A problem based on the actual passenger transportation operations of two community disability service organizations in St. Paul is presented. The problem is to minimize the number of routes needed to serve all the passengers subject to spatial and temporal constraints on the routing of vehicles. Additional problem characteristics include heterogeneous vehicle and passenger classes, multiple destinations, separate "runs" defined by service time windows, and rules governing the embarkment as well as maximum travel times. Here is developed a method able to generate a good problem solution within a reasonable amount of time to guide these companies' operations. Early attempts at problem solution reveal facets of its structure and illuminate an inherent trade-off between vehicle capacity and uninhibited vehicle operating time. To address this, the method proposed uses high-capacity vehicles to serve routes in both runs while allotting easily served passengers to these vehicles to relieve temporal constraints. This heuristic carries the additional advantage of partitioning the rest of the solution into two single-run problems, and the decrementing adaptive memory program (DAMP) is devised as a way of discovering solution components and promoting those more effective at producing good solutions to be used in future attempts. When applied to a data set provided by the organizations, the algorithm improved the current benchmark solution, generated by hand, by over 12% in reasonable operating time, serving 574 passengers with 64 routes in 53 vehicles. Its absolute measure of quality, in light of lower bounds that were constructed, is also considered good.


Algal diversity is important in the Galapagos Islands' littoral ecosystems because it is part of the photosynthetic role in the food web. Male damselfish (Stegastes sps.) may play a key role in the maintenance of algal diversity due to their territorial behavior; they actively clean territories and thereby, open up niches for algal growth. We investigated the damselfish role in algal coverage and diversity and predicted that there will be greater mean coverage and number of species within territories. Results from this study will contribute to the knowledge base concerning natural diversity maintenance. Data collection occurred during low tide between 20 and 26 July, 2015 at two beaches on Isla San Cristόbal. Using 50cm x 50cm PVC quadrants, we compared algal coverage and species diversity on damselfish territories and on randomly selected areas ("nonterritories") within 7 meters of the focal territory (N = 50 for each category at each beach). Using a chi-square goodness of fit analysis protocol, we found a significant difference between the mean number of algal species within a territory as compared to non-territories at both beaches (Playa Mann: 2.5 vs. 2.0, respectively and La Loberίa: 3.0 and 2.5, respectively). At La Loberίa, there was significantly less algal coverage in nonterritories (P < 0.001). There was no difference in mean algal coverage at Playa Mann (P = 0.94). Reduced algal coverage within non-territories at La Loberίa may be a function of a generally shallower area and high snorkeling activities. Lower algal coverage may be explained by daily abrasion of the bottom by the public. In terms of mean algal diversity, results are in agreement with our prediction and damselfish appear to play an important role in the maintenance of higher algal diversity. This research provides valuable insight into the biodiversity of algal species in marine ecosystems, as well as further supports the importance of Damselfish in regards to upkeep of these marine ecosystems.


This study was carried out to investigate the effect of education on knowledge, and attitudes, and practice of pregnant women in order to decrease tendency to elective cesarean delivery. This study conducted on 160 nulliparous Iranian pregnant women who referred to the health and wellness centers. The participants were randomly divided into the experimental and control groups. The data were collected through administering questionnaires, holding interviews and referring to the health records. The experimental group was educated about cesarean section and vaginal delivery through group meetings, face to face education, playing videos, and distributing pamphlets whereas the control group received routine cares. One month after intervention, the level of knowledge and attitudes was again measured along with the level of practice performance of two groups in choosing cesarean or vaginal delivery for childbirth. The findings of the study showed that before the intervention, there was not a significant difference in knowledge and attitudes between two groups. After training, however, the experimental group showed a significantly more knowledge and attitudes towards the vaginal delivery. There was also a significant difference between two groups with respect to practice (kind of delivery) as the cesarean section reduced about 15% in the experimental group compared to the control group. This study showed that training can enhance the level of knowledge and attitudes of pregnant women, leading to the less likelihood of having cesarean without a medical reason.


Primary care patients frequently present with anxiety with prevalence ratios up to 30%. Brief cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) has been shown in meta-analytic studies to have a strong effect size in the treatment of anxiety. However, in surveys of anxious primary care patients, nearly 80% indicated that they had not received CBT. In 2010, a model of CBT (Coordinated Anxiety Learning and Management (CALM)) adapted to primary care for adult anxiety was published based on results of a randomised controlled trial. This project aimed to integrate an adaptation of CALM into one primary care practice, using results from the published research as a benchmark with the secondary intent to spread a successful model to other practices. A quality improvement approach was used to translate the CALM model of CBT for anxiety into one primary care clinic. Plan-Do-Study-Act steps are highlighted as important steps towards our goal of comparing our outcomes with benchmarks from original research. Patients with anxiety as measured by a score of 10 or higher on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 item scale (GAD-7) were offered CBT as delivered by licensed social workers with support by a PhD psychologist. Outcomes were tracked and entered into an electronic registry, which became a critical tool upon which to adapt and improve our delivery of psychotherapy to our patient population. Challenges and adaptations to the model are discussed. Our 6-month response rates on the GAD-7 were 51%, which was comparable with that of the original research (57%). Quality improvement methods were critical in discovering which adaptations were needed before spread. Among these, embedding a process of measurement and data entry and ongoing feedback to patients and therapists using this data are critical step towards sustaining and improving the delivery of CBT in primary care.


A standardized approach for the definition and reporting of vertical resolution of the ozone and temperature lidar profiles contributing to the Network for the Detection for Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) database is proposed. Two standardized definitions describing homogeneously and unequivocally the impact of vertical filtering are recommended.

The first proposed definition is based on the width of the response to a Finite Impulse-type perturbation. The response is computed by convolving the filter coefficients with an impulse function, namely, a Kronecker Delta function for smoothing filters, and a Heaviside Step function for derivative filters. Once the response has been computed, the proposed standardized definition of vertical resolution is given by Δz = δz * HFWHM, where δz is the lidar's sampling resolution and HFWHM is the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the response, measured in sampling intervals.

The second proposed definition relates to digital filtering theory. After applying a Laplace Transform to a set of filter coefficients, the filter's gain characterizing the effect of the filter on the signal in the frequency-domain is computed, from which the cut-off frequency fC, defined as the frequency at which the gain equals 0.5, is computed. Vertical resolution is then defined by Δz = δz ⁄ (2fC). Unlike common practice in the field of spectral analysis, a factor 2fC instead of fC is constrained here to yield vertical resolution values nearly equal to the values obtained with the impulse response definition using the same filter coefficients. When using either of the proposed definitions, unsmoothed signals yield the best possible vertical resolution Δz = δz (one sampling bin).

Numerical tools were developed to support the implementation of these definitions across all NDACC lidar groups. The tools consist of ready-to-use "plug-in" routines written in several programming languages that can be inserted into any lidar data processing software and called each time a filtering operation occurs in the data processing chain.


In the 3rd quarter 2005 the Technische Universitat Dresden started to install the first phase of a new SGI supercomputer and a PC farm build by LinuxNetworX. The final phase of the installation will take place in July/August 2006. One main focus of the installation is to have not just outstanding I/O-Performance for the disk to memory channel but for the tape to disk channel too. In this paper we will show how our setup looks like and what our expectations for the performance are. We will also present some measurements done on the system and show the performance boundaries of the current setup.


The present paper attempts to explore the relation between a narrative text in one language and its translated counterpart in another language, making use of Rimmon-Kenan's (2005) narrative model, adapted to translation. First, the structure of narrative, i.e. story, text and narration is introduced in brief. Story level elements including events and characters, together with text level elements, i.e. time, characterization and focalization are chosen for analysis. These constituents of narrative are redefined to count for what happens through translation. Providing several examples, it is shown that all of these elements may change in the process of translation. Therefore, against the common belief among narratologists who claim that changing the language of a narrative does not affect its story (Rimmon-Kenan, 2005, p. 9), it is argued that the translator's interventions in the narrative, regardless of its being conscious or unconscious, affect both the story and text levels of narrative. It is concluded that the translator's perception of the story world and adjusting this world to the real world as experienced by the translator is the major factor responsible for these interventions. Therefore, providing several examples of translatorial interventions, the present study argues in favor of translators' idiosyncrasies as the reason behind these interventions.


Abstract  From zero-dimensional fullerene to one-dimensional carbon nanotube and to two-dimensional graphene, nanostructures based on carbon element are always one of the most exciting topics in modern science and technology. The work published in the open literature dealing with the properties, synthesis and sensor applications of graphene is overviewed. The potential techniques to realise optical fibre graphene sensors are presented and discussed.


OBJECTIVE To investigate the contributions of intact proinsulin and of des-31,32-proinsulin to fasting concentrations of insulin-like molecules in nondiabetic subjects from two ethnic groups (Asian and white) and to see whether Asian subjects are hyperinsulinemic compared with white subjects using highly specific assays for insulin. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We investigated subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) (82 Asian and 67 white) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) (16 Asian and 13 white), diagnosed by using standard World Health Organization criteria. Highly specific monoclonal antibody-based assays were used to measure insulin, intact proinsulin, and des-31, 32-proinsulin. An index of insulin secretion was derived as a ratio of incremental insulin to incremental glucose concentrations from 0 to 30 min during an oral glucose tolerance test. RESULTS Asian subjects with NGT, despite being significantly thinner than whites (BMI 24.4 ± 3.5 vs. 25.7 ± 3.7 kg/m2, P = 0.04), had a more central distribution of obesity (subscapsular-to-triceps skinfold ratios 1.36 ± 0.69 vs. 1.17 ± 0.41, P = 0.047). Asian subjects with NGT showed significant hyperinsulinemia 2 h after oral glucose load (plasma insulin median 274 pmol/l [range 26–1,505] vs. 186 pmol/l [27–720], P < 0.005) compared with whites. Asian subjects with NGT also had significantly higher insulin increments (P < 0.02) compared with white subjects and significantly higher fasting concentrations of intact proinsulin (median 2.7 pmol/l [range 0.9–14.1] vs. 2.1 [0.8-7.9], P < 0.02) but not of des-31, 32-proinsulin. The ratio of proinsulin-like molecules to the total sum of three insulin-like molecules, however, was similar between Asian and white subjects with NGT and IGT. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that when specific assays for insulin are used, Asian subjects show postglucose load hyperinsulinemia and fasting hyperproinsulinemia compared with white subjects, suggesting increased insulin secretion and/or the presence of underlying insulin resistance in this ethnic group. The contribution of proinsulin-like molecules to total insulin-like molecules was similar between Asian and white subjects with NGT and IGT, and there was no contribution to hyperinsulinemia in Asian subjects.


Manganese-containing BEA zeolites, MnxSiBEA (x = 1-4 wt%) and Mn(I.E.)AlBEA, were prepared by a two-step post-synthesis method and a conventional wet ion-exchange, respectively, and applied as catalysts in the selective catalytic reduction of NO with ammonia (NH3-SCR). The physicochemical analysis of zeolite properties by high-energy-resolution fluorescence-detected XANES (HERFD-XANES) and X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) uncovered that the coordination, geometry and oxidation state of Mn species are strongly related to the preparation method. Additionally, the study of catalyst acidity by FTIR spectroscopy with CO and pyridine probe molecules provided important insight into the number and type of acidic centres present on the catalyst surface. The catalytic results revealed that NO conversion depended on the state and content of Mn. The zeolites obtained by the two-step post-synthesis method and with a low Mn content were very active in the medium temperature range (NO conversion ∼100%) with simultaneous high selectivity to N2 due to the presence of isolated, framework Mn(iii) and Mn(ii) species. The N2O formation was especially high in the case of catalysts containing extra-framework polynuclear Mn species and negligible in the case of Mn(I.E.)AlBEA containing predominantly isolated, extra-framework Mn(ii) species.


Activation of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) and macrophage infiltration of solid tumors independently promote tumor progression. As little is known how myeloid HIF affects tumor development, we injected the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and procarcinogen 3-methylcholanthrene (MCA; 100 μg/100 μl) subcutaneously into myeloid-specific Hif-1α and Hif-2α knockout mice (C57BL/6J) to induce fibrosarcomas (n = 16). Deletion of Hif-1α but not Hif-2α in macrophages diminished tumor outgrowth in the MCA-model. While analysis of the tumor initiation phase showed comparable inflammation after MCA-injection, metabolism of MCA was impaired in the absence of Hif-1α. An ex vivo macrophage/fibroblast coculture recapitulated reduced DNA damage after MCA-stimulation in fibroblasts of cocultures with Hif-1αLysM−/− macrophages compared to wild type macrophages. A loss of myeloid Hif-1α decreased RNA levels of arylhydrocarbon receptor (AhR)/arylhydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) targets such as Cyp1a1 because of reduced Arnt but unchanged Ahr expression. Cocultures using Hif-1αLysM−/− macrophages stimulated with the carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA; 2 μg/ml) also attenuated a DNA damage response in fibroblasts, while the DNA damage-inducing metabolite DMBA-trans-3,4-dihydrodiol remained effective in the absence of Hif-1α. In chemical-induced carcinogenesis, HIF-1α in macrophages maintains ARNT expression to facilitate PAH-biotransformation. This implies a metabolic activation of PAHs in stromal cells, i.e. myeloid-derived cells, to be crucial for tumor initiation.


The Debates and Controversies section carries two types of submissions. The first is by whereby two scholars in corporate governance engage in a debate around one of the broad themes identified on the Annals website, encompassing the range of topics covered by review articles in the journal. The second is where a single author seeks to identify or establish a new debate and controversy, setting the process under way for what may lead to a broader debate across the field. In both instances, we are neither seeking purely theoretical or empirical papers, but rather conceptual pieces that focus on theoretical or empirical challenges and emerging issues.


In the present study conditions were optimized for the development and validation of a simple, sensitive and isocratic reverse phase high performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of ezetimibe and lovastatin in human plasma using gemfibrozil as internal standard. After a single step extraction with acetonitrile, satisfactory elution of both the analytes along with internal standard was achieved on a Merck C-18 column using a mixture of 0.1 M ammonium acetate pH 5.0 and acetonitrile in the ratio of (28:72, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.5 ml/min. The detection was carried out at a wavelength of 240 nm using a photodiode array detector. The method was linear in the concentration range of 0.2-25 |xg/ml for ezetimibe and 0.4-50 |xg/ml for lovastatin. The extraction recovery of analytes was greater than 85 % and within day and between day precision was also satisfactory. The method was validated by performing its linearity, recovery, precision, LOD/LOQ values and stability of solutions. The total eluting time for the analysis is less than twelve minutes. As the plasma peaks did not interfere with the peaks of analytes so the method can be used for the determination of ezetimibe and lovastatin in human plasma and may possibly be for the pharmacokinetic study.


Multi-level global governance was introduced at the United Nations summit in Rio in 1992 as a new model to achieve a broad global mobilization of different actors in sustainable development. This model has been extended to climate governance. It has become a global system with its own inherent logic, dynamics and stabilization mechanisms. This article deals with the systemic dimension (the architecture) of global multi-level climate governance across levels and sectors. It refers to the model and its practical implementation at different levels. The text poses four hypotheses: (1) the global multi-level system of climate governance can be regarded as a structure which offers opportunities for ambitious innovation-based climate strategies; (2) each level of the global system has its own specific responsibilities, challenges, opportunities and mechanisms for lesson-drawing; (3) the main lesson to be learned is to make use of the co-benefits characteristic to climate mitigation; and (4) the system's multi-sectoral and multi-actor structure provides additional opportunities to address such co-benefits and to mobilize different interests in the pursuit of climate policy objectives. After outlining these hypotheses in more detail, the article will then conclude with a set of policy recommendations. © 2017 The Authors. Environmental Policy and Governance published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd


Languages, literatures and nationalities in Lithunia (and in the East Baltic region). This article's focus is on Lithuania and its literature, but many considerations contained in it are also valid for the whole East Baltic cultural region. A preliminary distinction is made inside Lithuanian literature between Ortsgebundenheit and Sprachgebundenheit , in order to show and discuss the strong multilingualism which has characterized the Baltic region already in an early period. A short excursus follows, pointing out the possible importance the "national literary model" could have had in different epochs. Similarities with the situation in Latvia and Estonia, but also with other central European countries, are stressed concerning the delay in building sovereign states; a parallel is drawn especially with Catalonia. The importance and the role played by the language in all these cases is underlined and commented on. Other considerations regard the literature in exile and the new literary tendencies that have emerged after the identity protest movement at the end of the 1980s which led to the declaration(s) of independence. Finally, general thoughts are expressed concerning the concept of "national literature" in the case of countries whose history has been characterized by an intermittence of sovereignty (the case of the Baltic countries), and for other longer-established European countries. The supporters of Weltliteratur normally completely neglect these aspects. In the author's mind, however, they also should be attentively considered.


This document is part of a final year project at the National College of Ireland. It was created by a fourth year student from the BSc (Hons) in Technology Management programme. The aim of the project is to elicit, manage and analyse the requirements for a website for Dublin Fire Brigade. This will be done by using specific business analysis techniques to elicit requirements from the main stakeholders involved in the project.

Having worked in Dublin Fire Brigade as part of my work experience at second level education, they were immediately considered as a possible client for my final year project when the project brief was released. The project was explained to the people at Dublin Fire Brigade and they asked if the project could be conducted around the requirements for a new website to represent the organisation.


Background. We evaluated the efficacy, safety, and learning curve for the combined use of the MacIntosh laryngoscope and flexible bronchoscope under general anesthesia with muscle relaxation. We also evaluated the effectiveness of an algorithm for injury-free intubation. Methods. For standardization and training, from 2010–2011 we enrolled 314 patients >18 years of age who were undergoing non-emergency oncologic, thyroid, urological, otolaryngological, or spinal column surgery. A total of 2143 intubations were performed based on an algorithm that was able to predict direct passage from traditional methods to a combined technique and that prevented any predicted difficult intubation after laryngoscopy. Results. All patients were treated successfully with the combined technique. In 253 patients (80.5%), intubation was accomplished within 1 minute; in 53 patients (16.8%), within 3 minutes; and in 8 patients (2.5%), longer than 3 minutes. SaO2 was maintained at 95-100%. On average, 10 procedures were needed for novice operators to attain proficiency in the technique. In the algorithm group, 2092 procedures were performed using the traditional technique and 51 (Cormak-Lehane III-IV Laringoscopy) using the combined technique without injury or bleeding. Conclusions. We obtained optimal results with the combined method, which was quickly learned by others. The algorithm described herein allows for safe intubation without injuries. Because of its simplicity and low cost, this combined approach could become a common solution for unexpected difficult intubations under general anesthesia with muscle relaxation.


This study argues that Uyghurs, a Turkic-Muslim group in contemporary Northwest China, and the city of Ürümchi have become the objects of what the study names "terror capitalism." This argument is supported by evidence of both the way state-directed economic investment and security infrastructures (pass-book systems, webs of technological surveillance, urban cleansing processes and mass internment camps) have shaped self-representation among Uyghur migrants and Han settlers in the city. It analyzes these human engineering and urban planning projects and the way their effects are contested in new media, film, television, photography and literature. It finds that this form of capitalist production utilizes the discourse of terror to justify state investment in a wide array of policing and social engineering systems that employs millions of state security workers. The project also presents a theoretical model for understanding how Uyghurs use cultural production to both build and refuse thedevelopment of this new economic formation and accompanying forms of gendered, ethno-racial violence. It argues that the violence of state-directed capitalist dispossession is shown to break the spirit and vitality of Uyghur sociality while linking Han life paths to this new form of domination and exploitation.


Some teachers in Kenya are leaving the teaching profession in public schools citing dissatisfaction with their jobs. The main objective of the study was to analyze job dissatisfaction and turnover among primary school teachers in Kasarani division. Studies have not extensively focused on other factors that may affect teacher satisfaction other than the remuneration. This study sought to analyze the case of job dissatisfaction among primary school teachers working in an urban environment of Kasarani Division Nairobi District and its effect on teacher turnover.Specific objectives included i) to determine the levels of dissatisfaction among primary school teachers in Kasarani division, ii) to analyze the factors that lead to Job dissatisfaction in Kasarani division, iii) To find out the opinions of teachers on how their dissatisfaction can be tackled, iv) To determine the turnover rates due to dissatisfaction in Kasarani division. The study was based on the Herzeberg et al' two factor theory. The conceptual framework for this study was based on the factors that lead to job dissatisfaction and its interaction to affect performance. This study used the descriptive research design. The study was conducted in Kasarani division Nairobi north district. The target population of the study was the 25 public primary schools and the 315 teachers of the various subjects. Questionnaires were the main research instrument. Questionnaires were used because they enabled the researcher to gather data from many respondents simultaneously thereby saving time and cost of gathering data. Validity of the research instrument was done through piloting to detect any potential misunderstanding or biasing effects of different questions. The reliability of the instruments was tested using the test-retest method. The total sample size of the study was 69 teachers. The number of teachers interviewed from each school depended on the total number of teachers in the school (Sampling fraction was 0.2). Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics methods, especially the measures of central tendency (mean, mode and median and standard deviation). The study provided data on the factors leading to job dissatisfaction and subsequent performance of the teachers. (The findings were useful to the stakeholders notably the ministry of education in coming up with measures that can help improve on job satisfaction). Majority of the teachers who were two-thirds were satisfied with their job, however a third of the teachers were not satisfied with their job. The factors leading to dissatisfaction included the salary, the work load, distance from school to home and the process of promotions in the schools. Some teachers (40%) had left the teaching profession citing dissatisfaction. The study concluded that i) the teachers of Kasarani division were satisfied with many aspects of their teaching profession. There were however few aspects of their profession that were dissatisfying but they did not make a significant difference, ii) Several factors led to job dissatisfaction including; poor salary, the system of promotions, working environment and the distance from school, iii)To reduce job dissatisfaction the government should consider revising the scheme, post teachers near their homes and reduce the workload of teachers, iv)Due to dissatisfaction there is a considerable teacher turnover in Kasarani division.


The secret to taking great people pictures is to observe your subjects, connect with them, and use your camera to its best advantage. Heres how to work with lighting, location, angle, composition, physical characteristics, environment, and countless other variables, including the unique challenges of photographing babies, group activities, and action. Learn to capture facial expressions, tell a story with a series of candids, add interest to large-group shots, and more. Apply these techniques and watch your subjects come to life.


Cat mutually pumped phase conjugation configuration is discovered and investigated by using two-wave mixing in (K_(y)Na_(1-y))_(2z)(Sr_(x)Ba_(1-x))_(1-z)Nb_(2)O_(6) (KNSBN) crystal. When only one signal or pumped beam does not give birth to phase conjugation, the maximum reflectivity of signal and pumped beam attain 140% and 30% due to two-wave mixing, respectively. The experimental results show that the two-wave mixing can reduce the threshold of incident beams power, extend the incident angle range, and shorten response rate in the process of self-pumped phase conjugator (SPPC) in KNSBN crystal.


Dialog is an effective way to exchange information, but subtle details and nuances are extremely important. While significant progress has paved a path to address visual dialog with algorithms, details and nuances remain a challenge. Attention mechanisms have demonstrated compelling results to extract details in visual question answering and also provide a convincing framework for visual dialog due to their interpretability and effectiveness. However, the many data utilities that accompany visual dialog challenge existing attention techniques. We address this issue and develop a general attention mechanism for visual dialog which operates on any number of data utilities. To this end, we design a factor graph based attention mechanism which combines any number of utility representations. We illustrate the applicability of the proposed approach on the challenging and recently introduced VisDial datasets, outperforming recent state-of-the-art methods by 1.1% for VisDial0.9 and by 2% for VisDial1.0 on MRR. Our ensemble model improved the MRR score on VisDial1.0 by more than 6%.


This paper addresses some of the early policy concerns about "connected cars" and driverless vehicles and promotes "bottom-up" solutions to ensure that innovation continues to flourish in this space. The authors argue that the generally unabated advancement of intelligent-vehicle technology will produce significant economic and social benefits. Various technical and policy barriers to more widespread adoption remain, however, and misguided regulation could delay or curtail the adoption of this important technology. This paper outlines ways of overcoming those hurdles. The authors also argue that policymakers should keep in mind that individuals have gradually adapted to similar disruptions in the past and, therefore, patience and humility are needed when considering policy for intelligent-vehicle systems.


Turtles are in decline worldwide, and the magnitude and recent acceleration of population declines requires immediate action to inform conservation and management plans. Long-term studies of population trends and characteristics covering multiple populations across a range of environmental contexts are needed to guide the most effective management decisions, yet such studies are uncommon. Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) populations have declined and require conservation action throughout much of their range. We assessed sources of variation and temporal trends in T. c. carolina population characteristics from 39 sites spanning four ecoregions in North Carolina using capture–mark–recapture. Surprisingly, there was no evidence of population decline at any site over a ten-year period (2008–2017). Population densities ranged from 0.2 to 6.0 turtles per hectare, decreasing with more urban development and increasing with more wetland habitats in the surrounding landscape. Populations varied in demographic structure but had similar sex ratios and more adults than immature turtles in each ecoregion even after adjusting for variation in encounter probability among groups and body sizes. Survivorship was similar among life stages and sexes and only weakly related to body size. After adjusting for emigration, annual survival probability ranged from 90.7% to 96.8% for the various demographic groups and body sizes. Growth rates decreased with increasing body size, with rates ranging from approximately 15-mm carapace length per year in the smallest individuals to near zero in the largest individuals. No aspect of population demographic structure or vital rates was related to surrounding landscape context. Population trends and characteristics were consistent among ecoregions, suggesting no need for regionspecific conservation or management with respect to the population characteristics examined. However, given the high site-specific variability in nearly all estimated parameters, managers would benefit from targeting local threats such as urban land development and wetland destruction to ensure local population viability. The population characteristics reported here can serve as a useful baseline to compare population trends at these sites as monitoring continues. Our approach could be a useful model for other regions to follow in developing monitoring programs for this and other imperiled turtles.


Abstract Evidence of dinosaurs in Yorkshire is largely confined to the Middle Jurassic Ravenscar Group (Aalenian–Bathonian) and consists of both skeletal material and trace fossils. The oldest record is of unfigured limb elements, recorded by Williamson in 1837 and ascribed by Owen to Cetiosaurus, but they have not been more recently described. There are no other published records of dinosaur bone from the Ravenscar Group until 2003, when Romano and Whyte recorded recent discoveries including a sauropod caudal vertebra, ribs, disarticulated pectoral and limb elements. Non-dinosaurian skeletal material includes crocodile, turtle and fish. In contrast, dinosaur tracks are extremely abundant in the Ravenscar Group. Although some may have been observed around 1895, the first definite identification of dinosaur tracks was by Brodrick in 1907. A modern resurgence in interest began about 1970 when Sarjeant first formally named a track from Yorkshire. Subsequent publications have amply documented the abundance and diversity of dinosaur tracks within the Ravenscar Group. In 1995 the first new ichnotaxon from Yorkshire, Deltapodus brodricki, was described; this was followed by the recognition of sauropod tracks and swimming tracks. There are scattered records of dinosaur bone from other marine units in the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous. The Yorkshire records are of great international significance, especially in the Middle Jurassic where there is a dearth of material from other areas.


On 15 November 2005 SENSE, in cooperation with the ASSER International Sports Law Centre and Ernst & Young Bulgaria, organized a seminar on "Player's Contracts in Professional Football--EU Law and the Challenge for Bulgaria" in Sofia. Speakers were Dr Robert Siekmann, the Centre's Director, Roberto Branco Martins, lecturer on Labour and Sport at the Law Faculty of the University of Amsterdam and research fellow of the Centre, Milen Rusev, senior partner at the law firm of PI Partners Dinova & Rusev, Tzvetelin Simov, managing director of Bulwark Ltd., and Boris Kolev, associate in the law firm of Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov, and Velichkov. The seminar's chairman was Julian Mihov, international tax manager at Ernst & Young Bulgaria. (1) The practical purpose of the seminar was to respond to the then popular idea in Bulgarian football to shift players' contracts from the regime of employment law to that of private law. Bulgarian football officials and the Association of Bulgarian Football Players hereby sought to solve the difficulties of football clubs who were unable to pay their part of the social security contributions due for their players on time, which meant they risked losing their licence and the right to participate in the championship. At the end of the 2004-2005 season the Bulgarian champion CSKA Sofia, for example, risked losing its license for the next championship due to unpaid debts to the National Social Security Institute (hereinafter: NSSI). CSKA managed to solve its problems and retain its license, not however as a result of paying its debt, but due to an agreement between CSKA and the NSSI allowing CSKA to pay off its debt in instalments. The debt was therefore not yet considered due at the time of licensing for the next season. Another football club from the Bulgarian A division, Pirin Blagoevgrad, attempted to apply the same strategy. However, it turned out that the repayment agreement submitted to the Licensing Commission was a forgery and the club was expelled from professional football. The replacement of employment law contracts with private law contracts and equating football with a liberal profession and players with self-employed persons were considered suitable measures for addressing the problem concerning the payment of social security contributions. In order to find a legal basis for the adoption of these measures Bulgarian football officials relied on the provision in the Bulgarian Social Security Code authorizing the NSSI to propose to the Council of Ministers a procedure for dealing with the social security aspect of self-employment. They attempted to convince the Director of the NSSI to propose that football players be included in the list of persons pursuing a liberal profession by means of an amendment to the Ordinance of the Council of Ministers on the Social Security of Self-Employed Persons (hereinafter: the Ordinance). More specifically, the seminar on 15 November was called upon to provide, inter alia, answers to the following questions: 1. May football be considered a liberal profession by nature, notwithstanding the legal possibilities for its treatment as such? 2. Are private law contracts and the status of self-employed person for Bulgarian football players compatible with Bulgarian law, FIFA Regulations and the European acquis in the field of sports with a view to the Bulgaria's accession to the EU as scheduled for the beginning of 2007? A distinguishing feature of a liberal profession is that persons who practise such a profession do so at their own risk and expense. By contrast, employment is defined in EU case law and Bulgarian legal doctrine as a relationship, whereby a person for a certain period of time performs services for and under the direction of another person, in return for which he/she receives remuneration. Persons pursuing liberal professions enter into private law contracts and owe as consideration certain results agreed between the parties, unlike employees, whose main obligation is to provide labour to their employers. …


Model agnostic meta-learning (MAML) is a popular state-of-the-art meta-learning algorithm that provides good weight initialization of a model given a variety of learning tasks. The model initialized by provided weight can be fine-tuned to an unseen task despite only using a small amount of samples and within a few adaptation steps. MAML is simple and versatile but requires costly learning rate tuning and careful design of the task distribution which affects its scalability and generalization. This paper proposes a more robust MAML based on an adaptive learning scheme and a prioritization task buffer (PTB) referred to as Robust MAML (RMAML) for improving scalability of training process and alleviating the problem of distribution mismatch. RMAML uses gradient-based hyper-parameter optimization to automatically find the optimal learning rate and uses the PTB to gradually adjust training task distribution toward testing task distribution over the course of training. Experimental results on meta reinforcement learning environments demonstrate a substantial performance gain as well as being less sensitive to hyper-parameter choice and robust to distribution mismatch.


This research explores the ways in which young Turkish university students understand, express and negotiate religious practice versus secularism in the public and private spheres as these have emerged in the early twenty-first century, in light of the historical polarization between Islamism and secularism in Turkey. Data was collected using qualitative research methodologies, including participant observation and in-depth interviews with forty-five university students in Istanbul, Turkey. This latter method allowed participants to express their perceptions and experiences about the relationship between Islam and secularity in the context of Turkey's move to democracy, and the success of the AKP religious party in democratic elections. The thesis begins with a review of relevant scholarly literature; first, debates on the relationship between Islam and the secular state, and secularist policies of Turkey; second, social and cultural conceptions of the relationship between Islam and secularity in Turkey; third, philosophical and conceptual debates on Islam and secularity. Examining this issue, I explore (1) the perceptions and views of university students on secularism and Islamism, the secularist state and the Islamic state; (2) their understanding and experience of religiosity and secularity; (3) the impact of religious groups in Turkey on the relationship of university students with religion, secularity and modernity; (4) the divisions or cohesion of Turkish society based on religion, culture, and lifestyle. I then move on to present and examine one of the most prominent public events of Turkish politics in 2013, the Gezi Park Protests, in terms of the subject of my thesis. The thesis concludes that Turkish university students, both secular and religiously oriented, do successfully negotiate the secular spaces of the public sphere, and have developed new kinds of religiosity and Islamic understanding that stress individual choice and shape their attitudes towards the state, politics, and fellow students who choose to embrace different lifestyles.


A modified Jarvis–Stewart model of canopy transpiration (Ec) was tested over five ecosystems differing in climate, soil type and species composition. The aims of this study were to investigate the model's applicability over multiple ecosystems; to determine whether the number of model parameters could be reduced by assuming that site‐specific responses of Ec to solar radiation, vapour pressure deficit and soil moisture content vary little between sites; and to examine convergence of behaviour of canopy water‐use across multiple sites. This was accomplished by the following: (i) calibrating the model for each site to determine a set of site‐specific (SS) parameters, and (ii) calibrating the model for all sites simultaneously to determine a set of combined sites (CS) parameters. The performance of both models was compared with measured Ec data and a statistical benchmark using an artificial neural network (ANN). Both the CS and SS models performed well, explaining hourly and daily variation in Ec. The SS model produced slightly better model statistics [R2 = 0.75–0.91; model efficiency (ME) = 0.53–0.81; root mean square error (RMSE) = 0.0015–0.0280 mm h‐1] than the CS model (R2 = 0.68–0.87; ME = 0.45–0.72; RMSE = 0.0023–0.0164 mm h‐1). Both were highly comparable with the ANN (R2 = 0.77–0.90; ME = 0.58–0.80; RMSE = 0.0007–0.0122 mm h‐1). These results indicate that the response of canopy water‐use to abiotic drivers displayed significant convergence across sites, but the absolute magnitude of Ec was site specific. Period totals estimated with the modified Jarvis–Stewart model provided close approximations of observed totals, demonstrating the effectiveness of this model as a tool aiding water resource management. Analysis of the measured diel patterns of water use revealed significant nocturnal transpiration (9–18% of total water use by the canopy), but no Jarvis–Stewart formulations are able to capture this because of the dependence of water‐use on solar radiation, which is zero at night. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Global evapotranspiration (ET) products, as compensation for eddy-covariance observations, provide useful data sources for understanding terrestrial water-energy budgets at different scales, especially for data-sparse regions. Here, we evaluated three remotely sensed ET products against water balance-based reference ET () in 16 river basins across the Tibetan Plateau (TP) on a monthly time scale from 1983 to 2011. The results indicated that ET_GLEAM performed the best overall across the 16 TP river basins in terms of the multi-year average and the interannual variability of monthly , followed by ET_ZHANG and ET_CSIRO. The multi-year means of monthly were better estimated overall by the three remotely sensed ET products rather than their interannual variability. However, the performances of the three ET datasets varied among different TP basins based on various evaluation criteria. The seasonal cycle of was better captured by ET_GLEAM, ET_ZHANG and ET_CSIRO in the Yalong, Yangtze and Salween Basins and the upper Yellow River Basins rather than that in the Yulongkashi, Bayin and Brahmaputra River Basins. Overall, the ET_GLEAM performed relatively better than other datasets. The evaluation results will provide important references for us to select suitable datasets and to apply them in basin-scale water-energy budget studies in data-sparse regions.


Successful adaptation to organisational changes may start with individuals' successful adaptation to change at the task level. This study suggests that the success of employees' adaptation to task change may depend on the quality of the relationships between them and their managers. Within the broad area of organisational leadership, leader-member exchange (LMX) theory has evolved into one of the more interesting and useful approaches for studying hypothesised linkages between the exchange relationships between employees and their managers, and employee outcomes. The current research adopts an integrative model which is based on a review of the body of literature relevant to LMX, leadership behaviour, and employees' work-related behaviour and attitudes.
The literature review revealed a dearth of rigorous academic research using the leader-member exchange (LMX) approach in the Saudi organisational context, and the need to validate a model of the exchange relationships based on this approach in this context, specifically during times of organisational change. The research contributes to the current body of knowledge by bridging this gap in the previous literature, conducting the research in King Abdul Aziz University (KAU) using the LMX approach.
The research design was largely derived from the Methodological Fit Concept for Mature Theory (Edmondson & McManus, 2007). For the purpose of testing the mediation hypotheses, the employees' data was analysed at descriptive and explanatory levels using the macro introduced by Preacher and Hayes (2008a) for Multiple Mediation Analysis.
The most exciting results of the current research are regarding the employees' evaluation of LMX overall, and that the values for LMX dimensions were high. Interestingly this has been supported by the employees' views about the significant effect of multidimensional LMX, firstly as mediator and then regarding the independent influence of its dimensions in predicting task change-supportive behaviours and attitudes in the Saudi organisational change context. Based on these results, the research suggests areas and tools for development related to the criteria and mediator variables that need more attention from KAU management.


Popularity of mobile apps is traditionally measured by metrics such as the number of downloads, installations, or user ratings. A problem with these measures is that they reflect usage only indirectly. Indeed, retention rates, i.e., the number of days users continue to interact with an installed app, have been suggested to predict successful app life-cycles. We conduct the first independent and large-scale study of retention rates and usage trends on a dataset of app-usage data from a community of 339,842 users and more than 213 , 667 apps. Our analysis shows that, on average, applications lose 65 % of their users in the first week, while very popular applications (top 100 ) lose only 35 %. It also reveals, however, that many applications have more complex usage behaviour patterns due to seasonality, marketing, or other factors. To capture such effects, we develop a novel app-usage trend measure which provides instantaneous information about the popularity of an application. Analysis of our data using this trend filter shows that roughly 40 % of all apps never gain more than a handful of users ( Marginal apps). Less than 0 . 1 % of the remaining 60 % are constantly popular ( Dominant apps), 1 % have a quick drain of usage after an initial steep rise ( Expired apps), and 6 % continuously rise in popularity ( Hot apps). From these, we can distinguish, for instance, trendsetters from copycat apps. We conclude by demonstrating that usage behaviour trend information can be used to develop better mobile app recommendations.


ABSTRACT Aim: This study investigated change in the participation profile of physical activity over 15 months after a three-week intensive rehabilitation that used physical activity as the main intervention. Methods: The Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) was used in a longitudinal prospective study (pre- and post-design) with three measurements over 15 months. Eighty children with physical disabilities (6–17 years old; mean score 11.1; SD 2.4), some with additional cognitive challenges, completed all three measurements. Results: Participation diversity and intensity of all 55 leisure activities declined significantly over the 15-month period. The largest decline was for children aged between 10 and 13 years. Among physical activities, there was a stable level of participation of the total group, and sub-groups. Boys preferred "active physical activities" to a greater extent, while girls preferred "skill-based activities." Both genders expressed a higher level of enjoyment in their preferred activities according to the Preferences for Activities of Children. Conclusions: This intervention may have the potential to maintain the level of physical activity among children and youths with disabilities, yet further controlled studies are needed. Gender differences should be taken into consideration to facilitate stable participation in physical activities with a high level of enjoyment.


A hallmark of many skilled motions is the anticipatory nature of the balance-related adjustments that happen in preparation for the expected evolution of forces during the motion. This can shape simulated and animated motions in subtle-but-important ways, help lend physical credence to the motion, and help signal the character's intent. In this paper, we investigate how center of mass reference trajectories (CMRTs) can be learned in order to achieve anticipatory balance control with a state-of-the-art reactive balancing system. This enables the design of physics-based motion simulations that involve fast pose transitions as well as force-based interactions with the environment, such as punches, pushes, and catching heavy objects. We demonstrate the results on planar human models, and show that CMRTs can generalize across parameterized versions of a motion. We illustrate that they are also effective at conveying a mismatch between a character's expectations and reality, e.g., thinking that an object is heavier than it is.


Bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BoHV-1), an alphaherpesvirus, is a major pathogen of cattle causing different syndromes such as infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), infectious pustular vulvovaginitis (IPV) and infectious balanoposthitis (IBP). BoHV-1 control programs have been initiated in several European countries including Germany. One of the major components is the vaccination with inactivated or attenuated glycoprotein E (gE)-deleted live marker vaccines.
The aim of this study was the development of a triplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay for the sensitive, specific and reliable BoHV-1 detection. A BoHV-1-specific glycoprotein D (gD) assay was combined with a gE-specific qPCR system for differentiation between wild-type strains and gE-negative vaccine virus strains. Finally, an internal control based on amplification of the bovine beta-actin gene was introduced to verify efficient DNA extraction and PCR amplification.
The analytical sensitivity of the triplex BoHV-1 qPCR enables the detection of 10 genome copies per reaction. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the newly developed qPCR assay was compared to an OIE-validated qPCR and the "gold standard" method of virus isolation in cell culture using 10-fold dilution series of BoHV-1 in extended semen as well as in cell culture medium. For all preparations, the tested qPCR assays showed comparable results and the sensitivity of the triplex qPCR was equal or even greater than that of virus isolation. A broad spectrum of reference strains and field isolates was detected reliably. The specificity of the test was confirmed using nasal swabs, semen and different organ materials of BoHV-1-negative cattle.
Bovine herpesviruses type 2, 4 and 5 and further ruminant herpesviruses, namely bubaline herpesvirus (BuHV-1), caprine herpesvirus type 1 and cervine herpesvirus type 1 and 2 (CvHV-1, -2) were tested as well. The close genetic and serological relationship between these viruses combined with their ability to infect bovines may interfere with diagnostics resulting in false-positive results. All non-BoHV-1 herpesviruses were negative in the gD-specific assay, while BuHV-1, CvHV-1 and -2 were tested positive by the gE-specific qPCR. Consequently, the triplex qPCR offers for the first time the possibility to detect some related herpesviruses and distinguish them from BoHV-1 in addition to the simultaneous differentiation of BoHV-1 wild-type and gE-deleted vaccine strains.


In order to study the afforestation technology in rocky desertification area and provide guidance for the cultivation and management of artificial forest in the later stage, an experimental study was carried out on the artificial forest in National long term scientific research base for comprehensive control of rocky desertification in Wuling Mountain, Western Hunan Province. The experiences of afforestation, land preparation and forest management in this area were summarized. The result show that: 1. Through appropriate afforestation land preparation and forest management measures, the forest in rocky desertification area can be successfully restored. 2. Vegetation restoration in rocky desertification area has formed relatively healthy and stable multi tree species and multi-level forest communities. 3. The biological yield of each afforestation tree species was significantly different with different tree species. 4. The diversity index and evenness index of undergrowth plants in different stands were significantly different. 5. Young trees of dominant species dominated the undergrowth vegetation of different stands, and the natural regeneration of each stand has been stabilized. 6. There are some differences in soil chemical properties under different stands. There were significant differences in SOM, TN, NO3-N, NH4-N and AP contents in the soil of the eight stands.


Mark Rakhmangulov, Deputy Director of the G8 Research Centre, International Organisations Research Institute, University - Higher School of Economics; E-mail: email@example.com paper analyses the process of establishment and development of the national system of international development assistance in Russia. The analysis covers the period starting from 2005 when key national priorities for international development assistance were defined and amounts of foreign aid were substantially increased on the threshold of Russia's G8 Presidency preparations. The emerging structure of governance, the aid flows and amounts of allocated ODA, as well as the funding priorities in the sphere of development assistance are described on the basis of the analysis of official documents, statements and speeches of officials, reports of international institutions, and statistics available for public access. Russia's participation in multilateral international organizations and institutions in the sphere of development cooperation is also considered. Drawing on the results of the analysis the author proposes recommendations for further development of the national system of international development assistance in Russia.


The theme for this edition of the Defense Acquisition Research Journal is "The Method Matters." The lead article is "Survey of Modular Military Vehicles: Benefits and Burdens," by Jean M. Dasch and David J. Gorsich, which goes a long way to defining the often-misunderstood word "modularity" and provides a ba la nced look at the benef its a nd drawbacks of this acquisition methodology. Acquisition methodology is also at the heart of a classic article from the Summer 1995 issue of the Acquisition Review Quarterly, entitled "Technology Approach: DoD Versus Boeing (A Comparative Study)," by A. Lee Battershell. The author examines how the market-driven approach to development— where cost and schedule dominate decision making—contrasts with the military's performance-driven approach and how each one can affect development time.


This report describes the choice of the preliminary design for the New Zealand Health Survey, to be implemented from 2011. The survey will use computer assisted personal interviewing. The sample will be selected using a multi-stage area design. The selected sample size will be around 12,000 people per year. This is envisaged as sufficient to provide adequate precision for estimates of key prevalences for adults and children. The main objectives of the sample design are: • The design should support analysis of the survey by multiple users, which implies avoiding great variation in estimation weights. • Estimates for children and adults are required. • A range of prevalences are to be estimated. These include health behaviours and health conditions. • Estimates by ethnic group are required. Māori estimates are the most important of these and Pacifica and Asian estimates are also required. Estimates by ethnic group (Māori, Pacific and Asian) are a particular priority. A typical multi-stage area-based design would not give adequate sample in these groups. Ensuring adequate estimates from these subpopulations, while preserving precision at the national level, was the main focus of this sample design. Two main strategies will be used to increase the effective sample sizes for these populations: • A dual frame approach will be used. An area-based sample from NZ as a whole will be combined with a list-based sample of addresses on the Electoral Roll, to boost Māori sample size, subject to successful testing of this approach. • The area-based sample will be targeted towards the subpopulations of interest, by assigning higher probabilities of selection to meshblocks with higher concentrations of these groups. Sections 2 and 3 of this report describe the main elements of the area-based sample design and the list-based Electoral Roll sample design, respectively. Section 4 summarises sample sizes for the preliminary design. Section 5 outlines other issues which tenderers may need to consider. Appendix 1 details how the design settings in Sections 2 and 3 were derived, and Appendix 2 has more detailed tables on DHB sample sizes and standard errors for three of the design options that were considered.


Habitat degradation is viewed as the most imminent threat facing coral reef fish assemblages. Reef fishes may have a low resilience to habitat change as a result of key ecological and behavioural traits, including extreme habitat specialisation, high levels of co-occurrence and strong home site fidelity. This thesis explores the levels of specialisation, co-occurrence and site fidelity (including homing behaviour) and their interrelationships in a speciose family of coral reef fishes - the cardinalfish (Family Apogonidae). The vulnerability of this family to habitat loss and degradation is examined by addressing the following five questions: (1) Do cardinalfish communities exhibit strong associations with particular substrata or do species vary in their micro-habitat use? (2) Do cardinalfish species differentially specialise on particular types of coral colonies and on specific areas within coral colonies? (3) Is the observed degree of habitat specialisation and niche overlap a result of behavioural preferences for habitat types, conspecifics or a combination of these? (4) Do cardinalfish individuals move amongst adjacent resting sites and can they home between isolated reef platforms? (5) Are cardinalfish constrained to using particular resting sites or can they relocate following habitat disturbance?

Chapter 2 describes the degrees of habitat specialisation and spatial overlap among 10 common cardinalfish species in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Nine of the 10 common species were strongly associated with live scleractinian corals and the majority of individuals were associated with a single species of branching coral (Porites cylindrica). Cardinalfish used this coral much more than would be expected given its availability, indicating a high degree of apparent habitat specialisation. In addition, the nine coral dwelling apogonids exhibited a high degree of spatial overlap using the same depth ranges, the same species of corals and the same individual colonies. The high level of both specialisation and overlap in habitat use suggests that this reef fish assemblage is particularly susceptible to the loss of a single coral species.

Evidence for fine-scale habitat use and partitioning of a single coral species (Porites cylindrica) was examined in Chapter 3. There was considerable evidence of fine-scale specialisation and partitioning among seven common cardinalfish species in Kimbe Bay (PNG), both among Porites colonies and on refuge positions within Porites colonies. All species preferentially inhabited large coral colonies, despite their limited availability. Strong conspecific aggregation observed in six of these species lead to a high proportion of unoccupied corals. Within coral heads, three cardinalfish species showed a high degree of specialisation, inhabiting a small proportion of the available space. A high level of habitat partitioning among species was also observed within colonies. Species differentiated between refuge areas deep inside coral colonies, within interstitial spaces at the colony surface and positions on the vertical edges of coral colonies. There was a positive relationship between the breadth of fine scale habitat use and the degree of species overlap both amongst and within coral colonies. Only two of the rarer, specialist species shared coral colonies and refuge positions. This study confirms that there is fine-scale habitat specialisation and partitioning in this common reef fish guild. Biodiversity of this group will be particularly vulnerable to the loss of large Porites colonies.

Chapter 4 explores the degree to which habitat and social preferences explain the association that three common cardinalfish species have with coral substrata. Three-way choice experiments were conducted to test fishes habitat preferences for living coral over dead substrata, for particular coral species and the influence of gregarious behaviour on these habitat choices. The strength of preferences for live P. cylindrica coral differed among species. All species were attracted to conspecifics and for some species attraction resulted in stronger associations with live P. cylindrica colonies. Conversely social preferences weakened associations with P. cylindrica when conspecifics occurred on marginal habitat. This chapter's results indicate that in the field, habitat preferences and conspecific attraction combine to reinforce the association between cardinalfishes and the narrow range of coral substrata seen in Chapters 2 and 3.

Under conditions of widespread habitat loss, strong bonds with home sites may restrict population connectivity and limit resilience to habitat change. Chapter 5 examines the extent of site fidelity and homing behaviour for cardinalfishes of Kimbe Bay. It focuses on four species that are typically restricted to resting in large P. cylindrica colonies after nocturnal foraging migrations. Tagged individuals of two species remained faithful to particular colonies and to specific areas within these colonies. In contrast two other species moved between nearby colonies and/or away from the home reef area. Displacement experiments showed that all species exhibited strong homing behaviour up to 500m across continuous reef and deep open-water channels. A remarkable ability to home over long distances (2 and 5km) was also observed for one species.

Chapter 6 investigated whether cardinalfish species relocate from disturbed home sites or persist in the degraded habitat. Home coral colonies of two species were experimentally disturbed by draping them in netting to exclude cardinalfish access. Patterns of site fidelity and relocation of tagged individuals were compared with controls, before and after the disturbance. Most individuals remained faithful to home sites prior to the manipulation and on control sites throughout the experiment. However, when access to home sites was blocked, most individuals either died (40%) or emigrated to nearby aggregation sites (50%). The majority of individuals resisted moving from home sites more than four days before emigrating. 25% of displaced individuals returned home after the disturbance had ceased. Results suggest cardinalfish associations with home sites are based on strong traditions and while some species can relocate to new homes, increased mortality may result. If traditional aggregation sites are permanently lost, long-term population decline is predicted.

In conclusion, the combination of extreme habitat specialisation, high levels of co-occurrence and strong site fidelity and homing behaviour indicate many cardinalfish species will be severely impacted by habitat loss. Cardinalfish in the Australia/PNG region will be highly vulnerable to declines in the availability, of not just a single branching coral species, Porites cylindrica, but to the loss of large coral colonies and to the damage of particular colonies sites that host large resting aggregations. Species exhibit a high dependence on particular coral colonies due to interactive effects of habitat specialisation preferences, social attraction to other cardinalfish and a limited capacity to relocate following localized disturbances. The family level dependence on a single coral species provides a sobering example of how declining coral health may threaten biodiversity and re-shape the taxonomic structure of reef fish communities.


The total population of the United Kingdom is expected to increase from 63 million in 2011 to 73 million people in 2037. This is an increase by 16% in 26 years, which puts the urban infrastructure, particularly the transportation infrastructure, under great pressure. Urban infrastructure, especially the transport infrastructure, to a large degree determines the overall shapes, productivity, and energy efficiency of cities. There has been considerable work on modelling the relations between urban growth patterns and transportation networks. By contrast, few studies have focused on the relations between the geometry of the transportation infrastructure and energy efficiency, in particular between innermost part (the core) and outer parts (the periphery) of cities. In many cities, the inner parts (constituting the core) of street networks are much older than, and commonly recognised as being geometrically different from, the newer and outer parts (constituting the periphery). To understand better the differences between the core and periphery parts of street networks, as well as their general structure and growth, in particular in relation to energy and efficiency, we analysed 41 street networks of small to large British cities with a total of more than 750 thousand streets. We also developed methods for quantifying the geometric (structural) differences between the core and periphery parts of the cities, and use the results to assess the efficiencies of the street-network in relation to city populations. The Gibbs/Shannon formula (a measure of spreading or dispersion) is used to calculate the street orientation-entropies and length-entropies of the resulting probability distributions. The street orientations vary from roughly orthogonal (grid-like) street sets with low entropy to close-to uniformly distributed street sets with high entropy. The length entropy shows a strong positive linear correlation with average street length and spacing and a negative correlation with street density. In comparison with the parts of the network periphery, the network cores have generally shorter streets, constituting low-entropy networks. This is in agreement with many of the cores being several hundred years old, or more, and thus constructed when much less energy was available than now. Therefore, many of the cores are the constructs of comparatively low-energy societies. There are two principal mechanisms by which a street network can accommodate increasing number of streets so as to be able to transport efficiently a growing population. One mechanism is through adding streets within the existing network. The other mechanism is through adding streets at the margins, that is, in the periphery parts, of the network. The first mechanism is referred to as expansion; the second is referred to as densification. We selected two British cities for a detailed analysis of the growth of their networks, namely Sheffield in England and Dundee in Scotland. Sheffield has a population of 555,500 (in 2010) and a total street number of 23,501. Tracing the evolution of the street network of Sheffield from 1736 to 2010, the results show that there was significant densification of the network in Sheffield, particularly during the period 1890-1950. Nevertheless, expansion has been the dominating mechanism of street-network growth during the entire period from 1736 to 2010. Dundee has a population 144,000 (in 2010) and a total street number of 9,616. Tracing the evolution of the street network of Dundee from 1600 to 2010, the results are significantly different from those for Sheffield. More specifically, whereas expansion dominated in the periods 1600–1776 and 1846–1912, expansion and densification are essentially similar in the other two periods considered, namely in 1776-1821 and 1912-2007. Results from cities in other countries show more extreme cases, where during certain periods densification entirely dominates. When as a city grows its network necessarily increases in total length but also spreads out (covers a larger area) and produces more entropy. This might indicate that when a city expands, its energy efficiency decreases. Clearly, the cost of the street network increases as the city expands. This follows because there is a certain constructional energy per kilometre for various types of roads and streets. Thus, for streets of a given type, to make them longer requires gradually more constructional energy. In order to assess the efficiencies of the street networks in the 41 cities, we compared the city populations with the street number and cumulative street length for each city. The number of streets ranges from 2226 (Winchester) to 240,611 (London), while the population ranges from 28,156 (Dover) to 7,825,200 (London). When plotting the population versus the number of streets, it is clear that cities with large populations need proportionally fewer streets and smaller cumulative total street length to transport that population than smaller cities. What this means is that the larger cities have fewer streets and less total street length per capita than the smaller cities. The results suggest, at least for British cities, that as the city size increases its transportation capacity becomes used more efficiently, so that the network becomes more energy efficient.


Since the early 2000s exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have grown to become an important in- vestment vehicle worldwide. In this paper, we study how their growth affects the sensitivity of international capital flows to the global financial cycle. We combine comprehensive fund- level data on investor flows with a novel identification strategy that controls for unobservable time-varying economic conditions at the investment destination. For dedicated emerging mar- ket funds, we find that the sensitivity of investor flows to global risk factors for equity (bond) ETFs is 1.5 (1.25) times higher than for equity (bond) mutual funds. In turn, we show that in countries where ETFs hold a larger share of financial assets, total cross-border equity flows and prices are significantly more sensitive to global risk factors. We conclude that the growing role of ETFs as a channel for international capital flows amplifies the incidence of the global financial cycle in emerging markets.


Abstract How does the EU and its member states organize their support for reforms in the countries of the EU Neighbourhood? Building on organization theory research on reforms as sets of loosely coupled 'garbage can' processes, we conceptualize the ENP induced reform processes as an organized framework connecting the reform capacities of not only the EU institutions but also EU member-state governments. We apply this approach to Ukraine in the post-Maidan period. We focus on the interplay between EU-level reform capacities and the capacities of two member states highly active in Ukraine, namely Germany and Sweden. As this case illustrates, the current approach provides a complementary perspective to mainstream approaches to the study of the EU's external governance as it offers partial explanations of how organizational processes may impact on the efficiency of reforms promoted by the EU and its member states in the neighbouring countries.


Introduction: Knowledge of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among children with HIV depends on open communication with them about their health and medicines. Guidelines assign responsibility for communication to children's home caregivers. Other research suggests that communication is poor and knowledge about ART is low among children on treatment in low-income countries. This study sought to describe communication about medicine for HIV in quantitative terms from the perspectives of both children and caregivers. Thereafter, it established the factors associated with this communication and with children's knowledge about their HIV medicines. Methods: We undertook a cross-sectional survey of a random sample of 394 children with HIV on treatment and their caregivers at nine health facilities in Jinja District, Uganda. We assessed reported frequency and content of communication regarding their medicines as well as knowledge of what the medicines were for. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the factors associated with communication patterns and children's knowledge of HIV medicines. Results: Although 79.6% of the caregivers reported that they explained to the children about the medicines, only half (50.8%) of the children said they knew that they were taking medicines for HIV. Older children aged 15 17 years were less likely to communicate with a caregiver about the HIV medicines in the preceding month (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3 0.7, p 0.002). Children aged 11 14 years (OR 6.1, 95% CI 2.8 13.7, pB0.001) and 15 17 years (OR 12.6, 95% CI 4.6 34.3, pB0.001) were more likely to know they were taking medicines for HIV compared to the younger ones. The least common reported topic of discussion between children and caregivers was ''what the medicines are for'' while ''the time to take medicines'' was by far the most mentioned by children. Conclusions: Communication about, and knowledge of, HIV medicines among children with HIV is low. Young age (less than 15 years) was associated with more frequent communication. Caregivers should be supported to communicate diagnosis and treatment to children with HIV. Age-sensitive guidelines about the nature and content of communication should be developed.


The dichotomy between timing ability and the ability to select individual assets has been widely used in discussing investment performance measurement. This paper discusses the conceptual and econometric problems associated with defining and measuring timing and selectivity. In defining these notions we attempt to capture their intuitive interpretation. We offer two basic modeling approaches, which we term the portfolio approach and the factor approach. We show how the quality of timing and selectivity information can be identified statistically in a number of simple models, and discuss some of the econometric issues associated with these models. In particular, a simple quadratic regression is shown to be valid in measuring timing information.


This study examined the simultaneous acquisition of vocabulary and grammar by adult learners and the role of exposure condition and declarative memory. Most experimental studies investigating the acquisition of artificial or natural languages focus on either vocabulary or grammar, but not both. However, a systematic investigation of the simultaneous learning of multiple linguistic features is important given that it mirrors language learning outside the lab. Native English speakers were exposed to an artificial language under either incidental or intentional exposure conditions. Participants had to learn both novel pseudowords and word order patterns while also processing stimulus sentences for meaning. The results showed that adult learners are able to rapidly acquire basic syntactic information of a novel language while processing the input for meaning (plausibility judgments) and attempting to learn novel vocabulary at the same time. The results further indicated that exposure condition (incidental versus intentional) made no difference in terms of either vocabulary or grammar learning gains. Findings also revealed that learners developed explicit, not implicit, knowledge of lexis and syntax. Finally, the results indicated that individuals' declarative memory capacity was not related to vocabulary learning but only to grammar learning. Our study underscores the importance of studying the simultaneous acquisition of different language features and from different perspectives of comprehension versus production, incidental versus intentional learning conditions, implicit/explicit knowledge, and individual differences in cognitive abilities.


We present Panoptic Neural Fields (PNF), an object-aware neural scene representation that decomposes a scene into a set of objects (things) and background (stuff). Each object is represented by an oriented 3D bounding box and a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) that takes position, direction, and time and outputs density and radiance. The background stuff is represented by a similar MLP that additionally outputs semantic labels. Each object MLPs are instance-specific and thus can be smaller and faster than previous object-aware approaches, while still leveraging category-specific priors incorporated via meta-learned initialization. Our model builds a panoptic radiance field representation of any scene from just color images. We use off-the-shelf algorithms to predict camera poses, object tracks, and 2D image semantic segmentations. Then we jointly optimize the MLP weights and bounding box parameters using analysis-by-synthesis with self-supervision from color images and pseudo-supervision from predicted semantic segmentations. During experiments with real-world dynamic scenes, we find that our model can be used effectively for several tasks like novel view synthesis, 2D panoptic segmentation, 3D scene editing, and multiview depth prediction.


Worldwide, church membership is decreasing. A decline in the number of young adults that attend church services is also evident. The purpose of the research was to determine whether the application of a well-established body of knowledge of marketing theories and principles could be used by churches to encourage young adults to return to the church. The application of services marketing to the church as a non-profit organisation is discussed by focussing on non-physical and physical atmospheric cues in the church's servicescape that could enhance church attendance. A quantitative approach was used by testing the opinions of 200 church service attendees of different denominations. The findings indicated that certain elements in the servicescape of a church may be useful in attracting young adults. It was found that music is a strong determinant of whether young adults attend church services, followed by layout and design of the church and then by the signs and symbols used in the church. Females reported significantly higher levels of positive perceptions concerning the layout and design. Although the research showed that some marketing elements, such as a positive servicescape, could improve church attendance, other personal elements such as forming personal relationships with fellow Christians and God need to be further explored.


Pyrroloquinoline quinone is a prominent redox cofactor in many prokaryotes, produced from a ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide PqqA via a pathway comprising four conserved proteins PqqB–E. These four proteins are now fairly well-characterized and span radical SAM activity (PqqE), aided by a peptide chaperone (PqqD), a dual hydroxylase (PqqB), and an eight-electron, eight-proton oxidase (PqqC). A full description of this pathway has been hampered by a lack of information regarding a protease/peptidase required for the excision of an early, cross-linked di-amino acid precursor to pyrroloquinoline quinone. Herein, we isolated and characterized a two-component heterodimer protein from the α-proteobacterium Methylobacterium (Methylorubrum) extorquens that can rapidly catalyze cleavage of PqqA into smaller peptides. Using pulldown assays, surface plasmon resonance, and isothermal calorimetry, we demonstrated the formation of a complex PqqF/PqqG, with a KD of 300 nm. We created a molecular model of the heterodimer by comparison with the Sphingomonas sp. A1 M16B Sph2681/Sph2682 protease. Analysis of time-dependent patterns for the appearance of proteolysis products indicates high specificity of PqqF/PqqG for serine side chains. We hypothesize that PqqF/PqqG initially cleaves between the PqqE/PqqD-generated cross-linked form of PqqA, with nonspecific cellular proteases completing the release of a suitable substrate for the downstream enzyme PqqB. The finding of a protease that specifically targets serine side chains is rare, and we propose that this activity may be useful in proteomic analyses of the large family of proteins that have undergone post-translational phosphorylation at serine.


In the mid-1990s, the memory of their past labor experiences at San Martin del Tabacal was a recurrent theme among the Toba who live on the middle course of the Pilcomayo River. At one point or another, conversations with them led to anecdotes about this sugar plantation located at the foot of the Andes, over 300 kilometers to the west of their lands in the Argentinean Chaco. These memories are full of references to the harsh working conditions, the high death toll among their children, and the fear they experienced in the cane fields, epitomized in the threat posed by the "devils" (evil spirits) that came down from the mountains and spread diseases among them. Yet, side by side with these accounts, most adult members of this indigenous group remember San Martin del Tabacal with nostalgia, to the point that this nostalgia often overshadows the horror that this place evokes in their subjectivity. This nostalgia is for a lost source of wealth. This memory of the plantation acquires much of its force in a complex dialectic that is both temporal and spatial; that is, this memory is culturally constructed first, in its contrast to the material poverty most Toba experience in the present, three decades after the migrations came to a halt, and second, in contrast to a different place-the bush of the Chaco lowlands where they live, which most of them often associate with poverty and unsatisfied needs.


Purpose: The study's objective is to evaluate the changes observed in the rail transport market in Poland. The analysis covers both the market of freight services and the conditions of passenger transport. The materials used in the analysis consist of records of the Central Statistical Office (GUS) and record sheets and reports of the Railway Transport Office (UTK). The studied period covers the years 2010-2019. Design/Methodology/Approach: A two-step process undertook the research. The first step involved an analysis of changes in the market of freight services. The analysis was performed via an evaluation of freight's total mass, the volume of transport activity (performance), and the volume of train operations. The scope of changes on the market of intermodal freight transport was analyzed in detail. The second step was an examination of changes in the market of passenger transport. Here, the assessment involved the number of passengers carried and individual rail carriers' involvement in the execution of the transport process. Also, the drivers of rail utilization rate differentiation were investigated. Findings: Concerning rail freight transport, an area of particular intensity is intermodal transport. Over the period 2010-2019, there was an over the four-fold rise in the total mass of freight and the number of transport units. The analysis conducted in the field of passenger transport showed its growing importance. The rail utilization rate demonstrated that, statistically, every Polish resident traveled by train more than 8 times per year. The above results tended to increase year by year. Practical Implications: The conducted analysis indicates that thanks to intermodal freight transport, rail transport can be highly competitive when it comes to other modes of transport. It is becoming an interesting alternative also to road trips. Rail popularization is in the hands of public transport associations in individual regions. By developing regular timetables and frequency of transport services, the purchase and retrofitting of rolling stock can contribute to the industry's growth. Originality/Value: The study presents the core factors affecting rail freight and passenger transport development. The analysis of rail utilization in individual regions could provide a basis for strategic decision-making regarding rail transport policy development directions. This may pertain not only to state-wide but also to local activities.


The war did not only modify the boundaries between the belligerent states, but also the relationships between people, irreversibly altering their destinies. In the case of Romania, during the inter-war period, the political leaders who supported the Central Powers had to deal with marginalization. The latter were, almost without exception, demonized. The work of "moral regeneration" that accompanied the birth of Great Romania was thus doubled by the "purging" of the "traitors". As early as during the war, the accusation of betrayal had already become a tradition. The "Antantophiles", in 1917, and then the "Germanophiles", in March-October 1918, successively identified their political adversaries by the name "traitor". In this way, in the institutions of the Romanian state, the inter-war period started under the auspices of searching for "Germanophiles" and esta¬blishing war crimes.
During this turbulent beginning, the main "traitor" became the University of Iași professor and National Peasant's Party member Constantin Stere. The case of his removal from Iași University was more than an issue pertaining to Romanian higher education. The debate around his isolation involved great energy and resources, leading to his being called "the Romanian Dreyfus case", as Mihail Ralea aptly called it at the time.
Stere received his university degree in Iași where, after graduation, he held the position of professor of constitutional and administrative law of the Faculty of Law starting with 1901; he was also rector of the University in 1913-1916. He was one of the founders of the Viața Românească magazine in Iași, one of the ideologists of the "Poporanist" movement, an important member of the liberals and one of the most important peasant party leaders after the war. He was president of the State Council in Bessarabia and one of the important figures in the Union of Bessarabia with Romania on 27th March 1918. Important legal counsellor and politician, Stere was, from the beginning of the war, a public militant for the cause of Romania as an ally of the Central Powers.
The particulars of the Stere case reveal not so much as a judiciary practice, but rather a judiciary line imprinted by the Romanian state on the files of "the former Germanophiles". When the war ended, in January 1919, the decree through which universities and secondary schools were to suspend from the educational system all those who "had an antinational attitude, inappropriate for the nature and duties of their position". The decree from January 1919 did not state a time limit for the duration of the suspension. The matter was deftly transferred to the juridical system. The university professors, in whose names criminal investigations had been opened, were going to remain suspended sine die so as to be later acquitted by the public prosecutor's office.
16 secondary school teachers and three university professors (two from Iași University and the German lecturer from the University of Bucharest) were suspended from teaching. The "traitors" suspensions were dictated by civil institutions, namely the Universities of Iași and Bucharest, which relied on accusations of treason and the criminal prosecution suits opened in their name by military or civilian courts to support their decision. As a consequence, as the sentence of the judicial system was pending, public accusations borrowed the language of the official position on the betrayal of national interests.
In 1920-1922, the Romanian state amnestied most war crimes committed by soldiers or civilians who stayed in the territory occupied by the German army. Collaboration with the enemy was among these war crimes. An exception to these decrees directly concerned Stere, who had been, starting with 1917, the director of the Bucharest newspaper Lumina. The newspaper had been dropped by the German aviation into Romanian territory, too, and the exception from the amnesty of crimes mentioned the instance of newspaper and brochure distri¬bution. Curiously, Stere's prosecution file was unknown and, most importantly, no judiciary investigations pertaining to criminal suits were started against the professor. For this reason, they could not include his crimes among the stipulations of the amnesty decrees. Due to this, the 1921-1922 attempts to bring Stere back to his position as professor of Administrative Law at the University of Iași failed. The ministry retorted that Stere's suspension was directly connected to his criminal prosecution investigation, which was not yet finalized. It is for this reason, in our opinion, that Stere was definitively excluded from the University of Iași at the beginning of 1919, although the official term used was "suspension". He remained suspended until the end of his university career, retiring due to his age on 1st February 1936.
It is also true that Stere himself did not want or show any signs of resorting to the clemency of the liberals. He imperatively asked to defend his innocence on trial, but the inquiry, in his case, was never begun. In fact, in 1928-1931, when the National Peasants' Party he was a noteworthy member of, was governing the country, Stere did not return to his university case. He probably understood the official postponements and avoidances from the first years after the war as a less brutal way of being excluded from Iași University. He always thought his conduct during the war was legitimate and the orchestrated guilt was premeditated by the liberal to satisfy the winners' desire for retaliation.


This article aims to describe the French concept regarding combat casualty neurosurgical care from the theater of operations to a homeland hospital. French military neurosurgeons are not routinely deployed to all combat zones. As a consequence, general surgeons initially treat neurosurgical wounds. The principle of this medical support is based on damage control. It is aimed at controlling intracranial hypertension spikes when neuromonitoring is lacking in resource-limited settings. Neurosurgical damage control permits a medevac that is as safe as can be expected from a conflict zone to a homeland medical treatment facility. French military neurosurgeons can occasionally be deployed within an airborne team to treat a military casualty or to complete a neurosurgical procedure performed by a general surgeon in theaters of operation. All surgeons regardless of their specialty must know neurosurgical damage control. General surgeons must undergo the required training in order for them to perform this neurosurgical technique.


Laws protecting intellectual property rights balance interests of earlier and later rights holders. The tradeoffs are well established for patents. We argue that similar considerations apply to trademarks. Jurisdictions differ in how strongly they protect earlier rights, with EU trademark law protecting the registered use of an earlier right for much longer than US trademark law. Laws in both jurisdictions seek to eventually align registered use of earlier rights with their actual use, creating space on the trademark register for later rights. Data from a recent reform of trademark fees reveal that registered and actual use of EU marks frequently fail to align as intended. We analyse trademark opposition cases at EUIPO to test whether this creates costs for owners of later rights. We find that a subset of firms relies on the protection afforded to earlier rights to permanently expand the breadth of their marks beyond actual use, limiting access to trademarks for later applicants. We discuss policy implications.


Apatite fission track analysis of gneiss samples across the Knersvlakte plain in the coastal are of western South Africa reveals the existence of a relatively deeply incised paleovalley flanked by high ridges formed during the Mid Creataceous. This paleovalley coincides with the present course of the Krom River through the Great Escarpment. Modelling of the fission-track data suggest that the main stage of intense channel erosion, triggered by uplift of the catchment area, occurred between similar to 120 and similar to 110 Ma and was followed by a period of progressive hillslope erosion and interfluve degradation. It is suggested that the paleo-Karoo River and its tributaries were responsible for the formation of this relief. The present-day lower relief formed by continuing erosion starting at similar to 90 ma, time when all the analysed samples had already been exhumed to a depth corresponding to temperatures below 60 degrees C (similar to 2 to 3 km).


We present the results of a statistical data analysis of the geo-effectiveness of non-magnetic-cloud interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and compare them with those of magnetic-cloud (MC) interplanetary coronal mass ejections observed during solar cycle 23. (The term ICME as used here will refer to a non-MC ICME.) The starting point of this investigation is the set of intense geomagnetic storms (Dstmin ≤ -100 nT) of solar cycle 23 between 1996 and 2005. We also compare the solar source locations of the ICMEs with those of the MCs. The source locations of the solar disturbances are, on average, closer to the Sun-Earth line for the MCs than for the ICMEs. There is an anomaly for the location of the related solar sources: no event came from the region between the solar equator plane and 10°S (south) of that plane. The primary results are listed as follows. The average duration of these MCs is slightly longer (~7%) than that of ICMEs. The average geomagnetic storm intensity for the MCs is higher than that for the ICMEs and CIRs formed by high-speed streams from coronal holes, especially for the events associated with X class flares. The relevant average magnetic field component, i.e., Bzmin , is more intense within the MCs than within the ICMEs. The average solar wind speed is similar for both MCs and ICMEs. Maximum solar wind speed is higher within ICMEs than within MCs. Maximum solar wind proton density is higher for MCs than for ICMEs.