»Statistischer Panoptismus und dessen Kritik«. The article develops the concept of statistical panopticism, thereby combining the French approach of economics of convention (EC) and Michel Foucault's concept of panopticism. The differences between Foucault's original notion of panopticism and statistical panopticism are emphasized. It is argued that statistical panopticism has been made possible by the enormous growth of quantification, datafication, linking, and centralization of numerical data production, data collection, and data analysis. This has been (mainly) realized by private enterprises and implemented in different social spheres but also in private situations. From the perspective of EC, quantification, big data, and statistical panopticism have to be related to the foundational conventions of data production (measurement) and data interpretation. Foucault has analyzed the neoliberal and indirect form of contemporary governance. Statistical panopticism works as a dispositive for this neoliberal form of governance. Its asymmetric and mainly invisible character is sketched. Also the critique and the deficiencies of critique of political and economic usages of numerical data and indicators are discussed.


Low birth weight is one of the most significant contributors to the neonatal mortality rate. It has been an important public health issue in many developing countries. Several prediction models have been developed to forecast newborn delivery weight using a wide range of regression analysis and maternal and neonatal data from Indonesia. However, there has not been any comparison study to investigate the most efficient models or availability of data required by these models. This paper reviews the last five years research carried out on the prediction of delivery weight, particularly prediction for low birth weight. We also investigate whether the significant characteristics are accessible to be measured in rural settings. The results indicate that majority of the prediction models were developed based on maternal characteristics rather than fetal characteristics or the combinations of both. These prediction models were also designed based on data accessible at delivery time rather than before birth due to the lack of maternal and fetal data during the process of antenatal care. Improvement on health information systems, particularly on the quality of complete and accurate statistics on maternal and fetal data throughout pregnancy is urgently required. This can be done by regular update of these estimates to continuously improve the rate of low birth weight delivery.


The evaluation of visual art involves sensory, emotional and cognitive processes that lead to an aesthetic judgement or an aesthetic emotion (e.g. beauty). Aesthetic experiences are multisensory processes that undergo a variety of stages. Early processes occur in the visual and sensory cortices, and are central to object identification that may be no different from visual experiences of everyday objects. Later processing stages are related to complex human thought consisting of emotion and cognition that involve areas such as the orbitofrontal cortex, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC). The later stages are concerned with the comprehension and meaningful analysis of the artwork that contribute to the formation of an aesthetic judgement or emotion.This thesis aims to investigate affective evaluations and their interactions with cognitive processes during the later processing stages of the aesthetic experience in the rostral prefrontal cortex (rPFC). The role of the rPFC will be explored using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) with reference to existing frameworks. Specifically: hemispheric asymmetry in the processing of emotional stimuli, the Gateway Hypothesis and the Default Mode Network will be explored.Experimental WorkA database of sixty images was created in an online survey (chapter 3) at the beginning of the experimental programme. Images were rated online (N = 1028) for complexity, comprehension, novelty, activation, attraction and valence providing stimuli that could be systematically manipulated according to their psychological properties in the experimental studies.The first hypothesis (is the rPFC involved in early perceptual processes such as complexity during aesthetic experience?) was addressed in a pilot study (chapter 4) and repeated in the first experimental study (chapter 5). Both cognitive (high/low complexity) and emotional (positive/negative valence) aspects of the images were manipulated. Images were shown for sixty second and analysed in three time periods (early, middle and late) each consisting of twenty seconds. The results showed an interaction between valence and time with positive images yielding greater activation in the early period and negative images in the late period. This highlighted the importance of long exposure times to capture the aesthetic experience.The second hypothesis (is the rPFC involved in implicit memory formation such as the comprehension of an image during aesthetic experience) was investigated in chapter 6 where the levels of comprehension (high/low) and postive/negative valence associated with the viewed image were manipulated. An interaction between comprehension and valence was found with respect to rPFC activity. Positive easy to comprehend images and negative difficult to comprehend images yielded greater rPFC oxygenation. These findings indicated that the experience of pleasure in positive artworks and increased cognitive effort during the resolution of uncertainty or threat in negative artworks is related to rPFC activation.The third hypothesis (is the rPFC involved in prospective memory during aesthetic experience?) was investigated in chapter 7 where positive and negative artworks were shown under two conditions. Condition one asked participants to introspect about their emotions and condition two to direct their attention to features in the image through a spot-the-difference task. A main effect of emotion was found, but no interaction or effect for condition. Greater rPFC activation was found during the contemplation of positive images. This may be attributed to pleasantness experienced in relation to these images.The last question (is the rPFC involved in self-referential processing and is this important to aesthetic experience?) was investigated in chapter 8 where participants viewed negative and positive images under two viewing conditions. Condition one asked participants to introspect about their own emotions (Self) and condition two about the artist's emotions at the time of painting (Other). The other-condition resulted in overall greater rPFC activation indicating that participants found it more challenging to think of another's emotions. An interaction showed greater rPFC activation for positive images in the self -condition and greater activation for negative images in the other-condition. This may have been the result of a positive bias and the detection of self-relevance in positive images and the analysis of threat or uncertainty in negative images.ConclusionsThis thesis used a cognitive model of the aesthetic experience as a framework to understand the interaction between emotional and cognitive processes in the formation of an aesthetic judgement or emotion. No evidence for asymmetrical processing of emotional stimuli, or the Gateway Hypothesis was found. The research reported here indicates that the rPFC has an important role during the later processing stages of the aesthetic experience. Viewing negative visual art activated rPFC when the images were difficult to comprehend and when participants thought about the artist's feelings. Positive emotions, on the other hand, activated rPFC when the images were easy to comprehend and when participants thought about their own feelings. The contemplation of visual art was continuously associated with medial rPFC activation, indicating that the rPFC has a key role in self-relevant processing of visual art. The rPFC may aid personal value judgements of visual art (e.g. this artwork means xyz to me) because this area of the brain mediates the interaction between self-relevance, autobiographical memories and continuously changing emotional states.


Platelet-based long discontinuous fiber (LDF) composites have a unique microstructure with fiber collimation within platelets, discontinuity at platelet boundaries, and a large degree of heterogeneity at the macro-scale. This extreme macro-heterogeneity requires microstructural characterization of all regions of a part, as compared to the assumption that a few sample regions sufficiently represent all present microstructures. In this work, nondestructive computed tomography (CT) scanning with a meso-scale, 53I¼m resolution (voxel edge length) from a North Star Imaging X-50 system is analyzed. This resolution will not allow for the distinct viewing of individual carbon fibers (5-7I¼m diameter) or even distinct platelets (~100I¼m thick), but is the highest resolution possible on the equipment used for the 65x65x65mm part studied. Two principles are used to extract micro-scale details from the meso-scale CT scan resolution: 1) There is fiber alignment locally within each platelet as evidenced in micrographs, and 2) The direction of least density change within a stack of aligned platelets is aligned with the fiber direction. Using Eigen analysis of the density gradients, the locally averaged fiber orientation at each voxel within the CT scan is determined. Optical microscopy of selected regions within the scanned part allow for comparison of the fiber orientation vector components in the global X, Y, and Z directions. The relatively low resolution CT scan does not provide exact characterization of distinct platelet boundaries, but still yields a mean local fiber orientation. This improved mapping of the entire part microstructure may be used to better understand the manufacturing process, compare with manufacturing simulations, or implement in a finite element model for simulations where discrete platelet boundaries are not required.


This study examines whether an awareness of LI-CBT skills would result into the reduction of symptoms of depression in Arab clients. The study exclusively applies two techniques, behavioral activation (BA) and cognitive restructuring (CR), to clients of varying levels of depression residing in the United Arab Emirates. Utilizing a pre-test-post-test design, 50 participants (25treatment and 25control) were included in the analyses of the study and level of depression was measured using the PHQ-9. Results indicate that 76 percent of participants in the treatment group showed improvement in their level of depression, when compared to 30.4 percent of participants in the control group. Findings suggest that Li-CBT may be a plausible intervention for tackling depression among Arab clients.


ABSTRACT Objective: To assess the suitability for use within economic evaluation of a widely used sleep-related instrument (the Epworth Sleepiness Scale [ESS]) by examining its convergent and discriminant validity with two widely used generic preference-based instruments (Short-Form 36 [SF-36] and the Assessment of Quality of Life 4 dimensions [AQoL-4D]). Methods: Data from a cross-section of 2,236 community-dwelling Australian men were analyzed. Convergent validity was investigated using Spearman's correlation, intraclass correlation, and modified Bland-Altman plots, while discriminant validity was examined using Kruskal Wallis tests. Results: All instruments showed good discriminant validity. The ESS was weakly correlated to the Short Form 6 dimension, or SF-6D (derived from the SF-36) and AQoL-4D utilities (r = 0.20 and r = 0.19, respectively). Correlations between ESS and SF-36/AQoL-4D dimensions measuring the same construct were all in the hypothesized directions but also weak (range of absolute r = 0.00 to 0.18). The level of agreement between the ESS and AQoL-4D was the weakest, followed by that between the ESS and SF-6D. Moderate convergent validity was seen between the utilities. Conclusions: The lack of convergent validity between the ESS and the preference-based instruments shows that sleep-related constructs are not captured by the latter. The ESS has, however, demonstrated good discriminant validity comparable to that of the AQoL-4D and the SF-36/SF-6D and would therefore be equally useful for measuring subgroup differences within economic evaluation. We therefore recommend using the ESS within cost-effectiveness analysis as a complement to preference-based instruments in order to capture sleep-specific constructs not measured by the latter.


High-performance flexible piezoelectric nanogenerators (PNGs) based on composite thin films comprising amine-functionalized lead zirconate titanate (PZT) nanoparticles (PZT-NH2 NPs) and a thermoplastic triblock copolymer grafted with maleic anhydride are fabricated. The chemically reinforced composite contains a stable dispersion of PZT NPs within the polymer matrix with enhanced stress applied to the PZT NPs. Without additional dispersants, the uniform distribution of PZT-NH2 NPs in the polymer composite improves the piezoelectric power generation compared to that of a PNG device using pristine PZT NPs. This unique composite behavior allows the PZT-NH2 NP-based flexible PNG to exhibit a high output voltage of 65 V and current of 1.6 μA without time-dependent degradation. This alternating energy from the PNG can be used to charge a capacitor and operate light-emitting diodes through a full bridge rectifier. Furthermore, the proposed PNG is demonstrated as a promising energy harvester for potential applications in self-powered systems.


Despite the attention to the problem of protecting the health care interests of Americans, there is little consensus on what should be done politically or otherwise to address this problem. In Protecting American Health Care Consumers Eleanor DeArman Kinney, a nationally regarded expert on health policy and law, tackles the serious and ongoing debate among state and federal policy makers, health care providers, third-party payers, and consumers about how to provide procedural justice to patients in the present health care climate. To promote and ensure consumer protection in an increasingly adversarial and complicated health care culture, Kinney first analyzes the procedures by which consumer concerns are presently discerned and resolved and then explains why these systems are unsatisfactory. She also discusses problematic procedures for making coverage policy and quality standards and proposes reforms in a variety of processes that would enable all consumers, including the uninsured, to influence key policies and standards and also to raise concerns and obtain appropriate remedies. As the first comprehensive treatment of administrative procedures in American health plans and other such institutions, Protecting American Health Care Consumers will be welcomed by state and federal policymakers, managed care executives, and lawyers charged with designing and implementing protections for consumers in public and private health plans.


We present a robust feature matching approach that considers features from more than two images during matching. Traditionally, corners or feature points are matched between pairs of images. Starting from one image, corresponding features are searched in the other image. Yet, often this two-image matching is only a subproblem and actually robust matches over multiple views and/ or images acquired at several instants in time are required. In our feature matching approach we consider the multi-view video data modality and find matches that are consistent in three images. Requiring neither calibrated nor synchronized cameras, we are able to reduce the percentage of wrongly matched features considerably. We evaluate the approach for different feature detectors and their natural descriptors and show an application of our improved matching approach for optical flow calculation on unsynchronized stereo sequences.


The rapidly growing rate of childhood obesity makes it imperative to develop an effective intervention program for obese children. This study was an attempt to answer the question as to whether exergaming can drive overweight and obese children towards adopting a healthier lifestyle, becoming more physically active for life and improving their self-concept. The study consisted of a 6-week intervention on the Nintendo Wii. Participants were aged between 9-12 years old. Subjects were assigned to three groups according to location: experimental group
(n=11), control group A (n=10) and control group B (n=10). The experimental group participated in the exergaming intervention program, control group A had access to traditional video games and control group B continued with their everyday life activities with no intervention. Health related- and functional- fitness protocols were used to assess the physical fitness of the subjects. The Cratty Self-concept questionnaire determined self-concept amongst subjects and a closed ended interview was conducted to conclude changes in attitude towards physical activity. Statistical calculations revealed that the experimental group showed significant improvement in their level of functional fitness (p<0.05). Coordination, reaction time, speed and agility increased by magnitudes of 28%, 94% and 37% respectively. Reductions in resting- blood pressure and
heart rate mean scores were observed. Both the control groups displayed marginal increases in their overall level of fitness that were not significant. No changes were observed and recorded for self- concept and attitude towards physical activity across the board. These results support the concept that exergaming can be used as an alternative means to improve the level of functional fitness as well as promoting physical activity in children.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the role of noncommercial pigs in the epidemiology of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus.

DESIGN
Seroepidemiologic study and survey study.

ANIMALS
661 pigs from which blood samples were collected at slaughter and 32 pigs from which blood samples were collected longitudinally.

PROCEDURES
Spatial databases of commercial farms and 4-H participation were evaluated by use of commercial geographic information systems software. Information on disease knowledge and management methods of 4-H participants was obtained by mail survey and personal interview. Serum samples for antibody testing by PRRS ELISA were obtained from pigs at slaughter or at county fairs and on farms.

RESULTS
Participation in 4-H swine programs was geographically associated with commercial swine production in Minnesota, and 39% of 4-H participants reared pigs at locations with commercial pigs. High seroprevalence at fairs (49%; range, 29% to 76%) and seroconversion after fairs indicated that PRRS virus exposure was common in pigs shown by 4-H participants and that transmission could occur at fairs.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
The small swine population shown by 4-H members (estimated 12,000 pigs) relative to the population of commercial swine in Minnesota (estimated 6.5 million pigs) suggested the former overall was likely of minor importance to PRRS virus epidemiology at present. However, the relative frailty of knowledge of biosecurity practices, evidence that PRRS virus exposure was frequent, common intentions to show pigs at multiple events, and often close interactions with commercial herds suggested that the 4-H community should be involved in regional efforts to control PRRS.


The potential for adaptation of phytoplankton to future climate is often extrapolated based on single strain responses of a representative species, ignoring variability within and between species. The aim of this study was to approximate the range of strain‐specific reaction patterns within an Arctic diatom population, which selection can act upon. In a laboratory experiment, we first incubated natural communities from an Arctic fjord under present and future conditions. In a second step, single strains of the diatom Thalassiosira hyalina were isolated from these selection environments and exposed to a matrix of temperature (3°C and 6°C) and pCO2 levels (180 μatm, 370 μatm, 1000 μatm, 1400 μatm) to establish reaction norms for growth, production rates, and elemental quotas. The results revealed interactive effects of temperature and pCO2 as well as wide tolerance ranges. Between strains, however, sensitivities and optima differed greatly. These strain‐specific responses corresponded well with their respective selection environments of the previous community incubation. We therefore hypothesize that intraspecific variability and the selection between coexisting strains may pose an underestimated source of species' plasticity. Thus, adaptation of phytoplankton assemblages may also occur by selection within rather than only between species, and species‐wide inferences from single strain experiments should be treated with caution.


Three top neuroscientists are betting big money and their scientific careers on a new approach to studying schizophrenia and other psychiatric diseases. With help from philanthropists, they are launching an institute that will look for treatments by probing early brain development for the origins of mental illness. The nonprofit Lieber Institute for Brain Development will be led by Daniel Weinberger of the National Institute of Mental Health. Ronald McKay of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke will be director of basic science. Both will leave government jobs for the new institute, which will be an independent affiliate of the adjacent Johns Hopkins University. The institute9s third founder and elder statesman is Johns Hopkins neuropharmacologist Solomon Snyder.


Major steps towards dialogue models is to know about the basic units that are used to construct a dialogue model and possible sequences. In this approach a set of dialogue acts is not predefined by any theory or manually described during the engineering process, but is learned integrating different kind of data that are available in an avised spoken dialogue system. For this purpose an existing unsupervised learning algorithm was adopted and extended to the demands in natural language processing and speech processing, called CLASSITALL. It is embedded in a tool kit for dialogue engineering, defining basic modules. The DIAlogue Model Learning Environment supports an engineeringoriented approach towards dialogue modelling for a spoken-language interface. The architecture is outlined and the approach is applied to the domain of appointment scheduling.


The hydrological process of evapotranspiration ( ET ) plays an important role in water circulation in wetlands, and understanding the contributions of wetland ET to local and regional water cycles can help in designing effective wetland management strategies. In this paper, a numerical model, vegetation indexes, and stable isotopes were integrated to partition ET in the Momoge Wetland to understand hydrological processes and calculate the contribution of wetland ET to local hydrological cycling. The results of the non-steady state (NSS) model indicated clear deviation of leaf water enrichment ( δ Lb ) from an isotopic steady state (ISS) for Phragmites australis , and the model accuracy improved particularly in the early morning and evening when air moisture was highest during the day. The isotopic mass balance showed that E and T contributed approximately 62% and 38% to ET , respectively. Using the estimated proportion of T to ET , in combination for the measured leaf transpiration, total ET was estimated at approximately 8.76 mm d −1 . Additionally, the amount of ET clearly changed on an hourly scale, with most primarily occurring at approximately noon. Based on comparison among internationally important wetlands distributed in northeast China, the results in this study are reasonable and will provide theoretical data for wetland water resources management.


Numerous methods for evaluating user interfaces have been investigated to develop a metric that incorporates simple task descriptions which can assist designers in organizing their user interface. The metric, Layout Appropriateness (LA), requires a description of the sequences of actions users perform and how frequently each sequence is used. This task description can either be from observations of an existing system or from a simplified task analysis. The appropriateness of a given layout is computed by weighting the cost of each sequence of actions by how frequently the sequence is performed, which emphasizes frequent methods of accomplishing tasks while incorporating less frequent methods in the design. In addition to providing a comparison of proposed or existing layouts, an LA-optimal layout can be presented to the designer. The designer can compare the LA-optimal and existing layouts or start with the LA-optimal layout and modify it to take additional factors into consideration. >


PURPOSE
To develop a sailing ergometer that accurately simulates upwind sailing exercise.

METHODS
A sailing ergometer that measures roll moment accompanied by a biofeedback system that allows imposing a certain quasi-isometric upwind sailing protocol (ie, 18 bouts of 90-s hiking at constantly varying hiking intensity interspersed with 10 s to tack) was developed. Ten male high-level Laser sailors performed an incremental cycling test (ICT; ie, step protocol at 80 W + 40 W/3 min) and an upwind sailing test (UST). During both, heart rate (HR), oxygen uptake (VO(2)), ventilation (V(E)), respiratory-exchange ratio, and rating of perceived exertion were measured. During UST, also the difference between the required and produced hiking moment (HM) was calculated as error score (ES). HR, VO(2), and V(E) were calculated relative to their peak values determined during ICT. After UST, the subjects were questioned about their opinion on the resemblance between this UST and real-time upwind sailing.

RESULTS
An average HM of 89.0% ± 2.2% HM(max) and an average ES of 4.1% ± 1.8% HM(max) were found. Mean HR, VO(2), and V(E) were, respectively, 80% ± 4% HR(peak), 39.5% ± 4.5% VO(2peak), and 30.3% ± 3.7% VE(peak). Both HM and cardiorespiratory values appear to be largely comparable to literature reports during on-water upwind sailing. Moreover, the subjects gave the upwind sailing ergometer a positive resemblance score.

CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that this ergometer accurately simulates on-water upwind sailing exercise. As such, this ergometer could be a great help in performance diagnostics and training follow-up.


Mortality from prostate cancer (PCa) is due to the formation of metastatic disease. Understanding how that process is regulated is therefore critical. We previously demonstrated that endoglin, a type III transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) superfamily receptor, suppresses human PCa cell invasion and metastasis. Endoglin-mediated suppression of invasion was also shown by us to be dependent upon the type I TGFβ receptor, activin receptor-like kinase 2 (ALK2), and the downstream effector, Smad1. In this study we demonstrate for the first time that two type II TGFβ receptors are required for endoglin-mediated suppression of invasion: activin A receptor type IIA (ActRIIA) and bone morphogenetic protein receptor type II (BMPRII). Downstream signaling through these receptors is predominantly mediated by Smad1. ActRIIA stimulates Smad1 activation in a kinase-dependent manner, and this is required for suppression of invasion. In contrast BMPRII regulates Smad1 in a biphasic manner, promoting Smad1 signaling through its kinase domain but suppressing it through its cytoplasmic tail. BMPRII's Smad1-regulatory effects are dependent upon its expression level. Further, its ability to suppress invasion is independent of either kinase function or tail domain. We demonstrate that ActRIIA and BMPRII physically interact, and that each also interacts with endoglin. The current findings demonstrate that both BMPRII and ActRIIA are necessary for endoglin-mediated suppression of human PCa cell invasion, that they have differential effects on Smad1 signaling, that they make separate contributions to regulation of invasion, and that they functionally and physically interact.


The success of deep learning comes from its ability to capture the hierarchical structure of data by learning high-level representations defined in terms of low-level ones. In this paper we explore self-supervised learning of hierarchical representations of speech by applying multiple levels of Contrastive Predictive Coding (CPC). We observe that simply stacking two CPC models does not yield significant improvements over single-level architectures. Inspired by the fact that speech is often described as a sequence of discrete units unevenly distributed in time, we propose a model in which the output of a low-level CPC module is non-uniformly downsampled to directly minimize the loss of a high-level CPC module. The latter is designed to also enforce a prior of separability and discreteness in its representations by enforcing dissimilarity of successive high-level representations through focused negative sampling, and by quantization of the prediction targets. Accounting for the structure of the speech signal improves upon single-level CPC features and enhances the disentanglement of the learned representations, as measured by downstream speech recognition tasks, while resulting in a meaningful segmentation of the signal that closely resembles phone boundaries.


Aeolian mineral dust aerosol is an important consideration in the Earth's radiation budget as well as a source of nutrients to oceanic and land biota. The modelling of aeolian mineral dust has been improving consistently despite the relatively sparse observations to constrain them. This study documents the development of a new dust emissions scheme in the Met Office Unified Model™ (MetUM) based on the Dust Entrainment and Deposition (DEAD) module. Four separate case studies are used to test and constrain the model output. Initial testing was undertaken on a large dust event over North Africa in March 2006 with the model constrained using AERONET data. The second case study involved testing the capability of the model to represent dust events in the Middle East without being re‐tuned from the March 2006 case in the Sahara. While the model is unable to capture some of the daytime variation in AERONET AOD there is good agreement between the model and observed dust events. In the final two case studies new observations from in situ aircraft data during the Dust Outflow and Deposition to the Ocean (DODO) campaigns in February and August 2006 were used. These recent observations provided further data on dust size distributions and vertical profiles to constrain the model. The modelled DODO cases were also compared to AERONET data to make sure the radiative properties of the dust were comparable to observations. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society and Crown Copyright


We present simultaneous ground-based radial velocity (RV) measurements and space-based photometric measurements of the young and active K dwarf Epsilon Eridani. These measurements provide a data set for exploring methods of identifying and ultimately distinguishing stellar photospheric velocities from Keplerian motion. We compare three methods we have used in exploring this data set: Dalmatian, an MCMC spot modeling code that fits photometric and RV measurements simultaneously; the FF′ method, which uses photometric measurements to predict the stellar activity signal in simultaneous RV measurements; and Hα analysis. We show that our Hα measurements are strongly correlated with the Microvariability and Oscillations of STars telescope (MOST) photometry, which led to a promising new method based solely on the spectroscopic observations. This new method, which we refer to as the HH′ method, uses Hα measurements as input into the FF′ model. While the Dalmatian spot modeling analysis and the FF′ method with MOST space-based photometry are currently more robust, the HH′ method only makes use of one of the thousands of stellar lines in the visible spectrum. By leveraging additional spectral activity indicators, we believe the HH′ method may prove quite useful in disentangling stellar signals.


The Short Messaging Service(SMS) which has become very popular in cellular networks is very highly priced. We show in this paper how self-organizing ad-hoc networks can be used to provide the short messaging service, at a much lower price. We propose a routing protocol for wireless messaging networks, which explores the characteristics of ad-hoc network routing in which mobile nodes are allowed to relay in place of static nodes. We demonstrate, using simulations, how this increases connectivity in the network and decreases the required node density for full connectivity. As our scheme relies on the delay tolerant properties of short messages, we explore the delay characteristics of our routing scheme as well.


Objective: Assessment of cardiac output (CO) is essential in the management of children after cardiac surgery. Electric velocimetry (EV) is a newly developed monitoring method for CO and stroke volume (SV). However, applicability in a pediatric population, particularly after cardiac surgery, remains unclear. We sought to assess agreement of CO measured by EV and transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTE). Design: Prospective observational study. Setting: A cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) at a tertiary children's hospital in Shizuoka, Japan. Patients and participants: Children <18-year-old admitted to the CICU after cardiac surgery. Intervention: All patients underwent measurement of SV and CO using EV and TTE between 1 to 3 days after surgery. Measurements and results: Thirty patients were . analyzed. We collected data on patient demographics, body surface area, vital signs, SV, CO, laboratory examination, drugs used, and type or surgery. There were significant correlations between EV and TTE in SV and CO values (r=0.909, p<0.001 and r=0.831, p<0.001, respectively). Bland-Altman analysis showed a good agreement between EV and TTE in SV and CO values (bias 1.33 mL, 0.08 L/min, and 0.02 L/min/m2, respectively, and limits of agreement -8.59 to 9.93 mL and -0.97 to 1.05 L/min, respectively). Mean percentage error for SV and CO values between EV and TTE were 13.76% and 13.19%, respectively. Conclusions: There is good correlation and clinical agreement between EV and TTE in measuring SV and CO. Electric velocimetry can be used in the hemodynamic monitoring of children after cardiac surgery.


Cloud computing is drawing attention from both practitioners and researchers, and its adoption among organizations is on the rise. The focus has mainly been on minimizing fixed IT costs and using the IT resource flexibility offered by the cloud. However, the promise of cloud computing is much greater. As a disruptive technology, it enables innovative new services and business models that decrease time to market, create operational efficiencies and engage customers and citizens in new ways. However, we are still in the early days of cloud computing, and, for organizations to exploit the full potential, we need knowledge of the potential applications and pitfalls of cloud computing. Maturity models provide effective methods for organizations to assess, evaluate, and benchmark their capabilities as bases for developing roadmaps for improving weaknesses. Adopting the business-IT maturity model by Pearlson & Saunders (2007) as analytical framework, we synthesize the existing literature, identify levels of cloud computing benefits, and establish propositions for practice in terms of how to realize these benefits.


Extant research on websites success has paid insufficient attention to the success of permission-based e-mail marketing PEM websites. In order to bridge this knowledge gap, the contribution of this study lies in synthesizing information management/e-commerce, media/communication, as well as customer/marketing research to propose a PEM websites success model consisting of antecedent i.e., functional, process, and relational benefits, mediator i.e., relationship quality, and outcome variables i.e., relationship outcomes. Data collected from 294 respondents in Taiwan were tested against the research model using structural equation modeling. The result shows that functional and process benefits i.e., information quality, ease of use, and entertainment benefits except entertainment benefits can indirectly influence relationship outcomes i.e., user loyalty and positive word of mouth through the mediation of relationship quality i.e., user satisfaction and commitment. The result also indicates that relational benefits i.e., confidence, social, and special treatment benefits can not affect relationship outcomes directly or indirectly through relationship quality. It concludes that, unlike the brick-and-mortar context, relational benefits emphasized by customer/marketing research do not play a significant role in influencing relationship outcomes in the context of PEM websites. Rather, the empirically validated model highlights the importance of functional and process benefits in establishing PEM websites success, supporting the perspectives from information management/e-commerce research as well as media/communication research.


This thesis seeks to explore textually instantiated oppositions and their contribution to the construction of 'us' and 'them' in specific news texts. The data consists of reports of two major protest marches taken from news articles in UK national daily newspapers. The aim of the thesis is to review and contribute to the development of existing theories of oppositions (often known as 'antonyms'), in order to investigate the potential effects of their systematic usage in news texts and add an additional method of analysis to the linguistic toolkit utilised by critical discourse analysts. The thesis reviews a number of traditional theories of opposition and questions the assumption that oppositions are mainly lexical phenomena i.e. that only those codified in lexical authorities such as thesauruses can be classed as true opposites. The hypothesis draws on Murphy (2003) to argue that opposition is primarily conceptual, evidence being that new ones can be derived from principles on which opposition is based. The dialectic between 'canonical' and 'noncanonical' oppositions allows addressees to process and understand a potentially infinite number of new oppositions via cognitive reference to existing ones. Fundamental to the discovery of co-occurring textually-constructed oppositions are the syntactic frames commonly used to house canonical oppositions, which, this thesis argues, can trigger new instances of oppositions when used in these frames. I conduct a detailed qualitative analysis of textually constructed oppositions in three news articles, and show how they are used by journalists to positively and negatively represent groups and individuals as mutually exclusive binaries, in order to perpetuate a particular ideological point of view.
The final section is an examination of how critical discourse analysis studies into the construction of 'us' and 'them' in news texts can be enhanced by a consideration of constructed oppositions like those explored in the thesis.


Spatial-frequency characteristics of the reflectivity and transmissivity of a BaTiO3 phase conjugator (PC) combined with extraordinary rays are investigated and numerical results obtained. It is shown that the reflection of a BaTiO3 PC represents a high-pass or a bandpass filter, whereas its transmission represents a low-pass or a bandpass filter. In addition, the filtering characteristics of this PC can be chosen by using appropriate values of such parameters as the average incident-beam angle from the c axis, the pump-beam intensity ratio, and the applied external electric field. A BaTiO3 PC exhibits characteristics that are quite different from those of a Bi12SiO20 PC, since the latter obtains only a high- or low-spatial-frequency filter.


In his Memoirs, the French political thinker Raymond Aron recounts a significant episode that occurred when he was a precocious young graduate of France's preeminent Ecole Normale Superieure. Deeply interested in foreign affairs, Aron, the phenomenon of his generation, obtained an interview with an undersecretary in the Foreign Office of the French government. Invited to express his views to the undersecretary, he offered a brilliant precis of the state of world affairs. The undersecretary, not without sympathy, then asked him a simple question: all this is wonderful, he said, "but if you were in the ministers position, what would you do?"1 This question stopped Aron in his tracks. It also set his thought on the course it would take for the rest of his life. It underscored for him something not taught in the training for the Agregation: namely, that learning is for living, that the erudition of scholarship cannot be simply, solely for academics, that it must inform the way we inhabit the world, and that part of the responsibility of the intellectual is to help us all understand how to take that wisdom in, so that it transforms our fives and makes them better. Such recognition seems sadly lacking in much theology and ethics today, at least in the United States. Among us, our conversations are overwhelmingly intramurally scholastic, cosseted within the halls of academe, and few if any respected academic theologians have any kind of audience outside those halls. This is especially damaging to theology, for it has not only the general public to which it owes its insights, but also the more specific precincts of the churches deserve illumination from theologians' learning. Certainly there is a great deal of know-nothing contempt directed toward academics today; but the proper response to that is not a blithe (or worse) indifference, but rather a reinvigorated commitment to informing one another, and those who, if they knew aright, would expect from us some insight and guidance for the adventure of living a faithful Christian life. The academization of theology is lamentable, and has been not infrequently lamented, but hardly anyone ever seems to get beyond lamentation, to ask why it has happened and what we can do about it. Yet those among us who would speak to audiences beyond faculties of theology today typically recoil from this scholasticism into a condition fundamentally opposed to it, which makes it no better: a condition of desperate immediate "relevance" to some moral struggle, presented as so urgent as to bespeak no hesitation in our commitment to some moral revolution. This is an old maneuver: it hearkens back to Walter Rauschenbusch's call for the churches to attend to "the social crisis." Such a crisis permits no middle ground, no compromise, no moderation; one must be for something, or else one is effectively against it. Theology so constrained is no longer faith seeking understanding: it is faith seeking some - inevitably - partial, finite justice. Though such crises do exist, we are not always in a state of emergency, and we owe it to our constituencies, and to ourselves, to offer guidance for the mundane everyday - for ordinary time, as it were. Theology must surely escape its Babylonian captivity to an academic context whose criteria for success - preeminently difficulty, obscurity, and in-group self-awareness - are not organically rooted in values that Christians ought to promote. But it cannot escape that to find itself nothing more than a tool of whatever moral crusade some group of people find idolatrously exclusively interesting. It must be both relevant and reflective, committed and contemplative, aware of the world we inhabit but also with a foot in another world, another time - now and not yet, as it were. Amidst these ruins, perhaps there remains a place for a form of theology that makes the most of the leisure afforded those of us given the time for extended reflection, without succumbing to the tempting idea that our theological sophistication is measured by its ultimate in-utility to everyday life. …


Transmitter power is an important resource in cellular mobile radio systems. Effective power control can increase system capacity and quality of service. A commonly used measure of the quality of service is the Carrier to Interference Ratio (CIR) at the receiver. The main idea on power control schemes is to maximize the minimum CIR in each channel of system. In this paper a new adaptive neuro fuzzy distributed power control algorithm which can be used to maximize the minimum CIR among all of co-channel users, has been introduced. Simulations and results have been compared with classical method and show that intelligent control system has better performance than other existing methods.


We analyzed the courses of experience of 10 runners who volunteered to describe their experiences of withdrawal during an ultra-trail race. Data collected contained traces of past activities elicited in self-confrontation interviews. Data were coded and compared with identify structures in common sequences. Seven representative sequences were identified: feeling pain; putting meaning to those feelings; adjusting one's running style; attempting to overcome the problem; other runners' influences; assessing the situation; and deciding to withdraw. Results showed that disruptive events could cause progressive, cumulative, and varied transformations in runners' courses of experience that led inevitably to withdrawal. Practical implications for mental preparation and race management are proposed.


The scope of the research presented in this thesis is fairly broad, touching upon areas like social network analysis, information and behavioral contagion models, and social data science. As the world becomes increasingly digitalized, it becomes crucial to better understand interactions in the digital sphere. The proliferation of online communication allows interaction between people with more diverse backgrounds more varied areas of knowledge than before. However while increased digitalization carries the potential for an explosion of diversity in communication, that is far from the only conceivable consequence. The same diversity offers anyone online a multitude of different communities and sources of information. This carries the risk of individuals choosing disproportionately often to connect to individuals that are similar to themselves, and to consume exclusively information which supports their preexisting convictions. Fortunately fields such as network science, computational social science, and machine learning are developing rapidly, and an increasing amount of interest is being taking in understanding online interactions. The common theme for the research on which this thesis builds, is a preoccupancy with the aforementioned aspects of online behavior. The reseach includes work on quantitative modeling of information flows in social systems, attention dynamics/economics models, techniques for analysis of polarized discourse/echo chambers, and the influence of language on collective behavior.


Here, I review facts that are most probably known, namely that the information gain criterion used to drive experimental design in a linear-Gaussian model is submodular, so that a well-known approximation guarantee holds for the sequential greedy algorithm. The criterion is equal to a certain mutual information, which is not submodular in general. I point out the high potential relevance of obtaining approximation guarantees for nonlinear experimental design as well.


This article develops an analytic approach to comedic performance by examining the performance of the Chapayeka ritual clowns as a series of semiotic shifts and reversals: the Chapayekas play with images and contexts, introducing unpredictable figures to effectively shift the grounding conditions of their own performance. The Chapayeka performance combines both conventional and set forms as well as improvised and newly invented ones. As they shift from convention to invention (in the sense of Roy Wagner), the Chapayekas emerge as "symbols that stand for themselves." This capacity allows the Chapayekas to function as both symbolic figures in the ritual and self-contained contextual grounds, which enables them to produce further signs and manipulate figure-ground relations within and beyond the ritual. The analytic view developed here is informed by the complex and multilayered semiotics of comedic performance; this exploration offers a novel perspective on how comedic performances create and wield semiotic force through establishing grounds and evoking figure-ground relations.


In imperfectly competitive credit markets, banks can face a tradeoff between exploiting their market power and enforcing hard budget constraints. As market power rises, banks eventually find it too costly to discipline underperforming borrowers by stopping their projects. Lending relationships become "too cozy", interest rates rise, and loan performance deteriorates.


The production yield of Z bosons is measured in the electron and muon decay channels in Pb+Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Data from the 2015 LHC run corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.49 nb−1 are used for the analysis. The Z boson yield, normalised by the total number of minimum-bias events and the mean nuclear thickness function, is measured as a function of dilepton rapidity and event centrality. The measurements in Pb+Pb collisions are compared with similar measurements made in proton–proton collisions at the same centre-of-mass energy. The nuclear modification factor is found to be consistent with unity for all centrality intervals. The results are compared with theoretical predictions obtained at next-to-leading order using nucleon and nuclear parton distribution functions. The normalised Z boson yields in Pb+Pb collisions lie 1–3σ above the predictions. The nuclear modification factor measured as a function of rapidity agrees with unity and is consistent with a next-to-leading-order QCD calculation including the isospin


Economists and policy-makers are increasingly interested in analysing living standards across countries and changes in their relative rankings over time. The different social and institutional arrangements that exist in countries around the world create difficulties for such international comparisons. Comparisons of economic data are further complicated because economic variables are expressed in different currencies. One method of converting economic data from a national currency to a common currency such as the US dollar is to use exchange rates. However, this simplistic approach is not appropriate for comparisons of standards of living and other similar comparisons and can lead to quite misleading conclusions. For comparisons of this nature a more robust and appropriate method is to use 'purchasing power parities' (PPPs), which directly reflect differences in the prices of goods and services in different countries.


Developing engineering talent in
organizations has long been an issue for industries. Notably, with rapidly
changing business models and flattened organizational structures, engineers are
required to transition into managerial and leadership roles more quickly than
ever before. Yet engineers and employers alike often characterize this as a
difficult transition. Further, there remains a lack of empirical research on
the nature of engineering managerial work practices. To address these issues,
this dissertation aims to holistically uncover the experiences of recently
transitioned engineering managers. Specifically, the study investigates the meaning-making
and experiences of the participants' transitional journeys and also addresses
related questions such as what changes and challenges they face during the
transition and how they navigate the challenges associated with the transition.
The study is examined through the lens of work-role transition frameworks and
models that emphasize the role of the individual in the transition.

In order to address the research
objectives, an interpretive qualitative study is employed. To explore and
understand the lived experiences of recently transitioned engineering managers,
I conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 newly transitioned engineering
managers at a Telecom firm in the United States. The interviews were then used
to develop narrative accounts of participants describing their journeys of
transition. The interviews were also analyzed thematically to identify: a)
specific patterns in how the participants experience and make sense of their
transition to engineering managerial roles; b) changes experienced by engineers
during the transition; c) challenges faced by engineers as they transition to
managerial roles, and d) new skills developed by participants to navigate the
transition.

The findings suggest that most
engineers struggled with the transition, especially during the early stages.
This difficulty in part stems from the various personal changes that they
experience as a result of the transition, changes related to their individual
cognitive, physiological, and social aspects. Moreover, the transition
experiences are also impacted by both the situational factors of the individual
(e.g., demographics, career progression) as well as the organizational factors,
including HR policies related to training and development, dual pathway
offerings, etc. The findings in this study, in part presented as narratives,
are expected to contribute to the field of engineering education and practice
by providing insights into the experiences of engineering professionals taking
up managerial and leadership roles. More specifically, the narratives are
expected to serve as examples and provide inspiration for engineers at a
variety of career stages. The thematic findings are also expected to help
students, engineering educators, engineering leadership faculty, and industry
affiliates understand and improve the managerial transition process and
associated role expectations, which for the most part, remain largely
unexplored.


Introduction: Rasa Sindura is a Kupipakva Rasayana which is very popular and is widely used in therapeutics till date. Therapeutic property of Rasa Sindura varies with proportion of Gandhaka added to Parada. Aims and Objective: The present study was carried out to reevaluate and compare differences in the pharmaceutical analytical study of Rasa Sindura prepared with the changing proportion of Gandhaka. To prepare Samaguna (RS), Dwiguna (2RS) and Shadguna (6RS) Balijarita Rasa Sindura and to carry out X-ray diffraction study (XRD) and Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of the samples. Material and Methods: Samaguna, Dwiguna and Shadguna Balijarita Rasa Sindura were prepared as per classical reference and the samples were subjected to XRD and FTIR. Results: The duration of trituration for the preparation of Samaguna, Dwiguna and Shadguna Kajjali was 70, 40 and 24 h respectively. The duration of heating was 16, 16 and 19 h respectively. Average percentage yield of RS, 2RS and 6RS was 54%, 34.44% and 11.35%, respectively XRD showed increased crystallinity of the samples. FTIR spectrum revealed the decrease of unsaturated carbon and exchangeable proton as the proportion of sulfur increased in the preparation. Conclusion: XRD and FTIR suggested better stability of the crystals of 6RS than 2RS and RS.


In the near future, a world of smart cities is envisioned in which many devices equipped with sensors and communication interfaces can be used to collect and share data in order to derive maps or infer information on some parameter of interest. Wireless technologies are enabling this smart city paradigms, where many items are networked for the growth of society. This scenario opens new challenges to wireless network designers, with new performance metrics, coverage and privacy needs, as well as the need for a tighter integration of different networks. This is the fundamental concept of Heterogeneous Networks. Enclosing humans in the loop, through crowdsensing techniques, will dramatically increase the amount of data available for the mapping process, with obvious benefits in terms of the resulting accuracy. On the other hand, the huge amount of data generated represents also a challenge that, along with the irregular, uncontrollable, spatial distribution of measurements represent serious challenges to be addressed. Another important aspect of smart cities scenarios is represented by vehicular networks. Several technologies have been proposed to address such application. Among the others, an interesting solution is provided by Visible
Light Communications (VLC). Based on the use of the light emission diodes (LEDs) that are already available on the majority of vehicles, VLC would enable short range communication in large, unlicensed, and uncongested bands with limited costs. In the framework of smart cities scenarios, my research activity aimed at formulating and solving some of the issues arising from the envisioned challenging services, with both analytical and simulation-based approaches.


This paper describes the development and characterization of a new set of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites filled with TiO 2 particulate/filler. The newly developed composites are characterized with respect to their mechanical and erosion wear characteristics. Experiments are carried out to study the effect of fiber content, impact velocity, impingement angle, standoff distance and erodent size on the solid particle erosion behaviour of these composites. The significant control factors and their interactions predominantly influencing the wear rate are identified by using Taguchi experimental design. The study reveals that the fiber content, impact velocity, impingement angle and erodent size have substantial influence in determining the rate of material loss from the composite surface due to erosion. Then, Arti?cial neural network (ANN) technique has been use to predict the erosion rate based on the experimentally measured database of composites. Also the morphology of eroded surfaces is examined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and possible erosion mechanisms are discussed.  2009 Trade Science Inc. INDIA Full Paper MSAIJ, 5(3), 2009 [258-266] An Indian Journal Trade Science Inc. Volume 5 Issue 3 June 2009


The part-report advantage has been used to identify short-lived forms of visual storage (Sperling, 1960). We adopt the part-report paradigm to test whether visual memory can preserve, for a brief time, successive inputs and their temporal order. In our experiments, two successive arrays, each of 4 digits, were presented on each trial. The two arrays were spatially coincident, and each was followed by a random pattern-mask. In the part-report conditions, an auditory cue indicated whether the participant should report the first array or the second array. The results consistently showed a part-report advantage, which ranged in size from 16% to 37%. Delaying the cue by 500 ms abolished most of this advantage, in that performance was then similar to that in whole-report conditions. Subsequent experiments confirmed that the part-report superiority we measure is not achieved by (a) making eye movements that spatially displace the second array relative to the first; (b) extracting information from a single snapshot containing an integrated representation of the targets and masks; or (c) transferring a subset of material to a phonological store. We propose instead that observers have access to a limited, rapidly decaying representation of successive visual inputs stored in temporal sequence.


This article is about the rules on age and crime in relation to children and young people in mainland China. It starts with an outline of the Chinese law on age and crime in relation to children and young people. This is followed by a brief analysis of the international legal framework – norms, standards, rules and guidelines – pertaining to global child protection and juvenile justice policies. It then moves on to examine juvenile justice policy and practice in China, the reality of juvenile offending in the country, and accordingly the calls for reforms on the age of criminal responsibility. Finally, it concludes that China's problem is not about a low age of criminal responsibility or resistance to the international law, but more to do with a deeper understanding of it and implementation. From a comparative perspective, it utilises China as a case study to claim that attention in juvenile justice in any given jurisdiction should be shifted away from (re)setting the minimum crime age to the development of child-centred juvenile justice that should be research-informed, under the human rights framework and that moves away from the legal institutions and the disproportionate punitive interventions.


We introduce a method for efficiently animating a wide range of deformable materials. We combine a high resolution surface mesh with a tetrahedral finite element simulator that makes use of frequent re-meshing. This combination allows for fast and detailed simulations of complex elastic and plastic behavior. We significantly expand the range of physical parameters that can be simulated with a single technique, and the results are free from common artifacts such as volume-loss, smoothing, popping, and the absence of thin features like strands and sheets. Our decision to couple a high resolution surface with low-resolution physics leads to efficient simulation and detailed surface features, and our approach to creating the tetrahedral mesh leads to an order-of-magnitude speedup over previous techniques in the time spent re-meshing. We compute masses, collisions, and surface tension forces on the scale of the fine mesh, which helps avoid visual artifacts due to the differing mesh resolutions. The result is a method that can simulate a large array of different material behaviors with high resolution features in a short amount of time.


Introduction The New York Tobacco Control Program (NY TCP) is one of the largest state tobacco control programs in the United States. Little research has been published on the effectiveness of its antismoking media campaign. The objective of this study was to examine whether exposure to NY TCP's statewide antismoking media campaign corresponded to smoking outcomes. Methods We used data from the 2003 through 2009 New York Adult Tobacco Survey to evaluate exposure to NY TCP advertising, cessation intentions, quit attempts, and cigarette consumption among New York adult smokers. We also used data from the 2003 through 2009 New York Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the 2003 through 2009 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to examine smoking prevalence among New York adults compared with US adults. Results From 2003 through 2009, smokers' exposure to NY TCP advertising increased from 6% to 45%, the prevalence of 30-day intentions to quit increased from 26% to 35%, and the prevalence of quit attempts increased from 46% to 62%. Average cigarettes smoked per day decreased from 15 in 2003 to 11 in 2009. The New York BRFSS and NHIS both showed significant downward trends in adult smoking prevalence. The decline during this period was greater in New York (18%) than in the United States as a whole (5%). Conclusion NY TCP's campaign generated significant increases in exposure to advertising over time that corresponded with changes in key cessation- and smoking-related outcomes. Findings suggest that NY TCP's sustained implementation of evidence-based cessation advertisements contributed to these changes.


The dominant view in academic and policy arenas is increasingly one in which the major contribution of capture fisheries to development should be derived from the capacity of society to maximise the economic rent of fishery resources. Drawing upon empirical experience from the South, this article highlights the potentially disastrous consequences that a universal implementation of the rent-maximisation model would have in developing countries, and argues that a more gradual approach would be preferable. The welfare function of small-scale fisheries, namely, their capacities to provide labour and cash income to resource-poor households, should be preserved until the appropriate macroeconomic conditions for rent-maximisation and redistribution are fulfilled.


The modelling of dependence relationships is one of the most difficult processes in simulation models, Dependence relationships are especially important in financial problems under uncertainty conditions. Unfortunately, in complex situations we cannot easily assume mathematical functions –technical relationships- for relating cash flow components, like revenues or costs, In an attempt to approach this probleq fuzzy logic is used for designing and modelling "fuzzy" relationships between selected financial parameters. A fiwzy inference engine has now been included in the PRAPPIS V2.0 software for project appraisal under risky and uncertainty conditions. This engine can assess relationships using a set of basic fuzzy rules that control their behaviour in a given context, Fuzzy relationships are easily defined by the user or decision maker guided by a natural language system. Mizumoto's approach is used to obtain fmzy relationship results and standard Monte Carlo simulation is applied to assess the financial project. Statistical distributions of many financial parameters are available in PRAPPIS with or without dependence relationships. In this paper, different results are shown corresponding to different statistical distributions of financial parameters using a first set of fuzzy inference rules called here "neutral" in comparison to standard Monte Carlo simulation assuming independent statistical distributions. In an agricultural environment, which is uncertain, we have chosen some controlled relations between two selected parameters such as, for example, part-time hand labour in harvesting and production, Results show that the variance of the statistical distributions in the project results is reduced if fhzzy relationships are used.


Initiating the strategy process is a complex undertaking. In this paper we introduce the concept of "strategy view", based on combining the lightweight business model framework with design thinking, defining a foundation or an anchor point from which the strategy process can be initiated. There exist four possible strategy views a firm can chose from, that is, i) being customer centric, ii) focusing on product and service innovation, iii) leveraging existing capabilities, and iv) differentiating on financials. The lightweight business model framework of a firm, competition, and industry allows identifying the key characteristics on which a firm should lay the foundation of its strategy, called the strategy view. Through applying design thinking, the strategy view can be defined with minimal effort and avoids unnecessary preliminary analysis. The proposed approach is easy to understand and apply by board members, executives, and managers not formally trained in strategy development. It focuses on those aspects that matter most and avoids non-value adding analysis.


Scour can have the effect of subsidence of the piers in bridges, which can ultimately lead to the total collapse of these systems. Effective bridge design needs appropriate information on the equilibrium depth of local scour. The flow field around bridge piers is complex so that deriving a theoretical model for predicting the exact equilibrium depth of local scour seems to be near impossible. On the other hand, the assessment of empirical models highly depends on local conditions, which is usually too conservative. In the present study, artificial neural networks are used to estimate the equilibrium depth of the local scour around bridge piers. Assuming such equilibrium depth is a function of five vari- ables, and using experimental data, a neural network model is trained to predict this equilibrium depth. Multilayer neural net- works with backpropagation algorithm with different learning rules are investigated and implemented. Different methods of data normalization besides the effect of initial weightings and overtraining phenomenon are addressed. The results show well adoption of the neural network predictions against experimental data in comparison with the estimation of empirical models.


The interocean conduit for warm Indian Ocean water into the Atlantic Ocean is the Agulhas system which plays an important role in maintaining the global thermohaline circulation. The frontal system formed by the Agulhas Return Current (ARC) and the Subtropical Convergence (STC) is also a region of intense mesoscale activity presenting enhanced levels of biological production and chlorophyll a. We jointly analyzed three different satellite data sets to relate the remotely sensed distribution of phytoplankton (SeaWiFS ocean color data) to the dynamical environment (Topex/Poseidon-ERS sea level anomalies -SLA- and sea-surface temperature -SST-) to gain insight into the seasonal behavior of the Agulhas Current system. We used a wavelet analysis to retrieve the characteristic wavelengths of the ARC and STC associated to their meandering. By meridionally averaging (between 15-45E) the two-dimensional power Hovmoller of each signal (Chl a, SLA, and SST), we obtained a seasonal average variance for Chl a, SLA and SST as a function of latitude. Within the double frontal Agulhas and Subtropical frontal system, an extended temporal maximum in chlorophyll a concentration is observed in spring-summer-fall and a well-marked minimum occurs in winter, in phase opposition with the southwest Indian Ocean subtropical gyre north of the frontal system. Seasonal changes in strength of cross-frontal mixing with the subtropical gyre, in density strength of the juxtaposed fronts, and in mixed-layer depth and light availability seem the most likely explanations for the observed spatial and seasonal variability of the chlorophyll a distribution.


Phishing is a form of cyber attack that leverages social engineering approaches and other sophisticated techniques to harvest personal information from users of websites. The average annual growth rate of the number of unique phishing websites detected by the Anti Phishing Working Group is 36.29% for the past six years and 97.36% for the past two years. In the wake of this rise, alleviating phishing attacks has received a growing interest from the cyber security community. Extensive research and development have been conducted to detect phishing attempts based on their unique content, network, and URL characteristics. Existing approaches differ significantly in terms of intuitions, data analysis methods, as well as evaluation methodologies. This warrants a careful systematization so that the advantages and limitations of each approach, as well as the applicability in different contexts, could be analyzed and contrasted in a rigorous and principled way. This paper presents a systematic study of phishing detection schemes, especially software based ones. Starting from the phishing detection taxonomy, we study evaluation datasets, detection features, detection techniques, and evaluation metrics. Finally, we provide insights that we believe will help guide the development of more effective and efficient phishing detection schemes.


The failure of top-down imposed institutional reform for metropolitan areas in the western world has called for new conceptions of institution-building. A bottom up, governance type approach is now considered in various countries which focuses on flexible, voluntary and partnership elements of collective action through which institution is no longer considered as a ready-made object but as a process. A large part of the literature insists upon the effectiveness of this approach through the search for consensus and highlights its internal elements as conditions of success. However, this conception forgets the political and ideological dimensions of institution-building and, consequently, the likely conflicts and obstacles unresolved by governance. This article discusses the relationships between metropolitan government and governance taking a few western urban areas as examples and questions the apparent success of the ongoing metropolitan experiences. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1998.


The Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) is used to mitigate traffic congestion along urban arterial corridors. Although there has been research on SCATS' performance, this report combines three different areas of research about SCATS that are not known to be represented in any research literature. These include: (a) the relationship between SCATS, traffic volumes, and Transit Signal Priority (TSP); (b) between TSP and traffic conditions; and (c) the correlation between signal timing and air quality; in particular, human exposure to the air pollutant PM2.5 at intersections. In addition, this research looked at the key factors affecting transit user exposure to traffic-related pollutants at bus shelters. All areas of study present the results of statistical tests and regressions to determine SCATS or traffic variables impacts. SCATS did show statistically significant improvements regarding traffic speeds at one minor intersection, even when traffic volumes showed a statistically significant improvement. At a major intersection, results were mixed and not conclusive. Overall, it was determined that the improvements available through SCATS vary depending on the time of day and the direction of travel. TSP was not negatively affected by SCATS. In controlling for both priority and traffic conditions, each were shown to have a distinguished and significant impact on bus travel time. Non-priority signals had a much greater impact on travel time than priority signals (11.0 and 0.6 seconds for the corridor model, respectively). In controlling for both priority and traffic conditions, each were shown to have a distinguished and significant impact on travel time. Utilizing a regression model, results in an intuitive ranking of the intersections' delay was produced; major intersections with high traffic volumes on crossing streets are likely to not experience TSP benefits. To a high degree, this research has shown that pedestrian exposure can be considered as an outcome of traffic-signal timing decisions made by cities and counties. The statistical results have shown the high impact that signal timing and queuing have on pedestrian level exposure. Heavy vehicle volume was a significant variable as well as the presence of buses. The reduction of bus idling time through more efficient operations and transit-signal priority is likely to reduce pedestrian and transit users' pollution exposure levels. Longer green times along the main corridor are able to significantly reduce particulate matter for transit users and pedestrians waiting at the sidewalk of the intersection, whereas time allocated to cross the street increases queuing and exposure along the main corridor. The impact of heavy-duty diesel engines is also clear. The reduction of bus idling time through more efficient operations and transit-signal priority is likely to reduce pedestrian and transit users' pollution exposure levels. Transit agencies can also reduce pollution significantly by improving the efficiency and cleanliness of their engines. TriMet (the local transit agency) initiatives to improve fuel efficiency by installing EMP engine-cooling devices not only improve fuel efficiency, but also air quality. Finally, significant reductions in transit users' exposure to traffic-related pollution can be made at bus stops by properly orienting the shelter and by reducing bus idling.


This paper presents a method for learning, tracking, and recognizing human gestures using a view-based approach to model both object and behavior. Object views are represented using sets of view models, rather than single templates. Stereotypical space-time patterns, i.e. gestures, are then matched to stored gesture patterns using dynamic time warping. Real-time performance is achieved by using special-purpose correlation hardware and view prediction to prune as much of the search space as possible. Both view models and view predictions are learned from examples. We present results showing tracking and recognition of human hand gestures at over 10Hz.


Research has increasingly highlighted the importance of business leaders allowing people to bring their whole selves to work. And religion is an important part of the whole self for many. However, we lack the large-scale national data needed to explore how Americans see the connections between religion and work. Here, from "Faith at Work: An Empirical Study"—a novel, nationally representative dataset—we explore the extent to which working Americans (N = 8767) see their work as a spiritual calling and/or experience work conflict because of their religious faith. We find that one fifth of workers identify their work as a spiritual calling. Our findings also suggest that experiences of religious conflict and discrimination are shaped not only by religious beliefs, but also social location. The initial results highlight future avenues for research and demonstrate the potential of the "Faith at Work" data to shed further light on how religion enters the workplace.


One of the goals of development policies is to create an environment for rapid economic growth. The economic successes of the "Asian Tigers" during the 1960s and 1970s have led to a comprehensive way of thinking about how different sectors can work together to make this growth a reality. Referred to as the "demographic dividend" this framework helps explain the experience of certain countries in Asia and later successes in Latin America and is creating a sense of optimism for improving the economic well-being of developing countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The demographic dividend refers to the accelerated economic growth that begins with changes in the age structure of a countrys population as it transitions from high to low birth and death rates. With fewer young people relative to the population of working-age adults and with the successful implementation of key national policies over the long term countries such as Thailand and Brazil have reaped the rewards from their demographic dividend. But many policymakers mistakenly think that a demographic dividend results automatically from a large population of young people relative to the population of working-age adults without the needed population social and economic policies. This is not the case. This Population Bulletin explains the demographic dividend in terms of demographic changes investments in human capital and economic and governance policies. The experiences of Asia and Latin America in achieving their dividends are highlighted as are the prospects for African nations. The last section outlines issues that countries need to plan for as they move beyond their demographic dividend.


This thesis explores the potential of multifunctional silicon-based microsystems for advanced integrated nanospacecraft (AIN). Especially, multifunctional microsystems with the coexistant functions of communications and thermal management implemented in multilayer silicon stacks are approached with systems study. Host vehicles, composed of microsystems, including micro/nano-spacecraft and spherical rovers are contemplated with respect to future performance and implications, system level design, and breadboard realizations. A module of great importance, named the "integrated communications and thermal management system for advanced integrated spacecraft" or ICTM, symbolizes the achievements within the field of self-contained microsystems and is a prioritized entity throughout the thesis. The ICTM is natively placable onboard all types of highly miniaturized craft.The single AIN spacecraft and future clusters of these are investigated with respect to future full scale implementation of space systems designed and implemented with the distributed reconfigurable nanospacecraft cluster (DRNC) concept. Here, a true entanglement of microsystems technology (MST) and miniaturized spacecraft technology can revolutionize the applications, cost, and span of conceivable space missions.An intended communications scenario supporting a data rate of 1 Mbps, for the transmitter, is achieved during 6 minutes with a maximum continuous power dissipation of 10 W. Thermal simulations support the expectation, of a thermally biased ICTM, that the module is capable of supporting this energy burst, by using the mechanisms of heat storage and heat switches, and still fulfilling the requirements imposed by AIN type of spacecraft. In addition, multiple functional surfaces for the ICTM are evaluated with respect to equilibrium temperature and process compatibility. The tailored surfaces provide temperature control using micromachining methods.A design of a micromachined Ka-band front end with several MST enabled features is presented including e.g. vias, phase-shifters, and antennas. Similar antennas have been manufactured resulting in an evaluation of ring- and slot-antennas on silicon substrate. Based on a primitive version of the ICTM, a S-band patch antenna has been successfully implemented and characterized. Included in the thesis is a microthruster, an enabling technology for DRNC.


Airliners intending to implement mergers with economic effects in the EU aviation transport markets have to seek the previous authorization of the European Commission under the European Merger Control Regulation (EMCR). Since 1989 the Commission blocked two airliners mergers (Ryanair/Aer Lingus, Case M.4439 and Olympic/Aegean Airlines, Case M.5830) and conditionally cleared many more by agreeing with the parties on remedies to fix the expected competition problems. The commonest remedy is the divestiture of landing and taking off airport slots, although the effectiveness of these remedies was questioned because in some cases no competitors used the freed slots. The purpose of this article is to discuss the Commission policy on slot remedies. In particular, it focuses on the questions whether slot remedies are effective tools to resolve the competition problems arising out of airline mergers and which elements should be included in slot remedy packages in order to enhance their effectiveness. These are questions of practical relevance given the cautious approach of the Commission in clearing mergers on the basis of efficiency defence. Thus, offering a set of suitable remedies to restore competition may be the only way for the merging parties to obtain the go-ahead from the Commission for a problematic merger.


Plasma HIV-1 RNA levels and CD4+ T cell counts in patients are associated with their progression rates to AIDS. After initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy, these two variables display time-dependent dynamic changes with particular patterns well described by mathematical functions. In this article, we present a unifying statistical model for simultaneously characterizing specific quantitative trait loci in hosts that govern two different dynamic processes of HIV-1 loads and CD4+ T cell counts. The proposed model integrates clinically meaningful mathematical equations into a general framework for functional mapping of dynamic traits based on single nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped from candidate genes or the entire human genome. An EM-simplex hybrid algorithm was derived to estimate the frequencies of QTL alleles and marker-QTL linkage disequilibria with the EM closed form as well as dynamic genetic effects of QTL specified by curve parameters and the parameters modeling the covariance structure. The new model allows for the formulation of various hypothesis tests to explore how a QTL pleiotropically affects HIV-1 and CD4+ dynamics and what is the relative contribution of pleiotropic effects and close association to the correlations between these two processes. The usefulness of the proposed model is demonstrated by the statistical analysis of real data containing longitudinal HIV-1 and CD4+ dynamics, and its statistical properties are examined through simulation studies. Finally, the extensions of the model and their clinical implications are discussed.


Three dimensional structural MR imaging is a high-resolution imaging technique used in the detection and follow up of neurological disorders. Rigid changes in the brain are usually interpreted and reported manually by radiologists using MR images. The results of manual interpretation may vary with respect to the experts. At the same time, measurement and segmentation of the brain regions and the manual evaluation of the volume changes are a difficult process. With the increase of numerical methods, automated and semi-automated package programs have been developed for the analysis of brain measurements. These programs use electronic brain atlases or tissue probability maps. However, since the package programs have a lot of analysis time and give only certain outputs, they may be disadvantaged in the use of segmentation and measurement of brain regions. Hence, special pipelines are needed especially to obtain valuable features for artificial intelligence and classification studies. In this study, we propose pipelines to segment 3D certain brain regions, which will help to find the basic features such as volume changes, intensity variations, symmetry deteriorations, and tissue changes. With these pipelines, 3D segmentation of the brain regions defined in the atlas can be performed and normalized. It is aimed to use these studies as a preliminary study in order to quantitatively determine the basic changes in the brain by performing the volume of interest methods and to formulate a decision support system.


Foundation pile driving during offshore construction has led to increasing concerns regarding radiated noise and its effects on the marine fauna (receptors). In the case of many static offshore developments two commonly used foundation techniques are tripod-constructions involving installation of a series of smaller diameter piles surrounding a central structure and mono-piles using a single larger diameter pile. Pile installation itself may involve sequences of percussive piling at different hammer energies, vibro-piling (more rapid, lower level vibrations) and drilling. In some cases all three techniques are used on a single pile installation. The spectral characteristics, as well as duration and level of the total radiated energy from these techniques can vary significantly and may result in different Sound Exposure Levels (SEL) experienced by marine fauna. This paper theoretically explores the potential difference in total SEL for various receptor scenarios for each of these techniques using available source characteristics data. The total sound SEL's for each scenario are compared and model sensitivities identified.


Transfer of debris flow caused by floods in the river downstream of the mountains leads to several damages every year. Numerous researches have been carried out on the Mountain Rivers the results of which show the importance of performing more researches to control debris flows in the floodplain because of various effective hydraulic-geometric parameters.For this purpose, AbNik Mountain River located in Jajrood basin, northern Iran was selected to evaluate the effect of geometric and hydraulic parameters on moving and controlling the debris flows. Therefore, a length of 200 meters of the steep mountain river length was chosen for which velocity values were measured at different times and at different levels. In 28 selected sections, bed materials were sampled and mapped. Using the analytical methods for field data measurement and geometric properties of the composite trapezoidal channels and hydraulic equations such as Manning, sensitivity analysis of different geometric- hydraulic parameters was performed. In this analysis, using Manning equation in the composite trapezoidal channels, a multivariate equation was obtained by which the flow depth is obtained using trial and error analysis method (Newton-Raphson equation), i. e. variations of each parameter with respect to flow depth in the flood plain are obtained by keeping the other parameters constant at the minimum value. Changes of the geometric and hydraulic parameters were plotted versus flow depth. Results were obtained by investigating the resulted diagrams and equations. Analysis of the results showed that the longitudinal slope of the channel and width of the channel floorhad the greatest effects on the flow depth in the flood plain of the Mountain Rivers.


The young stroke population represents a significant rehabilitation challenge. When compared to older stroke patients, young patients are more often employed, caring for dependants, and rely ing on workrelated income. Although much less common than in older patients, stroke in young adults has an annual incidence rate from 6 to 20 per 100,000 individuals annually (Leys et al. 2002). For every 5 individuals who experience a stroke, 1 is under the age of 65 while 5% of all stroke patients are younger than 45 years old. This represents a significant number of patients with some unique rehabilitation needs (Dixon et al. 2007; Stone 2007). This chapter reviews current research pertaining to incidence, risk, etiology, rehabilitation, recovery and prognosis of stroke in younger patients. Additional topics relevant to the young stroke population are also featured: Return to work, family stress, institutionalization, patient perceptions of care, and future needs.


There is little doubt that recessions breed a "hunker down" mentality among employees. Layoffs, pay freezes and cuts, hour cuts and furloughs, and a dismal job market all contribute to low employee morale and engagement. Once productive environments can quickly become toxic, further deteriorating productivity. Fortunately, there are steps you can take today to forestall the exodus of your top talent as economic recovery proceeds and the job market improves. This CEO guide provides three key tips for leveraging proven talent management principles, practices, and technologies to retain your top performers.


Using consumer price indexes from cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, we estimate the "border effect" on U.S.-Mexican relative prices and find that it is nearly an order of magnitude larger than for U.S.-Canadian prices. However, during a very stable sub-period in Mexico (May 1988 to November 1994), the "width" of the U.S.-Mexican border falls dramatically and becomes approximately equal to the U.S.-Canadian border. We then show that when consideration is limited to cities lying geographically very close to the U.S.-Mexican border--San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Tijuana, Mexicali, Juarez, and Matamoros--the border width falls compared to that estimated with the full sample of U.S. and Mexican cities, but falls only very slightly. We also present evidence that the border effect in U.S.-Mexican prices is not primarily due to the border effect in U.S.-Mexican wages. Finally, using the prices of 276 highly dis-aggregated goods and services, we estimate the variability of relative prices of different items within Mexican cities. This measure of relative price variability declines during the stable peso sub-period, but by less than the decline in nominal and real (i.e., CPI-based) exchange rate variability. Our results are strong evidence of a "nominal border effect" in relative prices within NAFTA, but also indicate that real side influences are important.


Cadmium (Cd) exposure can induce acute lethal health-related threats to humans since it has an exceptional ability to accumulate in living organisms and cause toxicological effects. Curcumin (Cur) on the other hand has a wide variety of biological activities and several animal studies have suggested for a potential therapeutic or preventive effects against several ailments and infections. To study the effect of Cur on the toxicity of Cd, sixty Swiss-Webster strain male mice were divided into 6 groups of ten each at random. Group-1 served as the na?ve control and received no treatment. Group-2, 3 and 4 were the experimental controls and were administered once a day with a single oral dose of 50% dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO), Cur (300 mg/kg) or Cd (100 mg/kg) respectively, for 2 weeks. Group-5 and 6 received Cur and Cd in combination once a day orally for 2 weeks except that Cur in a dose of 150 and 300 mg/kg to group 5 and 6 respectively, was administered one hour before Cd (100 mg/kg) administration to both groups. After treatment period, the animals were subjected to behavioral tests and thereafter, the animals were sacrificed for the estimation of neurotransmitters like serotonin (5-HT), dopamine (DA) and it's metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) as well as oxidative stress enzymes like lipid peroxides in the form of thiobarbituric acid–reactive substances (TBARS) and total glutathione (GSH) in the forebrain tissue. Cd reduced significantly the body weight gain, the locomotor activity, anxiety behavior in the plus maze and the learning capability (cognitive effect) in the shuttle-box test. Biochemical analysis further revealed that Cd exposure significantly altered the brain neurotransmitters and the oxidative stress enzymes. However, administration of Cur along with Cd had an ameliorating effect on all the behavioral and biochemical parameters studied herein and reduced the toxicity of Cd significantly and dose-dependently. Thus, Cur may be beneficial for anxiety, neuromuscular, and cognitive problems and protect from Cd intoxication.


A three-dimensional finite element analysis is developed for the cold expansion process in two aluminum alloys, 2024-T351 and 7050-T7451. The entire cold working process including hole expansion, elastic recovery, and finish reaming is simulated. Both isotropic hardening and kinematic hardening models are considered in the numerical calculations. The results suggest that a three-dimensional nature exists in the residual stress fields surrounding the hole. There are significant differences in residual stresses at different sections through the thickness. However, residual stress at the surface is shown to remain the same for the different plastic hardening models after the hole has recovered and finish reaming has been performed. The reaming of the material around the hole has slight effect on the maximum value and distribution of residual stresses. A comparison has been drawn between the FEA of average through thickness strain and a previous experimental investigation of strain that utilized neutron diffraction and modified Sachs boring on a 7050 aluminum specimen containing a cold expanded hole, The different methods show very good agreement in the magnitude of strain as well as the general trend. The conclusions obtained here are beneficial to the understanding of the phenomenon of fatigue crack initiation and growth at the perimeter of cold worked holes.


The mammalian enteric nervous system (ENS) derives from migratory enteric neural crest–derived cells (ENCC) that express the transcription factor Phox2b. Studies of these enteric progenitors have typically relied on immunohistochemical (IHC) detection. To circumvent complicating factors of IHC, we have generated a mouse BAC transgenic line that drives a Histone2BCerulean (H2BCFP) reporter from Phox2b regulatory regions. This construct does not alter the endogenous Phox2b locus and enables studies of normal neural crest (NC) derivatives. The Phox2b‐H2BCFP transgene expresses the H2BCFP reporter in patterns that recapitulate expression of endogenous Phox2b. Our studies reveal Phox2b expression in mature enteric glia at levels below that of enteric neurons. Moreover, we also observe differential expression of the transgene reporter within the leading ENCC that traverse the gut. Our findings indicate that the wavefront of migrating enteric progenitors is not homogeneous, and suggest these cells may be fate‐specified before expression of mature lineage markers appears. Developmental Dynamics 237:1119–1132, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Linear-retardation spectra of single frog-rod outer segments were measured by use of a microspectrophotometer equipped with polarizing optics. The recorded transmitted-flux variation was reduced to a rhodopsin anomalous-dispersion spectrum by use of the Jones calculus. This anomalous dispersion is compared with theoretical predictions.


This study is an investigation of shift in naming practices among the Zulu speaking people at UMkhanyakude District. It seeks to illustrate the different patterns of naming that are as a result of the change in naming practices and to explore the views and perceptions of the Zulu speakers on shift in naming practices. Naming is a universal cultural practice. In every society in the world, people are given names. How the names are bestowed, the practices and rituals involved and interpretations attached to the names vary from society to society and from one culture to another and changes from time to time. In this study, the researcher employed a qualitative method to examine the shift in naming practice among the Zulu at UMkhanyakude District post2000. According to Creswell (2009:4), qualitative research is a means for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem. A little bit of quantitative research method has also been used. The interpretive paradigm was used in this particular study. This is important because research undertaken with an interpretive paradigm in mind focuses on social relationships, as well as the mechanisms and processes through which members in a setting navigate and create their social worlds. Unstructured interviews were conducted by the researcher at UMkhanyakude District. At least twenty informants between the ages of 18 to 50 were interviewed in this particular study.