The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and GSM Association (GSMA) held
a joint workshop on "Managing Radio Networks in an Encrypted World"
(MaRNEW), on September 24-25, 2015. This workshop aimed to discuss
solutions for bandwidth optimisation on mobile networks for encrypted
content, as current solutions rely on unencrypted content which is not
indicative of the security needs of today's Internet users. The
workshop gathered IETF attendees, IAB members and participants from
various organisations involved in the telecommunications industry
including original equipment manufacturers, content providers, and
mobile network operators. The group discussed the current Internet
encryption trends and deployment issues identified within the IETF,
and the privacy needs of users which should be adhered. Solutions
designed around sharing data from the network to the endpoints and
vice versa were then discussed as well as analysing whether issues
experienced when using current transport layer protocols are also
playing a role here. Content providers and CDNs gave their own views
of their experiences delivering their content with mobile network
operators. Finally, technical responses to regulation was discussed to
help the regulated industries relay the issues of impossible-to-
implement or bad-for- privacy technologies back to regulators. A group
of suggested solutions were devised which will be discussed in various
IETF groups moving forward.


This paper develops and applies a new maximum likelihood method for estimating the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) model with observable risk factors. The approach involves simultaneous estimation of the factor loadings and risk premiums and can be applied to return panel with more securities than time series observations per security. Observable economic factors are found to account for 25 to 40 percent of the covariation in U.S. equity returns, and the APT pricing restrictions cannot be rejected for most sample periods. A significant "firm size anomaly" is measured, but it may be partly due to sample selection bias.


We consider the problem of learning high-dimensional, nonparametric and structured (e.g. Gaussian) distributions in distributed networks, where each node in the network observes an independent sample from the underlying distribution and can use $k$ bits to communicate its sample to a central processor. We consider three different models for communication. Under the independent model, each node communicates its sample to a central processor by independently encoding it into $k$ bits. Under the more general sequential or blackboard communication models, nodes can share information interactively but each node is restricted to write at most $k$ bits on the final transcript. We characterize the impact of the communication constraint $k$ on the minimax risk of estimating the underlying distribution under $\ell^2$ loss. We develop minimax lower bounds that apply in a unified way to many common statistical models and reveal that the impact of the communication constraint can be qualitatively different depending on the tail behavior of the score function associated with each model. A key ingredient in our proofs is a geometric characterization of Fisher information from quantized samples.


Extract: Over the last decade it has become clear that the meaning of Cubanidad and its social construction are no longer affairs conducted just in Cuba, nor even by Cubans alone. In its musical setting, Cuban culture has become a 'pan-American' cultural legacy in the widest sense, influencing both Latin America and North America. As a unique fusion of cultural influences, Cuban music also speaks with great vitality to European and African audiences, and to an emerging transnational youth culture. Although not overtly providing a means of propaganda and politicisation, its affective content nonetheless suggests that Cuba is here to stay as a vigorous and independent nation (with or without Castro), but not without a revolutionary sense that Cuban culture has something unique to offer its global audience.


In November 2005, Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) hosted the biennial conference and field excursion of the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG). The group considered the vegetation, hydrology, peat stratigraphy and possible management options for about 20 mires which were visited during a seven-day excursion. We report here some field observations and measurements of electrical conductivity (EC25) in five mires which have been selected to encompass the most important ecohydrological features of the mires of Tierra del Fuego. Existing and new data on landscape topography and vegetation were combined in three-dimensional drawings. These drawings are actually conceptual models which could underpin further ecohydrological research, and proved to be very useful as a basis for discussions amongst conference participants about possible ecohydrological relationships. The mires that were studied developed under a wide range of climatic conditions and included fens and bogs. The bogs typically developed from lakes or fens and most are now dominated by Sphagnum magellanicum. This species forms large hummocks, and can invade weakly-buffered fens. Most of the mires were well preserved, but effects of human impact - such as road building and peat extraction - were also noticeable.


Data clustering is a key technique in the field of data mining, pattern recognition, bioinformatics and machine learning which concerns the organization and unexplored relationship between the huge amounts of data. It can analyse the data without knowing the size and distribution. Thus, this paper presents a new approach based on the charged system search (CSS) with chaotic map for partition clustering. The aim of this method is to achieve the global optimum solution by minimizing an objective function. The chaotic charge system search algorithm (CCSAA) utilizes the concept of CSS algorithm and chaos theory to obtain the desired results. The quality of the proposed algorithm is evaluated on seven datasets and then compared with other well-known algorithms in data mining domain. From the simulations results, it is observed that the proposed algorithm delivers more efficient and effective results than the other methods being compared.


Despite Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) being increasingly recognised as a genital pathogen in men and women, awareness and utility of commercially available MG-testing has been low. The opinion of UK sexual health clinicians and allied professionals was sought on how MG-testing should be used. Thirty-two consensus statements were developed by an expert group and circulated to clinicians and laboratory staff, who were asked to evaluate their level of agreement with each statement; 75% agreement was set as the threshold for defining consensus for each statement. A modified Delphi approach was used and high levels of agreement obviated the need to test the original statement set further. Of 201 individuals who received questionnaires, 60 responded, most (48) being sexual health consultants, more than 10% of the total in the UK. Twenty-seven (84.4%) of the statements exceeded the 75% threshold. Respondents strongly supported MG-testing of patients with urethritis, pelvic inflammatory disease or unexplained persistent vaginal discharge, or post-coital bleeding. Fewer favoured testing patients with proctitis and support was divided for routinely testing Chlamydia-positive patients. Testing of current sexual contacts of MG-positive patients was supported, as was a test of cure for MG-positive patients, although agreement fell below the 75% threshold. Respondents agreed that all consultant- or specialist-led services should have access to testing for MG (98.3%). There was strong agreement for having MG-testing available for specific patient groups, which may reflect concern over antibiotic resistance and the desire to comply with clinical guidelines that recommend MG-testing in sexual health clinic settings.


Alcohol consumption has consistently been shown to increase breast cancer (BC) risk. This association may be modified by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) isoenzymes ADH1B and ADH1C. The Netherlands Cohort Study comprises 62 573 women, aged 55-69 years at baseline (1986). Follow-up for postmenopausal BC for 20.3 years was available. Genotyping of six tag SNPs in ADH1B and ADH1C was performed on DNA from toenails. A case-cohort approach was used for analysis (complete data available for nsubcohort = 1301; ncases = 1630). Cox regression models for postmenopausal BC were applied to determine marginal effects of alcohol intake and SNPs using a dominant genetic model, as well as multiplicative interaction of the two. Results were also obtained for subtypes by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status. Multiple testing was adjusted for by applying the false discovery rate (FDR). Alcohol intake (categorical) increased the risk of postmenopausal BC (Ptrend = 0.031). Trends for ER and PR subgroups followed a similar pattern. Continuous modeling of alcohol resulted in a hazard rate ratio (HR) for overall postmenopausal BC of 1.09 (95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.19) per 10 g/day of alcohol. SNPs were not associated with BC risk. No effect modification of the alcohol-BC association by SNP genotype was seen after FDR correction in overall BC and ER/PR subgroups. In conclusion, alcohol consumption was shown to increase the risk of postmenopausal BC. This association was not significantly modified by common SNPs in ADH1B and ADH1C, neither in overall BC nor in hormone receptor-defined subtypes.


We analyze political selection in a closed list proportional system where parties have strong gate-keeping power, which they use as an instrument to pursue votes. Parties face a trade-off between selecting loyal candidates or experts, who are highly valued by the voters and thus increase the probability of winning the election. Voters can be rational or behavioral. The former care about the quality mix of the elected candidates in the winning party, and hence about the ordering on the party list. The latter only concentrate on the quality type of the candidates in the top positions of the party list. Our theoretical model shows that to persuade rational voters parties optimally allocate loyalists to safe seats and experts to uncertain positions. Persuading behavioral voters instead requires to position the experts visibly on top of the electoral list. Our empirical analysis, which uses data from the 2013 National election in Italy—held under closed list proportional representation—and from independent pre-electoral polls, is overall supportive of voters' rational behavior. Loyalists (i.e., party officers or former members of Parliament who mostly voted along party lines) are overrepresented in safe positions, and, within both safe and uncertain positions, they are ranked higher in the list. JEL codes: D72, D78, P16.


The authors report on their exploratory study examining the learning process embedded in mediation. Their research procedures involved directed reflexive journaling followed by group discussions to generate insights into how mediation practitioners experience learning in mediation. The significance and role of emotion emerged as central to the dynamic of this learning process. The research indicates that the experience of positive and negative emotions attached to learning needs to be allowed and attended to within the mediation dynamic. This suggests that mediation practitioners need the competence to follow and understand their own learning-attached emotions as well as those of the parties.


The overall objective under consideration is the design of a system capable of automatic inference about events occurring in the scene under surveillance. Using established video processing techniques. low level inferences are relatively straightforward to establish as they only determine activities of some description. The challenge is to design a system that is capable of higher-level inference, that can be used to notify stakeholders about events having semantic importance. It is argued that re-identification of the entities present in the scene (such as vehicles and pedestrians) is an important intermediate objective, to support many of the types of higher level interference required.

The input video can be processed in a number of ways to obtain estimates of the attributes of the objects and events in the scene. These attributes can then be analysed, or 'fused', to enable the high-level inference. One particular challenge is the management of the uncertainties, which are associated with the estimates, and hence with the overall inferences. Another challenge is obtaining accurate estimates of prior probabilities, which can have a significant impact on the final inferences.

This thesis makes the following contributions. Firstly, a review of the nature of the uncertainties present in a visual surveillance system and quantification of the uncertainties associated with current techniques.

Secondly, an investigation into the benefits of using a new high resolution dataset for the problem of pedestrain re-identification under various scenarios including occlusoon. This is done by combining state-of-art techniques with low level fusion techniques.

Thirdly, a multi-class classification approach to solve the classification of vehicle manufacture logos. The approach uses the Fisher Discriminative classifier and decision fusion techniques to identify and classify logos into its correct categories.

Fourthly, two probabilistic fusion frameworks were developed, using Bayesian and Evidential Dempster-Shafer methodologies, respectively, to allow inferences about multiple objectives and to reduce the uncertainty by combining multiple information sources.

Fifthly, an evaluation framework was developed, based on the Kelly Betting Strategy, to effectively accommodate the additional information offered by the Dempster-Shafer approach, hence allowing comparisons with the single probabilistic output provided by a Bayesian analysis.


Panel attrition poses major threats to the survey quality of panel studies. Many features have been introduced to keep panel attrition as low as possible. Based on a random sample of refugees, a highly mobile population, we investigate whether using a mobile phone application improves address quality and response behavior. Various features, including geo-tracking, collecting email addresses and adress changes, are tested. Additionally, we investigate respondent and interviewer effects on the consent to download the app and sharing GPS geo-positions. Our findings show that neither geo-tracking nor the provision of email addresses nor the collection of address changes through the app improves address quality substantially. We further show that interviewers play an important role in convincing the respondents to install and use the app, whereas respondent characteristics are largely insignificant. Our findings provide new insights into the usability of mobile phone applications and help determine whether they are a worthwhile tool to decrease panel attrition.


Dwarfs your fear towards complicated mathematical derivations and proofs. Experience Kalman filter with hands-on examples to grasp the essence. A book long awaited by anyone who could not dare to put their first step into Kalman filter. The author presents Kalman filter and other useful filters without complicated mathematical derivation and proof but with hands-on examples in MATLAB that will guide you step-by-step. The book starts with recursive filter and basics of Kalman filter, and gradually expands to application for nonlinear systems through extended and unscented Kalman filters. Also, some topics on frequency analysis including complementary filter are covered. Each chapter is balanced with theoretical background for absolute beginners and practical MATLAB examples to experience the principles explained. Once grabbing the book, you will notice it is not fearful but even enjoyable to learn Kalman filter.


A syndrome of nausea, vomiting, proteinuria, acidosis, glycosuria, and aminoaciduria was observed in three patients. The clinical picture at first resembled that of diabetes mellitus. The three patients, a 54-yr-old woman, a 13-yr-old girl, and a 13-yr-old boy, were found to have taken deteriorated preparations of tetracycline as treatment, respectively, for maxillary sinusitis, pharyngitis, and respiratory infection. The two children had received tetracycline on previous occasions without bad effects. All three patients recovered in about a month. A degradation product of tetracycline such as epi-anhydrotetracycline or anhydrotetracycline was probably the etiologic factor.


The seismic hazard at the site of a new dam in Saint Lucia, West Indies, is evaluated probabilistically for engineering design purposes. The assessment takes advantage of recent high quality regional seismological data, reappraised older instrumental catalogues and current tectonic interpretations. Saint Lucia stands at a position in the Lesser Antilles island arc where two distinct, seismically active, subduction zones appear to converge at different depths. As a result, the seismic hazard is critically dependent on site position relative to the boundaries of these major source zones, which each exhibit different activity rates. The ground motion hazard at the damsite is computed using the probabilistic logic-tree program PRISK, which accepts weighted input parameter distributions and is also able to model complex source geometries such as those needed to realistically represent a subduction zone. At an exceedance probability of 2×10−3 per annum, the expected peak ground acceleration on rock at the site is 0.27g, and the expected peak ground velocity is 12.9 cm/sec. At an exceedance probability of 10−4 per annum, the expected peak ground acceleration on rock at the site is 0.51g, and the expected peak ground velocity is 29.1 cm/sec. The major contributor to the seismic hazard is a large magnitude earthquake occurring in the northern segment of the Lesser Antilles subduction zone. Sensitivity tests show that the results are stable in the face of rational variations in the seismicity parameters but the hazard values are dependent on the choice of attenuation relationship which, in the absence of local information, has to be adopted from other subduction zone areas. The PGA obtained in this study is markedly higher than the value suggested in current regional code recommendations.


Despite its subtitle, this book covers a much broader span of issues related to wilderness than just the legal side of the matter. The main questions addressed are the meaning of wilderness in a European context, given the long history of human settlement, and what the role of international, European, and domestic law is, or could be, in the protection of wilderness areas. Based on this overview, the book develops recommendations on the further development of legislation to strengthen the protection of wilderness areas in Europe. The occurrence of wilderness areas, according to the book, is strongly influenced by high altitude and high latitude. Consequently, many wilderness areas are found in mountainous regions, including the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Highlands of Scotland, and the Carpathians. The book has two particular strengths. First, it is very consistent, as it develops a general reference framework for all chapters, based on a working definition of wilderness. This means that the final chapter reaches integrated conclusions, building on the work presented in the preceding chapters. This distinguishes the book from many others that consist merely of a compilation of (inter)national cases. Second, although the working definition primarily identifies wilderness as a physical ''real'' place based on three characteristics (naturalness, undevelopedness, and relatively large size), it also pays due attention to the consideration of wilderness as a subjective concept that is tightly interwoven with history, culture, and people's social values. The book starts with an introductory section that includes a review of the history of the wilderness concept; the currently available definitions of wilderness; the location of wilderness areas in Europe; and the ecological, social, and economic values attributed to wilderness. The next section focuses on international legislation, describing the contributions of five legislative frameworks toward the protection of Europe's wilderness. These include the two Conventions dealing specifically with European mountain ranges—the Alps and the Carpathians—as well as the World Heritage Convention, the Bern Convention, and the European Commission's Birds and Habitats Directives. The third section comprises 12 country descriptions, from Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. These offer deeper insights into how the concept of wilderness has developed in different countries and the extent to which current legislative frameworks include the notion of wilderness or provide protection for ''wilderness'' areas. Several of the country chapters address the issue of implementation and enforcement of legislation for wilderness areas by providing case law examples dealing with the approval of projects and plans that influence the wilderness quality of specific areas. The book concludes that, overall, wilderness has received little attention in most legislation, as the leading objectives of existing legislation are sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. The term ''wilderness'' is absent from the majority of the reviewed international, regional, and national legislative frameworks. However, natural areas with the three characteristics that define them as wilderness areas may nonetheless receive substantial protection under existing legislation. In particular, the designation of national parks, natural reserves, and zapovedniks may provide substantial protection by ensuring the prohibition of activities that might reduce these areas' ''wildness,'' such as road construction, wind farms, settlements, and mining. Although the existing policies do provide some protection of wilderness areas, the book recommends the development of specific policies and legislation for wilderness protection and that the implementation of existing legislation should be strengthened. In short, the book provides a very comprehensive overview of the issue of wilderness protection in Europe, both at the European level as well as for 12 individual European countries. It excels in the number of references to published literature, legislative texts, speeches, and songs praising wilderness. The only downside of the book is its length: although it is easy to read, at more than 600 pages, reading it from cover to cover is a challenge.


In this number of Italian Journal of Agronomy, seventeen scientific papers are published on the main results of the project CLIMESCO. This project was supported by three Italian Ministries ("Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Universita e della Ricerca", "Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali" and "Ministero dell'Ambiente e della tutela del territorio e del Mare") in the framework of "Fondo Integrativo Speciale Ricerca" (FISR, Special Integrated Research Fund). Most recent studies based on observed data and simulations of future climate conditions showed that the global increase of temperatures is most likely due to the increased concentration of Green House Gases. The effect of warming is unequally distributed around the globe, with some areas more sensitive to climate change than others, as the Mediterranean region. Climate change over this region is shown to be characterized by increasing temperatures and by relatively large changes in the frequency of extreme climatic events for both temperature and rainfall. The agricultural and food systems represent one of the most sensitive and vulnerable sectors of the area....


The turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century was witness to an unprecedented wave of emigration from East Central Europe, with an estimated 1-1.5 million people leaving for the United States from the territory of Hungary. Such loss of population, mostly young males in their prime, shocked the nation and served as a subject for discussion in various forms and on multiple levels of discourse, from the newspaper reports through literary depictions, to scholarly publications and conferences. In this paper I examine significant monographs as well as conference volumes and proceedings, analyzing the major opinions and debates surrounding the causes and consequences of the Great Transatlantic Emigration. I discuss the most significant publications that appeared before the coming of the First World War, which put an end to mass emigration from Europe. These works in a sense represented the best that Hungarian migration studies had to offer for more than half a century, which makes them particulary worthy of scholarly attention.


Piper aduncum, commonly known as matico, is a plant that grows in the mountainous and coastal regions of Peru, and is studied for its antimicrobial properties and various ethnopharmacological uses. The main objective of this study was to determine the cytoprotective and antioxidant effects of the methanolic extract of Piper aduncum leaves in Mus musculus previously administered with sodium fluoride (NaF) using the Micronucleus test and the Comet assay. The extract was administrated orally in four different concentrations: 150, 300, 600, and 1200 mg/Kg for ten days. At the 11th day, a single dose of NaF was administrated via intraperitoneal at 20 mg/Kg. The genotoxicity study was performed with mice from the strain BALB/c, using the Micronucleus test on bone marrow and the Comet assay on peripheral blood according to OECD guidelines 474 and 489, respectively. The statistical analysis was performed by median analysis with ANOVA. Significant differences were found in Micronucleus frequency between the highest concentrations of Piper aduncum and NaF. The Comet assay showed significant reduction of NaF-induced damage on erythrocytes depending on the different concentrations of the extract which were evaluated in this study. It is concluded that the methanolic extract of P. aduncum leaves has cytoprotective and antioxidant activity against sodium fluoride.


Recursion is a fundamental computation mechanism which has been incorporated into the SQL language. This work focuses on the optimization of linear recursive queries in SQL. Query optimization is studied with two important graph problems: computing the transitive closure of a graph and getting the power matrix of its adjacency matrix. We present SQL implementations for two fundamental algorithms: seminaive and direct. Five query optimizations are studied: 1) storage and indexing; 2) early selection; 3) early evaluation of nonrecursive joins; 4) pushing duplicate elimination; and 5) pushing aggregation. Experiments compare both evaluation algorithms and systematically evaluate the impact of optimizations with large input tables. Optimizations are evaluated on four types of graphs: binary trees, lists, cyclic graphs, and complete graphs, going from the best to worst case. In general, Seminaive is faster than direct, except for complete graphs. Storing and indexing rows by vertex and pushing aggregation work well on trees, lists, and cyclic graphs. Pushing duplicate elimination is essential for complete graphs, but slows computation for acyclic graphs. Early selection with equality predicates significantly accelerates computation for all types of graphs.


This paper describes a novel approach to the semantic relation detection problem. Instead of relying only on the training instances for a new relation, we leverage the knowledge learned from previously trained relation detectors. Specifically, we detect a new semantic relation by projecting the new relation's training instances onto a lower dimension topic space constructed from existing relation detectors through a three step process. First, we construct a large relation repository of more than 7,000 relations from Wikipedia. Second, we construct a set of non-redundant relation topics defined at multiple scales from the relation repository to characterize the existing relations. Similar to the topics defined over words, each relation topic is an interpretable multinomial distribution over the existing relations. Third, we integrate the relation topics in a kernel function, and use it together with SVM to construct detectors for new relations. The experimental results on Wikipedia and ACE data have confirmed that background-knowledge-based topics generated from the Wikipedia relation repository can significantly improve the performance over the state-of-the-art relation detection approaches.


Background: The relevance of ESEM research to industry practitioners is key to the long-term health of the conference. Aims: The goal of this work is to understand how ESEM research is perceived within the practitioner community and provide feedback to the ESEM community ensure our research remains relevant. Method: To understand how practitioners perceive ESEM research, we replicated previous work by sending a survey to several hundred industry practitioners at a number of companies around the world. We asked the survey participants to rate the relevance of the research described in 156 ESEM papers published between 2011 and 2015. Results: We received 9,941 ratings by 437 practitioners who labeled ideas as Essential, Worth-while, Unimportant, or Unwise. The results showed that overall, industrial practitioners find the work published in ESEM to be valuable: 67% of all ratings were essential or worthwhile. We found no correlation between citation count and perceived relevance of the papers. Through a qualitative analysis, we also identified a number of research themes on which practitioners would like to see an increased research focus. Conclusions: The work published in ESEM is generally relevant to industrial practitioners. There are a number of topics for which those practitioners would like to see additional research undertaken.


RF power harvesting enables controllable and simultaneous wireless power delivery to many RF devices. Devices built with this unique technology can be sealed, embedded within structures, or made mobile, thus eliminating additional service for a battery. A key component of this technology is the "rectenna," which is composed of antennas and rectifying circuitry to convert RF energy into dc power. Typically, multiple rectenna elements are used to generate the dc power for reliable device operation. This letter compares two different rectenna architectures for maximum RF-to-dc power conversion efficiency. A simple rectenna design ex ample containing a 2 × 2 planar antenna array will be presented to demonstrate such RF power harvesting technology. The parameter, Rectenna Topology Indicator (RTI), is introduced for performance comparison.


Background. Medical schools need to be more socially accountable. The Making a Difference group community service activity (MaD), which is part of the 1st-year medical curriculum at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa, aims to make students more responsible, responsive and accountable to community needs. Small groups of students engage with an organisation of their choice that works with a disadvantaged community. They spend 16 hours in appropriate community service, which includes an HIV and AIDS education activity. Objective. To describe and categorise the MaD process of developing social accountability in medical students. Methods. This case study draws on routinely collected administrative and qualitative data obtained from reflective journals kept by each student. A document analysis was undertaken of the posters produced by each group that described their reciprocal learning from this experience. Ethical approval for the ongoing evaluation of the undergraduate programme was obtained. Results. The MaD gave students exposure to authentic experiences through socially accountable activities. Enabled by the structured and stepwise MaD approach, groups demonstrated responsibility in identifying and engaging a local community. They developed a simple plan of action that was responsive to community needs. At each stage, they demonstrated accountability to the various stakeholders. Students reflected on the social determinants of health and disease and described MaD as a 'humbling and huge learning experience'. Conclusion. Through MaD, 1st-year medical students engaged in practical, socially accountable activities with members of disadvantaged communities. They developed some understanding of a population perspective on health and the social determinants that influence health and disease in a community.


Under mild assumptions, the data indicate that fluctuations in nominal interest rate differentials across currencies are primarily fluctuations in time-varying risk. This finding is an immediate implication of the fact that exchange rates are roughly random walks. If most fluctuations in interest differentials are thought to be driven by monetary policy, then the data call for a theory which explains how changes in monetary policy change risk. Here we propose such a theory based on a general equilibrium monetary model with an endogenous source of risk variation - a variable degree of asset market segmentation.


In this thesis I investigate some aspects of the thermal budget of pahoehoe lava
flows. This is done with a combination of general field observations, quantitative
modeling, and specific field experiments. The results of this work apply to pahoehoe
flows in general, even though the vast bulk of the work has been conducted on the lavas
formed by the Pu'u 'O'o - Kupaianaha eruption of Kilauea Volcano on Hawai'i. The field
observations rely heavily on discussions with the staff of the United States Geological
Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), under whom I labored repeatedly in
1991-1993 for a period totaling about 10 months. The quantitative models I have constructed are based on the physical processes
observed by others and myself to be active on pahoehoe lava flows. By building up these
models from the basic physical principles involved, this work avoids many of the pitfalls of
earlier attempts to fit field observations with "intuitively appropriate" mathematical
expressions. Unlike many earlier works, my model results can be analyzed in terms of the
interactions between the different physical processes. I constructed models to: (1) describe
the initial cooling of small pahoehoe flow lobes and (2) understand the thermal budget of
lava tubes. The field experiments were designed either to validate model results or to constrain
key input parameters. In support of the cooling model for pahoehoe flow lobes, attempts
were made to measure: (1) the cooling within the flow lobes, (2) the amount of heat
transported away from the lava by wind, and (3) the growth of the crust on the lobes.
Field data collected by Jones [1992], Hon et al. [1994b], and Denlinger [Keszthelyi and
Denlinger, in prep.] were also particularly useful in constraining my cooling model for
flow lobes. Most of the field observations I have used to constrain the thermal budget of
lava tubes were collected by HVO (geological and geophysical monitoring) and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (airborne infrared imagery [Realmuto et al., 1992]). I was able to
assist HVO for part of their lava tube monitoring program and also to collect helicopterborne
and ground-based IR video in collaboration with JPL [Keszthelyi et al., 1993]. The most significant results of this work are (1) the quantitative demonstration that
the emplacement of pahoehoe and 'a'a flows are the fundamentally different, (2)
confirmation that even the longest lava flows observed in our Solar System could have
formed as low effusion rate, tube-fed pahoehoe flows, and (3) the recognition that the
atmosphere plays a very important role throughout the cooling of history of pahoehoe lava
flows. In addition to answering specific questions about the thermal budget of tube-fed
pahoehoe lava flows, this thesis has led to some additional, more general, insights into the
emplacement of these lava flows. This general understanding of the tube-fed pahoehoe
lava flow as a system has suggested foci for future research in this part of physical
volcanology.


All children have the right to live in an environment free from abuse and neglect. The safety of children is the paramount concern that must guide child protection efforts. It is in this context that reference of this paper will be made to The Child Act 2001, the key outcome of Malaysia's ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which forms part of the protective legal environment for children in the country. Initiatives have been introduced under this Act to safeguard children from abuse, neglect and violence such as incest which has been criminalized by the Penal Code and the Domestic Violence Act which protects the child against violence within family. This Act was introduced to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the care, protection and rehabilitation of children. With the Act beforehand, numbers of child abuse cases are still alarming. Therefore, this article is an attempt to give an overview of care and protection provided under the Child Act 2001 towards children who are being the victims of abuse. The main purpose of this article is to evaluate the extent of the protection and care given under the Act to safeguard the children in the social justice system in Malaysia. At the end of the paper some areas are identified for further improvement and future amendment.


Democratic innovations face the challenge of realizing deliberative democratic ideals in the context of structural inequality. Consensus decision making and expertise have been said to have exclusive effects on marginalized groups like women and ethnic and sexual minorities, which obstructs diversity. Wisdom Councils as practiced in Austria attempt to counter inequalities by including marginalized groups through the moderation technique dynamic facilitation. Exploratory participatory observations and interviews with a moderator and the participants of two Wisdom Councils in Austria provide a deeper understanding of the inclusive processes at work in Wisdom Councils facilitating a productive combination of consensus and diversity.


This paper proposes a framework to select the best-suited battery for co-optimizing for peak demand shaving, energy arbitrage and increase self-sufficiency in the context of power network in Madeira, Portugal. Feed-in-tariff for electricity network in Madeira is zero, which implies consumers with excess production should locally consume the excess generation rather than wasting it. Further, the power network operator applies a peak power contract for consumers which imposes an upper bound on the peak power seen by the power grid interfaced by energy meter. We investigate the value of storage in Madeira, using four different types of prosumers, categorized based on the relationship between their inelastic load and renewable generation. We observe that the marginal increase in the value of storage deteriorates with increase in size and ramping capabilities. We propose the use of profit per cycle per unit of battery capacity and expected payback period as indices for selecting the best-suited storage parameters to ensure profitability. This mechanism takes into account the consumption and generation patterns, profit, storage degradation, and cycle and calendar life of the battery. We also propose the inclusion of a friction coefficient in the original co-optimization formulation to increase the value of storage by reducing the operational cycles and eliminate low returning transactions.


This paper compares different visual and sonic methods of representing uncertainty in spatial data. When handling large volumes of spatial data, users can be limited in the amount that can be displayed at once due to visual saturation (when no more data can be shown visually without obscuring existing data). Using sound in combination with visual methods may help to represent uncertainty in spatial data and this example uses the UK Climate Predictions 2009 (UKCP09) dataset; where uncertainty has been included for the first time. Participants took part in the evaluation via a web-based interface which used the Google Maps API to show the spatial data and capture user inputs. Using sound and vision together to show the same variable may be useful to colour blind users. Previous awareness of the data set appears to have a significant impact (p < 0.001) on participants ability to utilise the sonification. Using sound to reinforce data shown visually results in increased scores (p = 0.005) and using sound to show some data instead of vision showed a significant increase in speed without reducing effectiveness (p = 0.033) with repeated use of the sonification.


Fibroma is one of the most common soft tissue benign tumors of the oral cavity. These masses represent hyperplasias instead of true neoplasm, which develop due to irritation to the mucosal tissue resulting in proliferation of the cells. Although so common in the oral cavity, its occurrence on the palate is rare, mainly due to fewer chances of trauma. Here, we report a case of palatal fibroma in a child diagnosed on the basis of clinical, radiological, and histological features. The case represents an extremely rare occurrence as unusual trauma due to thumb sucking seemed to be the only apparent traumatic factor in the palatal region. How to cite this article Mishra R, Khan TS, Ajaz T, Agarwal M. Pediatric Palatal Fibroma. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2017; 10(1):96-98.


The temporal profiles of the emission from titania particle suspensions in Rhodamine 640 perchlorate dye solutions excited by 10-ps pulses of 527-nm radiation were measured over a wide range of particle and dye concentrations and laser powers. The dynamics of stimulated emission from random media is modeled by a random walk of photons within the colloid and rate equations for molecular excitations. The pulse width and the dependence of the threshold for laser action on dye and scatter concentration are computed by a Monte Carlo simulation of the model and are found to be in qualitative agreement with experiment.


Dutch Railways (NS) and Significance have developed a new model system to provide train travel demand forecasts for NS's strategic decision making. The model is among others used for the evaluation of timetable alternatives, forecasting of volumes of new stations, evaluation of tariff policies, all under different exogenous scenarios for demographic, economic and car-related developments. This paper focuses on the design of this model system from two, seemingly conflicting, perspectives. The first perspective is about the user requirements which were formulated and relate to how the model should work in practice, such as: 1) the model should have a clear structure and be transparent in how its results have been calculated; 2) input data and model coefficients should be up-to-date; 3) the model should be able to interact and be consistent with other, complementary models currently in use by NS; and 4) the model should be user friendly and easy to maintain. These user requirements were derived from a thorough investigation within NS among users of forecasts in a wide range of disciplines. The bottom line from these interviews was that forecasts, even based on complex models, should be in a way easy to understand and made plausible. This transparency is the most important condition for forecasts really to be used by the decision makers. Hence from the second perspective the model system has to have sufficient technical detail, complexity and flexibility to provide passenger forecasts for different scenarios, time horizons and study areas and to be adequate in its forecasting precision. It is this trade-off between easy-to-understand forecasts and the necessary complexity of the model to be adequate in its forecasting results which has been the main challenge of this project. As a solution a modular system has been developed to fulfill all these requirements, while finding a trade-off point where both perspectives might oppose each other. Significance contributed in developing a new module to the model system for forecasting demand volumes per station pair for different exogenous scenarios. The module consists of four sub-modules, each with a clear function and output that can be viewed and confirmed. The first sub-module uses an exogenous scenario of demographic, economic and car-related variables to create a year-by-year dataset on the municipal level. A station assignment sub-module forms a station level dataset of these same variables. An elasticity sub-module uses growth factors for scenario and time table developments to forecast demand volumes between station pairs, separately for each of six travel purposes. And a final sub-module forecasts demand volumes for newly opened stations. All sub-modules have been estimated and validated by time series and cross-sectional data. The model system's design has been greatly influenced by the precondition of transparency: the contribution of separate modules in the final forecasting result can be easily visualised. This has contributed to the understanding and acceptance of the model results by the decision makers. Yet the model system is capable of modelling complex processes, such as competition between stations and lagged response to time table changes. The year-by-year forecasts thereby provide insights into the timing and development of dynamic processes. After completion of the first version of the model system in 2009, it has been used for a wide range of forecasting projects, varying from infrastructural studies for Dutch government to minor timetable studies for Dutch Railways.


Of the many works he wrote during 1848, his "richest and most fruitful year, " Kierkegaard specified Practice in Christianity as "the most perfect and truest thing." In his reflections on such topics as Christ's invitation to the burdened, the imitatio Christi, the possibility of offense, and the exalted Christ, he takes as his theme the requirement of Christian ideality in the context of divine grace. Addressing clergy and laity alike, Kierkegaard asserts the need for institutional and personal admission of the accommodation of Christianity to the culture and to the individual misuse of grace. As a corrective defense, the book is an attempt to find, ideally, a basis for the established order, which would involve the order's ability to acknowledge the Christian requirement, confess its own distance from it, and resort to grace for support in its continued existence. At the same time the book can be read as the beginning of Kierkegaard's attack on Christendom. Because of the high ideality of the contents and in order to prevent the misunderstanding that he himself represented that ideality, Kierkegaard writes under a new pseudonym, Anti-Climacus.


Citation: Çağ, P., & Yıldırım, İ. (2018). The mediator role of spousal self-disclosure in the relationship between marital satisfaction and spousal support. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 18, 701–736. http://dx.doi.org/10.12738/estp.2018.3.0086 * This paper was prepared from the doctoral dissertation which was named "Marital Satisfaction: A model testing". An earlier version was presented at "Frontline: Combat and Cohesion in Iraq and Afghanistan," a conference held at All Souls College, Oxford University, March 2013. 1 Correspondence to: Pınar Çağ (Doctor Instructor), Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching, Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06800 Turkey. Email: email@example.com 2 Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Hacettepe University, Ankara Turkey. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract This study addresses the mediator role of spousal self-disclosure in the relationship between the spousal support and satisfaction with the marriage. For this purpose, data was collected from 549 married volunteers who lived in Ankara, had a wage-earning job, and who were at least high-school graduates. The married participants of the study were applied the data collection instruments of "Marital Life Scale", "Spousal Support Scale" and "Self-Disclosure to Spouse Scale". A relational screening model was used to study the relationship among the variables of spousal support, satisfaction with the marriage, and spousal self-disclosure. The mediator role of spousal self-disclosure in the relationship between spousal support and satisfaction with the marriage was tested by a structural equality model. The software LISREL 8.8 was used to test the model of the study. The relations among the variables were analyzed by path coefficients. Based on an examination of the path coefficients, the hypothesis that the mediator role of spousal self-disclosure in the relationship between the latent variable of spousal support and marital satisfaction is statistically significant was accepted. In sum, the mediation effect of the variables of spousal self-disclosure and the spousal support explain marital satisfaction. The findings of the study revealed that the variable of spousal self-disclosure has a full mediator role in the relationship between marital satisfaction and spousal support. As a result of these findings, it is fair to say that married couples who disclose themselves more deeply and sincerely to each other have a stronger and more effective perception of intimacy and support, thus married couples are able to display more flexible and appropriate behaviors to their spouse, improving the quality of their support with the advantages of self-disclosure. One can say that a healthy self-disclosure between the couples makes the social support that the spouses perceive from each other clear, fluent and fit for the needs, and increase their marital satisfaction. In this study, marital satisfaction was analyzed under a structural model with the variables of spousal support and spousal self-disclosure. Marital satisfaction may be examined with different variables that may be supported with theoretical grounds to plan new research.


The Data Center is the most definitive and yet invisible typology of our contemporary world. It is the densest spot in our digital universe, a physically invisible space virtually visited by many. In a time when the collective spirit of the net itself is more and more in peril, these privately owned devices represent, in many ways, the pinnacle of our shared infrastructure. Therefore, Data Centers are intrinsically collective infrastructures. Unfortunately the buildings themselves remain largely invisible. Subject to technical and environmental requirements, they tend to hide in the fringes of our world; fringes that are increasingly scarce. The Cloud, inhabitant of the data center, struggles with its own invisibility as the place where our valuable content is stored. Both dynamics are problematic but offer an opportunity. As in our cities, what was formerly considered collective is increasingly privatized (one thinks of schools and communal offices). It might be argued that Data Centers are amongst the few leftover opportunities that, because of their intrinsic content, have the potential to acquire collective meaning. This is not the first time we have investigated this potential. Two years ago, in the first studio at Columbia called Architecture without Content we tried to portray the absolute potential of these big boxes because of the evident impact of their sheer mass when projected in the even covered field. In this studio Architecture without Content 4 we return to the center of the city and investigate the potential of these enormous buildings if they would be located on Roosevelt Island; formerly the outskirts of Manhattan, today the very center of New York. Roosevelt Island is strategically positioned and highly wired. It has a latent potential for symbolic representation, as was recently exemplified by the posthumous execution of Kahn's Roosevelt memorial and the numerous paper projects that preceded that monument. In parallel, it is undergoing a process of reinvention as a new center of excellence, as exemplified by the recently announced plans of Cornell University to open a new hightech campus on the island. Within all this activity, an overall project is lacking. Architecture without Content 4 reconnects to Venturi's concept of a Difficult Whole. The Difficult Whole is not a group form, nor a mere collection of elements, but a formal strategy that seeks for a cohesive composition of parts through inflection. Each of the parts influences each other, while the parts retain their individuality. Each of the Data Centers on Roosevelt Island aspire to do the same. Their content is an alibi for architectural form whereas their position is integrally part of the overall project for the island. The immutable forms of these big boxes are able to capitalize on their invisible content to create a disposable sanctuary for our contemporary Information Age. The project for Roosevelt Island announces its very decay the day of its completion—an empty civic center.


The history of achromatic lenses is briefly reviewed. The latest development is the superachromat, which is corrected for four colors. Since the dispersion of glass can be represented by an equation containing four constants, the superachromat is practically corrected for all colors. The application of the superachromatic principle to thick lenses is described and it is shown that a compound lens can be made superachromatic by making each of its separate components superachromatic.


The issue of motivation has continually posed a big challenge to business organizations around the globe especially in the manufacturing industries where high levels of productivity affect or play a major role in determining the profitability, growth, development, stability and future success of an organization. Therefore an organization in a bid to achieve success in maintaining a competitive edge over its rival as well as avoid a steady decline in the productivity levels of its employees, must ensure members of the workforce are adequately motivated. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the effect of employee motivation on organizational productivity. This study adopted a descriptive and causal research design as well as the survey method in investigating the effects of motivation on organizational productivity levels. The entire population of the study was 475 as a result the sample size determined is 217. A well- structured self-administered questionnaire was used as the main tool for data collection and was administered to 217 respondents out of which 185 were retrieved and appropriately filled. Reliability of the research instrument was calculated and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.868. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. From the hypotheses tested, the result indicated that there is a significant relationship between employee motivation and organizational productivity. Findings also revealed that 35.8% of the variations in productivity can be explained by employee motivation in the organization used as a study in this research. The results also revealed that extrinsic factors were considered to have more significant effects on organizational productivity than intrinsic factors. The study concluded that although both intrinsic and extrinsic factors are significant predictors of productivity, extrinsic factors appear to be more significant or valued by respondents in the organization used as a study. Furthermore this study also recommended that management of organizations should take appropriate measures in figuring out those factors that motivate their employees and seek ways of ensuring that they are adequately motivated in order to improve their performance and productivity levels. Finally the study also suggested that future studies should focus on other industries apart from the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector.


Our aim was to investigate whether appendix diameter is an independent risk factor for wound infection in laparoscopic appendectomy (LA). Patients who underwent LA (n = 582) were grouped into those with wound infections and those without. Possible factors associated with wound infection were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. When the diameter of the appendix was greater than 15 mm, patients were 2.32 times as likely to have a wound infection (95% CI, 1.02 to 5.29; P = 0.045) than if the appendix was less than 10 mm in diameter. Patients with perforated appendices were 2.51 times as likely to have a wound infection (95% CI, 1.25 to 5.02; P = 0.010) than if the appendix was not perforated. Wound infection was associated with longer operation time, return to oral intake, and hospital stay. Appendix diameter may predict postoperative wound infection after laparoscopic appendectomy.


In the context of a healthy communities initiative, this study looks at mobility in a disadvantaged area in a suburban area in north east Dublin. Individuals who avail of the services of community based organisations were interviewed in,depth about their travel patterns over a period of a week and their views on the availability and quality of transport services were ascertained. The area has a high social housing quotient, though much of it is now privately owned. It has a profile of low income, welfare dependency, marginal poverty and a population base that has demonstrated some level of poorer than normal health. The area has no train or tram service, very low usage of bicycles and a higher level of bus use than the rest of the city. The Health Service Executive identified the area for the development of a community,based health strategy and worked with Northside Partnership, a Local Development Company, to develop this. The mobility study was one aspect of this programme. Preliminary analysis (this paper represents first stages in an ongoing inquiry into mobility and healthy communities within the study area) indicates that while mobility levels are high (interviewees make more trips than national and urban averages) perceptions of the quality of mobility services are very low, particularly in relation to service reliability. Furthermore, significant barriers to mobility are presented by poor environmental conditions as well as safety issues. Other issues are prevalent, such as poor perceptions of active travel as a transport mode. As the healthy communities initiative is ongoing this paper makes recommendations for further research, including exploring the potential for active travel programmes, community,transport services and a more holistic approach to mobility management and area planning.


Background: Human testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT) have a strong genetic component and a high familial relative risk. However, linkage analyses have not identified a rare, highly penetrant familial TGCT (FTGCT) susceptibility locus. Currently, multiple low-penetrance genes are hypothesized to underlie the familial multiple-case phenotype. The observation that two is the most common number of affected individuals per family presents an impediment to FTGCT gene discovery. Clinically, the prospective TGCT risk in the multiple-case family context is unknown. Methods: We performed a prospective analysis of TGCT incidence in a cohort of multiple-affected-person families and sporadic-bilateral-case families; 1,260 men from 140 families (10,207 person-years of follow-up) met our inclusion criteria. Age-, gender-, and calendar time-specific standardized incidence ratios (SIR) for TGCT relative to the general population were calculated using SEER*Stat. Results: Eight incident TGCTs occurred during prospective FTGCT cohort follow-up (versus 0.67 expected; SIR = 11.9; 95% CI, 5.1–23.4; excess absolute risk = 7.2/10,000). We demonstrate that the incidence rate of TGCT is greater among bloodline male relatives from multiple-case testicular cancer families than that expected in the general population, a pattern characteristic of adult-onset Mendelian cancer susceptibility disorders. Two of these incident TGCTs occurred in relatives of sporadic-bilateral cases (0.15 expected; SIR = 13.4; 95% CI, 1.6–48.6). Conclusions: Our data are the first to indicate that despite relatively low numbers of affected individuals per family, members of both multiple-affected-person FTGCT families and sporadic-bilateral TGCT families comprise high-risk groups for incident testicular cancer. Impact: Men at high TGCT risk might benefit from tailored risk stratification and surveillance strategies. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 24(10); 1614–21. ©2015 AACR.


_Purpose_ – The purpose of this paper is to show that intentional demand forecast bias can improve warehouse capacity planning and labour efficiency. It presents an empirical methodology to detect and implement forecast bias.
_Design/methodology/approach_ – A forecast model integrates historical demand information and expert forecasts to support active bias management. A non-linear relationship between labour productivity and forecast bias is employed to optimise efficiency. The business analytic methods are illustrated by a case study in a consumer electronics warehouse, supplemented by a survey among 30 warehouses.
_Findings_ – Results indicate that warehouse management systematically over-forecasts order sizes. The case study shows that optimal bias for picking and loading is 30-70 per cent with efficiency gains of 5-10 per cent, whereas the labour-intensive packing stage does not benefit from bias. The survey results confirm productivity effects of forecast bias.
_Research limitations/implications_ – Warehouse managers can apply the methodology in their own situation if they systematically register demand forecasts, actual order sizes and labour productivity per warehouse stage. Application is illustrated for a single warehouse, and studies for alternative product categories and labour processes are of interest.
_Practical implications_ – Intentional forecast bias can lead to smoother workflows in warehouses and thus result in higher labour efficiency. Required data include historical data on demand forecasts, order sizes and labour productivity. Implementation depends on labour hiring strategies and cost structures.
_Originality/value_ – Operational data support evidence-based warehouse labour management. The case study validates earlier conceptual studies based on artificial data.


The Digital Story embraces a subjective approach to display the conditions that led to, occurred during, and were produced in the nutrition experiments conducted in various residential schools. Both the immediate and ongoing (intergenerational) damages are discussed to display the horrific nature of the residential schools. Further, the contemporary action taken by both Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, as a result of the nutrition studies becoming public, is shown.
Faculty Mentor: Leslie Dawson
Department: Anthropology


Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are notoriously difficult to train. When the eigenvalues of the hidden to hidden weight matrix deviate from absolute value 1, optimization becomes difficult due to the well studied issue of vanishing and exploding gradients, especially when trying to learn long-term dependencies. To circumvent this problem, we propose a new architecture that learns a unitary weight matrix, with eigenvalues of absolute value exactly 1. The challenge we address is that of parametrizing unitary matrices in a way that does not require expensive computations (such as eigendecomposition) after each weight update. We construct an expressive unitary weight matrix by composing several structured matrices that act as building blocks with parameters to be learned. Optimization with this parameterization becomes feasible only when considering hidden states in the complex domain. We demonstrate the potential of this architecture by achieving state of the art results in several hard tasks involving very long-term dependencies.


Background There is a paucity of data on fertility or pregnancy in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). Objective To assess fertility in PSC by comparing the number of children in a large cohort of PSC patients to healthy controls and to investigate the outcome of pregnancy, as well as the influence of pregnancy on the disease course. Design Case series. Setting Germany. Participants 229 PSC patients and 569 healthy controls were evaluated for the number of children. 17 patients with PSC and at least one pregnancy, or who received a diagnosis of PSC within 6 months after delivery, were included in the more detailed analysis. Main outcome measures Number of children per patient and control; disease activity during pregnancy and after delivery including maternal complications; long-term development of live births, fetal loss rate and the influence of medication on fetal and maternal outcome. Results Fertility did not seem to be reduced in PSC since the number of children did not differ between PSC patients and healthy controls. 25 pregnancies in 17 female PSC patients (median age at conception 31 years) were investigated in detail. An increase in liver enzymes was documented during five pregnancies (20%) and eight times (32%) post-partum. There were no serious maternal complications. All 21 live births presented with a normal perinatal and postnatal development over a median observation time of 50 months. Two pregnancies were delivered pre-term and four fetal losses occurred early in pregnancy (<12 wk). Continuation of treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid (15/21) or azathioprine (2/21) had no negative effects on pregnancy outcome. Conclusions Fertility does not seem to be reduced in patients with PSC, who are able to deliver healthy children without an apparent increase in risk for mother or child.


An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight dynamics model has been developed to predict the stability and flying characteristics of small UAVs. Extreme flight environments can be created in the simulation for autopilot testing. Another important application of the UAV flight dynamics model is dead reckoning, a process of estimating the aircraft's motions from the last known state during the interval of losing GPS signals. An effective model could also remove the need for some of the expensive sensors required for navigation. For the flight dynamics model to be of real use, its accuracy must be known and documented, so that it can be analyzed and sources of errors identified. This paper presents the process and hardware developed for validating a UAV flight dynamics model.


Abstract In the aftermath of the consumer debt–induced recession, policymakers have questioned whether fiscal stimulus is effective during periods of high consumer indebtedness. This study empirically investigates this question. Using detailed data on Department of Defense spending for the 2007–2009 period, we document that the open-economy relative fiscal multiplier is higher in geographies with higher consumer debt. The results suggest that in the short term (2007–2009), fiscal policy can mitigate the adverse effect of consumer (over)leverage on real economic output during a recession. We then exploit detailed microdata to show that both heterogeneous marginal propensities to consume and slack-driven economic mechanisms contribute to the debt-dependent multiplier.


Maghemite nanoparticles were doped in optical poly phenyl methyl vinyl siloxane and oriented by externally applied electric fields before curing. Consequent change in the morphology of the nanocomposite was observed and characterized using small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). After curing, Faraday rotation measurements were carried out at 632.8 nm. Electric field based alignment in addition to presence of the nanodopants enhanced the magneto-optic sensitivity by 14.3-48.6% for the polymer nanocomposites. A linear trend was observed between orienting electric fields and measured Faraday rotation angles. Limits on applicable electric fields for dopant concentrations were also ascertained from the magneto-optic response.


This paper proposes a methodological framework to analyze the activity and travel pattern of workers during the evening commute. The framework uses a discrete-continuous econometric system to model jointly the decision to participate in an activity during the evening commute and the following attributes of the participation: activity type, activity duration, and travel time deviation to the activity location relative to the direct travel time from work to home. The model parameters are estimated using a sample of workers from the 1991 Boston Household Activity Survey. The paper also presents mathematical expressions to evaluate the effect of changes in sociodemographic variables and policy-relevant exogenous variables on the temporal pattern of trips and cold starts attributable to commute stops. The application of the model indicates that failure to accommodate the joint nature of the activity decisions during the evening commute can lead to misdirected policy actions for traffic congestion alleviation and for mobile-source emissions reduction.


This study proposes a wireless remote control system for portable X-ray machine. This renovated system is based on C/S model, in which both Server and Client are portable computers, and the wireless network cards that suit the 802.11n protocol are used for communications between Server and Client. In this designed system, the Client sends control commands to the Server through wireless network, and then the Server realizes the control for X-ray machine using a Programming Logic Controller (PLC). Meanwhile, the Server will feed back the real time video image, captured images and operation messages to the Client. To be transferred better, the real time video image was compressed based on H.263 video-compression standard. And the real time video image transmission adopts RTP/RTCP protocol, the control command transmission adopts UDP protocol, and the file transmission adopts TCP protocol. The proposed wireless remote control system basically could meet the request for long-distance control and image transfers in the fields of industrial non-destructive flaw detection.


Summary. Results are presented of detailed dissections ofthe reproductive tracts of eight adult male African elephants and of one full-term male foetus, together with additional information obtained from the examination of a number of other bulls and cows. A notable feature of the elephant's tract is the absence of a pampini\x=req-\ form plexus, cremaster muscle and inguinal canal; this is consistent with the intra-abdominal location of the testes. The weight of the testes and the mean diameter of the seminiferous tubules appear to be related to the size and hence the age of the animal. Active spermatogenesis was observed in all the adult testes examined. Testosterone was isolated from the testes and identified by infra-red spectroscopy ; the testicular testosterone concentrations ranged from 3 to 490 \g=m\g/100 g testis and were apparently unrelated to season, age, behavioural status or vesicular fructose concentrations. and in one instance motile spermatozoa were recovered from the bladder 6 hr after death.


This study breaks new ground in examining how political factors helped lead three countries with highly regarded education systems to evolve quite different structures and processes in their secondary and higher education sectors. Their educational "ladders" are disparate because the techniques and timing for selecting students for further educational opportunities vary both among the three nations, and within the German and Swiss federal systems. The comparative analysis seeks to place the Japanese trajectory with reference to European developments, and to account for some of its unique aspects. Building on an extensive record of publication on comparative education policies and welfare state development, Heidenheimer places special emphasis on exploring the network of relationships between the various levels of the educational system and tiers of government. Following a strategy of integrated comparative analysis, the various national school and university types are directly compared as to their permeability, nature of administrative supervision, curricula, and examination practices. Contrasting the ways in which political parties and bureaucracies have made and adapted policies helps clarify how and why specific innovations became political issues, at the national and regional levels. Through close contextual case analysis, the study probes why, despite great differences hi political institutions, some secondary school policies became especially embattled in all three countries. Heidenheimer explains why the German "Lander "have maintained a monopoly in the university sector, whereas in both "centralized" Japan and "decentralized" Switzerland national governments operate and finance key parts of the university sector. Also analyzed is the impact of post-unification developments on East German university expansion. Whereas many Swiss schools have no principal, German courts have ruled that principals have tenure in their jobs. This comparative treatment by a political scientist complements studies of education by sociologists and economists analyzing how differences in political institutions have helped shape some distinctive policy emphases. Based on original research and a broad command of the literature, "Disparate Ladders "will appeal to school administrators, educators, political scientists, social historians, sociologists, and multiculturalists.


Objective While the long-term prognosis of autoimmune pancreatitis remains unclear, diagnosis of various malignant neoplasms has been reported in several autoimmune pancreatitis case studies. We retrospectively investigated the relationship between type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis and the occurrence of malignant neoplasms. Methods Seventy-eight type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis patients were the subjects of this study. We investigated their clinical profiles, incidence of malignancies, and possible risk factors for developing malignancies, including duration of autoimmune pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus, and steroid therapy. Results Twelve patients developed malignancies after the diagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis: colon cancer in five patients, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and gastric cancer in two patients each, and hepatocellular cancer in one patient. In seven of the 12 patients (58.3%) a malignancy was detected within one year after the diagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis. There were significant differences in gender, median age, and diffuse type of pancreas swelling between the group of patients with malignancies and the group without malignancies, but steroid therapy and diabetes mellitus were unrelated to the occurrence of malignancies in autoimmune pancreatitis. Conclusion The incidence of colon cancer in the type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis patients was higher than the incidence of other malignancies. Male, advanced age, and diffuse type of pancreatic swelling may be risk factors for malignancy in patients with type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis. It is recommended that male autoimmune pancreatitis patients over 70 years old who have been diagnosed with autoimmune pancreatitis within the previous year be examined for malignancy by a combination of gastrointestinal endoscopy, either chest X-ray or computed tomography scan, and abdominal ultrasound.


The thesis examines how the absence of insurance in the past led to some special maritime liability law principles such as 'general average' (i.e., losses or expenses shared by all the parties to a maritime adventure) and the limitation of shipowners' liability. In the absence of insurance, these principles served the function of insurance mostly for shipowners. As commercial marine insurance is now widely available, these principles have lost their justification and may in fact interfere with the most important goal of liability law i.e., deterrence from negligence. The thesis thus recommends their abolition. The thesis further argues that when insurance is easily available and affordable to the both parties to a liability claim, the main goal of liability law should be deterrence as opposed to compensation. This is exactly the case with the maritime cargo liability claims where both cargo owners and shipowners are invariably insured. As a result, the sole focus of cargo liability law should be and, to a great extent, is deterrence. On the other hand, in the vessel-source oil pollution liability setting, pollution victims are not usually insured. Therefore, oil pollution liability law has to cater both for compensation and deterrence, the two traditional goals of liability law. The final question the thesis addresses is whether the deterrent effect of liability law is affected by the availability of liability insurance. Contrary to the popular belief the thesis attempts to prove that the presence of liability insurance is not necessarily a hindrance but can be a complementary force towards the realization of deterrent goal of liability


Impacts on early Mars can produce H2 and CH4 in the thermal plume. In a thick CO2 atmosphere, collision‐induced absorptions between CO2‐H2 and CO2‐CH4 can boost the greenhouse effect. We construct a simple model of the impact history of Mars and show that for a variety of impactor types and CO2 surface pressures >0.5 bars, postimpact surface temperatures due to H2 alone can exceed the melting point of water for much longer periods of time than from the dissipation of the heat derived from the impactor's kinetic energy. This longer timescale is set by hydrogen escape rather than radiation to space. Cumulatively, the Noachian surface may have been above the melting point of water for millions of years by this mechanism. These greatly extended postimpact warm environments may have played a larger role in the erosion and mineralogy of the surface than previously thought and may partly explain some of the observed fluvial features.


Online programming discussion platforms such as Stack Overflow serve as a rich source of information for software developers. Available information include vibrant discussions and oftentimes ready-to-use code snippets. Previous research identified Stack Overflow as one of the most important information sources developers rely on. Anecdotes report that software developers copy and paste code snippets from those information sources for convenience reasons. Such behavior results in a constant flow of community-provided code snippets into production software. To date, the impact of this behaviour on code security is unknown. We answer this highly important question by quantifying the proliferation of security-related code snippets from Stack Overflow in Android applications available on Google Play. Access to the rich source of information available on Stack Overflow including ready-to-use code snippets provides huge benefits for software developers. However, when it comes to code security there are some caveats to bear in mind: Due to the complex nature of code security, it is very difficult to provide ready-to-use and secure solutions for every problem. Hence, integrating a security-related code snippet from Stack Overflow into production software requires caution and expertise. Unsurprisingly, we observed insecure code snippets being copied into Android applications millions of users install from Google Play every day. To quantitatively evaluate the extent of this observation, we scanned Stack Overflow for code snippets and evaluated their security score using a stochastic gradient descent classifier. In order to identify code reuse in Android applications, we applied state-of-the-art static analysis. Our results are alarming: 15.4% of the 1.3 million Android applications we analyzed, contained security-related code snippets from Stack Overflow. Out of these 97.9% contain at least one insecure code snippet.


Employee recruitment and selection decisions are increasingly framed in terms of explanatory variables and interactions that span multiple levels of analysis. This paper reviews the gradual transition in thinking from predominantly micro-level explanations, to frameworks more accepting of the importance of both micro- and macro-level explanations. The latter accommodate the influences of and interactions between, for example, the individual characteristics of candidates; the cognitive processes of key actors or decision-makers; organisational characteristics; collective processes; and wider environmental contextual factors which constrain and shape an organisation's or manager's decision alternatives. The result is more complex cross-level theorising about the hiring process. The paper also goes beyond cross-level interactions between multiple variables in considering selection as a social relational phenomenon. Meso-level theories present epistemological alternatives to the dominant micro-level research tradition in selection and potentially more parsimonious and powerful micro–macro bridging concepts than cross-level interactionist perspectives. It is argued that cross-disciplinary perspectives, although still problematic, are valuable additions to the individualistic paradigm which is conventionally used to understand employee recruitment and selection.


The use of mobile devices is often limited by the lifetime of the included batteries.
This lifetime naturally depends on the battery's capacity and on the rate at which
the battery is discharged. However, it also depends on the usage pattern, i.e.,
the workload, of the battery. When a battery is continuously discharged, a high
current will cause it to provide less energy until the end of its lifetime than a lower
current. This effect is termed the rate-capacity effect. On the other hand, during
periods of low or no discharge current, the battery can recover to a certain extent.
This effect is termed the recovery effect. In order to investigate the influence of the
device workload on the battery lifetime a battery model is needed that includes
the above described effects.
Many different battery models have been developed for different application
areas. We make a comparison of the main approaches that have been taken.
Analytical models appear to be the best suited to use in combination with a device
workload model, in particular, the so-called kinetic battery model. This model is
combined with a continuous-time Markov chain, which models the workload of a
battery powered device in a stochastic manner. For this model, we have developed
algorithms to compute both the distribution and expected value of the battery
lifetime and the charge delivered by the battery. These algorithms are used to
make comparisons between different workloads, and can be used to analyse their
impact on the system lifetime.
In a system where multiple batteries can be connected, battery scheduling can
be used to "spread" the workload over the individual batteries. Two approaches
have been taken to find the optimal schedule for a given load. In the first approach
scheduling decisions are only taken when a change in the workload occurs. The
kinetic battery model is incorporated into a priced-timed automata model, and we
use the model checking tool Uppaal Cora to find schedules that lead to the longest
system lifetime.
The second approach is an analytical one, in which scheduling decisions can
be made at any point in time, that is, independently of workload changes. The
analysis of the equations of the kinetic battery model provides an upper bound
for the battery lifetime. This upper bound can be approached with any type of scheduler, as long as one can switch fast enough. Both the approaches show
that battery scheduling can potentially provide a considerable improvement of the
system lifetime. The actual improvement mainly depends on the ratio between
the battery capacity and the average discharge current.


The present study investigated our hypothesis of an underlying relationship
between optimism/pessimism and implicit theories of intelligence. We
investigated the psychometric properties of optimism and mindset scales in
our sample, compared confirmatory factor analysis models of the scales,
examined the full measurement model to confirm quality measurement of the
final structural phase of investigation, and finally conducted two competing
structural equation models. We found that the direct pathway from optimism
to growth mindset was significant, and the pathway from pessimism to fixed
mindset was also significant. However, there were no significant direct effects
of optimism on fixed mindset or pessimism on growth mindset. Measurement,
research, and practice implications are discussed.


Variations in the abundance and community characteristics of virus-like particles (VLP) and heterotrophic bacteria within a shallow, near-shore coral reef were determined using flow cyto- metric analysis. Mean concentrations of 6.5 × 10 5 and 1.3 × 10 5 ml -1 were observed for VLP and bac- terioplankton, respectively, although concentrations of both populations varied significantly (p < 0.05) between 4 distinct reef water types. Significant (p < 0.05) variability in the percentage of high DNA (HDNA) bacteria, applied here as an estimate of the proportion of active bacterial cells, and the virus:bacteria ratio (VBR) was also observed between different reef water types. Microscale profiles were taken in the 12 cm layer of water directly above the surface of coral colonies to determine the small-scale spatial relationships between coral colonies and planktonic microbial communities. Across these profiles, mean changes of 2- and 3.5-fold were observed for bacterioplankton and VLP communities, respectively, with VLP abundance positively correlated to bacteria in 75% of profiles. Bacterial and VLP abundance, percentage of HDNA bacteria, and VBR all generally exhibited increasing trends with proximity to the coral surface. VLP abundance was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the 4 cm closest to the coral surface, and the VBR was higher at the coral surface than in any other zone. The patterns observed here indicate that VLP represent an abundant and dynamic com- munity within coral reefs, are apparently coupled to the spatial dynamics of the bacterioplankton community, and may consequently significantly influence nutrient cycling rates and food-web struc- ture within coral reef ecosystems.


The development of new strategies for wound healing has resulted in the design of biomedical devices using polymers of natural origin. Hydrogels are biomaterials formed by three-dimensional polymeric networks that can retain large amounts of water or biological fluids, and smooth texture similar to living tissue. Chitosan is a linear polysaccharide, (1-4)-2-amino-2deoxy-ß-D-glucan, which has desirable features such as biocom- patibility, non-toxicity, hemostasis and antibacterial character. Xyloglucans have different applications in tissue engineering for their physicochemical properties, biocompatibility and control of cell expansion. Hydrogels had been made of homogeneous mixtures prepared of chitosan and purified xyloglucan, followed by a freeze-drying process to develop a flexible and porous structure. Additionally, their mechanical properties such as porosity, solubility, biodegradation, and the antibacterial activity of the hydrogels are studied. The results suggest that the incorporation of xyloglucan favors the characteristics from chitosan-based hydrogels, providing a promising alternative for application in biomate- rials with antimicrobial activity. the introduction of xyloglucan favors the characteristics of fluid absorption and mechanical resistance in chitosan hydrogels.


Women in Guilford County, and in North Carolina as a whole, have made significant progress in the last few decades. The majority of women work—many in professional and managerial jobs—and women are a mainstay of the economic health of their communities. Yet, there are some ways in which women's status still lags behind men's, and not all women are prospering equally. This briefing paper provides basic information about the status of women in Guilford County, focusing on women's earnings and workforce participation, level of education, poverty, access to child care, and health status. It also provides background demographic information about women in the region.


When the new medium of CD-ROMs emerged, industry figures and critics alike proclaimed their virtually unlimited potential. Adapting material from well-established media like television and film, CD-ROMs have quickly transformed genres such as science fiction and horror. At the same time, the realities of actual CD-ROMs often fall short of their utopian visions. On a Silver Platter marks a "coming of age" for CD-ROMs as a commercially and aesthetically significant medium demanding critical attention. Greg Smith brings together media scholars such as Lisa Cartwright, Henry Jenkins, Janet Murray, and Scott Bukatman to analyze how CD-ROMs offer alternatives to familiar places-to museums, to cities, and especially to classrooms. Examining specific CD-ROM titles, including, Sim City, Civilization, and Phantasmagoria, the contributors argue that CD-ROMs are complex texts worthy of close consideration, both for how they have changed our understanding of space and genre, and for how they will impact the development of future media. By examining particular CD-ROM texts and contexts, On a Silver Platter probes this new medium for insight and understanding into the current state of multimedia and into the future of technology.


Merlin and the Lost King of England is a humorous retelling of the legend of King Arthur and the magical test of the sword in the stone. Captivating versions of some of the best myths and legends from around the world. TreeTops Myths and Legends are fascinating and action-packed stories that will motivate and inspire junior readers. These are some of the oldest and most enduring stories in the world, retold by leading contemporary children's authors to bring out all of the action, drama, humour and depth of the original stories in a way that makes them as exciting and meaningful today as ever. The stories are beautifully illustrated in a range of styles to bring each tale to life. Books contain inside cover notes to support children in their reading. Help with children's reading development also available at www.oxfordowl.co.uk. The books are finely levelled, making it easy to match every child to the right book.


Industry 4.0 and robots are said to speed up productivity thereby inducing a 'quantum leap' towards the 'end of work' and calling for a complete change of social security institutions that have so far been closely linked to employment. Unconditional basic income is the cry of the day, curiously advocated in particular by, for example, employers in high-tech industries and modern financial or distributive services. In the name of freedom, liberty and flexibility they suggest a form of security without any institutional complexity. The hidden agenda in the remaining empty institutional black box, however, is the dream of freedom from any bureaucracy and painstaking negotiations between competing interests or even getting rid of any responsibility to the new risks related to the digital revolution. This paper argues that the productivity leap promise of the digital economy is far from empirical evidence and that the proper answer to the new world of work are active securities, fair risk-sharing between employees, employers and the state and 'negotiated flexicurity' calling for a higher complexity of institutions corresponding to the increasing variability of employment relationships. The paper (1) starts with stylised facts about the new world of work with a focus on non-standard forms of employment in the EU28 member states and briefly explains the main determinants of this development. It (2) then proceeds with an analytical framework of the role of institutions and (3) applies this framework to develop suggestions of new security provisions to the main forms of non-standard employment. (4) The paper concludes by reflecting on the consequences for the prospective European Pillar of Social Rights.


There is a growing recognition within the arts and cultural field that the public roles and work of artists are changing. Within the field, artists are increasingly lauded for their work as entrepreneurs, civically-minded problem-solvers, and agents for social change. Amid a shift away from the arts policy paradigm that has largely focused on nonprofit organizations over the last half-century within the United States, there is a hypothesis stemming from within the arts and cultural field that a policy paradigm focused on artists' roles in community change, development, and placemaking will take hold. Public opinion and perceptions have an important influence on the formation of public policies, yet whether and how artists' roles in public life are perceived beyond the arts and cultural field is unknown. This lack of understanding impedes the arts and cultural field's ability to monitor if such a policy paradigm shift is occurring and to develop policies to support artists' work within and with communities. Therefore, we developed and pilot tested survey indicators to gauge public perceptions of artists within communities. In this article, we describe the indicators, report on the national pilot test topline results, and discuss the indicators' merits to be used over time drawing from the pilot test results. Understanding public perceptions of artists within communities can inform and influence policies supporting artists' work and offer a means to monitor shifts to the larger arts and cultural policy paradigm in the U.S.


Objective To summarize the effectiveness of improved surgical techniques of corpus callosotomy in patients with refractory epilepsy. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 36 patients with refractory epilepsy, admitted to our hospital from July 2003 to July 2010; the incision via improved small bone window was summarized on skin incision,bone flap design, surgical advantages and disadvantages, and intraoperative precautions. Results A S-shaped or an approximately U-shaped incision was made in the right frontal scalp.The craniotomy was performed with a small trapezoid bone window (the topline,the baseline and the height:2,4 and 2.5 cm,respectively). With the help of microscope,the extent of sectioning consisted of the anterior 2/3 of the total length of the corpus callosum.Post-surgical outcome was assessed according to Engel's scale scores for 9 to 12 months of follow-up:6 patients were in grade Ⅰ,14 in grade Ⅱ,12 in grade Ⅲ and 4 in grade Ⅳ. Conclusion Improved corpus callosotomy has such advantages as little damage to the tissues,few complications and quick recovery,indicating that it is worth for further generalization.

Key words:
Corpus callosotomy; Refractory epilepsy; Small bone window


DOI: 10.30919/esmm5f618 Stable and efficient noble-metal-free electrocatalysts are imperative substitute of Pt-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction. In this study, N,P-codoped Mo2C/carbon nanofibers prepared via electrospinning and one step heat treatment, exhibited a high dispersion of Mo2C and existence of N and P, which benefit for the electrocatalytic performance of hydrogen evolution reaction. Solving ammonium phosphomolybdate hydrate (PMoHN) in precursor solution, Mo, N and P were introduced in carbon nanofibers, and dosage of PMoHN on electrocatalytic performance was investigated. Subsequently electrochemical tests reveal that 4% (wt. V) PMoHN shows the best catalytic performance. The overpotential under acidic (0.5 M H2SO4) and alkaline (1.0 M KOH) conditions are 196 and 107 mV to achieve the current density of 10 mA cm, and Tafel slopes are 81.3 and 67.5 mV dec respectively. Moreover, N, P-codoped Mo2C/carbon nanofibers exhibits excellent stability under acidic and alkaline conditions.