We prospectively investigated whether organic food consumption by infants was associated with developing atopic manifestations in the first 2 years of life. The KOALA Birth Cohort Study in the Netherlands (n 2764) measured organic food consumption, eczema and wheeze in infants until age 2 years using repeated questionnaires. Diet was defined as conventional ( < 50 % organic), moderately organic (50–90 % organic) and strictly organic (>90 % organic). Venous blood samples taken from 815 infants at 2 years of age were analysed for total and specific IgE. Multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to control for potential confounding factors. Eczema was present in 32 % of infants, recurrent wheeze in 11 % and prolonged wheezing in 5 %. At 2 years of age, 27 % of children were sensitised against at least one allergen. Of all the children, 10 % had consumed a moderately organic diet and 6 % a strictly organic diet. Consumption of organic dairy products was associated with lower eczema risk (OR 0·64 (95 % CI 0·44, 0·93)), but there was no association of organic meat, fruit, vegetables or eggs, or the proportion of organic products within the total diet with the development of eczema, wheeze or atopic sensitisation. Further studies to substantiate these results are warranted.


Do employees who compare themselves to the CEO matter for executive compensation? We hypothesize that employees have relative wealth concerns and compare their wage to the CEO's pay. Using German establishment-level wage data, we indeed show that employee wages are increasing in CEO compensation. We use a regulatory shock to the public observability of German CEO compensation and establish causality by using a difference-in-difference approach. We find that the envious behavior is geared to CEOs themselves rather than to the management team. We separate CEO pay in expected and abnormal pay, and find that the expected pay doesn't explain the envious behavior. This is in line with the public attention playing the key role of inciting envy among employees. Our findings suggest that relative wealth concerns of employees are a driver of wages and significantly increase the costs of executive compensation.


Prime numbers are beautiful, mysterious, and beguiling mathematical objects. The mathematician Bernhard Riemann made a celebrated conjecture about primes in 1859, the so-called Riemann hypothesis, which remains one of the most important unsolved problems in mathematics. Through the deep insights of the authors, this book introduces primes and explains the Riemann hypothesis. Students with a minimal mathematical background and scholars alike will enjoy this comprehensive discussion of primes. The first part of the book will inspire the curiosity of a general reader with an accessible explanation of the key ideas. The exposition of these ideas is generously illuminated by computational graphics that exhibit the key concepts and phenomena in enticing detail. Readers with more mathematical experience will then go deeper into the structure of primes and see how the Riemann hypothesis relates to Fourier analysis using the vocabulary of spectra. Readers with a strong mathematical background will be able to connect these ideas to historical formulations of the Riemann hypothesis.


The present work deals with the problem of the interaction of the electromagnetic radiation with a statistical distribution of nonmagnetic dielectric particles immersed in an infinite homogeneous isotropic, non-magnetic medium. The wavelength of the incident radiation can be less, equal or greater than the linear dimension of a particle. The distance between any two particles is several wavelengths. A single particle in the absence of the others is assumed to scatter like a Rayleigh-Gans particle, i.e. interaction between the volume elements (self-interaction) is neglected. The interaction of the particles is taken into account (multiple scattering) and conditions are set up for the case of a lossless medium which guarantee that the multiple scattering contribution is more important than the self-interaction one. These conditions relate the wavelength λ and the linear dimensions of a particle a and of the region occupied by the particles D. It is found that for constant λ/a, D is proportional to
λ and that |Δχ|, where Δχ is the difference in the dielectric susceptibilities between particle and medium, has to lie within a certain range. The total scattering field is obtained as a series the several terms of which represent the corresponding multiple scattering orders. The first term is a single scattering term. The ensemble average of the total scattering intensity is then obtained as a series which does not involve terms due to products between terms of different orders. Thus the waves corresponding to different orders are independent and their Stokes parameters add. The second and third order intensity terms are explicitly computed. The method used suggests a general approach for computing any order. It is found that in general the first order scattering intensity pattern (or phase function) peaks in the forward direction Θ = 0. The second order tends to smooth out the pattern giving a maximum in the Θ = π/2 direction and minima in the Θ = 0 , Θ = π directions. This ceases to be true if ka (where k = 2π/λ) becomes large (> 20). For large ka the forward direction is further enhanced. Similar features are expected from the higher orders even though the critical value of ka may increase with the order. The first order polarization of the scattered wave is determined. The ensemble average of the Stokes parameters of the scattered wave is explicitly computed for the second order. A similar method can be applied for any order. It is found that the polarization of the scattered wave depends on the polarization of the incident wave. If the latter is elliptically polarized then the first order scattered wave is elliptically polarized, but in the Θ = π/2 direction is linearly polarized. If the incident wave is circularly polarized the first order scattered wave is elliptically polarized except for the directions Θ = π/2 (linearly polarized) and Θ = 0, π (circularly polarized). The handedness of the Θ = 0 wave is the same as that of the incident whereas the handedness of the Θ = π wave is opposite. If the incident wave is linearly polarized the first order scattered wave is also linearly polarized. The second order makes the total scattered wave to be elliptically polarized for any Θ no matter what the incident wave is. However, the handedness of the total scattered wave is not altered by the second order. Higher orders have similar effects as the second order. If the medium is lossy the general approach employed for the lossless case is still valid. Only the algebra increases in complexity. It is found that the results of the lossless case are insensitive in the first order of kimD where kim = imaginary part of the wave vector k and D a linear characteristic dimension of the region occupied by the particles. Thus moderately extended regions and small losses make (kimD)2 ≪ 1 and the lossy character of the medium does not alter the results of the lossless case. In general the presence of the losses tends to reduce the forward scattering.


In this paper, we describe a method for relating the precision in phase shift measurements to the navigation areas in which that precision is reached so that a coverage map is built, setting a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) threshold level that depends on that phase precision. The method brings a novel approach to linking different areas in robotics and is applied to a mobile-robot (MR) local positioning system (LPS) in an intelligent space, where distances are computed from differential phase shift measurements with intensity modulation and direct detection (IMDD) infrared signals. A global model including the parameters of all the parts involved, e.g., optoelectronics, wireless channel, and instrumentation hardware, is developed. Furthermore, based on the model, an analytical expression deduced for the phase shift measurement is used to find the necessary SNR for a desired precision. A complete set of results, applying the coverage cells to a real building covering a path followed by an MR, is shown. The position of the MR can be known, with an accuracy value below 5 cm and tested in a basic rectangular locating cell with dimensions 3.0 m × 2.5 m.


Through the 1980s numerous attempts were made to merge, articulate, and rationalise university administrations. By the end of the decade, it appeared that Macquarie University would be almost the only single campus university left in New South Wales. Where does the idea of the multicampus university come from and what are the contextual factors which make the idea, first, increasingly plausible, and finally inevitable, with the enactment of the Dawkins reforms in 1988-89? This paper finds the origins of the idea in overseas practice (particularly in Britain and the USA), tracks its emergence as a policy option through the early 1980s, and outlines the contextual factors which caused government agencies to seize upon the idea as a means of dealing with recurrent funding, social, and organisational crises associated with the emergence of Australia as a mass-consumer culture within a reflexive global society. A case study, demonstrating the effects of the idea upon the University of Sydney under the ministerial reign of Terry Metherell, will give point to the paper's major themes.

Mark Hutchinson is Historian for the University of Western Sydney's 25th Anniversary volume


The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of esterification via acetic or propionic anhydride on the surface roughness of eastern cottonwood. Eastern cottonwood (Populous deltoides) was esterified by using acetic or propionic anhydride without using any solvent or catalyst under different conditions. Two different weight percentage gains (WPGs) were obtained for each of the modifying chemicals. Three main surface roughness parameters, namely average roughness (Ra), mean peak to valley height (Rz) and maximum roughess (Rmax) were measured by a stylus method before and after esterification. The surface roughness was significantly increased due to the esterifications. The surface roughness of wood increased with increasing WPG.


The geomorphological behaviour of steep jointed rock slopes has been studied using distinct element computer models. In order to model steep slopes effectively, methodologies need to be combined from the studies of environmental modellers, geomorphologists and engineers. The distinct element method is ideal for the study of the development of jointed rock masses, where the failure is controlled by the nature of the discontinuities. Theoretical modelling identified that block size is a key control affecting the deformation of rock masses. Deformation of rock masses with smaller block assemblages is greater than for rock masses composed of larger block sizes. This is due to the increased magnitude of joint normal closure. Catastrophic failure is less likely in slopes with smaller block sizes because the shear strength is greater in a closely jointed rock mass. These slopes are more likely to undergo gradual deformations. Block-size effects are also responsible for influencing the failure mechanism of rock masses. As block size decreases, the magnitude of block rotation increases and the failure mechanism changes from sliding to toppling. The effect of slope scale on the deformation properties of the rock masses has also been investigated. Two field locations, the Picos de Europa mountains, northern Spain and Wadi Rum, southern Jordan, have been chosen to provide a link between the theoretical modelling and classic rock landforms which are controlled by the discontinuity geometry. Given the sporadic and infrequent occurrence of failure events at the field sites, a computer modelling approach has been adopted to analyse slope behaviour. In the Picos de Europa, slope deformations are deep-seated, with sliding and toppling being the dominant modes of failure. Much of the slope deformation in these mountains is a result of post-glacial rock-slope deformation. The sandstone inselbergs of Jordan show a range of morphologies from rounded hills to vertical cliffs. The morphology of the inselbergs is related to the intact rock strength; stronger Red lshrin sandstone forms vertical slopes, whereas the weaker Disi sandstone forms rounded domes. Jointing in the area is sub-vertical with horizontal bedding and computer simulations have shown that toppling is the dominant mode of failure in these inselbergs. Comparison of computer model output suggests that different failure mechanisms have distinct failure signatures. Catastrophic, deep-seated failures are characterised by a long period of acceleration as the failure propagates through the rock mass and infinite velocity is reached. Non-catastrophic slope movements, such as self-stabilising topples, are characterised by short periods of acceleration followed by small creep movements at a constant velocity. Computer modelling has indicated that scale effects do exist in the modelled rock masses from the Picos de Europa and particularly Wadi Rum. In areas where jointing is constant, the relative block size of the rock mass decreases as slope scale increases. The greater numbers of blocks along with greater in situ stresses influence the failure of the slope. Cosmogenic dating was used to temporally constrain UDEC model output and provide a better understanding of rock slope failure mechanisms in the Picos de Europa and Wadi Rum. Dating indicated delayed paraglacial adjustment was the triggering mechanism for slope failure in the Picos de Europa, whereas failures in Wadi Rum appeared to be closely linked with wetter climatic conditions.


The handFlok is intended for school an,' community programs helping learning disabled young adults make t transition from school to work. The first chapter describes development of the Transition Project by York County (Maine) and project components including referral, assessment, membership on the Transitional Pupil Evaluation Team, the Individual Transition Plan, and tracking. The second chapter examines the roles of the learning disabled young adult, the parents, the school, and the transition specialist. Options for the young adult are considered next, in the third chapter, and include continuing education, non-traditional educational programs, college and university programs, vocational technical institutes, and apprenticeships. The fourth chapter considers options in the world of work including part-time work and work study, employment services, and choosing the right job. Aspects of independent living and independent living programs are considered next. The following chapter provides information on sources of help including financial assistance (social security, Medicaid and Medicare, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, food stamps, and veterans' assistance); support organizations; networks and agencies (including parent organizations, legal assistance, state agencies, and professional assistance). Sources of further information are provided throughout the handbook. Appended are a learning disabilities assessment summary form, a functional assessment profile, and an individual transition plan form. (DB)


A recent update of Water Framework Directive classifications in the UK indicates that only 28% of water bodies currently achieve good ecological status and that agriculture is one of the main sectors responsible for the pressures contributed by sediment and nutrients. The use of edge-of-field features, such as field wetlands - small sediment and pollutant trapping features (<500 m2) constructed along runoff pathways, is one set of mitigation options available to farmers. Before reaching the waterways, polluted runoff is slowed down by passage through the field wetland, allowing some sediment and nutrients to settle out. Although the principle of field wetlands is well accepted, and they are widely used in Scandinavia for diffuse pollution mitigation, there is little quantitative evidence of their capability for water quality improvement in the UK. Ten field wetlands have been constructed in the UK agricultural landscape in order to quantify the potential for sediment and nutrient retention and to provide guidelines on their likely effectiveness under various conditions. The ten sites covered different combinations of soil type, field wetland design, wetland size relative to catchment area and runoff source. Sediment and nutrient retention was measured by annual sediment surveys at each field wetland. Sediment trapping rates of 0.5 – 6 t ha-1 yr-1 were recorded on a sandy soil site, compared to 0.02 – 0.4 t ha-1 yr-1 on a silty soil site and 0.01 – 0.07 t ha-1 yr-1 on a clay soil site, although rainfall was a confounding factor, with much lower rainfall at the clay site during the monitoring period. Concentrations of total phosphorus, total nitrogen and total carbon in the sediments trapped were highest at the sandy site, where there was a wastewater input in addition to the agricultural runoff. The importance of land use, and ground cover in particular, was highlighted by a ten-fold increase in the sediment trapped in one field wetland from one year to the next when pasture was ploughed up for an arable crop. These multi-functional edge-of-field features have shown good potential for reduction of sediment and nutrient input to the waterways. In addition, field wetlands provide biodiversity benefits and in some circumstances may also contribute to flood attenuation, and should be considered alongside in-field measures as part of an integrated solution for catchment management.


Stress fractures of the upper extremity in athletes have been previously described in the literature but are quite rare. This is a case involving a 20-year-old male varsity basketball player presenting with progressive forearm pain during intense preseason try-outs and training. The patient was treated conservatively with activity modification to offload the bone and supportive therapy. The following case report discusses the aspects of overtraining and biomechanics in overhead shooting that led to developing a stress fracture. It outlines important clinical history, exams and investigations required when suspecting a stress fracture. Finally, management, rehabilitation and progression back to support is discussed for the case athlete. This case illustrates the need for attention to shooting technique, biomechanics and overtraining in overhead shooting athletes.


Ceroplastodes psychotriae sp.n. (fig. 1). Test of the adult female oval, strongly convex at maturity, provided with marginal and dorsal waxen appendages. The marginal series is apparently formed by six lateral, two frontal and two caudal appendages, broad, stout and curved downwards; dorsal appendages four, smaller and curved upwards. Wax glassy, white or dirty white. Length 3.5 mm. to 5 mm. Dermis at full maturity moderately chitinised. The following descriptionption of the body structures was made on mounted specimens in which the process of chitinisation had not set in. Antennae of eight segments.


In recent years the student experience of higher education in general and distance education in particular has been strongly influenced by the wide scale uptake of Internet based learning approaches and an expanding distance education market, amongst many other trends. As competition within the sector increases because of access to the WWW and other in-country socio-political influences, the push to attract and retain students is becoming a key issue for institutions. Understanding the distance student's voice in relation to these trends and developing appropriate responses to ensure a satisfactory learning experience is of critical importance. This paper reports on a recently completed study that explored the distance learners' experience at one dual-mode Australian institution. The paper outlines a rationale for investigating the student voice to meet the unique needs of the distance learner. It describes the approaches that were adopted to undertake the research and discusses some of the main themes that emerged from the study - individualness, connectedness, quality, mobility, and resourcefulness. The paper concludes with considerations for policy and practice in relation to utilising the distance learners' voice in enhancing distance leaners' experiences.


Purpose

This paper aims to examine the influence of the international spectrum management regime on the introduction of flexibility in the national allocation of radiocommunication services. This is achieved through focusing on the main elements of the international regime.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative inductive methodology is adopted that examines the different elements of the international radiocommunication service allocation framework. Data are drawn from 66 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders who are actively involved in International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector discussions.

Findings

The international radio regulations (RR) are perceived to be more of a framework for harmonisation that does not constrain the flexibility of countries. Countries are only restricted on their borders with their neighbours, and flexibility is already facilitated through a range of different measures. Moreover, several elements of the RR can be used to achieve both, i.e. to promote flexibility and to restrict the decisions of others.

Practical implications

The international spectrum management regime is not one of the reasons for the unsuccessful practical application of the flexible spectrum property rights concept. This suggests the need for reviewing whether there still is a need for such a concept given the increasing importance of global harmonisation and economies of scales.

Originality/value

This paper sheds light on spectrum property rights from the perspective of the international spectrum management regime. Such a perspective is largely overlooked in the on-going current debate.


This paper contains the European Company Law Experts' response to the report of the European Commission of 28 June 2012 on the application of the Takeover Bids Directive of 2004 and the reform initiatives announced. For evaluating these initiatives the rationale of the mandatory bid rule is relevant (exit rationale, control premium rationale and undistorted choice rationale). On this basis the paper discusses each of the concerns raised by the European Commission: 1) The concept of "acting in concert": The ECLE are of the opinion that a uniform concept for the Takeover Bids Directive, the Transparency Directive and the Acquisition Directive is not useful because of the different objectives of these Directives. As to the Takeover Directive it should be made clear that joint engagement activities of investors should not trigger a mandatory offer. 2) National derogations to the mandatory offer rule differ widely, but there are different types of derogations that pose different concerns. The ECLE recommend that the Directive should provide for a review process with respect to national derogations. 3) The ECLE believe that there are good reasons to close the loopholes against the "creep in" and the "creep on" acquisitions. 4) As to board neutrality and the break-through rule the ECLE believe that the default rules should be changed. The option rights should be given to the shareholders, not to the member states. The reciprocity rule is flawed. 5) The protection of the rights of employees should be addressed in a wider context and should not be taken up specifically for one type of transaction such as takeover bids.


In 2016 the LHCf experiment has fulfilled its original goal of measuring the spectra of the neutral particles produced in the very forward direction at LHC at the highest energy ever available. The main purpose of these measurements is indeed to provide the Cosmic Ray and High Energy Physics communities with a missing unique set of information for the improvement of the hadronic interaction models used to simulate air showers development produced in the interaction of primary High Energy Cosmic Rays (HECR) with the Earth atmosphere. The last data sets collected by the LHCf experiment have been obtained during p+p collisions, at an energy of 13 TeV in the CM frame, and p+Pb collision, at an energy of 5.2 TeV and 8.1 TeV in the nucleon-nucleon CM frame. A review of the main results of LHCf and of the recent and on-going activities will be presented.


ST-2 is a revision of an experimental protocol designed to support applications which require guaranteed network services. ST-2 provides mechanisms for creating streams, tree-shaped delivery paths with performance guarantees, for applications which require such guarantees. As part of the MultiG project, the authors implemented ST-2 in the BSD system. The twin goals of this implementation were to see how easily a novel protocol like ST-2 could be incorporated into the BSD networking model and, more importantly, to thoroughly evaluate the ST-2 protocol. Our conclusions are that the BSD model proved quite general, requiring only modest changes (changes which were largely invisible to the application), but that the ST-2 protocol itself needs some reworking.


Queen Victoria is most anxious to enlist everyone who can speak or write to join in checking this mad wicked folly of women's rights, with all its attendant horrors, on which her poor sex is bent' - 1870 It was a bloody and dangerous war lasting several decades, won finally by sheer will and determination in 1928. Drawing on extracts from diaries, newspapers, letters, journals and books, Joyce Marlow has pieced together this inspiring, poignant and exciting history using the voices of the women themselves. Some of the people and events are well-known, but Marlow has gone beyond the obvious, particularly beyond London, to show us the ordinary women - middle and working-class, who had the breathtaking courage to stand up and be counted - or just as likely hectored, or pelted with eggs. These women were clever and determined, knew the power of humour and surprise and exhibited 'unladylike' passion and bravery. Joyce Marlow's anthology is lively, comprehensive, surprising and triumphant.


Using $q$-series identities and series rearrangement, we establish several extensions of $q$-Watson formulas with two extra integer parameters. Then they and Sears' transformation formula are utilized to derive some generalizations of $q$-Dixon formulas and $q$-Whipple formulas with two extra integer parameters. As special cases of these results, many interesting evaluations of series of $q$-Watson,$q$-Dixon, and $q$-Whipple type are displayed.


Abstract Appreciable injection‐induced seismicity has been occurring in north‐central Oklahoma since 2009. To better understand these earthquakes, we have compiled new information on the state of stress in the state to compare it with both mapped faults and faults inferred from earthquake epicenters and focal plane mechanisms. Seventy‐five new in situ stress orientations are available from wellbores throughout the state. In the north‐central part of the state where the induced seismicity is occurring, stress orientation and relative magnitude from focal mechanism inversions show excellent agreement with the wellbore stress orientations. All of the data show remarkably uniform stress directions. The azimuth of S Hmax , the maximum horizontal stress, is about N85°(±5°)E. Strike‐slip faulting is occurring in central Oklahoma, with strike‐slip/normal and normal faulting observed in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. As very few of the thousands of M ≥2.5 earthquakes that have recently occurred are located on, or near, already mapped faults, we utilize the stress information to interpret the likely fault planes associated with over 300 well‐constrained focal plane mechanisms. In the vicinity of the January 2016 sequence of magnitude 4 and 5 earthquakes in the Fairview, Oklahoma, region, we illustrate how knowledge of the stress field can be used to identify the faults responsible for the seismicity and better evaluate the potential hazard associated with possible future earthquakes in the area. The September 2016 M w  5.8 Pawnee event occurred on an unmapped N70°W trending strike‐slip fault expected to be active in the local stress field.


Tourette's syndrome (TS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder often associated with social
difficulties and inappropriate behaviours (e.g. Kurlan et al., 1996). These behavioural
difficulties may indicate impairment on aspects of social-emotional processing, but may
also be related to impairments in executive functions which have been reported in TS,
particularly for aspects of inhibition. This thesis aims to examine different aspects of socialemotional
processing and executive functions in TS, and to assess the possible contribution
of executive processes. A series of experimental studies was conducted to compare those
with TS to healthy matched control participants. With respect to social-emotional
processing, ability to decode social-emotional cues, to regulate emotional experience, and
to regulate social behaviour according to context, and possible executive contributions to
these processes were examined. Further studies extended previous research by examining
inhibitory functions not previously assessed in TS, and explored the contribution of task
complexity to inhibitory performance. The findings of the experimental studies are
considered in the context of recent models of social-emotional processing (Ochsner, 2008),
executive functions (Miyake et al., 2000) and inhibition (Nigg, 2000). Several alternative
explanations of the findings of this thesis were identified: selective inhibitory impairment,
level of executive task demands, or multiple deficits in executive and social-emotional
processing. The applicability of these different explanations to the findings is discussed,
and the implications of the findings are reviewed.


Gamut mapping algorithms, implemented by color management systems, are an integral part of the color reproduction process. By adjusting the colors with appropriate algorithms, gamut mapping enables original colors to fit inside differently shaped color gamuts and authentically transfers images across a range of media. This book illustrates the range of possible gamut mapping strategies for cross-media color reproduction, evaluates the performance of various options and advises on designing new, improved solutions. Starting with overviews of color science, reproduction and management, the text includes: a detailed survey of 90+ gamut mapping algorithms covering color-by-color reduction and expansion, spatial reduction, spectral reduction and gamut mapping for niche applications; a step-by-step example of a colors journey from original to reproduction, via a digital workflow; a detailed analysis of color gamut computation, including a comparison of alternative techniques and an illustration of the gamuts of salient color sets and media; a presentation of both measurement-based and psychovisual evaluation of individual color reproductions; an overview of alternative approaches to gamut mapping proposed by the ISO and the CIE including an analysis of the building blocks of gamut mapping algorithms and the factors affecting their performance. Color Gamut Mapping is a comprehensive resource for practicing color and imaging engineers, scientists and researchers working in the development of imaging devices, software and solutions. It is also a valuable reference for students of color and imaging science, as well as photographers, graphic designers and artists.


This paper proposes a hybrid motion reproduction structure using a master-slave structure manipulator based on a motion-copying system. Data-driven control will be an important technique in the near future. Learning from Demonstration (LfD) using a robot manipulator is already used in manufacturing. Unlike other motion observation methods based on visual or trajectory responses, a motion-copying system can obtain not only trajectory response but also force response during contact motion, which is necessary to realize contact tasks. A motion-copying system has two phases, the motion saving phase and motion reproduction phase. In the motion reproduction phase, the motion stored in the motion saving phase obtained from the bilateral control can be used to reproduce specific motion. Existing control methods for a motion-copying system have only one system in the reproduction phase, a slave system. It is necessary to consider the case where there are two systems in the phase to widen the application of a motion-copying system. The additional system can provide flexibility to the reproduced motion. In this case, data, human, and a robot are involved in reproducing the motion. In this paper, the control structure is proposed when there are two systems in the motion reproduction phase. Because there are two systems, it is necessary to design the controllers for each system. The proposed method uses a coordinate transformation technique to design two motions in each system separately. The paper also introduces a novel index called the reproduction ratio. It determines the motion to be reproduced in the motion reproduction phase. The ratio is used as an element of a coordinate transformation matrix. The experimental results show the validity of the proposed method.


A theoretical investigation of heat flow, solidification and solid shell resistance "Ic" has been undertaken by using a mathematical model and previous plant trials. The ultimate purpose is to develop operating conditions and therefore to improve the surface quality for continuously cast steel slabs. A new simple criterion called mold thermomechanical rigidity "MTMR" has been proposed to evaluate and to improve these purposes. The parameters of MTMR and its non-dimensional number which use to control the surface defects are present in this investigation. Previous plant trails of slab surface defects formation have been investigated thermo-mechanically with this criterion. The predications show that this criterion is very sensitive of operating parameters and is a significant qualitative tool to evaluate the surface quality. From examination of the behavior of MTMR, the susceptibility and mechanism of surface defects formations with MTMR have been primarily discussed.


Told with Lemmy's indomitable charisma and humour, this is the autobiography of a rock icon who over the past thirty years in the industry, has stayed true to his music, his fans and his pleasures. Lemmy was born Ian Fraser Kilmister in 1945, the son of a vicar who walked out on his mother when Lemmy was just three months old. Having been inspired to play the guitar by Chicks, Little Richard and Buddy Holly, Lemmy formed what would become the ultimate metal group in 1975 and christened them Motorhead. The group went on to embrace a rock-and-roll lifestyle fuelled by drink, drugs and women, and in the process released twenty-one albums and attracted a huge following. WHITE LINE FEVER is a truly headbanging tour through the last few decades of speedmetal, offering a sometimes hilarious, often outrageous, but highly entertaining trip with the frontman of the loudest rock band in the world.


Most studies of the political economy of money focus on the laws protecting central banks from government interference; this book turns to the overlooked people who actually make monetary policy decisions. Using formal theory and statistical evidence from dozens of central banks across the developed and developing worlds, this book shows that monetary policy agents are not all the same. Molded by specific professional and sectoral backgrounds and driven by career concerns, central bankers with different career trajectories choose predictably different monetary policies. These differences undermine the widespread belief that central bank independence is a neutral solution for macroeconomic management. Instead, through careful selection and retention of central bankers, partisan governments can and do influence monetary policy - preserving a political trade-off between inflation and real economic performance even in an age of legally independent central banks.


This is a screen capture video showing how to upload files to the Loughborough Data Repository. It also demonstrates how a Loughborough academic's deposits are automatically added to their Symplectic Elements (LUPIN) profile. The video was created by Dr Gareth Cole on 17th October 2017 using Camtasia Studio version 8. It was created in collaboration with the School of Business and Economics Impact team.


Purpose
This paper explores the factors that are associated with a capacity of non-profits to develop social innovations (SIs). The purpose of this paper is to examine factors in the Russian national context with weak non-profit sector with an ambiguous governmental policy toward the sector.

Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on survey data (n=850 NPOs, 2015, Russia). The paper analyses the likelihood of a non-profit to introduce SIs due to external framework and organizational factors. Regression analysis was applied in the study. The study is based on a new sampling approach and examines non-profits as producers of SIs, but not cases of SIs per se.

Findings
The results demonstrate that the capacity of an NPO to develop SIs is explained by the following enabling factors: cross-boundary collaborative relations, volunteer involvement and diversity of the revenue structure. Composition of innovative sub-sector, opportunities and chances of getting into this group are explicitly determined and regulated by the current governmental policy toward the sector. That is that large and established non-profits are more likely to be innovative in Russia, unlike expected grass-roots.

Originality/value
The paper applies a theoretical framework to analyze the SI concept in a non-western context with weak civil society and an influential government. From this perspective, the results present empirical quantitative verification of the determinants of SI capacity of NPOs. The paper is among the first to apply a reverse sampling principle and examine SIs via NPOs as producers. The paper produced, for the first time, an empirical description of the nature of innovative activity by NPOs and an estimation of the extent of this activity in Russia.


In a short and legendary life, Alfred Jarry (1873-1907) created a unique and large body of work that included plays, novels, poetry, journalism and other less definable speculations and texts. His writings form the essential bridge between the European avant-garde of the 1890s (Symbolism) and those of the Twentieth century (Futurism, Dada, Surrealism). In the last fifty years his influence has scarcely faltered, in particular his science of 'Pataphysics has informed the recent writings of Deleuze, Baudrillard and Eco, among others. The College of 'Pataphysics, founded in Jarry's honour, has numbered among its members luminaries such as Cortazar, Duchamp, Ionesco, Leiris, Queneau and most of the other writers of the "Oulipo".

Despite this influence he is still best known in English as the author of Ubu Roi; the aim of this three volume Collected Works is to make the totality of his major writings available in English for the first time.

This first volume presents his first two books, Black Minutes of Memorial Sand and Caesar-Antichrist, two apocalyptic Symbolist texts which already signal their self-destruction through the presence of Ubu.

A series of essays follows: aesthetic (Time in Art), philosophical (To Be and To Live), political (perhaps: Visions of the Present and Future), and concludes with his famous treatise on how to actually construct a time machine (convincing enough to be taken seriously by contemporary scientists). Jarry's own selection of his speculative journalism completes this volume.


Massive stars that lose their hydrogen-rich envelope down to a few tenths of a solar mass explode as extended type IIb supernovae, an intriguing subtype that links the hydrogen-rich type II supernovae with the hydrogen-poor type Ib and Ic. The progenitors may be very massive single stars that lose their envelope due to their stellar wind, but mass stripping due to interaction with a companion star in a binary system is currently considered to be the dominant formation channel. Anticipating the upcoming automated transient surveys, we computed an extensive grid of binary models with the Eggleton binary evolution code. We identify the limited range of initial orbital periods and mass ratios required to produce type IIb binary progenitors. The rate we predict from our standard models, which assume conservative mass transfer, is about six times smaller than the current rate indicated by observations. It is larger but still comparable to the rate expected from massive single stars. We evaluate extensively the effect of various assumptions such as the adopted accretion efficiency, the binary fraction and distributions for the initial binary parameters. To recover the observed rate we must generously allow for uncertainties and consider low accretion efficiencies in combination with limited angular momentum loss from the system. Motivated by the claims of detection and non-detection of companions for a few IIb supernovae, we investigate the properties of the secondary star at the moment of explosion. We identify three cases: (1) the companion is predicted to appear as a hot O star in about 90% of the cases, as a result of mass accretion during its main sequence evolution, (2) the companion becomes an over-luminous B star in about 3% of the cases, if mass accretion occurred while crossing the Hertzsprung gap or (3) in systems with very similar initial masses the companion will appear as a K supergiant. The second case, which applies to the well-studied case of SN 1993J and possibly to SN 2001ig, is the least common case and requires that the companion very efficiently accretes the transferred material – in contrast to what is required to recover the overall IIb rate. We note that relative rates quoted above depend on the assumed efficiency of semi-convective mixing: for inefficient semi-convection the presence of blue supergiant companions is expected to be more common, occurring in up to about 40% of the cases. Our study demonstrates that type IIb supernovae have the potential to teach us about the physics of binary interaction and about stellar processes such as internal mixing and possibly stellar-wind mass loss. The fast increasing number of type IIb detections from automated surveys may lead to more solid constraints on these model uncertainties in the near future.


This brand-new Apple-certified guide, reconceived for Logic's new interface, uses all-new projects and media files to show you how to record, produce, and polish your musical creations with Apple's professional audio software. Veteran audio producer David Nahmani uses step-by-step, project-based instruction and straightforward explanations to teach everything from basic music creation to advanced production techniques.Using the book's DVD files and either Logic Pro 8 or Logic Express 8, you'll begin making music in the first lesson. From there, you'll learn to record audio and MIDI, edit sequences, master mixing techniques, and use Logic's software synthesizers, sampler, and digital signal processors to put the perfect aural polish on your audio creations. A special troubleshooting section helps you set up and optimize your studio and Logic system effectively. Whether you're looking to use your computer as a digital recording studio, create musical compositions and cutting-edge surround-sound mixes, or transfer that song in your head into living music, this comprehensive book/DVD combo will show you how.


In this article, the author argues that the proper roles not only should permit, but should require, those actors to provide extensive assistance to unrepresented litigants, particularly the unrepresented poor. The article first examines the traditional limits on the judges, mediators and clerks, showing that the limits effectively bar those actors from providing the assistance necessary to allow unrepresented litigants to participate meaningfully in court. Recognizing that the roles of the judges, mediators and clerks are interrelated, the article next identifies basic concepts that should inform the reshaping of the particular roles; it then proposes revisions to our traditional understanding of the proper roles of judges, mediators and clerks. The article ends with an examination of some of the current discussions of the problems facing unrepresented litigants in the contexts of family courts, bankruptcy courts and housing courts. The final section shows that the details of the roles must be tailored to particular contexts and that the discussions continue to ignore the need for a fundamental revision of the roles of the critical actors in the system.


Importance
It remains unknown whether in an asymptomatic community-based cohort magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of plaque characteristics are independently associated with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) events when adjusted for carotid artery (CA) wall thickness, a measure of plaque burden.

Objective
To assess associations of CA MRI plaque characteristics with incident CVD events.

Design, Setting, and Participants
The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study is a prospective epidemiologic study of the incidence of CVD in 15 792 adults of which 2066 women and men were enrolled in the ARIC Carotid MRI substudy. ARIC participants were enrolled from 1987 to 1989, and the substudy was conducted between January 2004 and December 2005. Analysis began January 2017 and ended August 2020.

Exposures
Incident CVD events during a median (interquartile range [IQR]) follow-up time of 10.5 (8.1-10.9) years were assessed.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Proportional hazards Cox analyses were performed to ascertain associations between MRI variables of CA plaque burden and plaque characteristics.

Results
Of 15 792 ARIC participants, 2066 were enrolled in the substudy, of whom 1256 (701 women [55.8%]) had complete data and were eligible for incident CVD analyses. Carotid artery plaques in participants with incident CVD events (172 [13.7%]) compared with those without (1084 [86.3%]) had a higher normalized wall index (median [IQR], 0.48 [0.36-0.62] vs 0.43 [0.34-0.55]; P = .001), maximum CA wall thickness (median [IQR], 2.22 [1.37-3.52] mm vs 1.96 [1.29-2.85] mm; P = .01), maximum CA stenosis (median [IQR], 5% [0%-22%] vs 0% [0%-13%]; P < .001), and when present, a larger lipid core volume (median [IQR], 0.05 [0.02-0.11] mL vs 0.03 [0.01-0.07] mL; P = .03), respectively. The presence of a lipid core was independently associated with incident CVD events when adjusted for traditional CVD risk factors and maximum CA wall thickness (hazard ratio, 2.48 [95% CI, 1.36-4.51]; P = .003), whereas the presence of calcification was not. The frequency of intraplaque hemorrhage presence in this population of individuals free of CVD at baseline who were not recruited for carotid stenosis was too small to draw any meaningful conclusions (intraplaque hemorrhage presence: 68 of 1256 participants [5.4%]). Carotid artery lumen area and maximum stenosis, which were overall low, were independently associated with incident CVD events when adjusted for traditional CVD risk factors, as anticipated.

Conclusions and Relevance
The presence of a CA lipid core on MRI is associated with incident CVD events independent of maximum CA wall thickness in asymptomatic participants.


This paper investigates the connections between an individual variable, creativity, and performance on oral narrative tasks with different levels of cognitive complexity. Participants of the study were 41 Hungarian first-year English major university students whose creativity was measured with the help of a standardised test. They performed two oral narrative tasks: a cognitively less complex one where the story was given and a cognitively more complex one where they had to invent the story themselves. The task performance measures employed were accuracy, syntactic complexity, lexical variety, fluency, quantity of talk, and narrative structure. Findings of the study indicated that increasing cognitive complexity resulted in greater accuracy, less fluent performance, and less lexical variety in the case of the more complex task. Besides studying the effect of varying cognitive complexity, the relationships between three aspects of creativity, creative fluency, relative flexibility, and average originality, and the above described measures of task performance were also examined. Findings suggested that the role of creativity was different in the case of the less and more complex task, and that performance on the more complex task was affected more by this individual variable.


Our knowledge of submarine upper flow regime bedforms is very limited. Numerical experiments presented herein were designed to broaden our understanding of the origin and dynamics of fine-grained upper flow regime bedforms in turbidite systems, particularly on levees and continental slopes. The experiments combine field information in order to (1) examine the hydrodynamic response of a bed consisting of fine-grained sediment waves to a wide range of turbidity current conditions, and (2) demonstrate that fine-grained sediment waves most likely form and evolve as upper flow regime bedforms, i.e., cyclic steps, transitional bedforms, or antidunes. The results of the study provide valuable information for the reconstruction of turbidity current flow dynamics on levees, continental slopes, and in other submarine settings that display a slope break.


Protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2), a G protein-coupled receptor for trypsin and tryptase, exerts important physiological and pathological functions in multiple systems. However, unlike PAR-1, the PAR-2-mediated intracellular signal transductions are hardly known. Here, using yeast two-hybrid screening with a human brain cDNA library, we identified an interacting partner of human PAR-2, the Jun activation domain-binding protein 1 (Jab1). The interaction was confirmed by glutathione S-transferase pull-down assays in vitro, and by co-immunoprecipitation assays in vivo. Jab1 was also shown to be colocalized with PAR-2 in both transfected HEK293 cells and in normal primary human astrocytes by double immunofluorescence staining. Further experiments demonstrated that multiple intracellular domains of PAR-2 are required for the interaction with Jab1. We then showed that agonist stimulation of PAR-2 disrupted the interaction, which could be prevented by the inhibitor of receptor endocytosis phenylarsine oxide, but not by the lysosomal protease inhibitor ZPAD. Importantly, we found that activation of PAR-2 induced the redistribution of Jab1 from the plasma membrane to the cytosol, but did not influence expression of Jab1. Furthermore, Jab1 mediated PAR-2-induced c-Jun activation, which was followed by increased activation of activator protein-1. Loss-of-function studies, using Jab1 small interfering RNA, demonstrated that Jab1 knockdown blocked PAR-2-induced activator protein-1 activation. Taken together, our data demonstrate that Jab1 is an important effector that mediates a novel signal transduction pathway for PAR-2-dependent gene expression.


OBJECTIVES: To examine the association of immune cell number and function with occupational exposure to substances contaminated with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). METHODS: A cross sectional medical survey. The exposed participants were employed at two chemical plants between 1951 and 1972 in the manufacture of 2,4,5-trichlorophenate and its derivatives. The reference group consisted of people with no occupational exposure to phenoxy herbicides who lived within the communities of the workers. Data from a total of 259 workers and 243 unexposed referents were included in the analysis of immune function. Laboratory tests for immune status included enumeration of circulating leukocyte and lymphocyte populations, proliferative responses of circulating lymphocytes to mitogens and antigens, and serum concentrations of the major immunoglobulins and complement factor C3. RESULTS: The workers had substantial exposure to substances contaminated with TCDD, as indicated by a lipid adjusted mean serum TCDD concentration of 229 ppt compared with a mean of 6 ppt in the unexposed referents. Workers were divided into categories based on their serum TCDD concentration. For all categories except the lowest, with values of serum TCDD comparable with the unexposed referents, there were increased odds of having lower counts of CD26 cells (activated T cells) (odds ratio (OR) 1.0, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.5 to 1.8 for TCDD < 20 ppt; OR 1.6, 95% CI 0.8 to 3.2 for TCDD 20-51 ppt; OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.4 to 5.1 for TCDD 52-125 ppt; OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.4 to 4.9 for TCDD 125-297 ppt; OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.3 to 4.6 for TCDD 298-3389 ppt). A less consistent finding was decreased spontaneous proliferation of cultured lymphocytes. However, increases were found in proliferation of lymphocytes in response to concanavalin and pokeweed in workers in the high TCDD category. Age, cigarette smoking, and alcohol were significant predictors of several immunological outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Associations between serum TCDD concentration and both a decrease in circulating CD26 cells and decreased spontaneous background proliferation were the major findings of this study. These results are unlikely to be of clinical importance but may reflect limited evidence for an association between immunological changes in workers and high serum concentrations of TCDD, or chance findings resulting from the evaluation of multiple immunological variables.


A very interesting topic of nanotechnology today is the investigation of clusters exhibiting electrical quantum size effects, with the future aim of fabricating single-electron devices. One of the most suitable model compound is Au55 cluster, protected with various ligand shells of phosphorous- and sulfur organic molecules. In this work two main themes will be addressed: the effect of the covalent cross-link on the charge transfer mechanism of these nanoparticle systems and the conductive properties of the dense-packed cluster-monolayers.
The current literature opinion, whether the chemical nature of the ligands bridging two clusters influence the charge-transfer mechanism or not, is non-equivocate. Reifenberger et. al. assume that the chemical nature of the ligands, especially their end-groups have an impact on the conductance of a certain sample. Simon found that the activation energy of nanoparticle systems does not depend on the chemical nature of the ligands, but on the distance between the nanoparticles.
To clarify this apparent contradiction, the electrical properties of two-, quasi-two and three-dimensional systems were investigated. The measurements indicate that Simon's model is valid for physically cross-linked systems only. For covalently (chemically) cross-linked nanoparticle systems the activation energy is, however, smaller than expected from this and depend strongly on the chemical nature of the cross-linker ligand. The activation energy exhibits no trends as the function of the inter particle distance in this case.
In the last part of this work the electrical properties of cluster monolayers are presented. For the measurements Si substrates were used, equipped with tungsten contact structures by electron beam lithography. In order to get an electrically insulating layer under the electrical contacts, the top of the sample was oxidized to SiO2. It could be shown that a nanoparticle system on this substrate can be activated by an exposition to a low energy electron beam. We explain this phenomenon with trapping of excess electrons in the SiO2 layer, which induce image charges of opposite charge in the cluster layer. This effect causes changes in the electron-configuration and perhaps also in the structure of the arrangement. Asymmetrical spatial exposition of the layer leads to asymmetrical I-V characteristics. This phenomenon can be explained similar to the rectifying behavior of the semiconductor diode: the arising image charges acts as electron holes in the layer.


This project introduces new analyses of the impacts of the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) in traffic assignment models which are not widely available in the literature, as well as to reveal how stable the effects are in diverse models. A comprehensive review of the literature is conducted to provide an overview of MAUP, including the scale and zonal effects, as well as its recent applications in travel demand modelling and other subject areas. Particular scrutiny is made towards inappropriate methods of MAUP-analysis in travel demand models. The scale effect is tested in traffic assignment models using associated zone structures of the Greater Montreal Area (GMA), a unique geographic region involving island regions and water bodies.


Current embedded systems are usually designed for data-dominated applications, but they have a tight energy and time budget. Scratch-pad memories are completely software-controlled memories with predictable behaviour and good performance and energy characteristics, thus they tend to become a standard feature in many embedded systems. However, their predictability is not helping if the application accesses its data dynamically, when the addresses of the accessed data depend on the application's input. In such cases, predetermining the scratch-pad content at design-time is not always possible as the compiler cannot predict the runtime input. Moreover, in this case, both data reuse and data placement in the scratch-pad are inefficient because chunks of data already stored cannot be efficiently reused and combined with the runtime accessed data blocks. State-of-the art techniques copy each new data block to the scratch-pad without considering whether portions of them are already in it. Such dynamic temporal locality cannot be predicted or exploited by the compiler. The authors here present a system architecture, strongly connected to the system's scratch-pad and the processor's compiler, which is able to efficiently exploit run-time data reuse in the scratch-pad by being capable of holding valuable information, such as the exact data contents of the scratch-pad at runtime, and using it to do all the necessary operations for placing each new data block in scratch-pad. It is fine tuned for applications with run-time reuse between rectangular data blocks. The application domain of the proposed architecture is multimedia applications with run-time reuse, certain applications with linked lists and multi-threaded applications. It operates in a time and energy-efficient manner when compared with existing scratch-pad architectures without the authors' scratch-pad accelerator engine, showing its higher normalised performance and lower normalised energy consumption. Experimental results show up to 2.5 times performance increase compared with existing scratch-pad architectures and 5 times compared with cache architectures and energy decrease up to 1.9 and 3.9 times, respectively.


Among the numerous gatekeepers, peptides have attracted much interest due to their specific targeting, cell penetrating, endo-/lysosomal escaping, and enzymatic degrading capabilities. Recently, we developed peptide gatekeepers with turn structures that were triggered to release via stimuli-responsive conformational conversion. In this report, to extend the utilization of stimuli-responsive peptide gatekeepers on the surface of MSNs, we prepared α-helical peptide gatekeepers with a capability for stimuli-responsive conformational conversion on the surface of mesoporous silica nanoparticles. The stimuli-responsive α-helical peptide gatekeepers controlled the release of entrapped drugs triggered by GSH addition and consequential conformational conversion. Furthermore, the nanoparticles efficiently disrupted the liposome membranes. Therefore, stimuli-responsive α-helical peptide gatekeepers would be useful for the construction of mesoporous delivery vehicles with enhanced therapeutic efficacy via membrane disruption.


This thesis presents a comparison of high-speed rendering algorithms for the application in 2D/3D-image registration in radiation oncology. Image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) is a technique for improving the treatment of cancer with ionizing radiation by adapting the treatment plan to the current situation using 2D/3D-image registration. To accelerate this procedure, also rendering of Digitally Rendered Radiographs (DRR), as a part of it, has to be performed faster. In the context of this thesis, a GPU based wobbled splat rendering algorithm based on the work of Spoerk et al. (2007) is further improved and compared to a newly developed GPU based ray casting implementation. For comparison, rendering quality and performance as well as the influence on the quality and performance of the overall registration process are measured and analyzed in detail. These results show that both methods are competitive although ray casting has in its current implementation several advantages over wobbled splat rendering.


This article uses a famous photograph from the 1908 London Olympics to reflect on the broader relationship between competitive sports and photography, and especially to rethink the role of the so-called "pregnant moment." While sports reliably offer dramatic situations which can be used to highlight photography's potential to freeze movement and condense meaning in one image, photography offers sports a way to communicate the spectacle of moving bodies and outstanding performances. Yet sports photography is always entangled in cross-media practices that support and complicate the referentiality of the image in order to evaluate the athletic performance and its aesthetic experience. Adding to the broader discussion on photographic evidence, this article claims that, already starting in the early 20th century, sport contributed to a visual culture in which referentiality is unfolded in series of representations across different media. The pregnant-moment photograph, rather than condensing a competition in a single image, can more appropriately be conceived of as one instalment of such a cross-media series.


Medicated cotton crepe bandages have been developed, using natural curcumin conjugated polymer nanoparticle withbiocompatible and biodegradable properties. Curcumin (C) has been incorporated into Chitosan (Ch) and sodium alginate(A) microcapsule, which serve as templates for nanofibres. The coating of C-ChA results in chitosan scaffold (CS)containing curcumin-chitosan microcomplex (CS-CChM). Both the substances act as a powerful biomaterial for tissueengineering applications, especially for wound healing. CS-CChM along with C-ChA have been characterized using FTIRand SEM. The free radical scavenging effect is determined by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and anti-inflammatoryassay. The developed CS-CChM nanofibre shows an impressive mechanical stability which is an essential requirementfor wound healing. The bearing of curcumin shows cytotoxic effect. The in vitro radical scavenging activity and theanti-inflammatory assay are performed by inhibition of albumin denaturation. These microencapsulated matrix displayspotent anticancer activity against mouse fibroblast on both normal (L929) and human lung adenocarcinoma (A549) cells.The cell viability is observed to be 51.4 ± 0.71 and 30.53 ± 0.99 respectively for both. CS-CChM nanofibre is found to bestable against enzymatic degradation, which is the most important parameter for promoting the proliferation of cells,contributing to repair and remodeling of tissues during wound healing applications.


The coupling behavior of an InGaN/GaN quantum well (QW), which is assumed to consist of an array of radiating dipoles, with the induced localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonance on an Ag nanosphere (NS) embedded in the p-type layer of a nitride light-emitting diode is demonstrated. The numerical study of the coupling behavior of an individual radiating dipole is based on an algorithm, which takes account of the induction of LSP resonance on the Ag NS by the radiating dipole and the feedback of the LSP resonance to the behavior of the radiating dipole. In this study, we first evaluate the enhancements of dipole strength and radiated power in such a coupling process for the dipoles oriented along the radial and orbital directions with respect to the Ag NS under the conditions of different distances between the radiating dipole and Ag NS. Then, the QW coupling effect is obtained through the superposition of those of the individual dipoles in the array. It is found that both the LSP dipole resonance and higher-order resonance can contribute significant radiated power enhancements to the QW-LSP coupling system.


New Zealand's South Island is actively deforming as a result of oblique continental collision between the Pacific and Australian Plates. Within the central portion of the island, this results in reverse faulting, including earthquake rupture on the previously unreseached Lake Heron Fault. Because few of these faults have been studied, there is a major gap in knowledge on the paleoseismicity of the region. In this thesis, I use structural mapping, deformation analysis, geophysics, topographic contouring, fault measurements, Monte Carlo simulations, and paleoseismic trenching, in conjuction with geochronologic approaches including Schmidt hammer exposure age dating, and radiocarbon dating to characterize the earthquake history and behavior of the Lake Heron Fault. Measurements of Pleistocene-Holocene displacement of discrete and distributed deformation indicate that along the Lake Heron Fault, total vertical deformation is approximately 20 m since the Last Glacial Maximum. This deformation can be constrained, using Schmidt hammer exposure age dating, to the last 10.15±2.95 ka, and is consistent across surfaces which could differ in age by up to 15 ka. This suggests that a period of quiescence was followed by increased activity, and using Monte Carlo simulations, a vertical slip rate of 2.25 ± 1.05 mm/yr was calculated. This is more than double published vertical uplift rates, though when the fault dip within bedrock (60°) is integrated, net slip falls within published geodetic slip rates. While the fault was seen to dip 60° in bedrock, near surface dip measurements indicate a deflection and shallowing of fault dip by up to 80% in some locations in Late Quaternary sediments. Further structural calculations indicate that while the Lake Heron Fault has a strike (200°), preferential to pure dip-slip motion, which is seen on discrete fault scarps, microtectonic measurements from crestal grabens show that along the fault, near-surface stress and localized surface rupture is not representative of the regional stress or the structure at depth. From paleoseismic trenching, evidence of 2-3 earthquakes was discovered, and using radiocarbon dating, the timing of the last events is constrained to the last 2.6 ka, with the most recent event occurring approximately 0.6 ± 0.2 ka. Large single event displacements (2.75 ± 0.25 m), earthquake magnitudes (Mw 7.4 ± 0.3), and a short recurrence interval (1.45± 0.42 ka) indicate that the Lake Heron Fault has been highly active in the Holocene. Results of this study in conjunction with others also show there is a possibility the Lake Heron and Forest Creek fault represent an 80 km long, segmented reverse fault, capable of generating Mw 7.7 earthquakes. However, because of variability in the timing of paleoearthquakes, the structures more frequently ruptures independently in magnitude 7.0+ earthquakes. Lastly, I propose that changing crustal stress provides a possible mechanism for apparent temporal variability in the earthquake recurrence on the Lake Heron Fault.


OBJECTIVE--To determine age specific prevalence of HIV antibody, incidence of pregnancy, and likelihood of detection and correct assignment to risk category by antenatal screening of women known to be positive for HIV antibody, from 1984 to 1989. DESIGN--Retrospective analysis of reproductive history and risk behaviour of women positive for HIV antibody and prediction of detection by screening on the basis of blood group samples, Guthrie tests, and rubella tests. SETTING--City of Dundee, where the prevalence of HIV is high, since the appearance of HIV in 1984, predominantly among heterosexual intravenous drug users. PATIENTS--All (61) women known to be positive for HIV antibody who had had clinically indicated tests, for whom case notes were available for 60. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Risk assessment according to case notes and reported to the laboratory, incidence of infection, geographical location, age, date of positive test result, and reproductive history. RESULTS--With 61 infected women the overall minimum prevalence among women within the city of Dundee was 0.67/1000 and 2.9/1000 among women in their third decade. Of the 60 women whose reproductive history was available, 35 had 57 pregnancies, 36 of which occurred after seroconversion was known to have taken place, representing 8.7% of the total number of affected pregnancies reported for the United Kingdom. If antenatal screening for HIV had been performed between 1984 and 1989 it could not have detected positivity for HIV antibody in 25 (42%) women who had no pregnancies during this time. Among the remaining 35 women, screening samples taken for blood grouping could have identified a maximum of 34 (57%), samples taken to check rubella susceptibility a maximum of 22 (37%), and blood spots on Guthrie cards a maximum of 19 (32%). Retesting would have occurred in 14 women 33 times with samples taken for blood grouping, but three and four women would have been tested twice using samples taken for rubella testing and Guthrie cards respectively. Anonymous screening would have been unable to determine risk category as a history of intravenous drug use was known in 47 (79%) women before testing but this was increased by a further 5 (8%) who admitted to it after the test result was known. CONCLUSION--Interpreting the results of antenatal screening programmes will be complex and will underestimate overall prevalence of HIV antibody among women; this will be exaggerated by strategies based on anonymous testing with Guthrie cards or on samples taken for rubella testing, which do not include women who have had an earlier loss of pregnancy. Only open testing with consent will permit satisfactory attribution to


Introduction: Endophytic fungi are becoming an important source of new natural bioactive products. Many interesting endophytic fungi have been isolated from traditional medicinal plants. Crocus sativus L. (saffron) is one of the most expensive and rarest spices in the world, used as a dye, aroma and for medicinal purposes. This study reports on the molecular characterization of endophytic fungi isolated from roots of saffron plants growing in TaliouineMorocco, and the examination of the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of secondary metabolites extracted from these endophytes. Methods and Material: The fungi were isolated from sterilized saffron root fragments and identified using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rRNA gene sequence analysis. Three endophytes were fermented and extracted with ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and chloroform (CHCl3). The antibacterial activity of fungi extracts was evaluated using the Agar Diffusion Method against six strains, Bacillus sp., Stenotrophomonas sp., Pseudomonas putida, Pantoea sp., Luteibacter sp. and Escherichia coli. The antioxidant activity was tested by using the α,α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) analysis and β-Carotene bleaching test (BCBT) methods. Results: Sixty fungal isolates were recovered and purified from saffron roots. ITS rDNA sequences were 99-100% identical to three different species: Rhizopus oryzae, Aspergillus fumigatiaffinis and Aspergillus niger. Both Rhizopus oryzae extracts had high antibacterial activity against most of the bacteria tested, while Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus oryzae extracts showed an antioxidant capacity using DPPH and BCBT methods, respectively. Conclusion: The fungal endophytes inhabiting saffron roots could be a potential source of natural plant bioactive secondary metabolites especially for antibacterial and antioxidant purposes.


The most widely used medical ethics textbook today, Munson's INTERVENTION AND REFLECTION is the standard for this course. A collection of the most up to date and influential positions within the most pressing contemporary debates in medical ethics, this book provides students with the most comprehensive and authoritative introduction to the subject as well as a wide variety of cases to study. The combination of Munson's astute editing (which gives priority to non-technical readings), a wide variety of cases provided alongside the social contexts in which they arise, and insightful commentaries makes this book accessible and provocative to students with no formal philosophical training as well as to students with more formal experience in philosophy and/or the medical professions.


This research explores the perspective of social actors about the ecosystem services (ES) provided by tropical dry forests (TDF) in two protected areas in southern Ecuador that differ in their management schemes. Identifying the ES and understanding the prefer- ences of local communities is seen as a means for improving decision making, especially in the protected areas. Therefore, our goal was to apply social assessment tools in order to have an in depth appreciation of the factors influencing the perception of social actors in a comparative case study. Since the research was conducted in two areas with similar ecosystem, but with different management, it illustrates the potential role that management policies have at shaping the perception of social actors regarding TDF ' s ecosystem services. The results suggest that people perceive and prioritize ecosystem services differ- ently according to the area and that such perception and prioritization is influenced not only by the management processes but also by the role that social actors play in the protected area.


One of the continuing challenges for American marital property law in the twenty-first century, broadly understood, is what to do about property disputes between domestic partners who are not married. More precisely, the challenge is determining what to do when there are property disputes between unmarried intimate partners, whether heterosexual or homosexual. From what I can tell, this is as much of a challenge in Texas as it is in the rest of the country.In the northwest corner of the country, we have a set of attitudes that, like many social and cultural norms, have found their way into our common law. These northwestern attitudes might not be so common, or at least so commonly understood, in Texas. Thus, the purpose of this article is to describe how my Blue State of Washington handles property disputes between domestic partners, as well as to discuss what Texas might be able to take from a Blue State approach.


We prepared the three-dimensional model of the 2019-nCoV 3C-like protease (3CLpro) using the crystal structure of the highly-similar (96% identity) ortholog from the SARS-CoV. All residues involved in the catalysis, substrate binding and dimerisation are 100% conserved. Comparison of the polyprotein PP1AB sequences showed 86% identity. The 3C-like cleavage sites on the coronaviral polyproteins are highly conserved. Based on the near-identical substrate specificities and high sequence identities, we are in the opinion that some of the previous progress of specific inhibitors development for the SARS-CoV enzyme can be conferred on its 2019-nCoV counterpart. With the 3CLpro molecular model, we performed virtual screening for purchasable drugs and proposed 16 candidates for consideration. Among these, the antivirals ledipasvir or velpatasvir are particularly attractive as therapeutics to combat the 2019-nCoV with minimal side effects, commonly fatigue and headache. The drugs Epclusa (velpatasvir / sofosbuvir) and Harvoni (ledipasvir / sofosbuvir) could be very effective owing to their dual inhibitory actions on two viral enzymes.


Background/purpose: Operating under local anesthesia allows the patient to respond and provide feedback during surgery that is invaluable for patient safety and for the assessment of the pain generators and ultimately understanding of the source of pain that the surgeon is targeting. Over 10,000 case studies make up the database for information gleaned from patients reporting the pain experienced and relieved during translaminar and transforaminal endoscopic decompression. Method: The patient is provided mild sedation with versed and fentanyl unless no sedation is requested. Patients requesting no sedation are usually anesthesiologists and other spine surgeons who opt for decompressive surgery, but wanted some measure of surgical participation and control. The anesthesiologist titrates the patient with 1-2 cc of fentanyl and versed pre-op with titration during surgery. The average total amount is 4-5 cc for most procedures. 1% lidocaine is utilized for the local anesthetic. An average of 10-20 cc is used for local anesthesia, titrated as needed during surgery. Results: The results of decompression can be predicted by a combination of pain relief reported during, immediately after, and augmented by visualization of the targeted patho-anatomy. Such visualized pathology visualized includes annular tears, decompressed spinal nerves, and visualization of the axilla between the traversing and exiting nerve. Conclusion: Observations provides level 5 EBM (Expert opinion) for surgical intervention. Evidence based medicine usually starts with level 5 "expert" opinions. With the ability to evoke pain in conscious surgical patients, with endoscopic images of the patho-anatomy that correlates evoked pain production with subsequent pain resolution following visualized endoscopic decompression. Along with comparison of pre-and post op images, a new and different and level of EBM may emerge and need to be considered in addition to the traditional Levels 1-5 EBM guidelines.


BACKGROUND
The aim of our study was to analyze the incidence and prognostic value of intraocular hemorrhages caused by subarachnoid hemorrhages.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Retrospective data analysis of all patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage admitted to the University Hospital Zurich between 2005 and 2010. All patients have been classified according to Glasgow Coma, Hunt and Hess, WFNS and Fisher Scales.

RESULTS
Out of 391 patients only 26 have been examined by an ophthalmologist. 11/26 (42%) showed Terson's syndrome, compared to 11/391 (2.8%) in the overall cohort. In patients with intraocular hemorrhages there was a trend for a lower GCS and higher Hunt and Hess, WFNS and Fisher scales.

CONCLUSION
Intraocular hemorrhages are a relatively frequent, seemingly neglected complication of subarachnoid hemorrhages, and correlate with a higher mortality and morbidity in prospective studies. Routine fundoscopy of heavily impaired patients should be considered.


Quercetin is a flavonoid, of the subclass flavonols, possessing potential anticancer properties. It has often been defined as a functionally pleiotropic molecule because it can simultaneously target multiple pathways bypassing or ameliorating the onset of drug resistance in malignant cells. In this context, we reviewed the sometimes paradoxical antioxidant properties of quercetin and the functional role of its glucuronide and/or sulfate conjugates to discuss the low bioavailability of the molecule measured in vivo. We recently demonstrated that quercetin is able to sensitize several leukemia cell lines as well as B cells isolated from patients affected by chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) to death ligand agonists (anti-CD95 and rTRAIL). The flavonol also potentiates the effect of canonical and innovative chemotherapeutic drugs (fludarabine and ABT-737) against CLL. The apoptosis-enhancing activity of quercetin in cell lines and B-CLL cells depends upon the modulated expression and activity of Mcl-1, an anti-apoptotic protein belonging to the Bcl-2 family. Herein, we suggest that the pleotropic activity of quercetin in CLL is obtained by the direct inhibition of key protein kinases, which positively regulate Mcl-1 activity and by indirect downregulation of Mcl-1 mRNA and protein levels acting on its mRNA stability and proteasome-mediated degradation. Finally, we highlighted the pros and cons of quercetin supplementation in cancer therapy and in prevention.


Rearing a calf to weaning is a key measure of performance in a beef breeding cow herd. Adequate intake of colostral antibodies by the calf in the fi rst few hours of life is important for passive transfer of immunity, and so is benefi cial for calf survival. This experiment aimed to examine the role of udder conformation, maternal age and breed-cross on the colostral status of suckled calves. Udder conformation of Angus, Angus-cross-Friesian, Angus-cross-Jersey and Angus-cross-Kiwicross cows was scored according to Animal Evaluation Limited and BreedPlan standards, and colostral status of calves was determined based on gamma glutamyltransferase activity, immunoglobulin G and total protein concentrations at 24-48 hours of age. Udder conformation was similar (P>0.05) among breed-crosses except Angus cows had looser front udder attachment, lower rear udder attachment and less desirable udders overall than Angus-cross-dairy cows (P<0.05). Most udder conformation scores did not affect colostral status of calves. The exception was teat placement score, for which more outward-pointing teats were associated with improved colostrum status of calves (P<0.05). Survival to weaning was greater for calves with adequate compared with inadequate colostral status (P<0.001).


Converging evidence points to a link between anxiety proneness and altered emotional functioning, including threat‐related biases in selective attention and higher susceptibility to emotionally ambiguous stimuli. However, during these complex emotional situations, it remains unclear how trait anxiety affects the engagement of the prefrontal emotional control system and particularly the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a core region at the intersection of the limbic and prefrontal systems. Using an emotional conflict task and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated in healthy subjects the relations between trait anxiety and both regional activity and functional connectivity (psychophysiological interaction) of the ACC. Higher levels of anxiety were associated with stronger task‐related activation in ACC but with reduced functional connectivity between ACC and lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC). These results support the hypothesis that when one is faced with emotionally incompatible information, anxiety leads to inefficient high‐order control, characterized by insufficient ACC‐LPFC functional coupling and increases, possibly compensatory, in activation of ACC. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology of the neural circuitry underlying anxiety and may offer potential treatment markers for anxiety disorders. Hum Brain Mapp 36:2207–2214, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


This is a project on Analysis of Performance Management Techniques within three state corporations namely National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), Kenya Industrial Research & Development Institute (KIRDI) and Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya Re). It has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Masters of Business Administration of Kenyatta University. It consists of five chapters. In chapter one, the study introduces the subject and states the problem and objectives that necessitated the researcher to undertake the research. Chapter two deals with literature review in the area of performance management and brings out contemporary issues within the government operations that may necessitate and impact on performance management within state corporations. In chapter three, the study deals with the methodology adopted by the researcher in collecting necessary data for the study. Under chapter four, the researcher analyses and presents the collected data using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Finally, in chapter five, the findings of the study are discussed and conclusions drawn there from. The chapter ends with recommendations that, if adopted, would improve on the current performance management programs within the selected state corporations and, if possible, the other state corporations within the country.


BACKGROUND
Understanding the effect of the context of simulation to learning and performance is critical to ensure not only optimal learning but to provide a valid and reliable means to evaluate performance. The purpose of this study is to identify influences on performance from the student perspective and understand the contextual barriers inherent in simulation before using simulation for high-stakes testing.

METHOD
This study used a qualitative descriptive design. Senior nursing students (N = 29) provided nursing care during simulation. Vocalized thoughts during simulation and reflective debriefing were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was conducted on transcribed data.

RESULTS
Student performance during simulation was influenced by anxiety, uncertainty, technological limitations, and experience with the patient condition. Students had few previous simulation-based learning experiences that may have influenced performance.

CONCLUSIONS
More needs to be understood regarding factors affecting simulation performance before pass-or-fail decisions are made using this technology. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(7):396-398.].


Background. The multicenter, cluster-randomized Strategies to Reduce Transmission of Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria in Intensive Care Units (STAR*ICU) trial was performed in 18 U.S. adult intensive care units (ICUs). It evaluated the effectiveness of infection control strategies to reduce the transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization and/or infection. Our study objective was to examine the molecular epidemiology of MRSA and assess the prevalence and risk factors for community acquired (CA)-MRSA genotype nasal carriage at the time of ICU admission. Methods. Selected MRSA isolates were subjected to molecular typing using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Results. Of 5,512 ICU patient admissions in the STAR*ICU trial during the intervention period, 626 (11%) had a nares sample culture result that was positive for MRSA. A total of 210 (34%) of 626 available isolates were selected for molecular typing by weighted random sampling. Of 210 patients, 123 (59%) were male; mean age was 63 years. Molecular typing revealed that 147 isolates (70%) were the USAIOO clone, 26 (12%) were USA300, 12 (6%) were USA500, 8 (4%) were USA800, and 17 (8%) were other MRSA genotypes. In a multivariate analysis, patients who were colonized with a CA-MRSA genotype (USA300, USA400, or USA1000) were less likely to have been hospitalized during the previous 12 months (PR [prevalence ratio], 0.39 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.21-0.73]) and were less likely to be older (PR, 0.97 [95% CI, 0.95-0.98] per year) compared with patients who were colonized with a healthcare-associated (HA)-MRSA genotype. Conclusion. CA-MRSA genotypes have emerged as a cause of MRSA nares colonization among patients admitted to adult ICUs in the United States. During the study period (2006), the predominant site of CA-MRSA genotype acquisition appeared to be in the community.


Among the European languages with a participial passive, there are some that tend to distinguish dynamic passive and object resultative through the use of different auxiliaries, e.g. English, Italian or German. In German, the difference is obligatory, and the German difference between the werden-passive and the sein-resultative had an influence on several neighboring languages (Polish, Sorbian, Swiss Retoromansh, Hungarian). Only partly compatible with this area, there is another subareal in which a recipient passive is built by using verbs with the meaning 'get' as auxiliaries. Again, the origin has to be sought in German, but more or less grammaticalized recipient passives can be found in Sorbian (with the auxiliary borrowed in dialects and calqued in the standard), Czech, and Slovak (the auxiliary is a calque here). In the paper, corpus material from Upper Sorbian is compared to former descriptions of the recipient passive in Czech and Slovak, all by taking into account the situation in different varieties of German.
As a result of the comparison, it seems that there is stronger grammaticalization of the recipient passive in Sorbian dialects than in Czech, which is probably due to the fact that the Sorbian construction came into being earlier than the Czech one (evidence from 19th-century Upper Sorbian and Czech is given in the paper). While in Sorbian the construction perfectly resembles its German counterpart (including differences in grammaticalization and style between dialectal use and use in the standard language), in Czech there are some peculiarities in the choice of the full verbs used in the recipient passive that do not agree with either Standard German or East Middle German dialects. For these reasons, the process leading to the formation of the recipient passive can be analyzed as polysemy copying in Sorbian, but as replica grammaticalization in Czech. The recipient passive in Slovak seems to be dependent on Czech rather than on German.


Measurement of entire supply chain performance is an important issue, because it allows for "tracking and tracing" of efficacy and efficiency failures and leads to more informed decision-making with regards to chain organization. The ultimate aim of implementing a performance measurement system is to improve the performance of the organization. If supply chains can get their performance measurement right, the data they generate will tell them where they are, how they are doing, and where they are going. The choice of appropriate supply chain performance indicators is rather complicated due to presence of multiple inputs and multiple outputs in the system. This issue becomes even more problematic in the field of food and agribusiness due to specific characteristics of agri-food supply chains. These difficulties require a shift in the focus of performance evaluation and benchmarking from characterising performance in terms of single measures to evaluating performance in a multidimensional systems perspective. Efforts as well as progress have been made in this area but supply chain performance measurement received little attention in the field of food and agribusiness. This paper presents a conceptual framework for selection performance measurement indicators for agri-food supply chain. Four main categories of performance measures are identified as necessary components in agri-food supply chain performance measurement system. Each category contains set of performance indicators. Case study research has been designed in Dutch tomato supply chain to test the proposed conceptual framework.


Range dynamics causes mismatches between a species' geographical distribution and the set of suitable environments in which population growth is positive (the Hutchinsonian niche). This is because source–sink population dynamics cause species to occupy unsuitable environments, and because environmental change creates non‐equilibrium situations in which species may be absent from suitable environments (due to migration limitation) or present in unsuitable environments that were previously suitable (due to time‐delayed extinction). Because correlative species distribution models do not account for these processes, they are likely to produce biased niche estimates and biased forecasts of future range dynamics. Recently developed dynamic range models (DRMs) overcome this problem: they statistically estimate both range dynamics and the underlying environmental response of demographic rates from species distribution data. This process‐based statistical approach qualitatively advances biogeographical analyses. Yet, the application of DRMs to a broad range of species and study systems requires substantial research efforts in statistical modelling, empirical data collection and ecological theory. Here we review current and potential contributions of these fields to a demographic understanding of niches and range dynamics. Our review serves to formulate a demographic research agenda that entails: (1) advances in incorporating process‐based models of demographic responses and range dynamics into a statistical framework, (2) systematic collection of data on temporal changes in distribution and abundance and on the response of demographic rates to environmental variation, and (3) improved theoretical understanding of the scaling of demographic rates and the dynamics of spatially coupled populations. This demographic research agenda is challenging but necessary for improved comprehension and quantification of niches and range dynamics. It also forms the basis for understanding how niches and range dynamics are shaped by evolutionary dynamics and biotic interactions. Ultimately, the demographic research agenda should lead to deeper integration of biogeography with empirical and theoretical ecology.


Security protocols are one of the most critical elements in enabling the secure communication and processing of information, ensuring its confidentiality, integrity, authenticity and availability. These protocols are vulnerable to a host of subtle attacks, so designing protocols to be impervious to such attacks has proved to be extremely challenging and error prone.This book provides a thorough and detailed understanding of one of the most effective approaches to the design and evaluation of security critical systems, describing the role of security protocols in distributed secure systems and the vulnerabilities to which they are prey.The authors introduce security protocols, the role they play and the cryptographic mechanisms they employ, and detail their role in security architectures, e-commerce, e-cash etc. Precise characterizations of key concepts in information security, such as confidentiality, authentication and integrity are introduced and a range of tools and techniques are described which will ensure that a protocol guarantees certain security services under appropriate assumptions.Modeling and Analysis of Security Protocols provides: An in-depth discussion of the nature and role of security protocols and their vulnerabilities. A rigorous framework in which security protocols and properties can be defined in detail. An understanding of the tools and techniques used to design and evaluate security protocols.


The objective of this study was to conduct a field evaluation of a large collection of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) landraces from the Batinah coastal region of Oman (Batini), together with international elite germplasm, under different irrigation water salinities. This study was conducted on a subset of 234 (out of 2308 landraces) Omani landraces, together with an international elite germplasm composed of 43 breeding lines. Field experiments were conducted over two cropping seasons using three replications of irrigation water salinities corresponding to electrical conductivities of 2, 8 and 14 dS m -1 . The total yield variation was estimated to be higher than 80%. During 2003/2004, 277 entries were evaluated and only 70 entries were selected for a second year assessment. Averaged across all salinity levels, biomass yield and grain yield were 6 and 2 t ha -1 , respectively. Salinity reduced biomass yield and grain yield by 35% and 55% respectively, particularly at the highest level of 14 dS m 1 . However, some entries maintained 7-9.5 and 2-2.6 t ha -1 of biomass yield and grain yield, respectively. Genetic variation in salinity tolerance in the Omani landraces embeds the whole range of variance of the breeding lines. Salt-tolerant entries were identified for cultivation for biomass, grain and dual-purpose end-uses (grain plus straw).


Abstract. Floods are one of the most common natural disasters worldwide, leading to economic losses and loss of human lives. This paper highlights the hydrological effects of multi-temporal land use changes in flood hazard within the Yialias catchment area, located in central Cyprus. A calibrated hydrological model was firstly developed to describe the hydrological processes and internal basin dynamics of the three major subbasins, in order to study the diachronic effects of land use changes. For the implementation of the hydrological model, land use, soil and hydrometeorological data were incorporated. The climatic and stream flow data were derived from rain and flow gauge stations located in the wider area of the watershed basin. In addition, the land use and soil data were extracted after the application of object-oriented nearest neighbor algorithms of ASTER satellite images. Subsequently, the cellular automata (CA)–Markov chain analysis was implemented to predict the 2020 land use/land cover (LULC) map and incorporate it to the hydrological impact assessment. The results denoted the increase of runoff in the catchment area due to the recorded extensive urban sprawl phenomenon of the last decade.