. In this paper, we consider the results of the numerical simulation of the propagation of seismic and acousto-gravitational waves for the spatially inhomogeneous "Atmosphere–Earth" model. The seismic wave propagation in an elastic half-space is described by a system of first order dynamic equations of the elastic theory through interconnection of a component of displacement velocity vector and a component of the strain tensor. Acoustic-gravity waves propagation in the non-ionized isothermal atmosphere is described by the linearized Navier–Stokes equations. It is assumed that the wind is directed along the horizontal axis, and that the speed and direction of the wind depends on the height. For the numerical solution of the problem, the numerical method based on combining integral of the Laguerre and the Fourier transforms with a finite difference algorithm is used.


Following the international trends, extensive research on seismic resistant structures has been carried out in Europe during the last decade, with the introduction of several systems with innovative steel‐based elements, as the result of European and national research projects. However, these systems have not claimed a fair share of the steel construction market, as provisions for their design have not been included in the Eurocodes and only a few designers are confident enough to employ them. The INNOSEIS project, which has received funding from the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) with the participation of 11 partners, aims to deal with this shortcoming. In this paper, the valorisation actions for 12 such innovative anti‐seismic devices are presented. Information documents for all dissipative systems have been produced and combined in a single volume, translated in several European languages, for the dissemination to all partners of the construction sector such as architects, structural engineers, construction companies, steel producers and all potential decision makers of the construction sector. Criteria are proposed as to determine which of the systems are characterised as devices and are subject to CE marking in accordance with EN 15129, and which may be considered as innovative systems that require a code approval in EN 1998–1. For the latter, pre‐normative design recommendations are drafted that will allow them to receive the status of code‐approved systems. A reliability‐based methodological procedure to define values of behaviour factors (q‐factors) for building structures is proposed, which will be in turn applied to determine q‐factors for structural systems with the anticipated systems. A number of case studies with application examples of realistic steel buildings, in which the systems are employed, are presented. Dissemination of the project includes seminars and workshops in several European and Mediterranean countries, as well as the development of online, printed and electronic material, which is free for all people involved in the construction sector, in order to achieve the wide application of innovative seismic resistance systems in practical design.


The reintroduction of a previously extirpated predator can engender conflict when the reintroduced species depletes customary fisheries to which indigenous communities have constitutionally protected rights. In the case of sea otter (Enhydra lutris) recovery on the west coast of North America, not only is Canada's Species at Risk Act in conflict with Indigenous rights, but it also illuminates gaps in the principles of ecosystem-based management (EBM), such as equity and social justice. Broadly, we ask in this paper how EBM might be advanced if Indigenous communities were viewed as components of ecosystems having rights to a sustainable future equal to other components. Specifically, we explore evidence of sea otter management among precontact Northwest Coast societies and a contemporary co-managed system proposed by the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations that would combine research with refinement of traditional hunting practices. We show that barriers persist through lack of knowledge of past controlled hunts, ignorance of recent experiences of successful community-based clam management, distrust of Indigenous capacity to self-manage or co-manage a hunt, and divergent values among actors.


In International Investment Law and Water Resources Management, Daza-Clark offers an appraisal of indirect expropriation, including an analysis of the doctrine of police power.


Obtaining light emission from silicon has been the holy grail of optoelectronics over the last few decades. One of the most common methods for obtaining light emission from silicon is to reduce it to a nanoscale structure, for example by producing porous silicon. Here, we present a method for the large-area fabrication of porous silicon microtubes by the stain etching of silicon micropillar arrays. We explain and model how the formation of the microtubes is influenced by the morphology of the substrate, especially the concave or convex character of the 3D features. Light emission is demonstrated at the micro- and nanoscale respectively by photo- and cathodoluminescence. Finally, we demonstrate a 0.55 cm2 device that can work as a photodetector with 2.3% conversion efficiency under one sun illumination, and also as a broadband light emitting diode, illustrating the applicability of our results for optoelectronic applications.


BACKGROUND
In 2007, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) issued recommendations on diet, physical activity, and weight management for cancer prevention on the basis of the most comprehensive collection of available evidence.

OBJECTIVE
We investigated whether concordance with WCRF/AICR recommendations is related to risk of death.

DESIGN
The current study included 378,864 participants from 9 European countries enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. At recruitment (1992-1998), dietary, anthropometric, and lifestyle information was collected. A WCRF/AICR score, which incorporated 6 of the WCRF/AICR recommendations for men [regarding body fatness, physical activity, foods and drinks that promote weight gain, plant foods, animal foods, and alcoholic drinks (score range: 0-6)] and 7 WCRF/AICR recommendations for women [plus breastfeeding (score range: 0-7)], was constructed. Higher scores indicated greater concordance with WCRF/AICR recommendations. Associations between the WCRF/AICR score and risks of total and cause-specific death were estimated by using Cox regression analysis.

RESULTS
After a median follow-up time of 12.8 y, 23,828 deaths were identified. Participants within the highest category of the WCRF/AICR score (5-6 points in men; 6-7 points in women) had a 34% lower hazard of death (95% CI: 0.59, 0.75) compared with participants within the lowest category of the WCRF/AICR score (0-2 points in men; 0-3 points in women). Significant inverse associations were observed in all countries. The WCRF/AICR score was also significantly associated with a lower hazard of dying from cancer, circulatory disease, and respiratory disease.

CONCLUSION
Results of this study suggest that following WCRF/AICR recommendations could significantly increase longevity.


ABSTRACT The deepest (> 3.5 km) and most altered Oligocene Frio sandstones from south Texas typically contain authigenic minerals that exceed 30 volume percent of the rock. Elemental and isotopic analyses of whole rocks confirm conclusions based on petrography that authigenesis is accompanied by substantial material transfer involving both import to and export from the sandstone. From petrographic observations, Zr is apparently less mobile than other "immobile" elements such as Al, Ti, and REE, but nonuniform initial distribution of Zr due to sorting limits its usefulness for normalizing elemental variations. If Zr is assumed to be strictly immobile, and Zr was once uniformly distributed, then volume loss of approximately 38% from the silicate fraction of the deepest sandstones is suggested. Over the range of burial depths for samples used in this study (0.9-4.3 km), elemental trends controlled by feldspar reactions are the most readily documented. Dissolution and replacement of detrital K-feldspar is accompanied by loss of 2-3 weight percent of K2O from the whole rock. Loss of more than half of the initial Rb, Sr, and Pb also correlate with alteration of detrital feldspars. 87Sr/86Sr ratios for whole-rock and silicate fractions increase with depth as loss of nonradiogenic strontium characteristic of the volcanic-rich detrital fraction is overwhelmed by more radiogenic strontium derived from deeper in the basin. Relatively constant Na is compatible with feldspar alteration in which dissolution exceeds albitization. Changes in Nd concentrat ons and Nd also closely track the progress of alteration of detrital feldspar. Magnesium gain accompanies precipitation of authigenic chlorite and very minor ferroan dolomite. Whole-rock calcium values are dominated by calcite that includes both detrital and authigenic components. Significant dissolution of detrital carbonate grains does not occur, and calcium in authigenic carbonate cement exceeds by about 5 times the calcium released by dissolution of detrital silicates, thus requiring considerable import of calcium and CO2. Material transfer on the scale observed demonstrates that burial diagenesis is an open-system process for several major elements, and introduces a major obstacle to use of elemental data for provenance interpretation. Defining the sources of materials transported into sandstones, and the fate of materials exported, is key to documenting the "scale of system closure" in sedimentary basins and requires a better understanding of diagenetic processes in mudrocks.


This document presents a history of the Internet in timeline fashion,
highlighting some of the key events and technologies which helped
shape the Internet as we know it today. A growth summary of the
Internet and some associated technologies is also included. This memo
provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify
an Internet standard of any kind.


OF DISSERTATION TRANSCRIPTOMIC ANALYSES OF CATHATRANTHUS ROSEUS HAIRY ROOTS OVEREXPRESSING CRMYC2 AND ORCA3 AND ROLES OF CROSS-FAMILY TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR INTERACTION IN TERPENOID INDOLE ALKALOID BIOSYNTHESIS Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle), is a well-known medicinal plant that produces a vast array of terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs), including two anticancer compounds vinblastine and vincristine. Industrial scale production of TIAs is hampered by the difficulties of total chemical synthesis of these compounds and the fragmented knowledge on TIA pathway. Transcriptional regulation of the TIA biosynthetic pathway has not been thoroughly investigated in Catharanthus and only a few structural genes have been identified as the targets of two master regulators: the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor (TF) CrMYC2 and APETALA2/ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR (AP2/ERF), ORCA3. Next generation sequencing (NGS) has been used as a tool to isolate novel genes encoding enzymes and regulators of TIA pathway in Catharanthus. In this dissertation, I have performed the transcriptomic analysis of transgenic Catharanthus hairy roots ectopically expressing a dominant repressive form of CrMYC2 or ORCA3 in order to understand their potential impact on the TIA transcriptional regulatory network and to identify and characterize novel target(s) of these two key TFs. MYC2 acts as regulatory hub involved in diverse aspects of plant growth, development, and specialized metabolite biosynthesis by coordinating the crosstalk among different phytohormone signals. CrMYC2 was initially identified in Catharanthus as a regulator of ORCA3. CrMYC2 transactivates ORCA3 by binding to the T/G-box in jasmonateresponsive element (JRE) of ORCA3 promoter. RNA interference (RNAi) mediated knockdown of CrMYC2 strongly reduced TIA accumulation in Catharanthus cell suspension culture. However, the potential influence of CrMYC2 on the expression of other regulatory and structural genes in the TIA pathway remains poorly understood. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that CrMYC2 plays an essential role in JA-induced gene expression and the differentially expressed genes are involved in diverse aspects of growth and development as well as abiotic and biotic stress responses in Catharanthus. Additionally, the expression of genes related to auxin, ethylene, and abscisic acid signaling cascades were affected in hairy roots with modified CrMYC2 expression, suggesting this TF mediates cross-talk between JA and other phytohormones. Surprisingly, overexpression of CrMYC2 resulted in repressed expression of TIA pathway genes in transgenic hairy roots. Expressions of key activators of indole and iridoid pathway were downregulated whereas expression of repressors were upregulated in CrMYC2 hairy roots. Activators (i.e. CrMYC2 and ORCA3) and repressors (i.e. G-box binding factors; GBFs) have been isolated and characterized for their role in regulation of TIA pathway. However, the interconnection between those regulators and the underlying molecular mechanism has not been throughly studied. I identified (i) the interaction of CrMYC2 with CrGBFs and (ii) how this cross-family transcription factor interactions fine-tunes TIA biosynthesis in Catharanthus. The expression profiles of CrMYC2 and CrGBFs were highly correlated in different tissues and in response JA. Moreover, CrMYC2 interacted with CrGBF1 and CrGBF2 in both yeast and plant cells. CrGBF1 and CrGBF2 could form homoand hetero-dimer which bound T/G-box elements of TIA pathway gene promoters. In plant cells, CrGBF1 antagonizes the activity of CrMYC2 on target promoters in a dosage dependent-manner. Similarly, CrMYC2 can overcome CrGBF1-mediated repression of target promoters in a dosage dependent manner. ORCA3 is another major regulator of TIA biosynthesis in Catharanthus. The transcriptomic analysis of ORCA3 transgenic hairy roots revealed (i) the effect of ORCA3 on newly identified TIA pathway biosynthetic enzymes; (ii) identify the potential effect of ORCA3 on three biological processes: abiotic stress response, plant secondary metabolic process, and response to hormonal stimulus; and (iii) the identification of potential regulator(s) of TIA biosynthesis using ORCA3 based coexpression analysis.


The following publication analyzes Ostracon SA. 2708 discovered during 2001 University of Pennsylvania Museum excavations in the ancient South Abydos town, Wah-sut. The ostracon enumerates a local delivery of unworked precious and semiprecious materials including gold, lapis lazuli, and jasper during the Eighteenth Dynasty. The ostracon provides a glimpse into the development and continued occupation of Wah-sut from the late Middle Kingdom into the New Kingdom and reveals evidence of deliveries of semiprecious stones in South Abydos not otherwise represented in the archaeological record. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5913/jarce.52.2016.a015


Extracted from text ... Obstetrics & Gynaecology Forum ? February 2006 21
REVIEW OG16:21-28
Introduction
Obesity is a worldwide problem with an ever-increasing
prevalence. It has traditionally been regarded primarily as a
problem of developed nations, but developing nations are just as
much in its grip. South Africa is no exception to this phenomenon.
Obesity clearly deserves the description that it has been
given by the World Health Organization: an "escalating
epidemic" and "one of the greatest neglected public health
problems of our time, with an impact on health which may prove
to be as great as smoking". A big concern ..


On 22 and 23 May 2017, the UN hosted its second informal thematic session of the Global Compact on Migration. Designed to gather information, the sessions provide an informal setting for sharing experiences among UN member states, together with civil society members. This particular session focused on addressing human-made crises as drivers of migration and understanding the challenges facing countries that host migrants. The first session, held in Geneva on 8 and 9 May 2017, focused on social inclusion, intolerance and the human rights of migrants. The informal sessions form part of Phase I of the Global Compacts process, which will hopefully create a guiding framework to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration for the international community. This paper examines the Migration Compact in light of existing tensions among UN member states, what it hopes to achieve, and how it differs from the Global Compact on Refugees. It discusses the lack of African member states' participation in the Migration Compact's process to date, and what this means for the continent's ability to inform the migration discussions in a way that benefits its citizens and addresses African-specific migration challenges. It also highlights potential challenges that could hinder the implementation of a successful global migration management framework, and suggests what the Migration Compact needs to tackle if it is to have long-lasting impact at a multilateral level.


ObjectiveTo describe surveillance activities and use of existing state (NC DETECT) and national (NSSP) syndromic surveillance systems during the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) World Equestrian Games (WEG), in Mill Spring, NC from September 11 to September 23, 2018MethodsNC DETECT collects statewide data from hospital emergency department (ED) visits and Carolinas Poison Center (CPC) calls. NC DETECT also collects data from select Urgent Care Centers (UCC) in the Charlotte area. CPC data are updated hourly, while ED data are updated twice a day. NC DETECT data were monitored daily for census (total ED visits), communicable disease syndromes, injury syndromes, and other occurrences of public health significance related to the event. The geographic areas monitored were Polk County (the location of the main event), the counties where the guests were lodging in the Western NC Region (Henderson, Transylvania, Buncombe, Rutherford, McDowell, and Cleveland), the Charlotte Metropolitan area, and statewide. Because of the large number of people from other states and countries who attended, ED surveillance was mainly conducted by hospitals so that visits were captured for all patients and not just NC residents. WEG dashboards containing ED data were created prior to the event using NC DETECT and NSSP ESSENCE systems, and were accessible to epidemiologists at the state level. NSSP syndrome queries were shared with the neighboring state (SC) public health agency. Surveillance began two weeks prior to the event to establish baseline levels for all ED visits for hospitals in Polk County and the Western NC Region. Surveillance occurred daily before the event, during the event, and for two weeks following the event to account for incubation periods of potential diseases.ResultsThe 2018 Equestrian games in Western NC were affected by heavy rain and heat. The weather led to low attendance and cancellation of a few competitions. During the observation period, ED admissions and most of the mass gathering related syndromes in both NC DETECT and NSSP systems were at baseline. ED admissions for motor vehicle collisions and dehydration syndromes were above baseline for 09/19 and 09/21/18 (Figures 3-4). CPC calls and UC admissions for selected UC centers in the Charlotte area were also monitored, and were at baseline.ConclusionsNC DETECT and NSSP Dashboards provided effective and timely surveillance for the WEG event to assist local public health in the rural NC area with epidemiologic investigations and appropriate response. NC DETECT's CPC and UC data provided additional valuable information, and complemented ED surveillance during the mass gathering event. Syndromic surveillance became essential during WEG, as NC DPH deployment plans and resource availability changed when Hurricane Florence bore down on the region.References1. Joseph S. Lombardo, Carol A. Sniegoski, Wayne A. Loschen, Matthew Westercamp, Michael Wade, Shandy Dearth, and Guoyan Zhang Public Health Surveillance for Mass Gatherings Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest , Volume 27, Number 4 (2008)2. Kaiser R, Coulombier D. Epidemic intelligence during mass gatherings. Euro Surveill. 2006;113. Ising A, Li M, Deyneka L, Vaughan-Batten H, Waller A. Improving syndromic surveillance for nonpower users: NC DETECT dashboards. Emerging Health Threats Journal 2011, 4: 11702 - DOI: 10.3402/ehtj.v4i0.11702


This article takes at its point of the departure the practice of transracial adoption of children and adults. During the colonial period, it was not only non-white native children or adults who were adopted by white colonisers and settlers; the opposite also occurred. The existence of these 'inverted' transracial adoptions is well-documented in literary and autobiographical texts and historical documents, as well as in art and visual culture. At that time, the white transracial adoptee who had been transformed into the Other was stigmatised and even demonised as something of an ethno-racial monster transgressing the boundaries between Europeans and non-Europeans. This article aims to re-conceptualise transracial adoption within the framework of the fundamental inability of Europeans to attach to the lands and peoples outside Europe by making use of the concepts of indigenisation and autochtonisation.


During the recent Asian Seas International Acoustics Experiment (ASIAEX), extensive current meter moorings were deployed around the continental shelf-break area in the northeastern South China Sea. Thirteen RADARSAT SAR images were collected during the field test to integrate with the in situ measurements from the moorings, ship-board sensors, and conductivity/temperatire/depth (CTD) casts. Besides providing a synoptic view of the entire region, satellite imagery is very useful for tracking the internal waves, locating surface fronts, and identifying mesoscale features. During ASIAEX in May 2001, many large internal waves were observed at the test area and were the major oceanic features studied for acoustic volume interaction. Based on the internal wave distribution maps compiled from satellite data, the wave crests can be as long as 200 km with an amplitude of 100 m. Environmental parameters have been calculated based on extensive CTD casts data near the ASIAEX area. Nonlinear internal wave models have been applied to integrate and assimilate both synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and mooring data. Using SAR data in deep water as an initial condition, numerical simulations produced the wave evolution on the continental shelf and compared reasonably well with the mooring measurements at the downstream station. The shoaling, turning, and dissipation of large internal waves at the shelf break have been studied and are very important issues for acoustic propagation.


An alternative risk assessment method, known as failure mode effects and criticality analysis (FMECA), is demonstrated on the regional water supply systems (RWSS) in Tucson, AZ, USA that combines delivery of potable and reclaimed water and conveyance of wastewater to a developing area within the Tucson RWSS. The goal of FMECA is to examine the volumetric severity of a component failure on the overall system function by modeling the system under alternative failure modes. Within FMECA, the Risk Priority Number (RPN) is applied to compare the risk criticality between components' failures. To complete FMECA, the Tucson RWSS is represented in a network flow model that optimally allocates flows between sources and demand points to minimize operational costs. Potential failure mode consequences are evaluated from the flow model as the volume of water not delivered to users if the component is unavailable. The volumetric severity of the failure event is converted to an ordinal value using stakeholder judgment. Likelihood of each failure mode is similarly defined by stakeholders on a 1–10 scale. The RPN is then computed as the product of the severity and likelihood. RPN values for all failure modes are then ranked to assess the most critical elements. Alternative system configurations are examined to assess the value of redundancies on the Tucson RWSS resilience.


The current study set out to explore the affect and significance of differing parental conditions on the experiences commonly reported by young carers. Previous studies on young caring have reflected on the impacts of caring for parents with particular `types' of conditions (normally physical disability or mental health problems) or a specific diagnosis. However, these have not contrasted or discriminated young carers' experiences according to different parental conditions. To address this gap in knowledge, the current study considered the experiences of young carers supporting parents with different `types' of conditions, namely physical disability, mental health problems and substance misuse. The participants discussed the impact of caring on a range of areas such as their education, social life, health, spatial transitions, relationships and role reversals. Additionally, definitional issues were considered. This included young carers own understanding and subscription to the term `young carer' and the significance of this to their identification. In terms of methodology, the study was firmly grounded within the qualitative domain and influenced by a constructive-interpretive paradigm, specifically symbolic interactionism. Within this, the grounded theory approach was used insofar as it provided a method to conduct the study. A range of data-collection techniques were employed. Semi-structured interviewing was the principal method used, with additional data gathered through a self-esteem tool, observations and diaries. The sample consisted of 30 young carers. The results showed firstly that the participants did not necessarily comprehend the term `young carer' or apply it to their own caring roles at home. Arguably, this contributed to their `hidden-ness' (i. e. invisibility) and as a result their needs were overlooked. The need for a new definition which embraces their understandings, together with appropriate awareness-raising programmes within schools and for key social care and health professionals was evidenced and called for. Secondly, whilst the participants shared common experiences regardless of the nature of the parental condition, other issues reported were specific to particular situations. Those most adversely affected were caring in the contexts of parental substance misuse or parental mental health problems. Such young carers were dually disadvantaged, as they experienced the most extreme difficulties, yet their caring roles and needs were least likely to be addressed. The experiential differences reported by young carers in different caring contexts have important practice implications. Nevertheless, the extent to which the experiences reported could be wholly attributed to the caring role, rather than other structural and socio-economic factors was questionable.


Problem: Even if significant reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions are achieved, some amount of climate change appears to be inevitable. Local, regional, state, and federal planning and regulation should begin to address how to adapt to these changes. Purpose: This article presents a policy synthesis of adaptation planning issues, using California as a case study. We examine the institutional and regulatory challenges and tradeoffs that climate change poses in six particularly vulnerable areas: water resources, electricity, coastal resources, air quality, public health, and ecosystem resources. We discuss obstacles to adaptation planning and successes overcoming these barriers, and suggest how planning can incorporate adaptation. Methods: This article presents a policy synthesis of adaptation planning issues, drawing on our recent research on California's experience and related literature. We summarize the results of six studies that draw on quantitative and qualitative information gathered through surveys, interviews, and literature review. Results and conclusions: Planners should use forward-looking climate data that include higher water and air temperatures, sea-level rise, and increased numbers of extreme events like heat waves, floods, and wildfires when making decisions about future development, infrastructure investments, open-space protection, and disaster preparedness. Climate change will exacerbate conflicts between goals for economic development, habitat protection, and public safety, requiring stronger interagency coordination and new laws and regulations. Takeaway for practice: Local and regional planners can help society adapt to a changing climate by using the best available science, deciding on goals and early actions, locating relevant partners, identifying and eliminating regulatory barriers, and encouraging the introduction of new state mandates and guidelines. Research support: Partial support for this research was provided by Pacific Gas and Electric, The Nature Conservancy, and Next 10.


This study examines the nature of web-based homework (WBH) by identifying the various factors inherent in the WBH learning environment and their impact on the performance of students. A primary contribution of this study is the longitudinal nature of the research to investigate how student perceptions change during the course of an academic semester. Our working definition of WBH is a web-based learning environment where students solve homework problems and receive instantaneous feedback on their progress and performance. Current research does not know the answer to critical questions such as: What are the factors in a WBH learning environment? What is its impact on student learning? How does this impact change during the course of an academic term? Based on the literature review, several theories from four disciplines, including education, psychology, technology and sociology were used to develop a theory-driven view of the WBH learning environment. The data suggest that mastery motives, engagement, locus of control, performance goals, self-efficacy, technical-efficacy, usefulness, lazy user, frustration, cooperative learning, perceived ability and GPA are relevant factors in a WBH learning environment and they impact student performance through the course of an academic semester. This study also found that the strength of these relationships change over the course of the semester. Future research will extend the study across disciplines and student bodies to extend the generalizability of the study.


With the heightened design complexity that may be achieved through additive manufacturing (AM) comes an equally complex set of distinct material characteristics. To properly characterize new materials for use in selective laser melting (SLM), extensive analysis is necessary. Traditional testing techniques, however, can be prohibitive in time and cost incurred. The small punch test (SPT) has been developed for such purposes, where material is scarce or costly. Although lacking standardization, SPT has been successfully employed with various materials to assess material properties such as the yield and ultimate strength and verified by traditional testing results. With the accompaniment of numerical simulations for use in the inverse method and determining correlation factors, several methods exist for equating SPT results with traditional results. There are, however, areas of weakness with SPT which require development, and the solution of the inverse method can be demanding of time and resources. Additionally, the combination of SPT and SLM is relatively unexplored in literature, though studies have shown that SPT is sensitive to the types of structures and unique material characteristics present in SLM components. The present research therefore focuses on developing a framework for characterizing SLM materials via the small punch test. Several types of SLM materials in various orientations and processing states are small punch tested to evaluate the ability of the SPT to track the effects of these as they cause the materials to evolve. A novel cyclic test method is proposed to fill the gap in SPT fatigue testing. Results from these tests are evaluated via numerical modelling using the inverse method solved with the least squares method. Samples were also inspected using digital microscopy to connect fracture morphology to processing parameter variations. A framework is thus presented with which SPT may be utilized to more economically and expeditiously characterize SLM materials.


We consider Bernoulli bond percolation on a large scale-free tree in the supercritical regime, meaning informally that there exists a giant cluster with high probability. We obtain a weak limit theorem for the sizes of the next largest clusters, extending a recent result in Bertoin [Random Structures Algorithms 44 (2014) 29-44] for large random recursive trees. The approach relies on the analysis of the asymptotic behavior of branching processes subject to rare neutral mutations, which may be of independent interest.


Abstract To determine the influence of basalt composition on the CO2 solubility in martian lavas, we investigated experimentally a synthetic melt based on the martian meteorite Yamato 980459 (Y 980459), an olivine-phyric shergottite and a picritic rock (19 wt% MgO) thought to be a near-primary liquid derived from high-temperature (>1540 °C) partial melting of the martian mantle. Experiments were performed in a piston-cylinder apparatus at 1-2 GPa and 1600-1650 °C. CO2 contents in quenched glasses were determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and range from 0.45-1.26 wt%. Despite large differences in FeO* and MgO contents, the CO2 solubilities in Y 980459 are similar to that in a less primitive synthetic martian basalt based on the Humphrey rock and to a Hawaiian tholeiite. The lack of enhanced solubility in Fe2+- and Mg2+-rich melts is likely owing to the complex structural role of these cations in silicate melts, acting partly as network formers, rather than network modifiers. The small sensitivity of CO2 solubility to compositional variations among martian and tholeiitic basalts means that the experimentally determined solubilities may be applicable to a wide spectrum of martian magmatic products. Using experimentally determined CO2 solubilities of Y 980459 and Humphrey allows the calibration of the thermodynamic parameters governing dissolution of CO2 vapor as carbonate in martian basalts. This relation facilitates calculation of the CO2 dissolved in magmas derived from graphite-saturated martian basalt source regions as a function of P, T, and fO₂. The hot conditions in the source of Y 980459, 1540 ± 10 °C, and 1.2 ± 0.5 GPa, are plausible for plume-related magmas forming the giant Tharsis volcanic complex, which accounts for 50% of martian igneous activity since stabilization of the primordial crust. If oxygen fugacity in the sources of hot Tharsis magmatism were equivalent to that at the iron-wüstite buffer (IW) or 1 log unit above (IW+1), respectively, then the entire Tharsis event would outgas 30-300 mbars of CO2 to the martian atmosphere, which is far from the 2 bars required to stabilize an equable climate in the late Noachian and early Hesperian epochs. This mismatch could be reconciled if significant martian igneous activity derived from comparatively oxidized mantle sources (i.e., IW+2) similar to those responsible for the nakhlite meteorites.


We evaluate the performance of a large-scale live P2P video multicast session comprising more than 120, 000 peers on the Internet. Our analysis highlights P2P video multicast characteristics such as high bandwidth requirements, high peer churn, low peer persistence in the P2P multicast system, significant variance in the media stream quality delivered to peers, relatively large channel start times, and flash crowd effects of popular video content. Our analysis also indicates that peers are widely spread across the IP address space, spanning dozens of countries and hundreds of ISPs and Internet ASes. As part of the P2P multicast evaluation several QoS measures such as fraction of stream blocks correctly received, number of consecutive stream blocks lost, and channel startup time across peers. We correlate the observed quality with the underlying network and with peer behavior, suggesting several avenues for optimization and research in P2P video multicast systems.


Microwave energy can be used for drying purpose. It is unique process. It is distinctly different from conventional drying process. It is advantageous over conventional drying / heating processes. When microwave energy is used for drying purpose, the process can be accelerated with a better control to achieve uniform heating, more conversion efficiency, selective drying and ultimately improved product quality of the output. Also, less floor space and compact system are the added advantages. Existing low power microwave drying system is to be modified with suitable applicator. Appropriate sensors are to be used to measure parameters like moisture, temperature, weight of sample. Suitable high tech controller is to be used to control microwave power continuously from minimum to maximum. Phase controller, cycle controller and PWM controller are some of the advanced power control techniques. It has been proposed to work on turmeric using high-tech phase controller to control the microwave power conveniently. The drying of turmeric with microwave energy employing phase controller gives better results as formulated in this paper and hence new approach of processing turmeric will open future doors of profit making to allied industries and the farmers. Keywords—Applicator, microwave drying, phase controller.


One of the key factor that PT Sido Muncul concerns about its Jamu Tolak Angin is the customer loyalty. The increase number of loyal customers can be considered as the success of the company's product amidst the competition. This research is conducted to find out whether the product's quality influences the customer loyalty through customer satisfaction and brand reputation of the PT Sido Muncul's Jamu Tolak Angin brand. This research is conducted to retest the model proposed by Fred Selnes (1993), by using the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The sample of this research is 200 persons, collected by judgment sampling. The result of this research shows that customer loyalty is influenced by product quality, customer satisfaction, and brand reputation. Product quality influences customer loyalty through customer satisfaction and brand reputation. The model's test of this research shows Chi-Square=65.81 (P=0.00026), RMSEA=0.071, GFI=0.94, dan AGFI=0.90. Product quality influences customer loyalty through customer satisfaction and brand reputation by 0.26 and it influences customer loyalty through brand reputation by 0.46. This research shows that good quality product will lead to the increase of customer loyalty and brand reputation of the PT Sido Muncul's Jamu Tolak Angin brand. Loyal customers are directly influenced by PT Sido Muncul's Jamu brand, while customer satisfaction doesn't directly influence customer loyalty. When choosing which jamu product to consume, the customers don't necessarily choose the product based on the satisfaction of past use but on the brand reputation. Customers think that the jamu brand that has good reputation is suitable for continuous use. This is because customers view jamu as traditional medicine, so the selection should be based on those products who have reliable brand reputation. This result shows that the PT Sido Muncul's Jamu Tolak Angin brand reputation that has been formed may strengthen the product quality's influence on creating customer loyalty.


We use stochastic simulation methods to study the efficiency of delta hedging strategies for ordinary, look-back,and Asian call options on the S&P 500 index. Execution is assumed to take place in either the cash or the futures market. Our results clearly show the inadequacy of delta hedging for hedging these options. The outcome of the hedging process is shown to depend heavily on the way the theoretical hedging strategy is operationalized and the gamma characteristics of the option position to be hedged. Apart from discrete hedge rebalancing, our results identify volatility misprediction and, for path-dependent options, the use of hedge ratios derived from Black-Scholes assumptions as the main sources of hedging error risk. Despite mispricings and rollover costs, futures market execution is typically to be preferred over cash market execution.


Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a technique that is used very widely throughout science and medicine. There are approaching 20 journals devoted exclusively to NMR and magnetic resonance imaging, and well in excess of 10,000 papers published annually which involve this family of techniques. It has found extraordinarily diverse applications, and its applications to inorganic solids such as minerals represent a very small part of NMR as a whole. There had been occasional NMR studies of minerals since the discovery of the NMR effect in 1946, but until the early 1980s, the large width of NMR resonances in the solid state precluded widespread application of the technique. The most important factor in the application of NMR to minerals was the development of magic angle spinning (MAS), a technique for narrowing lines in solid state NMR. More recently the development of more complex sample spinning arrangements and multiple pulse methods together with the availability of ever higher magnetic fields opens up more and more possibilities for NMR in mineralogy and geochemistry.

NMR is far too diverse and complex for the whole subject to be covered here, so this review will be tightly focused on aspects which relate to understanding the structural role of water in nominally anhydrous minerals. Two review papers (Kirkpatrick 1988; Stebbins 1988) in the "Reviews in Mineralogy" volume on Spectroscopic Methods in Mineralogy and Geology provide an excellent starting point for Earth scientists wishing to learn more about NMR in general. More recent reviews aimed at Earth scientists include those by Fechtelkord (2004) and Kohn (2004), more general reviews of NMR of inorganic solids include Engelhardt and Michel (1987) and MacKenzie and Smith (2002). The web page maintained by J.P. Hornak ( http://www.cis.rit.edu/htbooks/nmr/ ) is also an extremely good resource.

NMR is a multinuclear technique, which means …


This study comprises a critical edition of the complete text of Giraldi's "Altile". (The play has been published once only before the present edition, in 1583, ten years after the author's death.) This edition also contains its narrative source, Giraldi's novella (Hecatommithi, II, 3). The text shows how Giraldi telescoped his unwieldy novella into the formal neoclassical structure of Renaissance tragedy, reinterpreting or even ignoring the precepts of Aristotle when they conflicted with his experience as a practical dramatist writing for the duke and court of Ferrara. He greatly developed the characters of his leading personages, adding an important new character-type to the cast: the first scheming and treacherous subordinate of modern tragedy. The study stresses the importance of the elements of suspense, pathos and maraviglia, and the pains Giraldi took to provide his audience with a lavish, well-staged spectacle. It also emphasizes the fact that the play was intended to convey a series of clearly-defined moral messages.


If you already have a good knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and are looking to advance your skills, Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop is the book you've been waiting for. Renowned photographers Martin Evening and Jeff Schewe impart their Photoshop tips and workflow, showing you how to use a vast array of rarely seen advanced Photoshop techniques. Whether the subject is serious retouching work, weird and wonderful compositions, or planning a shoot before you've even picked up a camera, you can be sure that the advice is based on years of practical experience. Full of inspirational photographs and hundreds of full-color screenshots to show you how it's done, this book features: -Advice on becoming a retouching master with advanced masking and compositing techniques -A detailed workflow for preparing your images for the best possible output, showing you how to meet both deadline and budge without sacrificing quality -26 movie tutorials on the included DVD, offering over 3 hours of movie content The ideal companion to Photoshop CS5 for Photographers, this is a must-have resource for any serious user of Adobe Photoshop. *Gain a unique insight into a professional Photoshop workflow with industry experts Martin Evening and Jeff Schewe* Become a retouching master with advanced masking and compositing techniques* Prepare your images for the best possible output, showing you how to meet both deadline and budget


Tsunamis generated by the great Indonesian earthquakes of 26 December 2004 ( M w 9.3) and 28 March 2005 ( M w 8.6) produced high-frequency (>5 mHz) dispersed signals recorded by hydrophone stations offshore from Diego Garcia and Cape Leeuwin, Australia, and by many seismic stations in the Indian Ocean and on the coast of Antarctica. For the first and greater earthquake, the dispersed energy is commonly observed to 30 mHz and, in one case, to 60 mHz. The high-frequency signals are consistent with being generated at pointlike sources. The earliest arriving tsunami signals originate from a point near 4.3° N, 93.8° E, determined using event- to-station distances estimated by matching predicted dispersion to observations. The location is further constrained with azimuth estimates from an array of hydrophones. Fine structure in the tsunami signal indicates a second high-frequency source just south of Great Nicobar Island near 6.5° N, 93.6° E. The point sources are located close to the maximum slip area determined in several other seismic and tsunami studies. The dispersion of much later-arriving energy is consistent with travel over longer paths, and matches predictions for reflections of the tsunami from bathymetric features in the Indian Ocean basin. For the 28 March 2005 tsunami, the high- frequency dispersion is observed at the Diego Garcia hydrophone station and the AIS seismic station, and tsunami signals without apparent dispersion are seen at four other seismic stations. Phase velocities estimated at hydroacoustic stations agree with linear dispersion theory at frequencies above 12 mHz.


We examine the atmospheric budget of CO2 at temperate continental sites in the Northern Hemisphere. On a monthly time scale both surface exchange and atmospheric transport are important in determining the rate of change of CO2 mixing ratio at these sites. Vertical differences between the atmospheric boundary layer and free troposphere over the continent are generally greater than large-scale zonal gradients such as the difference between the free troposphere over the continent and the marine boundary layer. Therefore, as a first approximation we parametrize atmospheric transport as a vertical exchange term related to the vertical gradient of CO2 and the mean vertical velocity from the NCEP Reanalysis model. Horizontal advection is assumed to be negligible in our simple analysis. We then calculate the net surface exchange of CO2 from CO2 mixing ratio measurements at four tower sites. The results provide estimates of the surface exchange that are representative of a regional scale (i.e. ⊼106 km2). Comparison with direct, local-scale (eddy covariance) measurements of net exchange with the ecosystems around the towers are reasonable after accounting for anthropogenic CO2 emissions within the larger area represented by the mixing ratio data. A network of tower sites and frequent aircraft vertical profiles, separated by several hundred kilometres, where CO2 is accurately measured would provide data to estimate horizontal and vertical advection and hence provide a means to derive net CO2 fluxes on a regional scale. At present CO2 mixing ratios are measured with sufficient accuracy relative to global reference gas standards at only a few continental sites. The results also confirm that flux measurements from carefully sited towers capture seasonal variations representative of large regions, and that the midday CO2 mixing ratios sampled in the atmospheric surface layer similarly capture regional and seasonal variability in the continental CO2 budget.


This article focuses on writing instruction and the necessity for this instruction to be modified regarding the use of literacy in everyday life. Reviewing literature about standards, motivation, and writing instruction makes the implementation of authentic writing tasks evident as a necessity for increasing student motivation and allowing for students' individuality. Each lesson taught in the classroom, regardless of expected outcomes, should foster student engagement, curiosity, and eagerness to learn. With respect to writing instruction, teachers must approach learning with student individuality in mind and create writing experiences that are engaging, allow for creativity, and have meaning for students so that practicality to real life is present in writing tasks. Within the article, implementation ideas are provided for incorporating authentic writing instruction while also teaching learning standards.


Querying knowledge graphs (KGs) using deep learning approaches can naturally leverage the reasoning and generalization ability to learn to infer better answers. Traditional neural complex query answering (CQA) approaches mostly work on entity-centric KGs. However, in the real world, we also need to make logical inferences about events, states, and activities (i.e., eventualities or situations) to push learning systems from System I to System II, as proposed by Yoshua Bengio. Querying logically from an EVentuality-centric KG (EVKG) can naturally provide references to such kind of intuitive and logical inference. Thus, in this paper, we propose a new framework to leverage neural methods to answer complex logical queries based on an EVKG, which can satisfy not only traditional first-order logic constraints but also implicit logical constraints over eventualities concerning their occurrences and orders. For instance, if we know that"Food is bad"happens before"PersonX adds soy sauce", then"PersonX adds soy sauce"is unlikely to be the cause of"Food is bad"due to implicit temporal constraint. To facilitate consistent reasoning on EVKGs, we propose Complex Eventuality Query Answering (CEQA), a more rigorous definition of CQA that considers the implicit logical constraints governing the temporal order and occurrence of eventualities. In this manner, we propose to leverage theorem provers for constructing benchmark datasets to ensure the answers satisfy implicit logical constraints. We also propose a Memory-Enhanced Query Encoding (MEQE) approach to significantly improve the performance of state-of-the-art neural query encoders on the CEQA task.


This paper analyzes the influence that juvenile offenders serving time in the same correctional facility have on each other's subsequent criminal behavior. The analysis is based on data on over 8,000 individuals serving time in 169 juvenile correctional facilities during a two-year period in Florida. These data provide a complete record of past crimes, facility assignments, and arrests and adjudications in the year following release for each individual. To control for the non-random assignment to facilities, we include facility and facility-by-prior offense fixed effects, thereby estimating peer effects using only within-facility variation over time. We find strong evidence of peer effects for burglary, petty larceny, felony and misdemeanor drug offenses, aggravated assault, and felony sex offenses; the influence of peers primarily affects individuals who already have some experience in a particular crime category. We also find evidence that the predominant types of peer effects differ in residential versus non-residential facilities; effects in the latter are consistent with network formation among youth serving time close to home.


Although the increased risk of cardiac complications in surgical patients with diminished left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is well-established, this method has been supplanted in recent years by assessment of ischaemic burden using myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). This study was conducted to determine if MPI and LVEF determination provide complementary or redundant information in preoperative evaluation of vascular surgery patients. A total of 101 patients were studied with dipyridamole MPI and radionuclide ventriculography before surgery. Single photon emission tomographic MPI images were scored for defect severity and categorized as either fixed or reflecting ischaemia. Resting left ventricular cavity was also categorized as normal or dilated. LVEF was subdivided into normal (> or = 50%) and abnormal (< 50%). Seventeen patients had cardiac events. Events were more frequent in patients with ischaemia, in patients with a LVEF < 50% and in those with dilated left ventricular chambers. The mean number of ischaemic segments was also higher in the cardiac event group. Higher event rates were seen when a combination of these factors was present. A history of myocardial infarct, congestive heart failure or coronary artery disease was also a significant predictor of subsequent events. Thus, both abnormal left ventricular function and extent of ischaemic myocardium have independent and complementary predictive power for cardiac events in vascular surgery patients.


Borges is notoriously suspicious of any system presenting itself as authoritative and commanding a single reading, and he is particularly suspicious of "histories." Think of the singular, gently mocking way in which he uses the term in his titles: "A History of Angels," A History of Eternity, A Universal History of Infamy, "A History of the Tango," "A History of the Echoes of a Name," "History of the Night." The titles are excessive, purposefully inappropriate for texts that are fragmentary, casually incomplete, riddled with hiatus and hardly delivering the well-rounded summary or "document" their title announces. Nowhere in this list of "histories" by Borges do we find a history of literature or, for that matter, of any one literature. The closest Borges gets to writing literary history are the books written "in collaboration" with his women friends and he never calls them histories: Ancient Germanic literatures and An Introduction to English Literature (the latter a meager 47 pages long and devoted, mainly, to Borges's favorite authors) are books whose purpose is not so much to offer a historic panorama as "to interest the reader and to stimulate his curiosity ..." (Introduction 1). Borges's dislike for "histories" is compounded, in the case of national literary histories, by their identitarian pretensions and their teleological bent, by the fact that they didactically propose national representativity and national belonging, two notions that Borges tirelessly questions (except when it suits him to uphold them). A firm disbeliever in national assignations when it comes to literature, Borges disparages Ricardo Rojas's Historia de la literatura argentina as being, he was fond of saying, "mas extensa que la literature argentina," "longer than Argentine literature itself" (Obras completas 279). (1) When asked about works that are representative of Argentine literature he will, more often than not, name The Purple Land, by William Henry Hudson, a book written in English by an Anglo-American writer. Borges believes that the principal goal of all literary texts--including literary histories--is to open themselves to impertinent re-readings and deviant interpretations, to create permanent dissatisfaction, to be not a reservoir of facts, but a stimulus for further literature. If it is to be seen as patrimony (as Rojas's Historia de la Literatura Argentina is usually read), it is patrimony that must be rethought, challenged, recreated through fanciful recourse to family romance--even replaced. The need to question conventional views of literary history in relation to national representativity is a constant not only in Borges's writing but in his pedagogical practice. If I may resort to anecdote, Borges, who taught English literature at the University of Buenos Aires in the 50's and 60's, once sent a reader's letter to the daily La Nacion criticizing the way literature was taught and exams administered at the university of Buenos Aires and, in general, throughout the country. He was formally reprimanded for voicing a "negative opinion" by the Dean and his Advisory Council who, true to form, considered Borges's criticism not only targeted the university of Buenos Aires but Argentina itself, "el senor Borges senala no so1o a las autoridades de la Casa, sino al pais," "Mr. Borges points not only to the authorities of this Institution but to the country itself" ("Borges y la Universidad" 143). In an early review of Valery's Introduction a la Poetique, first published in 1938 in, somewhat surprisingly, the glossy Argentine weekly, El Hogar, Borges praises Valery for setting forth what would become an important part of his own literary practice. He writes: Valery, like Croce, thinks that we do not yet have a History of Literature and that the vast and venerable volumes that usurp that name are really a History of Literary Authors. He writes: "the History of Literature should not be the history of its authors and the incidents in their careers or in the careers of their works but the History of the Spirit as producer and consumer of literature. …


Abstract. Studying the history of ice-sheet behaviour in the Ross Sea, Antarctica's largest drainage basin can improve our understanding of patterns and controls on marine-based ice-sheet dynamics and provide constraints for numerical ice-sheet models. Newly collected high-resolution multibeam bathymetry data, combined with two decades of legacy multibeam and seismic data, are used to map glacial landforms and reconstruct palaeo ice-sheet drainage. During the Last Glacial Maximum, grounded ice reached the continental shelf edge in the eastern but not western Ross Sea. Recessional geomorphic features in the western Ross Sea indicate virtually continuous back-stepping of the ice-sheet grounding line. In the eastern Ross Sea, well-preserved linear features and a lack of small-scale recessional landforms signify rapid lift-off of grounded ice from the bed. Physiography exerted a first-order control on regional ice behaviour, while sea floor geology played an important subsidiary role. Previously published deglacial scenarios for Ross Sea are based on low-spatial-resolution marine data or terrestrial observations; however, this study uses high-resolution basin-wide geomorphology to constrain grounding-line retreat on the continental shelf. Our analysis of retreat patterns suggests that (1) retreat from the western Ross Sea was complex due to strong physiographic controls on ice-sheet drainage; (2) retreat was asynchronous across the Ross Sea and between troughs; (3) the eastern Ross Sea largely deglaciated prior to the western Ross Sea following the formation of a large grounding-line embayment over Whales Deep; and (4) our glacial geomorphic reconstruction converges with recent numerical models that call for significant and complex East Antarctic ice sheet and West Antarctic ice sheet contributions to the ice flow in the Ross Sea.


Focus toward advanced mobile tactical configurations for railgun power supplies has resulted in the evolution of five compulsator generations in the past 15 years. Unfortunately, the rapid maturation of the technology has tended to dilute the relative importance and application base of previous generations. Technical variance between generations has been significant, including air-core or iron-core, rotating armature or field, single- or multiphase, solid rotor or shell, and externally excited or self-excited. It is useful, therefore, to review and classify the important distinctions between the generations of machines, thus allowing proper selection of the one best suited for a given application. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of compulsators developed at The University of Texas at Austin Center for Electromechanics. Features of past and present configurations are discussed, such as machine topology, method of excitation, basic switching methods, discharge pulse shapes, and potential energy and power densities. A list of potential applications is generated for all disciplines within the armed forces. This information is used to create an application guide that can be used to select appropriate compulsator options for the mission given. An extensive list of references is also provided.


Wells placed next to surface-water bodies to induce infiltration have come under scrutiny because of the presence of the potential pathogens in surface water. Removal of pathogens and other contaminants by bank filtration is assumed, but regulatory agencies question the effectiveness of this process. To investigate transport processes of biological constituents, advective groundwater traveltimes to production wells under the influence of surface water need to be established first to determine appropriate water-quality sampling schedules. This paper presents the results of a study of bank filtration at a well field in southwestern Ohio. Field parameters such as water level, specific conductance, and water temperature were measured at least hourly at a streamflow gaging station and at five monitoring wells each at two separate sites, corresponding to two nearby production wells. Water-quality samples also were collected in all wells and the streamflow gaging station. Specific conductance is directly related to concentration of chloride, a chemically conservative constituent. Cross-correlation methods were used to determine the average traveltime from the river to the monitoring wells. Traveltimes based on specific conductance ranged from approximately 20 h to 10 days at one site and 5 days to 3 months at the other site. Calculated groundwater flow velocities ranged from 2.1 £ 10 to 6.0 £ 10 cm/s and 3.5 £ 10 to 7.1 £ 10 cm/s at the two sites. Data collected when a production well is continuously pumping reveal shorter and more consistent traveltimes than when the same well is pumped intermittently. q 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


Genetic relatedness among individuals can play a major role in the socio-spatial organization of mammals. However, only a few studies have documented kin-related spatial pattern in solitary medium-sized carnivores. Using radiotelemetry and genetic data from 15 individuals (seven males and eight females), we investigated the relationship between kinship and spatial organization (distance and overlap between home ranges) in the European pine marten Martes martes in a wooded area of central Italy. Data analysis included 45 pairs (10 individuals) tracked in spring and summer and 66 pairs (12 individuals) tracked in autumn and winter. Kinship, distance between home ranges and proportion of home range overlap were also compared among inter- and intra-sexual pairs. Spatial distribution of pine martens was affected by genetic relatedness, so that individuals living in close proximity or occupying the same area were also more likely to be closely related. Female pairs had a higher proportion of overlap of their home and core ranges than male pairs. Male pairs were also less related than female and inter-sexual pairs, showing a pattern of space use consistent with male-biased dispersal and female philopatry. Most of the females that overlapped their home and core ranges were genetically related, while only a third of the few male pairs occupying the same territories were kin. However, our results seem to indicate that positive association between home range overlap and relatedness was mainly a consequence of common female philopatry rather than kin-biased tolerance. Male-female dyads had the highest percentage of related individuals overlapping their home and core ranges, suggesting that spatial segregation is unlikely to play a role in preventing encounters between kin.


Insecticide imidacloprid and entomopathogenic nematode (EPN), Heterorhabditis indica alone and in combinations of imidacloprid and EPN were evaluated against early and late 3rd instars of coconut white grub, Leucopholis 3rd coniophora. Field collected instars white grubs were placed in pots with sweet potato treated with imidacloprid, the EPN, or both. In all nematode-imidacloprid combinations, both early and late 3rd instars grub mortality was significantly higher than in the H. indica alone and imidacloprid alone treatments. Combinations of imidacloprid and nematodes had a strong synergistic effect on mortality at different concentrations of imidacloprid. Nematodes were admixed with various concentrations of imidacloprid ranging from 0.04 to 1.25% could not significantly affect the survival of infective juveniles resulting in only a negligible mortality (3.5%). Results revealed that different imidacloprid concentrations, exposure time and interaction between imidacloprid and exposure time not affected nematodes mortality in bioassay. Combinations of imidacloprid and entomopathogenic nematodes may provide a powerful and economically feasible curative control in white grub management in coconut.


This report was commissioned as a study into the strategic use of patents. In the course of its case investigations and legislative reviews the European Commission became aware of changes in the use of intellectual property, in particular the use of patents. It was noted that firms' uses of intellectual property are becoming increasingly strategic. This raised concerns about the implications of firms' patenting behaviour for enterprise and competition policy. The following report contains a comprehensive review of patenting behaviour, the extent to which patenting is becoming more strategic and the implications this has for competition and enterprise policies .


Abstract. Anthropogenic disturbances to habitats influence the fitness of individual animals, the abundance of their populations, and the composition of their communities. Wetlands in particular are frequently degraded and destroyed, impacting the animals that inhabit these important ecosystems. The creation of wetlands during and following sand extraction processes is inevitable, and thus, sand quarries have the potential to support aquatic animals. To determine how amphibians utilise these wetlands, I conducted nocturnal call surveys at wetlands within the Kables Sands quarry, New South Wales, Australia, and within surrounding reference wetlands, and quantified levels of developmental instability (DI) as a proxy for fitness. Whilst quarry and reference wetlands were largely similar in terms of environmental characteristics, quarry wetlands consistently harboured more amphibian species and individuals. Using unsigned asymmetry as a measure of DI, frogs from the quarry sites exhibited significantly lower levels of DI compared to reference wetlands, indicating that quarry wetlands may be comparatively higher quality. Levels of DI within quarry wetlands also compared favourably to data from healthy frog populations extracted from the literature. Further enhancing the suitability of quarry wetlands would require minimal effort, with potentially significant increases in local and regional biodiversity. Documenting species presence and quantifying individual fitness by measuring limb lengths is an economically and logistically feasible method to assess the health of quarry wetlands. Overall, the methods outlined here provide a powerful, yet simple, tool to assess the overall health and suitability of quarry wetlands that could be easily adopted at quarries throughout the world.


Three models (prognostic models ISBA and ORCHIDEE and a diagnostic model rooted in satellite remote sensing product development) were run on the meteorological and land surface forcing data of 56 eddy-covariance sites to compare their results to each other and to the site observations. Results were compared with multiple strategies (including bias vs. RMSE, Taylor diagrams, sensitivities between state variables per land use type, error correlations, phenology and seasonal cycles) and results were used to identify (where possible) or hyothesize (otherwise) weaknesses of the different models, also considering uncertainties in the observation data. Main findings include a better performance of the diagnostic as compared to teh prognostic models, a convergence in strengths and weaknesses between both prognostic models partly due to latest updates of the ISBA model, but also remaining differences, and recommendations on most important future improvements (in particular related to drought stress response, phenology and biomass allocation). The manuscript is very well written, methods and results are presented in clarity, the subject is relevant to Biogeosciences, and original among others in the sense that the newest version of ISBA and a comparatively new data product of teh eddy-covariance network are used.


Carbon-based quantum particles, especially spherical carbon quantum dots (CQDs) and nanosheets like graphene quantum dots (GQDs), are an emerging class of quantum dots with unique properties owing to their quantum confinement effect. Many reviews appeared recently in the literature highlighting their optical properties, structures, and applications. These papers cover a broad spectrum of carbon-based nanoparticles, excluding a more detailed discussion about some important aspects related to the definition of carbon-based particles and the correlation of optical and electrochemical aspects in relation to sensing and biomedical applications. A large part of this review is devoted to these aspects. It aims, in particular, to act as a bridge between optical and electrochemical aspects of carbon-based quantum particles, both of which are associated with the electronic nature of carbon-based quantum particles. A special focus will be on their use in electroanalysis, notably their benefits in redox, and in electrochemical analysis with emphasis on their application as sensors. Electroanalysis is an easy and cost-effective means of providing qualitative and quantitative information of a specific analyte in solution in a time scale of some minutes. The integration of carbon-based quantum particles into these detection schemes as well as their incorporation into composite nanomaterials have largely improved detection limits with possibilities for their integration in aspects ranging from point-of-care devices to personalized medicine. This review will focus on some of these aspects while also covering the nanomedical aspects of carbon-based quantum particles, ultimately correlated for such developments.


Street markets are one of the most exciting trends in Malaysia's act as an alternative for small-time traders to sell their goods in the evenings. This paper examines the factors behind the unethical business practices by the street hawkers in Malaysia. The research methodology adapted in this research with using a descriptive study from the hawkers of various street markets in Kuala Lumpur area in Malaysia where 150 respondents were surveyed under five traders category for instance pirated CD, shoes, vegetables, food, fish and meat.  To test the hypothesis this research utilized multiple regressions. The result shows unethical behavior of street hawkers highly influenced by lack of religious foundation followed by their limited income, greediness, personal biases, lack of integrity. Findings derived from this study would enable the reader to understand the types of unethical practices and reason behind the practices by the street hawkers in Malaysia which was previously unexplored under this area.


Cassava was imported from Latin America some 300 years ago, and colonial governments in Africa used it as a famine-reserve crop. Over time cassava spread to over 40 countries in Sub-Sahara Africa, and Nigeria is now the largest cassava producer in the world. At Africa's independence in the 1960s, cassava mosaic disease was a major problem. In the 1970s, the cassava mealybug appeared and threatened to decimate the African cassava industry. Cassava mosaic and mealybug control programs were introduced in the 1970s to combat these two problems. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) drew on research on mosaic disease control in Tanzania and developed high-yielding mosaic disease resistant Tropical Manioc Selection (TMS) varieties in only six years of research, from 1971 to 1977. The TMS varieties increased cassava yields by 40 percent without fertilizer. To tackle the mealybug problem, an Africa-wide biological control center was established at the IITA in Nigeria. The IITA brought together an international group of scientists and donors who crisscrossed Central and South America and eventually found a wasp that fed off the mealybug. The wasp was imported from South America into Africa and introduced into cassava fields in over 100 locations throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The wasp has been effective in bringing the mealybug under control and reduces yield loss by 2.5 tons per hectare. The successful control of both the cassava mosaic disease and the cassava mealybug problems has raised cassava yields and turned cassava into a cash crop that is now spreading throughout Africa. Both cassava success stories are an example of the payoff from problem-solving research that may take many decades.


An approach is proposed for vibration suppression in a two-inertia system using an integration of a fractional-order disturbance observer and a single neuron-based PI fuzzy controller. The former is used to obtain disturbance estimate and generate compensation signal, and the latter is utilized to realize outer loop control. Fractional-order disturbance observer has a wider range to select a suitable tradeoff between robustness and vibration suppression, because introduction of fractional calculus makes universe of relative degree of Q-filter is expanded from integer domain to real-number domain. For the single neuron-based PI fuzzy controller, a single neuron makes up a PI controller and such a controller is embedded in each cell of the fuzzy control table. Thus, the fuzzy control table is changed into a controller matrix and it constructs a nonlinear adaptive controller with parameter self-tuning property. Experimental results illustrate that the integration of fractional-order disturbance observer and single neuron-based PI fuzzy controller can improve the performance of disturbance attenuation and system robustness


We propose a new signal security system and its VLSI architecture for real-time multimedia data transmission applications. We first define two bit-circulation functions for one-dimensional binary array transformation. Then, we exploit a chaotic system in generating a binary sequence to control the bit-circulation functions defined for performing the successive transformation on the input data. Each eight-bit data elements is regarded as a set and is fed into an binary matrix being transformed on each row and each column of the matrix by these two bit-circulation functions such that the signal can be transformed into completely disordered data. The features of the proposed design include low computational complexity, regular operations suitable for low-cost VLSI implementation, high data security, and high feasibility for easy integration with commercial multimedia storage and transmission applications. We have performed Matlab simulation to verify the functional correctness of the proposed system. In implementing the system, a low-cost VLSI architecture has been designed, verified, and physically realized based on a 0.35m CMOS technology. The implementation results show that the proposed signal security system can achieve Mbytes/s data throughput rate that is fast enough for real-time data protection in multimedia transmission applications.


This article presents the situation of juvenile justice in Pakistan and the need for a comprehensive, meaningful and effective policy for addressing the problems associated with juvenile justice. As such there is no policy for juvenile justice in the country at the present. The only major law dealing with children in conflict with law is Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000. Owing to some practical difficulties the law is not implemented properly in the country. Pakistan has many good policies, may be on paper sometimes, like health policy, educational policy, labour policy, etc but we neither have a criminal justice policy nor a specific juvenile justice policy at national or provincial level. This paper explains how a juvenile justice policy should look like in the context of Pakistan.


Paleomagnetic constrain for the age of the Matasiete Formation. The results of a paleomagnetic study performed over the Matasiete Formation, belonging to the Chubut Group, are presented. Alternating field and thermal demagnetization techni- ques were employed to analyze the stability of the magnetic remanence. The studied specimens have relatively high magnetic susceptibilities. They have soft viscous and low unblocking temperature components. These components are statistically coin- cident with each other and with the geocentric axial dipole field direction for the locality. The magnetic remanences were re- moved below 580oC, indicating that magnetite is the main remanence carrier. Characteristic remanent magnetization direc- tions were determined by principal component analysis with a maximum angular deviation smaller than 5o. Given the similar attitudes of the strata, the fold-tests are indeterminate. When the structural correction is applied, the concentration of characte- ristic remanent magnetization directions increases. That increase suggests that these remanences are pretectonic. All virtual geomagnetic poles corresponding to the remanent magnetizations have a normal polarity. The paleomagnetic pole calculated in this study for the Matasiete Formation is located at 84.7oS, 161.2oE (n=34, k=17.51, A95=6.1). That position is statistically equivalent to those of the PPs from Cerro Barcino Formation (112-125 Ma) and Los Adobes Formation (112-130 Ma), out- cropping at Central Patagonia. The coincidence of these paleomagnetic poles supports the Hauterivian?-Barremian-Aptian age assigned to the Matasiete Formation on the base of different fosiliferous associations. As the normal polarity of all vir- tual geomagnetic poles suggests that these rocks were deposited during the Cretaceous normal superchron, an Aptian age is proposed for the Matasiete Formation.


Despite ist advantage of boudary-only discretization, the standard boundary element method (BEM) involves huge computational costs for large-scale 3-D problems due to its dense matrix formulation. The situation is even worse for the 3-D elastostatic problem, where the number of unknowns is three times that of the potential problem. In this paper, we will apply the panel clustering method using multipole expansions in ordr to reduce the computational costs for the 3-D boundary elements analysis of elastostatics.


Development of ferrite core memory technology during the 1950s was probably the most important innovation that made stored-program computers a commercial reality. IBM's leadership in this development made possible the introduction in 1964 of the IBM System/360, which was so widely copied that it became a standard for electronic stored-program computers that have become so much a part of American life.This book provides a rare and candid glimpse into the innovations as well as the immense risks and imprecisions sometimes involved in technical decision making. It identifies the basic characteristics of technology management that the author believes accounted for IBM's success during this period, and gives a balanced view of the contributions by talented scientists and engineers both within and outside the company.The book chronicles a twenty-five-year period during which IBM evolved from the position of leading supplier of electromechanical punched-card equipment to dominance in the field of electronic computers. It describes IBM's response to the postwar challenge of electronics, its highly successful cooperative effort with MIT on an automated air defense system, the introduction of commercial ferrite core memories, developments and decisions leading to System/360, and the manufacturing problems posed by System/360's success.This book is included in The MIT Press Series in the History of Computing, edited by I. Bernard Cohen and William Asprey.


Neural network models are known to reinforce hidden data biases, making them unreliable and difficult to interpret. We seek to build models that `know what they do not know' by introducing inductive biases in the function space. We show that periodic activation functions in Bayesian neural networks establish a connection between the prior on the network weights and translation-invariant, stationary Gaussian process priors. Furthermore, we show that this link goes beyond sinusoidal (Fourier) activations by also covering triangular wave and periodic ReLU activation functions. In a series of experiments, we show that periodic activation functions obtain comparable performance for in-domain data and capture sensitivity to perturbed inputs in deep neural networks for out-of-domain detection.


We describe push–pull molecules, using a two-form two-state model, and define a parameter, MIX, that characterizes the mixing between the two limiting-resonance forms. MIX is related to the difference between the weight of each form in either the ground or the first-excited state. We have established analytical relationships between static polarizabilities and MIX. The optimum MIX value that yields maximized quadratic polarizability βmax(0) occurs when the mixing is intermediate between equivalent contributions of the two limiting forms and the strong predominance of either form. By examining experimental results obtained with push–pull polyenes, we show that not only MIX but also βmax(0) is affected by the nature of the donor–acceptor end groups as well as by the size of the polyenic linker. The results also help us to understand the length dependences of the quadratic polarizability measured in solution for series of push–pull polyenes. These dependences result from a combination of MIX and βmax(0) variations with increasing chain length.


We studied Rag2-deficient mice bearing two rearranged αβ TCR transgenes, both restricted to the MHC H-2Db class I molecule. We have previously shown that, in these DTg mice, most peripheral CD8 T cells express one TCRβ chain associated with two TCRα chains, as in one-third of the mature T cells from normal mice. We examined the functional behavior of the dual-receptor CD8 T cells developing either in the absence or in the presence of self-Ag. The dual-receptor CD8 T cells, which develop in absence of self-Ag, show efficient responses to immunization and remain sensitive to induction of peripheral tolerance. In contrast to single TCR T cells, the dual-TCR cells, when tolerized upon exposure to high levels of self-Ag, are not deleted and therefore may exert important regulatory functions. When developing in the presence of self-Ag, the dual-receptor-expressing CD8 T cells escape central deletion, but are not fully competent to respond to cognate stimuli. Overall, we found that the dual-TCR CD8 T cells show a poor competitive value and can be out-competed by single-TCR cells, both in the course of immune responses and in reconstitution experiments. The decreased fitness of the dual-receptor cells may contribute to diminishing the autoimmune hazard that they could represent.


Every 2D TQFT evaluates closed 2D surfaces to an element of the base field. These evaluations appear as a fundamental part of the skein relations induced by the TQFT, dating back to Bar-Natan. We definitively classify what sets of closed surface evaluations may arise from a 2D TQFT. Our answer reveals a deep relationship between achievable evaluations and the theory of symmetric polynomials. We then apply our results to precisely determine which 2D TQFTs have an associated Frobenius algebra that may be realized as the algebra of all surfaces with boundary S1, modulo surfaces that are "evaluated similarly" by the TQFT.


BACKGROUND
Stress is considered an important precipitating factor for seizures. Yoga is believed to induce relaxation and stress reduction. The effect of yoga on the EEG and the autonomic nervous system have been reported. Yoga would be an attractive therapeutic option for epilepsy (if proved effective), in view of its nonpharmacological nature, minimal side effects and international acceptance.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the efficacy of yoga in the treatment of patients with epilepsy.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched the Cochrane Epilepsy Group trial register, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (The Cochrane Library Issue 4, 1998), MEDLINE for articles published up to the middle of 1998, and also registries of the research council for complimentary medicine were searched. In addition, we searched the references of all the identified studies. Finally, we contacted the members of the Neurological Society of India, several neurophysiology institutions and yoga institutes to seek any ongoing studies or studies published in nonindexed journals or unpublished studies.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomized control trials and controlled clinical trials of treatment of epilepsy with yoga.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
The data were extracted independently by both reviewers and any discrepancies were resolved by discussion. The main outcomes assessed were percentage of patients rendered seizure free, number of patients with more than 50% reduction in seizure frequency or seizure duration and the overall reduction in seizure frequency. Analyses were on an intention to treat basis.

MAIN RESULTS
Only one study met the selection criteria, and recruited a total of 32 patients, 10 to sahaja yoga and 22 to control treatments. Antiepileptic drugs were continued in all. Randomization was by roll of a dice. The results of this study are as follows: (i) Four patients treated with yoga were seizure free for six months compared to none in the control groups. The Odds Ratio (OR) (95% Confidence Interval (CI)) for yoga versus sham yoga group was 14.5 (0.7, 316.7) and for yoga versus no treatment group 17.3 (0.8, 373.5). (ii) Nine patients in the yoga group had more than 50% reduction in seizure frequency compared to only one among the controls. The OR (95% CI) for yoga versus sham yoga group was 81 (4.4, 1504.5) and for the yoga versus no treatment group was 158.3 (5.8, 4335.9). (iii) There was a decline in the average number of attacks per month compared to the baseline frequency among the patients treated with yoga. The weighted mean difference ( 95% CI) between yoga versus sham yoga group was -2.1 (-3.1, -1.0) and for the yoga versus no treatment group -1.1 (-1.8, -0.4). (iv) More than 50% reduction in seizure duration was found in seven of the 10 patients treated with yoga, compared to none among the 22 controls. The OR (95%CI) for yoga versus sham yoga group was 45 (2.0, 1006.8) and for yoga versus no treatment group 53.57 (2.4, 1187.3).

REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS
No reliable conclusions can be drawn regarding the efficacy of yoga as a treatment for epilepsy. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the efficacy of yoga in the treatment of epilepsy.


With the increasing power of computer hardware and software, computational simulation and visualization are becoming increasingly important tools to understand and improve industrial processes, such as metal casting. Computer-aided visualization is increasing the power of all of the tools available to the solidification process engineer, including previous literature, mathematical modeling, laboratory experimentation, and online measurement of the casting processes. Die casting is a metal casting process that is characterized by forcing molten metal under high pressure into a mold cavity. In this paper, main emphasis will be on the optimization of process parameters in High pressure die casting. A case study of automotive compressor housing is considered where the flow simulations results are analyzed for optimization. An analytical approach is discussed by using software Ansys Fluent to analyze the behavior of molten metal at different stages of time by observing the results of temperature variations, pressure variations and liquid fractions by applying the input parameters molten metal temperature, die temperature and velocity of flow. The model of the component with spreader design, runner design, gate location and overflows is done in 3D modeling software Pro/Engineer.


The topology of the Internet at the autonomous system (AS) level is not yet fully discovered despite significant research activity. The community still does not know how many links are missing, where these links are and finally, whether the missing links will change our conceptual model of the Internet topology. An accurate and complete model of the topology would be important for protocol design, performance evaluation and analyses. The goal of our work is to develop methodologies and tools to identify and validate such missing links between ASes. In this work, we develop several methods and identify a significant number of missing links, particularly of the peer-to-peer type. Interestingly, most of the missing AS links that we find exist as peer-to-peer links at the Internet exchange points (IXPs). First, in more detail, we provide a large-scale comprehensive synthesis of the available sources of information. We cross-validate and compare BGP routing tables, Internet routing registries, and traceroute data, while we extract significant new information from the less-studied Internet exchange points (IXPs). We identify 40% more edges and approximately 300% more peer-to-peer edges compared to commonly used data sets. All of these edges have been verified by either BGP tables or traceroute. Second, we identify properties of the new edges and quantify their effects on important topological properties. Given the new peer-to-peer edges, we find that for some ASes more than 50% of their paths stop going through their ISPs assuming policy-aware routing. A surprising observation is that the degree of an AS may be a poor indicator of which ASes it will peer with.


The publication in 2003 of a long-awaited empirical study of telecommunications surveillance in Germany has opened a window into existing law and practices in that country. Under the sponsorship of the Federal Department of Justice, three researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg ("MPI") carried out a detailed examination of relevant German and international developments. The MPI Study of German and international developments in telecommunications surveillance has both weaknesses and strengths. Its weaknesses concern the MPI researchers' reliance on spotty international statistics to reach conclusions about relative amounts of surveillance activity in different countries. More successfully, the MPI researchers trace the similarities and dissimilarities in the regulation of telecommunications surveillance in different countries. To a large extent, this survey indicates a convergence among a core of shared legal approaches: a requirement of judicial approval of surveillance orders; an emergency exception to this requirement; and a use of telecommunications surveillance only as a last resort when other means of law enforcement will not reveal necessary information. Regarding its analysis of Germany, the MPI Study reveals the heavy emphasis of law enforcement agencies on surveillance of mobile telephones. This emphasis is all the more striking due to a relative lack of German law enforcement activity concerning surveillance of e-mail or traditional telephones. The MPI Study proved unable to account for these differences; it also neglected to explore the roots and significance of the disparate rate of surveillance in different German states. Finally, the MPI researchers did explore perhaps the most complex question of all in this area: can one empirically measure the results of telecommunications surveillance?


For $k \ge 2$, let $H$ be a $k$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices and $m$ edges. Let $S$ be a set of vertices in a hypergraph $H$. The set $S$ is a transversal if $S$ intersects every edge of $H$, while the set $S$ is strongly independent if no two vertices in $S$ belong to a common edge. The transversal number, $\tau(H)$, of $H$ is the minimum cardinality of a transversal in $H$, and the strong independence number of $H$, $\alpha(H)$, is the maximum cardinality of a strongly independent set in $H$. The hypergraph $H$ is linear if every two distinct edges of $H$ intersect in at most one vertex. Let $\mathcal{H}_k$ be the class of all connected, linear, $k$-uniform hypergraphs with maximum degree $2$. It is known [European J. Combin. 36 (2014), 231 – 236] that if $H \in \mathcal{H}_k$, then $(k+1)\tau(H) \le n+m$, and there are only two hypergraphs that achieve equality in the bound. In this paper, we prove a much more powerful result, and establish tight upper bounds on $\tau(H)$ and tight lower bounds on $\alpha(H)$ that are achieved for  infinite families of hypergraphs. More precisely, if $k \ge 3$ is odd and $H \in \mathcal{H}_k$ has $n$ vertices and $m$ edges, then we prove that $k(k^2 - 3)\tau(H) \le (k-2)(k+1)n + (k - 1)^2m + k-1$ and $k(k^2 - 3)\alpha(H) \ge  (k^2 + k - 4)n  - (k-1)^2 m - (k-1)$. Similar bounds are proven in the case when $k \ge 2$ is even.


Abstract This article examines the rise and reception of conceptual art in Argentina. Against dominant readings of the 1960s' and 70s' visual avant-gardes in Latin America, I reconsider the stakes of art's so-called "dematerialization" and its unique claim on ideology critique in the work of the Grupo Arte de los Medios [Media Art Group], a collective of young artists led by the philosopher and literary critic Oscar Masotta. Arguing for a re-historicization of the 1960s avant-garde as one that emerges as a self-reflexive reaction to the novel articulation of late capitalism in Argentina, I trace a critical continuity between the Grupo Arte de los Medios and the avant-gardist claims on the fusion of art and militant politics among its immediate successors. I suggest that the Argentinean avant-garde defined its radical political stance through a reflection on the immanent relation of structural cause to symbolic form, probing and pointing to the limits of the operation of estrangement.


Planning algorithms designed for deterministic worlds, such as A* search, usually run much faster than algorithms designed for worlds with uncertain action outcomes, such as value iteration. Real-world planning problems often exhibit uncertainty, which forces us to use the slower algorithms to solve them. Many real-world planning problems exhibit sparse uncertainty: there are long sequences of deterministic actions which accomplish tasks like moving sensor platforms into place, interspersed with a small number of sensing actions which have uncertain outcomes. In this paper we describe a new planning algorithm, called MCP (short for MDP Compression Planning), which combines A* search with value iteration for solving Stochastic Shortest Path problem in MDPs with sparse stochasticity. We present experiments which show that MCP can run substantially faster than competing planners in domains with sparse uncertainty; these experiments are based on a simulation of a ground robot cooperating with a helicopter to fill in a partial map and move to a goal location.


Phosphorylation of the E3 ubiquitin ligase TRAF6 by the kinase MST4 inhibits inflammatory responses in macrophages. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize pathogen- and host-associated molecular patterns to stimulate the transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), which leads to the production of proinflammatory cytokines. The E3 ubiquitin ligase and adaptor protein TRAF6 is activated downstream of TLRs and undergoes homo-oligomerization and nondegradative autoubiquitylation, which is required for the recruitment of effectors that activate NF-κB signaling. Jiao et al. found that exposure of THP-1 cells, a human monocytic cell line, to the TLR4 ligand lipopolysaccharide (LPS) resulted in an early decrease in the abundance of mRNA encoding the serine and threonine kinase MST4, which was accompanied by the increased abundance of mRNAs encoding the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). A subsequent reduction in cytokine-encoding gene expression occurred concurrently with an increase in MST4 expression. Overexpression of MST4 in transfected THP-1 cells decreased the amounts of TNF and IL-6 produced in response to LPS, whereas knockdown of MST4 in these cells had the opposite effect. This inhibitory effect of MST4 on TLR4 signaling required its kinase activity. In transfected cells, MST4 inhibited the TRAF6-dependent activation of NF-κB. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments with THP-1 cells showed that MST4 interacted with TRAF6 and that the interaction decreased soon after stimulation of the cells with LPS, but increased at later time points. Overexpression of MST4 inhibited the LPS-stimulated autoubiquitylation of TRAF6. In vitro kinase assays showed that MST4 phosphorylated TRAF6 at two threonine residues in its C-terminal TRAF domain, and these residues were necessary for MST4-mediated inhibition of TRAF6 auto-ubiquitylation. Furthermore, MST4-dependent phosphorylation of TRAF6 prevented homo-oligomerization. Finally, mice in which MST4 was knocked down by injection of siRNA (MST4-KD mice) showed increased lung damage when subjected to septic shock, which was associated with the increased abundance of proinflammatory cytokines. Cell-depletion analysis of LPS-treated MST4-KD mice suggested that MST4 inhibited TLR signaling mostly in macrophages. Together, these data suggest that MST4 limits inflammatory responses by blocking the function of TRAF6. S. Jiao, Z. Zhang, C. Li, M. Huang, Z. Shi, Y. Wang, X. Song, H. Liu, C. Li, M. Chen, W. Wang, Y. Zhao, Z. Jiang, H. Wang, C. C. L. Wong, C. Wang, Z, Zhou, The kinase MST4 limits inflammatory responses through direct phosphorylation of the adaptor TRAF6. Nat. Immunol. 16, 246–257 (2015). [PubMed]