This study suggests a conceptual model of medical tourism service supply chain (MTSSC) to provide a clearer understanding of its nature, and defines its business processes. Design/methodology/approach: Triangulation which makes use of literature review, in-depth interviews, and expert evaluations was applied to develop and validate the suggested model. The proposed model is initialized based on the relevant literature. In-depth interviews were used to refine and finalize the model. Expert evaluations ensure the trustworthiness of the model and the business process definitions. Findings: The proposed model uses a nested process structure rather than a one-dimensional supply chain model, where the assistance company maintains an intermediary role between the patient and all the service providers (e.g. medical institutions, transportation, accommodation). Additionally, the conceptual model identifies seven business processes: service design, service recovery management, customer relationship management, supplier relationship management, demand management, capacity and resource management, and service delivery management. Practical implications: The results provide a better understanding of the MTSSC structure and processes, and a recognition of the MTSSC members. The process definitions give the members an idea about their roles in the service design and delivery in practice. Additionally, a better understanding of the system as a whole leads to better process development and control. MTSSC members may shape their organizations internally and supply chain-wide by considering this conceptual model. Moreover, the model acts as a basis for supply chain collaboration decisions. Originality/value: The conceptual model is built upon the theories and practice of medical tourism services, supply chain management, and service operations management. This study contributes to the theory of medical tourism services management by explaining the MTSSC concepts and business processes, and extends existing knowledge.


READY OR NOT? PERCEPTIONS OF MARRIAGE READINESS AMONG EMERGING ADULTS Sarah Badger Marriage, Family & Human Development Program Doctor of Philosophy The purpose of this study was to better understand the current culture of marriage preparation among emerging adults and the primary factors that influence their attitudes about marriage and family life. A total of 254 students from five universities in the United States completed questionnaires on criteria for marriage readiness and criteria for adulthood. The results indicate that we are witnessing the formation of a unique culture of marriage preparation in the rising generation of educated young adults in comparison to the one experienced by their parents and grandparents. This study supports the notion that marriage still matters for the majority of young people and that they are both planning and expecting to marry in the future. Although they continue to maintain a strong marriage ideal, it appears that a growing number of emerging adults believe that they will not be ready for marriage until they go through an extended period of single adulthood that permits them to explore and experiment in various areas of life. In addition, the results indicate that emerging adults may be as much preparing for divorce as they are preparing for marriage during this period of exploration and experimentation. Most importantly, the findings from this study present evidence that some emerging adults are taking certain pathways to marriage readiness that result in unintended consequences. Indeed, this study suggests that the single period of life known as emerging adulthood may be contributing to attitudes and behaviors that will be problematic for marriage readiness. Emerging adults may be establishing unstable foundations for their later marriages and scholars need to pay more attention to this critical period in order to prepare better emerging adults for marital success and family life.


Context: The 'Northern Dimension on Public Health and Social Well-being' is a platform for dialogue and cooperation of countries around the Baltic Sea, established in 2003, guided by the Sustainable Development Goal 3 on Health and Social Well-being and the Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region of the European Union adopted in 2009. In this paper we determine the overall progress of the Russian Federation and its North West Federal Okrugin in particular, with regard to the reduction of mortality.
Methods: For the purpose of inter-country comparison and progress over time we make use of age-standardised Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL) applied to quantifiable strategic targets, the Sustainable Development Goal 3 on Health and Social Well-being and the European Union Strategy of the Baltic Sea Region. A gap analysis is performed to determine whether the target achievement is in delay or on track.
Results: With reference to the baseline of 2009 – corresponding to the most relevant recent period 2009-2020 respectively 2009-2030 – the Russian Federation as a whole is on track achieving the two strategic targets in advance by 2.7 years. For the North West Federal Okrug around St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad bordering the Baltic Sea the target achievement is estimated to be 4.8 and 10.8 years in advance of the deadlines 2020 and 2030. In comparison to the Baltic Sea states the Russian Federation takes a middle position after Estonia, Latvia and Finland. The early target achievement is confirmed if the period 2003-2020 respectively 2003-2030 is considered.
Conclusion: Although the region is progressing there may be a slowdown towards 2030. A careful analysis is required to determine to which degree the activities of the Partnership for Health and Social Well-being have contributed to the success and what should be proposed to increase the impact on premature mortality.


Data management is much tedious task in growing data environment. Partitioning is the best possible solution which is partially accepted. Partitioning provides availability, maintenance and improvised query performance to the database users. This paper focuses the three key methods of partitioning and helps to reduce the delay in response time. Paper also investigates the composite partition strategies which includes the date, range and hash partitions. The paper shows the encouraging result with partitioning methods and basic composite partition strategies.


Parkinson's disease is characterized by loss of dopaminergic neurones in the substantia nigra of the basal ganglia. Parkinson's disease comprises a classical triad of resting tremor, muscle rigidity, and bradykinesia, in addition to loss of postural reflexes. Parkinson's disease is an important cause of perioperative morbidity and a major risk factor for postoperative complications in the elderly surgical patients. Drugs used during anaesthesia may interact with anti-parkinsonian medication. There are still arguements on whether general or regional anesthesia should be the anesthesic approach for a patient with Parkinson's disease. Regional anesthesia with sedation can be preferred to general anesthesia especially in patients with cardiopulmonary diseases. In this case report, a 81-year-old patient with Parkinson's syndrome who had cardiac and respiratory distress and who was planned for undergoing internal fixation of femoral fractures is presented. Because of severe pneumonia we considered the patients to be at high risk for general anesthesia and performed low-dose selective spinal anesthesia at L4L5 level. 20 minutes after the begining of the operation, although without pain the patient became restless and he was sedated with propofol maintaining spontaneous ventilation. During the operation hemodynamic data was stable and the operation was successfully carried out without any complication.


The effects of viral lysis on dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and particulate and dissolved dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) concentrations were studied in batch cultures of Phaeocystis pouchetii infected with a strain‐specific viral isolate. After 20 h, DMS concentration had increased by fourfold over the levels observed in the control cultures, and this increased to eightfold 45 h after addition of viral particles. The results suggest that viral lysis of DMSP‐containing phytoplankton cells should be considered alongside autolysis, grazing, and bacterial activity as a process that can influence DMS concentrations in seawater. Further research will be necessary to determine the importance of viruses in the biogeochemical DMS cycle in the natural environment.


TiO2 is an effective and well-known photocatalyst for water and air purification, but its practical applications in visible light-assisted chemical reactions are hindered mainly by its poor visible light absorption capacity. Nitrogen-doped TiO2 (N-doped TiO2) has attracted considerable attention as a photocatalyst, and rapid progress has been made in enhancing the photocatalytic efficiency of TiO2 under visible light irradiation. N-doped TiO2 exhibits broad absorption in the visible region, which can allow the utilization of a large part of the solar spectrum. This might be useful for environmental and energy applications, such as the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants, solar cells, sensors, and water splitting reactions. This review focuses on the major developments in the synthesis of N-doped TiO2 and its possible applications in the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants and environmental remediation under visible light irradiation.


In the recent decades of particle accelerator RD area,the fixed field alternating gradient(FFAG) accelerator has become a highlight for some advantages of its higher beam intensity and lower cost,although there are still some technical challenges.In this paper,the FFAG accelerator is adopted to accelerate a helium ion beam on the one hand for the study of helium embrittlement on fusion reactor envelope material and on the other hand for promoting the conception research and design of the FFAG accelerator and exploring the possibility of developing high power FFAG accelerators.The conventional period focusing unit of the helium ion FFAG accelerator and threedimensional model of the large aperture combinatorial magnet by OPERA-TOSCA are given.For low energy and low revolution frequency,induction acceleration is proposed to replace conventional radio frequency(RF) acceleration for the helium ion FFAG accelerator,which avoids the potential breakdown of the acceleration field caused by the wake field and improves the acceleration repetition frequency to gain higher beam intensity.The main parameters and three-dimensional model of induction cavity are given.Two special constraint waveforms are proposed to refrain from particle accelerating time slip(T) caused by accelerating voltage drop of flat top and energy deviation.The particle longitudinal motion in two waveforms is simulated.


Every four years, the United States chooses a president and vice president. Millions of Americans exercise the right to vote, believing that they are voting for the candidates of their choice. In actuality, 538 relatively unknown party insiders known as electors officially choose the president a month later in fifty-one obscure meetings. Most of the time, these electors mirror the popular votes. However, whether these electors are required to do so and whether the states can enforce laws requiring them to do so are open questions. The Tenth Circuit recently declared statutes that bind electors unconstitutional. A few months before that decision, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that these laws and their enforceability are constitutional. This Note identifies the arguments for each position, analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each position, and identifies any issues not considered either by legal scholars or by the courts. Finally, this Note agrees with the Washington State Supreme Court that these laws are constitutional and implores the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm the Washington State Supreme Court's decision in June 2020 before one of those 538 electors can change the outcome of a future presidential election.


This paper explores mindsight in virtual communication, examining problems people face while communicating in virtual spaces with a focusing on email communication. Many have documented the problems encountered when they are communicating with others on email. Face to face communication includes facial and interpersonal clues that enhances interaction. Other problems people face include misunderstanding in communication and information overload. These problems disrupt workflow, and can cause stress among workers, which in turn reduces job satisfaction and production. These problems are common in academic world, especially among people found in learning environment, who have to use email communicate continuously because of the nature of their job and activities. It is believed that every learning environment utilizes one form of email communication or the other on several levels and for different purposes. Scholars have put forward suggested technical solutions that are mainly software and policy inclined. This paper attempts to understand the human in-depth factors to the problem. Data collection for the study commenced by sending questionnaires to students to assess the levels of their communication in relation to their environment, personal tendencies, being understood and understanding others during email communication etc. Evidence in the data analysis suggested that most of the students found it difficult to retain attention while doing their emails and they were unable to understand how others felt. It was also discovered that people do not necessarily seek to be understood when they send email communication. Based on the findings, it was concluded, that an intervention, such as mindsight, might enable people to retain attention with some level of personal and environmental awareness that might enhance their ability to understand their feelings and that of others while communicating on email. Therefore, it is recommended that a more rigorous application of mindsight exercise should be explored by students who engage in virtual communication in learning environments.


We have previously shown that regenerated cutaneous afferents exhibit sensitization. These changes were correlated with increased expression of neurotrophic factors in the affected skin, and receptors and ion channels in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Here we found that saphenous nerve injury resulted in similar alterations in gene expression in the skin innervated by the uninjured contralateral saphenous nerve. Several Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) and GDNF ligands were upregulated in the dorsal hindpaw hairy skin 7-21 days following contralateral saphenous nerve axotomy. This increase in expression was correlated with upregulation of several receptors and ion channels in the L2,3 DRGs, including GFRα1, nucleotide receptors P2X3, P2Y1, and P2Y2, heat transducing channel TRPV1, and acid-sensing ion channels 1 (ASIC1) and 3 (ASIC3). Characterization of intact saphenous afferent fibers revealed that 4-5 weeks after contralateral injury, C-polymodal population had significantly reduced heat thresholds. There was also a significant increase in the proportion of mechanically insensitive-heat sensitive (CH) neurons. These findings provide evidence of peripheral mechanisms that may be involved in the development of mirror-image pain, a clinical phenomenon in which patients experience pain in the healthy region of the body contralateral to the injury site. The changes in the response properties of intact afferents at 4-5 weeks following contralateral injury were correlated with upregulation of P2Y1 and TRPV1 in the DRGs at 28d post-injury, and we investigated the role of these two targets in the functional plasticity observed by utilizing an in vivo small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown strategy to target the upregulation of P2Y1 and TRPV1 in the L2,3 DRGs at 28 days following contralateral injury. We found that blocking P2Y1 upregulation prevented the heat threshold reduction in C-polymodal afferents and conclude that P2Y1 plays a critical role in the heat sensitivity of these fibers. We then found that blocking the upregulation of TRPV1 blocked the recruitment of C-heat fibers. Taken together, our findings suggest that chronic exposure of intact cutaneous sensory neurons to increased endogenous levels of neurotrophic factors results in upregulation of target receptors and ion channels in the DRG and sensitization and phenotypic changes in intact sensory neurons.


Generalized speedup is defined as parallel speed over sequential speed. In this paper the generalized speedup and its relation with other existing performance metrics, such as traditional speedup, efficiency, scalability, etc., are carefully studied. In terms of the introduced asymptotic speed, we show that the difference between the generalized speedup and the traditional speedup lies in the definition of the efficiency of uniprocessor processing, which is a very important issue in shared virtual memory machines. A scientific application has been implemented on a KSR-1 parallel computer. Experimental and theoretical results show that the generalized speedup is distinct from the traditional speedup and provides a more reasonable measurement. In the study of different speedups, an interesting relation between fixed-time and memory-bounded speedup is revealed. Various causes of superlinear speedup are also presented.


It is well known that software piracy is widespread. While the existing research on this subject has applied a number of theories in order to understand and prevent such an act, this text presents an alternative perspective by advancing two criminological theories. More specifically, a novel theoretical model is advanced, drawing on these theories entitled Techniques of 'Neutralization and Differential Association Theory. The former helps to explain how individuals are able to rationalize their criminal behaviour in a manner which absolves them of pressures from social norms and internal controls such as feelings of guilt and shame. The latter explains how criminality is developed through a learning process taking place in personal groups. While empirical research is needed to test the model further, it is argued that these theories offer both an alternative perspective on the intention to commit software piracy, but also potentially open up new avenues for preventing this crime.


The Australian Health Services Research Institute (AHSRI), University of Wollongong,was commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Health (the Department) in August 2017 to undertake the 'Resource Utilisation and Classification Study'(RUCS). This followedan earlier review of the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI)1which concluded that ACFI did not reflect the care needs of residents nor did payments reflect the relative costs of providing care. The ACFI review recommended the development of a new casemix classification and funding assessment framework. The RUCS comprised four separate but closely related studies, each of which included separate data collection and analysis elements that have been synthesised to produce a classification and associated funding model, the Australian National Aged Care Classification (ANACC), for implementation across the Australian residential aged care sector.A brief outline of the RUCS is provided in Appendix 1. This is the second of a series of reports that present the results of the body of work completed as part of the overall RUCS program.This report (Report 2) describes the new assessment model developed to support the AN-ACC. It contains details of the AN-ACC Assessment Tool including its development using expert clinical panels, field-testing outcomes, and the recommended business rules regarding assessment, reassessmentprotocols and triggers. The report also describes the skills and competencies necessary for the AN-ACC assessment workforce.


Art scholars have puzzled over the behavior of Pablo Picasso, Gerhard Richter, and Sigmar Polke - important modern painters who have made frequent and abrupt changes of style. Yet in each case the scholars have assumed this behavior to be idiosyncratic, and have consequently failed to recognize its common basis. Versatility is in fact often a characteristic of conceptual innovators, whose ability to solve specific problems can free them to pursue new goals. This contrasts sharply with the practice of experimental artists, whose inability to achieve their goals often ties them to a single style for a whole career. The phenomenon of the conceptual innovator who produces diverse innovations is an important feature of twentieth-century art; Picasso was the prototype, and he was followed by a series of others, from Marcel Duchamp through Damien Hirst. Versatility has furthermore been a characteristic not only of modern conceptual painters, but also of conceptual innovators in other arts, and conceptual scholars. Recognizing the common basis of this behavior increases our understanding of human creativity.


The results of the learning to rank challenge showed that the quality of the predictions from the top competitors are very close from each other. This raises a question: is learning to rank a solved problem? On the on hand, it is likely that only small incremental progress can be made in the "core" and traditional problematics of learning to rank. The challenge was set in this standard learning to rank scenario: optimize a ranking measure on a test set. But on the other hand, there are a lot of related questions and settings in learning to rank that have not been yet fully explored. We review some of them in this paper and hope that researchers interested in learning to rank will try to answer these challenging and exciting research questions.


Estimates of extreme water level return periods in river systems are crucial for hydraulic engineering design and planning. Recorded historical water level data of Taiwan's rivers are not long enough for traditional frequency analyses when predicting extreme water levels for different return periods. In this study, the integration of a one-dimensional flash flood routing hydrodynamic model with the Monte Carlo simulation was used to predict extreme water levels in the Danshuei River system of northern Taiwan. The numerical model was calibrated and verified with observed water levels using four typhoon events. The results indicated a reasonable agreement between the model simulation and observation data. Seven parameters, including the astronomical tide and surge height at the mouth of the Danshuei River and the river discharge at five gauge stations, were adopted to calculate the joint probability and generate stochastic scenarios via the Monte Carlo simulation. The validated hydrodynamic model driven by the stochastic scenarios was then used to simulate extreme water levels for further frequency analysis. The design water level was estimated using different probability distributions in the frequency analysis at five stations. The design high-water levels for a 200-year return period at Guandu Bridge, Taipei Bridge, Hsin-Hai Bridge, Da-Zhi Bridge, and Chung-Cheng Bridge were 2.90, 5.13, 6.38, 6.05, and 9.94 m, respectively. The estimated design water levels plus the freeboard are proposed and recommended for further engineering design and planning. Article history: Received 26 October 2018 Revised 3 January 2019 Accepted 18 January 2019


Feet-ground interactions influence the legged robot's stability. In this paper, a high-resolution indirect force measurement for hydraulic-legged robots is presented. The use of pressure transducers placed at one or both chambers of the robot's double-effect hydraulic actuators is investigated, and conclusions are drawn regarding their capability for indirectly measuring the contact forces between the feet and the ground. Because of the nonlinear dynamic properties of hydraulic cylinders, friction modeling is essential to determine at all times the true forces of each foot against the soil. The test case is called ROBOCLIMBER, which is a bulky quadruped climbing and walking machine able to carry heavy-duty drilling equipment for landslide consolidation and monitoring works. Sensor calibration and signal filtering requirements are also taken into consideration. To end, the overall proposed approach to measure feet-ground interactions is experimentally evaluated.