Abstract. This study makes use of time series of methane (CH4) data from the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) to detect whether there were any statistically significant changes of the Brewer–Dobson circulation (BDC) within the stratosphere during 1992–2005. The HALOE CH4 profiles are in terms of mixing ratio versus pressure altitude and are binned into latitude zones within the Southern Hemisphere and the Northern Hemisphere. Their separate time series are then analyzed using multiple linear regression (MLR) techniques. The CH4 trend terms for the Northern Hemisphere are significant and positive at 10° N from 50 to 7 hPa and larger than the tropospheric CH4 trends of about 3% decade−1 from 20 to 7 hPa. At 60° N the trends are clearly negative from 20 to 7 hPa. Their combined trends indicate an acceleration of the BDC in the middle stratosphere of the Northern Hemisphere during those years, most likely due to changes from the effects of wave activity. No similar significant BDC acceleration is found for the Southern Hemisphere. Trends from HALOE H2O are analyzed for consistency. Their mutual trends with CH4 are anti-correlated qualitatively in the middle and upper stratosphere, where CH4 is chemically oxidized to H2O. Conversely, their mutual trends in the lower stratosphere are dominated by their trends upon entry to the tropical stratosphere. Time series residuals for CH4 in the lower mesosphere also exhibit structures that are anti-correlated in some instances with those of the tracer-like species HCl. Their occasional aperiodic structures indicate the effects of transport following episodic, wintertime wave activity. It is concluded that observed multi-year, zonally averaged distributions of CH4 can be used to diagnose major instances of wave-induced transport in the middle atmosphere and to detect changes in the stratospheric BDC.


In Greece, scorpion genus Euscorpius has been insufficiently studied. Taxonomy of several species and subspecies has been inconsistent and confusing. We provide new morphological data and redescriptions of type specimens of three "old" taxa, described from Greece and formerly listed under a "catch-all" taxon Euscorpius carpathicus . We elevate to, or confirm at species status: Euscorpius scaber Birula, 1900 (type locality: Mt. Athos), E. candiota Birula, 1903 (type locality: Heraklion, Crete), and E. ossae Di Caporiacco, 1950, stat.n. (type locality: Mt. Ossa, Thessaly). Species-level separation of these taxa is also confirmed by multiple species delimitation methods implemented on the phylogenetic data generated using four different DNA markers.


Coastal and ocean acidification can alter ocean biogeochemistry, with ecological consequences that may result in economic and cultural losses. Yet few time series and high resolution spatial and temporal measurements exist to track the existence and movement of water low in pH and/or carbonate saturation. Past acidification monitoring efforts have either low spatial resolution (mooring) or high cost and low temporal and spatial resolution (research cruises). We developed the first integrated glider platform and sensor system for sampling pH throughout the water column of the coastal ocean. A deep ISFET (Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistor)-based pH sensor system was modified and integrated into a Slocum glider, tank tested in natural seawater to determine sensor conditioning time under different scenarios, and validated in situ during deployments in the U.S. Northeast Shelf (NES). Comparative results between glider pH and pH measured spectrophotometrically from discrete seawater samples indicate that the glider pH sensor is capable of accuracy of 0.011 pH units or better for several weeks throughout the water column in the coastal ocean, with a precision of 0.005 pH units or better. Furthermore, simultaneous measurements from multiple sensors on the same glider enabled salinity-based estimates of total alkalinity (AT) and aragonite saturation state (ΩArag). During the Spring 2018 Mid-Atlantic deployment, glider pH and derived AT/ ΩArag data along the cross-shelf transect revealed higher pH and ΩArag associated with the depth of chlorophyll and oxygen maxima and a warmer, saltier water mass. Lowest pH and ΩArag occurred in bottom waters of the middle shelf and slope, and nearshore following a period of heavy precipitation. Biofouling was revealed to be the primary limitation of this sensor during a summer deployment, whereby offsets in pH and AT increased dramatically. Advances in anti-fouling coatings and the ability to routinely clean and swap out sensors can address this challenge. The data presented here demonstrate the ability for gliders to routinely provide high resolution water column data on regional scales that can be applied to acidification monitoring efforts in other coastal regions.


Behavioral observations of lactating Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) and their offspring were recorded at four haulout sites in Alaska to determine (1) whether sea lions wean during winter while they are 7 to 9 mo old and (2) whether sea lions using sites in the Gulf of Alaska (the declining endangered population) made longer foraging trips than sea lions in southeast Alaska (where the population appeared larger and healthier). Longer foraging trips are commonly thought to be an indicator of nutritional stress. Eight sets of behavioral observations were made using focal and scan-sampling techniques at haulouts from 1995 to 1998 during three seasons (winter, spring, and summer). Counter to expectations, we found no significant differences between haulout populations in the time that lactating Steller sea lions spent at sea or on shore. This suggests that lactating sea lions did not have more difficulty capturing prey from winter through summer in the area of decline compared to where sea lion numbers increased. Lactating Steller sea lions in both regions did make longer foraging trips in winter than they did in spring and summer. These changes in foraging patterns among seasons were consistent among all years and sites. The proportion of time that immature Steller sea lions suckled declined through the spring to early summer, suggesting that sea lions began supplementing their milk diet with solid food in the spring. We did not observe any sea lions weaning during winter; rather, most appeared to wean at the start of the breeding season when they were 1 or 2 y old. Sea lions observed in southeast Alaska during the late 1990s while population growth was slowing suggest that most males weaned at 2 y and that about 50% of females weaned at 1 y and the remainder at 2 y.


This study explored early childhood educators' aesthetic teaching beliefs and practices in Yunlin, Chiayi,
and Tainan counties in Taiwan. Survey and interview methods were employed. The findings were as
follows. (1) The average of early childhood educators' aesthetic teaching beliefs and practices was high.
Their teaching beliefs were stronger than teaching practices. (2) There were significant differences in
aesthetic teaching beliefs and practices in terms of location and educational background. (3) There was a
significantly positive correlation between aesthetic teaching beliefs and practices. (4) The interviewed
early childhood educators agreed with the importance of aesthetic education. They argued to develop
children's aesthetic feelings through exploring nature and arts, and to guide children in appreciating
various arts and local arts. However, their difficulties were a lack of enough knowledge in arts
appreciation, and insufficient arts resources in the mountains and rural areas.


Migration is a major global driver of population change. Certain migrants may be at increased risk of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis (TB), HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and have poorer outcomes. Early diagnosis and management of these infections can reduce morbidity, mortality and onward transmission and is supported by national guidelines. To date, screening initiatives have been sporadic and focused on individual diseases; systematic routine testing of migrant groups for multiple infections is rarely undertaken and its impact is unknown. We describe the protocol for the evaluation of acceptability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an integrated approach to screening migrants for a range of infectious diseases in primary care.

 We will conduct a mixed methods study which includes an observational cohort with interrupted time-series analysis before and after the introduction of routine screening of migrants for infectious diseases (latent TB, HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C) when first registering with primary care within Leicester, UK. We will assess trends in the monthly number and rate of testing and diagnosis for latent TB, HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C to determine the effect of the policy change using segmented regression analyses at monthly time points.
 Concurrently, we will undertake an integrated qualitative sub-study to understand the views of migrants and healthcare professionals to the new testing policy in primary care. Finally, we will evaluate the cost effectiveness of combined infection testing for migrants in primary care.

 The study has received HRA and NHS approvals for both the interrupted time-series analysis (16/SC/0127) and the qualitative sub-study (16/ EM/0159). For the interrupted time-series analysis we will only use fully anonymised data. For the qualitative sub-study, we will gain written, informed, consent.


Rapid advances in industrial information integration methods have spurred tremendous growth in the use of enterprise systems. Consequently, a variety of techniques have been used for probing enterprise systems. These techniques include business process management, workflow management, Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), grid computing, and others. Many applications require a combination of these techniques, which is giving rise to the emergence of enterprise systems. Development of the techniques has originated from different disciplines and has the potential to significantly improve the performance of enterprise systems. However, the lack of powerful tools still poses a major hindrance to exploiting the full potential of enterprise systems. In particular, formal methods and systems methods are crucial for modeling complex enterprise systems, which poses unique challenges. In this paper, we briefly survey the state of the art in the area of enterprise systems as they relate to industrial informatics.


The majority principle is a basic rule for reaching a decision in many legal systems. The principle dictates such procedural rules as creating panels consisting of an odd number of judges to ensure a majority opinion, and in some legal systems, a mandatory debate to guarantee that the majority has considered the minority opinion and rejected it. Nevertheless, decision rules are also needed for cases in which no opinion can muster a majority. The issue we analyze in this article debated between the years 200-600 C.E. by the sages of Jewish law, and it appears likely to challenge the 21st century scholars as well. The topic deals with determining the value of an asset as an aggregation of three different appraisals by professional assessors. According to the majority principle, it is clear that if two of the assessors agree on one value with the third one disagreeing, the decision follows the majority opinion. The problem arises when each of the assessors quotes a different value. For cases in which three assessors who appraise an asset specify values of 80, 100, and 120, three Tannaim suggested various methods of aggregation. In the first part of the article, we sought to discover the meaning of the others' opinion, which appears to be an interesting one and poses a challenge to understand it. We recommended three ways of understanding this method, only one of which appears to be consistent with the course of the Talmudic discussion. The three proposals are based on three different principles: the midrange, cluster analysis, and the measure of average deviation. In the second part of the article we showed that the controversy of the decisors about the "middle course" (milta metziata), whether it refers to the midrange or the median, is also present in another context surrounding the wages of laborers, which also involves the aggregation of various values. Our conclusion is that Maimonides, consistent in his method, prefers the midrange, whereas the schools of Rashi and Rashbam prefer the median. We showed that each method has its advantages and disadvantages, based on which loss function we wish to minimize. In the last part of the article we raised the question of the generalization of our topic to values that are different from those brought in the baraita, although we noted above that in this article we do not discuss the generalization of the ruling to a general number of assessors. The implications of this topic for other cases that involve the aggregation of various values should be handled with caution. We have shown at the outset of the article that the understanding of the aggregation in our case as an "estimate" is clear in light of the legal halakhic status of the assessors as expert witnesses, as opposed to judges and witnesses. In other cases it may not be possible to rely on estimates, and the present Tannaitic controversy may not apply.


Studying narratives is often the best way to gain a good understanding of how various aspects of human information are organized and integratedthe narrator employs specific informational methods to build the whole structure of a narrative through combining temporally constructed events in light of an array of relationships to the narratee and these methods reveal the interaction of the rational and the sensitive aspects of human information. Computational and Cognitive Approaches to Narratology discusses issues of narrative-related information and communication technologies, cognitive mechanism and analyses, and theoretical perspectives on narratives and the story generation process. Focusing on emerging research as well as applications in a variety of fields including marketing, philosophy, psychology, art, and literature, this timely publication is an essential reference source for researchers, professionals, and graduate students in various information technology, cognitive studies, design, and creative fields.


Fibre-matrix composites which have both light-weight and high strength properties have recently been receiving considerable attention as possible materials for structural applications in the Civil Engineering industry. One area of difficulty in the utilisation of these materials is the jointing of one component to another. The technology of adhesive bonding, already well established in the aerospace industry, offers a possible solution. The single and double lap joints and the tubular lap joint using the crimped and bonded technique represent the simplest jointing configurations. These are, therefore, the most likely to find practical applications in the Civil Engineering field. The present study has concentrated on the stress analysis of these three configurations, which will be defined hereafter as the 'Primary Configurations.' Two analytical techniques for the investigation of the primary configurations will be presented; the first uses a classical mathematical approach whereas the second uses the computer-based numerical finite element method. In both techniques, the analyses were extended to permit nonlinear adhesive yielding and this enabled an ultimate load capacity to be predicted. The classical analytical technique is an attempt to develop practical methods for a solution of the linear and nonlinear problem, as opposed to the more rigorous, but costly, finite element theory. An assessment was made of the validity of the two analytical techniques by comparing case studies for the primary configurations. In the case of the nonlinear classical theory, theoretical failure envelopes were compared with a series of experimental joint failures. To permit this work to be undertaken, some typical structural epoxide resin adhesives were tested in order to obtain their elastic and yielding characteristics. Manufacturers rarely quote detailed mechanical data for their products in the literature and it is anticipated that this work will be of interest to other investigators of adhesive bonded joints. The classical and finite element analytical techniques have been verified by the use of case studies. From a comparison with experimental studies the nonlinear classical method has been shown to be capable of predicting ultimate load for the double and tubular lap configurations. For the single lap configuration the analysis can only approximate the failure load. An experimental and an analytical investigation of the crimped and bonded joint has provided an understanding of the parameters that influence failure of this joint. This has led to a modified end grip which gives an improved transfer of stress to the tubular section and has an improved load bearing capacity.


ABSTRACT For decades, the media has been increasingly central to the conduct of elections. Politicians have made their mark in highly produced advertisements to further their cause, educate voters, and, perhaps, contribute to informed decision making at the ballot box. Ian Ward notes that television 'has literally transformed the very practice of politics', but well before the advent of television, politicians were massaging the media. Since the days of silent film, election campaign advertisements have set the agenda for debate and have reflected carefully selected images of the voting nation to themselves. I recently undertook the first comprehensive analysis of existing pre-television campaigns produced for Australian cinema screens. This article examines selected Australian election advertisements from silent screens to the dawn of the television era to explore how choices of framing agents have affected screen representations of politicians and their parties. Issues explored include aesthetic and stylistic considerations, personality and policy, and the growing intersection of early Australian political and media industries. The article charts a series of ongoing aesthetics and influences connecting our earliest political media to contemporary campaigns on television and the Internet, which demonstrate how some emerging trends of contemporary small- screen campaigning are but revamped older public relations methods.


Many people in our communities live with symptoms for years or decades, something of relevance to hospice/palliative care clinicians and researchers. The proportion of people in the community at large who have a chronic symptom is likely to approximate the proportion of people referred to hospice/palliative care services with that same chronic symptom that pre-dates their life-limiting illness. Such patients may have different responsiveness to, and expectations from, symptomatic therapies, thus requiring more advanced approaches to symptom control. For researchers evaluating the impact of hospice/palliative care services, failing to account for people with long-term refractory symptoms pre-dating their life-limiting illness may systematically underestimate services' benefits. Observational symptom prevalence studies reported in hospice/palliative care to date have not accounted for people with long-term refractory symptoms, potentially systematically overestimating symptoms attributed to life-limiting illnesses. Cross-sectional community prevalence rates of key chronic refractory symptoms largely unrelated to their life-limiting illness reflect the likely prevalence on referral to hospice/palliative care: fatigue (up to 35%); pain (12%-31%); pain with neuropathic characteristics (9%); constipation (2%-29%); dyspnea (4%-9%); cognitive impairment (>10% of people >65 years old; >30% of people >85 years old); anxiety (4%); and depression (lifetime incidence 2%-15%; one year prevalence 3%). Prospective research is needed to establish (1) the prevalence and severity of chronic symptoms that pre-date the diagnosis of a life-limiting illness in people referred to hospice/palliative care services, comparing this to whole-of-population estimates; and (2) whether this group is disproportionately represented in people with refractory symptoms.


Inaccurate age estimates can have severe consequences in the management of elasmobranchs. Numerous studies in shark age validation have demonstrated a disconnect between band pair counts and age, resulting in age underestimation, particularly in older individuals. To investigate the relationship between band pairs, vertebral shape and growth, we quantified intracolumn differences in centrum morphology (size and structure) and band pair counts in seven shark species: Squatina dumeril, Carcharodon carcharias, Lamna nasus, Isurus oxyrinchus, Alopias vulpinus, Prionace glauca and Carcharhinus obscurus. In all species examined, band pair deposition was closely related to body girth and the structural properties of the cartilaginous skeleton, relative to maximum size, and body type. These results have strong implications for accurately assessing age for fisheries management of these species.


In this study, hypotheses of astrologers about the predominance of specific astrological factors in the birth charts of serial killers are tested. In particular, Mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces), the 12 th principles (12 th house, Pisces, Neptune) and specific Moon aspects are expected to be frequent among serial killers as compared to the normal population. A sample consisting of two datasets of male serial killers was analysed: one set consisting of birth data with a reliable birth time (N=77) and another set with missing birth times (12:00 AM was used, N=216). The set with known birth times was selected from AstroDatabank and an astrological publication. The set with unknown birth times was selected from three specialised sources on the Internet. Various control groups were obtained by shuffle methods, by time-shifting and by sampling birth data of 6,000 persons from AstroDatabank. Theoretically expected frequencies of astrological factors were derived from the control samples. Probability-density functions were obtained by bootstrap methods and were used to estimate significance levels. It is found that serial killers are frequently born when celestial factors are in Mutable signs (with birth time: p=0.005, effect size=0.31; without birth time: p=0.002, effect size=0.25). The frequency of planets in the 12 th house is significantly high (p=0.005, effect size=0.31, for birth times only) and the frequency distribution of Moon aspects deviates from the theoretical distribution in the whole sample (p=0.0005) and in the dataset with known birth time (p=0.001). It is concluded that, based on the two datasets, some of the claims of astrologers cannot be rejected.


China's accession to the WTO and TRIPS heralded massive changes in Chinese intellectual property (IP) law. This book asks whether all aspects of Chinese law and practice are now TRIPs compliant. The study offers both Chinese and European perspectives.


Recently, there have appeared interesting correctives or challenges [Entropy 1999, 1, 111-147] to the Second law formulations, especially in the interpretation of the Clausius equivalent transformations, closely related in area to extensions of the Clausius principle to irreversible processes [Chem. Phys. Lett. 1988, 143(1), 65-70]. Since the traditional formulations are central to science, a brief analysis of some of these newer theories along traditional lines is attempted, based on well-attested axioms which have formed the basis of equilibrium thermodynamics. It is deduced that the Clausius analysis leading to the law of increasing entropy does not follow from the given axioms but it can be proved that for irreversible transitions, the total entropy change of the system and thermal reservoirs (the "Universe") is not negative, even for the case when the reservoirs are not at the same temperature as the system during heat transfer. On the basis of two new simple theorems and three corollaries derived for the correlation between irreversible and reversible pathways and the traditional axiomatics, it is shown that a sequence of reversible states can never be used to describe a corresponding sequence of irreversible states for at least closed systems, thereby restricting the principle of local equilibrium. It is further shown that some of the newer irreversible entropy forms given exhibit some paradoxical properties relative to the standard axiomatics. It is deduced that any reconciliation between the traditional approach and novel theories lie in creating a well defined set of axioms to which all theoretical developments should attempt to be based on unless proven not be useful, in which case there should be consensus in removing such axioms from theory. Clausius' theory of equivalent transformations do not contradict the traditional understanding of heat- work efficiency. It is concluded that the intuitively derived assumptions over the last two centuries seem to be reasonably well grounded, requiring perhaps some minor elaboration to the concepts of (i) system, (ii) the mechanism of heat transfer, and (iii) the environment, which would be expected to evolve with time in any case. If new generalizations at variance with Clausius' concepts are presented, then these ideas could be expected to require a different axiomatic basis than the one for equilibrium theory, and this difference must be stated at the outset of any new development. So far such empirically self-consistent axiomatic developments are not very much in evidence.


Understanding non-linearly coupled physics between plasma transport and free-boundary equilibrium evolution is essential to operating future tokamak devices, such as ITER and DEMO, in the advanced tokamak operation regimes. To study the non-linearly coupled physics, we need a simulation tool which can self-consistently calculate all the main plasma physics, taking the operational constraints into account. As the main part of this thesis work, we have developed a full tokamak discharge simulator by combining a non-linear free-boundary plasma equilibrium evolution code, DINA-CH, and an advanced transport modelling code, CRONOS. This tokamak discharge simulator has been used to study the feasibility of ITER operation scenarios and several specific issues related to ITER operation. In parallel, DINA-CH has been used to study free-boundary physics questions, such as the magnetic triggering of edge localized modes (ELMs) and plasma dynamic response to disturbances. One of the very challenging tasks in ITER, the active control of kinetic plasma profiles, has also been studied. In the part devoted to free-boundary tokamak discharge simulations, we have studied dynamic responses of the free-boundary plasma equilibrium to either external voltage perturbations or internal plasma disturbances using DINA-CH. Firstly, the opposite plasma behaviour observed in the magnetic triggering of ELMs between TCV and ASDEX Upgrade has been investigated. Both plasmas experience similar local flux surface expansions near the upper G-coil set and passive stabilization loop (PSL) when the ELMs are triggered, due to the presence of the PSLs located inside the vacuum vessel of ASDEX Upgrade. Secondly, plasma dynamic responses to strong disturbances anticipated in ITER are examined to study the capability of the feedback control system in rejecting the disturbances. Specified uncontrolled ELMs were controllable with the feedback control systems. However, the specifications for fast H-L mode transitions were not fully achievable due to a vertical displacement event (VDE) caused by a strong inward plasma movement. In the part dedicated to full tokamak discharge simulations, firstly, we have introduced the combined DINA-CH/CRONOS tokamak discharge simulator. DINA-CH self-consistently calculates the non-linear evolution of the free-boundary plasma equilibrium with the plasma current diffusion, in response to both controlled poloidal field (PF) coil currents and inductively driven currents in the surrounding conducting system. CRONOS provides the evolution of the plasma profiles by self-consistently solving heat and particle transport with source profiles. Secondly, we have successfully simulated ITER operation scenario 2 as a demonstration of the capabilities of the combined simulator, as well as being a design study in itself. The fusion power ratio to the total auxiliary power Q was about 10 with the application of 53MW of auxiliary heating and current drive (HC) power. We have investigated several specific issues related to the tokamak operation, such as the vertical instability, PF coil current limits and poloidal flux consumption during the current ramp-up. Lower hybrid (LH) applied from the initial phase of the plasma current ramp-up increased the safety margins in operating the superconducting PF coils both by reducing resistive ohmic flux consumption and by providing non-inductively driven plasma current. Lastly, we have studied ITER hybrid mode operation, focusing on the operational capability of obtaining a stationary at safety factor (q/) profile at the start of at-top (SOF) phase and sustaining it as long as possible by combining various non-inductively driven current sources. Application of a near on-axis electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) appears to be effective compared to the far off-axis lower hybrid current drive (LHCD), at least on short time scales. In the active plasma profile control part, we have developed a robust control technique that simplifies the active real-time control of several kinetic plasma profiles in ITER. The response of the plasma profiles to power changes of auxiliary HC systems is modelled. To allow real-time update of the plasma profile response model, the related physics are simplified with several assumptions. The electron temperature profile response is modelled by simplifying the electron heat transport equation. The q profile response is modelled by directly relating it to the changes of source current density profiles. The required actuator power changes are calculated using the singular value decomposition (SVD) technique, taking the saturation of the actuator powers into account. The potential of this control technique has been shown by applying it to simulations of the ITER hybrid mode operation.


We consider causal inference in the presence of unobserved confounding. We study the case where a proxy is available for the unobserved confounding in the form of a network connecting the units. For example, the link structure of a social network carries information about its members. We show how to effectively use the proxy to do causal inference. The main idea is to reduce the causal estimation problem to a semi-supervised prediction of both the treatments and outcomes. Networks admit high-quality embedding models that can be used for this semi-supervised prediction. We show that the method yields valid inferences under suitable (weak) conditions on the quality of the predictive model. We validate the method with experiments on a semi-synthetic social network dataset. Code is available at this http URL.


Objectives: The value of the client-centered approach for treating patients with various disabilities has been increasingly acknowledged. The aim of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability of the Persian version of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) as an individual outcome measure among Iranian elderly population. Method: In this cross-sectional study, 60 older clients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were randomly selected and underwent the measurements. Based on the performing procedure of the COPM, participants were asked to identify their most important problems within activities of daily living (ADL) and then; to score them according to the amount of ability and satisfaction they experience during those activities. All participants were assessed twice, with seven days interval. The correlations between data obtained from two assessments were calculated for ability and satisfaction sections separately using Pearson coefficiency. Results: Data analysis showed that there are good correlation between mean scores of two assessments in both ability (rp=0.80, Pvalue<0.05) and satisfaction (rp=0.84, Pvalue<0.05) sections. Conclusion: Results obtained from this study enhance the value of the COPM as an individual outcome measure and suggest that Persian version of the COPM has adequate test-retest reliability in selected older populations.


Price Indexes allow one to compare the average levels of prices at different times. Despite their widespread use, price indexes do not answer all questions as well as analysts might wish. Macroeconomic Price Indexes is a guide for users of major price indexes. It provides details about several price indexes to help users intelligently decide what they can learn by using particular indexes.


Abstract : The main thesis of this project was that individuals who have concealed information can be detected using a combined behavioral and psychophysiological approach. This study examined the similarities and differences that characterize the behavioral and power spectra responses in truthful and deceptive subjects. Half of the subjects participated in a mock crime while the other half participated in a non-crime scenario. The participants responded during their session to words related and not related to the scenarios they enacted. Although the participants in the mock-crime group were instructed to deny knowledge of any words related to their scenario, the behavioral and spectral data demonstrate that they actually possess concealed information. Therefore, behavioral and spectral indices elicited by concealed information in deceptive subjects can reflect some aspects of deceit. A quasi-replication of the initial experiment was then performed to examine the nature of the power spectra effects. The same protocol was used, except that a block format was used for stimulus presentation and the analysis window for the power spectra was expanded and all frequencies between 13 and 50Hz were available for analysis rather than analyzing the peaks and valleys alone. The results showed that indeed there were significant Group by Frequency effects which indicated that the power spectra of deceivers differed from those of nondeceivers. However, there was neither an Electrode by Group nor an Electrode by Frequency by Group effect that would have reinforced the power spectra differences found in the initial experiment. Although the details of the power spectra effects are yet to be resolved with further study, both experiments described in this Final Report revealed interaction effects, with Group that support the conclusion that power spectra can potentially identify whether an individual is or is not concealing information from their Examiner.


We live in a consumer society, and over-consumption is the driving force of environmental degradation. This stark reality led Pooran Desai and Sue Riddlestone to found BioRegional Development Group. In this Briefing they show how we can meet more of our needs for wood products, paper, textiles, food and housing from local renewable and waste resources. They outline the theoretical framework of bioregional development and the award winning practical solutions that BioRegional have developed with industry partners. They quantify how we can significantly reduce CO2 emissions and recycle waste, and so greatly reduce our ecological footprint.


The issue of agricultural taxation has almost completely disappeared from the scholarly and policy agendas in recent decades. And yet, agriculture is taxed very lightly despite contributing substantially to GDP across many Global South countries today. In some cases, light-touch taxation may be necessary to encourage investment in the sector and to protect small and subsistence farmers. However, anecdotal evidence from countries like Uganda suggests that there are a substantial number of high-income earners engaged in agricultural activities that are sheltered almost completely from any form of taxation. More effectively taxing these high-income earners could provide much-needed resources to finance public service provision in lower-income countries. The time is ripe, this paper argues, to revitalise discussions about how best to tax the agriculture sector.


Agent-based computational modeling with its intrinsic multidisciplinary approach is gaining increasing recognition in the social sciences, particularly in economics, business and finance. The methodology is now widely used to compute analytical models numerically and test them for departures from theoretical assumptions, and to provide stand-alone simulation models for problems that are analytically intractable.This volume is devoted to recent contributions to the field from both the social sciences and computer sciences. It presents applications of agent-based computational methodologies and tools in the social sciences, focusing strongly on the uses, requirements and constraints of agent-based models employed by social scientists. Topics include agent-based macroeconomics, the emergence of norms and conventions, the dynamics of social and economic networks, and behavioral models in financial markets.


Evidence supports the hypothesis that the Laurentian and East Antarctic-Australian cratons were continuous in the late Precambrian and that their Pacific margins formed as a conjugate rift pair. Both margins extend for approximately 40° of latitude. They have a similar rift history throughout their length—i.e., Late Proterozoic rifting and Early Cambrian carbonate platform development. A geometrically acceptable computer-generated reconstruction for the latest Precambrian juxtaposes and aligns the Grenville front that is truncated at the Pacific margin of Laurentia and a closely comparable tectonic boundary in East Antarctica that is truncated along the Weddell Sea margin. These may prove to be critical, perhaps even unique, "piercing points" for relating the northern and southern continents. Geologic and paleomagnetic evidence also suggests that the Atlantic margin of Laurentia rifted from the proto-Andean margin of South America in earliest Cambrian time. Early Phanerozoic sea-floor spreading that isolated Laurentia from South America and East Antarctica-Australia in an Eocambrian supercontinent appears to balance convergence along the Mozambique suture which resulted in final amalgamation of the smaller Gondwana supercontinent at ∼500 Ma.


This paper examines the role of Women in the Gada system with special reference to Borana Oromo of southern Ethiopia. However, women have active participant in social and economic positions in the Gada system. They have no role in political and leadership positions. Thus, women???s access to education can play a great role for bringing women's in to leadership in the Gada system (i.e. modern democracy).


Native to much of Central and South America, the little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata has been rapidly spreading throughout the world. In its introduced range, W. auropunctata is frequently linked with drastic reductions of ant diversity; anecdotal reports of damaging attacks on vertebrates are also common. As it poses an ever‐increasing threat to biodiversity, W. auropunctata has emerged as a model system for the study of ecological differences between native and invasive ant populations. These studies have been hampered by a lack of information on the genetic relatedness between native and introduced populations. By investigating the genetic structure of W. auropunctata populations, we provide a framework for conducting phylogenetically independent tests of differences between these ants in their native and invasive ranges. Phylogenetic analyses, based on the cox1/cox2 region of mtDNA, revealed at least three separate source populations of W. auropunctata distributed across two large clades. Much of the Caribbean region, presumably part of the native range, is inhabited by a clade of ants sharing very similar or identical mtDNA haplotypes, suggesting the possibility of multiple introductions or high levels of gene flow across that area. Most invasive populations in the Pacific were closely related to these ants. The invasive populations in Gabon and New Caledonia arise from another, relatively distantly related clade. Phylogenetically independent contrasts confirm McGlynn's (1999) observation that invasive W. auropunctata populations are smaller than native populations. Given the complex phylogeographical structure of W. auropunctata populations, future comparative work should correct for phylogenetic effects.


We present a laser system capable of producing 190 femtosecond pulses at a repetition rate of 20 GHz. The spectral masking of a phase modulated diode laser is used to produce a train of picosecond pulses which are compressed using a fibre-grating compressor followed by subsequent adiabatic soliton compression to the femtosecond regime using a tapered photonic crystal fiber.


The go to resource for how to use Excel dashboards and reports to better conceptualize data Many Excel books do an adequate job of discussing the individual functions and tools that can be used to create an Excel Report. What they dont offer is the most effective ways to present and report data. Offering a comprehensive review of a wide array of technical and analytical concepts, Excel Reports and Dashboards helps Excel users go from reporting data with simple tables full of dull numbers, to presenting key information through the use of high-impact, meaningful reports and dashboards that will wow management both visually and substantively. Details how to analyze large amounts of data and report the results in a meaningful, eye-catching visualization Describes how to use different perspectives to achieve better visibility into data, as well as how to slice data into various views on the fly Shows how to automate redundant reporting and analyses Part technical manual, part analytical guidebook, Excel Dashboards and Reports is the latest addition to the Mr. Spreadsheets Bookshelf series and is the leading resource for learning to create dashboard reports in an easy-to-use format thats both visually attractive and effective.


There has been increasing interest in ice nucleation research in the last decade. To identify important gaps in our knowledge of ice nucleation processes and their impacts, two international workshops on ice nucleation were held in Vienna, Austria in 2015 and 2016. Experts from these workshops identified the following research needs: (1) uncovering the molecular identity of active sites for ice nucleation; (2) the importance of modeling for the understanding of heterogeneous ice nucleation; (3) identifying and quantifying contributions of biological ice nuclei from natural and managed environments; (4) examining the role of aging in ice nuclei; (5) conducting targeted sampling campaigns in clouds; and (6) designing lab and field experiments to increase our understanding of the role of ice-nucleating particles in the atmosphere. Interdisciplinary teams of scientists should work together to establish and maintain a common, unified language for ice nucleation research. A number of commercial applications benefit from ice nucleation research, including the production of artificial snow, the freezing and preservation of water-containing food products, and the potential modulation of weather. Additional work is needed to increase our understanding of ice nucleation processes and potential impacts on precipitation, water availability, climate change, crop health, and feedback cycles.


[1] Analyses of ocean current measurements from two moorings in the Makassar Strait (MAK-1, December 1996 to July 1998, and MAK-2, December 1996 to February 1998) with newly processed acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) data provide a new estimate of transport and vertical velocity structure for this important passageway of the Indonesian Throughflow. The 7-month record of the MAK-1 ADCP and the 3-month record of the MAK-2 ADCP, nominally set at depths of 150 m, are extrapolated to the end of the mooring period using a surface layer relationship to the shallowest current meter at 200 m and to the regional winds. The southward transport within Makassar Strait is confined for the most part to the upper 750 m, above the blocking topographic sill of Makassar Strait. The transport maximum occurs within the thermocline (100–300 m). After the temporal mean flow has been removed, the vertical structure of the along channel flow in the upper 750 m is decomposed using the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) method. The first two modes contain 91% of the total variance. For the entire mooring period, the total depth-integrated transport was 8.1 ± 1.5 Sv (Sv = 1 × 106 m3/s), with 7.9 ± 1.2 Sv for calendar year1997. During the peak of 1997/1998 El Nino from September 1997 to mid-February 1998, the first mode time series displays northward flow, enhancing the vertical shear within the thermocline and reducing the mean throughflow to 4.6 ± 0.9 Sv.


Liouciou Island, located off the south western coast of Taiwan, has 12,550 inhabitants of which high proportion are elderly and fisherman. The medical services are provided mainly by the local Public Health Clinic. Any emergencies or major medical treatment requires patients to be transferred to a regional hospital in Taiwan, which normally takes 40 minutes by the Ambulance boat. The aims of this paper are: 1) To examine the potential risk factors of disease based on the geography and medical services of Liouciou island; 2) To analyze the participants' perception of disease risk on the island at various spatial scales (individual, family, neighbor, island or nation); 3) To analyze the adjustment strategies towards disease risks used by the Liouciou island people. Questionnaires and in-depth interviews were used to gather the information. The results show that participants in Liouciou worried about the Ambulance boat not being able to sail in bad weather conditions. In addition, the young people complained about the local medical facilities and physician's skill while the elderly admitted their life was predetermined by God. The fishermen also reported that they were unable to follow up on their chronic disease. As a result, most of them ignored their health.


Smoothing and noise reduction of images is often an important first step in image processing applications. Simple image smoothing algorithms like the Gaussian filter have the unfortunate side effect of blurring the image which could obfuscate important information and have a negative impact on the following applications. The bilateral filter is a well-used non-linear smoothing algorithm that seeks to preserve edges and contours while removing noise. The bilateral filter comes at a heavy cost in computational speed, especially when used on larger images, since the algorithm does a greater amount of work for each pixel in the image than some simpler smoothing algorithms. In applications where timing is important, this may be enough to encourage certain developers to choose a simpler filter, at the cost of quality. However, the time cost of the bilateral filter can be greatly reduced through parallelization, as the work for each pixel can theoretically be done simultaneously. This work uses Nvidia's Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) to implement and evaluate some of the most common and effective methods for parallelizing the bilateral filter on a Graphics processing unit (GPU). This includes use of the constant and shared memories, and a technique called 1 x N tiling. These techniques are evaluated on newer hardware and the results are compared to a sequential version, and a naive parallel version not using advanced techniques. This report also intends to give a detailed and comprehensible explanation to these techniques in the hopes that the reader may be able to use the information put forth to implement them on their own. The greatest speedup is achieved in the initial parallelizing step, where the algorithm is simply converted to run in parallel on a GPU. Storing some data in the constant memory provides a slight but reliable speedup for a small amount of work. Additional time can be gained by using shared memory. However, memory transactions did not account for as much of the execution time as was expected, and therefore the memory optimizations only yielded small improvements. Test results showed 1 x N tiling to be mostly non-beneficial for the hardware that was used in this work, but there might have been problems with the implementation.


We adopt constrained relaxation for distributed multiview video coding (DMVC). The novel framework integrates the graphbased segmentation and matching to generate interview correlated side information without knowing the camera parameters, inspired by subgraph semantics and sparse decomposition of high-dimensional scale invariant feature data. The sparse data as a good hypothesis space aim for a best matching optimization of interview side information with compact syndromes, from inferred relaxed coset. The plausible filling-in from a priori feature constraints between neighboring views could reinforce a promising compensation to interview side-information generation for joint multiview decoding. The graph-based representations of multiview images are adopted as constrained relaxation, which assists the interview correlation matching for subgraph semantics of the original Wyner-Ziv image by the graph-based image segmentation and the associated scale invariant feature detector MSER (maximally stable extremal regions) and descriptor SIFT (scale-invariant feature transform). In order to find a distinctive feature matching with a more stable approximation, linear (PCA-SIFT) and nonlinear projections (Locally linear embedding) are adopted to reduce the dimension SIFT descriptors, and TPS (thin plate spline) warping model is to catch a more accurate interview motion model. The experimental results validate the high-estimation precision and the rate-distortion improvements.


Twelve of the main European LCA software packages currently available are examined with the aim of establishing which are the most appropriate for LCAs on industrial processes. The packages performances are assessed in terms of Volume of Data Windows™ environment Network Capabilities Impact Assessment Graphical representation of the inventory results Sensitivity analysis Units Cost User Support Flow Diagrams Burdens allocation Transparency of data Input & output parameters Demo version Quality of data The review concludes with a Specification Table which summarises the facilities available on each software package. The general conclusion from this study is that for industrially based LCAs, there are four packages which may offer advantages over the rest. These are The Boustead Model, The Ecobilan Group's TEAM™, PEMS 3.0 and SimaPro 3.1.


The concept of precision agriculture consists to spatially manage crop management practices according to in-field variability. This concept is principally dedicated to variable-rate application of inputs such as nitrogen, seeds and phytosanitary products, allowing for a better yield management and reduction on the use of pesticides, herbicides ... In this general context, the development of ICT techniques has allowed relevant progresses for Leaf Area Index (LAI) (Richardson et al., 2009), crop density (Saeys et al., 2009), stress (Zygielbaum et al., 2009) ... Most of the tools used for Precision Farming utilizes optical and/or imaging sensors and dedicated treatments, in real time or not, and eventually combined to 3D plant growth modeling or disease development (Fournier et al., 2003 ; Robert et al., 2008). To evaluate yields or to better define the appropriated periods for the spraying or fertilizer input, to detect crop, weeds, diseases ..., the remote sensing imaging devices are often used to complete or replace embedded sensors onboard the agricultural machinery (Aparicio et al., 2000). Even if these tools provide sufficient accurate information, they get some drawbacks compared to "proxy-detection" optical sensors: resolution, easy-to-use tools, accessibility, cost, temporality, precision of the measurement ... The use of specific image acquisition systems coupled to reliable image processing should allow for a reduction of working time, a lower work hardness and a reduction of the bias of the measurement according to the operator, or a better spatial sampling due to the rapidity of the image acquisition (instead of the use of remote sensing). The early evaluation of yield could allow farmers, for example, to adjust cultivation practices (e.g., last nitrogen (N) input), to organize harvest and storage logistics. The optimization of late N application could lead to significant improvements for the environment, one of the most important concerns that precision agriculture aims to address.


Devising a workable housing policy in a country with apparently insurmountable housing problems, presents a great challenge. With the help of an award from UN-HABITAT, Zambian authorities attempted to do just this, in a process which is an ideal candidate for scrutiny. This study analyzes the goals, means and instruments that were used to formulate the policy, as well as its planned implementation. It examines whether the policy could have achieved its goals had it been implemented, and represents a valuable addition to the body of knowledge which can help to evaluate the potential for success of future housing policies.  With its innovative work and the insights it offers into achieving policy implementation in the developing nations of sub-Saharan Africa, this book will be of value to students, academics and practitioners in policy formulation analysis and implementation.


ABSTRACT : Ever increasing axle loads and train speeds are pressing track owners to extract as much performance as possible from their asset without wholesale or catastrophic failure. Unfortunately, there is insufficient knowledge of the static and dynamic loadings that a track may be subjected to in its lifetime, and there is widespread suspicion that track components have reserves of strength that are untapped, especially concrete sleepers. Addressing these issues has the potential for substantial savings for track owners. It's important therefore to ascertain the spectrum and amplitudes of forces applied to tracks, to understand more clearly the manner in which track components respond to those forces, and to clarify the processes whereby concrete sleepers in particular carry those actions. In this paper the load-carrying capacity of the selected Australian prestressed concrete sleepers is investigated under static and dynamic loading conditions. The sleepers are subjected to impact loading using a large capacity drop hammer to simulate the repeated impacts due to wheel flats or engine burns. These repeated impacts could eventually lead to cracking and failure of the sleepers, and hence are important in the context of developing the limit state design approach for the concrete sleepers. Using the impact loading technique, such phenomena as impact damage and residual strain, as well as the fracture energy as a performance indicator of damage for the selected limit states, are also quantitatively evaluated.


Background images that fill the screen thrill marketers but waste bandwidth in devices with small viewports, and suffer from cropping and alignment problems in high-res and widescreen monitors. Instead of using a single fixed background size, a better solution would be to scale the image to make it fit different window sizes. And with CSS3 backgrounds and CSS3 media queries, we can do just that. Bobby van der Sluis shows how.


The Outer Thames Estuary Regional Environmental Characterisation (REC) provides an environmental reference statement defining marine and seabed conditions within the study area. Prior to this study, regional environmental assessment of the Outer Thames Estuary was based upon dispersed data acquired over several decades. The Marine Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (MALSF) has provided the opportunity to acquire and interpret an integrated physical and biological dataset for the first time in this region. The dataset was acquired along geophysical survey transects spaced 10 – 20 km apart and grab samples were recovered at the intersection of survey lines. The Outer Thames Estuary REC provides a unique, robust scientific basis to define the regional marine environment, outlining the character of seabed conditions in the study area. This will permit informed, confident and consistent decision-making and consequently the Outer Thames Estuary REC will be of value to all stakeholders including government, marine industry, planners and environmentalists. The knowledge will contribute to the protection of the marine environment, promote the sustainable management of the seabed and focus future development investment. The Outer Thames Estuary REC develops the approach initially adopted in previous marine aggregate regional characterisation studies but also makes a comprehensive assessment of the heritage issues. The characterisation process begins by reviewing the physical conditions in the area, for example tides, currents, seabed geology and seabed sediment transport. The heritage assessment has been combined with the interpretation of the Quaternary geology to produce an integrated assessment, whilst the wreck and other modern archaeology are treated separately. Analysis of the benthic infauna and epifauna communities is combined with an evaluation of their associated physical conditions to produce a habitat and biotope assessment. The principle characterisation is supplemented with high-level summaries of marine mammals, birds and anthropogenic activities for context. The characterisation process also highlights regional environmental sensitivities, for example sites of potential conservation, fisheries or heritage significance, as well as informing marine spatial planning. Geology and Heritage The seabed consists of three distinct morphological zones. The Western Zone is dominated by a large coast-parallel sandbank system. The sandbanks are composed of well sorted fine-medium grained sand whilst sandy gravels lie on the seabed in the troughs between the banks. The Central Zone consists of a bedrock platform typically overlain by a discontinuous, thin, gravelly lag deposit, dispersed sandy bedforms and isolated sandbanks. Two parallel, north-south trending troughs, the Inner Gabbard Deeps, have been eroded into the bedrock in this zone. The seabed in the Eastern Zone consists of an extensive sand dune field. In general there is a net seabed sediment transport to the south across the area. The Outer Thames Estuary REC survey has revealed a geological and archaeological record of previously unquantified significance. The combined interpretation of bathymetry of varying resolutions, sub-bottom data, a limited amount of core and grab material and a full review of the extant geological and archaeological record, has achieved a significantly enhanced interpretation of the Outer Thames Estuary. Of central importance is the identification of c. 1,500 km2 of submerged palaeo-landscape dating from c. 720,000 BP. This represents a significant feature of both geological and archaeological interest. The seabed in the Outer Thames Estuary mainly comprises a thin, superficial layer of mobile and immobile sediments overlying exposures of Quaternary, Cenozoic and Cretaceous sediments. Ten enclosed deeps are identified and interpreted as being formed at the margin of the Elsterian-Anglian glacial maximum ice limit. The stratigraphic relationship of these features with the major eastwest river system (the Thames-Medway) that cuts across the Outer Thames Estuary REC area suggests this channel must have been incised prior to this glaciation (Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS) 12: c. 450 kaBP). Further, the spatial correlation of this channel system with terrestrial river terrace gravels on the Essex coast suggests it may have been formed as early as Cromerian Complex II (OIS 18: c. 720 kaBP), but at least by OIS 15 (c. 600 kaBP). The southern edge of the Outer Thames Estuary REC area does cross the northern margin of the post-Elsterian/Anglian Thames-Medway river courses as they migrate southwards and separate to become the modern Thames and Medway systems. Again, through spatial correlation with the terrestrial record, c. 40 m thick sections of river channel infill sediments have been identified, which may hold a record of 450,000 years of sedimentation. The Outer Thames Estuary REC study reveals a potentially highly significant record from an archaeological perspective. There are two broad categories of submerged archaeological material that may potentially exist within the Outer Thames Estuary REC area: shipwreck sites and terrestrially deposited archaeological material subsequently inundated by rising sea levels. In terms of the wreck record 1,576 individual incidents are documented for the area, with an additional seven anomalies identified as a part of the characterisation process. The wrecks for which details were available date from between AD 1320 – 2005, and range in type from fishing vessels, through submarines, to second world war aircraft. Available survey data only covered a small proportion of the total area considered, and as such the location of only c. 6% of wrecks recorded in the UKHO could be verified. With regard to submerged terrestrially deposited archaeology, the Outer Thames Estuary REC area parallels one of the most important stretches of coastline for Palaeolithic archaeology in the British Isles. Bracketed by the key internationally significant Lower Palaeolithic sites of Clacton (to the south) and Pakefield (to the north), the coastline in this region has produced evidence for the earliest occupation of the British Isles at c. 600 – 700,000 BP. As such, the determination of a large area of submerged landscape dating from 720,000 BP offshore of these sites is deemed to be highly significant and worthy of future investigation to evaluate its potential. This determination is based on the value of this landscape as a resource to inform about the broader changes which occurred through the Pleistocene and into the Holocene, as much as the possibility for preservation of primary and secondary context archaeological material. In addition, there is a third class of archaeological material found within the survey area; the modern terrestrial feature of Walton-on-the Naze Pier which extends c. 17 m into the Outer Thames Estuary REC. This is a significant local feature and forms part of a conservation area.


Abstract Objective There is a lack of consensus on methods for cotton dust measurement in the textile industry, and techniques vary between countries—relying mostly on cumbersome, traditional approaches. We undertook comparisons of standard, gravimetric methods with low-cost optical particle counters for personal and area dust measurements in textile mills in Pakistan. Methods We included male textile workers from the weaving sections of seven cotton mills in Karachi. We used the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) sampler with a Casella Apex 2 standard pump and the Purple Air (PA-II-SD) for measuring personal exposures to inhalable airborne particles (n = 31). We used the Dylos DC1700 particle counter, in addition to the two above, for area-level measurements (n = 29). Results There were no significant correlations between the IOM and PA for personal dust measurements using the original (r = −0.15, P = 0.4) or log-transformed data (r = −0.32, P = 0.07). Similarly, there were no significant correlations when comparing the IOM with either of the particle counters (PA and Dylos) for area dust measurements, using the original (r = −0.07, P = 0.7; r = 0.10, P = 0.6) or log-transformed data (r = −0.09, P = 0.6; r = 0.07, P = 0.7). Conclusion Our findings show a lack of correlation between the gravimetric method and the use of particle counters in both personal and area measurements of cotton dust, precluding their use for measuring occupational exposures to airborne dust in textile mills. There continues to be a need to develop low-cost instruments to help textile industries in low- and middle-income countries to perform cotton dust exposure assessment.


Deep-submicron CMOS designs have resulted in large leakage energy dissipation in microprocessors. While SRAM cells in on-chip cache memories always contribute to this leakage, there is a large variability in active cell usage both within and across applications. This paper explores an integrated architectural and circuit-level approach to reducing leakage energy dissipation in instruction caches. We propose, gated-V/sub dd/, a circuit-level technique to gate the supply voltage and reduce leakage in unused SRAM cells. Our results indicate that gated-V/sub dd/ together with a novel resizable cache architecture reduces energy-delay by 62% with minimal impact on performance.


Second-harmonic generation and spectroscopic absorption measurements are used to study the nonlinear-optical thin-film properties of azo dye guest molecules oriented in a polymer host by corona-onset poling at elevated temperatures (COPET). Parallel-wire electrode and needle electrode configurations are studied. The orientational order of the nonlinear molecules, the internal electric field, and the stability of the second-harmonic properties are measured. The nonlinear properties stabilize after 10 days and remain relatively constant over a period of at least 8 months, and the films tolerate power densities of at least 60MW/cm2. Compared with other poling methods, COPET produces a more efficient long-range and long-term orientational order in the guest–host system studied, resulting in large, stable second-harmonic properties.


San Francisco Beat is an essential archive of the Beat Generation, a rich moment in a fortunate place. America-somnolent, conformist, and paranoid in the 1950s-was changed forever by a handful of people who refused an existence of drudgery and enterprise, opting instead for a life of personal, spiritual, and artistic adventure. In these intimate, free-wheeling conversations, a baker's dozen of the poets of San Francisco talk about the scene then and now, the traditions of poetry, and about anarchism, globalism, Zen, the Bomb, the Kabbalah, and the Internet. Thirty years ago, poet David Meltzer interviewed his poet friends for The San Francisco Poets. Now in San Francisco Beat he has combined these classic interviews with recent follow-up. San Francisco Beat features major new interviews with Philip Lamantia, Joanne Kyger, Gary Snyder, Jack Hirschman, Diane di Prima, Jack Micheline, Philip Whalen, and David Meltzer himself. David Meltzer is the author of many books of poetry, including Tens, The Name, Arrows: Selected Poetry 1957-1992, and No Eyes: Lester Young. He is the editor of Birth, The Secret Garden, Reading Jazz, and Writing Jazz, among other collections. His agit-smut fictions include The Agency Trilogy. Meltzer read poetry at the Jazz Cellar in the 1950s and in the 1960s fronted the band, Serpent Power. Meltzer teaches poetics at New College of California. Table of Contents/Interviewed Authors Preface Acknowledgments Diane di Prima (1999) William Everson (1971) Remembering Everson (1999) Lawrence Ferlinghetti I (1969) Lawrence Ferlinghetti II (1999) Jack Hirschman (1998) Joanne Kyger (1998) Philip Lamantia (1998) Michael McClure I (1971) Michael McClure II (1999) David Meltzer (1999) Jack Micheline (1994) Kenneth Rexroth (1971) Remembering Rexroth (1971) Gary Snyder (1999) Lew Welch (1971) Philip Whalen (1999) Bibliographies Preface Nothing is hidden; As of old All is clear as daylight -Anonymous haiku, 16th century San Francisco Beat: Talking with the Po


This Forest and Forest Products Country Profile, prepared by the well-known national experts, contains information concerning the forest resources of Bulgaria and a description of the status, trends and developments taking place in the forest sector, including the areas in which the most important forestry activities have taken place over the past decade. For the forest sector, as for other branches of the Bulgarian economy, the period has been marked by the implementation of radical reforms necessitated by the changeover from a centrally planned to a market economy, efforts to achieve sustainable development in forest management, and a large scale return of confiscated forest lands back to the rightful owners. The country profile contains tables, statistical data, diagrams, graphs and a brief analysis of the evolution of the forest sector, and data relating to the principal categories and volumes of goods and services in the forestry sector. Most of the figures cited are based on official data drawn from the statistical services of Bulgaria, as well as from research and statistics from NGOs and other foreign sources. competitive climate wood products and paper packaging: on environmental


Acrylic resin record bases made from three commercial resins were processed by water bath curing and by microwave energy. The adaptation of the record bases to a standard cast was measured to determine if there were any statistically significant differences in the fit that could be attributed to the differences in curing methods and the brands of resin. The results indicated a small statistically significant difference in favor of the water bath cure overall, but clinically there were no appreciable differences in the adaptation of the record bases with either curing method or the resins used. The adaptation of artificial dentures made from acrylic resin is clinically acceptable with either microwave curing or the water bath method.


Popular approaches to differential privacy, such as the Laplace and exponential mechanisms, calibrate randomised smoothing through global sensitivity of the target non-private function. Bounding such sensitivity is often a prohibitively complex analytic calculation. As an alternative, we propose a straightforward sampler for estimating sensitivity of non-private mechanisms. Since our sensitivity estimates hold with high probability, any mechanism that would be $(\epsilon,\delta)$-differentially private under bounded global sensitivity automatically achieves $(\epsilon,\delta,\gamma)$-random differential privacy (Hall et al., 2012), without any target-specific calculations required. We demonstrate on worked example learners how our usable approach adopts a naturally-relaxed privacy guarantee, while achieving more accurate releases even for non-private functions that are black-box computer programs.


BELLITURK, Korkmaz, Fatma DANISMAN, Nazli BALDAN PAKDIL and F u a t YILMAZ, 2007. Evaluation of phosphorus status of Thrace region soils and suitability of different chemical methods used to determine plant available soil phosphorus of these soils. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 13: 489-497 The purpose of this research is to determine the phosphorus amount of soils of Tekirdag province that have different chemical and physical properties according to the Neubauer method which is selected as a biological method and to select the method which gives highest relationship from the 3 different chemical extraction methods for determining the available phosphorus amount. For this purpose 26 samples of soil are collected from 0-20 cm's depth in Tekirdag. The greenhouse study has been performed in accordance to the Neubauer seedling method and coincidence pattern with 3 repetitions. The rye (Secale cerale L.) has been selected as the test plant. In order to determine the most suitable chemical method as related to dried matter yield, phosphorus content and total phosphorus uptake of the test plant has been taken as the biological (standard) criterion. No relationship has been found between any of the chemical extraction methods and dry matter yield of rye plant in this study. According to the research results, significant relationships have been found only with the water soluble phosphorus method and phosphorus content and total phosphorus uptake of the test plant (respectively r= 0.374*, r= 0.342*).


In this paper, we present a new and significant theoretical discovery. If the absolute height difference between base station (BS) antenna and user equipment (UE) antenna is larger than zero, then the network capacity performance in terms of the area spectral efficiency (ASE) will continuously decrease as the BS density increases for ultra-dense (UD) small cell networks (SCNs). This performance behavior has a tremendous impact on the deployment of UD SCNs in the 5th-generation (5G) era. Network operators may invest large amounts of money in deploying more network infrastructure to only obtain an even worse network performance. Our study results reveal that it is a must to lower the SCN BS antenna height to the UE antenna height to fully achieve the capacity gains of UD SCNs in 5G. However, this requires a revolutionized approach of BS architecture and deployment, which is explored in this paper too. 1


Intelligent Hospital Systems plans to release within a year—into two North American hospitals—a machine capable of filling intravenous bags and syringes. The Canadian medical device company said final testing of its Robotic IV Automation System (RIVA) was scheduled to begin in August. If testing goes as planned, the system will be ready for use at Winnipeg's St. Boniface General Hospital in early November.


The present report is a case study of a 51-year-old woman who underwent hysterectomy by videolaparoscopy, and eventually developed a mycobacterial infection. Treatment comprised antimicrobial administration, surgical debridement, and reconstruction of the abdominal wall with a synthetic mesh. During the postoperative period, the herniation of the abdominal wall required substitution of the mesh and subsequent abdominoplasty. This case report indicates the importance of preventing mycobacterium infection and provides treatment guidelines to optimize functional and aesthetic results.


Networked technologies have created many learning opportunities and led to new learning models such as massive open online courses (MOOCs). However, MOOCs are an evolving learning model that are even today changing according to learners' needs. First generation cMOOCs and second generation xMOOCs are now being followed by third generation hybrid MOOCs. In these evolution cycles, there are many experimental practices such as the use of bot-teachers. This study examines and explains hybrid MOOCs and then focuses on the use of bot-teachers within a post-humanist perspective, using teaching presence from the community of inquiry (CoI) and actor-network theory (ANT) as theoretical lenses. The research findings reveal that, while the use of bot-teachers is promising and beneficial in terms of facilitating and increasing discourse, it is ineffective in providing other components of teaching presence such as direct instruction, and/or design and organisation. However, analysis found that the use of bot-teachers is very helpful in increasing interaction within a learning community and can be used as an assistant during the teaching/learning process. Additionally, learners' positive behaviours indicate that bot-teachers seem to be working in some respects, indicating that they still hold promise as an educational tool.


Problem statement: Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus L.) is an important tropical legume in countries like Malaysia due to its potential as a high protein value crop. However, bright-orange pustules observed on the veins of young leaves, stems, pods and sepals depict symptoms of false rust disease on beans. The causal agent of this disease has been found to be Synchytrium psophocarpi. Currently, there is no published literature of this or other related species in Malaysia. Thus, there is a very serious lack of knowledge on the taxonomic characterization and pathogenicity of the local fungus. Therefore, there is an important need for this microorganism to be documented. Approach: This study was reported based from samples obtained from infected winged bean plants found in the fields around the University Putra Malaysia campus in Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. The morphological characteristics were studied using dark field and scanning electron microscope. Meanwhile, pathogenicity test was carried out using two methods which were moist chamber and on Petri dish. Results: The sporangia were spherical to ovoid in shape and approximately 20.69 µm in diameter. The average diameter for spore measured was 2.02 µm and the flagella were 10.75 µm in length. Positive disease development with false rust disease symptoms was observed in both methods of inoculation practiced. It confirmed the pathogenicity of the fungus as the causal pathogen with the appearance of clear disease symptoms. Conclusion: This research finding is the first detailed report for Synchytrium psophocarpi associated with false rust disease of winged bean in Malaysia. It described the morphology, zoospore production and pathogenicity of the causal fungal organism. This information would be very useful for the studies involving this pathogen in future.


One hundred years ago, Martha Van Rensselaer drove throughout upstate New York to bring information about nutrition and hygiene to rural farm wives. Today, Christina Stark, extension associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, uses a 21st century means of delivering extension education; she is using the Internet to connect nutrition professionals throughout the nation and the world with current research in their field, which ultimately benefits the people they serve. Stark is the program leader for Cornell NutritionWorks, an interactive web site that offers professional development to nutrition and health practitioners, including Cornell Cooperative Extension nutritionists serving residents throughout New York State. The web site (www.nutritionworks.cornell.edu) uses distance technology to provide a variety of continuing education opportunities for the target audience. Cornell NutritionWorks members can interact with Cornell faculty through an Ask the Nutrition Expert feature, access cutting-edge nutrition information, download resources and tools that enhance practice, participate in discussion forums with peers, and take online self-assessments for continuing professional education units. In addition, the web site offers the latest nutrition research from the Division of Nutritional Sciences, recommends links, and has a complete reference center. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "NutritionWorks was developed to meet the needs of community practitioners who feel professionally isolated, who want to keep up to date with the latest research-based nutrition information, who want to interact with researchers and peers, and who don't have the time or funds to travel for continuing education," Stark explains. Membership in Cornell NutritionWorks became free in 2004, and new members can register easily online. To date, there are more than 2,400 members, who come from all 50 states and 46 countries. At the moment, over 20 topics designed to provide continuing education credit are available. The presenters are predominately faculty members within the Division of Nutritional Sciences; Stark has also featured experts from institutions outside of Cornell. For example, some of the newest offerings will include audio-visual cyber-presentations of invited speakers who participated in Cornell's Ecology of Obesity conference in June 2005. These include James Hill from the University of Colorado on obesity and energy balance, James Sallis from San Diego State University on obesity and the built environment, and Penny Gordon-Larsen from the University of North Carolina on socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in obesity. Plans are underway to make additional resources and materials resulting from the Ecology of Obesity conference available on Cornell NutritionWorks. If a member chooses to take an offering for continuing professional education credit, the charge is $15 per credit, which can be paid online. A certificate of completion is instantly available, and each member's progress is tracked with a personalized transcript. Cornell NutritionWorks is a Commission on Dietetic Registration Accredited Provider. The offerings for credit cover a spectrum of subjects--such as childhood obesity, low-carbohydrate diets, regulation of genetically engineered foods, trans fatty acids, and infant formulas. …


Recent advances in boundary-layer meteorology are beginning to allow the study of atmospheric flow phenomena that have previously been poorly understood. In this dissertation, we study the effects of complex terrain and unsteady regimes on the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) dynamics, with the help of field measurements and theoretical analyses. We consider transitions generated by sharp surface discontinuities and by the daily cycle of solar heating. When air flows over an inhomogeneous landscape, it encounters a series of parcels (vegetated areas, mountains, cities, etc.) with different mechanical and thermal properties. Each parcel's boundary triggers a transition layer in the atmosphere. Substantial changes in momentum and heat exchanges are found when air flows over an urban area, due to the complex arrangement of buildings and the various thermal properties of the surface materials. To study the daytime heat exchanges between the built environment and the atmosphere, we conducted a field campaign over the EPFL campus in 2006-07 with a wireless network of 92 weather stations and an atmospheric profiler. In this analysis, the heat exchanges are successfully estimated with Monin-Obukhov similarity and the thermal roughness length method. We also illustrate how one carefully-selected station inside the urban canopy can provide a satisfying estimate of the sensible heat flux over the campus. The diurnal cycle of solar heating also induces transitions in the ABL. During the day, the ABL is usually characterized by an unstable stratification and large turbulent exchanges of momentum, heat and moisture. At night, the ABL is stably stratified and weak turbulent exchanges with the surface are typically observed. This dissertation presents a simple model to track the decay of atmospheric turbulence during the evening transition period, when the ABL shifts from its daytime to its nighttime regime. First, we describe a function to model the sensible heat flux during the transition period. This function is then inserted into a simplified version of the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budget, which we validate with several eddy covariance datasets. This study shows that the decay of convective turbulence over flat and unobstructed terrain occurs in three different steps: (i) the TKE is relatively constant for several convective eddy turnover time scales; (ii) the TKE decays with a t-2 rate, where t is time after the start of the decay; (iii) an abrupt decay rate of TKE near the sunset is observed indicating a rapid collapse of turbulence. We also study the evening transition period for slope flows developing over alpine terrain under clear skies and weak synoptic conditions. Slope winds travel upslope during the day and downslope at night. Little is known about the transition between these two wind regimes over steep slopes, mostly because they are extremely challenging to monitor. For this reason, in summer 2010, we deployed a suite of meteorological stations on a 25 to 45 degrees slope of the Swiss Alps. The results show that a 'shading front' induced by surrounding topography triggers the evening transition. The impact on the surface temperatures is substantial and in some cases, drops of 10 °C in less than 10 min are found. This is usually followed by an early evening calm period with low turbulence levels and small wind speeds (< 0.5 ms-1). At night, a shallow layer of 'skin' downslope flow forms, with the maximum wind velocity just above the surface (< 1.5 m).


The Handbook aims to provide decision-makers with a comprehensive NBS impact assessment framework, and a robust set of indicators and methodologies to assess impacts of nature-based solutions across 12 societal challenge areas: Climate Resilience; Water Management; Natural and Climate Hazards; Green Space Management; Biodiversity; Air Quality; Place Regeneration; Knowledge and Social Capacity Building for Sustainable Urban Transformation; Participatory Planning and Governance; Social Justice and Social Cohesion; Health and Well-being; New Economic Opportunities and Green Jobs. Indicators have been developed collaboratively by representatives of 17 individual EU-funded NBS projects and collaborating institutions such as the EEA and JRC, as part of the European Taskforce for NBS Impact Assessment, with the four-fold objective of: serving as a reference for relevant EU policies and activities; orient urban practitioners in developing robust impact evaluation frameworks for nature-based solutions at different scales; expand upon the pioneering work of the EKLIPSE framework by providing a comprehensive set of indicators and methodologies; and build the European evidence base regarding NBS impacts. They reflect the state of the art in current scientific research on impacts of nature-based solutions and valid and standardized methods of assessment, as well as the state of play in urban implementation of evaluation frameworks.


Music of Louisiana was at the heart of rock-and-roll in the 1950s. Most fans know that Jerry Lee Lewis, one of the icons, sprang out of Ferriday, Louisiana, in the middle of delta country and that along with Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley he was one of the very first of these "white boys playing black music." The genre was profoundly influenced by New Orleans, a launch pad for major careers, such as Little Richard's and Fats Domino's. The untold "rest of the story" is the story of swamp pop, a form of Louisiana music more recognized by its practitioners and their hits than by a definition. What is it? What true rock enthusiasts don't know some of its most important artists? Dale and Grace ("I'm leaving It Up to You"), Phil Phillips ("Sea of Love"), Joe Barry ("I'm a Fool to Care"), Cooke and the Cupcakes ("Mathilda"), Jimmy Clanton ("Just a Dream), Johnny Preston ("Runnin' Bear"), Rod Bernard ("This Should Go on Forever"), and Bobby Charles ("Later, Alligator")? There were many others just as important within the region. Drawing on more than fifty interviews with swamp pop musicians in South Louisiana and East Texas, Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues finds the roots of this often overlooked, sometimes derided sister genre of the wildly popular Cajun and zydeco music. In this first book to be devoted entirely to swamp pop, Shane K. Bernard uncovers the history of this hybrid form invented in the 1950s by teenage Cajuns and black Creoles. They put aside the fiddle and accordion of their parents' traditional French music to learn the electric guitar and bass, saxophone, upright piano, and modern drumming trap sets of big-city rhythm-and-blues. Their new sound interwove country-and-western and rhythm-and-blues with the exciting elements of their rural Cajun and Creole heritage. In the 1950s and 1960s American juke boxes and music charts were studded with swamp pop favorites.


Gas-liquid scrubbers rely on level control systems (generally consisting of a level indicator, a level controller, and a pneumatic control valve for liquid release) to maintain an appropriate liquid level within the vessel. Scrubbers are often upstream of turbomachinery and failures at the scrubber can cause liquid ingestion or downtime. In natural gas service, these control systems are subject to harsh environments due to the influx of liquid slugs, high-velocity gases, corrosive fluids, vibrations, and a chaotic gas-liquid interface. In these severe conditions, level control system failures are commonplace and lead to safety and environmental hazards, equipment damage, and lost production. A need exists to augment or replace the typical liquid level control system with an alternative solution that is cost-effective, robust, and can operate reliably in the harsh natural gas environment. A project investigated failures related to scrubber level control systems, identified improvements to these systems, developed a prototype level controller, and tested the prototype controller and a variety of commercially available controllers at various conditions that emulated certain field conditions. The results of these tests gave insight into what type of controller may be best suited to the tested conditions and what controller options should be pursued further.


Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly worldwide, bringing the need for emergency actions to control the disease at the collective and individual level. Thus, the Division of Plastic Surgery and Burns of the largest hospital complex in Latin America was physically aimed at the infected. In this context, we find the challenges of treating a large burned and polytraumatized patient, who presented arterial thrombosis in the lower limb, a rare complication associated with the thermal burn. All treatment was performed in a hospital not specialized in trauma care. Case Report: Case Report: Male patient, 18 years old, without comorbidities, with predominantly third-degree burns of 50% of body surface burned and severe neurotrauma. He presented arterial thrombosis in his right leg 24 hours after the burn. The patient underwent limb amputation and serial surgical interventions for debridement and skin grafting. Despite the prevention protocols, the patient was infected by COVID-19 during hospitalization. Conclusion: This case focuses on a rare complication related to burn injury, which does not yet have diagnostic criteria and defined prophylactic measures. Besides, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted various health services areas, and it is essential to share knowledge during this pandemic by seeking adaptations to the crisis situation. ■ ABSTRACT


The last two decades witnessed an unprecedented decline in poverty across the developing world, a decline partly explained by the adoption of social cash transfer programs. Ironically, Latin America, traditionally the world's most unequal region, has been a global trendsetter in this regard. Beginning in the late 1990s, governments across the region and across the ideological spectrum began adopting conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs, which award poor families regular stipends conditional on their children attending school and/or getting regular medical check-ups, and non-contributory pension (NCP) schemes for low-income and/or uncovered seniors.
 There is robust evidence that CCT programs achieve their short-term goals of reducing poverty while increasing school attendance and usage of health services. However, they do not improve learning and appear to be failing at their long-term goal of breaking the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Likely as a result of low-quality education, long-term CCT beneficiaries do not have significantly better economic prospects than comparable non-beneficiaries. CCTs also have electoral effects—there is robust evidence from across the region that they increase support for incumbent presidential candidates.
 CCTs were a response to the two big transformations the region underwent during the 1980s: the debt crisis and subsequent lost decade and the transition of most countries to democracy. Increased economic insecurity following the crisis and subsequent neoliberal reforms represented both a threat to the survival of newly elected governments and an opportunity for politicians to win over voters through increased social assistance. Pioneered by Mexico and Brazil in the mid-1990s, CCTs were by far the most effective policies to emerge from that context. They quickly diffused across the region, often with support from international financial institutions. Counterintuitively, adoption appears to be unrelated to the ascendance of left-wing governments in the region during the 2000s. The politics of CCT design are less understood. The myriad ways in which design can be conceptualized and measured, combined with the relative newness of this literature, have limited the accumulation of knowledge. It does appear that left-wing governments adopt more expansive CCTs and de-emphasize conditionality enforcement.
 Whereas their initial adoption and expansion, which coincided with the 2000s economic boom, proved politically easy, further reductions in poverty will require politically difficult choices, namely, raising taxes and/or redirecting funds away from programs benefiting the better-off. Improving the long-term effectiveness of CCTs will require improving education quality, which in turn will require challenging the region's powerful teachers' unions.


Geochemical and clay mineralogical studies of bottom sediments collected along the Macacu and Caceribu rivers and Guanabara Bay were carried out in order to investigate the relationship between major source areas and recent sediments of the bay. Clay mineralogy includes different groups with selective distribution conditioned by geomorphic features and depositional settings. Micaceous clay minerals are abundant near parent rock in the upper course, whereas kaolinite derived from varied sources is gradually concentrated towards the estuary. In the Guanabara Bay, kaolinite accumulates near river mouths, while micaceous clay minerals are converted into mixed layers in the estuary. Analyses of heavy metal contents reveal higher levels of Zn and Cu in sediments of the bay than in river sediments. Profiles along rivers indicate a downstream decrease of heavy metals, whereas in the bay geochemical trends display greater variations. In general river mouth sediments present the lowest concentrations. At the north and east of Paqueta Island anomalous areas with the highest heavy metal contents occur. Cu tends to concentrate in < 2µm grain-size fraction and indicates an association with micaceous clay minerals in the upper river course. However, Cu retention seems to be further controlled by other components of bottom sediments due to changes in physical and chemical conditions of the estuarine environment. Zn shows unstable behavior along the rivers and concentrates in the bay. Pb displays small variations from river to bay sediments, and accumulates mainly in the < 63µm grain-size fraction without any association with clay mineral. Geoaccumulation indexes of Cu, Pb and Zn classify the study area as unpolluted in both studied rivers and in the NE sector of the bay, though the enrichment factors are higher in the bay. The study does not indicate those rivers as major sources of heavy metal pollution to the bay.


Background/Context A long line of research has empirically examined the effects of social context on child and adolescent well-being. Scholars have paid particular attention to two specific levels of social context: the school and neighborhood. Although youths occupy these social contexts simultaneously, empirical research on schools and neighborhoods has largely been conducted independently of one another. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study reviews neighborhood and school effects studies conducted between 2005 and 2013 to determine the degree to which these research domains have exclusively examined a single context. The study then uses nationally representative data to compare estimates of school and neighborhood effects across a variety of youth outcomes. The comparison reveals how much estimates of school and neighborhood effects change after accounting for both levels of context. Research Design Cross-classified random effects models are used to estimate the effects of school and neighborhood disadvantage on a variety of youth outcomes. For each youth outcome, I compare the effects of concentrated disadvantage and the percent of variation explained at the school and neighborhood levels across two models: a single context effects model that includes only the school or neighborhood and a model including characteristics of both contexts. Findings/Results Of the 238 school and neighborhood effects studies examined in the review, only 46, or 21%, account for both neighborhoods and schools in the analysis. The multivariate regression results indicate that excluding a level of context has greater consequences on the estimates of neighborhood effects than on school effects. However, ignoring the neighborhood obscures its independent effects on key adolescent outcomes. Conclusions/Recommendations An empirical analysis of context effects on youth well-being should account for both neighborhoods and schools in order to minimize bias in parameter estimates. Furthermore, simultaneously analyzing schools and neighborhoods will move the study of school and neighborhood effects forward by illuminating policies and strategies in which neighborhoods and schools can work together to increase the overall well-being of children and adolescents.