This article draws upon data gathered from a research project entitled 'Children's Relationship Cultures in Years 5 and 6'. The project aims to explore the ways in which primary school age children understand emotional, caring and family relationships. This paper will focus upon the role of friendship in the cultures of girls, aged 9-10, in a primary school classroom. An ethnographic approach is adopted to illustrate the variety of interactions in which friendship is spoken, displayed and enacted within pupil cultures. Analysis of these exchanges suggests that notions of friendship and patterns of friendship are constitutive of sexual-gender identities. The paper argues that being friends/breaking friends is a technique utilised for the regulation and negotiation of femininities and the production of differentiated sex-gender hierarchies. The paper will focus upon the activities of the 'diary group'--a self-styled network of eight girls who met in the school playground to discuss issues that interested and excited them. Recurrent themes in diary group discussions are identified as: puberty/periods; erotic attachments; and imagined futures. The paper suggests that the diary group can be seen as a site for identity production and asks the question: what kind of identities are being produced when these girls meet and talk? Finally, the paper seeks to explore the ways in which members of the diary group create a 'private' space within the public domain of the school and, through talk, produce themselves as feminine subjects.


Eastern Anatolia is the site of lithospheric thinning, plateau uplift, heating, and synconvergent extension. Using numerical geodynamic experiments, we test the hypothesis that these tectonic anomalies are all related and the consequence of delamination of the mantle lithosphere. Our findings indicate that delamination during plate convergence results in ~2-km-high plateau uplift. The removal of mantle lithosphere induces distinct regions of contraction and thickening, as well as extension and thinning of the crust. The latter occurs even within a regime of plate shortening, although it is muted with increasing plate convergence. Detachment of the delaminating slab results in minor surface topographic perturbation, but only above the delamination hinge. The plateau uplift and pattern of surface contraction and/or extension are consistent with a topographic profile at 42°E and geologically interpreted zone of synconvergent extension at eastern Anatolia.


A novel closed-form solution for pose-graph SLAM is presented. It optimizes pose-graphs of particular structure called pose-chains by employing an extended version of trajectory bending. Our solution is designed as a back-end optimizer to be used within systems whose front-end performs state-of-the-art visual odometry and appearance based loop detection. The optimality conditions of our closed-form method and that of state-of-the-art iterative methods are discussed. The practical relevance of their theoretical differences is investigated by extensive experiments using simulated and real data. It is shown using 49 kilometers of challenging binocular data that the accuracy obtained by our closed-form solution is comparable to that of state-of-the-art iterative solutions while the time it needs to compute its solution is a factor 50 to 200 times lower. This makes our approach relevant to a broad range of applications and computational platforms.


In this study, we investigate the characteristics and information content of whisper forecasts of earnings. Based on data on earnings whispers obtained from public sources and from one private website ('getwhispers.com'), we examine whether whisper forecasts are more optimistic, on average, than consensus analyst forecasts, and how the market perceives whisper forecasts as compared to consensus analyst forecasts. Our results indicate that whisper forecasts are more optimistic, on average, than consensus analyst forecasts. Further, we find that consensus forecasts are as accurate as whisper forecasts. Our market perception tests reveal that in both the short-run and the long-run, whispers are not incrementally informative to consensus analyst forecasts. Further, we find no evidence that analysts use the information contained in whispers to revise their forecasts. On the contrary, we find that analysts' consensus forecasts often have incremental information content over whisper numbers. However, our inferences are not applicable to recent whisper data since our sample period ends in March 2001. Proprietary ways of analyzing market and street expectations have the potential to add value in picking stocks and assessing market direction. Our findings do not apply to data disseminated via existing, commercial whisper websites that are not part of the sample which may have the potential to add value through proprietary data or analyses using proprietary algorithms.


Prof. dr. Ann Phoenix, Professor of Psychosocial Studies, University College London, Institute of Education "Changing life stories? The place of intersectionality in narratives of transnational lives" One of the helpful insights of narrative theory is that the ways in which people start telling their life stories, positioning themselves and others in a social and temporal landscape is highly informative. This paper considers the narratives of adults looking back on their lives to make sense of childhoods often considered 'non-normative' that have been produced through migration and transnational family experiences. It focuses particularly on the place of retrospective evaluation and shows that this is both inseparable from contemporary life and dependent on the multiple social categories in which speakers/writers are positioned. As a result, the paper shows how biographical emphasis can change over time. Prof. dr. Ismee Tames, NIOD Amsterdam (Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies), Utrecht University "'For our freedom and yours': Transnational resistance against fascism, 1936-1948" This paper explores the transnational experience of resistance against fascism (and Nazism) from the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War up to the closing of the Iron Curtain in 1948. It builds on a book project funded by the Leverhulme Trust and administered by Oxford University. We created a network of more than 20 researchers from Europe, the US and Israel working on various aspects of resistance against fascism. The book will be due in 2019. Our aim is to open up national discourses about resistance and highlight how for many people resisting fascism was a transnational experience. Think of volunteers from Albania ending up in Spain in 1937, think of Italians who fled Mussolini's Italy, found a new home in Paris, mobilized again to fight Franco and later on to fight in German occupied France and Italy, think of German communists fleeing Nazi Germany but reorganizing again in neighboring countries, think of Zionist organizations that morphed from organizations preparing young European Jews for settlement in Palestine into illegal rescue networks to bring the persecuted outside Nazi-occupied territory. Or think of Polish nationalists spurring the Warsaw uprising and realizing they were fighting side by side with escaped forced laborers from Western-Europe or even a Nigerian Jazz musician. The experience of resistance is the experience of violence, of being confronted with the unexpected, of being forced to reinvent oneself over and over. It is an experience of movement from one place to the next and taking your own previous skills, experiences, expectations and emotions with you on your trajectories and in your encounters and exchanges with others. We try to explore how these experiences and encounters reconfigured identities and shaped the experience of resistance against fascism. Dr. Pia Wiegmink, Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies, University of Mainz "Mobility, belonging, and antislavery critique in antebellum African American women's travel accounts" This paper explores the relationship between tropes of (transatlantic) mobility and antislavery critique in two antebellum African American women's autobiographies, Nancy Prince's The Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince (published in 1850, 1853 and 1856) and Eliza Potter's A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life (1859). Before the outbreak of the Civil War, Prince and Potter had already traveled to England, France, Russia, Canada, Jamaica, and to the American South. The aim of this paper is twofold: First, my analysis of black female narratives of travel gives prominence to the heterogeneity of nineteenth-century African American (print) culture and draws attention to works authored by African Americans who were not former slaves or prominent representatives of the abolitionist movement. Second, I am interested in further broadening the canon of African American critiques of slavery by including works that complicate or even defy conventional abolitionist rhetoric, and allow for a more nuanced understanding of the multifaceted nature of antislavery literature. Prince's and Potter's travel accounts offer an entry point to establish a dialogue between black women's life writing and transatlantic antislavery discourses beyond the genre of the slave narrative. Rather than neglecting the issue of slavery, Prince and Potter clearly observe, comment on, and criticize the peculiar institution, albeit in a fashion that defies easy categorization. My paper will examine how Prince and Potter remember and narrate their travels autobiographically, how they perceive their own social as well as geographical mobility as free black women travelers, how they reflect upon this subject position during their travels to Europe and within the U.S., and how they relate their own subject positions to those of enslaved black subjects that they encounter during her travels. Thus, for both women, I will argue, their travels provided them with an extra-national frame of reference from which they were able to see slavery, their own social position as African American women, and their sense of (national) belonging with a fresh pair of eyes. Dr. Leonieke Vermeer, Groningen University "Little crosses in the margins. Self-censoring in diaries as international practice" One of the most international aspects of diaries is paradoxically also the most private facet: symbols, encryptions, codes and self-censoring in order to hide sensitive or highly personal content in diaries. This kind of private language is an important feature of diary practice, regardless of time and place. Many diaries contain 'silences' in the form of crossed out lines, deleted parts and symbols that signal the absence of language, such as dots, dashes and crosses. How should one give meaning to these acts of concealing in autobiographical writing? Susan Sontag convincingly argued that 'silence remains, inescapably, a form of speech.' It is important to approach silences as an element in narrative, not as an absence of narrative. In my lecture, I will focus on the way 'silences as narrative' in diaries from the nineteenth century and early twentieth century can enhance our knowledge on the history of the body and the function of life writing in this respect. It is a topic that offers an outstanding opportunity to study diaries in a transnational perspective, because the practice of self-censoring including several symbols is not bound to a certain language and refers to discourses that transgress national borders. In that sense, private language is not as private as it seems. Diarists use similar disguising strategies, as can be seen with regard to masturbation; in several diaries from different national contexts appear the same symbols for masturbation, such as tiny crosses in the margins. Finally, I will also discuss the ethical aspect of studying silences: were they not meant to stay private instead of being revealed by historians? Panel Dr. Jaap Kooijman, University of Amsterdam: "Not just a country, but an idea: Bono's promotion of the American Dream" When Irish rock star Bono was a guest at The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2002, he told the talk show host: "See, there's the country of America, that you have to defend, but there's also the idea of America. America is more than just a country. It's an idea, okay ... an idea that's supposed to be contagious." Although unmentioned by Bono, he is paraphrasing his good friend Wim Wenders, the German filmmaker, who once wrote: "AMERICA, always means two things: a country, geographically, the USA, and a concept of this country, its ideal." That it takes an Irish rock star echoing the words of a German filmmaker on a talk show hosted by America's most popular television personality to make such a distinction explicit reinforces the notion that America as imagined community transcends the geographical boundaries of the nation-state USA. Bono has repeated his message many times in television appearances, commencement speeches at universities, and live performances of his band U2. More recently, he has used these words to challenge the Trump presidency. In my presentation, I will use Bono as case study to discuss how stars can become embodiments of political ideas that can be empowering on the one hand, yet can turn into cliché's on the other. Dr. Dennis Kersten, Radboud University: "There's a place in Beatle biofiction: John Lennon's Irish odyssey in Kevin Barry's Beatlebone (2015)" Kersten will present a case study of rock life writing and biofiction. In Kevin Barry's Beatlebone (2015) the New York based character John Lennon returns to the small Irish island which he purchased in 1967. This road-trip seems to "re-Irish" the main character not only because of the Irish setting, but also by constructing Lennon in a text that heavily leans on references to Irish literature. Kersten's point will be that the novel situates Lennon in a symbolic Irish space, and does more than claiming him for the Irish in a literary nationalist manner. Dr. Gaston Franssen, University of Amsterdam: "Geert Wilders as a transnational celebrity politician" Geert Wilders of the PVV is a celebrity politician in the sense that he is a public performer that draws on skills and resources of mass-mediated popular culture. As such, he has an important 'affective function' in the organization of political interests and issues. This function, I argue, is subject to a transnational inflection; I demonstrate this by comparing Wilders' book Kiezen voor vrijheid (2005) with his 2012 volume Marked for Death, paying particular attention to his biographical self-stylization.


Since the vehicle program in automotive industry gets more and more extensive, the costs related to inspection increase. Therefore, there are needs for more effective inspection preparation. In many situations, a large number of inspection points are measured, despite the fact that only a small subset of points is needed. A method, based on cluster analysis, for identifying redundant inspection points has earlier been successfully tested on industrial cases. Cluster analysis is used for grouping the variables into clusters, where the points in each cluster are highly correlated. From every cluster only one representing point is selected for inspection. In this paper the method is further developed and multiple linear regression is used for evaluating how much of the information that is lost when discarding an inspection point. The information loss can be quantified using an efficiency measure based on linear multiple regression, where the part of the variation in the discarded variables that can be explained by the remaining variables is calculated. This measure can be illustrated graphically and that helps to decide how many clusters that should be formed, i.e. how many inspection points that can be discarded.


We propose a method to integrate feature extraction and prediction as a single optimization task by stacking a three-layer model as a deep learning structure. The first layer of the deep structure is a Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) model which deals with the sequential input data from a group of assets. The output of the LSTM model is followed by meanpooling, and the result is fed to the second layer. The second layer is a neural network layer, which further learns the feature representation. The output of the second layer is connected to a survival model as the third layer for predicting asset health condition. The parameters of the three-layer model are optimized together via stochastic gradient decent. The proposed method was tested on a small dataset collected from a fleet of mining haul trucks. The model resulted in the "individualized" failure probability representation for assessing the health condition of each individual asset, which well separates the in-service and failed trucks. The proposed method was also tested on a large open source hard drive dataset, and it showed promising result.


The main target of this study was to evaluate the effect of dietary Nano-Selenium (Nano-Se) supplementation on selenium (Se) content and oxidative stability in table eggs and productive performance of laying hens. One hundred and eighty silver Montazah laying hens (Egyptian local developed strain) aged 32 weeks were housed in individual cages in a semi-open house. Birds were divided randomly into six treatments and fed a basal diet (vitamins and minerals mixture without Se). The experiment involved a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement, 2 Se sources (sodium selenite and Nano-Se) and 3 levels of each source (0.10, 0.25 and 0.40 ppm). Feed and water were provided ad libitum throughout the experimental period (three month). The prepared 80 nm Se nano particles were synthesized by chemical reduction method and characterized by Transmission Electron Microscope, X-ray diffraction and spectrophotometry. Different Se levels of sodium selenite or Nano-Se did not affect egg weight, feed intake and most of egg quality. Egg production percentage and egg mass increased and the feed conversion ratio significantly improved, by adding Nano-Se in layer diets. Increasing Se level from 0.10 up to 0.40 ppm either sodium selenite or Nano- Se significantly increasing Se content in eggs and the highest concentration was recorded with high level (0.40 ppm) of Nano-Se. Moreover, increased glutathione peroxides (GSH-Px) activity, with reduction of Malondialdehyde (MDA) content in yolk of stored eggs at room temperature for 15 days. Adding 0.25 ppm of Nano-Se recorded the lower saturated to unsaturated fatty acids ratio thus improved the fatty acid profile and oxidative stability during storage. Nano-Se significantly reduced total lipids, total cholesterol and increased HDL-cholesterol to total cholesterol ratio in maternal hens (plasma and yolk). The main histopathological findings of livers for all treatments were fatty liver with focal aggregation of inflammatory cells. While the spleen showed congestion of blood vessels. Conclusions: It can be concluded that, supplemental layer diets with 0.25 ppm of Nano-Se was effective in improving the productive performance and GSH-Px activity of layer and producing Se enriched egg which could supply 50% (35 µg) of the human Se Recommended Daily Allowances. This give a hand in solving the problem of Se deficiency in food for human.


Anthropogenic activities in river basins have culminated into land use and land cover changes (LULCCs) resulting in environmental consequences of sediment generation. Understanding the role that LULCCs play in the dynamics of sediment yield would greatly enhance decision making processes that borders on land use and water resources management. We investigated the impacts of LULCCs on sediment yield dynamics through an integrated approach of hydrologic modelling and principal component analysis (PCA). A three phase land use scenario (2000, 2007 and 2013) employing the "fix-changing" method was used to simulate the sediment yield of the Olifants Basin. Annual sediment yield for the basin for 2000, 2007 and 2013 were respectively 946.76 t/km 2 .a, 1110.02 t/km 2 .a and 1408.27t/km 2 .a. Our results indicate that sediment yield dynamics in the study area is significantly attributed to the changes in agriculture, urban and forested lands. Changes in agriculture and urban lands positively influenced sediment yield dynamics of the Olifants Basin. On the contrary, forested areas had a negative relationship with sediment yield indicating less sediment yield from these areas. The output of this research work provides a simplistic approach of evaluating the impacts of land use changes on sediment yield. The tools and methods used are relevant for policy directions on land and water resources planning.


Tracing organic matter (OM) in soil is challenging, because runoff and leaching processes are interrelated and have multiple sources. Therefore, multiple tracers with low background concentrations such as rare earth element oxides (REOs) are necessary to delineate the origin of sources of the organic materials in groundwater, rivers or in catchments. The main objective of this study was to examine the potential use of REOs as a tracer in various forms of OM (1) whole slurry, (2) solid, and (3) liquid phase of cattle slurry after mechanical separation. A laboratory experiment was carried out using five REOs (La, Gd, Sm, Pr, and Nd oxides) mixed directly into soil or mixed with various fractions of cattle slurry and then applied to the soil surface. In the additional grassland experiment, Gd oxide was spiked with soil and cattle slurry and then applied to the soil surface. The mineral N in the liquid phase (urine) of the slurry in the grassland experiment was labelled with 15N urea (16 atom%). In the laboratory experiment, results showed that the five REOs concentration of soil in 0–1 cm soil section after the rainfall simulation was still up to 20 times more than the background values. In 1–2 cm soil section, the concentration of only Gd (two fold higher) and La oxides (50% higher) were significantly higher than the soil background values. Therefore, we hypothesized that Gd and La oxides were associated also with relatively finer organic particles in slurry, thus 1–2 cm soil section were enriched with these oxides. The five REOs concentration below 2 cm soil depth were similar to the background values in all treatments. In line with the laboratory experiment, Gd concentrations in the deeper soil layers (2–4 and 4–8 cm) in the grassland experiment were not significantly affected by any treatment. Both in grassland and laboratory experiment, solid phase of the slurry (dung) was collected from the soil surface after rainfall simulation. Here, about 56% of REOs were measured on the solid phase of the slurry which indicates the strong binding potential of REOs on slurry OM. The present novel study, where REO tagged slurry was uniquely tested to study geochemical cycle of organic fertilizers, clearly highlighted the potential for their use as multiple-tracers of (animal derived-) OM in agricultural soils.


The Color of Teaching: Educational Chage and Development, by June A. Gordon. London and New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2000. 109 pp. $85.00, cloth. $27.99, paper. The Color of Teaching by June A. Gordon deals with the recruitment and retention of teachers of color. She looks at teachers from four different ethnic backgrounds, African American, Latino, Asian American, and Native American from three urban school districts. The Color of Teaching demonstrates the author's desire to address this issue head on. The breakdown of this very informative, yet easy to read book is clear-cut. Gordon provides the facts and points out the inequalities. June Gordon has completed extensive research in the area of cultural diversity, urban education, and factors that hinder the successes of marginalized students within the United States, England, and Japan. She also identifies with this community because she herself comes from a family of immigrants. Gordon's research is extensive in that she looks at the work of some of the gurus in the field of minority education, like John Ogbu, Asa Hillard, Jonathan Kozol, and M. Suarez-Orozco. Administrators across the nation find it difficult to recruit teachers of color and even harder to retain them. Gordon addresses these issues by conducting interviews with teachers from each of these ethnic groups. The underlying question in the book is: "Why aren't we pushing children of color into the field of education?" Each group has some of the same concerns, but many were different. Central to the book are the experiences of various groups throughout their respective educational processes. Each ethnic group had distinct perspectives as to why they thought a career in education was not of interest to their children or generations after them. Many agreed that they themselves were guilty of not encouraging students to pursue careers in education. Each culture represented provided very dear, strong, and powerful stories. One of Gordon's most interesting findings was that these ethnic groups found that no matter what the socioeconomic status or the academic standing of the families, communities, or peers, they did not encourage their children to enter the education profession. In Chapter One Gordon explains her research, the population, and her own ideas regarding the research. Gordon deals with the fact that there is a shortage of teachers and an even more pronounced shortage of teachers of color. Gordon writes that the U.S. Department of Education proposed a need of 2.2 million public school teachers because of an influx of various ethnic groups and continuously growing populations. With this in mind one would think that the need would be greatest in the minority school communities. However, Gordon points out that the need for teachers is more common in White communities. Chapter Two explains the issues that surround African American teachers from an historical context. Here, examples are used to describe African American teachers of the past as role models. They were viewed by the society within their community as a part of the elite. Desegregation changed the image of African American teachers. After desegregation, African American teachers were no longer respected within their community schools. Instead, they were viewed as inferior and less competent, especially since White parents did not want Black teachers to teach their children. This chapter also addresses African American teachers' perceptions of why students of color resist teaching as a profession. A majority of the teachers in the research believed that low pay, low economic status, unrealistic educational expectations, better opportunities in other fields, coupled with inadequate and negative experiences in the school system, lack of support in college, and racism all negatively influence African American youth with regards to the teaching profession. Chapter Three discusses the concerns of the Latino American population interviewed in this study. …


Several signed excedance-like statistics have nice formulae or generating functions when summed over the symmetric group and over its subset of derangements.  We give counterparts of some of these results when we sum over the hyperoctahedral group and its subset of derangements.  Our results motivate us to define and derive attractive bivariate formulae which generalise some of these results for the symmetric group.


First aired 2 years ago by European research chief Philippe Busquin, the concept of a European Research Area to promote cross-border research projects and to help coordinate research across the continent has won acclaim. But implementation--particularly the role for basic research in the ERA--is hotly debated.
 Science has solicited the views of four prominent European statesmen on this issue.
 Enric Banda
 leads off with a discussion of ways in which a European Research Council can serve as a support structure and how the European Science Foundation can be involved. In counterpoint,
 Sir George Radda
 comments that scientific networking across Europe is proceeding well without the need for a new administrative structure.
 Hans Wigzell
 believes that the Framework Programme itself needs to be split into a European Research Council and an Innovation Council to promote large projects.
 Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker
 suggests strategies that will aid "small science" and provide a "bottom-up" approach.


'Camarosa' cultivar berries were evaluated to asses the influence of different nitrogen fertilizations on their quality. There were 4 levels of nitrogen fertilization: type 1 without nitrogen; types 2, 3 and 4 with 5 g/m 2 , 10 g/m 2 and 15 g/m 2 of nitrogen respectively. Samples of 6 ripe fruits, from each modality (4 modalities) and repetition (4 repetitions) were picked up periodically and analyzed at the Post-harvest laboratory, Evora University. The following variables and tests were performed to evaluate fruit quality: weight, external color (L * a * b * ), visual aspect penetration test, Soluble Solids Content, titrable acidity and aroma. The results for texture were significant for the ratio maximum force/deformation, and the strawberries grown without nitrogen fertilization are significantly different from all the others. The electronic nose seems to be a good method to determinate wich strawberries were produced with different nitrogen fertilization, mainly modality 0 from the others; however it does not make any distinction for those obtained from modality 2 and 3. The PCA analysis indicates that the factor 1 explains 82% of the total variance. A general evaluation of the results make evident that fruits without nitrogen fertilization are clearly distinguished from those of modality 2 (5 g/m 2 ) that reveal a possible increase of quality; berries obtained from modalities 3 and 4, do not show any interesting changes.


In this paper I construct a daily business cycle index based on quarterly GDP and textual information contained in a daily business newspaper. The newspaper data is decomposed into time series representing newspaper topics using a Latent Dirichlet Allocation model. The business cycle index is estimated using the newspaper topics and a time-varying Dynamic Factor Model where dynamic sparsity is enforced upon the factor loadings using a latent threshold mechanism. I show that both contributions, the usage of newspaper data and the latent threshold mechanism, contribute towards the qualities of the derived index: It is more timely and accurate than commonly used alternative business cycle indicators and indexes, and, it provides the index user with broad based high frequent information about the type of news that drive or reflect economic fluctuations.


The aim of this study is to test the hypotheses that a multi-modality sensory feedback device, incorporating mechanotactile and vibrotactile feedback can increase the subjects' performance in localization and intensity discrimination.To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt combining mechanotactile and vibrotactile into a single sebsory feedback device. For persons without maps of referred sensation, the localization of the stimulation has to be memorized and predicted from previous stimulation. The outcome of this study shows that the hybrid stimulation relieves the mental load, but in future work activating both modalities simultaneously could increase haptic vocabulary. Hybrid stimulation also improves the performance for subjects with maps of referred sensation.


We begin with an introduction which describes the thesis in detail, and then a
preliminary chapter in which we discuss rewriting systems, associated complexes and
finiteness conditions. In particular, we recall the graph of derivations r and the 2-
complex V associated to any rewriting system, and the related geometric finiteness
conditions F DT and F HT. In §1.4 we give basic definitions and results about finite
complete rewriting systems, that is, rewriting systems which rewrite any word in a
finite number of steps to its normal form, the unique irreducible word in its congruence
class.
The main work of the thesis begins in Chapter 2 with some discussion of rewriting
systems for groups which are confluent on the congruence class containing the empty
word. In §2.1 we characterize groups admitting finite A-complete rewriting systems
as those with a A-Dehn presentation, and in §2.2 we give some examples of finite
rewriting systems for groups which are A-complete but not complete.
For the remainder of the thesis, we study how the properties of finite complete
rewriting systems which are discussed in the first chapter are mirrored in higher
dimensions. In Chapter 3 we extend the 2-complex V to form a new 3-complex VP,
and in Chapter 4 we define new finiteness conditions F DT2 and F HT2 based on the
homotopy and homology of this complex. In §4.4 we show that if a monoid admits a
finite complete rewriting system, then it is of type F DT2 •
The final chapter contains a discussion of alternative ways to define such higher
dimensional finiteness conditions. This leads to the introduction, in §5.2, of a variant
of the Guba-Sapir homotopy reduction system which can be associated to any co~
plete rewriting system. This is a rewriting system operating on paths in r, and is
complete in the sense that it rewrites paths in a finite number of steps to a unique
"normal form" .


Abstract. For millions of years, the Jarama Valley, located in the middle of Spain, has fluctuated physically and geomorphological, supposing over the centuries a crucial settlement for wildlife and different human cultures as an efficient route through South Europa. Currently, this scenario, which consist of a vast and intricate network of military installations due to the Battle of Jarama in the Spanish Civil War, mixed with incredible paleontological sites, Celtiberian cities and roman, are part of a great-protected natural and cultural classified as the Southeast Regional Park close to Madrid City.The aim of this work is developing a geospatial methodology for the digital heritage mapping in the Jarama Valley using geomatics' technologies in situ, drones' data, image spectrometry and the Copernicus European program, both their active and passive sensors. Data from Sentinel 1, Sentinel 2 and airborne sensors have analysed according to remote sensing techniques to recognize the potential remains and to reconstruct the heritage landscapes of three test areas in the Jarama Valley. We have investigated the spectral characteristics of main biophysical parameters in the pattern recognition of man-made materials in several remote sensing scenes of the Jarama Valley. Spectral ranges from drones' data are used to validate data cubes from multisperspectral sensor ATM. Sentinel 1 polarimetric products and thermal anomalies have calculated in order to contrast evidences of buried remains and confirm land change detection over the last decades. First results and their consequences on the digital heritage mapping of the Jarama Valley are discussed, representing a first point of protection and an advance of a full cultural and natural heritage research project in this region.


Biochar is an organic amendment produced by the process called pyrolysis, which is the burning of biomass in a limited oxygen environment. It can be produced using different biomass types, for example, switch grass, corn residue, or hardwoods. Potential benefits of biochar in cropping systems could include nutrient recycling, soil conditioning, and long-term carbon sequestration. Research in corn and soybean production systems has shown promising results with biochar application, however, research in vegetable cropping systems is lacking.


The current dominance of African runners in long-distance running is an intriguing phenomenon that highlights the close relationship between genetics and physical performance. Many factors in the interesting interaction between genotype and phenotype (eg, high cardio-respiratory fitness, higher hemoglobin concentration, good metabolic efficiency, muscle fiber composition, enzyme profile, diet, altitude training, and psychological aspects) have been proposed in the attempt to explain the extraordinary success of these runners. Increasing evidence shows that genetics may be a determining factor in physical and athletic performance. But, could this also be true for African long-distance runners? Based on this question, this brief review proposed the role of genetic factors (mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid, the Y chromosome, and the angiotensin-converting enzyme and the alpha-actinin-3 genes) in the amazing athletic performance observed in African runners, especially the Kenyans and Ethiopians, despite their environmental constraints.


In The Appearances of Memory , the Indonesian architectural and urban historian Abidin Kusno explores the connections between the built environment and political consciousness in Indonesia during the colonial and postcolonial eras. Focusing primarily on Jakarta, he describes how perceptions of the past, anxieties about the rapid pace of change in the present, and hopes for the future have been embodied in architecture and urban space at different historical moments. He argues that the built environment serves as a reminder of the practices of the past and an instantiation of the desire to remake oneself within, as well as beyond, one's particular time and place.

Addressing developments in Indonesia since the fall of President Suharto's regime in 1998, Kusno delves into such topics as the domestication of traumatic violence and the restoration of order in the urban space, the intense interest in urban history in contemporary Indonesia, and the implications of "superblocks," large urban complexes consisting of residences, offices, shops, and entertainment venues. Moving farther back in time, he examines how Indonesian architects reinvented colonial architectural styles to challenge the political culture of the state, how colonial structures such as railway and commercial buildings created a new, politically charged cognitive map of cities in Java in the early twentieth century, and how the Dutch, in attempting to quell dissent, imposed a distinctive urban visual order in the 1930s. Finally, the present and the past meet in his long-term considerations of how Java has responded to the global flow of Islamic architecture, and how the meanings of Indonesian gatehouses have changed and persisted over time. The Appearances of Memory is a pioneering look at the roles of architecture and urban development in Indonesia's ongoing efforts to move forward.


Introduction Despite the existence of institutions designed to promote peace, interactions between individuals and groups sometimes lead to conflict. Understanding the causes of such conflict is a major project in the social sciences, and researchers in anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, psychology, and sociology have long debated the extent to which climatic changes are responsible. Recent advances and interest have prompted an explosion of quantitative studies on this question. Climate and conflict across spatial scales. Evidence that temperature influences the risk of modern human conflict: (A) local violence in 1° grid cells, (B) civil war in countries, and (C) civil conflict risk in the tropics. The map depicts regions of analysis corresponding to nonparametric watercolor regressions in (A) to (C). The color intensity in (A) to (C) indicates the level of certainty in the regression line. Methods We carried out a comprehensive synthesis of the rapidly growing literature on climate and human conflict. We examined many types of human conflict, ranging from interpersonal violence and crime to intergroup violence and political instability and further to institutional breakdown and the collapse of civilizations. We focused on quantitative studies that can reliably infer causal associations between climate variables and conflict outcomes. The studies we examined are experiments or "natural experiments"; the latter exploit variations in climate over time that are plausibly independent of other variables that also affect conflict. In many cases, we obtained original data from studies that did not meet this criterion and used a common statistical method to reanalyze these data. In total, we evaluated 60 primary studies that have examined 45 different conflict data sets. We collected findings across time periods spanning 10,000 BCE to the present and across all major world regions. Results Deviations from normal precipitation and mild temperatures systematically increase the risk of conflict, often substantially. This relationship is apparent across spatial scales ranging from a single building to the globe and at temporal scales ranging from an anomalous hour to an anomalous millennium. Our meta-analysis of studies that examine populations in the post-1950 era suggests that the magnitude of climate's influence on modern conflict is both substantial and highly statistically significant (P < 0.001). Each 1-SD change in climate toward warmer temperatures or more extreme rainfall increases the frequency of interpersonal violence by 4% and intergroup conflict by 14% (median estimates). Discussion We conclude that there is more agreement across studies regarding the influence of climate on human conflict than has been recognized previously. Given the large potential changes in precipitation and temperature regimes projected for the coming decades—with locations throughout the inhabited world expected to warm by 2 to 4 SDs by 2050—amplified rates of human conflict could represent a large and critical social impact of anthropogenic climate change in both low- and high-income countries. Climate and Conflict Knowledge silos can hinder attempts to explore questions of interest across many disciplines. Hsiang et al. (p. 1235367, published online 1 August) provide a meta-analysis of data from disciplines as disparate as archaeology and psychology to examine the relation between climate and conflict. Overall, warmer temperatures or extremes of rainfall can be causally associated with changes in interpersonal violence and in civil war. Across disciplinary boundaries, recently published evidence links climate change to increased violent conflict. A rapidly growing body of research examines whether human conflict can be affected by climatic changes. Drawing from archaeology, criminology, economics, geography, history, political science, and psychology, we assemble and analyze the 60 most rigorous quantitative studies and document, for the first time, a striking convergence of results. We find strong causal evidence linking climatic events to human conflict across a range of spatial and temporal scales and across all major regions of the world. The magnitude of climate's influence is substantial: for each one standard deviation (1σ) change in climate toward warmer temperatures or more extreme rainfall, median estimates indicate that the frequency of interpersonal violence rises 4% and the frequency of intergroup conflict rises 14%. Because locations throughout the inhabited world are expected to warm 2σ to 4σ by 2050, amplified rates of human conflict could represent a large and critical impact of anthropogenic climate change.


The thesis examines the relationship between formal education and the chemical industry from about 1850 to about 1920. It first surveys relevant literature and discusses historiographical and definitional
matters. It then sketches aspects of the relationship between science, education and technique during the early nineteenth century. It moves on to explore the representation of that relationship during the period of the thesis proper. It argues that this was dominated by
a view articulated largely by academic chemists from the mid-century. Industrial relevance was exploited as a means of promoting research and teaching. This, rather than an 'objective' analysis, influenced the view which was promoted. Alternative, more directly technical,
approaches were envisaged by some industrialists. At the turn of the century a complex negotiation was in progress, focusing on the place of technological disciplines in academe.

Attempts to establish chemical technology curricula in the
nineteenth century are surveyed. Reasons are suggested for their failure, particularly the difficulties in publicly transmitting and creating commercially sensitive knowledge and the pressures of curricular and institutional hierarchies. By contrast curricula in 'pure' chemistry were numerically successful. The thesis examines the
recruitment of chemistry students by the industrial and educational sectors. It surveys the occupations of a sample of students from a range of English institutions. It concludes that industrial recruitment had a greater role than has been suggested by some scholars. The recruitment and employment of trained men in a number of chemical firms is surveyed, and it is concluded that their main role
was in routine analysis. Expansion of this activity was slow, involving vertical routes into managerial positions rather than functional specialization and bureaucracies. A class of technically-trained routine analysts was created. The growth of chemical engineering as academic field and occupation is examined. The roles of academics and industrialists in conceptualizing the field around 'unit
operations' are discussed. An account is given of the emergence of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.


Abstract : Seafloor digital imagery and bathymetric data are used to evaluate the volcanic characteristics of the 85 E segment of the ultraslow spreading Gakkel Ridge (9 mm yr[expn -1]). Imagery reveals that ridges and volcanic cones in the axial valley are covered by numerous, small-volume lava flows, including a few flows fresh enough to have potentially erupted during the 1999 seismic swarm at the site. The morphology and distribution of volcaniclastic deposits observed on the seafloor at depths of 3800 m, greater than the critical point for steam generation, are consistent with having formed by explosive discharge of magma and CO(sub 2) from source vents. Microearthquakes recorded on a 200 m aperture seismometer network deployed on the Trans-Atlantic Geotraverse active mound, a seafloor massive sulfide on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 26 N, are used to image subsurface processes at the hydrothermal system. Over nine-months, 32,078 local microearthquakes (M[sub L] = -1) with single-phase arrivals cluster on the southwest flank of the deposit at depths 125 m. Microearthquakes characteristics are consistent with reaction-driven cracking driven by anhydrite deposition in the shallow secondary circulation system. Exit fluid temperatures recorded at diffuse vents on the mound during the microearthquake study are used to explore linkages between seismicity and venting.


Non-invasive cell monitoring is a pre-requisite if stem cell therapy is to reach the clinic. Epidermal neural crest cells (eNCCs) derived from hair follicles develop into neural crest derivatives and are well suited for use in neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, these cells are easily accessible from adults using a minimally-invasive procedure. This study aimed to determine the migration and fate of eNCCs in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) lesion model.
Hair follicles were harvested from adult rats and cultured in 10% FCS/DMEM. Iron oxide nanoparticles, conjugated to FITC and TAT-peptide (IO-FITC-TAT), were developed in-house. 50,000 IO-FITC-TAT labelled eNCCs were implanted into the corpus callosum in control Sprague-Dawly rats. In another group, LPS (5µg/5µl) was injected 3mm rostral to the site of cell implantation. Serial in vivo MRI was performed at 9.4T. Subsequently, post-mortem histology was carried out.
Implanted eNCCs were visible as a hypointense region on a T2 MR image. Cells in the non-lesioned animal remained localised along the corpus callosum for 450µm and were GFAP positive. Cells implanted away from the lesion migrated only towards the lesion, as seen by the MR signal void. The IO-FITC-TAT reported the presence of the eNCCs at the LPS lesion site by histology. Similarly, there was GFAP+ differentiation.
This study demonstrates that eNCCs are visible, can be tracked by non-invasive MRI and have patho-tropic properties towards a lesion. As these cells differentiate into neural crest derivatives and are available from adults, they offer a viable alternative autologous stem cell source and gene targeting potential for neurodegenerative diseases.


This article presents an overview of the treatment of transgender people in Australian prisons. It commences by considering the key issues faced by transgender prisoners, including the risk of harm by others and self-harm, the need for and challenges in accessing medical intervention, and the choice of where to house prisoners. Next, the article presents an overview of some recent Australian cases involving transgender people, especially in the context of harm, allegations of discrimination and the relevance of transgender status to bail and sentencing decisions. The specific experience of Indigenous transgender people is also considered. The following section describes the extent to which transgender issues are explicitly acknowledged in sentencing and corrections legislation, followed by a detailed analysis of each jurisdiction's policies on managing transgender prisoners. The article concludes by calling for policy and legislative reform to appropriately manage the special needs and vulnerabilities of transgender prisoners.


Written by the coauthor of the best-selling book Welding Essentials, this practical guide provides insights, ideas, and tips for solving real-world fabrication problems. By presenting a broad range of methods from different welding specialties and a brief, clear understanding of the non-welding knowledge nearly all weldors must have to advance in their trade, Welding Fabrication and Repair can shorten the time needed to develop effective problem-solving skills. Created for weldors who know the basics and now want to put their skills to better use, this book is one of only a handful of truly must have welding references. A question-and-answer format, providing concise answers to each question. The capabilities of oxygen and exothermic lances; flame bending, flame straightening, line heating and panel shrinking; industrial threaded fasteners; specialized welding clamps, fixtures, welding platens, and cutting pyramids. Common welding tools, equipment and accessories, along with a listing of the leading suppliers and their web sites in a separate chapter. Welding and cutting tables including designs and advantages. Solutions to common welding problems. Detailed checklist of considerations in designing products with welds. 300 original illustrations fully explain concepts, ideas and insights. The ways weldors solve problems from building up a worn shaft with weld metal, to welding perforated steel screening onto frames, to extending the capacity of a welding machine. The most common pipe and vehicle welding methods, how weldments can replace castings, and the basics of the science of strength of materials. Structural steel practices for joints, column splices, bolting and guidelines for sizing welds."


In this commentary, I focus on the notion of competence and issues related to the distinction between knowing how mathematical problems are solved versus knowing how to teach mathematics. Although definitions of competence may necessarily be affected by value judgements and thus less amenable to factual answers, providing a defensible definition is important because it affects eligibility for intervention and treatment. One way to tackle this issue is to focus on the identification of prerequisite skills and concepts needed for particular domains of mathematics. Recent work on fraction and algebra has shown that long held assumptions may need to be re-examined. On knowledge versus application, some cautionary notes are made on the importance of not losing sight of translating our knowledge of processes involved in mathematical problem solving into better pedagogical practices. [Commentary on: Alcock, L., Ansari, D., Batchelor, S., Bisson, M.-J., De Smedt, B., Gilmore, C., . . . Weber, K. (2016). Challenges in mathematical cognition: A collaboratively-derived research agenda. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 2, 20-41. doi:10.5964/jnc.v2i1.10]


Due to various social, international and economic encumbrances, Australian film has made a limited foray into the representation of domestic abuse. A limited number of films have been made on this topic since the early 1970's, and even then, the depiction of this social issue has been watered down and sanitised for mainstream consumption. It is the author's belief that the filmmaker has an important and highly influential opportunity to present a social commentary on issues and must not shirk that responsibility. The film project supported by this exegesis responds to the above concerns and the priority has been to create a film that is both stylistically interesting, and socially confronting. Watermarked combines 'classic' Western geme elements and a deliberately moulded mix of narrative and symbolism. Among other things, the film addresses two perceived flaws of the filmic treatment of this issue to date; namely convenient, uplifting endings and pallid representation of violence. The supporting exegesis begins with a critical history of the depiction of domestic abuse in Australian cinema and how patriarchal structures, together with certain social and economic factors have contributed to what social theorist, Roland Barthes terms, an 'established order' (Barthes, 1972) which controls and perpetuates the situation. It then charts this project's attempt to highlight and subvert this established ·order through scripting and filming choices of content and style. The exegesis concludes by considering the input of a test audience as a means of measuring the effectiveness of the filmic portrayal.


One of the main social challenges that society is facing nowadays is the energy crisis.
So, head towards renewable energy resources such as solar, hydraulic, wind,
geothermal and biomass, could be the best solution. Solar photovoltaic is one of the
most promising sources to produce electricity due to its cleanness, noiselessness and
sustainability, and the fact that it is inexhaustible. However, the power output of the
PV systems varies notably because of the ambient conditions: temperature and solar
radiation.
The main aim of this thesis is to study if the PV system installed on the wall of the new
football arena Gavlehov in Gavle is providing the amount of power promised before
the installation. To achieve reliable results, the first step is to develop and install a
monitoring system for recording the real power of the system and the ambient
conditions at the same time. After that, an evaluation of the performance of the
system during one week will be done, comparing the theoretical power and the real
power obtained. The theoretical power will be calculated in two ways: using the data
from a pyranometer and on the other hand, from a reference solar cell. This will
permit to compare which one matches better with the reality.
Different factors such as the temperature, the irradiance and the angle of incidence
are studied to know the real influence that they have on the performance of a PV
installation. The results obtained show that the measurement system installed is
reliable and that the model used to evaluate the system is correct.
It can be concluded that using a reference solar cell to calculate the theoretical power
of the system is easier to align and it has the same angular behaviour as a PV module
than employing a pyranometer. Regarding the installation, all the panels work similarly
and the system works at nominal power. So, it provides the amount of power
promised before the installation.


The President has called for a $6.96 billion savings in expenditures to agriculture over a five year period. A budget reconciliation is required to achieve these targeted savings from farm bill authorized expenditures. This study uses optimal control theory and farm level simulation to quantify the impacts on U.S. crop producers of reducing federal spending for agricultural income supports. Results indicate that the least harmful method for the Agricultural Committees to achieve budget savings of $3 billion is to reduce loan rates. At higher levels of net budget savings, some risk adverse decision makers would prefer that the Committees reduce target prices.


Impaired hand function after stroke is a major cause of long-term disability. We developed a novel paradigm that quantifies two critical aspects of hand function, strength, and independent control of fingers (individuation), and also removes any obligatory dependence between them. Hand recovery was tracked in 54 patients with hemiparesis over the first year after stroke. Most recovery of strength and individuation occurred within the first 3 mo. A novel time-invariant recovery function was identified: recovery of strength and individuation were tightly correlated up to a strength level of ~60% of estimated premorbid strength; beyond this threshold, strength improvement was not accompanied by further improvement in individuation. Any additional improvement in individuation was attributable instead to a second process that superimposed on the recovery function. We conclude that two separate systems are responsible for poststroke hand recovery: one contributes almost all of strength and some individuation; the other contributes additional individuation.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We tracked recovery of the hand over a 1-yr period after stroke in a large cohort of patients, using a novel paradigm that enabled independent measurement of finger strength and control. Most recovery of strength and control occurs in the first 3 mo after stroke. We found that two separable systems are responsible for motor recovery of hand: one contributes strength and some dexterity, whereas a second contributes additional dexterity.


To design effective large-scale multiprocessors, designers need to understand the characteristics of the applications that will use the machines. Application characteristics of particular interest include the amount of communication relative to computation, the structure of the communication, and the local cache and memory requirements, as well as how these characteristics scale with larger problems and machines. One important class of applications is based on hierarchical N-body methods, which are used to solve a wide range of scientific and engineering problems efficiently. Important characteristics of these methods include the nonuniform and dynamically changing nature of the domains to which they are applied, and their use of long-range, irregular communication. This article examines the key architectural implications of representative applications that use the two dominant hierarchical N-body methods: the Barnes-Hut Method and the Fast Multipole Method.
We first show that exploiting temporal locality on accesses to communicated data is critical to obtaining good performance on these applications and then argue that coherent caches on shared-address-space machines exploit this locality both automatically and very effectively. Next, we examine the implications of scaling the applications to run on larger machines. We use scaling methods that reflect the concerns of the application scientist and find that this leads to different conclusions about how communication traffic and local cache and memory usage scale than scaling based only on data set size. In particular, we show that under the most realistic form of scaling, both the communication-to-computation ratio as well as the working-set size (and hence the ideal cache size per processor) grow slowly as larger problems are run on larger machines. Finally, we examine the effects of using the two dominant abstractions for interprocessor communication: a shared address space and explicit message passing between private address spaces. We show that the lack of an efficiently supported shared address space will substantially increase the programming complexity and performance overheads for these applications.


Introduction and Objectives: The benefits of robotic surgery when compared to standard laparoscopy have been well established, especially when it comes to reconstructive procedures. The application of robotic technology to laparoscopic pyeloplasty has reduced the steep learning curve associated with the procedure. Consequently, this has allowed surgeons who are less experienced with laparoscopy to offer this treatment to their patients, instead of referring them to centers of excellence. Robotic pyeloplasty has also proved useful for repairing secondary UPJO, a procedure which is considered extremely difficult using a conventional laparoscopic approach. Finally, the pursuit of scarless surgery has seen the development of laparoendoscopic single site (LESS) procedures. The application of robotics to LESS (R-LESS) has also reduced the difficulty in performing conventional LESS pyeloplasty. Herein we present a literature review with regards to robotic-assisted laparoscopic pyeloplasty. We also discuss the benefits of robotic surgery with regards to reconstruction of the lower urinary tract. Materials and Methods: A systematic literature review was performed using PubMed to identify relevant studies. There were no time restrictions applied to the search, but only studies in English were included. We utilized the following search terms: Ureteropelvic junction obstruction and laparoscopy; laparoscopic pyeloplasty; robotic pyeloplasty; robotic ureteric reimplantation; robotic ureteroneocystostomy; robotic boari flap; robotic psoas hitch. Results: There has been considerable experience in the literature with robotic pyeloplasty. Unfortunately, no prospective randomized studies have been conducted, however there are a number of meta analyses and systematic reviews. While there are no clear benefits when it comes to surgical and functional outcomes when compared to standard laparoscopic pyeloplasty, it is clear that robotics makes the operation easier to perform. There is also a benefit to the robotic approach when performing a redo-pyeloplasty. Robotic pyeloplasty has also been applied to the pediatric population, and there may be a benefit in older children while in very young patients, retroperitoneal open pyeloplasty is still the gold standard. In the field of single incision surgery R-LESS is technically easier to perform than conventional LESS. However, the design of the current robotic platform is not completely suited for this application, limiting its utility and often requiring a larger incision. Optimized R-LESS specific technology is awaited. What is clear, from a number of analyses, is that robotic pyeloplasty is considerably more expensive than the laparoscopic approach, largely due to costs of instrumentation and the capital expense of the robot. Until cheaper robotic technology is available, this technique will continue to be expensive, and a cost-benefit analysis must be undertaken by each hospital planning to undertake this surgery. Finally, the benefits of upper tract reconstruction apply equally to the lower tract although there is considerably less experience. However, there have been a number of studies demonstrating the technical feasibility of ureteral reimplantation. Conclusions: Robotic-assisted laparoscopic pyeloplasty is gaining popularity, likely due to the shorter learning curve, greater surgeon comfort, and easier intracorporeal suturing. This has allowed more surgeons to perform the procedure, improving accessibility. Robotic technology is also beneficial in the field of LESS. Nevertheless, the procedure still is not as cost-effective as the conventional laparoscopic approach, and until more affordable robotic technology is available, it will not be universally offered.


This article argues that the BBC's Sherlock is outwardly a conservative text sedimenting the historical function of Sherlock Holmes as a model of hegemonic British masculinity. However, queer disruptions in the performance of masculinity may be read as, after Butler, destabilizing and revealing the groundlessness of gender constructions. For as Butler has argued, hetero-masculine performativity is "constantly haunted by that domain of sexual possibility that must be excluded for heterosexualized gender to produce itself." Referencing Laclau's perception of "hauntologies" to texts (adapted from Derrida), I posit that the presence/specter of the queer villain Moriarty can be read as a caesura challenging performed hegemonic masculinity. With the possible death and promise of Moriarty's return at the close of the current season, the series now stands at a crossroads. It may either revert to the queerbaiting of previous seasons or foreshadow a more radical text.


We present a method for scattered data approximation with subdivision surfaces which actually uses the true representation of the limit surface as a linear combination of smooth basis functions associated with the control vertices. This is unlike previous techniques which used only piecewise linear approximations of the limit surface. By this we can assign arbitrary parameterizations to the given sample points, including those generated by parameter correction. We present a robust and fast algorithm for exact closest point search on Loop surfaces by combining Newton iteration and non-linear minimization. Based on this we perform unconditionally convergent parameter correction to optimize the approximation with respect to the L2 metric and thus we make a well-established scattered data fitting technique which has been available before only for B-spline surfaces, applicable to subdivision surfaces. Further we exploit the fact that the control mesh of a subdivision surface can have arbitrary connectivity to reduce the L∞ error up to a certain user-defined tolerance by adaptively restructuring the control mesh. By employing iterative least squares solvers, we achieve acceptable running times even for large amounts of data and we obtain high quality approximations by surfaces with relatively low control mesh complexity compared to the number of sample points. Since we are using plain subdivision surfaces, there is no need for multiresolution detail coefficients and we do not have to deal with the additional overhead in data and computational complexity associated with them.


This paper studies the pruned state-space system for higher-order approximations to the solutions of DSGE models. For second- and third-order approximations, we derive the statistical properties of this system and provide closed-form expressions for first and second unconditional moments and impulse response functions. Thus, our analysis introduces GMM estimation for DSGE models approximated up to third-order and provides the foundation for indirect inference and SMM when simulation is required. We illustrate the usefulness of our approach by estimating a New Keynesian model with habits and Epstein-Zin preferences by GMM when using first and second unconditional moments of macroeconomic and financial data and by SMM when using additional third and fourth unconditional moments and non-Gaussian innovations.


The presence of metallic particles has been recognized as a dangerous threat in gas-insulated substation (GIS). Such particles are initially free and move toward higher electric field regions such as triple junction i.e., spacer-electrode-gas interface. However, once these particles reach the spacer surface, they adhere to the spacer easily due to electrostatic image forces. From insulation point of view, the triple junction is the weakest point in GIS. The presence of such metallic particles on the spacer surface deteriorates the insulation strength. Thus, in order to improve the reliability of GIS, it is important to identify the size and the position of the particle adhering to the insulating spacer surface. One of the most promising methods to carry out such identification is by recognizing the partial discharges (PDs) provoked by such particles. This paper is aimed to discuss the particle size and position estimation by using the PD patterns and statistical analysis. The PD patterns were acquired using IEC 60270 method. Measurements were made to determine various PD signals caused by particle of different sizes at different locations on the spacer surface. The acquired PD patterns were characterized by a number of statistical parameters. The results show that the implemented technique could be used to distinguish between various particle sizes and positions at different SF 6 pressures with a fairly high accuracy.


Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are the most popular of deep network models due to their applicability and success in image processing. Although plenty of effort has been made in designing and training better discriminative CNNs, little is yet known about the internal features these models learn. Questions like, what specific knowledge is coded within CNN layers, and how can it be used for other purposes besides discrimination, remain to be answered. To advance in the resolution of these questions, in this work we extract features from CNN layers, building vector representations from CNN activations. The resultant vector embedding is used to represent first images and then known image classes. On those representations we perform an unsupervised clustering process, with the goal of studying the hidden semantics captured in the embedding space. Several abstract entities untaught to the network emerge in this process, effectively defining a taxonomy of knowledge as perceived by the CNN. We evaluate and interpret these sets using WordNet, while studying the different behaviours exhibited by the layers of a CNN model according to their depth. Our results indicate that, while top (i.e., deeper) layers provide the most representative space, low layers also define descriptive dimensions.


Because of many superposition parts between the western academy system (in Britain and America, the academy is often called as the accommodation college system. By using the ancient academy system of China for reference, Hong Kong scholar translated the accommodation college as the academy. To distinguish with the current administration system of school and department based on subject in China mainland, the name of "academy" is adopted in this article) and the study guiding practice in China, it is possible to introduce the essences of the academy system to fulfill the theoretical research and practice of the study guiding in Chinese colleges. Based on the kernel of the academy system, the study guiding system of college includes the value system, the basic system, and the important system. To effectively implement the study guiding, the certain organization assumptions should joint with the practical frame.


There is renewed and increasing interest in understanding the part that infrastructures play in societal transformations, especially in response to the various challenges of climate change. Studies that focus on these issues tend to examine infrastructures in isolation from each other, and tend to work with evolutionary accounts of incremental change punctuated by short periods of radical innovation. This paper questions both these abstractions. Using four empirical cases, it directs attention to intersections between infrastructures at speci fi c times and places, highlighting the dynamic qualities of infrastructures-in-use, and conceptualising societal transformations as outcomes of these intersections. Four forms of intersection are elaborated – co-constitution, adaptation and threading through, historical layering, and coexisting con fi gurations. Instances of each are used to illustrate some of complex and often ambiguous processes through which infrastructures interact. The paper ends by outlining implications for future research and for interventions by policy-makers and others seeking to in fl uence the ways in which infrastructures intersect.


This paper presents the design and implementation of an MPEG-2 transport stream (TS) remultiplexer, which is one of the most important pieces of equipment in a digital television broadcasting system. To achieve high performance as well as save hardware resources, the architecture of CAM+RAM is proposed to substitute simple RAM where a PID information table is generated. Compared to other methods, the two-step PCR correction approach can simplify the system significantly. Three data insertion modes are discussed in this paper. Among of them, the host-downloading architecture supports the system to work in a standalone mode when the contents of data are repeated with a fixed time interval or change not very fast.


Hexacopter has the ability to fly in the air can be used as an air monitoring system. To get the video or images that have good quality then it is used gimbal camera as a movement stabilizer and vibration damping. Stabilization System consists of two axes, x axis (roll) and y axis (pitch) and has a 2-axis camera gimbal controller which is have microcontroller ATMEGA 328 that serves to regulate the stability of the gimbal camera. The Input of this system is derived from accelerometer and gyroscope sensors that are within the sensor module MPU 6050, to determine the tilt position of hexacopter. The output of this sensor will be filtered first using complementary filters that serve to reduce noise of both sensors and complement advantages and disadvantages of each sensor. The output of this system is the movement of two brushless motors, brushless roll and pitch, that are controlled with Sugeno fuzzy logic method because it has a simple calculation so the response is faster and more suitable for real-time applications. From the case study with the data of the roll at by 35 o and pitch at by 17 o resulting PWM duty cycle value by -69.47% roll and pitch resulting PWM duty cycle value by -25.5 %, where (-) represents the direction of movement.


A multiple wavetable interpolation technique for matching acoustic instrument tones is introduced. The method uses a genetic algorithm to optimize the parameters, where the user defines the number of oscillators and wavetables. Previous work on wavetable interpolation has only worked with a pair of oscillators, whereas previous wavetable matching has only considered continuously active wavetables (that is, equal numbers of wavetables and oscillators). Results are presented using this new method to match a trumpet, a piano, and a wah-wah muted trombone. It is shown how the different combinations of wavetables and oscillators perform, especially in comparison with simple wavetable interpolation and wavetable matching. It is also shown how to use these comparisons to help determine the best combination of oscillators and wavetables for systems with various memory and computation constraints.


Because of recent interest in efficiency, emissions, and energy security, fuel cell power systems are thought by many to be the way of the future. Low temperature fuel cells optimally operate utilizing a pure hydrogen stream; thus, the production of hydrogen becomes a paramount concern to those desirous of utilizing fuel cells in practical applications. Past investigations show that steam reformation of hydrocarbons is a feasible pathway for hydrogen production in fuel cell vehicle applications. In investigations of steam reformation, space velocity (or inverse residence time) is often used as a quasi-non-dimensional parameter capturing flow rate and geometrical terms. Current assumptions attribute space velocity with capturing pertinent reactor output parameters regardless of scale or geometry. Under these assumptions, for a reactor with constant volume, geometric changes would not affect the overall output of percent conversion of the hydrocarbon fuel. However, when geometric changes of steam reformers occur, space velocity is insufficient to capture the results of these changes. This paper presents experimental data of a methanol-steam reformer, which demonstrates the dilemma of using a space velocity term to relate fuel conversion when flow rates and/or reactor geometry are modified.


VIDOVIC, V., D. LUKAC, V. VISNJIC, A. STOISAVLJEVIC and M. STUPAR, 2015. Effect of different selection criteria for litter size, growth performance and carcass traits improvement of the pigs in Serbia. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 21: 687–692 Four pig breeds, Landrace and Yorkshire (as dam lines) and Duroc and Pietrain (as terminal, sire lines) were studied on commercial farms during 2000 - 2011. Altogether, 13584 litters with a total of 154344 progeny of both sexes, from 43 boars and 4824 sows were analyzed. Also, analysis of genetic change study included 426 sows of Duroc and 247 Pietrain, totally 2557 litters and 22760 piglets then, in each breed of 14 boars, total 28. The difference between the number of live born piglets and piglets alive on the day fifth was significant, which means that future feeding regimens of sows must be optimized. The selection efficiency of number of live born piglets was on average 0.25 per generation. Even different size of heritability the ge netic variation of analyzed traits was similar from the beginning to the last selected generation. Carcase quality was analyzed for 144 pigs of different weights and sex. The average weight of animals at the end of the fattening period was 103 kg ± 2.6 kg. Weight of bone was not significantly different between Landrace, Yorkshire and Duroc pigs, while bones in Pietrain pigs were much lighter. This indicates the slower growth of Pietrain pigs, which required an extra fattening period of 24 to 32 days compared to the other breeds. When just growth was compared, Pietrain pig growth was significantly less compared with their peers of other breeds. Even that, selection gain was significant to all breeds. At Landrace and Yorkshire selection improved gain for 42 days. Significantly slower was on Duroc, only 19 days and highest at Pietrain, 44 days. At the end of the study, the content of meat in the carcasses was, on average, 57.6% in Landrace and Yorkshire pigs and 59.7% in Duroc pigs (this was not significantly different). Pietrain carcasses contained 62.3% meat, which was significantly more than in the other breeds. After 11 years of breeding according to the chosen selection criteria, intramuscular fat content in the final carcasses was: 0.8% in Pietrain, 2.6% in Duroc, 2.0% in Landrace and 1.8% in Yorkshire pigs.


The Gawler Range Volcanics (GRV) and the co-magmatic Hiltaba Suite (HS)
granite form a Mesoproterozoic Silicic-dominated Large Igneous Province (SLIP)
cropping out over a vast area in the central Gawler craton, South Australia. Only a few
SLIP have been recognised in the world; they occur throughout geological history and in
both intraplate and plate margin settings. The igneous province in question, or Gawler
SLIP, was emplaced in an intracontinental setting during assembly of the supercontinent
Laurentia. Since emplacement, the Gawler craton remained an area of positive relief,
allowing a good preservation of the Gawler SLIP. Emplacement of the Gawler SLIP
is associated with a major mineralising event in the Gawler craton which includes the
super-giant Cu-Au-U Olympic Dam deposit. This thesis focuses on the lower part of the
Gawler Range Volcanics.
By defi nition, SLIP are formed by large volumes of magma (≥100000 km3) emplaced
over a short time, in the order of the millions of years. The emplacement mechanism of
large volumes of felsic magma in a short time span is one of the open questions in the
study of these igneous manifestations. In this thesis, the volcanic facies in the lower part
of the Gawler Range Volcanics have been described in detail, in order to assess the
emplacement mechanism of the rocks. The rock units include moderately extensive (up
to tens of km in diameter) felsic lavas, associated with pyroclastic deposits (ignimbrite) of
comparable extent. Lavas are characterised by evenly porphyritic texture, with medium
grained phenocrysts of feldspar ±pyroxene ±quartz in a fi ne microcrystalline quartzofeldspathic
groundmass. Flow bands and flow folds, autobreccia domains, elongate
vesicles and lithophysae are also present. Some of these large units may be composite
lavas, separated by thin breccia layers of possible pyroclastic origin. Ignimbrites are
compositionally and texturally homogeneous, and contain mm-scale crystals of feldspar
and quartz in fine grained, eutaxitic and vitriclastic matrix. Some of the lavas have
previously been interpreted as pyroclastic fl ow deposits in which all evidence of clastic
origin have been concealed by welding. This interpretation was mainly based on the
extent of the units and inferred high viscosity of felsic lavas. Volumetrically minor mafi c
and intermediate lavas are also present and locally form thick piles.
The chemical composition of the lower Gawler Range Volcanics has been determined,
including major and trace elements. Whole-rock analyses are complemented by melt
inclusion analyses, which allowed measuring volatile components (halogens in particular).
The rocks are characterised by increasing trends of K2O, REE, Y, Zr, Th and Nb with
increasing SiO2, and decreasing trends of CaO, FeO, MgO and TiO2. Fluorine is present
in high concentrations in melt inclusions (F ≤1.3 wt.%, more than 20 times the average
upper continental crust), whereas Cl has moderate concentrations. High microprobe
totals of melt inclusions are compatible with low water contents, in agreement with the
anhydrous parageneses and previous estimates based on petrological considerations
(method of Nekvasil, 1988). Plots of Zr and the Zr/Hf ratio versus indicators of magma
fractionation (e.g. SiO2 and incompatible elements) indicate that source magmas of
the most felsic rocks (SiO2 >68 wt.%) were zircon-saturated. Application of the zircon
saturation model (Watson and Harrison, 1983) on these samples yields temperatures up
to 950-990°C for the lower GRV. The combination of high magmatic temperatures, high
F and low water in the magma creates conditions of low viscosity and low explosivity. These conditions are favourable for the effusive emplacement of the units, and help
explaining how extensive units were emplaced as lavas.
Comparison of whole-rock and melt inclusion analyses allowed assessing the
degree of alteration of the rock units. Major element compositions are similar in wholerock
and melt inclusion analyses, with the local exception of Na, which showed low
concentration in a few whole-rock samples. This indicates that alteration did not affect
substantially concentrations of the most "mobile", water-soluble major elements. This
is also true for most trace elements, and whole-rock analyses can be considered as
indicative of the magma composition. Notable exceptions are Pb, U and Sn, which were
selectively mobilised and variously depleted. Alteration of Pb, U and Sn is evident from
scattered whole-rock compositions and lack of correlation between these elements and
other elements. In contrast, melt inclusion compositions show good correlations and
indicate incompatible behaviour.
Quartz textures and trace element content in the lower Gawler Range Volcanics
and Hiltaba Suite were studied by scanning electron microscopy cathodoluminescence
(CL) and electron microprobe. Mineral zones retain a record of crystallisation conditions
through time ("crystal stratigraphy"). Comparisons were made between volcanic units,
shallow and deeper intrusions (dykes and granite). Quartz in volcanic units and dykes
has sharp-edged CL zones in which CL brightness correlates with Ti content, whereas
the granite quartz has "smudged" zones with gradational contacts. This difference is
interpreted as the result of poor preservation of Ti zones in the granite, for which slow
cooling allowed solid-state diffusion of Ti in the quartz lattice. Intra-granular textures in
volcanic units and dykes also include truncation of growth textures and reverse zoning
(rimwards increase of Ti content). Intra-granular textures indicate a complex history of
crystallisation and resorption, and trace elements suggest varying temperature. These
results point to pulsating magmatic conditions, compatible with a non-linear evolution
of the lower Gawler Range Volcanics magma chamber(s). The volcanic units have
contrasting (non-correlatable) zoning patterns among quartz crystals, each pattern
indicating different crystallisation conditions. The juxtaposition of quartz crystals with
contrasting zoning patterns are consistent with a dynamic regime (convection, stirring,
overturning) of the GRV magma chamber. These results point to pulsating magmatic
conditions, compatible with a non-linear evolution of the GRV magma chamber. In
contrast, quartz crystals in the dykes have similar zoning patterns, suggesting that all the
crystals in each dyke experienced a similar crystallisation history.
In some rhyolite samples, aggregates of minerals (including fluorite, epidote,
REE-F-carbonate, titanite, anatase, and zircon) have crystallised in "pockets" such as
vesicles, micro-miarolitic cavities and lithophysal vugs. These aggregates of minerals
contain significant amounts of rare earth (RE), high-fi eld strength (HFS) elements, and
base metals (Cu and Mo). In average, concentration of these elements is higher in these
aggregates than in the surrounding host rock. These aggregates are interpreted to have
crystallised from a late-stage magmatic volatile (F, CO2, H2O, ±S, ±P)-bearing fluid that
exsolved and infilled pockets during the final stages of emplacement and crystallisation.
The presence of complexing agents such as F and CO2 can explain how low-solubility,
"immobile" trace elements were transported in solution. A magmatic, primary origin for
this fl uid appears likely, given the F-, REE-, and HFSE-rich composition of the melt shown by melt inclusions. Conversely, the hypothesis of a post-magmatic, secondary
origin is considered less likely because of the absence of alteration, mineralisation
and veins in these rocks. Magmatic accessory minerals, the alteration of which would
have been necessary for secondary remobilisation of RE and HFS elements, appear
fresh and unaltered. These data testify the mobility of RE and HFS elements in the
lower Gawler Range Volcanics and can have implications in the formation of associated
mineral deposits in the Gawler craton, including the Olympic Dam deposit. This deposit
is also characterised by high concentrations of F, RE and HFS elements, and a similar
F-rich fl uid as the one hypothesised here might have been active in the mineralisation
process.


Membrane transport plays a fundamental role in virtually every aspect of homeostasis, signalling, growth and development in plants. At the plasma membrane, the boundary with the outside world, ion and solute fluxes underpin inorganic mineral nutrient uptake, they trigger rapid changes in second messengers such as cytosolic-free Ca2+ concentrations, and they power the osmotic gradients that drive cell expansion, to name just a few roles. Our understanding of the transporters – the ion pumps that generate an H+ electrochemical driving force, H+ ion-coupled symport and antiport systems, and ion channels – now, more than ever, builds on developments in molecular genetics, protein chemistry and crystallography to gain insights into the fine structure and mechanics of these remarkable enzymes. Even so, it is the interface with the biophysical detail of ion transport that drives scientific enquiry in the field and will continue to be essential in informing both the most fundamental research as well as efforts to apply the knowledge gained in resolving some of the dilemmas that face society today.

Keywords:

membrane ion flux;
membrane voltage;
H+-coupled solute transport;
K+ and Ca2+ channels;
inorganic mineral nutrition


Sum-frequency generation using spectrally asymmetric type II phase matching enables significant simplifications in spectral shearing interferometry as applied for ultrashort optical pulse measurements. We present analytical and numerical models of broadband sum-frequency wave mixing essential to understand the underlying effects. We discuss spectral and temporal limits of the method together with various aspects of experimental implementation: optimization of the retrieval algorithm, calibration procedures, and extension to different spectral regions of particular interest with other crystals.


Global warming has resulted in significant variability of global climate especially with regard to variation in temperature and precipitation. As a result, it is expected that river flow regimes will be accordingly varied. This study presents a preliminary projection of medium-term and long-term runoff variation caused by climate change at a river basin scale. The large scale precipitation projection at the middle and the end of the 21st century under the A1B scenario simulated by the CGCM model (MRI & JMA, 300 km resolution) is statistically downscaled to a basin scale and then used as input for the super-tank model for runoff analysis at the upper Thu Bon River basin in Central Vietnam. Results show that by the middle and the end of this century annual rainfall will increase slightly; together with a rising temperature, potential evapotranspiration is also projected to increase as well. The total annual runoff, as a result, is found to be not distinctly varied relative to the baseline period 1981-2000; however, the runoff will decrease in the dry season and increase in the rainy season. The results also indicate the delay tendency of the high river flow period, shifting from Sep-Dec at present to Oct-Jan in the future. The present study demonstrates potential impacts of climate change on streamflow regimes in attempts to propose appropriate adaptation measures and responses at the river basin scales.


Objectives The use of a mobile van (MV) for screening for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is effective at reaching at-risk populations. The aim of this study was to compare behaviour characteristics and HIV and syphilis prevalence between subjects tested at a MV offering voluntary counselling and testing and those tested at three STI clinics in Guatemala. Methods Over 28 months, female sex workers (FSWs), men who have sex with men/transgenders (MSM/TG), and people not reporting being a member of a risk group (NR) were offered HIV and syphilis rapid tests and interviewed about their sociodemographic and risk behaviour. Results 2874 subjects were tested (MV, 1336 (46%); clinics, 1538 (54%)). The MV screened 73% of FSWs and 73% of the MSM/TG, and detected 19% of HIV and 69% of syphilis cases. HIV prevalence was significantly higher (p<0.001) at the STI clinics than at the MV for both NR and MSM/TG groups (NR, 7% vs 1%; MSM/TG, 8% vs 1%, respectively). A significantly higher proportion of MSM/TG screened at the STI clinic reported having had a prior HIV test (MV, 21%; clinics, 41%; p<0.001), whereas more FSWs tested in the MV reported having multiple partners and using condoms during their last sexual intercourse. Conclusions The higher prevalence of HIV and syphilis at the STI clinics suggests that they successfully identified high-risk subjects. In particular, the NR group showed higher than expected HIV and syphilis prevalence. Innovative approaches such as the use of a MV helped to increase access to other hard-to-reach groups such as MSM/TG and FSWs.


In this paper An Acoustic Imaging Recognition System (AIRS) will be introduced which is installed on an Intelligent Robotic System and can recognize different type of Hand tools' by Dynamic pattern recognition. The dynamic pattern recognition is approached by look up table method in this case, the method can save a lot of calculation time and it is practicable. The Acoustic Imaging Recognition System (AIRS) is consist of four parts -- position control unit, pulse-echo signal processing unit, pattern recognition unit and main control unit. The position control of AIRS can rotate an angle of ±5 degree Horizental and Vertical seperately, the purpose of rotation is to find the maximum reflection intensity area, from the distance, angles and intensity of the target we can decide the characteristic of this target, of course all the decision is target, of course all the decision is processed bye the main control unit. In Pulse-Echo Signal Process Unit, we ultilize the correlation method, to overcome the limitation of short burst of ultrasonic, because the Correlation system can transmit large time bandwidth signals and obtain their resolution and increased intensity through pulse compression in the correlation receiver. The output of correlator is sampled and transfer into digital data by u law coding method, and this data together with delay time T, angle information OH, eV will be sent into main control unit for further analysis. The recognition process in this paper, we use dynamic look up table method, in this method at first we shall set up serval recognition pattern table and then the new pattern scanned by Transducer array will be devided into serval stages and compare with the sampling table. The comparison is implemented by dynamic programing and Markovian process. All the hardware control signals, such as optimum delay time for correlator receiver, horizental and vertical rotation angle for transducer plate, are controlled by the Main Control Unit, the Main Control Unit also handles the pattern recognition process. The distance from the target to the transducer plate is limitted by the power and beam angle of transducer elements, in this AIRS Model, we use a narrow beam transducer and it's input voltage is 50V p-p. A RobOt equipped with AIRS can not only measure the distance from the target but also recognize a three dimensional image of target from the image lab of Robot memory. Indexitems, Accoustic System, Supersonic transducer, Dynamic programming, Look-up-table, Image process, pattern Recognition, Quad Tree, Quadappoach.


This paper investigated the use of instantaneous frequency (IF) instead of power amplitude and power spectrum in side-channel analysis. By opposition to the constant frequency used in Fourier Transform, instantaneous frequency reflects local phase differences and allows detecting frequency variations. These variations reflect the processed binary data and are hence cryptanalytically useful. IF exploits the fact that after higher power drops more time is required to restore power back to its nominal value. Whilst our experiments reveal IF does not bring specific benefits over usual power attacks when applied to unprotected designs, IF allows to obtain much better results in the presence of amplitude modification countermeasures.