Basal cell carcinoma is the most common type of skin cancer, and surgical excision with clear margins is the standard of care. Surgical margins are determined based on risk factors (high or low risk) for recurrence according to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and Japanese basal cell carcinoma guidelines. The clarity of the clinical tumor border (well‐defined or poorly defined) is considered a risk factor, and significant discrepancies in the judgment of clinical tumor borders among dermato‐oncologists may occur. Therefore, we analyzed the dermato‐oncologists' concordance in judging the clinical tumor border of basal cell carcinoma. Forty‐seven dermato‐oncologists (experts: 37; young trainees: 10) participated in this study. The datasets of clinical and dermoscopic photographs of 79 Japanese cases of head and neck basal cell carcinoma were used to determine the concordance in the judgment of clinical tumor border. The probability of the border that was selected more often was used to calculate the rater agreement rate for each dataset. Correct judgment was defined as a more frequently selected border, and the concordance rate of clarity of clinical tumor border for each dermato‐oncologist was calculated based on the definition of the correct judgment. A median concordance rate of 85% or higher for all dermato‐oncologists was predefined as an acceptable rate for clinical use. Of the 79 datasets, rater agreement rates were 80–100%, 60–79%, and 51–59% for 55, 19, and five datasets, respectively. The median concordance rate for all dermato‐oncologists was 86% (interquartile range: 82–89%). There was no significant difference in the concordance rate between the experts and the trainees (median, 87% vs. 85.5%; p = 0.58). The concordance rates of dermato‐oncologists for all datasets were relatively high and acceptable for clinical use.


The purpose of this thesis is to improve the understanding of how offshore supply shipowners adapt to lower demand by putting ships in lay-up. We have examined how day rates affect lay-up levels, and sought to explain other factors than day rates that might impact the lay-up decision. We have also looked at how specific vessel characteristics impact the likelihood that a given vessel will be laid up. We have used both a qualitative and an empirical approach in our research. In the qualitative part, we have interviewed seven Norwegian offshore supply shipowners that operate Platform Supply Vessels (PSV) and/or Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessels in the North Sea. We have found that in addition to using lay-up to reduce costs, the shipowners see the opportunity to reduce supply as a main motivation for laying up vessels. They achieve this by coordinating lay-up levels and thus engage in tacit collusion. Furthermore, we have found that the attractiveness of lay-up depends on the market outlook, the opportunity to scrap or sell vessels, startup costs for new vessels, vessel deterioration when in lay-up, and the ability to keep employees and competence in the company. The qualitative part of our research enabled us to formulate some hypotheses that we tested empirically using fleet statistics and day rates from the North Sea region. Using OLS, we found that day rates are negatively correlated with lay-up levels, but that there might be a time lag in how a reduction in day rates leads to an increase in laid up vessels. Using logistic regression, we found that vessel age had some negative correlation with layup levels, though the correlation was not strong. High capacity as measured by clear deck area for PSVs had a significant, negative correlation with the likelihood of lay-up. Bollard pull had a significant, negative correlation with the likelihood of lay-up for AHTSs.


The crisis of Soviet power in Central Asia: The 'Uzbek cotton affair', 1975-1991 aims at reconstructing and interpreting the final phases of Soviet political history and its effects in Uzbekistan. To this end, the reconstruction of the 'Uzbek cotton affair' – a judicial and political case linking the falsification of cotton production data and corruption that involved thousands of party and state officials in the republic – is something of a case study in evaluating Moscow's grip on the 'periphery' of its empire. This case tracks the life story of Uzbekistan from its consolidation as a Soviet republic, through crisis and ultimately its transition into an independent state. Thus, we can identify 'the Uzbek cotton affair' as a critical reason for the transformations within republican political society. At the same time, it can be read as a symptom of a greater incurable disease within the whole Soviet Union itself, a system that collapsed when this kind of top-down hierarchical order – led by ideology, elite politics, social forces and interest groups and even administrators and bureaucrats – cracked down. This dissertation is divided in three parts with a total of seven chapters. The first part is introductory and aims to contextualize the Uzbek 'periphery' within the Soviet state, at both the political and at socio-economic level. In the first chapter, I introduce the political features that determined the consolidation of Soviet power in the UzSSR. After the formation of Uzbekistan, the Stalinist terror and the destalinization transition, the Soviet leadership transitioned to a peaceful, decentralized and tolerant pattern of control over the farthest regions of the USSR. During the 70s, the Moscow leadership and the republican party cadres built a patrimonial system that relied on local figures who could ensure loyalty to the central state. This led to the creation of autonomous client networks inside the republic and the mediation of the FS CPUz between Moscow and the national elites. This approach was particularly evident during the long 'reign' of the FS CPUz Sharaf Rashidov (1959-1983), a controversial figure at the center of the Cold War who – as we will see in the second chapter – turned Uzbekistan into a 'cotton republic.' In fact, the UzSSR became the main supplier of 'white gold' and from the '60s it essentially doubled down on cotton monoculture as a strategic task for 'building communism': for the tenth FYP (1976-1981), Soviet planners demanded an annual production of six million tons of raw cotton from Tashkent and reaching this target at any cost became a matter of political stability and legitimacy for the Uzbek ruling elite. The second part is argumentative and focuses on the three phases of the 'Uzbek cotton affair.' Hence, the third chapter analyzes the context of the second economy in the USSR and the features related to corruption and falsification of cotton production data in Uzbekistan. The rise of Andropov and his 'moralization campaign' would see an attempt to legalize, cleanse and – ultimately – revitalize a system in which stagnation and fraud had reached unprecedented levels. In 1983, the so called 'Bukhara affair' exposed the level of 'official corruption' and overwhelmed the higher echelons of the party and state of the UzSSR. Nevertheless, this 'silent phase' – characterized by preliminary inquiries, the preservation of power structures in Uzbekistan and general institutional silence – culminated in the death of Rashidov, the subsequent struggle among local elites and a nominal transformation of the patrimonial system. Thus, in the fourth chapter we analyze the 'systemic phase' of the Uzbek affair (1984-1985), when Moscow's moralizing campaign was extended during the XVI plenum CPUz (1984) to map on to discord within the national party elites, the donos (complaints) wars and the internal struggles within the bureaucracy in post-Rashidovian Uzbekistan. The fifth chapter analyzes Moscow's subsequent 'trusteeship' over the republic, reflected in the 'krasnyi desant' campaign endorsed by the CC CPSU, the derashidovization crusade, and the zenith of internal struggles in the wake of the ouster of the FS CPUz Usmankhodzhaev and his replacement with the Moscow loyalist Nishanov who attempted and failed to destroy local patrimonial networks. Third and final part is aimed at evaluating the results of the Uzbek cotton affair in the center and in the periphery, and see if this story became a factor determining the collapse of the Soviet system as in Moscow as in Tashkent. The sixth chapter focuses on the investigators Gdlyan and Ivanov who became a symbol of the prosecution of the 'big fish' and alleged prominent members of the CC CPSU – and even Gorbachev – of being in collusion with the 'Uzbek mafiya.' The case, the related media circus and the political campaign of the two radical mavericks threatened the credibility of Gorbachev and the legitimacy of the CPSU, the state and its survival in a time of serious changes and great internal challenges. Democrats and the inner opposition to the Gensek in the CPSU exploited the 'Gdlyan-Ivanov affair', and the whole case became a symptom of the collapsing system. The seventh chapter deals with the myth-building of the 'Uzbek cotton affair' in early Karimov's Uzbekistan, where the story was narrated using critical discourse – such as 'colonial,' 'purge,' 'terror,' 'new 1937,' and even 'genocide' – in a Republic that had once been considered one of the most loyal within the Soviet system. Thus, the 'Uzbek affair' became a crucial event of Karimov's 'ideological shift' from communism to Mustaqillik – the ideology based on the values of the Uzbek independence – and a sensitive identity issue of revenge/resistance against the former rulers, investing in a post-colonial trauma that contributed to legitimize the president's regime and his relations with local power networks. Thus, dealing with recent Soviet times still represents a great challenge for contemporary historiography. The last decades of USSR history are still debated, defining a period that needs more work still to understand the characteristics, the limits and the contradictions that led to the end of the Soviet system. In that sense my primary goal in reconstructing these crucial and still obscure events here has been historiographical and it is intended at using primary unpublished sources, literature and oral history to uncover opaque aspects of the past. Relatedly, this research aims at offering a non-centrally oriented historiographical reconstruction of the final decades of the Soviet system, analyzing the evolutions of patrimonialism in USSR and the impact of perestroika, the dynamics of the purges and the symptoms of the collapse in the periphery of the empire in order to fill a historiographical gap of research on perestroika in Central Asia that is practically nonexistent. Furthermore, this research aims to recompose the framework of the 'Uzbek cotton affair' beyond its existence as a 'simplistic label' created by the media and too often related to the 'Gdlyan-Ivanov affair' only. Nevertheless, the case proceeded at different levels involving the party, prokuratura, MVD, KGB and soviets at the local and even at the central level, while only a part of the corruption and the other 'negative phenomena' revealed in the republic were related to cotton and a great part of the involved officials were not Uzbeks. Finally, this research aims at interpreting the last decades of Soviet history through a new interpretative key to understand how collapse-symptoms that had been exploited in Moscow and in Tashkent in order to avow the split from the USSR. The research is based on extensive unpublished archival material, literature and interviews and is aimed at expanding the horizon of current historiography.


Text entry for smart eyewear is generally limited to speech-based input due to constraints of the input channels. However, many smart eyewear devices are now including a side touchpad making gesture-based text entry feasible. The Swipeboard technique, recently proposed for ultra-small touch screens such as smart watches, may be particularly suitable for smart eyewear: unlike other recent text-entry techniques for small devices, it supports eyes-free input. We investigate the limitations and feasibility of implementing Swipeboard on smart eyewear, using the side touch pad for input. Our first study reveals usability and recognition problems of using the side touch pad to perform the required gestures. To address these problems, we propose SwipeZone, which replaces diagonal gestures with zone-specific swipes. In a text entry study, we show that our redesign achieved a WPM rate of 8.73, 15.2% higher than Swipeboard, with a statistically significant improvement in the last half of the study blocks.


This article reports on a survey of early career members of the Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP). Seventy early career psychologists completed a survey assessing the usefulness and climate of SCP, barriers to and facilitative factors for involvement in SCP, inclusiveness of SCP regarding cultural diversity and professional interests, degree of involvement in various aspects of SCP, and their areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with SCP membership. In general, participants were split on the degree to which they were satisfied with SCP, with participants in faculty positions reporting significantly more positive views of SCP than their practitioner counterparts did. Faculty members viewed SCP as more useful to their careers and reported more positive social interactions within SCP than did non–faculty members. Open-ended responses suggested that satisfaction with SCP was related to availability of mentorship and opportunities for involvement in SCP. Suggestions for engaging new professionals in SCP are offered.


Clostridium perfringens is a versatile pathogen capable of causing a wide array of diseases, ranging from clostridial food poisoning to tissue infections such as gas gangrene. An important factor in virulence as well as in the distribution of C. perfringens is its ability to form an endospore. The symptoms of C. perfringens food poisoning are directly correlated to the release of an enterotoxin at the end of the sporulation process. The sporulation process in C. perfringens is subject to carbon catabolite repression (CCR) by sugars, especially glucose. CCR is a regulatory pathway that alters transcription based on carbon source availability. In Gram-positive bacteria, the HPr kinase/phosphatase is responsible for this nutritional sensing by phosphorylating or dephosphorylating the serine-46 residue of HPr. HPr-Ser-P then forms a complex with the transcriptional regulator CcpA to regulate transcription. We were able to show here that purified recombinant C. perfringens HPr kinase/phosphatase was able to phosphorylate the serine-46 residue of HPr. When the codon for this serine residue is mutated through PCR mutagenesis to encode alanine, phosphorylation could not take place. We have also shown that in gel retardation assays, CcpA and HPr-Ser-P were able to bind to two DNA fragments containing putative C. perfringens CRE-sites, sequences where CcpA binds to regulate transcription. The genome sequence of a food poisoning strain of C. perfringens was searched for potential CRE-sites using degenerate sequences


After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a stunned public asked: How could this happen? Why did the attackers do what they did? What did they hope to accomplish? This wasn't the first battle in a conflict that has included bombings of U.S. embassies and planes, the Iran hostage crisis, and kidnappings or shootings of American citizens. This unique volume sets out to answer these questions using the unfiltered words of the terrorists themselves. Over many decades, radical forces in the Middle East have changed and evolved, yet their basic outlook and anti-Western views have remained remarkably consistent. Barry Rubin and Judith Colp Rubin have assembled nearly one hundred key documents, charting the evolution of radical Middle East movements, their anti-Americanism, and Western policy response. The buildup to the battle between a world superpower and Middle East revolutionaries is brought dramatically to life. Among the documents included are the charters of such organizations as Hizballah, Hamas, and World Islamic Front; speeches by Syrian president Hafiz al-Asad and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein; al-Qa'ida recruitment materials; and terrorist training manuals. The book also shows and analyzes the often conflicting and deeply conflicted responses to September 11 by journalists, clerics, and activists in the Arab world. Supplemented by an annotated chronology, a glossary of terms, and sections that put each selection in context, this comprehensive reference serves not only as essential historical background to the ongoing aftermath of the September 11 attacks, but more generally as an invaluable framework for understanding a long-term, continuing conflict that has caused many crises for the United States.


The Thermopolis hydrothermal system is located in the southern portion of the Bighorn Basin, in and around the town of Thermopolis, in northwest Wyoming. It is the largest hydrothermal system in Wyoming outside of Yellowstone National Park. The system includes hot springs, travertine deposits, and thermal wells. Published models for the hydrothermal system propose the Owl Creek Mountains as the recharge zone, simple conductive heating at depth, and resurfacing of thermal waters up the Thermopolis Anticline. The geochemistry of the thermal waters of three active hot springs—Big Spring, White Sulphur Spring, and Teepee Fountain—is similar in composition and characteristic of carbonate or carbonate-bearing siliciclastic aquifers. Previous studies of the Thermopolis hydrothermal system postulate that the thermal waters are a mixture of waters from Paleozoic formations. Major element geochemical analyses available for waters from these formations are not of sufficient quality to determine whether the thermal waters are a mixture of the Paleozoic aquifers. In the time frame of this study (one year), the geochemistry of all three springs was constant through all four seasons, spanning spring snowmelt and recharge as well as late-summer and fall dryness. This relationship is consistent with a deep source not influenced by shallow, local hydrogeology. Anomalies are evident in the historic data set for the geochemistry of Big Spring. We speculate that anomalies occurring between 1906 and 1926 suggest mixing of source waters of Big Spring with waters from a siliciclastic formation, and that anomalies occurring between 1926 and 1933 suggest mixing with waters from a formation containing gypsum or anhydrite. Decreased concentrations measured in our study—relative to concentrations measured between 1933 and 1976—may reflect mixing of thermal waters with more dilute waters. Current data are not sufficient to rigorously test these suggestions, and events of sufficient scale taking place in these timeframes have not been identified.


Since the last enlargement of the European Union and the development of regional cooperation, the notion of Central Europe has certainly lost some of the importance and distinctiveness that it had before 1989. During the 20th century, Mitteleuropa and its different understandings – proposed by writers, historians or political figures – at times resembled a utopian vision erected against the actual geopolitical situation of the time. However, once dreams turned into reality, interest about the specificity of the region (in terms of mentality, culture, literature history) rapidly decreased. Today, a wider use of the category of Central-European is progressively (re)appearing in Austrian, French, and Polish research, and is leading towards discovering and exploring once again the common features of the region's history, as well as to reinterpret and put into a new perspective the canons established during the 19th century. The article aims at analyzing on the one hand past interpretations and uses of this categorical notion, and on the other at assessing its potential in the future of the field of literary studies.


Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2D (CMT2D) is a peripheral nerve disorder caused by dominant, toxic, gain-of-function mutations in the widely expressed, housekeeping gene, GARS. The mechanisms underlying selective nerve pathology in CMT2D remain unresolved, as does the cause of the mild-to-moderate sensory involvement that distinguishes CMT2D from the allelic disorder distal spinal muscular atrophy type V. To elucidate the mechanism responsible for the underlying afferent nerve pathology, we examined the sensory nervous system in CMT2D mice. We show that the equilibrium between functional subtypes of sensory neuron in dorsal root ganglia is distorted by Gars mutations, leading to sensory defects in peripheral tissues and correlating with overall disease severity. CMT2D mice display changes in sensory behaviour concordant with the afferent imbalance, which is present at birth and non-progressive, indicating that sensory neuron identity is prenatally perturbed and that a critical developmental insult is key to the afferent pathology. This suggests that both neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative mechanisms contribute to CMT2D pathogenesis, and thus has profound implications for the timing of future therapeutic treatments. Significance Statement Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is a collection of genetically diverse inherited nerve disorders with the unifying feature of peripheral neuron degeneration. The mechanisms triggering this motor and sensory nerve dysfunction remain unresolved, as does the reason for the lack of sensory pathology observed in distal hereditary motor neuropathies, which can be associated with CMT genes. To unravel the mechanisms leading to afferent deterioration, we have studied the sensory nervous system of CMT Type 2D mice. Our work indicates that the specific cellular identity of sensory nerves is perturbed in mutant mice pre-natally. CMT therefore manifests through the complex interplay between malfunctioning developmental, maturation, and survival programs, which has important ramifications for therapeutic timing.


In general, different mechanisms may be iden- tified as responsible of runoff generation during ordinary events or extraordinary events at the basin scale. In a sim- plified scheme these mechanisms may be represented by different runoff thresholds. In this context, the derived flood frequency model, based on the effect of partial con- tributing areas on peak flow, proposed by Iacobellis and Fiorentino (2000), was generalized by providing a new for- mulation of the derived distribution where two runoff com- ponents are explicitly considered. The model was tested on a group of basins in Southern Italy characterized by annual maximum flood distributions highly skewed. The applica- tion of the proposed model provided good results in terms of descriptive ability. Model parameters were also found to be well correlated with geomorphological basin descrip- tors. Two different threshold mechanisms, associated respec- tively to ordinary and extraordinary events, were identified. In fact, we found that ordinary floods are mostly due to rain- fall events exceeding a threshold infiltration rate in a small source area, while the so-called outlier events, responsible of the high skewness of flood distributions, are triggered when severe rainfalls exceed a threshold storage in a large portion of the basin.


In this paper, we present a modified Log Burr XII (MLBXII) distribution developed on the basis of a generalized log Pearson differential equation. This distribution is also obtained from a compounding mixture of distributions. Moments, inequality measures, uncertainty measures and reliability measures are theoretically established. Characterizations of MLBXII distribution are also studied via different techniques. Parameters of MLBXII distribution are estimated using the maximum likelihood method. Goodness of fit of this distribution through different methods is studied.


OUTLING, CORA DENISE SMITH. Process, Fit, and Appearance Analysis of ThreeDimensional to Two-Dimensional Automatic Pattern Unwrapping Technology. (Under the direction of Dr. Cynthia L. Istook). Innovative technology in various forms has been implemented into the apparel industry over the last few decades. The creation of patterns for garment production was revolutionized with the implementation of Computer-Aided-Design technologies such as digitizing, computer grading, and pattern design systems. Recently, 3D body scanning technology was developed and used to assist in numerous areas of apparel product development from measurement extraction to sizing and body shape recognition. More currently, in 2004 a new opportunity to develop patterns directly from 3D body scans was developed. This technology, called three-dimensional (3D) to two-dimensional (2D) pattern unwrapping, is the future of automated apparel pattern development. However, in order for companies to utilize this technology, an assessment of the process of acquiring the patterns, as well as the fit and appearance of the garments produced must be completed to determine if the system works successfully and is a feasible endeavor. The purpose of the study was to analyze the process, fit, and appearance of the resulting garments from NX-12's 3D to 2D pattern unwrapping system. To obtain this goal a garment evaluation tool was created and used to assess the fit and appearance of the garments. Prior to assessing the garments fit and appearance, an evaluation of the process of developing the 3D extraction and the 2D pattern was also conducted. Lastly, the participants' evaluation of the garments created was analyzed. Using the data collected, results showed that the system had a number of problems associated not only with the process of creating the garment, but also with the garments themselves. Overall, the issues that occurred were universal to all the participants and therefore could be anticipated and corrected with the addition of parameters. Other issues may be attributed to the 3D body scanner and the respiration and stance of the participants as found from other studies. Participants said they were comfortable with the 3D scanning process and interested in using the technology again. In general, participants had no clear issues with the process and felt the pant pattern, the one with the most parameters in place, fit better than the traditional off-the-rack pants available. The findings of the research is important to aid in the development of the 3D to 2D pattern unwrapping software system, as well as to determine consumers interest in the technology. This research will benefit the apparel industry mainly because the 3D to 2D pattern unwrapping system is an extremely innovative method of apparel pattern development that has the potential to decrease the time, effort, and the cost of traditional Made-to-Measure mass customization. PROCESS, FIT, AND APPEARANCE ANALYSIS OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL TO TWO-DIMENSIONAL AUTOMATIC PATTERN UNWRAPPING TECHNOLOGY by CORA DENISE SMITH OUTLING A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Masters of Science TEXTILE AND APPAREL, TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT Raleigh, NC 2007


Women make up the majority of public relations practitioners, suggesting that the liberal-feminist battle for workplace equality has been won. Analysing scholarship on the gendering of public relations, which began to emerge in the 1980s, this paper examines how the dual processes of feminisation and professionalisation mutually reinscribe one another in ways that reproduce the patriarchal gender relations underpinning the public relations industry. Recent Australian examples demonstrate the impact of the gendering of public relations and the need for greater attention to, and reflexivity about, gender issues in public relations by both the industry and by scholars.


Fort Ord.s Site OU2 is located approximately 80 miles south of San Francisco near Monterey Bay in Monterey County, California. Fort Ord contains two landfills which were used for residential and commercial waste disposal. Fort Ord was placed on the EPA.s National Priorities List (NPL) mainly due to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in groundwater under the site. Fort Ord Site OU2 is currently using pumpand- treat remediation with granular activated carbon (GAC) (Lieberman, 2004). The system has been in operation since 1995. OU2 consists of three areas: (1) a shallow soil and waste material unit within the landfill areas, (2) the A-aquifer, and (3) the 180-foot aquifer below the A-aquifer. In the first layer, the soil samples collected below the landfill did not contain waste connected to the landfill. However, landfill contaminants have been found in the form of soil vapor from soil overlying the landfills and in groundwater underneath the landfills. It is thought that the chemicals have traveled away from the landfill materials as vapors or as solutes in the leachate. Chemicals are present in the groundwater in both the A-aquifer and the 180-foot aquifer. Groundwater in the A-aquifer is about 50 to 100 feet below ground surface (bgs). Groundwater in the 180-foot aquifer occurs between 100 to 300 feet bgs. Data from the remedial investigation show that the largest number of chemicals and maximum concentrations were found in the A-aquifer.


This study was carried out to establish farmers' perceptions regarding low agricultural productivity and to document their ideas for improving the performance of agriculture sector in South Sudan. The results reveal that the major challenges related to low agricultural productivity as perceived by farmers include poor leveling of fields, poor irrigation management, low water availability, loss of land due to salinity and low water use efficiency due to seepage and runoff losses. Low water availability is considered as the biggest challenge for improving agricultural productivity because dependence on seasonal rain results in low crop yields and serious food shortages during most part of a year. Therefore, installation of public wells to increase groundwater availability for irrigation and establishment of rainwater harvesting structures are proposed as the potential solutions to solve irrigation water problems and overcome food shortages. Strengthening of extension services and training of vegetable growers on drip and sprinkler irrigation system along with the provision of irrigation equipment can help a great deal in increasing agricultural productivity. The state and national governments should provide high quality seeds and loans to the vegetable growers to enable them improve their crop production and cultivation of crops during the dry periods.

 Key words: Agricultural productivity, irrigation management, food security, livelihood, poverty.


Value in healthcare is the clinical outcome and patient experience relative to the costs of care. Traditionally, healthcare providers have primarily focused on improving the quality of care in order to increase value. In fact, change introduced with the primary intention of saving costs is viewed with suspicion, lest it negatively impact the quality of care. Modifying existing practices to primarily decrease costs can thus be quite challenging, even when these changes are evidence-based and have no adverse impact on the quality of care. Attempting to limit the use of intravenous proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) to appropriate indications falls under this category of changes. PPIs are one of the most overused medications, and the intravenous route is often used when oral administration would suffice, significantly increasing medication and administration costs.1–3 Studies have shown that oral PPIs have similar efficacy compared with intravenous PPIs and may even be associated with reduced length of stay.4 5 Intravenous PPIs are recommended only in patients with active upper gastrointestinal bleeding prior to endoscopy, and sometimes after endoscopic treatment of an ulcer. However, intravenous PPIs per se have no perceived direct harms to patients (above oral PPIs), although intravenous administration of medications puts patients at higher risk for medication-related errors in general.6 7

We recently had a national shortage and subsequent urgent need to review the use of intravenous PPIs at our 870-bed county and medical school teaching hospital. In March 2015, a critical shortage of an intravenous PPI (pantoprazole) was announced due to manufacturing delays.8 The medication had to be purchased through secondary sources at exorbitant costs with the  spectre of not having enough available for patients with critical needs.

We performed a retrospective review of all orders of intravenous PPIs for 12 months prior to the shortage. Intravenous PPIs were …


Throughout our nation's history, patriotic songs have lifted our spirits during hard times and brought us closer to our heritage and to each other. Behind these "songs sung red, white, and blue" are unforgettable stories that will enrich your appreciation of their unique power. It's hard to imagine a single American who hasn't been touched deeply at one time or another by the songs in these pages. From the soaring chorus of "God Bless America" to the quiet poetry of "America the Beautiful," historian Ace Collins takes you inside the creation of thirty-two classic songs spanning two centuries. Military anthems like "The Marine's Hymn" and "Anchors Aweigh" share pages with other songs of war, such as the War of 1812's "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the Civil War's "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Popular tunes dating back to the earliest days of our nation, such as "Yankee Doodle," are included alongside contemporary hits like "God Bless the U.S.A." Other favorites like "This Land Is Your Land" and "This Is My Country" reflect on our nation in times of peace. You'll meet a surprising and diverse cast of behind-the-scenes characters, which includes both everyday Americans -- teachers, preachers, and soldiers -- as well as celebrated songwriters like Irving Berlin and George M. Cohan. Here are songs that are as close to our hearts as any ever written -- songs that form a rousing soundtrack to America's story.


Person search aims to localize and identify a specific person from a gallery of images. Recent methods can be categorized into two groups, i.e., two-step and end-to-end approaches. The former views person search as two independent tasks and achieves dominant results using separately trained person detection and re-identification (Re-ID) models. The latter performs person search in an end-to-end fashion. Although the end-to-end approaches yield higher inference efficiency, they largely lag behind those two-step counterparts in terms of accuracy. In this paper, we argue that the gap between the two kinds of methods is mainly caused by the Re-ID sub-networks of end-to-end methods. To this end, we propose a simple yet strong end-to-end network with diverse knowledge distillation to break the bottleneck. We also design a spatial-invariant augmentation to assist model to be invariant to inaccurate detection results. Experimental results on the CUHK-SYSU and PRW datasets demonstrate the superiority of our method against existing approaches -- it achieves on par accuracy with state-of-the-art two-step methods while maintaining high efficiency due to the single joint model. Code is available at: https://git.io/DKD-PersonSearch.


Trade and investment flows into less advanced economies could bring about important technological spillovers that could boost firm-level productivity and bolster their long term economic growth. This brief paper outlines some of the motivations for public sector interventions to support learning by doing and stronger technological spillovers. It then provides a brief discussion of three key areas for policy attention, covering a) the features that make international production networks fertile platforms for these spillovers; b) the opportunities for technology spillovers in the services sector; and c) the challenges associated with policies to link SMEs into these sectors that are fertile ground for technology spillovers and innovation. This paper concludes by presenting a few possible guidelines on innovation and technology policy based on the lessons of industrialization attempts in the last several decades.


We investigated the case of a 14-year-old girl with an ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)-dependent haemagglutination detected by macrocytosis, which was only evident by an abnormal red blood cell (RBC) population in the histogram. Investigations included haemograms with different anticoagulants and experimental conditions. Immunohaematological studies were performed using a gel-based technology. At admission, the patient had a low RBC count and an increased mean corpuscular volume with normal haemoglobin. A double population appeared in the RBC histogram. However, the peripheral blood smear was normal and macrocytosis was absent when heparin or citrate was used instead of EDTA. Later studies revealed that the patient's serum was able to induce macrocytosis of control RBC only in the presence of EDTA. An EDTA-dependent panagglutinin was then indentified that produced mixed field agglutination. These findings provide evidence of a haemagglutination induced by EDTA as a source of pseudomacrocytosis.


The principle of belief persistence, or conservativity principle, states that 'When changing beliefs in response to new evidence, you should continue to believe as many of the old beliefs as possible' (Harman, 1986, p. 46). In particular, this means that if an individual gets new information, she has to accommodate it in her new belief set (the set of propositions she believes), and, if the new information is not inconsistent with the old belief set, then (1) the individual has to maintain all the beliefs she previously had and (2) the change should be minimal in the sense that every proposition in the new belief set must be deducible from the union of the old belief set and the new information (see, e.g., Gärdenfors, 1988; Stalnaker, 1984). We focus on this minimal notion of belief persistence and characterize it both semantically and syntactically.


Understanding the modulation of contextual fear learning and memory by the neurotransmitter dopamine is important as it could lead to a greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying anxiety disorders. The effect of D1 receptor antagonism during the contextual fear learning and memory stages was investigated. In the first set of experiments the D1 receptor antagonist SCH 23390 (0.1mg/kg; i.p.) was administered systemically before or immediately after contextual fear conditioning to determine whether D1 receptors are involved in the acquisition and/or consolidation stages. This experiment was followed up by investigating the effects of SCH 23390 infusion into the dorsal hippocampus (5μg per side) or amygdala (2.5μg per side) on contextual fear acquisition. The second set of experiments investigated the involvement of systemic SCH 23390 in the reconsolidation, retrieval, destabilization and extinction of contextual fear. SCH 23390 was administered before or immediately after either a short reactivation or longer extinction session. In the destabilization experiment SCH 23390 was administered prior to reactivation and the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 (0.1mg/kg; i.p) immediately after to determine if SCH 23390 could rescue the amnesic effects of NMDA receptor antagonism. It was found that systemic and intra-hippocampal but not intra-amygdala SCH 23390 reduced freezing during memory retention testing, twenty four hours and seven days after conditioning. There was no effect of SCH 23390 when immediately given after conditioning. There was also no effect of SCH 23390 when given either before or after reactivation or extinction sessions. The destabilization experiment was inconclusive as MK-801 was not found to impair memory when administered after reactivation. In conclusion, D1 receptors were found to be involved in the acquisition of contextual fear, and this modulation was found to occur in the dorsal hippocampus but not the amygdala. D1 type receptors were not found to be involved in the consolidation, retrieval, reconsolidation or extinction of contextual fear.


BACKGROUND
Neurological injuries causes persistent upper extremity motor deficits. Device-assisted therapy is an emerging trend in neuro-rehabilitation as it offers high intensity, repetitive practice in a standardized setting.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of therapy duration and staff-participant configuration on device-assisted upper limb therapy outcomes in individuals with chronic paresis.

METHODS
Forty-seven participants with chronic upper extremity weakness due to neurological injury were assigned to a therapy duration (30 or 60 minutes) and a staff-participant configuration (1-to-1 or 1-to-2). Therapy consisted of 3 sessions a week for 6 weeks using the Armeo®Spring device. Clinical assessments were performed at three timepoints (Pre, Post, Follow up).

RESULTS
Improvements in upper limb impairment, measured by change in Fugl-Meyer score (FM), were observed following therapy in all groups. FM improvement was comparable between 30 and 60 min. sessions, but participants in the 1-to-2 group had significantly greater improvement in FM from Pre-to-Post and from Pre-to-Follow up than the 1-to-2 group.

CONCLUSIONS
Device-assisted therapy can reduce upper limb impairment to a similar degree whether participants received 30 or 60. min per session. Our results suggest that delivering therapy in a 1-to-2 configuration is a feasible and more effective approach than traditional 1-to-1 staffing.


Abstract Ocean acidification (OA), from seawater uptake of anthropogenic CO2, has a suite of negative effects on the ability of marine invertebrates to produce and maintain their skeletons. Increased organism pCO2 causes hypercapnia, an energetically costly physiological stress. OA alters seawater carbonate chemistry, limiting the carbonate available to form the calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals used to build skeletons. The reduced saturation state of CaCO3 also causes corrosion of CaCO3 structures. Global change is also accelerating coastal acidification driven by land-run off (e.g. acid soil leachates, tannic acid). Building and maintaining marine biomaterials in the face of changing climate will depend on the balance between calcification and dissolution. Overall, in response to environmental acidification, many calcifiers produce less biomineral and so have smaller body size. Studies of skeleton development in echinoderms and molluscs across life stages show the stunting effect of OA. For corals, linear extension may be maintained, but at the expense of less dense biomineral. Conventional metrics used to quantify growth and calcification need to be augmented by characterisation of the changes to biomineral structure and mechanical integrity caused by environmental acidification. Scanning electron microscopy and microcomputed tomography of corals, tube worms and sea urchins exposed to experimental (laboratory) and natural (vents, coastal run off) acidification show a less dense biomineral with greater porosity and a larger void space. For bivalves, CaCO3 crystal deposition is more chaotic in response to both ocean and coastal acidification. Biomechanics tests reveal that these changes result in weaker, more fragile skeletons, compromising their vital protective roles. Vulnerabilities differ among taxa and depend on acidification level. Climate warming has the potential to ameliorate some of the negative effects of acidification but may also make matters worse. The integrative morphology-ecomechanics approach is key to understanding how marine biominerals will perform in the face of changing climate.


This paper describes the development of the Rutgers Interactive Lane Closure Application (RILCA), an interactive computer tool to plan lane closures for work zones. This tool provides traffic engineers with a computerized and easy-to-use lane closure application, along with other useful features. RILCA was developed with the ArcView geographic information system (GIS) software package as the main development environment. ArcView displays the interactive GIS map of the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, and other major freeways in New Jersey and its surrounding network. RILCA provides various analysis and visualization options to plan lane closures interactively, obtain traffic volume information, and conduct accident queries. RILCA was tested successfully, and New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) and New Jersey Turnpike Authority engineers now use it with all of the features presented in this paper. RILCA received an annual implementation award from the New Jersey DOT in 2009. The award recognized RILCA's usefulness and potential to improve the efficiency of traffic operations as a practical decision-support tool for lane closure decisions.


Background We have showed that secretory Apolipoprotein J/Clusterin (sCLU) is down-regulated in senescent, stressed or diseased red blood cells (RBCs). It was hypothesized that sCLU loss relates to RBCs vesiculation, a mechanism that removes erythrocyte membrane patches containing defective or potentially harmful components. Methodology/Principal Findings To investigate this issue we employed a combination of biochemical and microscopical approaches in freshly prepared RBCs or RBCs stored under standard blood bank conditions, an in vitro model system of cellular aging. We found that sCLU is effectively exocytosed in vivo during membrane vesiculation of freshly prepared RBCs. In support, the RBCs' sCLU content was progressively reduced during RBCs ex vivo maturation and senescence under cold storage due to its selective exocytosis in membrane vesicles. A range of typical vesicular components, also involved in RBCs senescence, like Band 3, CD59, hemoglobin and carbonylated membrane proteins were found to physically interact with sCLU. Conclusions/Significance The maturation of RBCs is associated with a progressive loss of sCLU. We propose that sCLU is functionally involved in the disposal of oxidized/defected material through RBCs vesiculation. This process most probably takes place through sCLU interaction with RBCs membrane proteins that are implicit vesicular components. Therefore, sCLU represents a pro-survival factor acting for the postponement of the untimely clearance of RBCs.


Opium and its derivatives morphine and heroin have destroyed, corrupted, and killed individuals, families, communities, and even whole nations. And yet, for most of its long history, opium has also been humanity's most effective means of alleviating physical and mental pain. This extraordinary book encompasses the entire history of the world's most fascinating drug, from the first evidence of poppy cultivation by stone-age man to the present-day opium trade in Afghanistan. Dr. Thomas Dormandy tells the story with verve and insight, uncovering the strange power of opiates to motivate major conflicts yet also inspire great art and medical breakthroughs, to trigger the rise of global criminal networks yet also revolutionize attitudes toward well-being. Opium: Reality's Dark Dream traverses the globe and the centuries, exploring opium's role in colonialism, the Chinese Opium Wars, laudanum-inspired sublime Romantic poetry, American "Yellow Peril" fears, the rise of the Mafia and the black market, 1960s counterculture, and more. Dr. Dormandy also recounts exotic or sad stories of individual addiction. Throughout the book the author emphasizes opium's complex, valuable relationship with developments in medicine, health, and disease, highlighting the perplexing dual nature of the drug as both the cause and relief of great suffering in widely diverse civilizations.


—The goal of this study was to identify relationships between sampling effort, using a point frame, and the precision of estimates of vegetative cover in sagebrush steppe. Data for 208 point-frame samples were randomly drawn and 95% confidence intervals were identified for varying sample sizes of individual species and species groups. Confidence interval widths decreased rapidly as sample sizes increased from 1 to 50, and more slowly as sample sizes were increased further. For the more abundant species, sample sizes of fewer than 50 frames were sufficient to reduce the 95% confidence interval to less than one-half of average cover. For species with average cover less than 5%, the sample size required to achieve the same relative confidence was much larger. Analyses were repeated to compare point frames with 36 versus 50 sample points per frame. Using a point frame with 50 sample points decreased the number of frames required to achieve the same level of confidence; however, the reduction in sample size was less than the 28% reduction in sample points per frame. Because of the time required to establish transects and position the point frame, it may still be worth sampling more points per frame.


The behavior of platelet-activating factor (PAF) produced in stimulated human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) was investigated in the presence of serum under conditions close to those existing in vivo. When the cells were stimulated in the presence of the serum obtained from a PAF acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH)-deficient Japanese subject, over 60% of synthesized PAF was detected in the extracellular medium by bioassay, scintillation proximity RIA and selected ion monitoring/gas chromatography/mass spectrography analysis. The release of PAF from PMN after stimulation with FMLP and A23187 was also observed in the presence of normal serum treated with acid to inactivate PAF-AH. The heterogeneity of the molecular species of extracellular PAF was similar to that of intracellular PAF produced in stimulated PMN in the presence of PAF-AH-deficient serum, ruling out the possibility that a specific molecular species of PAF was preferentially released from the cells in the presence of the serum. As these data suggested the occurrence of PAF-releasing factor(s) in the serum, an attempt was made to partially purify this factor from PAF-AH-deficient serum and acid-treated normal serum by ammonium sulfate fractionation and column chromatography with DEAE-Cellulofine and Sepharose CL-6B. The molecular mass of PAF-releasing factor revealed on a TSK gel G3000 SW HPLC column was 240 kDa, which was different from that of albumin. The binding assay, newly developed for this study, revealed that the PAF-binding activity of PAF-releasing factor is stronger than that of albumin, and that the PAF-releasing factor forms a complex with PAF at low concentration (10(-9) M). PAF bound to this factor was difficult to be hydrolyzed by serum PAF-AH. On the other hand, the PAF/PAF-releasing factor complex had aggregatory activity toward washed rabbit platelets. These observations suggest that certain protein(s) releases and carries the PAF newly synthesized by PMN in blood plasma/serum. Thus it appears that PAF functions as an autacoid in vivo, along with other mediators.


In May-July 2012, Emilia Romagna (northern Italy) was struck by a significant seismic sequence, which was characterized by two moderate-magnitude earthquakes: a Ml 5.9 event on May 20, 2012, at 02:03:53 UTC, and a Ml 5.8 event on May 29, 2012, at 07:00:03 UTC, about 12 km to the west of the first mainshock. The earthquake sequence produced a total of 20 casualties and severe and widespread damage, mainly to historical and commercial buildings. A detailed description of the seismic sequence can be found in Sco-gnamiglio et al. [2012, this volume]. The largest of the earthquake static displacements were recorded by tens of continuous global positioning system (cGPS) stations, as described in Serpelloni et al. [2012, this volume]. Most of these stations were operating with a sampling frequency of 1 Hz, and they belonged to scientific or commercial networks: RING (http://ring.gm.ingv.it); ITALPOS (http://smartnet.leica-geosystems.it); GeoTop (http://www.netgeo.it); Fondazione Geometri Emilia Romagna (http://www.gpsemiliaromagna.it; Lombardia [http://www.gpslombardia.it); and Veneto (http://188.8.131.52). Some hours after the first mainshock, the sampling frequency of the near-field RING stations (SBPO and MODE) were switched to 20 Hz, thus recording the coseismic displacements produced by the May 29, 2012, earthquake at higher frequency. This sampling frequency was previously used for the detection of coseismic dynamic displacements only for the Mw 9 Tohoku-Oki 2011 event [Colosimo et al. 2011b]. Thus, the 20-Hz-sampling displacements for the Tohoku-Oki 2011 earthquake and the May 29, 2012, Emilia event might represent important recordings to investigate coseismic contributions at frequencies higher than 1 Hz with GPS. In the present study, after the description of the high-rate GPS (HRGPS) data analysis, we will show and compare the preliminary results. Then, for the two mainshocks, we will compare the displacements recorded by the HRGPS (1 Hz up to 20 Hz) and the strong-motion time histories (100 Hz) at MODE, where the different instruments were approximately co-located (Figure 1, inset, relative distance of ca. 90 m). […]


That public–private infrastructure partnerships (P3s) present problems in relation to democratic accountability has often been noted, with calls for greater transparency often following. Such calls tend to assume that anything that promotes transparency will further accountability and openness. Drawing on socio-legal studies of the documentary and other information practices that underpin and operationalise governance, this article carefully examines the features and the possible uses of the documentation that is made public by the PPP sector, in Canada. We find that information practices that perform and produce transparency (such as posting project documents online) may produce a merely illusory accountability. Particular attention is paid to the scale at which infrastructure planning information is made public, the selection of content included in the documents (e.g. photos of buildings versus background information), and the information formats commonly utilised. Overall, we find that the information that is made public does not actually empower the concerned public: projects are presented out of context, devoid of historical or comparative context and without reference to any broader regional or other plan, and when 'real' documents are made public, neither the content nor their framing enables effective openness, thus hindering accountability.


In India over more than 6,000 plants are used in traditional, folklore and herbal medicine. The Indian system of medicine has identified 1500 medicinal plants of which 500 are commonly used. Calendula officinalis, commonly known as marigold belongs to the family Compositae. Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles by herbal plants is presently under high exploitation. Our study deals with the synthesis of silver nanoparticles by using the flower extract of Calendula officinalis. The synthesis of silver nanoparticles occurred under the exposure of the flower extract to 1mM silver nitrate aqueous solution. During this process the complete reduction of was observed nearly 48 hours of reaction at 30 °C under vigorous shaking conditions. The colour change was noted in the reaction mixture and observed during the process of incubation period, it may be due to the formation of the silver nanoparticles which are able to produce the colour in the reaction mixture may be due to their specific properties of surface Plasmon resonance. The formation of silver nanoparticles is made confirmed by FT-IR, UV-Visible Spectroscopy. These showed that the particles were capped with the biomolecular compounds like terpenoids, aminoacids, proteins, alkaloids and some reducing agents etc from the contents of the flower extract of Calendula officinalis. However, future studies are needed to investigate the other hidden effects exhibited by the plant in order to make the plant as a proficient herbal drug therapy.


While corpus analysis has long been useful for developing genre-based teaching materials in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), somewhat less attention has been paid to how well people actually learn to use the genre features identified. This study shows how individuals' use of genre features changes over time, as a function of growing disciplinary experience. Using a measure of standard deviation, the study examines how five geologists show increasing discoursal expertise in their writing over a ten-year period. The method of analysis used allows for comparison of individual and collective uses of the generic features authors use to construct their disciplinary voice. Keywords: L1/L2 writing pedagogy; corpus analysis; standard deviation (SD); discoursal expertise; disciplinary voice; geology


Recent advances in additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing technologies have led to significant growth in the use of additive manufacturing in industry, which allows for the physical realization of previously difficult to manufacture designs. However, in certain cases AM can also involve higher production costs and unique in-process physical complications, motivating the need to solve new optimization challenges. Optimization for additive manufacturing is relevant for and involves multiple fields including mechanical engineering, materials science, operations research, and production engineering, and interdisciplinary interactions must be accounted for in the optimization framework.
In this paper we investigate a problem in which a set of parts with unique configurations and deadlines must be printed by a set of machines while minimizing time and satisfying deadlines, bringing together bin packing, nesting (two-dimensional bin packing), job shop scheduling, and constraints satisfaction. We first describe the real-world industrial motivation for solving the problem. Subsequently, we encapsulate the problem within constraints and graph theory, create a formal model of the problem, discuss nesting as a subproblem, and describe the search algorithm. Finally, we present the datasets, the experimental approach, and the preliminary results.


Synthetic genetic controllers modulate endogenous signaling networks to route cells toward desired behaviors. [Also see Research Article by Galloway et al.] Synthetic biology has ambitious goals—to engineer and repurpose cells for applications ranging from medicine to energy (1, 2). Such achievements require robust designs for programming cell behavior. Signaling pathways within cells integrate information from the environment to drive specific gene expression programs, so from an engineering perspective, these pathways represent prime interventional targets for harnessing control of cellular decision-making (3). The output of a signaling pathway ultimately depends on the dynamics of its constituents, which, in turn, are determined by their concentrations and interactions. Given that these properties are hard-wired into the genome of the organism, how might cell fate be artificially regulated without manipulating the host's DNA? On page 1358 of this issue, Galloway et al. (4) demonstrate that this can be accomplished by introducing synthetic genetic controllers into the host to modulate the activity of a native signaling pathway. Cell fate "rerouting" in yeast was accomplished by using these genetic controllers to conditionally increase the concentrations of key endogenous proteins in a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, thereby reshaping the signaling dynamics and cellular response without introducing new proteins into the network.


Summary 1. Restoration of semi-arid shrub ecosystems often requires control of invasive grasses but the effects of these grass-control treatments on native and exotic forbs have not been investigated adequately to assess long-term stability. In southern California, coastal sage scrub (CSS) vegetation is one semi-arid shrub community that has been invaded extensively by both exotic grasses and exotic forbs and is a target for restoration. 2. We studied the effects of grass-specific herbicide, thatch removal plus herbicide and mowing on native and exotic species in a heavily invaded CSS community. We followed this grass-control experiment for 6 years to assess the stability of such treatments. We also added a soil disturbance experiment to investigate the potential influence of thatch removal and soil disturbance on exotic and native grasses and forbs. 3. In the grass-control experiment, treatments reduced exotic grass cover to differing degrees. Three years of mowing resulted in lower exotic grass cover, but only for 2 years. Both herbicide and herbicide plus thatch removal reduced exotic grasses more than mowing, and effects persisted for longer. However, reducing exotic grass cover increased seeded species only during the year of seeding. In addition, plots where exotic grasses were controlled by herbicides also experienced increases in exotic forb cover. 4. In the soil-disturbance experiment, treatments did not increase cover of native species, although plots in which soil was disturbed did have less exotic grass cover. In both experiments, plots observed in years with different rainfall experienced widely varied plant cover, emphasizing the influence that precipitation exerts in these systems. 5. Synthesis and applications . In restoration of semi-arid shrub ecosystems, grass control can reduce exotic grasses over the short-term. However, recovery of grasses in the longer term indicates that restoration does not form a new stable state. Restoration and management of semi-arid shrublands may therefore require continual grass control. Exotic forbs should also be considered for control, as they may increase when exotic grasses are removed. Yearly variations in precipitation confound determination of successful restoration efforts, and require long-term observations to detect the response of native species to treatments.


OBJECTIVES: Despite the widespread promotion of safety standards no epidemiological studies have adequately evaluated their effectiveness in preventing injury in falls from playground equipment. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the height and surfacing requirements of the New Zealand standard for playgrounds and playground equipment. SETTING: Early childhood education centres and schools in two major cities in the South Island of New Zealand. METHODS: Data were collected on 300 children aged 14 years or less who had fallen from playground equipment. Of these, 110 (cases) had sustained injury and received medical attention, while 190 (controls) had not sustained injury requiring medical attention. RESULTS: Logistic regression models fitted to the data indicated that the risk of injury being sustained in a fall was increased if the equipment failed to comply with the maximum fall height (odds ratio (OR) = 3.0; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.7 to 13.1), surfacing (OR = 2.3; 95% CI 1.0 to 5.0), or safe fall height (OR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.1 to 4.0) requirements. Falls from heights in excess of 1.5 metres increased the risk of injury 4.1 times that of falls from 1.5 metres or less and it was estimated that a 45% reduction in children attending emergency departments could be achieved if the maximum fall height was lowered to 1.5 metres. CONCLUSIONS: Although the height and surfacing requirements of the New Zealand standard are effective in preventing injury in falls from playground equipment, consideration should be given to lowering the maximum permissible fall height to 1.5 metres.


This article is partly a reply to Professor Hans Kochler, who argues that the total absence of a balance of power has become the fundamental predicament of the United Nations Organization in the 21st century. He locates that problem in the veto power of the permanent five members, saying that it creates an irreconcilable normative contradiction with the doctrine of sovereign equality. On the contrary, this article takes a historical view and argues that the Framers of the United Nations (UN) Charter clearly saw the greater opportunity which greater power brings to oil the wheels of the machinery which they built. Choosing between a Security Council that could act unchecked and therefore decisively and one which evinces a separation of powers in its design, the Framers opted for the latter. The veto separates power. Finally, Professor Kochler argues that the UN has been marginalized in recent events. This article argues that his underlying assumption, that the shift in the global power balance of 1945 to the current unipolar imbalance of power automatically controverts the power balance envisioned in the Charter, is not wholly borne out. The Charter was not simply meant to reflect the actual patterns of global power outside the organization but was intended to foster an enduring understanding of the need to maintain a specific power balance. By putting the veto in several hands, the Framers have required the permanent five members to continuously negotiate and seek agreement among themselves. It is this which, in large part, explains observable attempts by even would-be transgressors today to bring their action within the framework of Charter legality.


The refractive indices of a 31° prism of silver chloride were measured at 30 wave-lengths at a constant room temperature of 23.9°C, from 0.578 to 20.6μ by use of a minimum-deviation spectrometer and a Perkin-Elmer infra-red spectrometer equipped with a calibrated screw for operation of the Littrow mirror. A cadmium-mercury lamp was the source from 1 to 2μ. From 2 to 20μ a Globar was used as the source with various Baird's reflection interference filters and the absorption bands of carbon dioxide, carbon disulfide, water, methylcyclohexane, polystyrene, trichlorobenzene, and chlorobenzotrifluoride for the identification of wave-lengths. In the visible region two prisms, one pressed and polished, the other sawed and lapped, were used and the results compared. The sensitivity of index to temperature is approximately −6.1 × 10−5 per centigrade degree for wave-length 0.610μ.


This report is one of a series of reports documenting the methods and findings of a multi-year, multi-disciplinary project coordinated by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) and funded by the California Earthquake Authority (CEA). The overall project is titled "Quantifying the Performance of Retrofit of Cripple Walls and Sill Anchorage in Single-Family Wood-Frame Buildings," henceforth referred to as the "PEER–CEA Project." The overall objective of the PEER–CEA Project is to provide scientifically based information (e.g., testing, analysis, and resulting loss models) that measures and documents seismic performance of wood-frame houses with cripple wall and sill anchorage deficiencies as well as retrofitted conditions that address those deficiencies. Three primary tasks support the earthquake loss-modeling effort. They are: (1) the development of ground motions and loading protocols that accurately represent the diversity of seismic hazard in California; (2) the execution of a suite of quasi-static cyclic experiments to measure and document the performance of cripple wall and sill anchorage deficiencies to develop and populate loss models; and (3) nonlinear response history analysis on cripple wall-supported buildings and their components. This report is a product of Working Group 4: Testing, whose central focus was to experimentally investigate the seismic performance of retrofitted and existing cripple walls. This present report focuses on non-stucco or "dry" exterior finishes. Paralleled by a large-component test program conducted at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) [Cobeen et al. 2020], the present report involves two of multiple phases of small-component tests conducted at University of California San Diego (UC San Diego). Details representative of era-specific construction–specifically the most vulnerable pre-1960s construction–are of predominant focus in the present effort. Parameters examined are cripple wall height, finish style, gravity load, boundary conditions, anchorage, and deterioration. This report addresses all eight specimens in the second phase of testing and three of the six specimens in the fourth phase of testing. Although conducted in different testing phases, their results are combined here to co-locate observations regarding the behavior of all dry finished specimens. Experiments involved imposition of combined vertical loading and quasi-static reversed cyclic lateral load onto eleven cripple walls. Each specimen was 12 ft in length and 2-ft or 6-ft in height. All specimens in this report were constructed with the same boundary conditions on the top, bottom, and corners of the walls. Parameters addressed in this report include: dry exterior finish type (shiplap horizontal lumber siding, shiplap horizontal lumber siding over diagonal lumber sheathing, and T1-11 wood structural panels), cripple wall height, vertical load, and the retrofitted condition. Details of the test specimens, testing protocol (including instrumentation), and measured as well as physical observations are summarized. Results from these experiments are intended to support advancement of numerical modeling tools, which ultimately will inform seismic loss models capable of quantifying the reduction of loss achieved by applying state-of-practice retrofit methods as identified in FEMA P-1100 Vulnerability-Base Seismic Assessment and Retrofit of One- and Two-Family Dwellings.


Based on the rule of law and democracy, this paper illustrates the influence of system on the national auditing quality. Meanwhile, it appraises the auditing quality through utilizing the project database of Open Budge Survey issued by International Budget Partnership. The survey on the empirical research has found that democracy, the rule of law and its mutual adaptability can significantly increase national auditing quality. Difference of systems is the important factor leading to differences of the national auditing quality across countries. Besides, economic state and income level play a positive role in increasing national auditing quality.


To overcome the problem of registration error accumulation, this paper presents a fast video mosaic approach especially suitable for real-time observation of large static scenes. Different from the traditional video mosaic algorithm based on pair-wise local registration, the proposed new approach can directly compute the projective transform between the current input image and the panoramic image, thus effectively avoiding the accumulation and propagation of registration errors resulted from the concatenation of pair-wise transformations. Moreover, in order to tackle the inconsistent issue of global video mosaics in registering video images from a 2D scan camera, we present a novel direct registration scheme by simultaneously employing feature points from both the temporal adjacent area and the spatial adjacent area of a panoramic image, thereby successfully reducing the complexity and time cost of the general global alignment algorithm. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can construct seamless video mosaic quickly both for 1D scan mode and for 2D scan mode of a camera, and that the constructed video mosaic can be extended progressively with input of video frames, to meet the requirement of real-time observation of large static scenes.


One of the primary objectives of physical geography is to determine how natural phenomena produce specific territorial patterns. Therefore, physical geography offers substantial scientific input into territorial planning for sustainability. A key area where physical geography can contribute to land management is in the delimitation of landscape units. Such units are fundamental to formal socio-economic zoning and management in territorial planning. However, numerous methodologies—based on widely varying criteria—exist to delineate and map landscapes. We have selected five consolidated methodologies with current applications for mapping the landscape to analyse the different role of physical geography in each: (1) geomorphological landscape maps based on landforms; (2) geosystemic landscape maps; (3) Landscape Character Assessment; (4) landscape studies based on visual landscape units; (5) landscape image-pair test. We maintain that none of these methodologies are universally applicable, but that each contributes important insights into landscape analysis for land management within particular biogeophysical and social contexts. This work is intended to demonstrate that physical geography is ubiquitous in contemporary landscape studies intended to facilitate sustainable territorial planning, but that the role it plays varies substantially with the criteria prioritized.


ABSTRACT We provide new and revised identifications of mammals from the early middle Miocene (Langhian age, Colloncuran South American Land Mammal Age [SALMA]) of Cerdas, Bolivia. We also formally name a new typothere notoungulate, Hegetotherium cerdasensis, sp. nov., that can be distinguished by the absence of an external talonid sulcus on m3 and its small size (15–25% smaller than Hegetotherium mirabile). We refer several typothere specimens from Nazareno, Bolivia, to H. cerdasensis, which suggests that the two sites are of similar age. We report the first sparassodont and astrapothere remains from Cerdas. Sparassodont remains include an associated basicranium and mostly complete mandible; the species appears to represent a new, small-bodied borhyaenoid. Astrapothere remains consist of many tooth fragments from a new species of the subfamily Uruguaytheriinae. A partial sloth dentary from Cerdas likely pertains to the subfamily Megatheriinae and is the first report of the family Megatheriidae from the site. A newly discovered peltephilid armadillo specimen includes a partial articulated carapace that supports recognition of the Cerdas taxon as a new species. The two dasypodids of Cerdas (one Euphractini, one Eutatini) represent two new species closely related to undescribed species from the late middle Miocene (Serravallian age, Laventan SALMA) of Quebrada Honda, Bolivia. The mammals of Cerdas indicate that (1) the middle latitudes (southern tropics) contributed significantly to the diversity of Miocene mammal communities in South America; and (2) the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum was a key factor in the differentiation of South American mammal assemblages.


We study the motion of discrete interfaces driven by ferromagnetic interactions in a two-dimensional periodic environment by coupling the minimizing movements approach by Almgren, Taylor and Wang and a discrete-to-continuous analysis. The case of a homogeneous environment has been recently treated by Braides, Gelli and Novaga, showing that the effective continuous motion is a flat motion related to the crystalline perimeter obtained by $\Gamma$-convergence from the ferromagnetic energies, with an additional discontinuous dependence on the curvature, giving in particular a pinning threshold. In this paper we give an example showing that in general the motion does not depend only on the $\Gamma$-limit, but also on geometrical features that are not detected in the static description. In particular we show how the pinning threshold is influenced by the microstructure and that the effective motion is described by a new homogenized velocity.


This paper compares the political processes and gendered outcomes of welfare state formation in Hungary and Poland. We find both differences and similarities in the extent to which family and maternity policies in the two countries encourage women's paid work, support women's care giving work in the home, guard women and their families against poverty, and differentiate among women based on ethnic/racial classifications and class status. We argue that while welfare states in Western Europe may be increasingly characterized by a retreat from maternalist policies, Hungarian and Polish welfare policies support distinct forms of maternalism. While maternalism is privatized in Poland, it is publicly supported and subsidized in Hungary. We attempt to explain the divergence between the two countries by pointing to differences in class-based and gender-based political mobilization around family benefits as well as the timing of welfare reforms. Despite differences in the substance of the policies, however, we find that both regimes limit women's labor market opportunities.


We propose a novel approach for deformation-aware neural networks that learn the weighting and synthesis of dense volumetric deformation fields. Our method specifically targets the space-time representation of physical surfaces from liquid simulations. Liquids exhibit highly complex, non-linear behavior under changing simulation conditions such as different initial conditions. Our algorithm captures these complex phenomena in two stages: a first neural network computes a weighting function for a set of pre-computed deformations, while a second network directly generates a deformation field for refining the surface. Key for successful training runs in this setting is a suitable loss function that encodes the effect of the deformations, and a robust calculation of the corresponding gradients. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, we showcase our method with several complex examples of flowing liquids with topology changes. Our representation makes it possible to rapidly generate the desired implicit surfaces. We have implemented a mobile application to demonstrate that real-time interactions with complex liquid effects are possible with our approach.


Studies on apologies have proliferated in pragmatics research, but little research has been conducted on apology responses (ARs). The present inquiry contributes to filling the gap in the literature, and it does so by examining such responses in two languages, Australian English (AE) and Bahasa Indonesia (BI). The study ultimately focuses on two variables, gender and culture. It probes behavioural differences in the genders in and between the two societies, and considers cultural differences in the expression of ARs. Using oral discourse completion tasks (DCTs), the researchers recorded and analyzed a total of 360 responses to three apology situations. The findings reveal that ARs in both languages were complex and elaborate, embodying various subsidiary speech acts and expressions. The ARs generally showed indirectness and mitigated face threats towards interlocutors. However, one striking result is that there was no marked gender difference in AR strategy either within or between languages, thus challenging a stereotype that females are more accepting and 'polite' than males (Brown, 1980; Holmes, 1995, 2008). Another surprising result was that, in a significant minority of cases, Indonesians were revealed to be more direct and face-threatening than their Australian counterparts, again confronting a stereotype of speech behaviour, in this case that Asians are more indirect and ambiguous than native English-speakers in Western cultures.


This thesis is concerned with the solution of large systems
of linear algebraic equations in which the matrix of coefficients
is sparse. Such systems occur in the numerical solution of elliptic
partial differential equations by finite-difference methods. By
applying some well-known iterative methods, usually used to solve
linear PDE systems, the thesis investigates their applicability to
solve a set of four mildly nonlinear test problems.
In Chapter 4 we study the basic iterative methods and semiiterative
methods for linear systems. In particular, we derive
and apply the CS, SOR, SSOR methods and the SSOR method extrapolated
by the Chebyshev acceleration strategy.
In Chapter 5, three ways of accelerating the SOR method are
described together with the applications to the test problems.
Also the Newton-SOR method and the SOR-Newton method are derived
and applied to the same problems.
In Chapter 6, the Alternating Directions Implicit methods
are described. Two versions are studied in detail, namely, the
Peaceman-Rachford and the Douglas-Rachford methods. They have
been applied to the test problems for cycles of 1, 2 and 3
parameters.
In Chapter 7, the conjugate gradients method and the conjugate
gradient acceleration procedure are described together with some
preconditioning techniques. Also an approximate LU-decomposition
algorithm (ALUBOT algorithm) is given and then applied in conjunction
with the Picard and Newton methods.
Chapter 8 contains the final conclusions.


Due to its close tissue-equivalence, high radiation sensitivity, dose and dose-rate linearity, diamond is a very promising detector for radiation therapy applications. The present thesis focuses on the development of a chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond detector with special attention on the arrangement of the electrodes and encapsulation having minimal influence on the measured signal. Several prototype detectors were designed by using CVD-diamond substrates with attached silver electrodes.Interface effects in the electrode-diamond-electrode structure are investigated using the Monte Carlo (MC) code PENELOPE. The studies cover a wide range of electrode and diamond thicknesses, electrode materials and photon beam energies. An appreciable enhancement of the absorbed dose to diamond was found for high-Z electrodes. The influence of the electrodes diminishes with decreasing atomic number difference and layer thickness, so that from this point of view thin graphite electrodes would be ideal. The effect of encapsulation, cable and electrical connections on the detector response is also addressed employing MC techniques. For Co-60, 6 and 18 MV photon beam qualities it is shown that the prototypes exhibit energy and directional dependence of about 3% and 2%, respectively. By modifying the geometry and using graphite electrodes the dependencies are reduced to 1%.Although experimental studies disclose some limitations of the prototypes (high leakage current, priming effect and slow signal stabilisation), diamonds of higher quality, suitable for dosimetry, can be produced with better-controlled CVD process. With good crystals and a well-designed encapsulation, the CVD-diamond detector could become competitive for routine dosimetry. It is then important for correct dose determination to use a collision stopping power for diamond incorporating proper mean excitation energy and density-effect corrections. A new mean excitation energy of 88 eV has been calculated.


The Newark Supergroup currently includes nine stratigraphic groups, each of which applies to part or all of the rock column of only one or a few basins. Because the group nomenclature within the Newark Supergroup is neither inclusive nor parallel in its concepts, nearly half of the strata within the Newark Su-pergroup lacks any group placement. A new system is proposed herein that (1) establishes unambiguous group boundaries, (2) places all Newark Supergroup strata into groups, (3) reduces the number of group names from nine to three, (4) creates parallelism between groups and three major successive tectonic events that created the rift basins containing the Newark Supergroup, and (5) coincidentally provides isochronous or nearly isochronous group boundaries. These proposed groups are (1) the Chatham Group (Middle Triassic to basal Lower Jurassic sedimentary rocks), (2) the Meriden Group (Lower Jurassic extrusive volcanic and sedimentary rocks), and (3) the Aga-wam Group (new name) (Lower Jurassic sedi-mentary rocks above all early Mesozoic igneous intrusive and extrusive rocks). This new rock classification system makes use of the fact that a discrete interval of synchronous or nearly synchronous volcanism and plutonism occurred throughout the early Mesozoic rift system of eastern North Amer-ica. The presence or absence of volcanic rocks provides a powerful stratigraphic tool for establishing regional groups and group boundaries. The presence of sedimentary rocks injected by diabase dikes and sills, in the absence of extrusive volcanic rocks, places Newark Su-pergroup rocks in the Chatham Group. The presence of extrusive volcanic rocks, interbed-ded with sedimentary rocks injected by dia-base dikes and sills, places Newark Super-group rocks in the Meriden Group. The presence of sedimentary rocks lacking both ex-trusive volcanic rocks and diabase dikes and sills, places Newark Supergroup rocks in the Agawam Group. Application of this new regional group stratigraphy to the early Meso-zoic rift basins requires revision of the stratig-raphy of several basins to make formation boundaries match group boundaries.


DC-link transmission of VSC HVDC system has shown to play a vital role for power tapping to serve distributed loads that are near to the link corridor. However, enormous power tapping if not curtailed could have detrimental effect on the main VSCs operation, control and stability. In this paper, single- and multi- power tapping limit determination together with a supervisory optimal control of the power tapping on the dc link of VSC HVDC system is proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is applied to a case study, demonstrated in Matlab/Simulink program and simulation results presented.


Demographics, crash records and self-reported driving behaviour have typically been used as the basis for building driver profiles of crash risk. These capture the most serious of crashes but underreport other events such as less severe crashes and near-crashes. Improved technology has allowed for the collection of more disaggregate data on day-to-day driving. In turn, this has the potential for use in more comprehensive risk assessments. However, isolating the influence of the driver on behaviour from behaviour influenced by external factors including the road environment can pose a challenge. This paper presents a framework and methodology for profiling drivers along multiple dimensions of behaviour and risk to the driver and other road users using empirical data. Using 8 million second-by-second GPS data observations collected from 106 drivers in Sydney over several weeks, this paper examines the effectiveness of this approach. The results indicate that over 90 per cent of drivers exhibit more variability in speeding, acceleration and braking behaviour between different road environments than within the same road environment. This analysis points to the potential for using more disaggregate data but also the necessity to control for temporal and spatial factors when studying driver behaviour. Building comprehensive driver profiles using the proposed framework has the potential to provide a different way of classifying drivers other than demographics or (rare) crashes.


The Teacher Forcing algorithm trains recurrent networks by supplying observed sequence values as inputs during training and using the network's own one-step-ahead predictions to do multi-step sampling. We introduce the Professor Forcing algorithm, which uses adversarial domain adaptation to encourage the dynamics of the recurrent network to be the same when training the network and when sampling from the network over multiple time steps. We apply Professor Forcing to language modeling, vocal synthesis on raw waveforms, handwriting generation, and image generation. Empirically we find that Professor Forcing acts as a regularizer, improving test likelihood on character level Penn Treebank and sequential MNIST. We also find that the model qualitatively improves samples, especially when sampling for a large number of time steps. This is supported by human evaluation of sample quality. Trade-offs between Professor Forcing and Scheduled Sampling are discussed. We produce T-SNEs showing that Professor Forcing successfully makes the dynamics of the network during training and sampling more similar.


The prevailing aquatic environmental conditions and their effects on the composition of the benthic macro-invertebrate community were investigated in a few ephemeral pools in coastal Ghana along the Kakum Estuary (about 2 km west of Cape Coast; 5 6' N, o 1 18' W). Water and benthic sediments were sampled every month from five pools in the wetland from July 2009 to February o 2010, and were analysed for six hydrographic parameters as well as the species composition and mean density of benthos. Significant changes occurred in hydrographic conditions during the year. Water temperature, salinity, conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and pH were relatively low in July 2009 (27.9 C, 0.7‰, 1,503 μS cm , 78 mg L , 3.5 mg L and 6.9 o !1 !1 !1 respectively) but increased progressively to 46.6 C, 5.7 ‰, 12,777 μS cm , 304 mg L , 5.7mg L and 8.62, respectively, in o !1 !1 !1 January 2010. Chironomid larvae (Diptera) and oligochaetes were the only benthic fauna encountered. These organisms were abundant in the wet season (July –September 2009), with mean density of 258 to 1,375 individuals m for diptera, and 81 to 203 -2 individuals m for oligochaetes. Their abundance and density however declined progressively during the dry season (November -2 2009 – January 2010) after which they were not found. The increase in salinity stressed the macrozoobenthic fauna during the dry season leading to their extermination. The ephemeral nature of the environment conceivably resulted in the poor diversity of macro-zoobenthic fauna, and this could limit the development of the fish community.


This paper explains a new gravimetric technique, the fixed points technique, which assesses moisture in masonry and compares the results with results obtained by another gravimetric technique, the weighing technique. Measurements using both techniques were taken at three different heights from the floor and repeated after one and two months. The results were then quali- tatively compared, since the two techniques give two different parameters: the actual percentage of water content of the wall using the weighing technique versus the percentage of water content of a terracotta probe (in the case of the fixed points technique). Using the weighing technique as a reference, the analysis shows that the fixed points technique applied to a wall shows the same trends for the water content of the wall, both as a whole (a parameter that is useful to know the general behavior of the wall) and for values measured at different depths, (which are useful in determining the source of water in the wall).


Microplankton at five sites off South Georgia in January to February 1991 was dominated by a range of diatoms. The haptophyte Phaeocystis was present in three of the five sites but in low abundance only. Diatoms dominated at a more southerly site near the Antarctic Peninsula in March, whereas dinoflagellates dominated at a site near Deception Island. Multivariate analysis allowed the seven sites to be distinguished on the basis of microplankton species composition. Analysis of thirteen lipid classes present in total lipid extracted from the microplankton also demonstrated substantial differences from site to site. Multivariate analysis showed a different pattern of variation from the species ordination, with the South Georgia sites forming a distinct cluster. Outlier sites identified in the species and lipid ordinations confirmed the association between some taxonomic groups and lipid 'fingerprints'. Fatty acids extracted from total lipid in microplankton at five sites around South Georgia and two sites near the Antarctic Peninsula ranged from 37 to 195 J.Lg1-1, with a ratio of fatty acids in polar lipid: neutral lipid ranging from 4: 1 to 1:2. A further eleven particulate samples analysed from sites around the Antarctic Peninsula had slightly lower fatty acid content with a mean of 50 J.Lg1-1. Fatty acids in polar lipid were rich in (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids, chiefly 20:5(n-3). However, 22:6(n-3) could be as abundant as 20:5(n-3) in polar lipid from microplankton less than 20 J.1m,and also in dinoflagellate-rich microplankton. Neutral lipid was dominated by 16:0, 16:1(n-7) and 18:1(n-9) fatty acids and contained only low levels of (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids. The data reveal the high nutritional quality of microplankton lipids in the Southern Ocean for filter feeding animals, including krill. Samples of krill from eight sites around South Georgia consisted predominantly of immature animals, and females were entirely absent from samples from two of the eight sites studied. Animal wet mass varied from 0.16-1.72 g (median values of 0.47, 1.15 and 1.46 g for immatures, males and females respectively). Lipid amounts varied from 5-147 mg per animal (median values of 17.8, 21.0 and 73.3 mg for immatures, males and females respectively). Triacylglycerol (TAG) and phosphatidylcholine were the two most abundant lipid classes in all animals. Multivariate analysis of lipid composition indicated significant overlap between sexmaturity classes, although female krill tended to be distinguished from males by higher proportions of TAG and lower proportions of phosphatidylserine plus phosphatidylinositol. Reproductive investment is implicated in the overall variability in lipid content and composition, with females containing high lipid levels as reserves for egg production, whilst males showed apparent lipid deficits resulting from shortterm mobilisation of storage material for spermatophore production and attachment. Significant and systematic site-to-site variability in lipid content and composition were evident in the samples and this could not be explained by the sex ratio or animal size. Such variability might have arisen from local patterns of krill distribution but could not be ascribed simply to temporal changes in lipid during the study. Immature Antarctic krill (length 40-45 mm) maintained in an aquarium for up to nine months were fed dense suspensions of cultures of two algal taxa, the haptophyte /sochrysis and the diatom Thalassiosira. Following acclimation to the experimental feeding regime, the animals were transferred to identical containers holding cultures of the same alga already labelled with [14C]bicarbonate. Faecal pellets collected after transfer showed detectable radioactivity after 30 minutes for /sochrysis and 55 minutes for Thalassiosira, providing an estimation of gut throughput time. With both algal cultures, radioactivity in faecal pellets increased over the 4-5 hour collection period. However, whilst faecal pellets derived from Isochrysis showed a rapid initial increase followed by an approach to a plateau value, the radioactivity in Thalassiosira-derived pellets increased steadily. A first-order kinetic model fitted to these data showed a more rapid turnover time for Isochrysis (k = 47 min) than for Thaiassiosira (k = 256 min). The assimilation efficiency based on the ratio of ingested radiolabelled lipid to that egested in faeces was 86% for /sochrysis and 63% for Thalassiosira, whereas corresponding efficiencies calculated from mass lipid budgets were 75% for /sochrysis and 77% for Thalassiosira. Analysis of fatty acid content and composition of total lipid from algae, krill and faecal pellets established that all dietary fatty acids were very efficiently assimilated although there was a relatively preferential excretion of saturated fatty acids. All the assimilated fatty acids were extensively catabolised with the possible exceptions of saturated fatty acids and 18:4. Evidence was obtained for some biosynthesis of saturated fatty acids from non-lipid dietary precursors and for a limited conversion of 18:3 to 18:4 Collating the data presented in this thesis in a budget indicates that under suitable conditions, Euphausia superba is capable of acquiring the lipid necessary for growth and reproduction over time scales of only a few weeks and certainly within a single summer. Hence, krill appears to be an animal capable of high energy throughput and high reproductive output.


Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized within cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) as a new stabilizer by a precipitation method for antimicrobial applications. For fabrication of ZnO/CNC nanocomposites, solutions with different molar ratios of Zn to CNC were prepared in ethanol as the solvent. ZnO/CNC was separated from the suspension and then dried at 120 °C for 1 hour. The nanocomposites were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and thermogravimetric (TG) analyses. According to the XRD and TEM results, the ZnO nanoparticles with a hexagonal wurtzite structure were easily prepared and dispersed in the CNC with an average size of less than 20 nm. The average size of the ZnO nanoparticles increased with increasing molar ratio of ZnO to CNC. The best ratio of Zn:CNC was chosen based on the small size of the ZnO nanoparticles that yielded better antimicrobial and thermal properties. The UV-vis absorption spectra of the ZnO/CNC nanocomposites showed absorption peaks in the UV region that were ascribed to the band gap of the ZnO nanoparticles. The antibacterial effects of ZnO/CNC were stronger compared to ZnO nanoparticles.


A new type of multifunctional polymer single-chain nanoparticle (SCNP) is reported, which is prepared from a side-chain liquid crystalline polymer (LCP), namely, poly{6-[4-(4-methoxyphenylazo)phenoxy]hexylmethacrylate-co-4-methyl-[7-(methacryloyl)oxy-ethyl-oxy]coumarin} (PAzoMACMA). The polymer's side groups comprise photoisomerizable azobenzene in majority and photodimerizable coumarins in minority, with the former as mesogens and the latter for intra-chain photocrosslinking. Despite the sub-15 nm size, confinement and crosslinking, the liquid crystalline (LC) phases of bulk PAzoMACMA persist in SCLCPs. Such LC-SCNPs exhibit a number of interesting and peculiar properties. While their dispersion in THF is non-fluorescent, when dispersed in chloroform, the nanoparticles appear to agglomerate to a certain degree and display significant fluorescence that is different for SCNPs rich in the trans or cis isomer of azobenzene. The azobenzene LC-SCNPs also undergo photoinduced deformation, similar to azobenzene micro- or colloidal particles. However, the elongational deformation of the nanoparticles is dependent on the linearly polarized excitation wavelength. While under polarized 365 nm UV irradiation the SCNP stretching direction is perpendicular to the light polarization, under polarized 400–500 nm visible light irradiation, the stretching takes place along the light polarization direction. Finally, an all-polymer nanocomposite was prepared by dispersing the LC-SCNPs in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and mechanically stretching-induced orientation of azobenzene mesogens developed along the chain direction. The interesting properties of LC-SCNPs unveiled in this study suggest new possibilities for applications.