Type II InSb/InAs quantum dots (QDs) emitting in the 3-4 µm range are promising candidate as the gain medium for semiconductor laser diodes. The molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of the QDs on GaAs and InP substrates can largely cut down the costs for future devices and massively broaden its application possibilities using the more mature material platforms. Different metamorphic growth techniques including inter-facial misfit (IMF) arrays were experimented for the integration of the InSb QDs on GaAs substrates. The density of threading dislocations and the quality of the QDs were investigated using cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images, high resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD) and photo-luminescence (PL). The 4 K PL intensity and linewidth of InSb QDs grown onto a 3 μm thick InAs buffer layer directly deposited onto GaAs proved to be superior to that from QDs grown on 0.5 μm thick InAs buffer layers using either AlSb or GaSb interlayers with IMF technique. Even though the dislocation densities are still high in all the 3 samples (~109 cm-2), they all achieved comparable PL intensity as the QDs grown on InAs substrates. Electro-luminescence (EL) from the QDs on GaAs substrates were obtained up to 180 K, which was the first step towards making mid-infrared InSb QD light sources on GaAs. From the study of PL temperature quenching, thermal excitation of holes out of the QDs was identified as one of the major reasons for weaker PL/EL signals at higher temperature range. To compensate the thermal leakage problem, the QDs integrated on InP substrates were grown between InGaAs barriers, which can provide a larger valence band offset compared with InAs. The QD PL peak moved to shorter wavelength (~2.7 μm) partly due to the stronger confinement, and the PL quenching was significantly slower for T > 100 K. From microscopy images, PL characteristics and calculations, the size and composition of the QDs were estimated.The InSb QD laser structures on InAs substrates emitting at around 3.1 µm were improved by using liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) grown InAsSbP p-cladding layers and two step InAs n-cladding layers. The maximum working temperature was increased from 60 K to 120 K. The gain was determined to be 2.9 cm-1 per QD layer and the waveguide loss was around 15 cm-1 at 4 K. The emission wavelength of these lasers showed first a blue shift followed by a red shift with increasing temperature, identical with the PL characteristics. Multimodal spectra were measured using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Spontaneous emission measurements below threshold revealed a blue shift of the peak wavelength with increasing current, which was caused by the charging effect in the QDs. The characteristic temperature, T0 = 101K below 50 K, but decreased to 48K at higher temperatures. Current leakage from the active region into the cladding layers was possibly the main reason for the increase of threshold current and decay of T0 with rising temperature.


Mitochondria are dynamic organelles which constantly change their shape, size, and location within the cells. Mitochondrial dynamics is associated with mesenchymal metabolism or epithelial-mesenchymal transition to regulate the stem cell differentiation, proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. The transfer of mitochondria from one cell to another is necessary to improve and maintain homeostasis in an organism. Mitochondrial transplantation is a therapeutic approach that involves an introduction of healthy mitochondria into damaged organs. Recent evidence data have shown that the physiological properties of healthy mitochondria provide their ability to replace damaged mitochondria, with suggesting that replacing damaged mitochondria with healthy mitochondria may protect cells from further damage. Moreover, mitochondria can also be actively released into the extracellular space and potentially be transferred between the cells in the central nervous system. This increased interest in mitochondrial therapy calls for a deeper understanding of the mechanisms, which build the basis for mitochondrial transfer, uptake, and cellular defense. In this review, questions related to the involvement of mitochondria in the pathogenesis of cancer will be discussed. Particular attention will be paid to mitochondrial transplantation as a therapeutic approach to treat the mitochondrial dysfunction under some pathological conditions.


This paper describes new and emerging technologies in education, learning environments and methods that have to satisfy life-long learning of person, from school age to retirement, on the basis of the psycho-physiological model of the cognitive abilities formation. It covers such topics as: evaluation of a human (accounting schoolchildren, youth and adults features) abilities and individual propensities, individual trajectory of learning, adaptive learning strategy and design, recommendation on curriculum design, day-to-day support for individual's learning, assessment of a human learning environment and per-formance, recommendation regards vocational retraining and/or further carrier etc.). The specific goal is to facilitate a broader understanding of the promise and pitfalls of these technologies and working (learning/teaching) environments in global education/development settings, with special regard to the human as subject in the system and to the collaboration of humans and technical, didactic and organizational subsystems.


The electrical characteristics of Au/3C-SiC Schottky diodes were studied as a function of contact area. While the larger diodes were characterized by conventional current-voltage measurements, conductive atomic force microscopy was used to perform current-voltage measurements on diodes of contact radius down to 5 μm. The results show that the Schottky barrier height increases upon reducing the contact area, and for the smallest diodes the value approaches the ideal barrier height of the system. The results were correlated with defects in the 3C-SiC and an analytical expression was derived to describe the dependence of the barrier height on the defect density.The electrical characteristics of Au/3C-SiC Schottky diodes were studied as a function of contact area. While the larger diodes were characterized by conventional current-voltage measurements, conductive atomic force microscopy was used to perform current-voltage measurements on diodes of contact radius down to 5 μm. The results show that the Schottky barrier height increases upon reducing the contact area, and for the smallest diodes the value approaches the ideal barrier height of the system. The results were correlated with defects in the 3C-SiC and an analytical expression was derived to describe the dependence of the barrier height on the defect density.


Life insurance policies are no longer seen solely as a means of insuring life. Due to many new features introduced by life insurers, they are seen in the new light of serving savings and even investment purposes besides the basic purpose of insuring life. The present study discusses the rates of return given by different types of policies, and the effect of mortality on these rates of return across age, sum assured, and maturity period in each type of policy studied. The findings indicate that different types of policies give different rates of return and that mortality does have an effect on the rates of return. Endowment plans have higher rate of return with mortality incorporated, while for unit-linked investment plans, the rate of return is higher when it is treated purely as an investment instrument. The study also revealed that the unadjusted and mortality-adjusted rates of return follow a linear relationship that is very similar to the capital asset pricing model. The study opens a further scope of research by extending the methodology to include other relevant risk factors besides mortality, and for different types of policies across companies.


The Plankton, Aerosol, Clouds, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission presents new opportunities and new challenges in applying observations of two complementary multi-angle polarimeters for the space-based retrieval of global aerosol properties. Aerosol remote sensing from multi-angle radiometric-only observations enables aerosol characterization to a greater degree than single-view radiometers, as demonstrated by nearly two decades of heritage instruments. Adding polarimetry to the multi-angle observations allows for the retrieval of aerosol optical depth, Angstrom exponent, parameters of size distribution, measures of aerosol absorption, complex refractive index and degree of nonsphericity of the particles, as demonstrated by two independent retrieval algorithms applied to the heritage POLarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectance (POLDER) instrument. The reason this detailed particle characterization is possible is because a multi-angle polarimeter measurement contains twice the number of Degrees of Freedom of Signal (DFS) than does an observation from a single-view radiometer. The challenges of making use of this information content involve separating surface signal from atmospheric signal, especially when the surface is optically complex and especially in the ultraviolet portion of the spectrum where we show the necessity of polarization in making that separation. The path forward is likely to involve joint retrievals that will simultaneously retrieve aerosol and surface properties, although advances will be required in radiative transfer modeling and in representing optically complex constituents in those models. Another challenge is in having the processing capability that can keep pace with the output of these instruments in an operational environment. Yet, preliminary algorithms applied to airborne multi-angle polarimeter observations offer encouraging results that demonstrate the advantages of these instruments to retrieve aerosol layer height, particle single scattering albedo, size distribution and spectral optical depth, and also show the necessity of polarization measurements, not just multi-angle radiometric measurements, to achieve these results.


The ruling in Akrich, delivered by the full Court, concerns fundamental issues
of policy in relation to the impact of Community law upon Member
States immigration rules: how far can the Union citizens' right to gain entry
and residence permits for their spouses in situations regulated by Community
law be used to circumvent the national provisions controlling migration
fluxes from outside the Union? Can a Union citizen's spouse who is unlawfully
present in the Union territory rely on Community law to rectify his legal
situation? The issue is one of great importance for migration policies:
first of all, there is a significant danger of marriages of convenience; secondly,
there is a widespread tendency to penalise abuses of immigration
rules with deportation. Thus, many Member States provide that marriage can
never be used to rectify the illegal status of a third country national, and that
therefore a person who is unlawfully present within the State's territory has
in any case to leave and apply for entrance clearance from her own State of
origin. However, if the situation were to fall within the scope of Article 10
Regulation 1612/68, deportation would not be possible unless justified by
the public policy derogation.
It is clear that the right to family reunification provided by secondary legislation
was drafted with a very simple situation in mind – that of a Union
citizen, already married to a third country national,4 who wished to move to
another Member State to there exercise an economic activity. Since the
Union citizen was assumed to have a right to live with her spouse in the
country of origin, deprivation of that right would result in a significant hindrance
to movement. However, in such a simple scenario, the Member State
of origin would have already cleared the immigration status of the third
country national spouse; in this sense Article 10 Regulation 1612/68 might
be seen as requiring a sort of mechanism of mutual recognition, intended to
make the enjoyment of the free movement rights fully effective. However,
matters become more complicated when the immigration status of the third
country national has not been previously cleared, either because she was unlawfully
present in the Union territory at the time of marriage, or because
marriage post-dates movement. In those cases, Community law might well
impinge upon migration policies, an area which is tainted by complex political
choices, as well as much populist rhetoric.


To evaluate how the inclusion of Bos indicus genotype influences early fetal development in cattle, a reciprocal embryo transfer approach was used in a completely randomized design with a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments to generate 55 pregnancies over 2 consecutive years (n = 55). Recipient cows were randomly assigned to (i) a diet that met daily energy maintenance requirements (MAINT) or (ii) a diet that restricted intake to 70% of the energy maintenance requirements (RESTR). Angus (AN) and Brangus (BN) embryo donors were superovulated and artificially inseminated with female sexed-sorted semen from the same breed. Embryos were then randomly transferred to either AN or BN recipients fed their respective diets for 28 d. Recipients remained on the dietary scheme until day 91 of gestation and were then comingled and fed a common diet that met their energy requirements until calving. Measurements included pregnancy establishment at day 28 of gestation, interferon-stimulated genes (ISG) expression in peripheral blood leukocytes, pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAG; using two commercial [A1 and A2] and one in-house assay), and fetal crown-to-rump length (CRL). Recipients in the RESTR diet had lower BWs and BCS (diet × day; P < 0.01) than MAINT recipients. Energy-restricted AN recipients experienced greater (recipient breed × diet, P < 0.01) pregnancy failure by day 28 than the other recipient breed × diet combinations. Restricted recipients that received AN embryos experienced greater pregnancy failure than RESTR recipients receiving BN embryos (embryo breed × diet; P = 0.03). No relevant differences were observed in ISG expression (P > 0.10). Recipients that received BN embryos had greater plasma concentrations of PAG in both A1 (embryo breed × day, P < 0.01) and A2 (embryo breed; P < 0.01). Alternatively, recipients that received AN embryos had greater plasma concentrations of PAG for the in-house assay (embryo breed × day; P < 0.01). In addition, fetuses from AN recipients had greater CRL on day 91 (breed × day, P < 0.01). In summary, Bos taurus cows experienced greater pregnancy failure when nutrient restricted. Furthermore, fetal size and the profile of PAG production during early gestation differed between B. indicus-influenced and B. taurus cattle.


IN THE 1990S, EXCESSIVE FAT CONSUMPTION WAS COMmonly believed to be the main cause of obesity. High sugar consumption was often considered to be innocuous and possibly protective against obesity by displacing dietary fat. A decade later, the American Heart Association linked intake of added sugars to weight gain and recommended substantial decreases in consumption to a daily maximum of 100 kcal for women and 150 kcal for men. Some experts now argue that sugar comprises the single most important cause of the worldwide epidemics of obesity and diabetes, primarily through the effects of fructose at prevailing levels of consumption. This Viewpoint examines the physiological effects of common sugars and argues against a narrow public health focus on fructose.


Worldwide immigration and quests for rights by minority groups have caused social scientists and educators to raise serious questions about liberal assimilationist conceptions of citizenship that historically have dominated citizenship education in nation-states. The author of this article challenges liberal assimilationist conceptions of citizenship and citizenship education. He argues that citizenship education should be reformed so that it reflects the home cultures and languages of students from diverse groups, and he contends that group rights can help individuals to attain structural equality. In the final part of the article, he discusses the implications of his analysis for transforming citizenship education.


This paper takes the position that identity is not located in the individual but in the community in which each individual is recognised as a legitimate participant. Markers of identity such as gender, race, and socio-economic class are not visible in written interaction, but socialisation produces expectations regarding the positions, status and behaviour of dual gender roles, and such expectations can colour the ways in which participants in a mailing list respond to each other. Despite the fact that technological mediation appears to render social markers invisible, social categories such as gender can become even more relevant for interactants in these contexts. The study of interactional patterns on the mailing list Cybermind uses a scheme to classify posts in order to highlight participants' responses to their projected addressees according to perceived gender. The findings indicate that style of response both to and by each 'identified' gender can be differentiated, and suggests that interactive behaviour contributes to the legitimation of local status of participants, but that this is not just a function of gender alone.


The Cae Coch massive pyrite deposit is described and re-interpreted as a sedimentary volcanogenic orebody of about 200 000 tons. It is located at the contact between the Ordovician Dolgarrog Volcanic Formation (basic tuffs and lavas) and the overlying Llanrychwyn Slates (pyritic black mudstone) and close to a major intrusive rhyolite. The minerals are dominantly pyrite and quartz with minor molybdenite and the deposit shows zonal variation in trace Ba, Cu, Zn, Ni, and Co and detectable concentrations of Sn, TI, Hg and Ag. The footwall rocks have been highly altered and the basic rocks show increases in K, Ba, S and carbonate and losses of Cu, V and Co and probably light rare earth elements (LREE). A progressive gain in K, Ba and Pb and a depletion of Ga, Sr, Sn, Zn and REE is observed with increasing alteration of the rhyolite. The deposit is concluded to be the result of accumulation in a brine pool but with a component of debris flow of uncertain provenance. The deposit resembles Kuroko style mineralization and seems to be unique in the immediate district.


Medical rehabilitation is a lengthy process which implies the intervention of a multidisciplinary team and which challenges the patients' and their families' physical, psychological and financial resources. The family can be partner in providing medical care, a source of information or even a beneficiary of care in the situations in which caring for the patient leads to burnout. The patients surveyed within the research conducted at the Clinic for Medical Recovery, Physical Medicine and Balneoclimatology from Iasi, between October 2012 and December 2015, generally reported that, although the family, friends and neighbours play an important role in maintaining the quality of life for the medically rehabilitated patients, the physical and emotional support provided by them is insufficient. The results of the study recommend the family-centred care, as opposed to the approach centred only on the patient. By maintaining a close relation to the patient's next of kin, through programs for educating family members and by acquiring patients' individual needs from family sources the medical personnel can help the patients benefit from more help from their families.


Examining core executive organization for EU affairs in Finland and Sweden, this article uncovers how change agents used European integration deliberately to strengthen their role in the domestic settings through taking control of EU policy co-ordination. In both countries, EU membership was an exogenous factor that enabled the offices of the PM to secure a more powerful position and advance their own institutional agendas. This strengthened their leadership role and weakened the respective foreign ministries, whose legitimacy in EU co-ordination was undermined by the discourse that matters pertaining to this co-ordination should be treated as domestic policy instead of foreign policy. This discourse proved instrumental in the organizational reforms and core executive restructuring. Both countries also provide evidence of intra-Nordic organizational learning since the Finnish co-ordination system was based on lessons drawn from Denmark whereas the subsequent Swedish reform was inspired and legitimized by changes in Finland.


Historical evidence shows that the Albemarle Sound region has a long history of maritime trade. As technologies improved early settlers moved beyond simple subsistence farming to expand extensive maritime trade networks along the coast as well as to Europe and the West Indies. Ports along the sound and the rivers flowing in to it acted as economic distribution centers for surrounding agrarian communities. Through the centuries this region's economic systems evolved undergoing transitions in transportation and trade practices. This thesis analyzes over two hundred vessels lost in the Albemarle Sound region to emphasize signatures of the economic transitions found in the archaeological record. Trends highlighted in the database are also compared to the historical record in an effort to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the maritime economic history of the Albemarle Sound region.


Retrofitting of existing buildings offers significant opportunities to reduce global energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is considered as one of the main approaches to achieve sustainability in the built environment at a relatively low cost. Although there is a wide range of retrofitting technologies available, methods to identify the most cost-effective measures for each project remain a major technical challenge. Numerous projects have been developed worldwide to face this challenge with different approaches; however, many of the tools meet only local objectives, which is why they are unknown in the international arena, showing a limited transfer of knowledge. This review organizes the results under three categories: renovation assessment, financial assessment, and transfer of knowledge. The tools focusing on promoting the renovation of buildings differ in the type of user, for example, the owners, politicians, or investors. The tools dealing with financial assessment suggest different methods to evaluate and calculate the cost savings, construction costs, and return forecasts through retrofit interventions. Other tools comply with the policies that seek to register, evaluate, and characterize the existing buildings. This review provides researchers, construction professionals, and politicians with a better understanding of the advances made to effectively design building retrofitting measures and promote energy conservation as well as the assessment of the building stock for the development of policies. The review shows that many tools have the potential of joining their capabilities, which can create many opportunities for innovation in the retrofitting area.


Purpose: To determine the prevalence of amblyopia and strabismus in the schoolchildren of the city of Bojnourd, Iran Methods: In 2010, randomized stratified cluster sampling was employed in a cross-sectional study on primary and junior high schoolchildren. All the examinations were performed in schools. All students received refraction, vision and subjective refraction tests. The cover test was used to determine tropia. Amblyopia was defined as best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) 20 /30 or less or a 2-line interocular optotype acuity difference with no pathology. Results: Of 2,020 selected students, 1,551 participated in the study (response rate: 76.7%). The prevalence of amblyopia was 2.3% (95% CI: 1.6-3.1); 2% of the male students and 2.5% of the female students had amblyopia (P=0.508). Amblyopia decreased significantly with age (P=0.032). The most common type of amblyopia was anisometropic followed by isometropic amblyopia. Hyperopia and astigmatism were the most common refractive errors in individuals with amblyopia. The prevalence of strabismus in the students was 2% (95% CI: 1.3-2.7). Of female and male students, 2.4% and 1.4% had strabismus, respectively (P=0.160). Of the students with strabismus, 67.7%, 25.8% and 6% had exotropia, esotropia and vertical deviations, respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of amblyopia and strabismus in the current study was intermediate. However, correction of refractive errors at young ages can largely prevent amblyopia and strabismus in children.


Background: The self-management of chronic back pain may be a lifetime task for many patients. Whereas health professionals are experts in providing health services to support patients, the pain itself and its impact can only be experienced by the patients living with it. It is likely that optimum self-management of chronic back pain may only be achieved when patients and professionals develop a good partnership that integrates their complementary knowledge and skills.
Aim: To explore patients' perceptions of the nature and influence of partnerships with health professionals, on their ability to self-manage chronic back pain. There were two objectives: the first was to assess the influence of patient-professional partnerships on patients' ability to self-manage chronic back pain and to identify any associations between them. The second was to explore patients' perceptions and experiences of the influence of these partnerships on their self-management ability.
Methods: First, a systematic review was conducted to identify research undertaken in this area and to identify key factors within patient-professional partnerships that may influence self-management. Second, an explanatory sequential mixed methods study was undertaken in three pain management clinics in Northern England, UK. Patients were recruited following an initial clinic consultation (baseline) and followed up after three months. The aim of the quantitative phase was to detect changes in outcomes (i.e. PIH, PPiC, BPI, HADS, PSEQ and DoloTest) between the baseline and follow-up data collection. Hierarchical linear regression was used to investigate the association between patient-professional partnerships and the self-management of chronic back pain. A complementary qualitative phase using grounded theory was then conducted through in-depth interviews with a purposive subsample of 26 of the patients from phase one. The aim was to explore patients' perceptions and experiences of the influence of patient-professional partnerships on their self-management ability. Each interview was transcribed and analysed using constant comparative analysis.
Results: Seven themes were identified in the systematic review: communication, mutual understanding, roles of health professionals, information delivery, patients' involvement, individualised care and health care service. These were developed into a model suggesting how factors within patient–professional partnerships may influence the self-management of chronic back pain. One hundred and three (70.1%) patients completed both baseline and follow-up data collection. Patients' self-management ability, partnerships with health professionals, pain interference, self-efficacy, general health, and anxiety disorder all showed statistically significant improvement at follow-up. Regression analysis showed that improvements in patient-professional partnerships were positively associated with improvements in pain self-management. In-depth interviews identified a range of facilitators of and barriers to a good patient-professional partnership. Five supportive approaches were provided by health professionals in the pain clinics. Patients' experiences suggested that a good partnership supported the development of their self-management ability.
Conclusion: A good patient-professional partnership appears to have a positive impact on patients' ability to self-manage their chronic back pain through five supportive approaches. The long term impact of the pain clinic could not be fully evaluated, and further research is needed to assess the effectiveness of pain management services of this kind.


The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) estimates the return on investments of foreign subsidiaries of U.S. multinational companies over the period 1982--2006 averaged 9.4 percent annually after taxes; U.S. subsidiaries of foreign multinationals averaged only 3.2 percent. Two factors distort BEA returns: technology capital and plant-specific intangible capital. Technology capital is accumulated know-how from intangible investments in R&D, brands, and organizations that can be used in foreign and domestic locations. Used abroad, it generates profits for foreign subsidiaries with no foreign direct investment (FDI). Plant-specific intangible capital in foreign subsidiaries is expensed abroad, lowering current profits on FDI and increasing future profits. We develop a multicountry general equilibrium model with an essential role for FDI and apply the BEA's methodology to construct economic statistics for the model economy. We estimate that mismeasurement of intangible investments accounts for over 60 percent of the difference in BEA returns.


Computational modeling is increasingly used to understand the function of neural circuits in systems neuroscience. These studies require models of individual neurons with realistic input–output properties. Recently, it was found that spiking models can accurately predict the precisely timed spike trains produced by cortical neurons in response to somatically injected currents, if properly fitted. This requires fitting techniques that are efficient and flexible enough to easily test different candidate models. We present a generic solution, based on the Brian simulator (a neural network simulator in Python), which allows the user to define and fit arbitrary neuron models to electrophysiological recordings. It relies on vectorization and parallel computing techniques to achieve efficiency. We demonstrate its use on neural recordings in the barrel cortex and in the auditory brainstem, and confirm that simple adaptive spiking models can accurately predict the response of cortical neurons. Finally, we show how a complex multicompartmental model can be reduced to a simple effective spiking model.


In 2006, the world population reached 6.5 billion and the global economy is rapidly expanding. Consequently, global use of mineral resources have become huge. Rapidly growing China's appetite has a great impact. Therefore, it is the author's big concern over the following issues for sustainability of the world.Depletion of resources, progress of the domination by international resources majors, increasing dependence on resource-rich but politically unstable developing countries, resurgence of "resource nationalism", beginning of world wide struggle for securing resources against possible shortage, serious environmental problems caused by massive mine development, frequent conflict between mining companies and local people, and escalating market prices.Just now, it can be said an era of "Resources Crisis". However, in today's global economy, nation's economic security depends on access to adequate mineral resource supplies from a variety of international sources.Under these circumstances, it is strongly expected that (1): Japan should immediately act for resources security with firm diplomatic strategies (2): Japan should make its best efforts to achieve the world highest resource productivity (Material Intensity per Service unit = min.) for environmentally sustainable development of the world.Several suggestions to cope with resource crisis are made.


The Collected Works on Religious Liberty comprehensively collects the scholarship, advocacy, and explanatory writings of leading scholar and lawyer Douglas Laycock, illuminating every major religious liberty issue from both theoretical and practical perspectives. / This first volume gives the big picture of religious liberty in the United States. It fits a vast range of disparate disputes into a coherent pattern, from public school prayers to private school vouchers to regulation of churches and believers. Laycock clearly and carefully explains what the law is and argues for what the law should be. He also reviews the history of Western religious liberty from the American founding to Protestant-Catholic conflict in the nineteenth century, using this history to cast light on the meaning of our constitutional guarantees. / Collected Works on Religious Liberty is unique in the depth and range of its coverage. Laycock helpfully includes both scholarly articles and key legal documents, and unlike many legal scholars, explains them clearly and succinctly. All the while, he maintains a centrist perspective, presenting all sides believers and nonbelievers alike fairly."


Abstract Capacity mechanisms have been controversial in theory as well as practice. Lessons from experience with different capacity mechanisms led to the development of the reliability options. This mechanism promises two advantages over other types of capacity mechanisms. Firstly, it ensures the availability of capacity contracted via the capacity mechanism during scarcity. Secondly, the reliability option mechanism limits any energy market distortion due to its implementation and provides the consumer a hedge from high prices. We assess the ability of reliability options in delivering the two promises by analysing the reliability option designs in Italy and Ireland. We find that they deliver on the first promise but only partly on the second.


Wiebe functions, analytical equations that estimate the fuel mass fraction burned (MFB) during combustion, have been effective at describing spark-ignition (SI) engine combustion using gasoline fuels. This study explores if the same methodology can be extended for SI combustion with syngas, a gaseous fuel mixture composed of H2, CO, and CO2, and anode-off gas; the latter is an exhaust gas mixture emitted from the anode of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell, containing H2, CO, H2O, and CO2. For this study, anode off-gas is treated as a syngas fuel diluted with CO2 and vaporized water. Combustion experiments were run on a single-cylinder, research engine using syngas and anode-off gas as fuels. One single Wiebe function and three double Wiebe functions were fitted and compared with the MFB profile calculated from the experimental data. It was determined that the SI combustion process of both the syngas and the anode-off gas could be estimated using a governing Wiebe function. While the detailed double Wiebe function had the highest accuracy, a reduced double Wiebe function is capable of achieving comparable accuracy. On the other hand, a single Wiebe function is not able to fully capture the combustion process of a SI engine using syngas and anode off-gas.


Objectives: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of a topical application of virgin coconut oil (VCO) on excision wounds in young rats. Methods: Three sets of experiments with 3 groups of female Sprague-Dawley rats each consisting of 6 animals were used for studying wound closure time, antioxidant status and biochemical parameters. Group 1 was the control; groups 2 and 3 were treated with 0.5 and 1.0 ml VCO, respectively, 24 h after wound creation for 10 days. After the experimental period, the healing property of VCO was evaluated by monitoring the time taken for complete epithelization as well as levels of various parameters of the wound's granulation tissue. The collagen solubility pattern, glycohydrolase activity, and histopathology of the granulation tissue were also analyzed. The antioxidant status during wound healing was monitored continuously for 14 days. Results: VCO-treated wounds healed much faster, as indicated by a decreased time of complete epithelization and higher levels of various skin components. Pepsin-soluble collagen showed a significant increase in VCO- treated wounds, indicating a higher collagen cross-linking. Glycohydrolase activities were also found to be increased due to a higher turnover of collagen. Antioxidant enzyme activities, and reduced glutathione and malondialdehyde levels were found to be increased on the 10th day after wounding, which were found to have returned to normal levels on day 14 in the treated wounds. The lipid peroxide levels were found to be lower in the treated wounds. A histopathological study showed an increase in fibroblast proliferation and neovascularization in VCO-treated wounds compared to controls. Conclusion: The beneficial effect of VCO can be attributed to the cumulative effect of various biologically active minor components present in it.


This NBER series presents current academic research findings in the areas of taxation and government spending. The papers included provide important background information for policy analysts in government and the private sector without making specific policy recommendations. The papers in Volume 19 address issues relevant to current policy debates as well as questions that are of longer-term interest. Topics include a comparison of federal, state, and local pre-kindergarten educational programs, the cost-effectiveness of different health insurance reform proposals, economic growth in countries with low marginal corporate income tax rates, the disparity between corporate income as reported to investors and as calculated for corporate tax liability, and the relationship between pyramidal structures and the taxation of intercorporate dividends.


Objective: Project Parenthood was developed to support the growth of adolescent parenting education and to provide a resource for adolescent safer sex education and repeat pregnancy prevention. Methods: Through the use of preand post-surveys, three key variables were measured: (1) knowledge, (2) perspective, and (3) skill. Survey questions were categorized as measuring one of the variables. Survey data was aggregated to create a preand post-composite score for each question. The percentage of questions that resulted in an increase, decrease, or no change was calculated for each variable. A Paired t-Test analysis was run to evaluate whether or not there was a significant change in preand post-survey composite scores for each variable. Results: Thirty-seven adolescents between the ages of 14-22 years participated in the 12 workshops. At the p < 0.05 level of significance, a significant difference between preand post-survey composite scores was seen for each variable correlating with an increase in knowledge (64%), a change from a faulty to an appropriate perspective (58%), and an increase in skill (80%). Conclusions: Project Parenthood improved outcomes through demonstrating increase in knowledge, improvement in faulty perspectives, and increase in skill among participants. A recommendation from this data is to focus on developing new and expanding existing parenting and safer sex education programs for adolescents in an effort to (1) reach an increased number of vulnerable adolescent populations, (2) decrease teen pregnancy rates, repeat pregnancy rates, and adverse effects of risky sexual behavior, (3) improve adolescent parenting skills, and (4) improve child welfare.


Machine learning algorithms are designed to improve as they encounter more data, making them a versatile technology for understanding large sets of photos such as those accessible from Google Images. Elizabeth Holm, professor of materials science and engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, is leveraging this technology to better understand the enormous number of research images accumulated in the field of materials science. [13]


Introducing programming using an imperative language often requires a steep learning curve due to the significant emphasis and corresponding time commitment placed on a particular language's syntax and semantics. This paper presents two separate video game scripting engines focusing on nurturing computational skills that can be explored in as little as one hour. Scripting engines run code developed by students to control four concurrent players on a team; up to four teams (four different code scripts) can play in a head-to-head competition. To achieve a quick learning curve, the scripting engine only supports a limited number of instructions to define initial player qualities, movements, and game actions. Students are faced with the computational thinking challenge of mapping their game strategies into code. Successful strategies require teams to appreciate the complexities of concurrent programming to control all game players simultaneously. We have observed that students quickly learn that writing code for all team players individually does not result in a competitive match, but requires a mixture of collaboration and parallel programming to be competitive in a short amount of time. The need for more advanced control flow semantics are also motivated, since students must rewrite similar code for performing similar routines through the game simulation. The video game scripting engines have been used in two high school outreach programs and results from these events indicate that the learning objectives were met and students were engaged in the activities the entire duration by modifying their code to be more competitive. Lessons learned from the first scripting engine (Dodgeball) that went into creating the second engine (Boomtown) are also presented.


A fundamental study is made of a rotating boundary layer (BL) in the inboard region of a tilt-rotor blade, using an embedded laser Doppler velocimetry probe inside a rotating blade. Velocity measurements have been performed to get insight into the BL behavior around a blade section close to the rotor hub.,BL transition and separation phenomena are investigated on the basis of both chordwise and spanwise velocity profiles measured for different collective pitch angles on a two-bladed hovering rotor. The velocity. experimental data bank appears to be in good agreement with theoretical velocity profiles in attached How conditions (laminar, transitional, or turbulent). Moreover, validation of a transitional criterion based on the second thickness of energy delta'(3) of the BL is extended to the rotational flow configuration. Usually such a configuration classically exhibits a separation of the BL for high collective pitch angles. However, in the particular case of a high twisted tilt-rotor blade operating in, hover, centrifugal effects are shown to be responsible for an important delay in the BL separation process.


Plutella xylostella (diamondback moth) is a prominent pest of brassicas which is now resistant to most insecticides. Despite years of research, the range of available products used in biological control of diamondback moth is still somewhat limited. We isolated putative endophytic fungi from New Zealand cabbage plants to search for unique biological control agents of diamondback moth larvae. The larvae were fed leaf discs from commercially grown cabbage covered in spores from endophytic fungal isolates to test the insecticidal properties of these fungi. Twenty of the 52 fungal isolates tested failed to kill any diamondback moth larvae. However, three isolates of Lecanicillium muscarium induced mortality greater than 80%. While these isolates have potential for use in biological control applications, further research into propagation, formulation, and method, rate and timing of application is needed.


A rapid and robust separation method based on the positively charged reversed-phase (PGRP) stationary phase was developed for selective separation of saponins and xanthones from the rhizomes of Anemarrhena asphodeloides (A. asphodeloides). In this work, the chromatographic performances of three PGRP stationary phases with different surface positive charge densities were systematically evaluated by studying hydrophobicity, effects of pH and buffer concentration of the mobile phase, ion-exchange capacity, etc. The PGRP stationary phase exhibited reversed-phase/anion-exchange mixed-mode properties. Then the retention behaviors of xanthones were investigated. A good retention of xanthones was obtained at high pH and xanthones were easily eluted at low pH. The pH is like an on–off switch on the PGRP stationary phase that controls the retention of xanthones. Finally, this PGRP material was successfully applied to the selective separation of saponins and xanthones from A. asphodeloides. The result demonstrated that neutral and ionic compounds, such as xanthones and saponins from the rhizomes of A. asphodeloides, were separated selectively by modulating both the density of surface charges in the PGRP stationary phase and the pH of the mobile phase.


Introduction There are many existing definitions of electronic commerce, none of which are agreed-upon. But many of them are similar. * "simple definition: Electronic commerce (EC) is the buying and selling of products, services, and information via computer networks. * "more formal definition: EC is a dynamic set of technologies, applications and business processes that link enterprises, consumers and communities through the electronic exchange of goods, services, transactions and information primarily via the Internet, Intranets, and Extranets. Over the last six years the Internet has challenged businesses to reexamine their methods for delivering products and services. Traditional methods of selling and transacting business in a storefront setting are being replaced by electronic commerce, i.e., the buying and selling and products across globally connected electronic networks. Efficient delivery of relevant product information is increasingly becoming the central basis of competition between firms. Web-initiated sales were projected to rise from $1 billion in 1995 to $117 billion in 2000 (Shaw, Gardner and Thomas; 1997). Gartner Group estimated that by 2003 B2C e-commerce market revenue will surpass $380 billion (in 1999 it was $31.2 billion, up from $11.2 billion in 1998). Electronic commerce can be classified along several business and technological dimensions. In terms of business models, electronic commerce may be classified as either content delivery (e.g. Yahoo, Excite, Altavista), storefronts (business-to-consumer, or B2C), brokers (consumer-to-consumer, or C2C), corporate Intranets and extranets (business-to-business, or B2B), or marketing (informational only). Content delivery sites are intended to deliver a wide variety of news and information to a worldwide audience. Most information contained in these sites is very dynamic and therefore must constantly be updated; it also has a relatively short period of usefulness. These sites demand responsiveness, reliability, availability, fast performance, and ability to handle denial-of-service attacks and many other factors. Storefronts are the sites most commonly thought of as electronic commerce sites. The information for these sites is a mix of both static data (product descriptions) and dynamic data (availability and pricing). The data is structured and stored in databases. In order to provide superior customer service these sites demand high security, responsiveness, reliability, availability and fast performance. Brokers are market-maker sites, i.e. they exist to bring buyers and sellers of products together in a virtual auction setting. EBay is probably the most well known consumer-to-consumer site. The technological demands of these sites are similar to storefronts. Corporate Intranets and extranets seek to provide information to employees and business partners. Some examples of information stored on Intranets may be corporate newsletters, reports, and policy manuals. Extranets, such as e-purchasing sites, seek to reduce the cost of doing business along the organization's value chain. These sites demand reliability, availability, guaranteed transactional security and security focus on user authentication. Marketing or informational sites are intended to educate or inform the user about products or services offered by the company. Most organizations, especially smaller ones, are not interested in web sites generating income as much as informing potential customers about their product offerings. The demands for these sites are much simpler; security is not a concern as much as informativeness. Numerous research issues for electronic commerce are being investigated. Consumer trust in electronic transactions, consumer shopping behavior, transaction security and multi-enterprise management are just a sampling of the many issues unresearched. For this paper, the focus is less about purchasing issues; rather, it focuses more on informational aspects of electronic commerce, i. …


The data show that dramatic climate changes, heat and weather extremes are already impacting people, damaging crops and coastlines and putting food, water, and energy security at risk. Across the three regions studied in this report, record-breaking temperatures are occurring more frequently, rainfall has increased in intensity in some places, while drought-prone regions are getting dryer. In an overview of social vulnerability, the poor and underprivileged, as well as the elderly and children, are found to be often hit the hardest. There is growing evidence, that even with very ambitious mitigation action, warming close to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by mid-century is already locked-in to the Earth's atmospheric system and climate change impacts such as extreme heat events may now be unavoidable.1 If the planet continues warming to 4°C, climatic conditions, heat and other weather extremes considered highly unusual or unprecedented today would become the new climate normal—a world of increased risks and instability. The consequences for development would be severe as crop yields decline, water resources change, diseases move into new ranges, and sea levels rise. The task of promoting human development, of ending poverty, increasing global prosperity, and reducing global inequality will be very challenging in a 2°C world, but in a 4°C world there is serious doubt whether this can be achieved at all. Immediate steps are needed to help countries adapt to the climate impacts being felt today and the unavoidable consequences of a rapidly warming world. The benefits of strong, early action on climate change, action that follows clean, low carbon pathways and avoids locking in unsustainable growth strategies, far outweigh the costs. Many of the worst projected climate impacts could still be avoided by holding warming to below 2°C. But, the time to act is now. This report focuses on the risks of climate change to development in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and parts of Europe and Central Asia. Building on earlier Turn Down the Heat reports this new scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day (0.8°C), 2°C and 4°C warming above pre-industrial temperatures on agricultural production, water resources, ecosystem services and coastal vulnerability for affected populations.


Ecotoxicity assays must include controls, where there is no contaminant, and a dilution series, where the contaminated medium is diluted by uncontaminated medium. This has been a challenge for aquatic assays, but is usually satisfied by choosing water with the appropriate basic chemistry such as pH and hardness. It is a much greater challenge in soils, where the solid and biological components of the control material are dominant and crucial to the performance of the test organisms. Clearly, an ideal control and diluent soil would be collected from an uncontaminated point near the site of concern. However, proving the absence of contamination is difficult and costly, and natural variability of soils may make the exercise pointless anyway. We developed an alternative method. A suite of soils, very different in chemical and physical properties, were characterized and stored as defined stock materials. The same properties were measured in the contaminated soil. A blend-matching algorithm was used to define a blend of the stock soils that would have the same properties as the contaminated soil. At this stage, soil properties are assumed to mix linearly, but this could be improved. Importance factors are used to emphasize the properties thought to be most critical to the test organism or the contaminant. Blends of a few stock soils are thought to be preferable to blends of many soils, for simplicity. This method is the best surrogate to a true control and diluent soil that we have found. Results here include a dilution series of a blend and an (initially) unknown contaminated soil using a full-life-cycle plant, an earthworm survival and a lettuce emergence bioassay. Also included are pH and sorption characteristics for a large factorial blend of the five stock soils to evaluate the linear mixing assumption.


1.Near-infrared (IR) spectroscopy is based on the relative transparency of skin, skull and brain to the light in the near-IR region (700-1100 nm) and on the oxygen-dependent tissue absorption changes of haemoglobin.2. We evaluated the most relevant factors (reproducibility, venous return, age and sex) that might affect reliability of near-IR spectroscopy to test CO2 cerebrovascular reactivity.3.Thirty-four healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. The protocol consisted of a 3-min baseline, a 3-min hypercapnia (5% CO2 in air) and a 2-min recovery. Transcranial Doppler sonography measurements were simultaneously performed. The CO2 reactivity test was repeated on 27 subjects after 1 h to assess reproducibility. CO2 reactivity was also evaluated at different body positions (supine, 35 degrees Trendelenburg and 35 degrees reverse Trendelenburg), and over a gradual increase of the inspired CO2.4. Changes in near-IR spectroscopy and transcranial Doppler sonography parameters were significantly correlated with variations of end-tidal CO2 (P<0.005). A significant correlation between the reactivity indexes of near-IR spectroscopy parameters and flow velocity was also found (P<0.01). A high reproducibility was also found for deoxyhaemoglobin (rI=0.76), oxyhaemoglobin (rI=0.68) and flow velocity (rI=0.60) reactivity indexes. No significant differences between the reactivity indexes of different body positions were found (P>0.05). The reactivity index of oxyhaemoglobin and deoxyhaemoglobin decreased (P<0.05) and increased (P<0.01) with age respectively.5. We found that near-IR spectroscopy is a reliable and reproducible method for the evaluation of cerebrovascular reactivity and might be considered, after appropriate validation, for the assessment of patients with cerebrovascular disease.


The release of arsenic (As) from As-rich riverbed sediments (Anllons River, Spain) was studied. In this area As is associated with pyrite and arsenopyrite and its mobilization has been favoured by past gold-mining activities. The effect of pH and phosphorous (P) concentrations, as well as the kinetics of the As release process were studied. Also, As species in solution were determined as a function of pH and time. The release of As was greatly influenced by pH and it was between 10 and 45 times higher at pH stat 10 than at pH stat 4 for all the sediments studied. The percentages of As released were between 0.1 and 0.8 % of total As at pH stat 4 but increased to values between ~7 and 11 % of total As at pH stat 10. The sediment containing the highest concentration of As released the highest amount of As (~18 mg/kg at pH stat 10). The As release kinetics was also greatly influenced by pH, mostly at alkaline pH. At pH stat 10, the amount of released As increased progressively with time. In contrast, at pH stat 4 only small differences were observed after 24 h in the amounts of As released. At alkaline pH As was released along with Fe and Al, and accompanied by organic matter dissolution. This suggests a determining role of organic matter in the As release behaviour in alkaline media. In contrast, at weakly acid pH, the release of these components was very low, suggesting that As release is controlled mainly by desorption. The speciation of As was influenced by the pH and the release time. At pH stat 4 the major species in solution were As(III) and As(V) (representing 45–69 % and 51–29 % of As released, respectively). In contrast, at pH stat 10 almost all the released As was As(V) (~99 %). The amount of As released from sediments increased with the increase in initial P concentration in solution and it experienced a dramatic increase at added P concentrations above 1 mM. Namely, the percentage of As released by 10 mM P reached ~6 % of total As for the sediments richer in As. The results obtained let us conclude that changes in pH, especially alkalinization, and inputs of P to the river markedly enhanced As mobilization from the Anllons River sediments, thus increasing health risks.


This guide is an ideal learning tool and reference for Apache Pig, the open source engine for executing parallel data flows on Hadoop. With Pig, you can batch-process data without having to create a full-fledged applicationmaking it easy for you to experiment with new datasets. Programming Pig introduces new users to Pig, and provides experienced users with comprehensive coverage on key features such as the Pig Latin scripting language, the Grunt shell, and User Defined Functions (UDFs) for extending Pig. If you need to analyze terabytes of data, this book shows you how to do it efficiently with Pig.Delve into Pigs data model, including scalar and complex data types Write Pig Latin scripts to sort, group, join, project, and filter your data Use Grunt to work with the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) Build complex data processing pipelines with Pigs macros and modularity features Embed Pig Latin in Python for iterative processing and other advanced tasks Create your own load and store functions to handle data formats and storage mechanisms Get performance tips for running scripts on Hadoop clusters in less time


World War II submariners rarely experienced anything as exhilarating or horrifying as the surface gun attack. Between the ocean floor and the rolling whitecaps above, submarines patrolled a dark abyss in a fusion of silence, shadows, and steel, firing around eleven thousand torpedoes, sinking Japanese men-of-war and more than one thousand merchant ships. But the anonymity and simplicity of the stealthy torpedo attack hid the savagery of warfare -- a stark difference from the brutality of the surface gun maneuver. As the submarine shot through the surface of the water, confined sailors scrambled through the hatches armed with large-caliber guns and met the enemy face-to-face. Surface and Destroy: The Submarine Gun War in the Pacific reveals the nature of submarine warfare in the Pacific Ocean during World War II and investigates the challenges of facing the enemy on the surface.

The surface battle amplified the realities of war, bringing submariners into close contact with survivors and potential prisoners of war. As Japan's larger ships disappeared from the Pacific theater, American submarines turned their attention to smaller craft such as patrol boats, schooners, sampans, and junks. Some officers refused to attack enemy vessels of questionable value, while others attacked reluctantly and tried to minimize casualties. Michael Sturma focuses on the submariners' reactions and attitudes toward their victims, exploring the sailors' personal standards of morality and their ability to wage total war. Surface and Destroy is a thorough analysis of the submariner experience and the effects of surface attacks on the war in the Pacific, offering a compelling study of the battles that became "intolerably personal."


After experience had taught me that all the usual surroundings of social life are vain and futile; seeing that none of the objects of my fears contained in themselves anything either good or bad, except in so far as the mind is affected by them, I finally resolved to inquire whether there might be some real good having power to communicate itself, which would affect the mind singly, to the exclusion of all else: whether, in fact, there might be anything of which the discovery and attainment would enable me to enjoy continuous, supreme, and unending happiness. I say ``I finally resolved,'' for at first sight it seemed unwise willingly to lose hold on what was sure for the sake of something then uncertain. I could see the benefits which are acquired through fame and riches, and that I should be obliged to abandon the quest of such objects, if I seriously devoted myself to the search for something different and new. I perceived that if true happiness chanced to be placed in the former I should necessarily miss it; while if, on the other hand, it were not so placed, and I gave them my whole attention, I should equally fail.


In situ detrital zircons U-Pb and Hf isotope analyses from the Min and Jiulong River of Southeast China were carried out to identify sediment provenance and crustal evolution of the northeast Cathaysia Block. Detrital zircons from both rivers displayed similar spectrum peaks at 236, 155, and 110 Ma, but samples from the Min River displayed a distinct Caledonian peak (ca. 460 Ma) and contained more Precambrian particles (ca. 1.8 Ga), which likely stemmed from the upstream area of the Wuyishan terrain. Interestingly, because Taiwan Island cannot supply Caledonian and Paleoproterozoic detrital materials and because the Ou and Jiulong River also lack components from these two populations, it is highly likely that the sediment in the western Taiwan coast partially originates from the Min River. The sediments from the Min River in Fujian are also considered the most likely source of the beach sands of western Taiwan (Chen et al. 2006). However, we stress that the ~1.8 Ga age source in the western Taiwan sediments was found and recognized. Combining U-Pb dating and Hf-isotope suggests that the northeast Cathaysia Block contains some Neoarchean detrital zircons, which derived from the incorporation of juvenile mantle materials and re-melting of ancient crustal substances. The wide ranges of εHf(t) value in the Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic demonstrate the re-melting of ancient crustal materials with minor juvenile mantle materials. Phanerozoic zircons stemmed from re-melting and recycling of Proterozoic crustal materials with or without the invasion of juvenile mantle-derived magmas.


The authors performed a narrative review on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome- CoronaVirus-2 ( SARS-CoV-2) and all infectious agents with the primary endpoints to illustrate the most accepted models of safety protocols in dentistry and oral medicine, and to propose an easy view of the problem and a comparison (pre- vs post-COVID19) for the most common dental procedures. The outcome is forecast to help dentists to individuate for a given procedure the differences in terms of safety protocols to avoid infectious contagion (by SARS-CoV-2 and others dangerous agents). An investigation was performed on the online databases Pubmed and Scopus using a combination of free words and Medical Subject Headings (MESH) terms: "dentist" OR "oral health" AND "COVID-19" OR "SARS-CoV-2" OR "coronavirus-19". After a brief excursus on all infectious agents transmittable at the dental chair, the authors described all the personal protective equipment (PPE) actually on the market and their indications, and on the basis of the literature, they compared (before and after COVID-19 onset) the correct safety procedures for each dental practice studied, underlining the danger of underestimating, in general, dental cross-infections. The authors have highlighted the importance of knowing exactly the risk of infections in the dental practice, and to modulate correctly the use of PPE, in order to invest adequate financial resources and to avoid exposing both the dental team and patients to preventable risks.


n the frontal sector of the Central-Southern Apennines, surface geological data integrated with seismic line interpretation provide new constraints into the reconstruction of the structural inheritance of Mesozoic pre-orogenic and Messinian-Pliocene syn-orogenic normal faults on the salient geometry of the Pliocene-Quaternary thrust system.In the Umbria-Marche-Abruzzi area, pre-orogenic normal faults commonly juxtapose the complete Jurassic succession (about 900 metres in thickness) onto coeval condensed successions (about 50 metres in thickness) deposited over structural highs. In the Sibillini Mts and Gran Sasso area, pre-orogenic normal faults are truncated and rotated into Pliocene thrust-sheets according to simple short-cut trajectories. In particular the foreland-dipping Jurassic normal faults in the Sibillini Mts area have been rotated and reactivated during the thrust propagation forming high-angle blind-thrusts in the east verging overturned folds.The Maiella anticline, which involves the Mesozoic-Miocene Apulian carbonate succession and the related slope deposits, joins the Central Apennine fold-and-thrust system to the Apulian Chain buried below the allochthonous Units of the Southern Apennines. Seismic line interpretation allowed us to reconstruct the three-dimensional pattern of the Apulian thrusts, oriented N-S, NNW-SSE and E-W, that are parallel to normal faults related to the Pliocene-Quaternary flexural extension in the foreland. Detailed reconstruction of the Setteporte and Monte Taburno structures shows main N-S/NNE-SSW trending thrusts, branching into NW-SE/E-W trending minor thrusts and back-thrusts, characterized by push-up geometry, typically referable to a transpressive deformation and/or to the positive reactivation of normal faults. Moreover, the sharp westward deepening of the base of the Apulian sedimentary succession (from 4.5 to 6.0 sec in TWT), based on the interpretation of the CROP 11 seismic reflection profile, and the concomitant increase in thickness of the Triassic sequence along the Maiella-Casoli transect, suggest the existence of west-dipping (?)Permian-Triassic normal faults that strongly controlled the distribution and thickness variation of syn-rifting sediments. An inversion of the deepest low angle portions of the pre- and syn-orogenic normal faults is in agreement with surface data (i.e., the structural elevation of the carbonate succession in the Casoli-Bomba anticline) and seismic line interpretation (i.e., deep seated location of the base of Apulian sedimentary succession below the same anticline).In the reconstructed inversion tectonics model, the N-S trending pre-thrusting normal faults are fully inverted as N-S transpressive segments of the salient structures of the chain, whereas, the NW-SE trending thrusts inverted the low angle portion of pre-thrusting normal faults in the middle-lower crust and displaced with a short-cut the normal faults in the upper portion of the crust. As a result, the pattern of the pre-existing normal faults is inherited on the salient structures of the Central and Southern Apennine Chain.


This book approaches cohesion and coherence from a perspective of interaction and collaboration. After a detailed account of various models of cohesion and coherence, the book suggests that it is fruitful to regard cohesion as contributing to coherence, as a strategy used by communicators to help their fellow communicators create coherence from a text. Throughout the book, the context-sensitive and discourse-specific nature of cohesion is stressed: cohesive relations are created and interpreted in particular texts in particular contexts. By investigating the use of cohesion in four different types of discourse, the study shows that cohesion is not uniform across discourse types. The analysis reveals that written dialogue (computer-mediated discussions) and spoken monologue (prepared speech) make use of similar cohesive strategies as spoken dialogue (conversations): in these contexts the communicators' interaction with their fellow communicators leads to a similar outcome. The book suggests that this is an indication of the communicators' attempt to collaborate towards successful communication.


Hardly any environment is a static domain in which an agent is the only one who is changing states of the world. Thus, many events occur that are not a direct consequence of an agent's actions. Besides events that occur in full independence of an agent, there are events that can be influenced indirectly, e.g., by asking other agents to perform specific tasks. Even in the absence of other agents, an action by an agent can lead to a complex effect chain. Explicitly reasoning about such indirect consequences of actions is indispensable in nearly all real-world domains. Action planning systems to drive an intelligent agent, however, do not incorporate concepts to handle such world dynamics. An action usually has a definite effect — without a possibility of further indirect consequences. Some planning systems allow for the occurrence of external events, but do not enable relations to an agent's actions. In this paper, we propose a solution to this shortcoming of planning systems by integrating a kind of enhanced rule-based system. Using this approach, a planning system can reason about indirect consequences and exploit these external mechanics in order to achieve its goals. The enhancements are demonstrated from the perspective of a constraintbased planning system based on local search.


An antenna pattern synthesis technique, applicable to equispaced linear arrays and continuous 1 ine sources, was first introduced by Woodward [l] in 1946 and then elaborated in collaboration with Lawson [21 in 1948. Known as the Woodward-Lawson method, it has been used to synthesize shaped beam patterns. Simply stated, it consists of the superposition of a family of excitations, each with au niform amplitude distribution and a uniform progressive phase distribution. The first partial excitation produces a pattern with a main beam s iadnde lobes that tail off from a level of -13.5 dB; the placement of the main beam is governed by the value of the uniform progressive phase. The second partial excitation does likewise, but its uniform progressive phase is adjusted so that its main beam peak coincides with an innermost null of the first pattern, etc. This scheme results in the filling in of a sequence of nulls in the first pattern; the amount of null-filling i s governed by the relative amplitudes of the partial excitations.


Until recently, most Japanese considered the gaining momentum of Asian economic integration in the frame of ASEAN+3. With India maintaining a high economic growth rate and its population being predicted to overtake China as the most populous country in Asia is leading many to rethink the importance of India to Asian economic integration. In order to find a political and economic counterbalance to China, the Japanese government has also put effort in vitalizing the Japan-India relationship. India following its Look East policy has been successful in improving its economic relations with Korea, China and Japan. However, with some exceptions, Japanese businesses are behind other countries (especially US, UK, and South Korea) towards investing in India. While there are indeed many unique difficulties involved in entering the Indian market, the massive consumer potential of the population combined with a skilled and numerous labour pool allows many South Korean and American firms to attain great success there. Japanese and Indian policymakers have great designs for the relationship between the two countries, but it is only when Japanese firms step up and make the needed large scale commitment in India that Indo-Japanese trade will start to grow.


The birth of the internet indicates a new era that ends mass media culture. It also marks the beginning of new media  with the internet as its central core. Internet as a new media brings so much change into human life. These changes  also  affect  the  way  people  communicate  with  each  other.  Internet  connects  people  around  the  world  without  the  limitation of location and time. This fact alone transforms the world into a global village, as highlighted by Marshall  McLuhan. This new way of communicating using online technology is also being used in the economic and business  sectors, also known as e-commerce or electronic commerce. Before e-commerce existed, the business models available  only provided the option of face-to-face transactions. But after the arrival of e-commerce, face-to-face transactions are  no longer needed. This is possible because transactions can simply be done through the internet as the medium. These  days, entrepreneurship and business have become more popular than ever due to e-commerce. These online businesses  have also created promising new jobs. Based on this comprehension, the writer has conducted a study to describe the  development of entrepreneurship and business via electronic communication with the internet as the main tool. Through  qualitative research methods and descriptive case study approaches, the writer explores how a small time businessman  from a faraway village became successful by using the internet as a marketing tool. Originally, the businessman had  run his business through more conventional means but later evolved using new media. The result of this study provides  a description of the utilization of online technology to develop the entrepreneurial business sector and how electronic  communication through the internet as the basis plays a key role in advancing this sector.


My visual practice is concerned with an articulation of the 'left-out-thing', remnant or blank, produced by and embedded within technologies of representation, which themselves echo the mechanisms through which an identity is formed. As automatic, 'empty apparatus', technological devices threaten as well as construct this self image.

This thesis proposes a new theoretical interpretation for art practices that engage with this empty space, or 'shifter'; understood as a form of punctuation around which meaning revolves. Indexing an object both absent and 'has been', the kind of mark making that falls into this category can be identified - like an hysterical symptom - as the reproduction of an unrepresentable sign.

It is through my practical work, which explores the link between the photograph, the body, and the written sentence, that my contribution to the field of fine art practice is primarily offered. The way in which an image is put together or a sentence is organised can be considered as an exemplary definition of subjectivity in operation. Yet, as Ann Banfield (1987) has argued, after the invention of the lens, novelistic writing began to index a 'world without a self'. My visual work, which frequently looks like writing, attempts to construct a similar 'grammatical' form: one in which the 'I' is absent.

The aim of my work is to stage or record this empty place, understood as a disturbance, impediment or failure within speech; as the text's undertow; and equated with a photographic - or optical -'unconscious'. This failure, this fault in language, detected in the lapses, gaps and silences within a body of writing or in an image - a gap upon which such language systems are nevertheless hinged - is, I suggest, both the place where technology and the non-self are linked and, paradoxically, the site where the I is constituted.


The focus of this research is in the area of narratives of success and effective school management in schools in Bojanala District of the North West Department of Education. Such a study is important in order to determine the activities that inform school success, the relationship between the challenges faced and the success pointers by and for school management. The research approach adopted in this minidissertation includes a literature review on management and school leadership as well as interviews to gather strengths for those schools that were regarded as having successful management. The literature review was conducted to provide the researcher with important facts and background information relevant to the research topic. This chapter reviewed what school research has established about the characteristics of effective schools; discussed the concept of school effectiveness; the characteristics of effective schools and the different factors that are responsible for creating effective schools. The review also examined how principals built school capacity through organisational decisions and actions. The qualitative approach was the research design chosen for this study in order to construct meaning and find answers to the research questions. The research tool used case studies, which involved interviews (thematic analysis), observation (supported findings) and document analysis (narrative analysis). To carefully sample the appropriate schools, a purposive sampling method was used to satisfy the objectives of this research. The research findings were used to compare data with the theoretical background and research problem that were stated at the beginning of Chapter One; and attempted to answer questions based on the success and effective management of schools in the Bojanala District of the North West Province. Findings were discovered with regards to school success and effectiveness in management, and the associated factors for success and sustainability. This mini-dissertation recommends that the unsuccessful schools need to consider implementation of the study


The cycle of research begins with identification of an idea, design of the study to answer the scientific question that is posed, conducting and analyzing the findings, and publishing the results. Figure 1 shows the position of the open source, open data, and open access components of the open science concept superimposed on the cycle of research.⇓ One can readily advocate, in principle, for open data to provide doctors and their patients all the data needed for optimum decision-making (figure 2).⇓ 1

Figure 1 Research cycle. JAHA— Journal of the American Heart Association is an example of an open access publication

Figure 2 Advantages of open data

To illustrate the issues involved, however, consider the flow of data when a clinical trial is completed (figure 3).⇓ A series of raw databases are created. They are populated from the case report forms, and contain patient level information on such topics as baseline demographics, concomitant medications, study drug compliance, suspected endpoint events, clinical laboratory data, and adverse events. Other raw databases might include the final adjudication by the blinded endpoint committee as to whether an endpoint occurred, genetic data, quality of life survey results, and core laboratory data. A data dictionary is developed to link the information from the raw databases to several derived databases that cover items such as endpoints, time to event, and allocation to treatment arm. The derived databases are the source from which data tables are generated for preparation of manuscripts that ultimately appear in the medical …


Marks, Mathieu, and Zaccaro (2001) advanced a theory and framework of team processes that has garnered much attention and guided numerous investigations. They proposed that 10 first-order constructs (e.g., strategy formulation, coordination, conflict management) would map to three second-order constructs (i.e., transition, action, and interpersonal). Despite the popularity of this framework, we are unaware of any validated multiitem measures of the team processes they identified. Accordingly, we develop and demonstrate content and construct validity of 50-, 30-, and 10-item versions of a survey measure of team processes. Using data from over 700 teams, we test Marks et al.'s higher-order model and find results that are largely consistent with both their 10 first-order dimensions and the 10:3 second-order framework. Using samples of global virtual knowledge teams and health care employees, we provide evidence of the discriminant validity of our team process measure versus a measure of team empowerment. We provide recommendations for the use of these measures in future research and practice and encourage their use as part of a portfolio of measures of team processes.


In our urban environment we are surrounded by strangers, observed via surveillance cameras and connected to millions via the global digital infrastructure. Our media is pervasive and immersive, implicit in everything we do, as the distinction between the real and virtual becomes increasing blurred. Whilst pervasive screens are becoming an essential personal tool, large format public screens form part of the furniture of our urban architecture. This study will ask how we can maximise opportunities for cultural engagement using urban screens and how this can impact on our culture.

In the last ten years urban screens have been installed across the world, including in twenty-two cities in the UK funded by the BBC and Local Authorities for the Cultural Olympiad. The aim of the screens was to address local communities in order to reflect something of their respective location and community, "with a full programme of locally run community and sporting events". (http://www.bbc.co.uk/bigscreens) Urban screens have a huge potential to play a role in changing the way that the public engages in urban space. Lucy Lippard identifies "place" as a hybrid of communal memories (Lippard, L. 1997, p9) and proposes that artist play a key role in offering community a framework from which to tackle issues, and debate. Urban screens are usually located in busy shopping centers and are ideally located to attract a broad demographic to contribute to a memory of place embracing an inclusive multicultural and tolerant approach.

Through this thesis I explore how interactive works for urban screens can offer opportunity for public participation in the urban environment. Kristine Stiles and Ed Shanken propose that a key factor in interactive works is that they offer "agency" which involves freedom to make choices and to be creative in order to make a difference. (Stiles, K. Shanken E. 2011, p32) Through my literature review and current creative practice, including urban screen projects in collaboration with telematics artist Paul Sermon; "Picnic on the Screen" for the Glastonbury Festival BBC Village Screen 2009 and "Occupy the Screen" for Connecting Cities Berlin/Riga 2014, I explore how interactive artists can optimise agency, opportunities for play, creativity and self-representation to a diverse audience in order to change the way that we engage in the urban environment. Through this PhD I have developed a framework for engagement with public audiences through play.


This fascinating book, a dialogue by leading economists, offers an extensive review of the impact of the introduction of the euro on the international monetary system.


Two alien Impatiens species are spreading in Europe and share habitats with the native Impatiens noli-tangere. We studied their reproductive biology to estimate which traits facilitate invasiveness. Flower morphology was examined, insect observations were made, and hand pollination treatments were performed. Floral biology differed among species. Impatiens glandulifera and I. noli-tangere presented large quantities of sucrose-dominant nectar, contrary to Impatiens parviflora. The latter had high autonomous selfing ability (81.4% fruit set) linked to complete self-compatibility. No inbreeding depression was detected for this species. The second alien, I. glandulifera, showed lower autonomous selfing (9.3% fruit set), with high self-compatibility and low inbreeding depression (). No evidence of autonomous selfing was found for the native, which presented the lowest self-compatibility and the highest inbreeding depression (). However, all species can be considered self-compatible. Impatiens glandulifera flowers were visited by insects up to 250 times during their life span, whereas I. noli-tangere and I. parviflora flowers received fewer than seven visits. Both exotics present traits facilitating reproductive success. Impatiens parviflora exhibits autonomous self-pollination, whereas the other species possess attractive traits with respect to insect pollination. On the other hand, the native, unable to self-pollinate, is poorly attractive to pollinators. The high fecundity of the aliens seems to contribute to their invasiveness.


In this article, some of the most important findings of the European research project The Role of Men in Gender Equality (2011–2012) are discussed. This project was the first systematic research study of all European Union member states and associated European Free Trade Association states regarding men and gender equality in the fields of education and paid labor, the involvement of men in care and domestic work responsibilities, men's health, gender-based violence, and men's participation in gender equality policy. The main objective of the study was to gain better knowledge on the role and positioning of men concerning gender equality. A number of themes were emphasized. First, as the situation of men and women in societies is relational, the role of men cannot be understood, if the role of women is neglected. Second, a perspective on men as a heterogeneous social group was chosen in order to gain insights into men's privileges as well as disadvantages according to class, ethnicity, disability, and other social indicators. This study shows that caring masculinity emerges as a central path forward, and one that is increasingly taken up in practice, together with women's increasing education and professional role, and rising expectations of gender-balanced task divisions. But there is a need for further research on the complex relationship between caring masculinities and gender-equal roles, including marginalized and unemployed groups and men who turn their frustrations against gender equality and women's new roles.


Spatio-temporal analyses of yield variability are required to delineate areas of stable yield patterns for
application of precision farming techniques. Spatial structure and temporal stability patterns were studied using 1995-
1997 yield data for a 25-ha field located near Story City, Iowa. Corn was grown during 1995-1996, and soybean in 1997.
The yield data were collected on nine east-west transects, consisting of 25 yield blocks per transect. The two components
of yield variability, i.e., large-scale variation (trend) and small-scale variation, were studied using median polishing
technique and variography, respectively. The trend surface, obtained from median polishing, accounted for the large-scale
deterministic structure induced by treatments and landscape effects. After removal of trend from yield data, the resulting
yield residuals were used to analyze the small-scale stochastic variability using variography. The variogram analysis
showed strong spatial structure for the yield residuals. The spatial correlation lengths were found to vary from about 40 m
for corn to about 90 m for soybean. The range parameter of the variograms showed a significant correlation coefficient of
–0.95 with the cumulative growing season rainfall. The total variance of 1995 corn yield was partitioned as 56% trend,
37% small-scale stochastic structure, and 7% as an interaction of both. Yield variance of 1996 corn was about 80% trend
and 20% small-scale stochastic structure. Contrary to corn years, the total yield variance for soybean in 1997 was
partitioned as about 25% trend and about 75% small-scale stochastic structure. The significant negative correlation of
range with rainfall shows that small-scale variability may be controlled by factors induced directly or indirectly by
rainfall. More years of data are required to substantiate these relationships. The lack of temporal stability in large-scale
and small-scale variation suggest that longer duration yield data analyses are required to understand and quantify the
impact of various climatic, and management factors and their interaction with soil properties on delineation of areas
under consistent yield patterns before applying variable rate technology.


Disturbances of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signalling have been implicated in the evolution of depression, which likely arises, in part, as a result of diminished synaptic plasticity. Predictably, given stressor involvement in depression, BDNF is affected by recent stressors as well as stressors such as neglect experienced in early life. The effects of early life maltreatment in altering BDNF signalling may be particularly apparent among those individuals with specific BDNF polymorphisms. We examined whether polymorphisms of the Val66Met genotype might be influential in moderating how early-life events play out with respect to later coping styles, cognitive flexibility and depressive features. Among male and female undergraduate students (N = 124), childhood neglect was highly related to subsequent depressive symptoms. This outcome was moderated by the BDNF polymorphism in the sense that depressive symptoms appeared higher in Met carriers who reported low levels of neglect than in those with the Val/Val allele. However, under conditions of high neglect depressive symptoms only increased in the Val/Val individuals. In effect, the Met polymorphism was associated with depressive features, but did not interact with early life neglect in predicting later depressive features. It was further observed that among the Val/Val individuals, the relationship between neglect and depression was mediated by emotion-focused styles and diminished perceived control, whereas this mediation was not apparent in Met carriers. In contrast to the more typical view regarding this polymorphism, the data are consistent with the perspective that in the presence of synaptic plasticity presumably associated with the Val/Val genotype, neglect allows for the emergence of specific appraisal and coping styles, which are tied to depression. In the case of the reduced degree of neuroplasticity expected in the Met carriers, early life adverse experiences are not tied to coping styles, and hence less likely to be translated into depressive states.


On 2019 August 14, the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations detected gravitational waves from a black hole and a 2.6 solar mass compact object, possibly the first neutron star–black hole merger. In search of an optical counterpart, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) obtained deep imaging of the entire 90% confidence level localization area with Blanco/DECam 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, and 16 nights after the merger. Objects with varying brightness were detected by the DES Pipeline, and we systematically reduced the candidate counterparts through catalog matching, light-curve properties, host-galaxy photometric redshifts, Southern Astrophysical Research spectroscopic follow-up observations, and machine-learning-based photometric classification. All candidates were rejected as counterparts to the merger. To quantify the sensitivity of our search, we applied our selection criteria to full light-curve simulations of supernovae and kilonovae as they would appear in the DECam observations. Because the source class of the merger was uncertain, we utilized an agnostic, three-component kilonova model based on tidally disrupted neutron star (NS) ejecta properties to quantify our detection efficiency of a counterpart if the merger included an NS. We find that, if a kilonova occurred during this merger, configurations where the ejected matter is greater than 0.07 solar masses, has lanthanide abundance less than 10−8.56, and has a velocity between 0.18c and 0.21c are disfavored at the 2σ level. Furthermore, we estimate that our background reduction methods are capable of associating gravitational wave signals with a detected electromagnetic counterpart at the 4σ level in 95% of future follow-up observations.


Medical organizations collect, store and process vast amounts of sensitive information about patients. Easy access to this information by researchers is crucial to improving medical research, but in many institutions, cumbersome security measures and walled-gardens have created a situation where even information about what medical data is out there is not available. One of the main security challenges in this area, is enabling researchers to cross-link different medical studies, while preserving the privacy of the patients involved. In this paper, we introduce a privacy-preserving system for publishing sample availability data that allows researchers to make queries that crosscut different studies. That is, researchers can ask questions such as how many patients have had both diabetes and prostate cancer, where the diabetes and prostate cancer information originates from different clinical registries. We realize our solution by having a two-level anonymiziation mechanism, where our toolkit for publishing availability data first pseudonymizes personal identifiers and then anonymizes sensitive attributes. Our toolkit also includes a web-based server that stores the encrypted pseudonymized sample data and allows researchers to execute cross-linked queries across different study data. We believe that our toolkit contributes a first step to support the privacy preserving publication of data containing personal identifiers.