Background Little is known about the effects of overall diet in childhood and intelligence later in life. Methods The current study, based on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, uses data on children's diet reported by parents in food-frequency questionnaires at 3, 4, 7 and 8.5 years of age. Dietary patterns were identified using principal-components analysis and scores computed at each age. IQ was assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children at 8.5 years. Data on a number of confounders were collected, and complete data were available for 3966 children. Results After adjustment, the 'processed' (high fat and sugar content) pattern of diet at 3 years of age was negatively associated with IQ assessed at 8.5 years of age—a 1 SD increase in dietary pattern score was associated with a 1.67 point decrease in IQ (95% CI −2.34 to −1.00; p<0.0001). The 'health-conscious' (salad, rice, pasta, fish, fruit) pattern at 8.5 years was positively associated with IQ: a 1 SD increase in pattern score led to a 1.20 point increase in IQ (95% CI 0.52 to 1.88; p=0.001). Conclusion There is evidence that a poor diet associated with high fat, sugar and processed food content in early childhood may be associated with small reductions in IQ in later childhood, while a healthy diet, associated with high intakes of nutrient rich foods described at about the time of IQ assessment may be associated with small increases in IQ.


On May 16, 2016, the much-anticipated era of retail crowdfunding officially began in the United States. While it is far too early to pass judgment on the long-term prospects of the crowdfunding project more generally, it is possible at this juncture to assess how certain aspects of crowdfunding are developing. With respect to the menu of financing instruments being offered to prospective investors, we believe that early market participants are potentially sabotaging the crowdfunding experiment by making widespread use of a relatively new startup-financing instrument — the simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) — that may frustrate the ability of investors to share in the upside of successful crowdfunding companies.The SAFE was developed by Y Combinator, the well-known startup accelerator based in Silicon Valley, as a means of investing in startups that expected to raise institutional venture capital at a later date. Although the SAFE resembles a classic seed-stage convertible note in most respects, it lacks the convertible note's maturity date and does not accrue interest while it remains outstanding. It does not pay dividends, and the SAFE holder has no right to vote on matters submitted to shareholders. The SAFE is, in essence, a contractual derivative instrument that amounts to a deferred equity investment. It will prove valuable to the holder if, and only if, the company that issues it raises a subsequent round of financing, is sold or goes public.The key problem with the use of SAFEs in crowdfunding is that many of the companies issuing them are unlikely ever to raise institutional venture capital. If a crowdfunding issuer never raises this type of capital, then the retail investors who hold that issuer's SAFEs may find themselves in possession of a security that, in addition to granting the holder no voting rights or other investor protections, may never provide them with a return on their capital — or a return of their original investment amount — even if the company is successful. Sophisticated investors who invest in SAFEs in the context of early-stage technology companies knowingly assume these risks because they only invest in companies they expect will successfully raise venture capital in short order following their investment. By contrast, retail investors who invest in SAFEs offered by companies that are unlikely to raise venture capital may not fully appreciate the risks that they are taking by purchasing those SAFEs.There are a number of ways by which this mismatch between instrument and company might be addressed. Our preferred approach is for the funding portals simply to remove the SAFE from their menu of financing instruments. A crowdfunding company that is a likely candidate for raising future venture capital and wants to issue a SAFE-like security could instead issue a standard convertible note, which is similar to the SAFE in many respects but offers more protections to retail crowdfunding investors. Alternatively, the company could issue debt, common equity or preferred equity. These alternatives are, in our view, more suitable vehicles for channeling retail investment capital to crowdfunding companies than is the SAFE.


A new class of online services allows Internet media sites to direct users from articles they are currently reading to other content they may be interested in. This process creates a "browsing path" along which there is potential for repeated interaction between the user and the provider, giving rise to a dynamic optimization problem. A key metric that often underlies this recommendation process is the click-through rate (CTR) of candidate articles. Whereas CTR is a measure of instantaneous click likelihood, we analyze the performance improvement that one may achieve by some lookahead that accounts for the potential future path of users. To that end, by using some data of user path history at major media sites, we introduce and derive a representation of content along two key dimensions: clickability, the likelihood to click to an article when it is recommended; and engageability, the likelihood to click from an article when it hosts a recommendation. We then propose a class of heuristics that leverage both clickability and engageability, and provide theoretical support for favoring such path-focused heuristics over myopic heuristics that focus only on clickability (no lookahead). We conduct a live pilot experiment that measures the performance of a practical proxy of our proposed class, when integrated into the operating system of a worldwide leading provider of content recommendations, allowing us to estimate the aggregate improvement in clicks per visit relative to the CTR-driven current practice. The documented improvement highlights the importance and the practicality of efficiently incorporating the future path of users in real time.


XML data is often accompanied by type information, usually expressed by some schema language. Sometimes XML data can be related to ontologies defining classes of objects, such classes can also be interpreted as types. Type systems proved to be extremely useful in programming languages, for instance to automatically discover certain kinds of errors. This thesis deals with an XML query language Xcerpt, which originally has no underlying type system nor any provision for taking advantage of existing type information. We provide a type system for Xcerpt; it makes possible type inference and checking type correctness.The system is descriptive: the types associated with Xcerpt constructs are sets of data terms and approximate the semantics of the constructs. A formalism of Type Definitions is adapted to specify such sets. The formalism may be seen as a simplification and abstraction of XML schema languages. The type inference method, which is the core of this work, may be seen as abstract interpretation. A non standard way of assuring termination of fixed point computations is proposed, as standard approaches are too inefficient. The method is proved correct wrt. the formal semantics of Xcerpt.We also present a method for type checking of programs. A success of type checking implies that the program is correct wrt. its type specification. This means that the program produces results of the specified type whenever it is applied to data of the given type. On the other hand, a failure of type checking suggests that the program may be incorrect. Under certain conditions (on the program and on the type specification), the program is actually incorrect whenever the proof attempt fails.A prototype implementation of the type system has been developed and usefulness of the approach is illustrated on example programs.In addition, the thesis outlines possibility of employing semantic types (ontologies) in Xcerpt. Introducing ontology classes into Type Definitions makes possible discovering some errors related to the semantics of data queried by Xcerpt. We also extend Xcerpt with a mechanism of combining XML queries with ontology queries. The approach employs an existing Xcerpt engine and an ontology reasoner; no modifications are required.


The AMES (Aging Materials Evaluation and Studies) Network started its activity in 1993 with the aim of studying the consequences and the mechanisms of the aging process in materials used for nuclear reactor components. Together with ENIQ, NESC, and EPERC, it forms the so-called Structural Integrity of Industrial Components cluster of networks operated by the Joint Research Centre-Institute for Advanced Materials of the European Commission. Initial activities of the network were the compilation of state-of-the-art reports on nondestructive monitoring techniques for thermal aging, dosimetry, survey of regulatory requirements, and predictive formulas for irradiation embrittlement as a result of in-kind contributions and projects cofunded by the 4 th Euratom Framework Program. A brief overview of the outcome of these projects is given. With the start of the 5 th Euratom Framework Program, AMES has now entered its third strategy phase. Most of the projects approved by the Steering Committee and proposed to the Nuclear Fission Safety Key Action of the program to cover aspects of irradiation embrittlement and nondestructive monitoring were selected for funding. Their focus is on the influence of chemical composition, namely phosphorus and nickel content, on the irradiation embrittlement of reactor pressure vessel materials, on the improvement of surveillance temperature measurement, on the validation of the master curve approach, and on nondestructive techniques to monitor aging of irradiated steels. The paper describes the objectives of the new 5 th Framework Program projects and their matching with the AMES strategy, pointing out the involvement of CEEC and NIS countries.


In recent years, students, scholars, and lay readers of the Bible have been increasingly drawn to the book of Ruth. Delving deeply into the complicated nature of its characters' relationships, Jeremy Schipper encourages readers to consider the roles that categories of difference involving gender, disability, household status, ethnicity, and sexual desire play throughout the text. This fresh translation of the deceptively simple book is more literal and less idiosyncratic than its predecessors. Combining the traditional strengths of the Anchor Yale Bible series with the latest research in biblical scholarship, Schipper's much-needed volume will succeed Edward F. Campbell's 1975 edition as the go-to commentary for years to come.


The use of machine learning has become a common approach for solving complex problems across multiple application domains. As its usage often requires training and validation of models with large and heterogeneous datasets, the engineering of these datasets becomes a critical task, although in many cases it does not follow any well-defined process. In this demonstration paper, we present a novel approach to dataset engineering, which comprises the construction, structuring, understanding, and reuse of datasets from a semantic perspective. Our approach uses a hybrid conceptual model called Hyperknowledge, which can semantically describe both symbolic and non-symbolic nodes, including representing the datasets' structure and enabling dataset retrieval/creation queries.


Urbanization process has been faced with servicing inequalities, population distribution, and unbalanced urban growth in developing countries. Instability caused by the unbalanced growth has been represented in the form of lack of spatial-social balances with manifestations of urban poverty, informal housing and employment, and environmental pollution. This research studies existing social and spatial inequalities in different areas and districts of Yazd City and their relationship with each other. Research methodology is descriptiveanalytical and necessary data have been collected through library method and mostly using the information of Yazd detailed plan in 2009. Ranking Yazd areas and districts regarding social development using 15 indexes and TOPSIS and Taxonomy method showed that district 3, areas 2-2 are in the first rank, and area 1-2 is in the last place. Choosing the average of land price as a criterion for assessing economic inequality among different areas of the city and comparing this index using ANOVA test indicate that there is a difference among different areas of Yazd so that area 2-3 has the highest value and area 1-1 has the least. Correlation test among the rate of social development of areas and land price in them done with Pearson's correlation coefficient indicates significant and positive relationship between these two variables. Thus, we consider increase in land price in line with social development rise in different areas of Yazd city.


The timing and duration of sexual brood production in ants can affect their rate of spread and colony growth. Because protein is key to larval growth, queen survival and fecundity, macronutrient collection by foraging workers is expected to favour protein prior to and throughout gyne production. However, food preference driven by the production of gynes may be overridden by a preference associated with worker production, especially if investment in workers vastly outweighs that of sexual brood and workers are produced on different schedules. Food preferences alone may not indicate the availability of that food type in the environment. On Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, sexual brood of the invasive Yellow Crazy Ant, Anoplolepis gracilipes (Smith, 1857), was produced annually during a single period associated with the onset of the wet season. However, workers were produced continuously throughout the year and colony investment to worker production measured by the standing biomass of eggs, larvae and pupae, typically exceeded 98%. High, aseasonal investment in worker production, together with aseasonal worker activity, would suggest that there should be no seasonal preference shown by workers at food stations containing both protein and carbohydrate. However, workers showed a preference for one food type over another on 46 of 61 occasions at one site and on 31 of 41 occasions at another. When a preference was shown, it was predominantly for protein‐rich food during the dry season and almost always for carbohydrate at the onset and during the wet season. We suggest that these preferences reflect seasonal shortages in key resources when invertebrates (protein‐rich) are scarce during the dry season and honeydew from scale insects (carbohydrate) is depleted by rain during the wet season. On Christmas Island, timing and duration of the dry season preference for protein has been exploited by the control program for A. gracilipes supercolonies, which deploys a toxin in a proteinaceous bait matrix during dry periods.


This paper compares the bias and efficiencies of different estimation techniques aimed at creating a unique set of case weights, which can be used to estimate characteristics for both person and household variables in a household sampling survey. The resulting estimates are compatible with external population information and thus attempt to correct for differential non-response (i.e. under-representation of certain parts of the population). The existing techniques of calibration and integrated weighting and cosmetic estimators are combined and modified to give improved weighted estimators. The theoretical properties of these estimators are outlined, and the performance of the estimators is investigated via simulation studies and by application to a data set. The effect of using auxiliary information on persons only, or on both persons and households, is evaluated. The performance of the estimators under condition of differential non-response has been simulated by using unequal probability sampling to mimic such conditions.


Adhesion proteins are responsible for the structural integrity of epithelial tissue and in tumors this integrity is often lost, resulting in a disorganization of the tissue. In the present study the complexity of the invasive front of colon carcinomas was correlated with cell adhesion protein expression and with polymorphisms in their genes. A complexity index was constructed from 32 colon carcinomas using computer‐assisted morphometry estimating fractal dimension and tumor cell clusters followed by tree analysis. Immunohistochemical staining of beta‐catenin, E‐cadherin, occludin and claudin 2 was used for assessment of protein expression. Genetic screening of tissue from the tumor invasion front with laser microdissection was performed using SSCP and DNA sequencing. Adhesion protein distribution was significantly disturbed in most carcinomas. A single mutation in the gene of beta‐catenin was found but there was no correlation between protein expression and genetic polymorphism. Nor was there any correlation between the complexity of the invasive border and protein distribution or genetic alterations. The results indicate that the complexity of colon carcinoma invasion is not dependent on genetic derangements in the genes of adhesion proteins or the protein distribution. Rather, aberrations in the function of other proteins related to the adhesive proteins could be responsible.


If the population bubble known as the Baby Boomers continue to consume alcohol at higher than expected levels as they age into the middle and older adult categories it could have a substantial impact on future health care needs. This problem will be compounded if Boomers also take analgesic (pain-relief) medications when consuming alcohol. The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of alcohol and analgesic usage in the Baby Boomer cohort and to ascertain whether there is an association between alcohol, analgesics, and pain. Drinking alcohol while also taking analgesics can have serious health consequences and, depending on the type of analgesic, could result in acute liver failure or other serious health problems. Data were analyzed from the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for participants born during the Baby Boomer cohort years of 1946-1964. Analysis by SUDAAN indicated that approximately 67% of the Boomers are drinking alcohol beyond what is considered a moderate level by the CDC and NIAAA. More than half the respondents had used analgesics daily or almost every day for at least a month (females = 58.7%; males = 40.5%) and Boomers who are currently using analgesics (females = 19.35%; males = 16.34%). There was a significant association for respondents who reported consuming 12 or more drinks during the past 12 months and who were currently taking analgesics (p = 0.02). A statistically significant association found for respondents who reported experiencing persistent pain in the past 12 months and who had binged (5 or more drinks) at least once during the past 12 months with taking RX analgesics (CMH: p = 0.03, df = 1).


Problem statement: Human ping-pong players determine the stroke trajectory according to their experience before the ball enters their court. However, to enable a humanoid robot to select the appropriate stroke motion based on skills learned from 3D motion, important patterns must be generated to simplify the complex 3D motion. Approach: This study developed an effective strategy for teaching ping-pong skills to a humanoid robot. An optical/inertial motion-capture system that retrieves the stroke motion was constructed, along with the retrieved stroke motion trajectories analyzed to obtain the desired stroke patterns of the robot. Results: A motion capture system was implemented mainly to orient the robot on the stroke motion trajectory. This system was applied directly to a ping-pong game between a human player and a pitching machine to enable the robot to learn backhand strokes through human demonstration. The ball was continuously struck to the opponent so that it hit the anticipated region on the opposite side of the court while the pitching machine served the ball. The data were then classified using the proposed stopping detector and then processed by Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to generate the stroke patterns after collecting 50 datasets for stroke trajectories. Conclusion: The right arm of the humanoid robot was successfully instructed to perform the actual ping-pong stroke using the generated trajectory.


Bayesian optimization is a sample-efficient approach to global optimization that relies on theoretically motivated value heuristics (acquisition functions) to guide its search process. Fully maximizing acquisition functions produces the Bayes' decision rule, but this ideal is difficult to achieve since these functions are frequently non-trivial to optimize. This statement is especially true when evaluating queries in parallel, where acquisition functions are routinely non-convex, high-dimensional, and intractable. We first show that acquisition functions estimated via Monte Carlo integration are consistently amenable to gradient-based optimization. Subsequently, we identify a common family of acquisition functions, including EI and UCB, whose characteristics not only facilitate but justify use of greedy approaches for their maximization.


Abstract. Atmospheric soluble organic aerosol material can become solid or semi-solid. Due to increasing viscosity and decreasing diffusivity, this can impact important processes such as gas uptake and reactivity within aerosols containing such substances. This work explores the dependence of shikimic acid ozonolysis on humidity and thereby viscosity. Shikimic acid, a proxy for oxygenated reactive organic material, reacts with O 3 in a Criegee-type reaction. We used an environmental microreactor embedded in a scanning transmission X-ray microscope (STXM) to probe this oxidation process. This technique facilitates in situ measurements with single micron-sized particles and allows to obtain near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra with high spatial resolution. Thus, the chemical evolution of the interior of the particles can be followed under reaction conditions. The experiments show that the overall degradation rate of shikimic acid is depending on the relative humidity in a way that is controlled by the decreasing diffusivity of ozone with decreasing humidity. This decreasing diffusivity is most likely linked to the increasing viscosity of the shikimic acid–water mixture. The degradation rate was also depending on particle size, most congruent with a reacto-diffusion limited kinetic case where the reaction progresses only in a shallow layer within the bulk. No gradient in the shikimic acid concentration was observed within the bulk material at any humidity indicating that the diffusivity of shikimic acid is still high enough to allow its equilibration throughout the particles on the timescale of hours at higher humidity and that the thickness of the oxidized layer under dry conditions, where the particles are solid, is beyond the resolution of STXM.


Accessible Summary

This research looked at young children's attitudes towards the use of a signing system by children with Down syndrome, in mainstream school.
These attitudes can help to reveal factors which support the successful use of signing as well as those that make it difficult to use signs effectively in a mainstream setting.
The results show that although children expressed a number of difficulties in relation to signing, overall they have a positive attitude towards signing on which we should capitalise, to enhance the communicative experiences of both the children with Down syndrome and their peers in mainstream school.

Abstract

Background: Lamh is a key word signing approach used in Ireland, which can support the communication needs of children with Down syndrome. However, the success of this approach in mainstream schools relies heavily on the attitudes of those within the school environment. To date, two studies have explored the attitudes of teaching staff towards the use of keyword signing in schools; however, no previous research has investigated peer attitudes towards this method of communication. This study aimed to explore the attitudes of peers towards the use of Lamh by children with Down syndrome in mainstream schools.

Materials and Methods: The study was qualitative, using interpretative phenomenological analysis procedures to analyse eight interviews with children, ranging in age from 6 to 8 years.

Results and Conclusion: Overall, mainstream school peers demonstrated an understanding and an appreciation of the use of key word signing. However, the success of this approach within the school was limited by a number of challenges evinced by the school peers, including making the signs accurately and remembering their meanings. Given the important interactive role of the peers of a child with Down syndrome in a mainstream school setting, these challenges need to be addressed to optimise the use of key word signing and increase the likelihood of successful communication between children with Down syndrome and their peers.


The recognition of the Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) as a potential global threat to sea turtle eggs represents yet another instance of an emerging fungal infection impacting wildlife. Traditionally, culturing has been used to identify fungi associated with sea turtle eggs. Since culturing recovers only a subset of environmental microbes, a molecular approach was adopted instead to survey the fungal composition inside unhatched eggs. DNA was directly extracted from the embryonic fluid and biofilms in 73 fully incubated unhatched loggerhead sea turtle eggs collected from different regions of Jekyll Island, GA, USA, in 2010 and 2012. The fungal internal transcribed spacer region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS nrDNA) was amplified from the DNA samples, and ITS products were cloned, sequenced and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. Sequences corresponded to previously cultivated fungi and were dominated by the FSSC members Fusarium falciforme and F. keratoplasticum. These fungi were consistently de tected in unhatched eggs throughout Jekyll Island during each nesting year examined. Fusarium falciforme and F. keratoplasticum ITS sequences were nearly identical to isolates implicated in causing disease in sea turtle embryos from Ascension Island, Australia, Central America and Cape Verde. This represents the first survey establishing these fungal groups in North American loggerhead eggs and provides confirmation of the widespread distribution of F. falciforme and F. keratoplasticum using a novel approach. As we begin to meet conservation goals of species recovery, density-dependent management issues such as emerging fungal infections become a growing concern. Assessing the long-term impacts of Fusarium may be a rising priority.


The microbes that live in an environment can be identified from the genomic material that is present, also referred to as the metagenome. Using Next Generation Sequencing techniques this genomic material can be obtained from the environment, resulting in a large set of sequencing reads. A proper assembly of these reads into contigs or even full genomes allows one to identify the microbial species and strains that live in the environment. Assembling a metagenome is a challenging task and can benefit from clustering the reads into species-specific bins prior to assembly. In this paper we propose OGRE, an Overlap-Graph based Read clustEring procedure for metagenomic read data. OGRE is the only method that can successfully cluster reads in species-specific bins for large metagenomic datasets without running into computation time-or memory issues.


Some conclusions on the vulnerability of hydrologic regions in Mexico to future changes in climate can be drawn from the application of regional-scale thermal-hydrological models. Climate changes induced by the doubling of atmospheric CO2 have been predicted for the year 2050 by general circulation models (GCMs) and energy balance models (EBMs). The results obtained suggest that potential changes in air temperature and precipitation may have a dramatic impact on the pattern and magnitude of runoff, on soil moisture and evaporation, as well as on the aridity level of some hydrologic zones of Mexico. However, in other cases climate change is hkely to produce a positive effect. Indlces were estimated for quantifying the vulnerability of hydrologic regions and of the country as a whole. These vulnerability indices were defined according to cntena previously established for studies of this type. The indices provide information about both the hydrologic zones which are vulnerable even under current climate conditions and others which may be vulnerable to future climate changes.


The prevailing paradigm of resilience in architecture relies on the assumption that a building is a static artifact. But historical models of resilience enable buildings to be in a constant state of flux, able to adapt their physical form in response to societal and environmental changes. The thousands of wooden churches in the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe have physically transmuted over time thanks to the malleability of their constituent materials. Wood has endured as a material of profound social importance and wooden construction has proven to be adaptable for continuing use and longevity. With wood making a comeback through mass-timber technologies, could the wooden churches of Eastern Europe help us improve how we design and build for resilience today?


Human serum proteins can be analyzed and evaluated by using either gel-based microchip (LabChip) or traditional SDS-PAGE. However, this study concludes that a sample under reducing conditions analyzed by SDS-PAGE is more time-consuming than when using a Bioanalyzer in combination with the LabChip to perform the same task. The assay software automatically calculated the size and concentrations of serum proteins and deglycosylated serum proteins. It displayed the results in real-time, thus eliminating lengthy procedures such as imaging and analyzing. Compared to the traditional reducing SDS-PAGE, LabChip also allowed the analysis of human serum proteins with more accuracy, and a faster turnaround time. This suggested that LabChip has the potential to be used in the clinical analysis of human serum proteins.


Abstract. Reconstructions of summer, winter or annual mean temperatures based on the species composition of bio-indicators such as pollen, foraminifera or chironomids are routinely used in climate model–proxy data comparison studies. Most reconstruction algorithms exploit the joint distribution of modern spatial climate and species distribution for the development of the reconstructions. They rely on the space-for-time substitution and the specific assumption that environmental variables other than those reconstructed are not important or that their relationship with the reconstructed variable(s) should be the same in the past as in the modern spatial calibration dataset. Here we test the implications of this "correlative uniformitarianism" assumption on climate reconstructions in an ideal model world, in which climate and vegetation are known at all times. The alternate reality is a climate simulation of the last 6000 years with dynamic vegetation. Transient changes of plant functional types are considered as surrogate pollen counts and allow us to establish, apply and evaluate transfer functions in the modeled world. We find that in our model experiments the transfer function cross validation r2 is of limited use to identify reconstructible climate variables, as it only relies on the modern spatial climate–vegetation relationship. However, ordination approaches that assess the amount of fossil vegetation variance explained by the reconstructions are promising. We furthermore show that correlations between climate variables in the modern climate–vegetation relationship are systematically extended into the reconstructions. Summer temperatures, the most prominent driving variable for modeled vegetation change in the Northern Hemisphere, are accurately reconstructed. However, the amplitude of the model winter and mean annual temperature cooling between the mid-Holocene and present day is overestimated and similar to the summer trend in magnitude. This effect occurs because temporal changes of a dominant climate variable, such as summer temperatures in the model's Arctic, are imprinted on a less important variable, leading to reconstructions biased towards the dominant variable's trends. Our results, although based on a model vegetation that is inevitably simpler than reality, indicate that reconstructions of multiple climate variables based on modern spatial bio-indicator datasets should be treated with caution. Expert knowledge on the ecophysiological drivers of the proxies, as well as statistical methods that go beyond the cross validation on modern calibration datasets, are crucial to avoid misinterpretation.


Single cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) experiments typically analyze hundreds or thousands of cells after amplification of the cDNA. The high throughput is made possible by the early introduction of sample-specific barcodes (BCs) and the amplification bias is alleviated by unique molecular identifiers (UMIs). Thus the ideal analysis pipeline for scRNA-seq data needs to efficiently tabulate reads according to both BC and UMI. zUMIs is such a pipeline, it can handle both known and random BCs and also efficiently collapses UMIs, either just for exon mapping reads or for both exon and intron mapping reads. Another unique feature of zUMIs is the adaptive downsampling function, that facilitates dealing with hugely varying library sizes, but also allows to evaluate whether the library has been sequenced to saturation. zUMIs flexibility allows to accommodate data generated with any of the major scRNA-seq protocols that use BCs and UMIs. To illustrate the utility of zUMIs, we analysed a single-nucleus RNA-seq dataset and show that more than 35% of all reads map to introns. We furthermore show that these intronic reads are informative about expression levels, significantly increasing the number of detected genes and improving the cluster resolution. Availability https://github.com/sdparekh/zUMIs


The study of dust in the universe is an exciting area in current astronomy. Dust formed during an earlier epoch could be different from that formed at a later time, but the nature and composition of dust is not presently understood in its entirety. The comprehensive study presented in this book provides a much needed critical analysis of different types of dust in the universe. The information derived from presolar grains from comets, meteorites and interplanetary dust particles as well as the relevant laboratory studies are discussed. This should help in our goal of understanding the evolution of dust with cosmic time.


In recent years, the textile and clothing (T/C) industry in the EU has suffered difficult times, with declines in production and employment and an increase in the trade deficit. The case of Spain, the fifth biggest producer in the EU-15, is no exception. In spite of Spain having lower costs than most of its EU partners, the globalisation of the T/C industry and the liberalisation of the sector brought about by the GATT 1994 agreement have caused important restructuring in the sector, with the critical effects of downsizing and reallocation (delocalisation) of production. Within such a framework, innovation and R&D are seen as the key issues for competitiveness. We aim to analyse a particular cluster of T/C producers in the province of Girona, in the north-east of Spain. We look at the strategic similarity of the firms in the study and, in particular, whether they have used different innovation profiles. We argue that different strategic attitudes and innovation profiles entail different prospects for future survival. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered via structured interviews with the top-level management team of each firm. The results show that the subsector in which any given firm compete influences its strategic and technological positioning.


a direct effect on ranch profitability. Consequently, a basic understanding of the bovine estrous cycle can increase the effectiveness of reproductive management. After heifers reach puberty (first ovulation) or following the postpartum anestrous period (a period of no estrous cycles) in cows, a period of estrous cycling begins. Estrous cycles give a heifer or cow a chance to become pregnant about every 21 days. During each estrous cycle, follicles develop in wavelike patterns, which are controlled by changes in hormone concentrations. In addition, the corpus luteum (CL) develops following ovulation of a follicle. While it is present, this CL inhibits other follicles from ovulating. The length of each estrous cycle is measured by the number of days between each standing estrus.


Nothing is as fundamental to the quality of a school system as the quality of its teachers. For this reason many countries are seeking policies that meet the challenge of promoting quality teaching.The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in the USA is the most ambitious and successful attempt by any country to establish a certification system for recognizing and rewarding teachers who reach high professional standards. Established in 1987, the Boards mission has been driven by a simple principle; to place more value on accomplished teaching, we must learn how to evaluate teacher performance in ways that are valid, reliable and fair. By late 2007, over 60,000 teachers had become National Board Certified Teachers.As other countries place increasing importance on policies designed to attract, develop, and retain effective teachers there is growing interest in the extensive research and development work that has underpinned the Boards certification system and guided its implementation. The main purpose of this book is to bring together, for international as well as non-specialist audiences, papers written by the key researchers involved in the development of National Board assessments between 1987 and 1997.One of the many reasons why the Boards work is noteworthy is the extent to which, at every stage of development, it has subjected its standards and certification process to critique by leading figures in educational measurement, as the chapters in this volume illustrate. As a result, the NBPTS has made a major contribution to international understanding about how to develop valid standards and reliable methods for assessing teacher performance that gain both professional and public esteem.The NBPTS provides an example of a well researched certification scheme for measuring teacher quality that can provide a service to governments and employers seeking a reliable indicator of teacher quality. Standards are the gateway to greater professional self-direction, and a certification system is a means by which the teaching profession can build its own infrastructure for defining high quality teaching standards, promoting development toward those standards and providing recognition to those who meet them. This book also aims to provide some of the many lessons the Board has learned about how to make a professional certification system for teachers manageable and affordable, which is perhaps an even greater challenge.This is a special volume focussing on The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS).


Person re-identification is an important technique towards automatic search of a person's presence in a surveillance video. Two fundamental problems are critical for person re-identification, feature representation and metric learning. An effective feature representation should be robust to illumination and viewpoint changes, and a discriminant metric should be learned to match various person images. In this paper, we propose an effective feature representation called Local Maximal Occurrence (LOMO), and a subspace and metric learning method called Cross-view Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (XQDA). The LOMO feature analyzes the horizontal occurrence of local features, and maximizes the occurrence to make a stable representation against viewpoint changes. Besides, to handle illumination variations, we apply the Retinex transform and a scale invariant texture operator. To learn a discriminant metric, we propose to learn a discriminant low dimensional subspace by cross-view quadratic discriminant analysis, and simultaneously, a QDA metric is learned on the derived subspace. We also present a practical computation method for XQDA, as well as its regularization. Experiments on four challenging person re-identification databases, VIPeR, QMUL GRID, CUHK Campus, and CUHK03, show that the proposed method improves the state-of-the-art rank-1 identification rates by 2.2%, 4.88%, 28.91%, and 31.55% on the four databases, respectively.


The research studies short- and long-run volatility dynamics between Malaysia's stock market and 14 developed and developing major stock markets in thefive different regions of America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The paper uses three multivariate generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (MGARCH) models, namely, the Baba, Engle, Kraft and Kroner (BEKK) model; constant conditional correlation (CCC) model; and the dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) model to examine volatility relationship of different stock markets to the Malaysian stock market. Findings show that the long-term volatility relationship of Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Index's volatility with the UK's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 found in the CCC and DCC models is a result of a long-term free trade agreement signed between Malaysia and the European countries. Unstable volatility relationship is found between Malaysia and China's stock markets. Similar situations are observed in Malaysia's steady or unstable economic relationships with the other countries stock markets, which can be either a product of strong trading and investing partnerships or political and social conflicts. The BEKK model confirms these volatility spillovers, and concludes that volatilities are not only determined by their own lagged values, but cross-volatility spillovers from other countries also exist. Results show that most of the stock indices have significant spillover effects on the stock market of Malaysia, which confirms evidence of growing market integration. In general, a study on volatility transmission plays an important role in identifying vulnerabilities of certain stock markets against other markets, which helps in determining better investing decisions that can minimise losses, and can even improve returns depending on the hedged position taken by the investor.


SIT DOWN AND BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELTS! WHAT I AM ABOUT TO TELL you will shock and disgust you," ran the e-mail that Georgia state representative Calvin Hill sent to his supporters in February 2009. With the state facing a $2.3 billion budget shortfall, the Republican vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee alerted his constituents that even during this economic crisis, "your tax dollars are being used at our state universities to pay professors to teach your children classes like 'Male Prostitution' and 'Queer Theory.'" (1) Although it quickly emerged that Representative Hill had mistaken a list of faculty areas of expertise for actual course offerings, he and another Republican representative, Charlice Byrd, took to the airwaves. As CNN reported their support from the Christian Coalition, Hill and Byrd demanded the firing of the faculty members and the cancellation of their classes in order to right this "major misuse of the state university system's budget." (2) When asked about university professors of religion, who far outnumber those with expertise in sexuality, Hill fumbled for a response. On an Atlanta street, a Georgia State University student was more direct: "Me, I'm a Christian," she told a reporter, "and if my mother heard about there are classes about being queer here, she'd probably withdraw me." (3) As religion scholar Janet R. Jakobsen points out, the antipathy between nonreproductive sex and Christian conservatism has achieved the ultimate ideological goal--that of appearing so self-evident as to pass unexamined. (4) Instead of probing the content, the "culture wars" narrative laments that this presumably timeless relationship was drafted in service to laissez-faire capitalism. And on the surface, the recent move in the Georgia statehouse rehearses the familiar storyline: With its economic model in disarray, the conservative movement of the last thirty years might be expected to fall back on its most reliable hot-button issue. "[W]eary gay Georgians shouldn't be surprised," wrote an Atlanta columnist, that "it was professors studying gay topics that [Hill] singled out" from the extensive expertise guide) Georgia, after all, has been among the hardest hit of the free market's domestic victims. Decades of disdain for public oversight produced a branch bank on every street comer and a frantic level of unscrupulous mortgage lending; in early 2009 the state was leading the nation in the number of troubled banks, by a factor of almost four, and was among the leaders in the extent of foreclosures. (6) In the culture-wars version of the conservative ascendancy, this economic outcome was enabled over two generations by the cynical manipulation of emotional, irrational religious prejudices. By periodically hollering "abortion" or "homosexual agenda," this explanation posits, the godless free marketeers duped the folks in the pews into dismantling their own New Deal protections, thereby forcing American wealth disparities back to nineteenth-century levels and greasing the skids for the wholesale off-loading of middle-class jobs. As Thomas Frank put it in the definitive popular formulation, the rise of the New Christian Right after 1970 is the spectacle of "a French Revolution in reverse--one in which the sans-culottes pour down the streets demanding more power for the aristocracy." (7) From Jonathan Rieder's landmark 1989 essay on the silent majority to Matthew D. Lassiter's pathbreaking 2006 book of that title, historians have used this paradox to pose productive questions of the recent past. (8) Many have done so with one eye on the clock, wondering when the buzzer will sound halftime on the era of conservative ascendancy. As the scholarly profession anxiously waited for Lefty to return to the national stage, the historical explorations of conservatism evolved to ever more complex forms. One result has been a sort of collective penance for the condescension of the consensus historians of the mid-1960s and their social science allies, who underestimated conservative America by focusing on its radical fringe. …


Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common movement disorder in children. A diagnosis of CP is often made based on abnormal muscle tone or posture, a delay in reaching motor milestones, or the presence of gait abnormalities in young children. Neuroimaging of high-risk neonates and of children diagnosed with CP have identified patterns of neurologic injury associated with CP, however, the neural underpinnings of common gait abnormalities remain largely uncharacterized. Here, we review the nature of the brain injury in CP, as well as the neuromuscular deficits and subsequent gait abnormalities common among children with CP. We first discuss brain injury in terms of mechanism, pattern, and time of injury during the prenatal, perinatal, or postnatal period in preterm and term-born children. Second, we outline neuromuscular deficits of CP with a focus on spastic CP, characterized by muscle weakness, shortened muscle-tendon unit, spasticity, and impaired selective motor control, on both a microscopic and functional level. Third, we examine the influence of neuromuscular deficits on gait abnormalities in CP, while considering emerging information on neural correlates of gait abnormalities and the implications for strategic treatment. This review of the neural basis of gait abnormalities in CP discusses what is known about links between the location and extent of brain injury and the type and severity of CP, in relation to the associated neuromuscular deficits, and subsequent gait abnormalities. Targeted treatment opportunities are identified that may improve functional outcomes for children with CP. By providing this context on the neural basis of gait abnormalities in CP, we hope to highlight areas of further research that can reduce the long-term, debilitating effects of CP.


Technology has advanced significantly within the past decade and along with that has come the ability to use a variety of devices for academic purposes. While this can make accessing information much easier and allow for new organizational methods, it can also provide the opportunity for more distractions. The purpose of this study is to research how access to screens, such as smartphones, tablets and computers, impacts studying and academic performance in college students. We examined how this distraction potential can play a role in studying experiences and academic performance and how students attempt to overcome it. Focus group interviews with current pharmacy students were conducted, audio-recorded and analyzed. Participants reported using screen time for many activities ranging from communication and entertainment to educational purposes such as note-taking, studying and researching. From an academic standpoint, the reported positive contributions of screen usage are improved accessibility and organization, while the negative repercussions are distraction, obsessive habit surrounding use and poor sleep hygiene. Strategy to overcome the negative aspects of screen usage was overwhelmingly the need for self-control. Students spoke of using screen access as a reward for studying, setting clear limits on time spent using screens for non-academic reasons, and intentionally restricting personal access to the Internet. Helping students to generate a self-awareness of the need for this self-control provides a unique opportunity for collaboration among student leaders, instructors and administrators.


Objectives To evaluate the effects of more intensive smoking cessation interventions compared to less intensive interventions on smoking cessation in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Design A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials of smoking cessation interventions was conducted. Electronic searches were carried out on the following databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and PsycINFO to September 2013. Searches were supplemented by review of trial registries and references from identified trials. Citations and full-text articles were screened by two reviewers. A random-effect Mantel-Haenszel model was used to pool data. Setting Primary, secondary and tertiary care. Participants Adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Interventions Smoking cessation interventions or medication (more intensive interventions) compared to usual care, counselling or optional medication (less intensive interventions). Outcome measures Biochemically verified smoking cessation was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were adverse events and effects on glycaemic control. We also carried out a pooled analysis of self-reported smoking cessation outcomes. Results We screened 1783 citations and reviewed seven articles reporting eight trials in 872 participants. All trials were of 6 months duration. Three trials included pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation. The risk ratio of biochemically verified smoking cessation was 1.32 (95% CI 0.23 to 7.43) for the more intensive interventions compared to less intensive interventions with significant heterogeneity (I2=76%). Only one trial reported measures of glycaemic control. Conclusions There is an absence of evidence of efficacy for more intensive smoking cessation interventions in people with diabetes. The more intensive strategies tested in trials to date include interventions used in the general population, adding in diabetes-specific education about increased risk. Future research should focus on multicomponent smoking cessation interventions carried out over a period of at least 1 year, and also assess impact on glycaemic control.


In its recent Davenport v. Washington Education Association decision, the United States Supreme Court unanimously enforced a Washington State paycheck protection initiative that placed restrictions on the extraction of labor union dues for political purposes. This decision appears to substantiate the free speech interest of union dissenters. This case also provides an additional example of the ongoing conflict between individual and group interest and between individual and group preferences that have erupted in a society that appears to be falling apart. In such a society the myth of the "universal worker" is collapsing in the face of escalating incredulity, and an increasing focus on autonomy. Although human autonomy may find some protection in the First Amendment, I argue that the Supreme Court's holding in this case cannot fully vindicate individual liberty despite the claims and counter-claims of a number of observers. Correctly understood, this decision promises little and delivers less because it fails to deal decisively and comprehensively with issues that both earlier private sector and public sector union dues disputes illuminated but failed to settle. Tied to earlier precedent, the Davenport case falls short of recapturing fully the First Amendment values of expression and association. This article represents an extension of my prior work that has considered the union dues controversy. I provide arguments, recommendations and some speculations that are aimed at reclaiming human autonomy, individual liberty and a principled understanding of First Amendment ideals. However, ultimately, I suggest the implausibility of recapturing a principled understanding of the First Amendment in a society torn apart by simmering disagreement. While the Supreme Court rightly enforced Washington State's dues restrictions, it is unlikely that paycheck protection legislation or referenda can rescue First Amendment rights and values from adjudication that transforms principle into a wobbly platform.


Negative and positive association rule mining is extract needful information for large database. The generation of negative and positive rule based on interesting pattern and noninteresting pattern of database. The violation of given threshold value such as minimum support and minimum confidence generate some negative rules. The generation of association rule mining dependent some algorithm such as Apriori algorithm, FP-growth algorithm and tree based algorithm.. In this paper we present different approach for reduction of negative rule from association rule mining. The process of reduction and removal of association rule mining follow the multiple constraints and correlation factor of rule mining. Keywords—-association rule mining, PNAR, multiple constraints, correlation factor.


Balance can be a primary concern in computer-generated art and music. Transforms used to obtain statistical balances are typically built on the assumption that the sequences driving the transform range uniformly from zero to unity. However, few sequence generators are uniform over the short term. The author describes a method, called leveling, that transforms an arbitrary, nonuniform sequence so that the sequence retains its essential shape while its distribution becomes uniform from zero to unity. Applications of the author's leveling algorithm to Brownian, chaotic, and fractured sequences are explored. The conclusion compares leveling with other rigorous balancing methods including statistical feedback.


We present an implementation of a power-efficient optical network unit (ONU) for elastic-bandwidth coherent interleaved frequency-domain multiple access passive optical network (IFDMA-PON) uplink. The ONU for a 12 Gbps quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) signal is implemented on a 40 nm copper CMOS process field programmable gate array. By employing polar-coordinate transformed mapping of the PSK signal, the circuit size of the ONU is drastically reduced. The power consumption of the real-time IFDMA modulation circuit is 0.82 W, which achieves 90% reductionin power consumption compared to conventional OFDMA-PON systems. Finally, elastic-bandwidth QPSK signal generations and error-free detection are experimentally demonstrated: 6 Gbps at ONUs 1 and 2, 3 Gbps at ONU1, and 9 Gbps at ONU2.


The topic of this thesis is the extraction of efficient and readable programs from formal constructive proofs of decidability. The proof methods employed to generate the efficient code are new and result in clean and readable Nuprl extracts for two non-trivial programs. They are based on the use of Nuprl''s set type and techniques for extracting efficient programs from induction principles. The constructive formal theories required to express the decidability theorems are of independent interest. They formally circumscribe the mathematical knowledge needed to understand the derived algorithms. The formal theories express concepts that are taught at the senior college level. The decidability proofs themselves, depending on this material, are of interest and are presented in some detail. The proof of decidability of classical propositional logic is relative to a semantics based on Kleene''s strong three-valued logic. The constructive proof of intuitionistic decidability presented here is the first machine formalization of this proof. The exposition reveals aspects of the Nuprl tactic collection relevant to the creation of readable proofs; clear extracts and efficient code are illustrated in the discussion of the proofs.


Over the past 40 years, Nepal has become renowned for its community-based forestry policies, initiatives, and institutions, characterized by local autonomy in decisions about forest management and use and a gradual shift toward more inclusive national policy processes. In recent years, the government, international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), donors, and some civil society organizations have instigated policy and piloting initiatives for an international climate change mitigation scheme known as "reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries" (REDD+). Although many people see REDD+ as a means of bolstering forest conservation efforts and enhancing rural livelihoods, its broader implications for decentralized forest governance in Nepal and elsewhere remain uncertain and contested. Using policy network analysis and theories of polycentric and network governance, I examined influence, inclusiveness, and deliberation among actors involved in REDD+ policy making in Nepal. Data were collected between June and December 2011 through a survey of 34 organizations from government, civil society, educational and research institutions, international NGOs and donors, and the private sector. I investigated whether policy processes and the configurations of actors involved reflect state-centric, market-oriented, or polycentric governance, and I discuss the implications for decentralized forest governance in general and for the implementation of REDD+ in particular. Results indicate that REDD+ policy making is dominated by a "development triangle", a tripartite coalition of key government actors, external organizations (international NGOs and donors), and select civil society organizations. As a result, the views and interests of other important stakeholders have been marginalized, threatening recentralized forest governance and hampering the effective implementation of REDD+ in Nepal.


Abstract. Mineral dust plays an important role in the climate system by interacting with radiation, clouds, and biogeochemical cycles. In addition, natural archives show that the dust cycle experienced variability in the past in response to global and local climate change. The compilation of the DIRTMAP (Dust Indicators and Records from Terrestrial and MArine Palaeoenvironments) paleodust data sets in the last 2 decades provided a benchmark for paleoclimate models that include the dust cycle, following a time slice approach. We propose an innovative framework to organize a paleodust data set that builds on the positive experience of DIRTMAP and takes into account new scientific challenges by providing a concise and accessible data set of temporally resolved records of dust mass accumulation rates and particle grain size distributions. We consider data from ice cores, marine sediments, loess–paleosol sequences, lake sediments, and peat bogs for this compilation, with a temporal focus on the Holocene period. This global compilation allows the investigation of the potential, uncertainties, and confidence level of dust mass accumulation rate reconstructions and highlights the importance of dust particle size information for accurate and quantitative reconstructions of the dust cycle. After applying criteria that help to establish that the data considered represent changes in dust deposition, 45 paleodust records have been identified, with the highest density of dust deposition data occurring in the North Atlantic region. Although the temporal evolution of dust in the North Atlantic appears consistent across several cores and suggests that minimum dust fluxes are likely observed during the early to mid-Holocene period (6000–8000 years ago), the magnitude of dust fluxes in these observations is not fully consistent, suggesting that more work needs to be done to synthesize data sets for the Holocene. Based on the data compilation, we used the Community Earth System Model to estimate the mass balance of and variability in the global dust cycle during the Holocene, with dust loads ranging from 17.2 to 20.8 Tg between 2000 and 10 000 years ago and with a minimum in the early to mid-Holocene (6000–8000 years ago).


Part I: This thesis is motivated by the increasing demand for power quality improvement. Power factor correction topologies for both single- and the three-phase utility lines are
investigated and new modes of operation are introduced. The discussed topologies are so-called automatic power factor correctors. The current shaping function is a natural
property of these circuits, and no extra current control loop is necessary.

In both the single- and three-phase cases, a control method is introduced which provides full output regulation and simultaneously reduces the distortion of the input
current at no extra cost.

Whereas in the single-phase topology, galvanic isolation is easily obtained, in the three-phase topology, some obstacles have to be overcome. The isolated three-phase
converter has an inherent output voltage ripple. This problem is analyzed and a solution is presented.

Results obtained on experimental circuits agree well with the prediction and therefore confirm the validity of the analysis.

Part II:

The small-signal behavior of converters in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) is investigated using an alternative approach. Transfer functions obtained by state-space
averaging in DCM do not provide accurate results at higher frequencies. A correction term is introduced that can be added to the transfer function. This greatly enhances the
accuracy.

For converters operating in DCM, the state-space averaging method as originally introduced is relatively complicated if more than one element operates in discontinuous
conduction mode. In this thesis, a standardized procedure is introduced to perform state-space averaging. Also, the complexity of this procedure does not increase as the
number of discontinuous states increases.


Market risk regulations adopted in response to recent crises aim to reduce financial risks. Nevertheless, a large number of practitioners feel that even, if these rules seem to succeed in lowering volatility, they appear to rigidify the financial structure of the economic system and tend to increase the probability of large jumps: prudential rules seem to produce an unexpected effect, the swap between volatility risk and jump risk. The attempt at reduction in volatility is accompanied by an increase in the intensity of jumps. The new regulations seem create a new risk. This article discusses this idea in three ways. First, we introduce a conventionalist framework to shed some light on this unexpected effect. Second, we precisely define volatility risk and the intensity of jumps to document the risk swap effect by analyzing a daily time series of the S&P 500. Third, we propose a model that allows one to appreciate a practical consequence of this swap on the risk measures. We conclude by challenging the main objective of regulation: we argue that concentrating on reducing volatility can create a new type of risk that increases the potential losses, which we term regulation risk.


AbstractWhen the self is thought of as a narrative or story, rather than a substance or thing, the temporal and dramatic dimension of human existence is emphasized. The operation of narrative "emplotment" (Ricoeur, 1983/1984) can configure the diverse events and actions of one's life into a meaningful whole. One's self-concept or self-identity is fashioned by adaptation of plots from one's cul-tural stock of stories and myths. Stories of personal identity differ from literary productions in that they are constructed within an unfolding autobiography and incorporate the accidental events and unintended consequences of actions. Under stressful conditions, a self-narrative may decompose, producing the anxiety and depression of meaninglessness. One function of psychotherapy is to assist in the reconstruction of a meaning-giving narrative of self-identity. (Psychology)


Link-capacity functions are the relationships between the fundamental traffic variables like travel time and the flow rate. These relationships are important inputs to the capacity-restrained traffic assignment models. This study investigates the prediction of travel time as a function of several variables V/C (flow rate/capacity), retail activity, parking, number of bus stops and link type. For this purpose, the necessary data collected in Izmir, Turkey are employed by Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Regression-based models of multiple linear regression (MLR) and multiple non-linear regression (MNLR). In ANNs modelling, 70% of the whole dataset is randomly selected for the training, whereas the rest is utilized in testing the model. Similarly, the same training dataset is employed in obtaining the optimal values of the coefficients of the regression-based models. Although all of the variables are used in the input vector of the models to predict the travel time, the most significant independent variables are found to be V/C and retail activity. By considering these two significant input variables, ANNs predicted the travel time with the correlation coefficient R = 0.87 while this value was almost 0.60 for the regression-based models.


Methylene blue (MB) and other photo-sensitizer molecules have been recognized as effective means for the inactivation of bacteria and other pathogens owing to their ability to photo-generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) including singlet oxygen. These reactive species react with the membrane of the bacteria causing their destruction. However, the efficiency of MB to destroy bacteria in plasma is very low because the MB 660 nm absorption band, that is responsible for the ROS generation, is bleached. The bleaching of MB, in plasma, is caused by the attachment of a hydrogen atom to the central ring nitrogen of MB, which destroys the ring conjugation and forms Leuco-MB which does not absorb in the 600 nm region. In this paper we show that addition of dilute acetic acid, ∼10^−4 M, to human plasma, prevents H-atom attachment to MB, allowing MB to absorb at 660 nm, generates singlet oxygen and thus inactivates bacteria. The mechanism proposed, for preventing MB bleaching in plasma, is based on the oxidation of cysteine to cystine, by reaction with added dilute acetic acid, thus eliminating the availability of the thiol hydrogen atom which attaches to the MB nitrogen. It is expected that the addition of acetic acid to plasma will be effective in the sterilization of plasma and killing of bacteria in wounds and burns.


The magnetic states and switching processes are investigated in Co and NiFe rings with lateral dimensions from the micrometer range down to sub-100 nm: Using non-intrusive imaging techniques we have directly observed the nanoscopic details of the magnetization configurations of epitaxial and polycrystalline mesoscopic ring structures with o15 nm resolution. We have found head-to-head domain walls with different spin structures depending on ring width. Further, we can classify the geometry-dependent switching processes according to the number of transitions (single, double, triple) that a ring undergoes in a hysteresis cycle. In the case of triple switching we find a novel state with a complete vortex core present in the ring. It is found that the double switching can be retained in sub-100 nm rings by tailoring the material and thickness. r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 75.60.Ej; 75.60.Ch; 75.70.Ak; 85.70.Kh


Despite pathophysiologic effects including diarrhea, cholera toxin (CT) is a potent mucosal immunogen and adjuvant. We investigated the influence of CT on T helper (Th)-type 1 (Th1) and Th2 cell-regulated Ag-specific B cell isotype and IgG subclass Ab responses elicited when the toxin was co-administered orally with different protein Ags. When mice were orally immunized with tetanus toxoid (TT) and CT as adjuvant, this regimen induced TT-specific secretory IgA responses in the gastrointestinal tract as well as serum IgG, including IgG1 and IgG2b subclasses, and IgA responses. This oral regimen also induced TT- and CT-B-specific IgE responses. In addition, CT also elicited adjuvant effects for Ag-specific IgG1, IgE, and IgA responses when two other protein Ags, OVA and hen egg white lysozyme, were given by the oral route. Quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR was performed to assess levels of mRNA for Th1 (IFN-gamma) and Th2 (IL-4) cytokine expression in TT-stimulated CD4+ T cell cultures. Both Peyer's patches and splenic CD4+ T cells expressed markedly increased levels of IL-4-specific message, but did not result in changes in IFN-gamma mRNA expression. To determine whether the route of immunization influenced IgE responses, mice were immunized s.c. with TT and CT as adjuvant. Significant increases in total and TT-specific IgE Abs were induced when CT was co-administered. Taken together, these results show that CT acts as a mucosal adjuvant to enhance Th2-type responses and in particular, the IL-4 produced results in a characteristic Ab isotype pattern associated with this cytokine.


The glycosphingolipid globotriaosyl ceramide (CD77) and other globo- series glycolipids containing terminal galactose (Gal)alpha 1-4Gal residues function as receptors for the verotoxin (Shiga-like toxin) family of Escherichia coli-elaborated toxins. CD77 is also a marker for germinal center B lymphocytes and Burkitt's lymphoma cells. The pan B cell marker CD19 is a 95-kD membrane protein that appears early in B cell differentiation and is only lost upon terminal differentiation to plasma cells. CD19 is involved in signal transduction and has a regulatory role in B cell proliferation and differentiation in response to activation in vitro. However, an endogenous ligand for CD19 has not yet been identified. We report herein that the extracellular domain of CD19 has a potential CD77-binding site with extensive sequence similarity to the verotoxin B-subunits. These B-subunit-like sequences on CD19 are in close proximity following the organization of intervening amino acids into disulfide-linked domains. Cocapping of CD19 and CD77 on Burkitt's lymphoma-derived Daudi cells with anti-CD19 antibodies indicates that CD19 and CD77 are associated on the B cell surface. Cell surface binding of anti-CD19 antibodies is decreased on CD77-deficient mutant Daudi cells, suggesting that CD77 expression influences the surface expression of CD19. Wild-type Daudi cells, but not the CD19/CD77-deficient mutants, bind to matrices expressing the carbohydrate moiety of CD77 or other Gal alpha 1-4Gal containing glycolipids. This binding can be inhibited by anti-CD77 antibodies, the CD77-binding verotoxin B-subunit or anti-CD19 antibodies. Daudi cells exhibit a degree of spontaneous homotypic adhesion in culture while the CD77/CD19-deficient Daudi mutants grow as single cells. The stronger homotypic adhesion that occurs in B cells after antibody ligation of CD19 and that involves, to some extent, the integrin system, is also dramatically lower in the mutant cells relative to the parent cell line. However, reconstitution of mutant cells with CD77 restores the anti-CD19 mAb-induced adhesion to wild-type Daudi cell levels. These studies represent the first time that CD19-mediated signaling has been reconstituted in a low-responder B cell line. These convergent observations provide compelling evidence that CD19/CD77 interactions function in adhesion and signal transduction at a specific stage in B cell development and suggest that such interactions have a role in B lymphocyte homing and germinal center formation in vivo. By targeting CD77+ B cells, verotoxins may suppress the humoral arm of the immune response during infection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


The purpose of the work reported within this thesis was to design and implement a series of tests which better replicate the impact conditions experienced during a game, and allow for quantitative measurements of performance of various items of personal protection equipment (PPE). The sports of cricket and taekwondo were used as case studies. The aim was to improve on existing testing protocols making them more representative of real life, an approach that has not been previously attempted in the literature and so required design of multiple items of novel equipment.

A representative cricket impact test was developed utilizing a ball canon firing a cricket ball mass at an equivalent bowling velocity of 31 m/s (70 mph) and a novel, freely suspended force acquisition system with embedded accelerometers from which the transmitted force values could be derived. Throughout the testing secondary variables of coefficient of restitution (COR), deformation and contact time were measured from high speed video footage to give further insight into the impact mechanics of the three tested leg guards. Contact times were in the range of 3 ms - 4 ms, COR between 0.38 - 0.50 and deformation between 45 mm - 52 mm. These results were compared against other benchmark tests to establish how close the representative test was to an actual human related ball-pad impact and to estimate human tolerance levels to impact.

A rig to mimic a human on human kicking impact in taekwondo was designed to measure performance of the piece of body protection equipment used in training and competition, commonly referred to as a hogu. Primarily a mechanical simulator was designed to replicate the speed and mass of a human leg impacting during a roundhouse kick. A force acquisition system was manufactured, capable of integrating with the kicking robot functioning, with a human torso sized and shaped anvil, using a similar accelerometer based system of force measurement as that introduced in the cricket testing. This test was then used to measure performance levels of nine off-the-shelf hogus and protective training pads. Using transmitted peak force and time to peak force (TTPF) as indicators of protection, these values were found to range from between 0.5 kN 7.5 kN and 9 ms - 23 ms across the pads indicating a major difference in the protection provided.


To study the possible structural-geometrical variations affecting the structure of aeschynite when heated in air, the heat-induced recrystallization process of a metamict sample from Evje-Iveland was monitored by recording X-ray powder diffraction data. The progressive restoring of crystallinity starts at 350°C and appears to be nearly completed at 450°C. During this process the water contained in the untreated amorphous material is released. Structural data were obtained by Rietveld refinements after each successive heat treatment (450–1050°C temperature range, in step of 100°C). With the increase of heating temperature, other phases than aeschynite progressively crystallized ( i.e. pyrochlore, rutile, brannerite).The transition to the high-temperature phase (euxenite-type) occurs at approximately 1100°C and appears to be more temperature- than time-dependent. Formula balance requirements and structural evidence lead to the assumption that an appreciable amount of OH - replaces O 2- at the O4 site. The presence of OH - groups is confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Crystal-chemical features and chemical data yielded the following chemical formula: Y 0.51 REE 0.25 Th 0.15 U 4+ 0.06 Ca 0.04 ) Σ=1.01 (Ti 1.56 Nb 0.33 Ta 0.05 W 0.02 Fe 2+ 0.03 ) Σ=1.99 O 5.52 (OH) 0.48 . Upon heating the sample in air at temperatures higher than 550°C, an oxidation-dehydrogenation reaction takes place, resulting mainly in a lengthening of the donor-acceptor distance and a related shortening of the A-O4 and B-O4 bond distances. The observed variations of the cell parameters appear to be related to the oxidation-dehydrogenation process rather than to changes of the cation site-population.


The emergence of new communication standards has put a key challenge for semiconductor industry to develop RF devices that can handle high power and high data rates simultaneously. The RF devices play a key role in the design of power amplifiers (PAs), which is considered as a heart of base-station. From economical point of view, a single wideband RF power module is more desirable rather than multiple narrowband PAs especially for multi-band and multi-mode operation. Therefore, device modeling has now become much more crucial for such applications. In order to reduce the device design cycle time, the researchers also heavily rely on computer aided design (CAD) tools. With improvement in CAD technology the model extraction has become more accurate and device physical structure optimization can be carried out with less number of iterations. LDMOS devices have been dominating in the communication field since last decade and are still widely used for PA design and development. This thesis deals with the optimization of RFLDMOS transistor and its evaluation in different PA classes, such as linear, switching, wideband and multi-band applications. For accurate evaluation of RF-LDMOS transistor parameters, some techniques are also developed in technology CAD (TCAD) using large signal time domain computational load-pull (CLP) methods. Initially the RF-LDMOS is studied in TCAD for the improved RF performance. The physical intrinsic structure of RF-LDMOS is provided by Infenion Technologies AG. A reduced surface field (RESURF) of low-doped drain (LDD) region is considered in detail because it plays an important role in RF-LDMOS devices to obtain high breakdown voltage (BVDS). But on the other hand, it also reduces the RF performance due to high on-resistance (Ron). The excess interface state charges at the RESURF region are introduced to reduce the Ron, which not only increases the dc drain current, but also improve the RF performance in terms of power, gain and efficiency. The important achievement is the enhancement in operating frequency up to 4 GHz. In LDD region, the effect of excess interface charges at the RESURF is also compared with dual implanted-layer of p-type and n-type. The comparison revealed that the former provides 43 % reduction in Ron with BVDS of 70 V, while the later provides 26 % reduction in Ron together with BVDS of 64 - 68 V. In the second part of my research work, computational load pull (CLP) simulation technique is used in TCAD to extract the impedances of RF-LDMOS at different frequencies under large signal operation. Flexible matching is an issue in the design of broadband or multi-band PAs. Optimum impedance of RF-LDMOS is extracted at operating frequencies of 1, 2 and 2.5 GHz in class AB PA. After this, CLP simulation technique is further developed in TCAD to study the non-linear behavior of RF devices. Through modified CLP technique, non-linear effects inside the transistor structure are studied by conventional two-tone RF signals in time domain. This is helpful to detect and understand the phenomena, which can be resolved to improve the device performance. The third order inter-modulation distortion (IMD3) of RF- LDMOS was observed at different power levels. The IMD3 of −22 dBc is obtained at 1-dB compression point (P1-dB), while at 10 dB back off the value increases to −36 dBc. These results were also verified experimentally by fabricating a linear PA. Similarly, CLP technique is developed further for the analysis of RF devices in high efficiency operation by investigating the odd harmonic effects for the design of class-F PA. RF-LDMOS can provide a power added efficiency (PAE) of 81.2 % in class-F PA at 1 GHz in TCAD simulations. The results are verified by design and fabrication of class-F PA using large signal model of the similar device in ADS. In fabrication, a PAE of 76 % is achieved.


Abstract : Bats have long fascinated both scientists and engineers due to their superb ability to use echolocation to fly with speed and agility through complex natural environments in complete darkness. This dissertation presents a neuromorphic VLSI circuit model of bat azimuthal echolocation. Interaural level differences (ILDs) are the cues for bat azimuthal echolocation and are also the primary cues used by other mammals to localize high frequency sounds. The fact that neurons in bats respond to short echoes by one or two spikes strongly suggests that the conventionally used firing rate is an unlikely code. The operation of first spike latency in ILD computation and transformation is investigated in a network of spiking neurons linking the lateral superior olive (LSO), dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (DNLL) and inferior colliculus IC. The results of the investigation suggest that spatially distributed first spike latencies can serve as a fast code for azimuth that can be read-out by ascending stages. With the hardware echolocation model that uses spike timing representation, we study how multiple echoes can affect bat echolocation and demonstrate that the response to multiple sounds is not a simple linear addition of the response to single sounds. By developing functional models of the bat echolocation system, we can study the efficient implementation demonstrated by nature. For example, variations among analog VLSI circuit units due to the unavoidable transistor mismatch--traditionally thought of as a hurdle to overcome--have been found beneficial in generating the desired diversity of response that is similar to their neural counterparts. This work advocates the use and design of summating and exponentially decaying synapses.


: The corporate citizenship (CC) concept introduced by Dirk Matten and Andrew Crane has been well received. To this date, however, empirical studies based on this concept are lacking. In this article, we flesh out and operationalize the CC concept and develop an assessment tool for CC. Our tool focuses on the organizational level and assesses the embeddedness of CC in organizational structures and procedures. To illustrate the applicability of the tool, we assess five Swiss companies (ABB, Credit Suisse, Nestlé, Novartis, and UBS). These five companies are participants of the UN Global Compact (UNGC), currently the largest collaborative strategic policy initiative for business in the world (www.unglobalcompact.org). This study makes four main contributions: (1) it enriches and operationalizes Matten and Crane's CC definition to build a concept of CC that can be operationalized, (2) it develops an analytical tool to assess the organizational embeddedness of CC, (3) it generates empirical insights into how five multinational corporations have approached CC, and (4) it presents assessment results that provide indications how global governance initiatives like the UNGC can support the implementation of CC. Abstract The Corporate Citizenship (CC) concept introduced by Dirk Matten and Andrew Crane has been well received. To this date, however, empirical studies based on this concept are lacking. In this paper, we flesh out and operationalize the CC concept and develop an assessment tool for CC. Our tool focuses on the organizational level and assesses the embeddedness of CC in organzational structures and procedures. To illustrate the applicability of the tool, we assess five Swiss companies (ABB, Credit Suisse, Nestlé, Novartis, and UBS). These five companies are participants of the UN Global Compact (UNGC), currently the largest collaborative strategic policy initiative for business in the world (www.unglobalcompact.org). This study makes four main contributions: (1) it enriches and operationalizes Matten and Crane's CC definition to build a concept of CC that can be operationalized; (2) it develops an analytical tool to assess the organizational embeddedness of CC, (3) it generates empirical insights into how five multinational corporations have approached CC, and (4) it presents assessment results that provide indications how global governance initiatives like the UNGC can support the implementation of CC.


The formation scenario of a gapped disk, i.e., transitional disk, and its asymmetry is still under debate. Proposed scenarios such as disk–planet interaction, photoevaporation, grain growth, anticyclonic vortex, eccentricity, and their combinations would result in different radial distributions of the gas and the small (sub-μm size) and large (millimeter size) dust grains as well as asymmetric structures in a disk. Optical/near-infrared (NIR) imaging observations and (sub-)millimeter interferometry can trace small and large dust grains, respectively; therefore multi-wavelength observations could help elucidate the origin of complicated structures of a disk. Here we report Submillimeter Array observations of the dust continuum at 1.3 mm and 12CO J = 2 → 1 line emission of the pre-transitional protoplanetary disk around the solar-mass star PDS 70. PDS 70, a weak-lined T Tauri star, exhibits a gap in the scattered light from its disk with a radius of ∼65 AU at NIR wavelengths. However, we found a larger gap in the disk with a radius of ∼80 AU at 1.3 mm. Emission from all three disk components (the gas and the small and large dust grains) in images exhibits a deficit in brightness in the central region of the disk, in particular, the dust disk in small and large dust grains has asymmetric brightness. The contrast ratio of the flux density in the dust continuum between the peak position to the opposite side of the disk reaches 1.4. We suggest the asymmetries and different gap radii of the disk around PDS 70 are potentially formed by several (unseen) accreting planets inducing dust filtration.


Interest in word-formation is probably as old as interest in language itself. As Dr Bauer points out in his Introduction, many of the questions that scholars are asking now were also being asked in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. However, there is still little agreement on methodology in the study of word-formation or theoretical approaches to it; even the kind of data relevant to its study is open to debate. Dr Bauer here provides students and general linguists alike with a new perspective on what is a confused and often controversial field of study, providing a resolution to the terminological confusion which currently reigns in this area. In doing so, he clearly demonstrates the challenge and intrinsic fascination of the study of word-formation. Linguists have recently become increasingly aware of the relevance of word-formation to work in syntax and semantics, phonology and morphology, and Dr Bauer discusses - within a largely synchronic and transformational framework - the theoretical issues involved. He considers topics where word-formation has a contribution to make to other areas of linguistics and, without pretending to provide a fully-fledged theory of word-formation, develops those points which he sees as being central to its study. The book draws on a wide range of sources, and general points are illustrated from a variety of languages. As the title suggests, though, the exposition is principally illustrated with material drawn from English, including close analysis of a number of sets of neologisms. A survey of the types of word-formation found in English is also included. Some background in linguistics is assumed, but students of linguistics and English language with no previous knowledge of word-formation or of morphology at all will find English Word-Formation an accessible and stimulating textbook.


This paper explores our experiences in deploying a video application tool in film studies, and its evaluation in terms of realistic contextual end-users who have real tasks to perform in a real environment. We demonstrate our experiences and core lesson learnt in deploying our novel movie browser application with undergraduate and graduate students completing a Film Studies course in Dublin City University over a semester. We developed a system called MOVIEBROWSER2 that has two types of browsing modes: Advanced and Basic. In general, students found that the features we provided were beneficial for their studies. Some issues or mismatches arose during the trial. A 'wish-list' was drawn up that might be useful for the future system developer. The contribution and achievements reported in this article are on the demonstration and exploration of how advances in technology can be deployed, and media can be accessed in the context of a real user community. Exploring the usage indicates a positive acceptance among students, besides lessons learned that are important for further investigation.


The Triaxial Magnetic Moment Analysis software uses measured magnetic field test data to compute dipole and quadrupole moment information from a hardware element. It is used to support JPL projects needing magnetic control and an understanding of the spacecraft-generated magnetic fields. Evaluation of the magnetic moment of an object consists of three steps: acquisition, conditioning, and analysis. This version of existing software was extensively rewritten for easier data acquisition, data analysis, and report presentation, including immediate feedback to the test operator during data acquisition. While prior JPL computer codes provided the same data content, this program has a better graphic display including original data overlaid with reconstructed results to show goodness of fit accuracy and better appearance of the report graphic page. Data are acquired using three magnetometers and two rotations of the device under test. A clean acquisition user interface presents required numeric data and graphic summaries, and the analysis module yields the best fit (least squares) for the magnetic dipole and/or quadrupole moment of a device. The acquisition module allows the user to record multiple data sets, selecting the best data to analyze, and is repeated three times for each of the z-axial and y-axial rotations. In this update, the y-axial rotation starting position has been changed to an option, allowing either the x- or z-axis to point towards the magnetometer. The code has been rewritten to use three simultaneous axes of magnetic data (three probes), now using two "rotations" of the device under test rather than the previous three rotations, thus reducing handling activities on the device under test. The present version of the software gathers data in one-degree increments, which permits much better accuracy of the fit ted data than the coarser data acquisition of the prior software. The data-conditioning module provides a clean data set for the analysis module. For multiple measurements at a given degree, the first measurement is used. For omitted measurements, the missing field is estimated by linear interpolation between the two nearest measurements. The analysis module was rewritten for the dual rotation, triaxial probe measurement process and now has better moment estimation accuracy, based on the finer one degree of data acquisition resolution. The magnetic moments thus computed are used as an input to summarize the total spacecraft field.


Basically this is an empirical study which aims to test the Markowitz Modern portfolio theory (MPT) or the mean-variance analysis. Fund managers and general investors seek a portfolio that yields maximum return with minimum risk. The problem of investors is dual in nature, as Markowitz showed, i.e., the indifferent choice of risk and return. Though, diversification reduces non-systematic risk but due to limited resources one cannot afford to invest in all stocks, therefore it is pertinent to know that what should be the minimum level of stocks in a portfolio that produces maximum return and minimum risk. The theoretical framework of Markowitz MPT tested by computed 134 months expected the return of thirtytwo stocks, thirty-one variances and 465 co-variances, in order to evaluate efficient portfolio frontier.


1. To explore the effect of nephritis on development of genetic hypertension we immunized 10-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats with purified rat kidney brush-border antigen. This induces Heymann nephritis (autologous immune complex nephritis), which does not elevate blood pressure in normal rats. 2. Nephritis developed in 11 of the 12 immunized animals, and systolic blood pressure rose to a significantly higher level than in the non-immunized spontaneously hypertensive rats within 4 weeks. Blood pressure remained higher in the immunized rats at 17 weeks, heart weights were greater, but creatinine clearance remained unchanged. 3. At 6 weeks, urinary sodium excretion was greater in the immunized spontaneously hypertensive rats, whereas at 17 weeks, sodium excretion was decreased in these animals along with reduced serum protein concentration, packed cell volume and plasma renin activity, as compared with that of the controls. 4. Development of hypertension in nephritic rats, therefore, appeared unrelated to sodium excretion; signs of volume expansion emerged later. 5. Acceleration of the development of spontaneous hypertension by Heymann nephritis, also leading to sustained higher blood pressure levels than in spontaneously hypertensive rats, offers a new approach to experimental study of immune mechanisms behind acceleration of pre-existing hypertension. This may have important bearings on essential hypertension as well.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background: Implantable cardiac sensors have shown promise in reducing rehospitalization for heart failure (HF), but the efficacy of noninvasive approaches has not been determined. The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of noninvasive remote monitoring in predicting HF rehospitalization. Methods: The LINK-HF study (Multisensor Non-invasive Remote Monitoring for Prediction of Heart Failure Exacerbation) examined the performance of a personalized analytical platform using continuous data streams to predict rehospitalization after HF admission. Study subjects were monitored for up to 3 months using a disposable multisensor patch placed on the chest that recorded physiological data. Data were uploaded continuously via smartphone to a cloud analytics platform. Machine learning was used to design a prognostic algorithm to detect HF exacerbation. Clinical events were formally adjudicated. Results: One hundred subjects aged 68.4±10.2 years (98% male) were enrolled. After discharge, the analytical platform derived a personalized baseline model of expected physiological values. Differences between baseline model estimated vital signs and actual monitored values were used to trigger a clinical alert. There were 35 unplanned nontrauma hospitalization events, including 24 worsening HF events. The platform was able to detect precursors of hospitalization for HF exacerbation with 76% to 88% sensitivity and 85% specificity. Median time between initial alert and readmission was 6.5 (4.2–13.7) days. Conclusions: Multivariate physiological telemetry from a wearable sensor can provide accurate early detection of impending rehospitalization with a predictive accuracy comparable to implanted devices. The clinical efficacy and generalizability of this low-cost noninvasive approach to rehospitalization mitigation should be further tested. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique Identifier: NCT03037710.


Abstract Populations change and grow through time. Keeping track of this change and associated improvements or worsening in outcomes is a key role for statistical agencies and researchers, and is necessary for an informed and evidence-based policy debate. This is no truer than for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (generally referred to as Indigenous Australians throughout the rest of this paper). Despite making up only a small percentage of the total Australian population, Indigenous people are a key focus of policy discussion in Australia, with a number of targets set by government against which progress is evaluated. The release of the Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset (ACLD) by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in the form of aggregate data in late 2013 and individual data in late 2014 provides an opportunity to better understand and evaluate the changing nature of the Indigenous population between 2006 and 2011. For the first time, it is possible to compare the identified Indigenous status for an individual in one year with their identified status in previous years using census data. Furthermore, the ACLD provides the first opportunity to look at the changing socioeconomic circumstances of Indigenous Australians, and compare these circumstances with the rest of the population. This paper provides a summary of such an analysis with the aim of spurring additional research and policy discussion.