Voices of Ancient Philosophy-Julia Annas 2001 Edited by one of the most renowned scholars in the field, Voices of Ancient Philosophy: An Introductory Reader is a unique and accessible introduction to the richness of ancient philosophy. Featuring a topical--as opposed to chronological-organization, this text introduces students to the wide range of approaches and traditions in ancient philosophy. In each section Annas presents the ancient debates on a particular philosophical topic, drawing on a greater diversity of ancient sources than a chronological approach allows. The book is divided into six sections: Fate and Freedom; Reason and Emotion; Knowledge, Belief, and Skepticism; Metaphysical Questions; How Should You Live?; and Society and the State. Annas includes a generous selection of the works of Plato and Aristotle, as well as those of the Stoics, Epicureans, and Skeptics. She also includes selections from less familiar philosophers and from authors in whose works philosophical issues arise, such as poets, medical writers, historians, and Jewish and Christian writers. The volume features biographical sketches of the philosophers, a timeline, and short discussions of the major movements in ancient philosophy. An excellent text for courses in ancient philosophy and history of philosophy, Voices of Ancient Philosophy: An Introductory Reader will also be of interest to scholars and general readers.


With the advent of ubiquitous computing, we can easily collect large-scale trajectory data, say, from moving vehicles. This paper studies pattern-matching problems for trajectory data over road networks, which complements existing efforts focusing on (1) a spatiotemporal window query for location-based service or (2) euclidean space with no restriction. In contrast, we first identify some desirable properties for pattern-matching queries to the road network trajectories. As the existing work does not fully satisfy these properties, we develop (1) trajectory representation and (2) distance metric that satisfy all the desirable properties we identified. Based on this representation and metric, we develop efficient algorithms for three types of pattern-matching queries-whole, subpattern, and reverse subpattern matching. We analytically validate the correctness of our algorithms and also empirically validate their scalability over large-scale, real-life, and synthetic trajectory data sets.


In the present review we located and examined 22 articles reporting trials of treatments for bladder and bowel problems among people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). of those studies, 16 included only people with MS. The wide range of measures and methods used precluded any quantitative analysis and hence a narrative review was adopted. There is limited research evidence to guide the treatment of bladder and bowel problems among people with MS. We consider that there is reasonable evidence that oral anticholinergic agents and intranasal desmopressin offer some short-term relief for overactive bladder and nocturia respectively For those patients with persistent or refractory symptoms there is limited evidence from single trials which suggest that intravesical administration of antimuscarinics or vanilloids, or injection of detrusor muscle with botulinum-A toxin, might be considered. Future research priorities should include: studies that focus on managing bladder and bowel symptoms with samples consisting exclusively of people with MS; research on conservative strategies for the management of bladder symptoms; intervention studies of all types with longer follow-up periods. Finally, there is an urgent need for further research on the management of bowel problems in MS.


For fruit growing, plant protection products (PPP) are required to maintain yield and to fulfill high quality standards. In vertical crops the application of PPP is made by active air support, which can result in unwanted displacement of PPP into the environment. These amounts rise when trees are bare and gaps in the canopy are larger. In densely populated regions and those with a high density of ditches, the reduction of these amounts and drift mitigation are important sociopolitical goals. Modern sensor systems offer the possibility for precise target and gap detection and can ensure an appropriate switching of single nozzles. This innovative system allows a high saving potential of PPP and a precise application onto the target area in each tree. In the present project, a concept of an optimal combination of sensors and nozzles for gap detection was further developed. Different sprayers were equipped with a high number of new optical infrared-sensors to optimize the scanning field in the orchard. In comparison with previous sensor systems, the new sensors detect single bare branches without focusing a second tree row and neglect branches in the immediate area. In 2014, field experiments in Jork have shown that a precise application can reduce the output quantity of PPP, as much as 40% in a ten-year-old apple orchard. The efficiency was significantly influenced by software-supported switch-on and switch-off of the nozzles. The evaluation of the losses in the gap showed lower values compared to conventional full application, which could also result in a drift reduction and more efficient application onto the target area. The aim of the project is to develop marketable sprayers with different fan types as well as a retrofitting kit for sprayers in use, which fulfill the requirements for a high PPP usage efficiency.


This paper proposes an empirical model for analyzing the dynamics of Bitcoin prices. To do this, we consider a vector error correction model over two overlapping periods: 2010-2017 and 2010-2019. Price discovery is achieved through the Gonzalo-Granger permanent-transitory decomposition. The pricing factors are endogenous linear combinations of the S&P 500 index, gold price, a Google search variable associated to Bitcoin, and a fear index proxied by the FED Financial Stress Index. Our empirical analysis shows that during the first period a linear combination of four pricing factors describes the efficient Bitcoin price. The S&P 500 index and Google searches have a positive effect whereas gold prices and the fear index have a negative effect. In contrast, during the second period, the efficient price behaves idiosyncratically and can be only rationalized by individuals' search for information on the cryptocurrency. These findings provide empirical evidence on the presence of a correction in Bitcoin prices during the period 2018-2019 uncorrelated to market fundamentals. We also show that standard empirical asset pricing models perform poorly for explaining Bitcoin prices.


We distinguish between identification and establishing causality. Identification means forming a unique mapping from features of data to quantities that are of interest to economists. Establishing causality by finding sources of exogenous variation is often considered synonymous with identification, but these two concepts are distinct. Exogenous variation is only sometimes necessary and never sufficient to identify economically interesting parameters. Instead, even for causal questions identification must rest on an underlying economic model. We illustrate these points by analyzing identification in three recent papers and by examining the estimation of a simple dynamic model.


The value of higher education has been under attack as seldom before in American history. We are told of the overeducated American, of the case against college, and of the failure of education to contribute significantly to the reduction of inequality. In this environment, republication of an exceptionally comprehensive and judicious analysis of all that has been learned--and not learned--about the consequences of American higher education comes at a most appropriate time. Investment in Learning more fully covers the various aspects of this subject than any yet to appear. Howard Bowen is optimistic about higher education, but his viewpoint is based on profound knowledge of both the economic and social aspects of education. Unlike some economists who insist on a strict cost-benefit analysis of expenditures on higher education in relation to outcomes, Bowen argues that the non-monetary benefits are far greater, to the point that individual and social decisions should be made primarily on those broader indicators. Cameron Fincher, in his new opening for the book, notes that "Publication of Howard Bowen's Investment in Learning was like a break in a long summer drought. . . . It was a comprehensive rebuttal to return-on-investment studies with negativistic findings." And in the foreword to the book, Clark Kerr simply says, "Howard Bowen is better prepared to survey the overall consequences of higher education in the United States than anyone else."


Investor-state contracts are regularly used in low- and middle-income countries to grant concessions for land-based and natural resource investments, such as agricultural, extractive industry, forestry, or renewable energy projects. These contracts are rarely negotiated in the presence of, or with meaningful input from, the people who risk being adversely affected by the project. This practice will usually risk violating requirements for meaningful consultation, and, where applicable, free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and is particularly concerning when the investor-state contract gives the investor company rights to lands or resources over which local communities have legitimate claims.

This article explores how consultation and FPIC processes can be practically integrated into investor-state contract negotiations to better safeguard the land rights and human rights of members of project-affected communities. Based on a review of relevant international law standards and guidance documents, a close analysis of typical investor-state negotiations and of consultation and consent processes in other contexts, and a workshop with Indigenous and civil society representatives, the article provides three options for integrating consultation and consent processes into contract negotiations, the appropriateness of which will vary depending on local contexts and communities' resources and decision-making structures.


Most studies of migrant children have concentrated on English as a second language (E.S.L.), educational assessment and parental influences on learning. These studies have been mainly of older children and from the teacher's perspective. There has been little or no research into the child's own perceptions of the experience of being a migrant child, particularly from an early childhood perspective. This study aimed to fill this void by investigating young children's migration to Australia. The information was gathered by means of discussions with migrant children and their teachers in Years 2 and 3 of two schools in the Perth metropolitan area. An investigation was made of the migration experience before, during, and after the journey; the differences betwe~Cn the children's backgrounds and cultures; and the teachers' perceptions of the children's adjustment to school in Australia. It was found that while there were several common factors, children from both Humanitarian and Non~Humanitarian mihrrant categories, displayed many individual differences in background which could affect their development and wellbeing in Australia. The Humanitarian migrant children's experiences of violence prior to migration contrasted with that of the Non~Humanitarian category migrant children. However, many in both groups had experiences of living in other countries; separation from their fathers; having to leave most of their possessions behind; and difficulties with peer group behaviour towards them on arrival in Australia. The attitudes of the Humanitarian migrant children, who were happy to come here, also ii contrasted with those ofthe Non-Humanitarian migrant children, many of whom were ilnhappy or apprehensive. Difficulties were due to loss of familiar people, places, and possessions; differences between education systems; and undesirable peer group behaviour displayed towards them. This study also revealed contrasts between English speaking background (E.S.B.) and Non-English speaking background (N.E.S.B.) migrant children. The E.S.B. children, in spite of apparent similarity of language and culture, expressed more dissatisfaction with their migration experiences than the N.E.S.B. migrant children, and also reported difficulties with peers due to their being perceived as 'different'. Discussions with teachers revealed very caring attitudes towards the children. However, most were unaware of many of the experiences and concerns of the migrant children in their classes, which could have a bearing on the children's development in school. It is recommended that further research with larger samples of the various categories of migrant children investigate their backgrounds and experiences in the classroom and \vith peers, with a view to clarifYing the picture. Recommendations for teachers include talking to migrant children to discover their experiences and concerns; utilisation of children's prior learning of both education and culture in the classroom rather than the 'blank slate' approach; the provision of therapeutic activities for migrant children; and the promotion of tolerance and understanding between all children both in and out of school. This can best be achieved by the development of inclusive curriculae that value and utilise the individual experiences and cultures of migrant children in day to day classroom activities, as a foundatiop for education in Australian schools.


Disseminated nocardiosis of the central nervous system (CNS) has been rarely reported, especially in the immunocompetent patient. We report a case of cerebral and cervical intradural extramedullary nocardiosis likely to have been the result of disseminated spread from a pulmonary infective focus. Attempts at tissue biopsy and culture of the initial cerebral and pulmonary lesions both failed to yield the diagnosis. Interval development of a symptomatic intradural extramedullary cervical lesion resulted in open biopsy and an eventual diagnosis of nocardiosis was made. We highlight the diagnostic dilemma and rarity of spinal nocardial dissemination in an immunocompetent individual.


This study reports on a longitudinal investigation of database usage available through BadgerLink, a general audience digital library available to Wisconsin residents in the United States. The authors analyzed BadgerLink database usage, including EBSCO databases sampled every two years over a six-year period between 1999 and 2005 and four years of usage for ProQuest databases between 2002 and 2005. A quantitative analysis of the transaction log summaries was carried out. Available data included database usage, title requests, session usage by institution, format requests (full-text and abstracts), and search feature usage. The results reveal changes in usage patterns, with relative requests for resources in areas such as social sciences and education increasing, and requests for resources in business/finance and leisure/entertainment decreasing. More advanced search feature usage was also observed over time. Relative usage by searchers affiliated with academic institutions has grown dramatically. Longitudinal analysis of database usage presents a picture of dynamic change of resources usage and search interactions over time. The findings of this study are more in line with results from other online database and digital library environments than Web search engine and Web page environments.


Competence in the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) is a buzz word today given the fact that ICTs have impacted almost all sectors of the global society. Most employers, for example, require people who possess skills in certain ICT when they look for potential employees. Thus, Department of Education 's White paper on e-Education indicates "The ICT revolution has had impact of curriculum development and delivery and continues to pose new challenges for education and training systems around the world." In this regard, schools as social institutions charged with the responsibility of developing human resources cannot overlook the need for inclusion of ICT in the process of teaching and learning so as to empower and equip learners with necessary skills that they will need to function and meet challenges awaiting them. It is against this background that educational researchers are advocating the integration of ICT in the learning and teaching of history in particular and other subjects in general. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to discuss the implications of the turn to ICT for history teaching and learning with particular reference to Windows Movie Maker and history teaching. The essay will mainly focus on: opportunities, costs, the implications on history teachers' professional practice and challenges in integrating Windows Movie Maker into history education. Possible solutions to the challenges will also be emphasised.


Cereal cyst nematodes (CCNs) are plant parasites that significantly limit global cereal production. The most frequently reported pathogenic species are Heterodera avenae, H. filipjevi, and H. latipons. One of the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and easily adopted control measures is the use of genetic host resistance, which maintains nematode populations below the economic damage threshold level. Many effective sources of resistance to CCNs have been identified in cereals; however, their effectiveness and usefulness is dependent on the interaction of the specific putative resistant accession and the CCN pathotype found in a specific region. In this study, 719 wheat lines from the Facultative and Winter Wheat Observation Nurseries, representing a broad geographical spectrum of breeding lines and varieties from Europe, Central Asia, and the International Winter Wheat Improvement Program, were screened against H. filipjevi under controlled conditions. The results indicated that 114 and 90 genotypes were ranked resistant and moderately resistant, representing 15.8% and 12.5% of the screened genotypes, respectively. The frequency of resistant genotypes observed in the germplasms varied significantly among the different original countries and was the highest for genotypes that originated from Bulgaria (59.3%). From those phenotyped germplasms, a set of 289 lines was genotyped to understand if resistance sources are located at the same site or originate from different locations in the genome.


Purpose: Elbow tendinopathies are common conditions that typically last 6 to 24 months. There is no clear consensus in the literature regarding the most effective management. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is an autologous blood product used for elbow tendinopathies with the aim of enhancing tissue regeneration. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the available evidence on the effectiveness and safety of PRP for reducing pain and physical function in elbow tendinopathies. Methods: Electronic databases were searched for relevant studies and data were extracted regarding the design, sample characteristics, interventions, and outcome measures. Each study was critically appraised for methodological quality using a modified tool for quantitative studies and presented in a narrative summary. Results: The search strategy identified 299 hits related to platelet-rich plasma and/or elbow tendinopathies. Five studies met the inclusion criteria; all were randomized controlled trials except one cohort study. All five studies showed improvements from baseline in pain and physical function with a PRP intervention. One study and its follow-up study showed significant improvements in pain and function with PRP compared to corticosteroid at 26, 52, and 104 weeks. Two studies compared PRP to whole blood, which did not find sufficient evidence to suggest one is more effective than the other. A cohort study found PRP was more effective than placebo at 4 and 8 weeks. Three studies reported on the safety of PRP and found no significant adverse effects. Conclusions: The current literature has some limitations and is insufficient to provide strong recommendations regarding the use of PRP in elbow tendinopathies over other modalities; however, these studies suggest that PRP may be more efficacious than corticosteroid injections, but that whole blood injections may be as effective as PRP.


This classic account of how the judiciary cannot act neutrally, but must act politically, now in its fifth edition John Griffith's controversial book has been fully revised and updated to consider the latest developments in relations between politicians and the judiciary: Michael Howard's conflict with the judges, miscarriages of justice, the Criminal Justice Act, the increased use of Judicial Review, the effects of anti-trade union legislation of the 1980s, and so on.


Despite many years of research, alignment of business and IT services remains a challenge. In this paper we show how to verify the quantitative properties of a service against stakeholder requirements during service design. We model the service with the Systemic Enterprise Architecture Method (SEAM). This allows us to specify the service alignment constraints with what we call a feasibility constraint. We translate the SEAM model into Scala code, where the feasibility constraint is mapped to a constraint of a Scala function. We then check the Scala function's verification condition with the Leon verification tool. An alignment is achieved if no counterexample is found. If a counterexample exists, it allows to detect which service component is at the source of the misalignment.


Most frameworks for utility elicitation assume a predefined set of features over which user preferences are expressed. We consider utility elicitation in the presence of subjective or user-defined features, whose definitions are not known in advance. We treat the problem of learning a user's feature definition as one of concept learning, but whose goal is to learn only enough about the concept definition to enable a good decision to be made. This is complicated by the fact that user utility is unknown. We describe computational procedures for identifying optimal alternatives w.r.t minimax regret in the presence of both utility and concept uncertainty; and develop several heuristic query strategies that focus simultaneously on reduction of relevant concept and utility uncertainty.


Recently, "determinization in hindsight" has enjoyed surprising success in on-line probabilistic planning. This technique evaluates the actions available in the current state by using non-probabilistic planning in deterministic approximations of the original domain. Although the approach has proven itself effective in many challenging domains, it is computationally very expensive. In this paper, we present three significant improvements to help mitigate this expense. First, we use a method for detecting potentially useful actions, allowing us to avoid estimating the values of unnecessary ones. Second, we exploit determinism in the domain by reusing relevant plans rather than computing new ones. Third, we improve action evaluation by increasing the chance that at least one determin- istic plan reaches a goal. Taken together, these improvements allow determinization in hindsight to scale significantly better on large or mostly-deterministic problems.


Motivated by applications to sensor networks and privacy preserving databases, we consider the problem of functional compression. The objective is to separately compress possibly correlated discrete sources such that an arbitrary but fixed deterministic function of those sources can be computed given the compressed data from each source. We consider both the lossless and lossy computation of a function. Specifically, we present results of the rate regions for three instances of the problem where there are two sources: 1) lossless computation where one source is available at the decoder; 2) under a special condition, lossless computation where both sources are separately encoded; and 3) lossy computation where one source is available at the decoder. For all of these instances, we present a layered architecture for distributed coding: first preprocess data at each source using colorings of certain characteristic graphs and then use standard distributed source coding (a la Slepian and Wolfs scheme) to compress them. For the first instance, our results extend the approach developed by Orlitsky and Roche (2001) in the sense that our scheme requires simpler structure of coloring rather than independent sets as in the previous case. As an intermediate step to obtain these results, we obtain an asymptotic characterization of conditional graph coloring for an OR product of graphs generalizing a result of Korner (1973), which should be of interest in its own right.


Circular economy (CE) is currently a popular concept promoted by the EU, by several national governments and by many businesses around the world. However, the scientific and research content of the CE concept is superficial and unorganized. CE seems to be a collection of vague and separate ideas from several fields and semi-scientific concepts. The objective of this article is to contribute to the scientific research on CE. First, we will construct the concept of CE from the perspective of WCED sustainable development and sustainability science. Second, we will conduct a critical analysis of the concept from the perspective of environmental sustainability. The analysis identifies six challenges, for example those of thermodynamics and system boundaries, that need to be resolved for CE to be able to contribute to global net sustainability. These six challenges also serve as research themes and objectives for scholars interested in making progress in sustainable development through the usage of circular economy. CE is important for its power to attract both the business community and policy-making community to sustainability work, but it needs scientific research to secure that the actual environmental impacts of CE work toward sustainability.


In this paper, we introduce the notion of a constrained Minkowski sumwhich for two (finite) point-sets P,Q⊆ R2 and a set of k inequalities Ax≥ b is defined as the point-set (P ⊕ Q)Ax≥ b= x = p+q | ∈ P, q ∈ Q, , Ax ≥ b. We show that typical subsequenceproblems from computational biology can be solved by computing a setcontaining the vertices of the convex hull of an appropriatelyconstrained Minkowski sum. We provide an algorithm for computing such a setwith running time O(N log N), where N=|P|+|Q| if k is fixed. For the special case (P⊕ Q)x1≥ β, where P and Q consistof points with integer x1-coordinates whose absolute values arebounded by O(N), we even achieve a linear running time O(N). Wethereby obtain a linear running time for many subsequence problemsfrom the literature and improve upon the best known running times forsome of them.The main advantage of the presented approach is that it provides a generalframework within which a broad variety of subsequence problems canbe modeled and solved.This includes objective functions and constraintswhich are even more complexthan the ones considered before.


Proteins are important biomolecules. Knowledge of their conformations and conformational dynamics is essential to understand their biological functionality. While there exist established methods to investigate the structure of a protein, methods to explore the dynamics like protein folding, allosteric regulations and catalysis are relatively new and still in development. Processes which happen on a millisecond or slower time scale can be eciently studied by NMR spectroscopy. To investigate faster dynamical processes, other spectroscopic methods are needed. In this work, time-resolved infrared spectroscopy on small peptides reveals information about dynamics on the picosecond time scale. Twodimensional infrared spectroscopy (2D-IR) obtains structural information like coupling and relative dipole orientations between molecular groups in a protein/peptide in equilibrium. This method can also be applied to a system being not in equilibrium, e.g a peptide undergoing conformational change (transient 2D-IR). Transient (2D-)IR experiments require a trigger to induce structural changes at a well dened time. This trigger can be e.g. a temperature-jump or a molecular photoswitch in the peptide. In this work, the substitution of the carbonyl oxygen in one peptide bond by a sulfur atom is used to create a photoswitch in the peptide. The resulting thioamide bond then can be excited selectively by ultraviolet light ( ! excitation red-shifted in regard with an amide bond). This moiety then isomerizes and forces the peptide to change its structure. To investigate the functioning of the thioamide bond as photoswitch, N-Methylthioacetamide has been investigated by dierent methods revealing trans ! cis isomerization with a high yield which is completed within one nanosecond. In this work, a thioamide containing peptide, Boc-Ala-Pro- (SC-NH)-Aib-Ala-OMe, is synthesized. This thioxopeptide has well-resolved bands in the amide I region which makes the interpretation of transient spectra easier. Furthermore, it contains a -Pro-Aib- amino acid sequence which is known to form stable -turn structure, characterized by a i ! i+3 hydrogen-bond. The breaking of this hydrogen-bond, induced by the photoswitch, is investigated by transient infrared spectroscopy (UV-pump/IR-probe spectroscopy). The dynamics is compared to other - Aib-containing thioxopeptides which tend to form -turns as well. All thioxopeptides show very similar photoisomerization dynamics, while there are signicant dierences for the relaxation in the thermal ground state. Furthermore, structural properties are revealed from the time-resolved measurements, which show very rigid structure in the inner part of all the thioxopeptides (- (SC-NH)-Aib-), while the tails are exible. Finally, the investigation on the i ! i+3 hydrogen-bond breaking of thioxopeptide Boc-Ala-Pro- (SC-NH)- Aib-Ala-OMe is extended to transient 2D-IR spectroscopy. For detailed interpretation of the spectra, they are compared to additionally performed computer simulations.


ABSTRACT Background: Peer volunteers can be key to delivering effective social cognitive interventions due to increased potential for social modeling. We consulted peer volunteers who had just taken part in an 8-week social and nutritional mealtime intervention with older adults living alone, to seek their evaluation of the intervention. Methods: Semi-structured focus groups were used with a total of 21 volunteers (17 female) and two facilitators. Thematic analysis was used to interrogate the data. Results: Six themes (16 sub-themes) are discussed. Peer volunteers described the importance of the socializing aspect of the intervention, of pairing considerations and compatibility in peer interventions, of considering the needs of the participant, of benefits to the volunteers, and of the practical considerations of conducting an intervention. Volunteers also discussed considerations for future research and services for older adults living alone. Conclusions: Volunteers found their involvement in the intervention to be personally beneficial, and revealed some valuable considerations for the researchers to take forward to future research. Results are pertinent to intervention design and could inform future social cognitive and other peer-oriented interventions for older adults living alone.


Background Packed lunch is the dominant lunch format in many countries including Denmark. School lunch is consumed unsupervised, and self-reported recalls are appropriate in the school setting. However, little is known about the accuracy of recalls in relation to packed lunch. Objective To assess the qualitative recall accuracy of self-reported consumption of packed lunch among Danish 11-year-old children in relation to gender and dietary assessment method. Design A cross-sectional dietary recall study of packed lunch consumption. Digital images (DIs) served as an objective reference method to determine food items consumed. Recalls were collected with a lunch recall questionnaire (LRQ) comprising an open-ended recall (OE-Q) and a pre-coded food group prompted recall (PC-Q). Individual interviews (INTs) were conducted successively. The number of food items was identified and accuracy was calculated as match rates (% identified by DIs and reported correctly) and intrusion rates (% not identified by DIs but reported) were determined. Setting and subjects Three Danish public schools from Copenhagen. A total of 114 Danish 11-year-old children, mean (SE) age=11.1 (0.03), and body mass index=18.2 (0.26). Results The reference (DIs) showed that girls consumed a higher number of food items than boys [mean (SE) 5.4 (0.25) vs. 4.6 (0.29) items (p=0.05)]. The number of food items recalled differed between genders with OE-Q recalls (p=0.005) only. Girls' interview recalls were more accurate than boys' with higher match rates (p=0.04) and lower intrusion rates (p=0.05). Match rates ranged from 67–90% and intrusion rates ranged from 13–39% with little differences between girls and boys using the OE-Q and PC-Q methods. Conclusion Dietary recall validation studies should not only consider match rates as an account of accuracy. Intrusions contribute to over-reporting in non-validation studies, and future studies should address recall accuracy and inaccuracies in relation to gender and recall method.


Upon nutrient depletion, the soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis can form highly resistant, metabolically dormant spores. Spores consist of a dehydrated core (harboring the spore genome) enveloped in an inner spore membrane, a peptidoglycan germ cell wall and cortex, an outer spore membrane, and a proteinaceous coat. When specific nutrients ('germinants') become available again, they can bind to germinant receptors in the inner spore membrane and induce spore revival, consisting of a germination and an outgrowth phase. During germination, spores lose their resistance, release ions and Ca²⁺-dipicolinate (Ca²⁺-DPA) from the core in exchange for water ('core rehydration'), and hydrolyze their cortex. When core rehydration is sufficient to allow enzymatic activity, metabolism is re-activated. This hallmarks the beginning of the outgrowth phase, during which spores undergo molecular reorganization and elongate.
The effects of high salt concentrations and osmotic stress on spore revival were previously poorly investigated, although this topic is relevant for basic research, food microbiology, soil ecology, and astrobiology. Therefore, in this doctoral thesis, the impact of high salinity on Bacillus spore revival was examined, primarily focusing on B. subtilis spore germination in the presence of high NaCl concentrations.
In general, increasing salt concentrations exerted increasingly detrimental effects on germination, although some spores initiated germination despite very high salinities. In the presence of high NaCl concentrations (≥ 1.2 mol/L), B. subtilis spore germination was delayed, slower, more heterogeneous, and less efficient. Other salts also inhibited germination, although their inhibitory strength varied depending on ion concentrations, ionic species (and their combination), and the chemical properties of the salt. Although ionic stress was indeed an important factor, high concentrations of non-ionic osmotic solutes had similar inhibitory strengths as iso-osmotic NaCl concentrations, suggesting that osmotic stress plays a decisive role in NaCl-inhibition. Strikingly, spores having strong coat defects showed exacerbated inhibition by NaCl but not by non-ionic solutes, indicating an important role of the spore coat (possibly in combination with the outer spore membrane) in protecting the subjacent inner spore structures (i.e. cortex, germ cell wall, germination apparatus, and inner spore membrane) from ionic stress.
Based on these findings, a first mechanistic model for germination inhibition by high salinity is proposed. In this model, ionic interactions with the germinant and/or spore coat slow germinant passage to the germinant receptors, thereby delaying germination initiation. Subsequently, osmotic inhibition of core rehydration and concomitant Ca2+-DPA release slows germination after its initiation.
While metabolic reactivation was observable at up to 4.8 mol/L NaCl, successful outgrowth in terms of elongation was observable at up to 2.4 mol/L NaCl, but only under nutrient-rich conditions. Transcriptomic analyses of salt-stressed outgrowing spores indicated many similarities to vegetative cells exposed to sustained high salinity, including the induction of B. subtilis' complete genetic repertoire of osmoprotectant uptake and compatible solute synthesis.
Taken together, this doctoral thesis yielded the first mechanistic model for inhibitory high-salinity effects on B. subtilis spore germination as well as the first comprehensive transcriptomics study of the salt stress response of outgrowing B. subtilis spores. These results contribute to the basic understanding of the influence of salt on B. subtilis' life cycle, and are valuable for the aforementioned applied research fields as well.


A detailed two-dimensional mathematical model is studied for the unsteady heat-and mass-transfer equations coupled with a quasi-steady formulation of the electromagnetic field for the microwave-induced pyrolysis of a wood block. The aspects examined include the description of the flow field based on either the assumption of constant pressure and one-dimensional flow velocity directed along the wood fibers or the linked two-dimensional variation of pressure and velocity in accordance with the Darcy law and deviations from the assumptions of local thermal equilibrium between the solid and gas/vapor phase. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 52: 610–624, 2012


Survey instruments measuring multidimensional attributes of individuals' personal epistemology beliefs have not demonstrated strong goodness-of-fit between the hypothesized model and collected data. Despite this, the growing body of research in personal epistemology suggests the existence of multiple dimensions of epistemic beliefs. To date, previous surveys have been examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in which the dimensions of beliefs have been the levels of a single factor examined. The dimensional structure explored in this study includes certainty, structure, authority, innate ability and acquisition speed. Alternatively, the multitraitmultimethod (MTMM) CFA introduces a second factor into the model. In this context, the second factor was a "method" effect introduced by the philosophical classification of the questions/items in the survey. This project demonstrated that the MTMM CFA is the better statistical tool to confirm the presence of five distinct dimensions in a traditional epistemic belief survey. This was accomplished by modelling the influence of the epistemic belief dimensions crossed with the philosophical nature of the items in the survey. Data were collected over two academic terms in various levels of mathematics courses in a community college in the Pacific Northwest region of the USA. Items in the survey were selected to measure the five epistemic dimensions listed above. Items were then classified as axiomatic, ontologic, deontologic or procedural in nature (deontological items were excluded). Results statistically indicated that the MTMM CFA model was the strongest model compared to standard (single factor) CFA models or alternate conceptualizations of the (dual factor) MTMM CFA model. In addition, results indicate very strong goodness-of-fit measures for the MTMM CFA model (CFI = 0.94; RMSEA = 0.038). Epistemic belief profiles for students are various levels of mathematics instruction in the tertiary environment were also explored.


We analyze normal mode splitting in a pair of vertically coupled microdisk resonators. A full vectorial finite-element model is used to find the eigenfrequencies of the symmetric and antisymmetric composite modes as a function of coupling distance. We find that the coupled microdisks can compete with the best Fabry–Perot resonators in displacement sensing. We also show how we configured FreeFem++ for the sphere eigenvalue problem.


Nikolov, D., P. Borisov and T. raDev, 2014. integrated landscape analysis: consumers' preferences aproach for defining the competitive landscape composition. A case of wine tourism in Pazardjik district, Bulgaria. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 20: 761-766 Tourism is a driving force that is generally considered as an opportunity for promoting economic and social development as well as a useful tool for landscape planning and management. This article focuses on a method for landscape analysis aimed at quantifying the relationship between preferences of visitors and landscape features for defining the competitive wine tourism landscape composition. An application based on the rural areas in Pazardjik district, in Southern Bulgaria. The results are based on a survey for assessing the value of landscape composition through indirect techniques of consumer's landscape valuation focusing on winery. The spatial expression of consumers' preferences to the potential capacity of the landscape winery composition to meet their consumer's preferences a set of pictures showing degrees of potential visitor satisfaction. The method constitutes a useful tool for the design of wine tourism planning and management strategies. The results show that consumers prefer presence of well-maintaned man-made elements with the high degree of wilderness of the landscape.


Indices of mature biomass, derived from spring and autumn NEFSC research vessel bottom trawl surveys, were used to derive long-term trends in spawning stock biomass (SSB) for stocks of Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank cod for years before VP A-based estimates were available, The relationship between survey mature biomass indices and VP A -derived estimates of SSB were determined by linear least squares regression with the survey index as the dependent variable, Both variables were transformed to logarithms and the survey indices were smoothed by an integrated moving average procedure before performing the regressions, To obtain estimates of SSB in years prior to VPA estimates, the linear equations were rearranged to predict the independent variable (SSB) from the smoothed survey indices, Regressions were jackknifed to estimate extrinsic prediction limits, F or Georges Bank cod, predicted survey values from the time series smoothing exhibited stronger relationships with SSB than unfitted indices, The log transformation linearized the relationships, homogenized residual variance, and improved overall fit, suggesting a lognormal error structure, Both surveys predicted SSB with an extrinsic error of 18-21 %, Overall, SSB for Georges Bank cod was estimated to have declined from 100,000-140,000 mt during the 1970s to 40,000-50,000 mt in 1993 and 1994. Results for Gulf of Maine cod were less conclusive as the relationship between SSB and the survey indices of mature biomass was not well defined.


A direct conversion architecture reduces the cost and power consumption of a receiver. However, a direct conversion receiver may suffer from direct current (DC) offset, frequency offset, and IQ imbalance. This paper presents an IQ imbalance estimation scheme for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) direct conversion receivers. The proposed IQ imbalance estimation scheme operates in the presence of dynamic DC offset and frequency offset. The proposed scheme calculates IQ imbalance from a simple equation. It employs the knowledge of the preamble symbols of the IEEE 802.11 a/g standards, while it does not require the impulse response of the channel. Numerical results obtained through computer simulation show that the bit error rate (BER) performance for the proposed IQ imbalance estimation scheme has a degradation of about 4 dB with a large DC offset, frequency offset, and IQ imbalance.


This paper addresses turbo-encoder design for coding with high spectral efficiency using parallel concatenated trellis-coded modulation and symbol interleaving. The turbo-encoder design involves the constituent encoder design and the interleaver design. The constituent encoders are optimized for symbol-wise effective free distance, and each has an infinite symbol-wise impulse response. We identify the canonical structures for the constituent encoder search space. In many cases of practical interest, the optimal structure for these constituent encoders connects the memory elements in a single row. This single row generally applies to turbo code constituent encoders for parallel concatenation and is not restricted to symbol interleaving. To lower the error floor, a new semi-random interleaver design criteria and a construction method extends the spread-interleaver concept introduced by Divsalar and Pollara (1995). Simulation results show that the proposed system employing symbol interleaving can converge at a lower signal-to-noise ratio than previously reported systems. We report simulation results between 0.5 and 0.6 db from constrained capacity for rates of 2 and 4 bits/s/Hz.


Reward function design and exploration time are arguably the biggest obstacles to the deployment of reinforcement learning (RL) agents in the real world. In many real-world tasks, designing a reward function takes considerable hand engineering and often requires additional sensors to be installed just to measure whether the task has been executed successfully. Furthermore, many interesting tasks consist of multiple implicit intermediate steps that must be executed in sequence. Even when the final outcome can be measured, it does not necessarily provide feedback on these intermediate steps. To address these issues, we propose leveraging the abstraction power of intermediate visual representations learned by deep models to quickly infer perceptual reward functions from small numbers of demonstrations. We present a method that is able to identify key intermediate steps of a task from only a handful of demonstration sequences, and automatically identify the most discriminative features for identifying these steps. This method makes use of the features in a pre-trained deep model, but does not require any explicit specification of sub-goals. The resulting reward functions can then be used by an RL agent to learn to perform the task in real-world settings. To evaluate the learned reward, we present qualitative results on two real-world tasks and a quantitative evaluation against a human-designed reward function. We also show that our method can be used to learn a real-world door opening skill using a real robot, even when the demonstration used for reward learning is provided by a human using their own hand. To our knowledge, these are the first results showing that complex robotic manipulation skills can be learned directly and without supervised labels from a video of a human performing the task. Supplementary material and data are available at this https URL


David Atwill transports readers to the heart of the Himalayas as he traces the rise of the Tibetan Muslim community from the seventeenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Radically altering popular interpretations that have portrayed Tibet as isolated and monolithically Buddhist, Atwill's vibrant account demonstrates how truly cosmopolitan Tibetan society was by highlighting the hybrid infl uences and internal diversity of Tibet. In its exploration of the Tibetan Muslim experience, Islamic Shangri-La presents an unparalleled perspective of Tibet's standing during the rise of post–World War II Asia. "Atwill's groundbreaking book traces a forgotten Muslim thread through the knot of identity, subjecthood, and citizenship in twentieth-century Tibet, offering a fresh perspective on the region's tumultuous modern history. It is a highly readable narrative of a Muslim community that has often been rendered invisible, and an important statement on the transition from empires to nation-states at the Inner Asian nexus of Tibet, China, India, and the Islamic world." RIAN THUM, author of The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History "The history of the Tibetan Muslims, which at fi rst may seem like yet another borderland oddity, actually provides a remarkable vantage point from which to survey Asian history anew. Not only does Atwill's use of untapped archival sources and interviews produce original scholarship, but his innovative framing of the material provides valuable perspectives on a history we thought we knew quite well." JOHAN ELVERSKOG, author of Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road DAVID G. ATWILL is Associate Professor of History at Penn State University where he teaches a broad range of courses on China, Tibet, and world history. His previous books include The Chinese Sultanate: Islam, Ethnicity, and the Panthay Rebellion in Southwestern China, 1856–1873  and Sources in Chinese History: Diverse Perspectivesfrom 1644 to the Present .


Social media is having an increasing impact on businesses. In particular, the explosive growth of online brand communities has attracted organizations and marketers' attentions. However, despite the increasing importance of online community for marketing, it is noticed that relatively few of them are successful in attracting community members and enhancing interactivity. In this study, we argue that it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding regarding how the community members participate in the communal context and interact with each other, and thereby the community interactivity can be continued. To this end, we collected a large amount of data from an online discussion forum where we found that the participants were highly interactive across the discussion topics, thus forming robust communities. Currently, the data analysis pertaining to this study is work in progress, but we will be in a position to offer more in-depth analysis of the rich findings that the research has generated by the time of the conference.


Sepsis is a lethal disease that has a complex pathophysiology including a dysregulated inflammatory response, endothelial injury, microvascular thrombosis, vasoplegia and myocardial depression leading to multiorgan failure. Although there are advancements in the management of the disease, incidence and mortality rates are still high even in the developed countries. Prompt recognition of sepsis, early initiation of antibiotics, source control, optimal fluid and vasopressor therapy are of utmost importance. Currently, there is no gold standard biomarker that can allow clinicians to diagnose and prognosticate sepsis and to monitor the response to treatment in a precise, accurate and time efficient way. Current single-protein and multi-protein biomarkers have certain caveats and only partially helpful to diagnose and manage sepsis. Transcriptomics is a widely used approach for biomarker research, especially in sepsis. Technologies that apply to this area are easy, affordable and time efficient; further, the developments in next generation sequencing makes transcriptomics even more applicable. Even though the term transcriptomics includes all RNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs), which are short noncoding RNAs are especially under the spotlight for the search of sepsis biomarkers and some of them have already been validated to be specific. Specifically their high abundancy in circulation and their stability for long periods make them strong candidates for further research. Identification of new biomarkers can help enlightening the unknown sides of sepsis, which might lead to new therapeutic advancements in the management of the disease. Also the search for reliable biomarkers gives hope to clinicians and patients for a better management for this highly mortal and devastating condition.
Key words: sepsis, prognosis, diagnosis, transcriptomics, biomarker, miRNA


Mesopredator and competitor release can lead to population increases of invasive house mice (Mus musculus) after larger introduced mammals are controlled or eradicated. In New Zealand, mammal-resistant fences have enabled multi-species mammal eradications in order to protect indigenous species. When house mice are the only mammals remaining in these biodiversity sanctuaries, they may reach a high population density, with potential consequences for their indigenous prey. We studied mouse populations in the absence of other mammals for 5 years at mammal-resistant fenced forest sites at Maungatautari, Waikato. We used spatially explicit capture–recapture (SECR) to estimate mouse population density quarterly in two independently fenced sites, with contrasting levels of mouse management that were switched half-way through the study. In the absence of mouse control, mouse population density reached 30–46 ha–1 at one site each year after summer breeding, and 23 ha–1 at the other site. Mouse tracking rates in inked footprint tunnels were positively related to numbers of mice captured in each session, but not significantly to mouse density. The highest mouse densities were similar to estimates in New Zealand forest and alpine ecosystems after mass seeding (masting) events, but lower than estimates in another sanctuary and on some islands lacking larger terrestrial mammals. We suggest that in the absence of competition and predation from other mammals, food limitation may have prevented mouse populations from attaining very high densities in this mainland forest location.


Parent Newsletters were investigated as a means of increasing home-school contact in the Junior Primary School mathematics classroom. An action research model using three cycles, was used to develop and trial the newsletter. The first newsletter was based on BSM activities and used by five teachers at a school sited in a military housing area. The second and third formats of the newsletters were written in consultation with one teacher to integrate with her topic based mathematics programme in a Palmerston North primary school. A questionnaire was used to gather background information and invite parents to be interviewed for further comments. Teachers and responding parents were interviewed in a semi-structured format. Participants commented on a range of other home-school contact issues. A follow-up interview was ~onducted with the parents from the Palmerston North school three months after the newsletters had ceased. Teachers and parents were positive about the benefits of the newsletters. Newsletters did increase parental awareness of the junior school mathematics programme. For one child with special needs an obvious improvement in classroom performance was directly attributable to the effect of the newsletters. Interviews revealed a number of inconsistencies between parents and teacher views of their roles and responsibilities. Problems of parent-school communication were highlighted. Teachers supported the newsletters , but felt that heavy workloads did not allow time for teacher production. The research tentatively confirms the value of mathematics newsletters as a means of helping children and as a means of keeping parents informed. additionally, the research gives rise to questions on the duality of information flow and equality of benefits accrued.


OF DISSERTATION USING INOCULATION MESSAGES TO PROTECT "STAY IN THE MARKET" BELIEFS DURING FINANCIAL CRISES This paper focuses on the problem of collapsed "stay in the market" (SIM) beliefs during financial crises. The primary purpose of this investigation was to ascertain whether or not inoculation messages represent a viable communication strategy to preemptively protect SIM beliefs during forthcoming financial crises. Ancillary purposes of this study were to further investigate the role of print and video crises, explicit instructions regarding post-inoculation talk (PIT), and gain and loss frame inoculation messages on the inoculation process. This study used a between subjects factorial design (3 x 2 plus four additional conditions) to explore ten hypotheses. Data collected from 513 participants were analyzed using multivariate and univariate tests and planned comparisons. The results of this investigation indicate that inoculation messages can serve as a viable preemptive crisis communication strategy, that inoculation can protect beliefs equally well when the crisis message is presented through video or print, and that employing a loss frame can strengthen the inoculation process. Mixed results regarding PIT call for further research. Research and practical implications, as well as limitations, are discussed.


A complete wave profile for proforce style of breakdown waves with a current behind the shock front is discussed. The solution of the electron fluid dynamical equations in the sheath region for proforce current bearing waves conforms with the expected conditins for the values of the dynamical variables at the trailing edge of the wave. The wave profile for electric field and electron velocity, temperature, and number density are presented.


We give a natural geometric condition called geodesic compatibility that implies the existence of integrals in involution of the geodesic flow of a pseudo-Riemannian metric. We prove that if two metrics satisfy the condition of geodesic compatibility then we can produce a hierarchy of metrics that also satisfy this condition. A lot of metrics studed in Riemannian and Kahlerian geometry satisfy such conditions. We apply our results for obtaining an infinite family (hierarchy) of completely integrable flows on the complex projective plane CPn.


This investigation studies the Adventist theology of the sanctuary as it found expression in the writings of Uriah Smith (1832-1903), Albion Fox Ballenger (1861-1921), and Milian Lauritz Andreasen (1876-1962). Not only does the selection of these three figures make it possible to deal with the subject of the sanctuary, but it also provides a good opportunity to observe certain important developments in the understanding of the sanctuary doctrine within the Adventist church, because of the strategic place each figure occupied in Adventism, historically and theologically. The study attempts not only to describe the sanctuary theology of the three figures, but also to provide interpretation and evaluation informed by the particular theological outlook of the respective figures. Chapter I points out that Smith, though he appreciated the doctrine of the sanctuary for its own sake, nevertheless used it to support and defend what to him were even more fundamental theological concerns. Three such concerns are identified: (1) the salvation-historical significance of 1844, (2) the perpetuity of the decalogue and the Sabbath, and (3) the imminence of the parousia. The perception of such underlying concerns contributes to a better grasp of Smith's approach to the doctrine. It also aids in the identification of certain theological weaknesses. Chapter II shows that what motivated Ballenger was a basic concern for righteousness by faith and Christian assurance, undergirded by a strong evangelist orientation. It was this concern which led him to a radical revision of the historical Adventist understanding of the doctrine of the sanctuary. This reinterpretation provides positive insights into the doctrine, but also proves unsound in some of its basic assumptions and conclusions. Chapter III makes clear that in those aspects of the doctrine which he emphasized, Andreasen, too, was motivated by an overriding theological concern--a concern for the sinless perfection of an eschatological Remnant. Emphasizing a three-phase process of atonement, he suggested that it was the third phase occurring in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary which effected the perfecting of the saints. Andreasen's position, though basically traditional, shows several departures from Uriah Smith, mostly on non-major points. At the same time, Andreasen echoes Ballenger at many points. But while it would be possible to combine the views of Smith and Andreasen into a coherent Adventist theology of the sanctuary, the position of Ballenger represents too radical a departure to be included in such a merger. The dissertation concludes that, bearing in mind the passage of time and a changed cultural setting, a contemporary Adventist approach to the doctrine of the sanctuary might benefit from some modifications in terms of method, language, and content. In addition, some of the major facets of the doctrine (for example the investigative judgment, the relationship of the cross to the antitypical day of atonement) may need to be expressed with greater theological precision. Moreover, Adventism may need to develop a greater degree of theological confidence in its approach to the subject so as to assure a climate conducive to new approaches, as well as a serious, critical appraisal of problems still outstanding.


Knowledge distillation is a widely applicable technique for training a student neural network under the guidance of a trained teacher network. For example, in neural network compression, a high-capacity teacher is distilled to train a compact student; in privileged learning, a teacher trained with privileged data is distilled to train a student without access to that data. The distillation loss determines how a teacher's knowledge is captured and transferred to the student. In this paper, we propose a new form of knowledge distillation loss that is inspired by the observation that semantically similar inputs tend to elicit similar activation patterns in a trained network. Similarity-preserving knowledge distillation guides the training of a student network such that input pairs that produce similar (dissimilar) activations in the teacher network produce similar (dissimilar) activations in the student network. In contrast to previous distillation methods, the student is not required to mimic the representation space of the teacher, but rather to preserve the pairwise similarities in its own representation space. Experiments on three public datasets demonstrate the potential of our approach.


Because of their potent immunoregulatory capacity, dendritic cells (DCs) have been exploited as therapeutic tools to boost immune responses against tumors or pathogens, or dampen autoimmune or allergic responses. Murine bone marrow-derived DCs (BM-DCs) are the closest known equivalent of the blood monocyte-derived DCs that have been used for human therapy. Current imaging methods have proven unable to properly address the migration of injected DCs to small and deep tissues in mice and humans. This study presents the first extensive analysis of BM-DC homing to lymph nodes (and other selected tissues) after intravenous and intraperitoneal inoculation. After intravenous delivery, DCs accumulated in the spleen, and preferentially in the pancreatic and lung-draining lymph nodes. In contrast, DCs injected intraperitoneally were found predominantly in peritoneal lymph nodes (pancreatic in particular), and in omentum-associated lymphoid tissue. This uneven distribution of BM-DCs, independent of the mouse strain and also observed within pancreatic lymph nodes, resulted in the uneven induction of immune response in different lymphoid tissues. These data have important implications for the design of systemic cellular therapy with DCs, and in particular underlie a previously unsuspected potential for specific treatment of diseases such as autoimmune diabetes and pancreatic cancer.


Noise and crosstalk are two important limiting factors in optical networks with optical cross-connects (OXC's). If reshaping wavelength converters are used in the OXC nodes, noise and crosstalk are transformed into timing jitter which accumulates in the network and limits the performance. A method to evaluate the influence of jitter caused by noise and crosstalk in cascaded OXC's is presented and applied to three different OXC architectures, taking both coherent and incoherent crosstalk into account. In the analyzed architectures, the losses in the OXC and the coherent crosstalk is found to be the most important limitations.


The use of bio-engineering methods for soil erosion protection and slope stabilization has a long tradition. Old methods with rocks and plants, structures of timber have been used over the past centuries. Recently these old soil conservation and stabilization techniques have been rediscovered and improved. Biotechnical engineering methods have become part of geotechnical and hydraulic engineering and have helped bridge the gap between classical engineering disciplines, land use management, landscape architecture and biological sciences. In this paper the different uses of plants in hydraulic and geotechnical engineering design are presented. The core of this study is a comprehensive overview of the most important biotechnical construction methods used for soil erosion protection and slope stabilization. Methods, construction procedure, and the major advantages and disadvantages of these biotechnical methods are discussed. Considerations about construction and maintenance costs conclude in this paper.


The kinetic of chromium(VI) catalyzed oxidation of aromatic secondary alcohols has been studied by the rate of disappearance of (Cr(VI)). The reaction is zero order with respect to (Cr(VI)). The reagent supported on anion exchange resin was found to be more efficient in the oxidation reaction. The reagent is very easily separated from the reaction mixture and can be manually removed from the reaction mixture, which remains clear during and after the reaction. The kinetics of oxidation of 4-bromophenylethanol, 4-chlorophenylethanol and 4-iodophenylethanol with chromic acid supported on anion exchange resin like Amberlite IRA 402 (Cl - ) in 1, 4-dioxane has been studied. The reaction is found to be of zero order each in concentration of alcohol and oxidant. The reaction constants involved in the mechanism and the activation parameters have been calculated.


IMPORTANCE
Individuals with the fragile X premutation express expanded CGG repeats (repeats 55-200) in the FMR1 gene and elevated FMR1 messenger RNA (mRNA) levels, both of which may underlie the occurrence of the late-onset neurodegenerative disorder fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). Because the core feature of FXTAS is motor impairment, determining the influence of FMR1 mRNA levels on structural connectivity of motor fiber tracts is critical for a better understanding of the pathologic features of FXTAS.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the associations of CGG repeat and FMR1 mRNA with motor-related fiber tracts in males with premutation alleles.

DESIGN AND SETTING
A case-control study conducted at the University of California, Davis, from April 1, 2008, through August 31, 2009. All data were collected masked to the carrier status of the FMR1 gene.

PARTICIPANTS
Thirty-six male premutation carriers with FXTAS and 26 male premutation carriers without FXTAS were recruited through their family relationships with children affected by fragile X syndrome. The controls were 34 unaffected family members and healthy volunteers from the local community.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
The CGG repeat lengths and FMR1 mRNA expression levels in peripheral blood lymphocytes, motor functioning, and white matter structural integrity that were estimated using diffusion tensor imaging. After data collection, we selected 4 motor tracts to reconstruct using diffusion tensor tractography, namely, the middle and superior cerebellar peduncles, descending motor tracts (containing the corticospinal, corticobulbar, and corticopontine tracts), and the anterior body of the corpus callosum.

RESULTS
All fiber tracts exhibited weaker structural connectivity in the FXTAS group (decreased 5%-53% from controls, P ≤ .02). Genetic imaging correlation analysis revealed negative associations of CGG repeat length and FMR1 mRNA with connectivity strength of the superior cerebellar peduncles in both premutation groups (partial r² = 0.23-0.33, P ≤ .004). In addition, the measurements from the corpus callosum and superior cerebellar peduncles revealed a high correlation with motor functioning in all 3 groups (r between partial least square predicted and actual test scores = 0.41-0.56, P ≤ .04).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Distinct pathophysiologic processes may underlie the structural impairment of the motor tracts in FXTAS. Although both the corpus callosum and superior cerebellar peduncles were of great importance to motor functioning, only the superior cerebellar peduncles exhibited an association with the elevated RNA levels in the blood of fragile X premutation carriers.


Macrophages at the base of human gut associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), become loaded early in life with dark granular pigment that is rich in aluminium, silicon, and titanium. The molecular characteristics, intracellular distribution, and source of this pigment is described. Laser scanning and electron microscopy showed that pigmented macrophages were often closely related to collagen fibres and plasma cells in GALT of both small and large intestine and contained numerous phagolysosomes, previously described as granules, that are rich in electron dense submicron sized particles. Morphological assessment, x ray microanalysis, and image electron energy loss spectroscopy showed three distinct types of microparticle: type I - spheres of titanium dioxide, 100-200 nm diameter, characterised as the synthetic food-additive polymorph anatase; type II - aluminosilicates, < 100-400 nm in length, generally of flaky appearance, often with adsorbed surface iron, and mostly characteristic of the natural clay mineral kaolinite; and type III - mixed environmental silicates without aluminium, 100-700 nm in length and of variable morphology. Thus, this cellular pigment that is partly derived from food additives and partly from the environment is composed of inert inorganic microparticles and loaded into phagolysosomes of macrophages within the GALT of all human subjects. These observations suggest that the pathogenicity of this pigment should be further investigated since, in susceptible individuals, the same intracellular distribution of these three types of submicron particle causes chronic latent granulomatous inflammation.


Moral thinking pervades our practical lives, but where did this way of thinking come from, and what purpose does it serve? Is it to be explained by environmental pressures on our ancestors a million years ago, or is it a cultural invention of more recent origin? In The Evolution of Morality, Richard Joyce takes up these controversial questions, finding that the evidence supports an innate basis to human morality. As a moral philosopher, Joyce is interested in whether any implications follow from this hypothesis. Might the fact that the human brain has been biologically prepared by natural selection to engage in moral judgment serve in some sense to vindicate this way of thinking -- staving off the threat of moral skepticism, or even undergirding some version of moral realism? Or if morality has an adaptive explanation in genetic terms -- if it is, as Joyce writes, "just something that helped our ancestors make more babies" -- might such an explanation actually undermine morality's central role in our lives? He carefully examines both the evolutionary "vindication of morality" and the evolutionary "debunking of morality," considering the skeptical view more seriously than have others who have treated the subject. Interdisciplinary and combining the latest results from the empirical sciences with philosophical discussion, The Evolution of Morality is one of the few books in this area written from the perspective of moral philosophy. Concise and without technical jargon, the arguments are rigorous but accessible to readers from different academic backgrounds. Joyce discusses complex issues in plain language while advocating subtle and sometimes radical views. The Evolution of Morality lays the philosophical foundations for further research into the biological understanding of human morality.


In this paper, we try to evaluate the benefits of biodiversity restoration in the southwest of France, along the Garonne river. This particular riparian forest has been studied extensively by a group of ecologists belonging to the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) in Toulouse. A contingent valuation method was applied. A representative sample of 402 persons living in the surrounding region (the "departements" Tarn-et-Garonne and Haute-Garonne) was asked in face-to-face interviews about their willingness-to-pay for the restoration programme. Even if these persons are familiar with the good to value because they live close to the river bank (less than 30 km), it appears that they adopt a donation attitude more than a transaction attitude. Moreover, an open-ended question seems preferable to a close-ended question, in contrast to the recommendations made by the American administration.


Novel compositions comprising unsaturated polyhemi-amic acid compositions and processes for their preparation are disclosed herein. These new compositions are primarily derivatives of anhydride-terminated aromatic polyimides from which they are prepared by amidation to provide unsaturated amide groups having terminal -CH=CH2 groups as hemi-amic acid groups or their derivatives. These new compositions are more tractable than the original anhydride-terminated polyimides and can be converted at appropriate lower temperatures to crosslinked, insoluble, infusible polymers without by-product formation thereby extending greatly the applications for which the aromatic polyimides can be employed. Also included are monomeric compounds containing unsaturated amide groups derived from monomeric tetracarboxylic dianhydrides. These are particularly useful as crosslinking agents.


Title of thesis: SIMULTANEOUS MULTI-VIEW FACE TRACKING AND RECOGNITION IN VIDEO USING PARTICLE FILTERING Naotoshi Seo, Master of Science, 2009 Thesis directed by: Professor Rama Chellappa Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Recently, face recognition based on video has gained wide interest especially due to its role in surveillance systems. Video-based recognition has superior advantages over image-based recognition because a video contains image sequences as well as temporal information. However, surveillance videos are generally of lowresolution and contain faces mostly in non-frontal poses. We propose a multi-view, video-based face recognition algorithm using the Bayesian inference framework. This method represents an appearance of each subject by a complex nonlinear appearance manifold expressed as a collection of simpler pose manifolds and the connections, represented by transition probabilities, among them. A Bayesian inference formulation is introduced to utilize the temporal information in the video via the transition probabilities among pose manifolds. The Bayesian inference formulation realizes video-based face recognition by progressively accumulating the recognition confidences in frames. The accumulation step possibly enables to solve face recognition problems in low-resolution videos, and the progressive characteristic is especially useful for a real-time processing. Furthermore, this face recognition framework has another characteristic that does not require processing all frames in a video if enough recognition confidence is accumulated in an intermediate frame. This characteristic gives an advantage over batch methods in terms of a computational efficiency. Furthermore, we propose a simultaneous multi-view face tracking and recognition algorithm. Conventionally, face recognition in a video is performed in trackingthen-recognition scenario that extracts the best facial image patch in the tracking and then recognizes the identity of the facial image. Simultaneous face tracking and recognition works in a different fashion, by handling both tracking and recognition simultaneously. Particle filter is a technique for implementing a Bayesian inference filter by Monte Carlo simulation, which has gained prevalence in the visual tracking literature since the Condensation algorithm was introduced. Since we have proposed a video-based face recognition algorithm based on the Bayesian inference framework, it is easy to integrate the particle filter tracker and our proposed recognition method into one, using the particle filter for both tracking and recognition simultaneously. This simultaneous framework utilizes the temporal information in a video for not only tracking but also recognition by modeling the dynamics of facial poses. Although the time series formulation remains more general, only the facial pose dynamics is utilized for recognition in this thesis. SIMULTANEOUS MULTI-VIEW FACE TRACKING AND RECOGNITION IN VIDEO USING PARTICLE FILTERING


Background: There has been much discussion amongst automated software defect prediction researchers regarding use of the precision and false positive rate classifier performance metrics. Aim: To demonstrate and explain why failing to report precision when using data with highly imbalanced class distributions may provide an overly optimistic view of classifier performance. Method: Well documented examples of how dependent class distribution affects the suitability of performance measures. Conclusions: When using data where the minority class represents less than around 5 to 10 percent of data points in total, failing to report precision may be a critical mistake. Furthermore, deriving the precision values omitted from studies can reveal valuable insight into true classifier performance.


A new energy conversion and storage system, named the 'seawater battery', has recently been a subject of research in the field of electrochemistry. Using natural seawater as the catholyte in an open-structured cathode, the battery stores sodium (Na) ions from the seawater on the anode side during charging, and then delivers electricity by discharging on demand. Herein, we report an amorphous red phosphorus/carbon composite anode material which was successfully employed as the anode of a seawater battery. It exhibited a stable cycling performance with a high reversible capacity exceeding 920 mA h gcomposite−1 with a coulombic efficiency of more than 92% over 80 cycles, as well as good rate capabilities. In terms of the full-cell performance of lithium ion and sodium ion batteries, the seawater batteries with the amorphous red phosphorus/carbon composite anode exhibited the highest reversible capacity and specific energy. These results indicate that the use of an open-structured cathode system, which provides the anode with an unlimited supply of Na ions, would allow a seawater battery to overcome the limitations associated with the high-capacity alloying reaction-based anodes used in conventional batteries with a closed system.


Government determination to eradicate extreme poverty and food insecurity among Batswana through small scale vegetable production program appears not to transform their economic stance. Rural households that are part of Poverty Eradication Programme were investigated to determine if backyard gardens were profitable enough to improve incomes, reduce extreme poverty, and increase food security. The study aimed at analysing profitability and identifying factors that affect profitability of backyard gardening. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to collect data from 100 rural households who are part of the backyard garden scheme. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis and regression analysis. Results indicated that backyard gardening was a viable activity though profitability was affected by amount of fertilizer applied, market availability and area planted. Beneficiaries indicated that the production and marketing constraints they faced included pests and diseases, lack of water, lack of market and poor prices. Program leaders must recognize the production and marketing constraints themselves as well as plan for the possibility that continual financial support for investment in the initial years of operation.


The ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor has the largest genome of all fungi yet sequenced. The large genome size is partly a result of an expansion of gene family sizes. Among the largest gene families are protein kinases and RAS small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases), which are key components of signal transduction pathways. Comparative genomics and phylogenetic analyses were used to examine the evolution of the two largest families of protein kinases and RAS small GTPases in L. bicolor. Expression levels in various tissues and growth conditions were inferred from microarray data. The two families possessed a large number of young duplicates (paralogs) that had arisen in the Laccaria lineage following the separation from the saprophyte Coprinopsis cinerea. The protein kinase paralogs were dispersed in many small clades and the majority were pseudogenes. By contrast, the RAS paralogs were found in three large groups of RAS1-, RAS2- and RHO1-like GTPases with few pseudogenes. Duplicates of protein kinases and RAS small GTPase have either retained, gained or lost motifs found in the coding regions of their ancestors. Frequent outcomes during evolution were the formation of pseudogenes (nonfunctionalization) or proteins with novel structures and expression patterns (neofunctionalization).


The research reported in this thesis took as its
starting point the question of whether touch has the
information processing characteristics required to deal with
speech transforms. A review of the current status of tactile
speech prostheses and of the range of potential limitations to
touch's ability to deal with speech transforms, lead to the
identification of two specific research foci.
First, it was argued that an appropriate strategy for
tactile aid development is to establish where tactile and
auditory processes overlap and where they differ, then to take
advantage of any similarities, or compensate for any
differences, between these modalities in the design of the
prosthesis. In line with this argument, a series of experiments
was undertaken to test previous suggestions that there is an
underlying similarity between auditory and tactile
representations of stimuli. In support of these claims, it was
found that auditory and tactile versions of patterns are
easier to compare than are auditory and visual versions of
those patterns. Subsequent research revealed that one aspect of
this processing affinity between touch and hearing is that both
modalities, unlike vision, process temporally distributed
information more efficiently than spatially distributed
information. This finding has broader theoretical significance
in view of the current controversy regarding the division of
senses according to a spatial vs temporal criterion.
The second research focus addressed was whether touch has the spatial and temporal acuity required to deal with
speech transforms. It was argued that the limiting factors in
tactile spatial and temporal acuity were more likely to occur
at the higher level of touch's ability to deal with the strong
interactive effects between pattern elements, rather than at
the lower level of two-point thresholds in time and space. As
masking is a primary interactive force between tactile pattern
elements, an attempt was made to resolve the ongoing debate
regarding the extent to which tactile masking effects either
limit the perception of complex tactile patterns by obscuring
the identity of pattern elements or facilitate this task via a
process of perceptual integration.
This question was investigated by measuring the
discriminability of three-element tactile patterns as the
spatial and temporal separation, and hence the level of
masking, between pattern elements was varied. It was expected
that performance would De best at closer element spacings, due
to the greater opportunity for perceptual integration to occur.
Contrary to this prediction, it was found that the increasing
levels of masking induced by decreasing the spatial and
temporal separation between pattern elements caused a decrease
in the discriminability of the patterns.
One caveat to the acceptance of this result was the
possibility that training may be required before touch can take
advantage of any beneficial interactions between pattern
elements, a possibility supported by the anecdotal reports of
the subjects. Tentative support for this suggestion was provided by a pattern learning experiment involving three
subjects from the previous experiment. After brief experience
with closely spaced tactile patterns, the subjects were able to
discriminate these stimuli at least as well as widely spaced
tactile patterns.
While failing to demonstrate the proposed beneficial
effects of integration, these results did indicate that close
spatial and temporal proximity between tactile pattern elements
may not adversely affect the discriminability of those
patterns. If subsequent research confirms this tentative
finding, then the implication for tactile speech prostheses is
that the display employed need not avoid the strong masking
effects induced by close spatial and temporal proximity between
speech pattern elements.
In summary, this thesis showed that there is a general
similarity between auditory and tactile perceptual
representations of patterns which may both assist in the
implementation of tactile speech prostheses, and advantage
touch over vision for this purpose. Second, it appears that
although tactile pattern perception is initially impeded by the
occurrence of masking effects between pattern elements, this
performance deficit may be removed once the observers have
sufficient experience with the stimuli. There is, however, a
clear need for further research before this tentative
conclusion can be confirmed.


In most plant species, nutrient uptake is facilitated upon root association with symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. The aim of the present experiment was to test how the form in which nitrogen (N) is supplied to the growth medium affects substrate pH, AM development, and contribution of the symbiosis to phosphorus (P) uptake from sparingly available or soluble resources. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) plants inoculated or noninoculated with AM fungi (Glomus sp.) were grown in pots with a sand substrate supplied with nutrient solution. The nutrient solution was prepared either with a high or a low concentration of soluble P, and NO - 3 -N: NH + 4 -N ratios of 9:1 or 5:5. The substrate supplied with low-P nutrient solution was either or not additionally amended with ground rock phosphate. Despite a high level of root colonization, AM fungi used in the present study did not appear to increase plant availability of rock phosphate. It cannot be excluded that the ability of AM root systems to acquire P from sparingly available resources differs depending on the plant and fungal genotypes or environmental conditions. The absence from the growth substrate of P-solubilizing microorganisms able to associate with AM mycelia might also have been a reason for this observation in our study. Increased supply of NH + 4 relative to NO - 3 improved plant P availability from rock phosphate, but also had a negative effect on the extent of AM-fungal root colonization, irrespective of the plant P-nutritional status. Whether increasing levels of NH + 4 can also negatively affect the functioning of the AM symbiosis in terms of plant element uptake, pathogen protection or soil-structure stabilization deserves further investigation.


Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) has become a popular public key cryptography standard. The security of ECC is due to the difficulty of solving the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP). In this paper, we demonstrate a successful attack on ECC over prime field using the Pollard rho algorithm implemented on a hardware-software cointegrated platform. We propose a high-performance architecture for multiplication over prime field using specialized DSP blocks in the FPGA. We characterize this architecture by exploring the design space to determine the optimal integer basis for polynomial representation and we demonstrate an efficient mapping of this design to multiple standard prime field elliptic curves. We use the resulting modular multiplier to demonstrate low-latency multiplications for curves secp112r1 and P-192. We apply our modular multiplier to implement a complete attack on secp112r1 using a Nallatech FSB-Compute platform with Virtex-5 FPGA. The measured performance of the resulting design is 114 cycles per Pollard rho step at 100 MHz, which gives 878 K iterations per second per ECC core. We extend this design to a multicore ECDLP implementation that achieves 14.05M iterations per second with 16 parallel point addition cores.


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Wear is an ubiquitous phenomenon affecting an extremely wide number of technological system, often determining their premature failure. In this regard, wear and friction behavior of friction materials and the characterization of wear debris from brake disc system is an important step to understand the dominant wear mechanisms active in a given tribological system, in order to improve its performances and to increase the expected lifetime. In the thesis, four tribological task has been performed, under the code name Case I, II, III & IV. This thesis present the work on the development of a characterization methodology of a wear debris from brake pad-disc system, M1 and M2 friction materials at elevated temperatures and study of the wear and frictional behavior of a heat treated cast iron disc.
In Case I, the dry sliding behavior of two friction materials (M1 & M2) have been investigated. The sliding tests were carried out on a pin-on-disc test rig, using a cast iron disc as a counterface, under mild conditions (the applied nominal pressure was 2 MPa and the sliding speed was 3.14 m/s). The results shows that friction material M2 is characterized by a lower friction coefficient than friction material M1, and the friction coefficient is stable during the test. In addition, friction material M2 shows a lower wear rate than M1. The results were explained by considering the characteristics of the friction layer that is established during the test. On the bases of the experimental observations, the lower friction and wear of friction material M2 was attributed to the formation a quite uniform and well compacted friction layer, due to the presence of ingredients, such as Zr oxides, able to form small particles during sliding that are compacted and held together by the presence of metallic ingredients, such as copper. The absence of Zr-oxides in the formulation of M1friction material and the presence, in their place, of hard and abrasives Mg, Zn and Al-oxides, impeded the formation of wide covering friction layer, increasing friction and wear. The different frictional properties of the brake pads determine their driving performances, and the different wear behavior determine their in-service deterioration and also their attitude to emit particulate matter in the environment, which is nowadays a concern of increasing importance. Under the Case II, a streamline characterization protocol for wear debris emitted under wear testing conditions (Case I - M1 friction material) used for disc brake assemblies is presented. An important aspect of the experimental test methodology concerns the powder collection methodology on different substrates: aluminum foil, for a gravitational integral collection, and polycarbonate filters of an ELPI+ impactor equipment, on which particles are selectively trapped, according to their average size. The protocol is based on the application of different materials characterization tools, like scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). The deliberate aim of the study was to identify suitable selection parameters, like specimen availability and average particle size, for an effective and smart application of the mentioned experimental techniques so to optimize testing times and obtain statistical reliable results. The proposed characterization approach could be profitably employed also in other contexts, like environmental and health monitoring, as far as particulate matter, even from other sources than brake systems, is concerned. We extended the work in Case I by investigating further wear mechanisms of M1 & M2 pins at elevated temperatures i.e., 170°C, 200°C, 250°C, 300°C and 350°C, under Case III. The results showed a clear evolution of frictional parameters with temperature. For M1, the working temperature were 155°C, 200°C, 250°C and 300°C, the absence of frictional parameters with temperature and wear behavior of M1 is higher than M2 with one degree higher order of magnitude. Wear tracks on the discs form from the piling up of wear fragments produced both by the tribo-oxidation of the disc itself and from the wearing out of the pin materials. This accumulation of wear debris on the disc surface nearly compensate for the weight loss associated with disc wear. The observed tribological behaviour is very much influenced by the thermal degradation of the phenolic binder of the friction material. The thermal decomposition kinetics was confirmed by thermogravimetric analyses, conducted on purpose on the pin material, and by Raman spectroscopy results, that confirmed the presence of carbonaceous products on the worn out pin surface. For M2, the working temperature were 170°C, 200°C, 250°C, 300°C and 350°C, above 170°C a transition from mild to severe wear was observed. Correspondingly, the friction layers, in particular, the secondary plateaus, which develop on the pins and disc surface during sliding displayed quite different features, as proved by electron microscopy observations and X-ray spectroscopy analyses. As concerns the pins, at 25°C and 170°C, the friction layer consists of primary and well compacted secondary plateaus. At 200°C and above, a progressive reduction of the pin surface coverage by the secondary component of the friction layer and a corresponding thinning of this component are observed. Secondary plateaus are barely present on the samples tested at 350°C. Although referring to rather extreme conditions and simplified sliding conditions, the results obtained in this study provide useful indications on the role that the thermal stability of the organic component may have in determining wear rate in brake systems in which the temperature rise may be induced by actual operational conditions. The Case IV work aims at illustrating the role of conventional heat-treatments on the friction and wear behavior of the above system. Wear rates of both disc and M2 friction material were reduced by almost one order of magnitude when the disc is preliminarily heat-treated and then grinded to remove the surface decarburized layer that forms during the adopted treatment cycle. Heat-treatment and heat-treatment plus ground results in the reduction of the friction coefficient, which was comparatively low for the grounded samples (grinded to remove the surface decarburized layer). The friction and wear behavior along with the contact temperature evolutions were rationalized according to the materials characteristics and the observed wear mechanisms.


Lab-on-a-chip devices offer faster, cheaper, and better ways of doing chemical and biological analyses. In this paper, we will show that both 3D micro-fluidic and 3D micro-optical structures can be directly formed in photosensitive glass using a femtosecond laser and an annealing and etching process. Particularly, we will demonstrate the fabrication and examine the function of lab-on-a-chip biosensors integrated with micro-optical loops for enhancing detection sensitivity. The fabricated lab-on-a-chip biosensors are composed of a micro-fluidic channel into which sample under test will be injected. Five micro-optical mirrors are distributed on both sides of the micro-channel to form a zigzag optical path, which forces a micro-optical beam to cross the micro-fluidic channel three times before entering into a photodetector. This design can effectively extend the absorption path length and result in enhanced detection sensitivity of photoabsorption spectroscopic analysis. To examine the function of the micro-device, we filled the microfluidic channel with a dye solution (Rhodamine 640 dissolved in methanol) and shone a green laser beam (532nm) from a laser pointer into the microstructure. The fluorescence emission from the dye solution indicated that the light beam passed through the microchannel; however, due to the strong absorption, the output beam was not obvious. Quantitative characterization is under way for evaluating the detection limit of the lab-on-a-chip micro-device.Copyright © 2006 by ASME


Demographic change is expected to affect labour markets in very different ways on a regional scale. The objective of this paper is to explore the spatio-temporal patterns of recent distributional changes in the workers age structure, innovation output and skill composition for German regions by conducting an Exploratory Space-Time Data Analysis (ESTDA). Beside commonly used tools, we apply newly developed approaches which allow investigating the space-time dynamics of the spatial distributions. We include an analysis of the joint distributional dynamics of the patenting variable with the remaining interest variables. Overall, we find strong clustering tendencies for the demographic variables and innovation that constitute a great divide across German regions. The detected clusters partly evolve over time and suggest a demographic polarization trend among regions that may further reinforce the observed innovation divide in the future.