In this work, we analyze the effect of multiple thick porous layers, fitted around a rigid vertical circular cylinder, on the wave forces acting on the rigid structure. Using the eigenfunction expansion method in cylindrical coordinates, we derive the expressions for velocity potentials in the respective domains and finally calculate the wave force acting on the rigid structure by integrating the pressure term. Consideration of the multiple porous layers, each with different porosity, gives rise to a very basic question to answer: what will be the appropriate arrangement of the porous layers to reduce the wave impact? Hence, for numerical study, we consider three different arrangements of the porous layers. For such arrangements of the porous layers, we also analyze the effects of the other crucial parameters, such as the number and the thickness of the porous layers, on the wave force. The key finding of the analysis is that the wave force acting on the rigid structure can be minimized by increasing the number of porous layers with decreasing porosity from the innermost layer to the outermost layer. The wave breaking and forced oscillations for certain values of the porous impedance parameter are some of the interesting observations. The present model is also verified against an existing work in the literature which shows an excellent agreement.


Due to a sharp decrease in hardware costs and shrinking form factors, networked sensors have become ubiquitous. Today, a variety of sensors are embedded into smartphones, tablets, and personal wearable devices, and are commonly installed in homes and buildings. Sensors are used to collect data about people in their proximity, referred to as users. The collection of such networked sensors is commonly referred to as the Internet of Things. Although sensor data enables a wide range of applications from security, to efficiency, to healthcare, this data can be used to reveal unwarranted private information about users. Thus it is imperative to preserve data privacy while providing users with a wide variety of applications to process their personal data. Unfortunately, most existing systems do not meet these goals. Users are either forced to release their data to third parties, such as application developers, thus giving up data privacy in exchange for using data-driven applications, or are limited to using a fixed set of applications, such as those provided by the sensor manufacturer. To avoid this tradeoff, users may chose to host their data and applications on their personal devices, but this requires them to maintain data backups and ensure application performance. What is needed, therefore, is a system that gives users flexibility in their choice of data-driven applications while preserving their data privacy, without burdening users with the need to backup their data and providing computational resources for their applications. We propose a software architecture that leverages a user's personal virtual execution environment (VEE) to host data-driven applications. This dissertation describes key software techniques and mechanisms that are necessary to enable this architecture. First, we provide a proof-of-concept implementation of our proposed architecture and demonstrate a privacy-preserving ecosystem of applications that process users' energy data as a case study. Second, we present a data management system (called Bolt) that provides applications with efficient storage and retrieval of time-series data, and guarantees the confidentiality and integrity of stored data. We then present a methodology to provision large numbers of personal VEEs on a single physical machine, and demonstrate its use with LinuX Containers (LXC). We conclude by outlining the design of an abstract framework to allow users to balance data privacy and application utility.


The digital transformation of our life changes the way we work, learn, communicate, and collaborate. Enterprises are presently transforming their strategy, culture, processes, and their information systems to become digital. The digital transformation deeply disrupts existing enterprises and economies. Digitization fosters the development of IT systems with many rather small and distributed structures, like Internet of Things, Microservices and mobile services. Since years a lot of new business opportunities appear using the potential of services computing, Internet of Things, mobile systems, big data with analytics, cloud computing, collaboration networks, and decision support. Biological metaphors of living and adaptable ecosystems provide the logical foundation for self-optimizing and resilient run-time environments for intelligent business services and adaptable distributed information systems with service-oriented enterprise architectures. This has a strong impact for architecting digital services and products following both a value-oriented and a service perspective. The change from a closed-world modeling world to a more flexible open-world composition and evolution of enterprise architectures defines the moving context for adaptable and high distributed systems, which are essential to enable the digital transformation. The present research paper investigates the evolution of Enterprise Architecture considering new defined value-oriented mappings between digital strategies, digital business models and an improved digital enterprise architecture.


Positional nystagmus (PN) is a type of nystagmus that occurs as a result of the head or the head and body being moved from one position to another and then statically maintained in the critical position. Until recently, PN was always considered as an abnormal finding regardless of its character. However, with emergence of the highly sensitive technique of videonystagmography (VNG) it has become apparent that PN does occur frequently in healthy individuals. Since the present criteria for determining pathological PN have been based on electronystagmography (ENG), which provides less sensitive measure of vertical eye movements than VNG, there have been attempts to outline new criteria based on the VNG method. However, to date, no new explicit criteria have been agreed on by scientists. Further to this, a number of factors have been found to affect results of static position testing, including mental alerting, response repeatability, and the number of head and body positions tested, and these factors all need to be examined. Apart from investigating prevalence of PN in healthy normal individuals, this experiment examined three variables: the effects of mental alerting, within session repeatability of PN, and the prevalence of PN across different head and body positions. Eighteen participants (13 female, 5 male) aged 22 to 76 years with no history of balance disorder were tested in four identical sets of static positional testing using VNG. Each test set included 11 head and body positions. Two of these test sets were conducted with mental alerting and two sets without mental alerting. Gathered data were analysed with respect to presence of PN, direction of PN, and peak slow phase velocity (SPV). In total 66.7% of the participants developed persistent PN in at least one test position in at least one of the four test sets. Three main types of PN were found in this study: vertical, horizontal, and oblique. The most common type of PN across the entire study was vertical up-beating (VUB) PN (45.6%); however, the most common type of PN across individual participants was horizontal PN (75%). Oblique PN had the greatest mean peak SPV. Mental alerting had significant effect on prevalence of PN, but it did not increase the magnitude of the SPV. The prevalence of PN was only modestly repeatable within the paired mental alerting and non-mental alerting test sets, and the repeatability was greater for the test sets with mental alerting. There were no significant differences between the SPV magnitudes within the paired test sets, suggesting good within-session repeatability of the SPV magnitudes. The "supine with head straight? (SHS) and "supine with head turned right? (SHR) positions provoked the highest rates of PN; however, there was no one position that would not provoke PN in at least one participant and at least one test set. Overall 22.2% of the participants did not fit the current criteria for "normality? based on ENG, indicating the need for refinement of those criteria using VNG.


The current study was undertaken in order to establish the factors militating against the introduction of computer education in secondary schools in Chegutu district, Zimbabwe. The study adopted the descriptive survey design for it was concerned with the gathering of people`s perceptions on the factors hindering the implementation of computer education. The population for the study was made up of 50 secondary schools. Out of these 50 schools, only 40 made it into the sample which was chosen through stratified random sampling. Data were gathered through the use of questionnaires and interviews. The use of these two instruments enabled data triangulation thus enhancing data validity and reliability. Major findings of the study reveal that there were no budgets for computer procurement in the majority of schools. Funds were inadequate for computer procurement as central government and the SDCs did not avail finances for computer procurement. However, stakeholders were willing to contribute towards the purchase of computers for computer education. Results also show that there were no teachers qualified to teach computers in schools. Those teachers who offered the subject were not willing to teach the subject mostly likely due to shortages in equipment and the unavailability of in-service computer training programmes. On a positive note, heads of schools and students had a positive attitude towards computer education. The study recommended that SDCs should source for computers from organisations such as banks. Schools through the SDCs should charge levies for computer education and government should make it compulsory for schools to offer computer education through policy statements. Teacher training institutions should incorporate computer education into their curriculum. Teachers should be offered administrative and technical support through in-service training programmes. Lastly, communities should be conscientised on the importance of computer education to inculcate in them a paradigm shift.


Viviparity, a live-bearing mode of reproduction, has evolved over 100 times independently in vertebrate animals. Despite its frequent evolution, viviparity has a number of hypothesised disadvantages compared to the ancestral mode of reproduction, oviparity (egg-laying). One of these disadvantages is a reduction in locomotor performance during pregnancy, the period of internal development of the embryos. Adaptations to a live-bearing reproductive mode could have evolved to reduce these locomotor costs. In this thesis, I aim to find whether matrotrophy, post-fertilization nutrient provisioning (e.g. through a placental structure), and superfetation, the presence of multiple broods of different developmental stages, reduce the locomotor performance decline during pregnancy in the Poeciliidae, live-bearing fishes. In Chapter 2, we review the literature on the effects of pregnancy on morphology, performance and fitness. The biomechanics of each mode of locomotion (walking, swimming or flying) are distinct, and are affected differently by the added mass and volume of pregnancy. Furthermore, we list the possible adaptations that have evolved to reduce the locomotor costs of pregnancy, and divide them into three different categories: adaptations that reduce the locomotor costs of live-bearing, adaptations with which the locomotor costs of live-bearing are avoided, and adaptations to the life history of the animal. Lastly, we discuss hiatuses in the literature and experimental procedures to quantify the hypothesised benefit of adaptations. In Chapter 3, we compare the morphological changes during pregnancy in two closely-related species of live-bearing fish: Poeciliopsis turneri and Poeciliopsis gracilis. These species mainly differ in their mode of nutrient provisioning: P. gracilis is lecithotrophic and P. turneri is an extensive matrotroph. We tracked the morphological changes in 3D using a non-invasive method that creates three-dimensional body models. We find that P. turneri is more slender during the early stages of pregnancy, but increase in size more rapidly. This is in line with the locomotor costs hypothesis, which predicts that matrotrophic fish are more slender during the early stages of pregnancy, but that the difference between the body shapes of lecithotrophic and matrotrophic fish diminishes as pregnancy progresses. Our results indicate that matrotrophy could indeed provide a morphological advantage during pregnancy. Fast-start performance, a manoeuvre fish deploy to escape predatory strikes, is important for individual survival. In Chapter 4, we use state-of-the-art biomechanical methods to, for the first time, quantify this manoeuvre in three-dimensional space in adult fish (Heterandria formosa). We show that fish can orient their escapes in up- and downwards direction, and that this is correlated with a change in pitch angle of the body. Changes in roll angle of the body were not correlated with orientation of the fish. We furthermore demonstrate that stage 1 of the fast start, often described as a preparatory stage, can already contribute to propulsion. The results from Chapter 4 indicate that three-dimensional measurements of fast-start manoeuvres provide novel insights that were often overlooked. Measuring fast starts in three-dimensional space is relevant in determining the adverse effects of pregnancy on locomotor performance. We did this by comparing three species of live-bearing fish: P. turneri, H. formosa and Phalloptychus januarius. In Chapter 5, we show that pregnancy-induced changes in abdominal width are correlated with a reduction in performance in the horizontal plane (maximal horizontal speed, change in yaw angle), but less so in the vertical plane (maximal vertical speed, change in pitch angle). Furthermore, we demonstrate that an increase in abdominal width is correlated with a decrease in abdominal curvature and, for some species, in a decrease in maximal curvature rate in the abdomen. Lastly, we show that the pregnancy-induced morphological changes depend on the level of superfetation: species with a high level of superfetation experience higher frequency, but smaller amplitude changes in the shape of the abdomen. Whether superfetation actually results in a more slender body shape, as predicted by the locomotor costs hypothesis, depends on the level of reproductive investment. In this thesis, I show that pregnancy induces changes in morphology which comes with a cost in fast-start performance. Both matrotrophy and superfetation affect how body shape changes due to pregnancy, but whether the latter provides beneficial changes depends on the level of reproductive investment. Furthermore, I reveal that fast starts can have a substantial three-dimensional component which is relevant both to biomechanicists that aim to understand the physical and physiological mechanisms underlying this manoeuvre and to evolutionary biologists that strive to answer performance-related questions.


One of the challenges facing engineers is efficiently using a growing number of sophisticated tools and methods. This requires not only procedural knowledge on how to use them, but conditional knowledge, which determines under which conditions a given tool or method should be used (when, by whom, where, etc.) as well as conceptual knowledge which is necessary for efficient learning and use of tools and methods as well as for knowledge transfer. This paper presents a learning activity devised to improve deep learning of conceptual knowledge. It was implemented in a second year undergraduate compulsory course in mechanical engineering using three different strategies. Students were: 1. asked to draw a map of the course material that was to be covered in the coming week; 2. asked to produce an individual map of the material covered the previous week; 3. given the choice between drawing a map, writing a summary or attending a 10 minute quiz given at the beginning of the lecture, all on the material covered the previous week. The third strategy proved the most effective. To explain this result, it is hypothesized that motivation played an important role. When students have a better sense of control over their learning – for example, by having a choice of learning strategies and selecting the one which corresponds most to their learning style – their motivation increases. Furthermore, sense of competence was increased for the students who handed in maps or summaries by performing well in the quizzes. These conditions foster a deep approach to learning.


The study at hand employed a pre- versus posttest experimental design to test the effects of television drama Switched at Birth on viewers' attitudes toward deafness. This program tells the story of two teenage girls (one of whom is deaf) and their struggles to relate to their peers and families after discovering they were switched as newborns. Two hundred eleven female adults completed pre- and postexposure measures utilizing Cooper, Rose, and Mason's (2004) Attitudes to Deafness measure, the items of which were categorized according to thematic dimensions. After exposure to one of three episodes, viewers' attitudes toward deafness significantly improved overall, although significant differences in attitude changes varied by episodes and dimensions. The three thematic dimensions that were most strongly represented in the program (social interaction, deafness as a handicap, and language issues) appeared to show the strongest attitude change. Positive attitude changes were observed on social interaction and deafness as handicap dimensions, which was consistent with program content depicting positive deaf-hearing friendships and capable deaf characters. However, attitudes on the language issues dimension showed a negative shift, possibly due to the way that deaf characters communicated with hearing characters onscreen.


Students' attitudes toward technology, especially computers, play a key role in the effective integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Although numerous attitude scales have been developed to measure attitude toward computers, we found only a few instruments designed for young students aged 11–13 years. Among these attitude scales, the Computer Attitude Measure for Young Students (CAMYS) scale was developed specifically for use on young students. In this study, we examine whether CAMYS is still a valid and relevant instrument given the exponential changes in computer systems. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and measurement invariance analyses across gender on sub-samples for cross validation were performed. Positive computer attitudes among the students were observed. The CFA results confirmed the existence of three separate factors: perceived ease of use (PEU), affect toward computer (ATC), and perceived usefulness (PU). The revised model was found to have a good fit and to show invariance across gender. We concluded that future research could use the revised scale for measuring computer attitudes of young students with confidence.


In future applications of sensor networking technology it is envisioned that nodes would able to determine their geographical position by measuring the range differences between one another in a collaborative fashion. The aim of this paper is to provide quantitative expressions that can be used both to facilitate an understanding for why such distributed positioning works, and to assess the ultimately achievable accuracy in practice. Specifically, we compute the Cramer-Rao bound on the positioning accuracy, under different assumptions on the network synchronization. Numerical examples illustrate our results.


The article discusses the empirical results of the research on leadership in Lithuanian Civil Service that wasconducted in Autumn 2008 and was funded by the Civil Service Department under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania. The research presents a challenging opportunity to compare "ideal" and "real" models of civil servant-leader. The "ideal model" reveals civil servants' approach towards a civil servant-leader "must have" features, competencies, value orientations and skills. The "real model" presents the features of civil servants that are identified as leaders among their colleagues. The model reveals social skills and personal features that are relevant to a leader as well as the factors of building leadership competencies. Study results revealed the challenging tendency that the aspects of new public governance are dominant in the perception of leadership. The most commonly mentioned characteristics of a civil servant-leader are responsibility, morality, tolerance, communication skills, competence.


During Drosophila embryogenesis homeotic genes control the developmental diversification of body structures. The genes probably coordinate the expression of as yet unidentified target genes that carry out cell differentiation processes. At least four homeotic genes expressed in the visceral mesoderm are required for midgut morphogenesis. In addition, two growth factor homologs are expressed in specific regions of the visceral mesoderm surrounding the midgut epithelium. One of these, decapentaplegic (dpp), is a member of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) family; the other, wingless (wg), is a relative of the mammalian proto-oncogene int-1. Here we show that the spatially restricted expression of dpp in the visceral mesoderm is regulated by the homeotic genes Ubx and abd-A. Ubx is required for the expression of dpp while abd-A represses dpp. One consequence of dpp expression is the induction of labial (lab) in the underlying endoderm cells. In addition, abd-A function is required for the expression of wg in the visceral mesoderm posterior to the dpp-expressing cells. The two growth factor genes therefore are excellent candidates for target genes that are directly regulated by the homeotic genes.


Traditional methods for phylogeny reconstruction are based on multiple sequence alignments and character-based methods. This combination of computationally expensive methods leads to very accurate results, but it is ill-suited to handle the enormous amount of sequence data that is available today. As a consequence, very fast alignment-free methods have been developed. These methods calculate pairwise distances in order to build phylogenetic trees. However, current alignment-free methods are generally less accurate than traditional methods. In this thesis, I developed Multi-SpaM which is a novel alignment-free approach that tries to combine the best of both worlds. This method quickly finds small gap-free 'microalignments' – so-called blocks – involving four sequences. A binary pattern defines at which positions the nucleotides have to match. At the remaining don't care positions, the possibly mismatching nucleotides are first used to remove random matches with a filtering procedure previously introduced by Filtered Spaced-Word Matches (FSWM). Then, the character-based method RAxML is used to find the optimal quartet tree for each block. Subsequently, all quartet trees are amalgamated into a supertree with Quartet MaxCut. This approach can be used to build phylogenetic trees of high quality. Furthermore, I showed multiple ways that could help to improve Multi-SpaM. The distances between two adjacent blocks involving the same four sequences can be used to identify putative insertions and deletions from which accurate quartet trees can be derived. These trees could be used both on their own and in combination with the quartet trees produced by Multi-SpaM to build or improve phylogenetic trees using Quartet MaxCut. As an alternative, we also used Maximum-Parsimony to infer accurate phylogenies from these putative insertions and deletions. In other experiments, I tried to give the individual quartet trees weights based on SH-like support values and tried to use Neighbor-Joining in order to speed up Multi-SpaM. Moreover, I contributed to another extension of the FSWM approach. Here, we used these matches as anchor points for a genome alignment tool called mugsy. We found that a higher number of homologous pairs could be aligned for more distantly related species in comparison to other anchor points used with the same alignment program.


Simple Summary Patients with glioblastoma have a dismal prognosis. The major challenge with this disease is that it recurs despite aggressive first-line therapy and rapidly becomes therapy resistant. Cytomegalovirus has been found in most glioblastoma tumors and may contribute to tumor aggressiveness. Antiviral therapy may thus represent a novel therapeutic strategy and has shown promising results in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. We performed a retrospective analysis of survival data of 29 patients with recurrent glioblastoma receiving the antiviral drug valganciclovir as an add-on to second-line therapy and of 109 contemporary controls treated at our institution. Valganciclovir was well tolerated and seemed to improve survival after tumor recurrence in patients with recurrent disease both in re-operated and non-re-operated patients and in patients with unmethylated and methylated MGMT promoter status. Prospective controlled clinical studies on patients with recurrent glioblastoma are warranted to evaluate if valganciclovir treatment offers a novel therapeutic option. Abstract Glioblastoma invariably recurs despite aggressive and multimodal first-line treatment and no standardized second-line therapy exists. We previously reported that treatment with the antiviral drug valganciclovir as an add-on to standard therapy significantly prolonged overall survival in 102 patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma compared to contemporary controls. Here we present the results of retrospective survival analyses including patients with glioblastoma that initiated valganciclovir therapy after recurrence. Twenty-nine patients with recurrent glioblastoma received valganciclovir as an add-on to second-line therapy at Karolinska University Hospital. Contemporary controls were 109 patients with glioblastoma who received similar second-line therapy at our institution. We retrospectively analyzed survival data of these patients. Patients with recurrent glioblastoma who received valganciclovir had longer median overall survival after recurrence than controls (12.1 vs. 7.4 months, respectively, p = 0.0028). The drug was well tolerated. Both patients who underwent re-operation and patients that were not re-operated after recurrence benefitted significantly from valganciclovir therapy. Valganciclovir prolonged survival after recurrence both in patients with an unmethylated and methylated MGMT promoter gene. Valganciclovir was safe to use and prolonged median survival after recurrence for patients with recurrent glioblastoma, re-operated or not after recurrence, and with methylated or unmethylated MGMT promoter gene.


Background . Despite the fact that 71.6% of children at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital (CHBH) Asthma Clinic in Soweto, Johannesburg were found to have one or more positive skin-prick tests (SPTs) to common aero-allergens, they reported a low rate of positive family history for atopic conditions (22.2%). In the past this has minimised the importance of family history in determining the nature of chest symptoms in children in this population group, suggesting that some new environmental exposure, rather than the established familial factor, was creating the allergic milieu in this group. Objective . To determine the predictive value of a family history of symptoms of atopic disease (and allergy) by seeking evidence for this condition in the parents of asthmatic children attending the CHBH Children's Asthma Clinic, and the reason(s) why a positive family history has been found so seldom in these children. Methods . A random group of parents of the atopic asthmatic children attending the CHBH Children's Asthma Clinic completed a detailed questionnaire regarding their atopic status. Skin-prick testing was performed. Results . Fifty-four sets of parents and 15 single mothers were studied. Of the 48 atopic children, 37 (77%) had at least 1 parent with a positive SPT. Fifty-five per cent of mothers had a positive SPT, while 48% of fathers had at least 1 positive SPT. Seven of 69 mothers (10%) had a definitive diagnosis of asthma. Of these, 5 (71%) were SPT-positive. Only 3 of the fathers (5.5%) had asthma. All had positive SPTs. However, if all the symptoms suggestive of asthma, namely chronic cough or wheeze, were taken into account, the number of potential atopic fathers and mothers increased to 10 (19%) and 18 (26%) respectively. Conclusion . Simple questioning for family history of atopic disease is therefore not a good predictor of atopy in offspring in this cohort of patients. In order to get maximal yield from this question, parents must rather be asked about specific symptoms suggestive of asthma and/or allergic rhinitis.


ABSTRACT
 Coyotes (Canis latrans) may affect adult and neonate white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) survival and have been implicated as a contributor to the decline of deer populations. Additionally, coyote diet composition is influenced by prey availability, season, and region. Because coyote movement and diet vary by region, local data are important to understand coyote population dynamics and their impact on prey species. In southeast Minnesota, we investigated the effect of coyotes on white-tailed deer populations by documenting movement rates, distances moved, and habitats searched by coyotes during fawning and nonfawning periods. Additionally, we determined survival, cause-specific mortality, and seasonal diet composition of coyotes. From 2001 to 2003, we captured and radiocollared 30 coyotes. Per-hour rate of movement averaged 0.87 km and was greater (P = 0.046) during the fawning (1.07 km) than the nonfawning period (0.80 km); areas searched were similar (P = 0.175) between seasons. Coyote habitat use differed during both seasons; habitats were not used in proportion to their availability (P < 0.001). Croplands were used more (P < 0.001) than their proportional availability during both seasons. Use of grasslands was greater during the fawning period (P = 0.030), whereas use of cropland was greater in the nonfawning period (P < 0.001). We collected 66 fecal samples during the nonfawning period; coyote diets were primarily composed of Microtus spp. (65.2%), and consumption of deer was 9.1%. During the study, 19 coyotes died; annual survival rate range was 0.33–0.41, which was low compared with other studies. Consumption of deer was low and coyotes searched open areas (i.e., cropland) more than fawning areas with dense cover. These factors in addition to high coyote mortality suggested that coyote predation was not likely limiting white-tailed deer populations in southeast Minnesota.


Nearly two years before his powerful Communist Manifesto, Marx (1818-1883) co-wrote "The German Ideology" in 1845 with friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels expounding a new political worldview, including positions on materialism, labour, production, alienation, the expansion of capitalism, class conflict, revolution, and eventually communism. They chart the course of 'true' socialism based on Hegel's dialectic, while criticising the ideas of Bruno Bauer, Max Stirner and Ludwig Feuerbach. Marx expanded his criticism of the latter in his now famous Theses on Feuerbach, found after Marx's death and published by Engels in 1888. "Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy", also found among the posthumous papers of Marx, is a fragment of an introduction to his main works. Combining these three works, this volume is essential for an understanding of Marxism.


Why do appellate courts always have an odd number of judges? And what does the answer tell us about changing concepts of law? How can common law be unconstitutional? Why does the power of judges depend on accurate court reporting? Because legal education today has come to focus so much on teaching students ""how to think like lawyers,"" some subjects do not fit comfortably in law school curricula. John Orth, a distinguished senior law scholar, here explores some of these neglected but important topics. His insightful volume invites students of the law to look at the origins of accepted legal practices as a means of gaining insight into the judicial role and the evolution of common law. In six carefully reasoned and clearly argued articles, Orth presents the familiar in a fresh light. He considers, in addition to the questions already mentioned, how the centuries-old common law tradition interacts with statutory law-making, why claims that individual rights are grounded in common law are suspect, and how the common law uses what it learns about the past. In considering these questions related to common law and its remarkable longevity, Orth illuminates both its interaction with written constitutions and its longstanding preoccupation with procedure and property. And by questioning the assertion that individualism was the cornerstone of common law, he deftly resolves an objection that liberal scholars sometimes raise concerning common law - its connection to the Lochner era of Supreme Court jurisprudence. How many judges does it take to make a supreme court? As Orth observes, the institutional novelty of odd numbers of judges provided a means to break ties but did nothing to guarantee acceptance of their decisions. By demonstrating that what seems obvious about the law today was not always so, he cogently addresses changing perceptions of law and invites its future practitioners not only to think like lawyers but also to be more fully grounded in the law.


The History of English: An Introduction provides a chronological analysis of the linguistic, social, and cultural development of the English language from before its establishment in Britain around the year 450 to the present. Each chapter represents a new stage in the development of the language from Old English through Middle English to Modern Global English, all illustrated with a rich and diverse selection of primary texts showing changes in language resulting from contact, conquest and domination, and the expansion of English around the world.The History of English goes beyond the usual focus on English in the UK and the USA to include the wider global course of the language during and following the Early Modern English period. This perspective therefore also includes a historical review of English in its pidgin and creole varieties and as a native and/or second language in the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and Australasia.Designed to be user-friendly, The History of English contains:chapter introductions and conclusions to assist study over 80 textual examples demonstrating linguistic change, accompanied by translations and/or glosses where appropriate study questions on the social, cultural and linguistic background of the chapter topics further reading from key texts to extend or deepen the focus nearly 100 supporting figures, tables, and maps to illuminate the text 16-pages of colour plates depicting exemplary texts, relevant artefacts, and examples of language usage, including Germanic runes, the opening page of Beowulf, the New England Primer, and the Treaty of Waitangi.The companion website at www.routledge.com/cw/gramley supports the textbook and features:an extended view of major aspects of language development as well as synopses of material dealt with in a range of chapters in the book further sample texts, including examples from Chaucer, numerous Early Modern English texts from a wide variety of fields, and twenty-first-century novels additional exercises to help users expand their insights and apply background knowledge an interactive timeline of important historical events and developments with linked encyclopaedic entries audio clips providing examples of a wide range of accentsThe History of English is essential reading for any student of the English language.


OBJECTIVE To evaluate β-cell secretion and glucose metabolism in lean subjects with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) compared with that in subjects with normal pregnancy and obesity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Insulin secretion, insulin sensitivity (S1), and hepatic insulin extraction were assessed in pregnant women with GDM before and after delivery and in those with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) in comparison to healthy nonpregnant lean and obese women. Kinetic analysis of glucose, insulin, and C-peptide plasma concentrations during oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests was performed by mathematical modeling. RESULTS S1 was blunted in pregnant women with GDM by 84% and in those with NGT by 66% compared with lean nonpregnant women (P < 0.005 vs. healthy nonpregnant lean control subjects; P < 0.05, GDM vs. pregnant women with NGT), whereas glucose effectiveness was decreased by 33% in both pregnant groups (P < 0.05 vs. healthy nonpregnant lean control subjects). Insulin secretion was 30% higher (P < 0.05) in subjects with GDM than in pregnant women with NGT or in nonpregnant lean women, but decreased (P < 0.005) when compared with obese women with a comparable degree of insulin resistance. Fractional hepatic insulin extraction was similar in both pregnant groups, being lower (P < 0.0001) by 30% versus nonpregnant females. β-cell sensitivity to glucose for insulin release was decreased in subjects with GDM versus pregnant women with NGT as well as nonpregnant women by 40-50% (P < 0.01). Twelve weeks after delivery, GDM returned to normal glucose tolerance, but S1 remained 50% lower than that in lean nonpregnant women, while β-cell sensitivity to glucose did not change (P < 0.01 vs. healthy nonpregnant lean control subjects). CONCLUSIONS Pregnancy is characterized by insulin resistance, diminished hepatic insulin extraction, and glucose effectiveness. Lean subjects with GDM are additionally characterized by having more pronounced insulin resistance and inadequate insulin secretion, which persist after delivery. Compared with other insulin-resistant prediabetic states like impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), defective insulin secretion seems to be a predominant defect in lean GDM subjects, indicating that it might represent a specific prediabetic condition.


Calcium-regulated cleavage of the pore-forming subunit of voltage-dependent calcium channels attenuates channel activity. Voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCCs), such as the L-type Ca2+ channels of the Cav family, control many aspects of cellular physiology. Although regulated cleavage of the C-terminal intracellular segment of Cav1.2 produces an autoinhibitory interaction, whether the many other fragments visible in Western blots of L-type VDCCs are functional or represent degradation products is unknown. Michailidis et al. identified midchannel cleavage events that occurred in the pore-forming α subunit of Cav1.2 in cortical brain slices and cultured hippocampal neurons. The authors used surface biotinylation followed by isolation and Western blotting in cortical brain slices and cultured hippocampal neurons to identify fragments that were present in the plasma membrane. Western blot analysis with antibodies directed against different epitopes of the channel indicated that the most prominent midchannel proteolysis occurred between the second and third (of the four) repeats of homologous sections that form the channel. Electrophysiological examination of neurons after washout of conditions that enhanced Cav1.2 proteolysis (increased neuronal activity or intracellular calcium) or reduced Cav1.2 proteolysis (inhibited neuronal activity) revealed that proteolysis correlated with reduced VDCC current. Image analysis of hippocampal neurons transfected with a construct expressing LGH3 [Cav1.2 tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP) at the N terminus and hemagglutinin (HA) on an extracellular loop of the third repeat] revealed areas of the plasma membrane where the signals from the different tags on the protein (GFP and HA) were not overlapping, consistent with cleavage and separation of the two Cav1.2 fragments. Cleavage of LGH3 was reduced by exposing neurons to inhibitors of calpain, a Ca2+-activated protease, or by mutating the two ubiquitination motifs in the intracellular loops. Comparing the channel activity of LGH3 and LGH3 with a viral cleavage motif (to control cleavage by coexpression with the viral protease in Xenopus oocytes) confirmed that cleavage reduced activity. Electrophysiological analysis of Xenopus oocytes expressing individual segments of the channel that could arise from midchannel cleavage indicated that individual "half" channel segments did not form functional channels, but that cognate pairs could. Electrophysiological analysis of Xenopus oocytes coexpressing various individual segments with full-length Cav1.2 indicated that the segments differentially affected Cav1.2 channel properties. Examination of cortical slices of rats of various ages showed that midchannel proteolysis increased with age and treatment with an L-type VDCC inhibitor partially reversed the proteolysis in the oldest animals. Groth et al. predict that future studies will show that these proteolytic partial channels are not "proteinaceous detritus," but rather may have important functions in vivo. I. E. Michailidis, K. Abele-Henckels, W. K. Zhang, B. Lin, Y. Yu, L. S. Geyman, M. D. Ehlers, E. A. Pnevmatikakis, J. Yang, Age-related homeostatic midchannel proteolysis of neuronal L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ channels. Neuron 82, 1045–1057 (2014). [Abstract] R. D. Groth, N. N. Tirko, R. W. Tsien, Cav1.2 calcium channels: Just cut out to be regulated? Neuron 82, 939–940 (2014). [Abstract]


Biogeographical zones are described for terrestrial bird species endemic to the Afrotropics using up‐to‐date distributional data and multivariate statistical techniques. This provides an objective basis for a hierarchy of subregions, provinces and districts, based on a set of rules. Results are compared to previous studies at continental and regional scales. Biogeographical zones for passerines and non‐passerines are compared and found to be similar. Peaks of species richness and narrow endemism are described for the six major subdivisions (subregions) identified by the cluster analysis. Coincidence of peaks of species richness and narrow endemism is found to be low, such that areas selected to represent high species richness tallies will often fail to represent narrow endemics. Strong regionalization of Afrotropical birds indicates the need to use a biogeographical framework in conservation priority setting exercises to ensure that unique, but species‐poor, avifaunas are not neglected.


The importance of our research is that it examines the causes and sources of the security challenges in the internal
security environment of the GCC countries, and aims to address the most important issues that are of great interest,
namely, the issue of inter-GCC differences and addressing the issues of regional security for the Gulf region, After it is
one of the most dynamic and more polarized areas for the emergence of threats and challenges because of the
multiplicity of sources of threat and their complexity due to the specificity of the strategic environment and the negative
repercussions it can have on the Gulf region, especially the issue of regional security of the Gulf Cooperation Council
Which has become a magnet for competing international and regional powers to preserve their interests and ensure the
achievement of their objectives. This has further complicated the internal security environment in the Gulf, especially the
recent events represented by a package of measures taken by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. As well as Egypt
against Qatar, have begun to reveal to us the depth and root of differences, the size of internal challenges and the
weakness of the ability of the GCC countries to meet their obligations in laying the foundations of a joint securitydefense system with the capacity to face these challenges collectively, Security challenges are therefore not only
external regional or international, but internal with inter-GCC interface.


Background: Serologic screening of gastric cancer (GC) by serum pepsinogens (sPG) levels and Helicobacter pylori (Hp) sero-status, though highly informative, has provided heterogeneous results. Here, we have evaluated the modifying effects of demographic factors on the risk impact of Hp sero-status/sPG levels in gastric cancer, with particular emphasis on age. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 1341 individuals (GC = 578, healthy = 763), who were stratified into two age groups: 35-59 years (middle-aged, n = 830) and ≥ 60 years (60 years-plus, n = 511). Demographic factors and serological states (Hp sero-staus and sPG levels) were recorded by subject interview and serum ELISAs, respectively. Covariate-specific odds ratios were calculated by multivariable logistic regression. Results: Hp infection was consistently associated with increased sPGI and sPGII levels in the 60 year-plus, but not the middle-aged group. The joint examination of the variable states of the three serum biomarkers (Hp serology, sPGI, and sPGI/II ratio), in the 60 year-plus age group, demonstrated a stepwise escalation of risk from the single (sPGIlow; OR = 2.6), to double (sPGIlow/sPGI/IIlow; OR = 3.55, and Hppositive/sPGIlow; OR = 5.0) and ultimately triple (Hppositive/PGIlow/PGI/IIlow; OR = 10.48) positive states, in reference to the triple negatives. However, this pattern was not exhibited in the middle-aged subjects. Conclusion: Age was clearly identified as a modifying factor on the risk projection of the combined states of Hp serology and sPG levels in gastric cancer screening, reflected by the augmented (~10.5 fold) risk of GC in the triple positive (Hppositive/sPGIlow/sPGI/IIlow) 60 year-plus subjects, which was not evident in the middle-aged group.


This thesis investigates the role that the government should play to enhance Early Childhood Development (ECD) collaboration in Zambia. The government as a duty bearer of a nation has a major responsibility to ensure that it develops policies and programmes that enhance collaboration among the various ECD stakeholders, such as parents, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and international donors. I have argued that collaboration in ECD is possible if certain measures are put in place. These measures include improved government commitment towards ECD, better leadership, improved governance to ensure transparency and accountability, enhanced government engagement with key stakeholders such as CSOs, the parents, donors, and the formation of networks and coalitions. Communication and information is also a key factor to enhancing collaboration because people need to understand ECD and why they need to give it the attention. It is important that in seeking these reforms the focus should not only be on the gaps and challenges but focus should also be on what is already working and how to make it better using the existing structures and models that are in place. The theoretical framework that has been used is the Bronfenbrenner (1979) Ecological Theoretical Framework, a theory that examines the influences of the environment in which children live. I have also argued that as much as it is the responsibility of the government to coordinate ECD, there is need for non-state actors to become pro-active and advocate for ECD policies and programmes and make the government accountable if change has to occur. The donor agencies should also be firm and give conditions that funds allocated for ECD should include the aspect of collaboration.


Manufacturing processes, scientific experiments, research programs, tax collection systems, are all endeavors once born as projects. Project engineering is the application of science to the development and analysis of project plans, and to the supervision of their realization. This book is a unified treatise on the technology of project planning and execution. It provides a systematic understanding of the different methodological approaches to the development and supervision of project plans. Readers are given a technical introduction to the main methodologies, such as graphs, activity networks, CPM, PERT, GERT, and Petri nets, and given guidance as to when and why to apply one technique rather than another. The book deliberately emphasizes those techniques which are particularly suitable to exploiting the power of computation, and therefore supplies a solid platform for applying computer tools to the analysis and control of projects. The book also introduces ODM, a methodology based on the theory of fuzzy sets for supporting plan execution supervisors in making operational choices. The book is self-contained. It is designed to serve professionals and students in the fields of systems engineering, computer aided planning, and decision support systems.


This report provides preliminary data for the third of seven test holes drilled as a part of the Central Valley Aquifer Project, which is part of the National Regional Aquifer Systems Analysis Program. The test hole was drilled in the SW^NE^ sec. 2, T. 12 N. , R. 3 E., Sutter County, Calif., about \\ miles northwest of the town of Nicolaus. Drilled to a depth of 1,150 feet below land surface, the hole is cased to a depth of 100 feet with 16-inch diameter casing and equipped with three piezometer tubes to depths of 311, 711, and 1,071 feet. A 5-foot well screen is set in sand at the bottom of each piezometer. Each screened interval has a cement plug above and below it to isolate it from other parts of the aquifer, and the well bore is filled between the plugs with sediment. Thirty-one cores and 28 sidewall cores were recovered. Laboratory tests were made for mineralogy, consolidation, grain-size distribution, Atterberg limits, X-ray diffraction, thermal conductivity, and chemical quality of water. Geophysical and thermal gradient logs were made. The hole is sampled periodically for chemical analysis and measured for water level in the three tapped zones. This report presents methods used to obtain field samples, laboratory procedures, and the data obtained.


There is a growing demand of 3D indoor pathfinding applications. Researched in the field of robotics during the last decades of the 20th century, these methods focussed on 2D navigation. Nowadays we would like to have the ability to help people navigate inside buildings or send a drone inside a building when this is too dangerous for people. What these examples have in common is that an object with a certain geometry needs to find an optimal collision free path between a start and goal point. This paper presents a new workflow for pathfinding through an octree representation of a point cloud. We applied the following steps: 1) the point cloud is processed so it fits best in an octree; 2) during the octree generation the interior empty nodes are filtered and further processed; 3) for each interior empty node the distance to the closest occupied node directly under it is computed; 4) a network graph is computed for all empty nodes; 5) the A* pathfinding algorithm is conducted. This workflow takes into account the connectivity for each node to all possible neighbours (face, edge and vertex and all sizes). Besides, a collision avoidance system is pre-processed in two steps: first, the clearance of each empty node is computed, and then the maximal crossing value between two empty neighbouring nodes is computed. The clearance is used to select interior empty nodes of appropriate size and the maximal crossing value is used to filter the network graph. Finally, both these datasets are used in A* pathfinding.


Background: Many sepsis survivors develop chronic critical illness (CCI) and are assumed to be immunosuppressed, but there is limited clinical evidence to support this. We sought to determine whether the incidence of secondary infections and immunosuppressive biomarker profiles of patients with CCI differ from those with rapid recovery (RAP) after sepsis. Methods: This prospective observational study evaluated 88 critically ill patients with sepsis and 20 healthy controls. Cohorts were defined based on clinical trajectory (early death, RAP, or CCI), whereas immunosuppression was clinically determined by the presence of a postsepsis secondary infection. Serial blood samples were collected for absolute lymphocyte counts (ALCs), monocytic human leukocyte antigen-DR (mHLA-DR) expression, and plasma-soluble programmed death-ligand 1 (sPD-L1) concentrations. Results: Of the 88 patients with sepsis, 3 (3%) died within 14 days of sepsis onset, 50 (57%) experienced RAP, and 35 (40%) developed CCI. Compared with RAP patients, CCI patients exhibited a higher incidence and overall number of infections adjusted for hospital length of stay. ALC and mHLA-DR levels were dramatically reduced at the time of sepsis diagnosis when compared with healthy controls, whereas sPD-L1 concentrations were significantly elevated. There were no differences between RAP and CCI patients in ALC, sPD-L1, or mHLA-DR at the time of diagnosis or within 24 h after sepsis diagnosis. However, in contrast to the RAP group, CCI patients failed to exhibit any trend toward restoration of normal values of ALC, HLA-DR, and sPD-L1. Conclusions: Septic patients demonstrate clinical and biological evidence to suggest they are immunosuppressed at the time of sepsis diagnosis. Those who develop CCI have a greater incidence of secondary infections and persistently aberrant markers of impaired host immunity, although measurements at the time of sepsis onset did not distinguish between subjects with RAP and CCI.


BACKGROUND
Cystic fibrosis is a multi-system disease characterised by the production of thick secretions causing recurrent pulmonary infection, often with unusual bacteria. Intravenous antibiotics are commonly used in the treatment of acute deteriorations in symptoms (pulmonary exacerbations); however, recently the assumption that exacerbations are due to increases in bacterial burden has been questioned.

OBJECTIVES
To establish if intravenous antibiotics for the treatment of pulmonary exacerbations in people with cystic fibrosis improve short- and long-term clinical outcomes.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis Trials Register, compiled from electronic database searches and handsearching of journals and conference abstract books. We also searched the reference lists of relevant articles and reviews and ongoing trials registers.Date of last search of Cochrane trials register: 27 July 2015.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials and the first treatment cycle of cross-over studies comparing intravenous antibiotics (given alone or in an antibiotic combination) with placebo, inhaled or oral antibiotics for people with cystic fibrosis experiencing a pulmonary exacerbation.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
The authors assessed studies for eligibility and risk of bias and extracted data.

MAIN RESULTS
We included 40 studies involving 1717 participants. The quality of the included studies was largely poor and, with a few exceptions, these comprised of mainly small, inadequately reported studies.When comparing treatment with a single antibiotic to a combined antibiotic regimen, those participants receiving a combination of antibiotics experienced a greater improvement in lung function when considered as a whole group across a number of different measurements of lung function, but with very low quality evidence. When limited to the four placebo-controlled studies (n = 214), no difference was observed, again with very low quality evidence. With regard to the review's remaining primary outcomes, there was no effect upon time to next exacerbation and no studies in any comparison reported on quality of life. There were no effects on the secondary outcomes weight or adverse effects. When comparing specific antibiotic combinations there were no significant differences between groups on any measure. In the comparisons between intravenous and nebulised antibiotic or oral antibiotic (low quality evidence), there were no significant differences between groups on any measure. No studies in any comparison reported on quality of life.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The quality of evidence comparing intravenous antibiotics with placebo is poor. No specific antibiotic combination can be considered to be superior to any other, and neither is there evidence showing that the intravenous route is superior to the inhaled or oral routes. There remains a need to understand host-bacteria interactions and in particular to understand why many people fail to fully respond to treatment.


Summary

Typically in resource selection studies, the spatial extent of a home range is defined first and then the available resources within that perimeter are estimated. However, the home ranges (or habitats) of some animals are constrained by linear environmental features (e.g. rivers, shorelines). Traditional home range estimators often overestimate home range extent for such species, which can lead to spurious estimation of resource availability and selection.

We used a synoptic model of space use to explicitly account for resource selection of a species constrained by linear features in its environment to compare with traditional home range estimators. We used the endangered Blakiston's fish owl Bubo blakistoni in the Russian Far East as our example.

Mean annual home range size (± standard error) was more than three times larger when using kernel methods (30·3 ± 15·1 km2) than when using the synoptic model (9·4 ± 2·0 km2, n = 7).

Fish owls showed strong selection for areas within valleys, closer to waterways, closer to patches of permanently open water and with greater channel complexity than available sites.

Synthesis and applications. The synoptic model solves a long-standing problem in home range and resource selection studies because it provides an objective way to estimate the space use of a species whose habitat is constrained by linear features in its environment. Improvements in the accuracy of such estimations can lead to identification of important resources across landscapes, the development of more rigorous site-specific or landscape-scale management plans, and to scientifically defensible conservation or threat mitigation measures.


The paper examines one of the major metalinguistic debates in post-war Germany: the debate about the influence of English on German, an issue which was raised in the 1990s in the German media and has dominated media discussions on language ever since. The analysis demonstrates that the debate is deeply embedded in current socio-political discourses as well as in long-term discursive traditions concerning, on the one hand, the socio-political changes following German reunification in 1989/90, which involved a revision of the concepts of nation and nationalism, and, on the other, the genesis of the concept of nation, which is closely bound up with the history of the educated bourgeoisie and the process of standardisation as well as linguistic purism. It is argued that the debate on Anglicisms, as is the case in many other metalinguistic debates, cannot be regarded in isolation from the socio-political environment and the context of historical usage within which it is embedded.


Background Ice Hockey is the fastest team sport with players skating up to 60 km/h and a puck speeding up to 160 km/h. Aggressive contacts between players, rigid obstacles (boards, goalposts), and solid surface may result in high energy trauma and severe injuries despite protective equipments. Precise data at the professional level are lacking. Objective To determine on several seasons the epidemiology of professional ice hockey injuries, the mechanism of injury, and risk factors to allow the development of a prevention program. Material and Methods All injuries occurring in one of the best Swiss Professional Hockey Team were recorded and monitored during 4 years. Injuries were graded as minor (time loss: 1–7 days), moderate (8–28 days), and major (>28 days). Results Incidence of injury was 6.48/1000 h/player and was stable over the 4 years of observation. Incidence of injury resulting in time loss was 2.3/1000 h/player (forwards: 2.6, defensemen: 2.0, goalies: 0.68). Most of the lesions were moderate (51%), (minor 36%, major 13%). Collision between players was the most common mechanism of moderate to severe injury. Contusions were the most frequently seen injuries (38%) tracked by strains/sprains (29%). Knee and shoulder were the most frequently injured part of body (both 12%). Concussion had a higher incidence in defensemen (0.64/player/1000 h) compared to forwards (0.2/player/1000 h). August (beginning of the ice summer camp) was the month with the highest injury rate with and without time loss (18.7% and 18.6% respectively). Conclusions In spite of its kinetics, ice hockey injuries rate is comparable to other contact team sports. Risk factors are first month of the season, summer training deficiency, to be a defenseman for concussion, collision between players out of the board. Measures of prevention might include optimal physical conditioning before and during the season, stronger helmet for defenseman, beware of contact in the middle of the ice field.


Doping liquid crystals with gold nanoparticles increases the conductivity by up to three orders of magnitude, an increase even stronger than expected for equimolar amounts of organic electrolytes. Despite recent high activity in the field of liquid crystalline nanocomposites, the origin of this increase has rarely been addressed and is not well understood. In this dielectric spectroscopy study we discuss the origin of the increased conductivity and identify its source. We demonstrate that the hydrodynamic radius of the mobile charge carrier species in nanoparticle dispersions is significantly smaller than the 3–5 nm gold core, which rules out the particles themselves to be the source of conductivity. Likewise, also the ligand molecules from the organic capping layer do not themselves add to the conductivity of the dispersions, but affect the electrical properties by acting as a trap for ionic impurities. We suggest that the partial release of these impurities upon interactions of the ligand shell with the uniaxial nematic host phase is the most likely source for the increased conductivity. Our study opens a new perspective on synthesis strategies for functionalized nanoparticles and will help to overcome the current issues preventing high-performing liquid crystal nanodispersions.


There is an emerging view that there are two types of forensic science: "junk" science such as forensic odontology (bitemark analysis) and "real" science such as nuclear DNA typing. The 2009 National Research Council report contributed to the emergence of this view. On the one hand, the report was sharply critical of techniques such as bitemark analysis. On the other hand, the report had high praise for techniques such as the DNA typing identification technique and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) as an elemental analysis methodology. The courts are becoming increasingly skeptical about "junk" science techniques. In some instances, they are excluding testimony based on such techniques. In other cases, they are severely restricting the wording of the opinions based on such techniques that experts may testify to. However, in the case of "real" science, the courts tend to assume reliability. In particular, the courts have come to view nuclear DNA typing and GC/MS analysis as the "gold standards" of forensic science. The courts routinely admit testimony about nuclear DNA typing, and one court has gone to the length of declaring that GC/MS analysis is "nearly infallible."
However, the 2016 President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology report raised questions about one "gold standard," DNA analysis. The PCAST report questioned the validity of the traditional methods of analyzing mixed DNA samples. The report faulted those methods as unduly subjective. In addition, many commentators have challenged the validity of Low Copy Number (LCN) testing of minute or "touch" DNA samples. Although the New York have admitted testimony about LCN analysis, many other courts have barred such testimony.
The thesis of this article is that like nuclear DNA testing, GC/MS analysis has important limitations. The article explains that when GC/MS is used in drug testing, the court must inquire as to the mode of analysis: full scan, selective ion reliance, or selective ion monitoring. The article adds that when GC/MS is employed to identify ignitable liquids in arson investigations, the court should inquire as to the condition of the sample tested: Has it been subjected to weathering, microbial degradation, or pyrolysis? It is certainly justifiable to subject "junk" science to more intense scrutiny. However, the courts should not naively assume that GC/MS is "nearly infallible." In forensic science, even "gold standard" techniques have significant limitations.


Contextual bandit is a classic multi-armed bandit setting, where side information (i.e., context) is available before arm selection. A standard assumption is that exact contexts are perfectly known prior to arm selection and only single feedback is returned. In this work, we focus on multi-feedback bandit learning with probabilistic contexts, where a bundle of contexts are revealed to the agent along with their corresponding probabilities at the beginning of each round. This models such scenarios as where contexts are drawn from the probability output of a neural network and the reward function is jointly determined by multiple feedback signals. We propose a kernelized learning algorithm based on upper confidence bound to choose the optimal arm in reproducing kernel Hilbert space for each context bundle. Moreover, we theoretically establish an upper bound on the cumulative regret with respect to an oracle that knows the optimal arm given probabilistic contexts, and show that the bound grows sublinearly with time. Our simula- tion on machine learning model recommendation further validates the sub-linearity of our cumulative regret and demonstrates that our algorithm outper- forms the approach that selects arms based on the most probable context.


Experiments have been performed on the TCV tokamak to evaluate the response of ohmic, L mode, limited, vertically unstable plasmas to changes in all the poloidal field coil voltages. The resulting closed loop plasma responses have been compared with the CREATE-L linearized MHD equilibrium model of the TCV tokamak. All the responses in both the time domain and the frequency domain show excellent agreement both for directly measured quantities and for derived parameters. No modifications to the CREATE-L model were made to achieve this quality of agreement, indicating that the underlying physical assumptions are appropriate


In observational studies on cancer patients, progression of performance status over time can be described by using a multistate model in which state-to-state transitions represent changes in a patient's health condition. Although a patient experiences transitions in continuous time, assessments on the patient are often made at irregularly spaced time points. In this paper, the authors formulate a Markov 4-state model for examining longitudinal data on performance status collected under intermittent observation. The cohort consisted of 11,342 patients diagnosed with cancer in Ontario, Canada, from 2007 to 2009. The authors extend the model to estimate the predicted probability of reaching the absorbing state, death, over various time intervals. The authors also illustrate what happens to the estimated transition intensities if the true observational scheme is overlooked. Methods for multistate analysis should be used by epidemiologists, since they prove particularly useful for examining the complexities of disease processes.


This paper provides an overview of the key factors impacting upon the gender pay gap in the UK, Europe and Australia. Forty years after the implementation of the first equal pay legislation, the pay gap remains a key aspect of the inequalities women face in the labour market. While the overall pay gap has tended to fall in many countries over the past forty years, it has not closed; in some countries it has been stubbornly resistant, or has even widened. In reviewing the collection of papers that make up this special issue we identify four broad themes with which to group the contributions and draw out the explanations for diverse trends: theoretical and conceptual debates; legal developments and their impacts; wage setting institutions and changing employer demands; and newly emerging pay inequalities between and within educational and ethnic groups. Across the four themes we underline how the trends in the gender pay gap capture the dynamism of inequalities, as the market power of different groups and stakeholders changes over times. Three key dimensions emerge from the papers to provide a framework for future research and policy discourse: the relationship between litigation and bargaining strategies; the interaction between wage-setting institutions and new organisational practices; and the increasing and range of diversity or equality strands competing for equal treatment. We conclude that progress towards closing the gender pay gap will not be easy, will require a collective effort of various actors, and will not be quick.


Figures of courtesans, gods, demons, special characters, and animals in Japanese export ceramics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries are highly decorative and appealing to many collectors today. This study presents an engaging text and over 300 beautiful color photographs of exquisite and amusing three-dimensional figures in Hirado, Imari, Kutani, Satsuma, Studio works, and Sumida wares. When they came to the popular attention of the Western world at the 1862 International Exposition in London and the 1876 Centennial Fair in Philadelphia, they created a sensation and have held a prominent place in Oriental arts ever since. Marks of the artists appear with their works. This reference will be cherished in every collector's and Asian arts library.


Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology is considered to be the ultimate answer to the rapidly growing capacity demand of next generation networks. Many routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) algorithms, proposed for lightpath provisioning, base their routing decisions on the availability of network resources, and assume that optical fibers and components are ideal. In reality, physical impairments degrade the quality of the optical signal propagating through fiber segments and optical components. To cope with this problem, Impairment Constraint Based Routing (ICBR) algorithms, that consider physical impairments during connection provisioning, are currently proposed to prevent selecting lightpaths with poor signal quality. However, these algorithms support only a single (highest) quality of transmission threshold, the same one for all connection requests. This does not fit well with the variety of services, with potentially disparate QoS requirements, that the next generation networks are expected to support. Consequently, the efficiency of network resource utilization is reduced. This paper demonstrates that a significant improvement, in terms of blocking probability, can be achieved when using an ICBR algorithm with differentiated physical layer constraints. Performance is compared with conventional impairment aware routing approaches when unprotected, shared path protected (SPP), and dedicated path protected (DPP) connection requests are considered. The achieved improvement is a result of more efficient resource utilization as unnecessary connection blocking can be avoided by selecting network resources offering optical signal quality that is "good enough"good enough to satisfy a specific connection request. to satisfy a specific connection request.


Molecular characterization of a patient's tumor to guide treatment decisions is increasingly being applied in clinical care and can have a significant impact on disease outcome. These molecular analyses, including mutation characterization, are typically performed on tissue acquired through a biopsy at diagnosis. However, tumors are highly heterogeneous and sampling in its entirety is challenging. Furthermore, tumors evolve over time and can alter their molecular genotype, making clinical decisions based on historical biopsy data suboptimal. Personalized medicine for cancer patients aims to tailor the best treatment options for the individual at diagnosis and during treatment. To fully enable personalized medicine it is desirable to have an easily accessible, minimally invasive way to determine and follow the molecular makeup of a patient's tumor longitudinally. One such approach is through a liquid biopsy, where the genetic makeup of the tumor can be assessed through a biofluid sample. Liquid biopsies have the potential to help clinicians screen for disease, stratify patients to the best treatment and monitor treatment response and resistance mechanisms in the tumor. A liquid biopsy can be used for molecular characterization of the tumor and its non-invasive nature allows repeat sampling to monitor genetic changes over time without the need for a tissue biopsy. This review will summarize three approaches in the liquid biopsy field: circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cell free DNA (cfDNA) and exosomes. We also outline some of the analytical challenges encountered using liquid biopsy techniques to detect rare mutations in a background of wild-type sequences.


The reelin and dab1 genes are necessary for appropriate neuronal migration and lamination during brain development. Since these processes are controlled by thyroid hormone, we studied the effect of thyroid hormone deprivation and administration on the expression of reelin anddab1. As shown by Northern analysis, in situ hybridization, and immunohistochemistry studies, hypothyroid rats expressed decreased levels of reelinRNA and protein during the perinatal period [embryonic day 18 (E18) and postnatal day 0 (P0)]. The effect was evident in Cajal-Retzius cells of cortex layer I, as well as in layers V/VI, hippocampus, and granular neurons of the cerebellum. At later ages, however, Reelin was more abundant in the cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, and olfactory bulb of hypothyroid rats (P5), and no differences were detected at P15. Conversely, Dab1 levels were higher at P0, and lower at P5 in hypothyroid animals. In line with these results, reelin RNA and protein levels were higher in cultured hippocampal slices from P0 control rats compared to those from hypothyroid animals. Significantly, thyroid-dependent regulation of reelin anddab1 was confirmed in vivo and in vitro by hormone treatment of hypothyroid rats and organotypic cultures, respectively. In both cases, thyroid hormone led to an increase in reelin expression. Our data suggest that the effects of thyroid hormone on neuronal migration may be in part mediated through the control of reelin anddab1 expression during brain ontogenesis.


Vertical axis wind turbine blades are subject to rapid, cyclical variations in angle of attack and relative airspeed which can induce dynamic stall. This phenomenon poses an obstacle to the greater implementation of vertical axis wind turbines because dynamic stall can reduce turbine efficiency and induce structural vibrations and noise. This study seeks to provide a more comprehensive description of dynamic stall in vertical axis wind turbines, with an emphasis on understanding its parametric dependence and scaling behaviour. This problem is of practical relevance to vertical axis wind turbine design but the inherent coupling of the pitching and velocity scales in the blade kinematics makes this problem of more broad fundamental interest as well. Experiments are performed using particle image velocimetry in the vicinity of the blades of a straight-bladed gyromill-type vertical axis wind turbine at blade Reynolds numbers of between 50 000 and 140 000, tip speed ratios between $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}=1$ to $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}=5$ , and dimensionless pitch rates of $0.10\leqslant K_{c}\leqslant 0.20$ . The effect of these factors on the evolution, strength and timing of vortex shedding from the turbine blades is determined. It is found that tip speed ratio alone is insufficient to describe the circulation production and vortex shedding behaviour from vertical axis wind turbine blades, and a scaling incorporating the dimensionless pitch rate is proposed.


This presentation discusses the most important findings of the Development Effectiveness Overview (DEO) of 2010. The DEO is a reporting instrument of the Development Effectiveness Framework approved in 2008. The main messages are (i) Demonstrating the effectiveness of our work becomes even more relevant given that today the IDB is a larger and more strategically-focused bank. (ii) Our development effectiveness agenda has produced encouraging results. (iii) The Bank's performance shows an upward trend in becoming a results-based organization, as depicted by indicators across all areas of our work.


Steam-fluidized bed gasification of biomass, which produces combustible gases from which transportation fuels can be synthesized, is a promising option for replacing the use of fossil fuels in the transportation sector. Similar to other thermal conversion processes, the release of potassium (K), chlorine (Cl), and sulfur (S) from biomass fuels to the gas phase during this process may be conducive to ash-related problems. Catalytic tar and char conversion by K has also been observed. In addition to operational conditions, the extent to which these elements are released to the gas phase may be affected by fuel ash characteristics such as the ash composition and the speciation (or association) of ash-forming elements in the fuel matrix. In the present work, the influence of these fuel ash characteristics on the extent to which K, Cl, and S are released from biomass fuels to the gas phase was studied under steam-fluidized bed gasification. The aim was to assess whether these fuel ash characteristics provide information that could be useful in making a quick judgment as to what extent K, Cl, and S would be released to the gas phase. To this end, the release of K, Cl, and S from forest residues and wheat straw during devolatilization and steam gasification of the char was quantified in a laboratory-scale bubbling fluidized bed reactor. The speciation of these elements in the virgin fuels was studied with chemical fractionation. The results reveal that the extent to which S is released from biomass fuels to the gas phase mainly depends on its speciation in the fuel matrix. While both the ash composition (mainly the Cl/K molar ratio) of the fuel and the speciation of K in the fuel matrix are relevant for the release of K, they appear to be unimportant with respect to the release of Cl.


Synthetic compounds, especially those containing heterocyclic ring systems composed of nitrogen and sulphur have been of great interest due to their versatility as medicinal drugs. In view of this, three new isomeric dithiocarbazate ligands, S-2-methylbenzyldithiocarbazate, S-3-methylbenzyldithio- carbazate and S-4-methylbenzyldithiocarbazate, twenty-one Schiff bases derived from the isomeric dithiocarbazates with pyridine-2-aldehyde, 6-methylpyridine-2-aldehyde, 2-benzoylpyridine, di-2-pyridylketone, 2-acetylpyridine, 3-acetylpyridine and 4-acetylpyridine, and their Cu(II), Ni(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes have been successfully synthesized in a 1:1 mol ratio in an ethanol/acetonitrile mixture and characterized via various physico-chemical and spectroscopic techniques. The NMR and mass spectral analysis of the isomeric dithiocarbazates and their Schiff bases indicated the presence of a cyclised compound which was then identified as 2,5-bis(n-methylbenzylthio)-1,3,4-thiadiazole (n= 2,3 or 4). Elemental analyses, magnetic and spectral data indicate an octahedral geometry for all the metal complexes, except those derived from 3-acetylpyridine and 4-acetylpyridine which were expected to possess a distorted square-planar geometry. The structures of five Schiff bases, ten transition metal complexes and two thiadiazoles, namely 2,5-bis(2-methylbenzylthio)-1,3,4-thiadiazole and 2,5-bis(4-methylbenzylthio)-1,3,4-thiadiazole were successfully elucidated via X-ray crystallographic analysis. The transition metal complexes had distorted octahedral geometries, coordinating via the pyridyl nitrogen, azomethine nitrogen and thiolate sulphur atoms of the Schiff bases in a mer configuration. The complexes have been evaluated for their biological activities against seven pathogenic microbials and two breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 (Human breast carcinoma cells with positive estrogen receptor) and MDA-MB-231 (Human breast carcinoma cells with negative estrogen receptor). The complexes were mostly antibacterial, but were inactive against the fungal strains tested. The Schiff bases in this study were also completely inactive against the microbial strains but complexation with the transition metal ions had significantly increased the activity. The complexes were generally more active against the MCF-7 cell line as compared to the MDA-MB-231 cell line. Several correlations based on the structure-bioactivity relationship of the complexes have been made.


Opioid misuse can, and should, be characterized as an epidemic and public health crisis. Opioid misuse, use disorders, and overdoses are costly in terms of morbidity, mortality, and humanitarian and economic costs. Managing the use of opioids in the postoperative period is an essential point of intervention in combating the opioid crisis. To address this critical issue, Continuous Precision Medicine (CPM; Research Triangle Park, NC) has developed a mobile application that tracks a patient's pain and usage of both opiates and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) medications to manage that pain. Participants (N = 8) of this feasibility study were patients undergoing outpatient surgeries in an urban area of the Southeastern United States. Seven of eight (87.5%) patients using the mobile application began to delay the next opioid dose and took less than the recommended dosage within 24 hours post-operation, took less than half of the prescribed opioids, and consumed less than 2/3 of the recommended opioids to manage their pain, thereby decreasing their plasma concentration and reducing the risk of habit-forming behaviors. Across seven of the patients, 180 oxycodone pills were prescribed, and only 39 pills (21%) were taken, leaving 141 pills in the community. Preliminary results suggest that the CPM mobile application is feasible and acceptable for both patients and practitioners and provides traceability for the clinicians and make better-informed decisions regarding patient care.


Interstitial techniques for hyperthermia therapy of cancer continue to evolve in response to requirements for better localization and control over heating of deep seated tissues. Magnetic induction heating of ferromagnetic implants is one of several available techniques for producing interstitial hyperthermia, using thermal conduction to redistribute heat within an array of controlled temperature "hot sources." This report describes seven induction heating coil designs that can be used for producing strong magnetic fields around ferromagnetic seed implants located in different sites in the body. The effect of coil design on the extent and uniformity of the magnetic field is characterized, and appropriate electrostatic shield designs for minimizing electric field coupling to the patient are described. Advantages and disadvantages of each coil type are discussed in terms of the radiated fields, coil efficiency, and ease of use, and appropriate applications are given for each design. This armamentarium of induction coils provides the ability to customize magnetic field distributions for improved coupling of energy into ferromagnetic implant arrays located at any depth or orientation in the body. Proper selection of heating coil configuration should simplify patient setup, improve the safety of patient treatments, and pave the way for future applications of interstitial heating in sites that were previously untreatable.<<ETX>>


The Minnesota Bicycle and Pedestrian Counting Initiative: Implementation Study reports results from the second in a series of three Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) projects to foster non-motorized traffic monitoring. The objectives were to install and validate permanent automated sensors, use portable sensors for short duration counts, develop models for extrapolating counts, and integrate continuous counts into MnDOT traffic monitoring databases. Commercially available sensors, including inductive loops, integrated inductive loops and passive infrared, pneumatic tubes, and radio beams, were installed both as permanent monitor sites and used for short-duration counts at a variety of locations in cities, suburbs, and small towns across Minnesota. All sensors tested in the study produced reasonably accurate measures of bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Most sensors undercounted because of their inability to distinguish and count bicyclists or pedestrians passing simultaneously. Accuracy varied with technology, care and configuration of deployment, maintenance, and analytic methods. Bicycle and pedestrian traffic volumes varied greatly across locations, with highest volumes being on multiuse trails in urban areas. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) protocols were used to estimate annual average daily traffic and miles traveled on an 80-mile multiuse trail network in Minneapolis. Project findings were incorporated in a new MnDOT guidance document, "DRAFT Bicycle and Pedestrian Data Collection Manual" used in statewide training workshops. A major challenge in implementing bicycle and pedestrian traffic monitoring is data management. Years will be required to institutionalize bicycle and pedestrian traffic successfully.


Innovation and its main output, technology, are changing the way we work, socialise, vote, and live. New technologies have improved our lives and made firms more productive, overall raising living standards across the world. Thanks to progress in information technology, the rate of change is accelerating. Disruption and disequilibrium are the new normal. In this essay, prepared as a chapter for the first phase of the British Academy 'The Future of the Corporation' initiative, we reflect upon the role that corporate, competition and tax law can play both to facilitate innovation and simultaneously assuage emergent societal risks arising from new technologies. We consider means of enhancing investment in research and development ('R&D') and optimising corporate organisation. But we also reflect on the risks associated with innovation, such as the use of technology to exploit consumers, manipulate markets or distort, unwittingly or not, the political process. Finally, we consider the way in which the environment for business law reform is subject to new political risks following the challenge to the liberal order from populism and the rising power of dominant technology companies.


Adolescent physical inactivity has risen to an alarming rate. Several theoretical frameworks (models) have been proposed and tested in school-based interventions. The results are mixed, indicating a similar weakness as that observed in community-based physical activity interventions (Baranowski, Lin, Wetter, Resnicow, & Hearn, 1997). The theoretical models were decontextualized, thus are unable to address issues central to adolescents' physical activity behavior. In this article, we propose using a theoretical model derived from school-based research on learning behavior change. We review related research on adolescents' physical activity to demonstrate the relevance of using the model to study the dynamic impact of personal, school curriculum, and community variables on adolescent physical activity. We also translate the conceptual model into empirically testable cross-sectional and longitudinal latent growth models and propose concrete steps researchers can take to design empirical studies to examine them. We believe that research studies guided by the proposed conceptual and empirical models will provide useful data for us to better understand the mechanisms of adolescent physical activity motivation and behavior change.


This article argues that the role of Private Security Contractors in Darfur reflects and reinforces neo-liberal governmentality in contemporary security governance. It is an argument (in line with other articles in this special issue) which is more interested in discussing how the privatization of security alters security practices (including those involving states) than in thinking about their impact on an idealised public monopoly on the use of force. To make its point, the article begins by drawing on Foucauldian work to clarify the meaning of neo-liberal governmentality in security. It underlines that governance is increasingly taking place through a set of (quasi-) markets, it is marked by entrepreneurial values, and a hands off approach to governance. We then discuss the way this overall change is reflected in and reinforced by the role of private security contractors in Darfur. Drawing on a framework of analysis inspired by Bourdieu, we show that neo-liberal governmentality is reflected in the dispositions of security actors as well as in their relative positions. The resulting security practices reinforce dispositions and positions that reproduce neo-liberal governmentality. Looking at these processes is necessary to understand the role of private security contractors in Darfur. But more than this, practices in Darfur entrench neo-liberal governmentality in security more generally. The managerial and 'de-politicizing' approach to security in Darfur displaces alternative views not only in the Darfuri context. It is taken into other contexts where it bolsters neo-liberal governmentality. This spiralling neo-liberal governmentality rather than diminished state control and authority is, we argue, the most significant consequence of the presence of private security contractors in Darfur.


The two geometric operations of intersecting shapes with one another and unfolding complex shapes into flat patterns have through CAD software been changed from challenge to triviality. Thus, combinations of shapes that have eluded designers for the difficulty of their handling are now at the hands of everybody who is able to use common CAD packages. We investigate what this can mean for architectural design.


The author explores a fundamental trade-off that occurs between settlement delay and intraday liquidity in the daily operation of large-value payment systems (LVPS), with specific application to Canada's Large Value Transfer System (LVTS). To reduce settlement delay, participants generally must maintain greater intraday liquidity in the system. Intraday liquidity and settlement delay can be costly for LVPS participants, and improvements in the trade-off are desirable. The replacement of standard queuing arrangements with a complex queue-release algorithm represents one such improvement. These algorithms are expected to lower intraday liquidity needs and speed up payments processing in an LVPS. Simulation analysis is used to empirically test this proposition for the case of Canada's LVTS. The analysis is conducted using a payment system simulator developed by the Bank of Finland, called the BoF-PSS2. The author shows that increased use of the LVTS central queue (which contains a complex queue-release algorithm) reduces settlement delay associated with each level of intraday liquidity considered, relative to a standard queuing arrangement. Some important issues emerge from these results.


... I ... do not dislike travels. But history, real solemn history, I cannot be interested in. . .1 read it a little as a duty, but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all it is very tiresome; and yet I often think it odd that it should be so dull, for a great deal of it must be invention. (Jane Austen, Nonhanger Abbey, Chapter 14)


Inflammation is a well-known risk factor for chronic physical illnesses. Evidence is building that inflammation is also a risk for mental illnesses making inflammation a common, modifiable mechanism which could potentially explain why mental and physical illnesses are highly comorbid.A rapid synthesis on factors associated to inflammation in the depressed chronically ill has been conducted. It led to the production of a theoretical model of the interplay between inflammation, depression, and chronic physical illnessFive categories of factors which mediate the association between chronic physical and mental illnesses have been isolated: 1- social-demographic factors, 2- social-economic background, 3- Adverse health behaviours, 4- psychological stress, 5- genetics. We also considered factors that moderate the association between physical and mental illnesses: psychological therapies and medications. A discussion on the influence of each factor on the interplay between inflammation, depression and chronic illness is then conducted to support advances in clinical and research practice, as well as training and education.


The quantification of solute and sediment export from drainage basins is challenging. A large proportion of annual or decadal loads of most constituents is exported during relatively short periods of time, a "hot moment," which vary between constituents and catchments. We developed a new framework based on concentration-discharge (C-Q) relationship to characterize the export regime of stream particulates and solutes during high water periods when the majority of annual and inter-annual load is transported. We evaluated the load flashiness index (percentage of cumulative load that occurs during the highest 2% of daily load, M2), a function of flow flashiness (percentage of cumulative Q during the highest 2% of daily Q, W2), and export pattern (slope of the logC-logQ relationship for Q higher than the daily median Q, b50high). We established this relationship based on long-term water quality and discharge datasets of 580 streams sites of France and USA, corresponding to 2,507 concentration time series of total suspended sediments (TSS), total dissolved solutes (TDS), total phosphorus (TP), nitrate (NO3), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), generating 1.5 million data points in highly diverse geologic, climatic, and anthropogenic contexts. Load flashiness (M2) increased with b50high and/or W2. Also, M2 varied as a function of the constituent transported. M2 had the highest values for TSS and decreased for the other constituents in the following order: TP, DOC, NO3, TDS. Based on these results, we constructed a load-flashiness diagram to determine optimal monitoring frequency of dissolved or particulate constituents as a function of b50high and W2. Based on M2, optimal temporal monitoring frequency of the studied constituents decreases in the following order: TSS, TP, DOC, NO3, and TDS. Finally, we analyzed relationships between these metrics and catchments characteristics. Depending on the constituent, we explained between 30 and 40% of their M2 variance with simple catchment characteristics, such as stream network density or percentage of intensive agriculture. Therefore, catchment characteristics can be used as a first approach to set up water quality monitoring design where no hydrological and/or water quality monitoring exist.


Assistive technologies have recently emerged to improve the quality of life of severely disabled people by enhancing their independence in daily activities. Since many of those individuals have limited or non-existing control from the neck downward, alternative hands-free input modalities have become very important for these people to access assistive devices. In hands-free control, head movement has been proved to be a very effective user interface as it can provide a comfortable, reliable and natural way to access the device. Recently, neural networks have been shown to be useful not only for real-time pattern recognition but also for creating user-adaptive models. Since multi-layer perceptron neural networks trained using standard back-propagation may cause poor generalisation, the Bayesian technique has been proposed to improve the generalisation and robustness of these networks. This paper describes the use of Bayesian neural networks in developing a hands-free wheelchair control system. The experimental results show that with the optimised architecture, classification Bayesian neural networks can detect head commands of wheelchair users accurately irrespective to their levels of injuries


This study discusses the evolution of long gravity waves on shear flows. Although the paper is concerned mainly with finite amplitude neutrally stable flows which contain a critical level, a new representation is given for the unstable mode solutions of the linearized equations. From these solutions it appears that focusing instabilities, usually associated with nonlinear viscous effects, can occur even in linear inviscid theory. For finite amplitude disturbances the analysis is restricted to polygonal shear profiles and only the neutrally stable solutions are considered. The theory is presented in detail for a simple two-layer profile which can support a critical mode. At small Froude numbers the critical mode is essentially an internal wave. This limiting solution also describes critical flows between parallel rigid boundaries when there is no body force. The finite amplitude solutions are generalizations of the classical simple wave solutions for unsheared flows. As in the classical case, those waves can break but it is found that the conditions under which they break can be markedly different for shear flows. Calculations for the particle trajectories are also presented. These trajectories differ from the usual Kelvin's cat's eye pattern in that they are, in general, no longer closed. Finally, it is observed that there are many other barotropic flows for which the governing equations can be reduced to a form equivalent to the shallow water equations discussed here. A list of such flows is given.