This study explored self efficacy and optimism as the predictors of organizational commitment among bank employees. The data was collected from 150 employees, which consisted of equal number of employees of private (n=75) and semi public sector (n=75) banks of Sargodha. The variables of the study were measured through Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979), General Self Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995) and Optimism Subscale of PsyCap Questionnaire (Luthans, Avolio, Avey, Norman, & Combs, 2006) respectively. Correlational analyses indicated that self efficacy was positively correlated with optimism and organizational commitment while the optimism and organizational commitment had no correlation. Multiple regressions revealed that self efficacy emerged as significant predictor while the optimism was not significant predictor of organizational commitment. Furthermore it was revealed that employees of private sector banks have higher level of organizational commitment than those of semi public sector banks. It was also explored that professionally qualified employees have higher level of organizational commitment than non-professionally qualified employees. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also discussed.


Current maintenance operations and integrity checks on a wide array of structures require personnel entry into normally-inaccessible or hazardous areas to perform necessary nondestructive inspections. To gain access for these inspections, structure must be removed, sealant must be removed, disassembly processes must be completed, or personnel must be transported to remote locations. The use of in-situ sensors, coupled with remote interrogation, can be employed to overcome a myriad of inspection impediments stemming from accessibility limitations, complex geometries, the location and depth of hidden damage, and the isolated location of the structure. Furthermore, prevention of unexpected flaw growth and structural failure could be improved if on-board health monitoring systems were used to more regularly assess structural integrity. Reliable Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems can automatically process data, assess structural condition, and signal the need for specific maintenance actions. A research program has been completed to develop and validate Comparative Vacuum Monitoring (CVM) Sensors for surface crack detection. The test specimens included those designed to simulate crack origination sites on aircraft and bridge structures. The test matrix studied the affects of surface coating, skin thickness, and material type on the performance of the CVM sensors. Statistical methods using one-sided tolerance intervals were employed to derive Probability of Detection (POD) levels for each of the test scenarios. The result is a series of flaw detection curves that can be used to propose CVM sensors for crack detection. Complimentary, multi-year field tests were also conducted to study the deployment and long-term operation of CVM sensors on aircraft and bridges. This paper presents the quantitative crack detection capabilities of the CVM sensor, its performance in actual operating environments, and the prospects for structural health monitoring applications on a wide array of civil structures.


Abstract Bunya nuts are the seeds of Araucaria bidwillii, a conifer native to South‐East Queensland, Australia. They are one of the 19 species of Araucaria family found around the world, with the nuts from South America being the most commonly consumed. They are traditionally eaten boiled or roasted. This study aims to profile the sensory properties of bunya nuts with chestnut as a comparator. Since chestnuts do not come from a conifer tree, it is expected that there will be differences. Different methods of preparation are also expected to change the sensory attributes. Representative samples were collected from a variety of locations in South‐East Queensland, prepared and presented to a panel of 14 experienced tasters applying conventional sensory descriptive profiling. During training, the panel developed a lexicon of 23 sensory attributes together with definitions and reference. Profiles of the boiled and roasted bunya nuts revealed higher scores for hardness on the first bite than chestnuts and, when chewed, became more crumbly, dry, and grainy. They had a savory aroma and flavor, and roasted samples exhibited a roasted aroma. Bunya nut samples were less sweet than chestnut samples. Differences in the sensory properties due to method of preparation were also observed. Boiled bunya nuts were softer and moister, with lower scores for crumbly and grainy. This research is foundational in providing technical information on the sensory profile of this important Indigenous Australian nut and provides a strong basis to support novel food sector opportunities for the bunya nut as a reemerging food source not only in Australia, but also South America. Practical Application There is an increase demand for local, sustainable, and natural foods. Bunya nuts are native to Australia and are part of the Araucaria family, which includes 19 species that can be found around the world. To the best of our knowledge there is no study characterizing Araucaria nuts in terms of sensory attributes. This study builds a lexicon for bunya nuts and compares to chestnuts. It also shows how different preparation methods affect its sensory attributes, as well as possible future uses in product development. The outcomes might provide information to support studies on Araucaria nuts in other countries.


Despite the extensive research in the context of brand communities on social networking sites (SNSs), the theoretical foundations underlying consumers' assessment of advertisements on SNSs' brand communities was not yet explored. The present study consequently aimed to explore how SNSs' brand communities' consumers assess social networks' advertisements (SNAs). Regression analysis was used to identify the best fit model, and the most effective predictors on the assessment of SNAs. From the collected data, four dimensions had positive significant effects on the consumers' assessment (informativeness, entertainment value, credibility value and interactivity value), while the fifth dimension (irritation value) had a significant negative effect. The results of this study had some contradictions with some results on previous studies, and confirmed other results. Moreover, the researchers used the descriptive analysis to gain deeper understanding of how the brand communities' consumers (BCCs) on SNSs assess SNAs, and to identify the main characteristics of the BCCs on SNSs.


Manufacturing itself is changing as open-source sentiment grows with the "maker" movement, especially in FabLabs around the world. "Makers" are open-source hardware enthusiasts who want anyone to be able to make almost anything. This ethnographic research, conducted in 2013, centers on the "makers" in FabLabs in Japan. The research addresses cultural coherence among actors – human and machine – in these FabLabs, and changing notions of expertise enabled by open-source, DIY manufacturing practices. Are modern machines like 3D printers changing manufacturing? Will they change the world?


Physical inactivity has been shown to be correlated to various disease and conditions. Therefore, there is interest in the genetic mechanisms that control daily physical activity. Vivo-morpholinos are a new molecular biology tool that allows for the transient silencing of specific genes in an animal model, thereby allowing for a systematic method to turn off potential candidate genes involved in the regulation of physical activity. Vivo-morpholinos have not been shown to be effective at silencing genes in the brain due to the fact that the vivo-morpholino cannot cross the blood brain barrier. To counteract this, a tail vein injection (55 ul total volume; 11mg/kg vivo-morpholino; 6.5ug/kg RMP7) was given on three consecutive days containing the bradykinin analog RMP7 and a vivo-morpholino targeting Vmat2 to male C57/LJ mice (n=6). RMP7 has been shown to increase blood brain barrier permeability while Vmat2 is a dopamine transporter and is thought to be involved in the regulation of voluntary physical activity. Control animals received either RMP7 plus saline (n=6) or RMP7 plus a vivo-morpholino "scramble" control (n=6). Physical activity was measured by wheel running. Results showed there was not a significant (p=0.24) knockdown in Vmat2 in the brain with RMP7 administration as compared to control animals. Interestingly there was a significant (p=0.001) knockdown in daily physical activity in the Vmat2 treated animals compared to the control group. RMP7 may still be a viable option for vivo-morpholino delivery in the brain; however an increased dosage may be required.


BACKGROUND
 Cisgender female sex workers (FSWs) experience high rates of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including chlamydia and gonorrhea. Community empowerment–based responses to the risk environment of FSWs have been associated with significant reductions in HIV and STI risk and associated risk behaviors; however, evaluations of US-based interventions targeting FSWs are limited.

 OBJECTIVE
 The objective of this study is to describe the design, implementation, and planned evaluation strategy of an ongoing comprehensive community-level intervention in Baltimore City, Maryland, which aims to improve HIV and STI risk and cumulative incidence among FSWs. The two intervention components are the SPARC (Sex Workers Promoting Action, Risk Reduction, and Community Mobilization) drop-in center and the accompanying comprehensive mobile outreach program. The mission of SPARC is to provide low-barrier harm reduction services to FSWs, with a special focus on women who sell sex and use drugs. Services are provided through a harm reduction framework and include reproductive health and sexual health care; medication-assisted treatment; legal aid; counseling; showers, lockers, and laundry; and the distribution of harm reduction tools, including naloxone and sterile drug use supplies (eg, cookers, cotton, syringes, and pipes).

 METHODS
 The SPARC intervention is being evaluated through the EMERALD (Enabling Mobilization, Empowerment, Risk Reduction, and Lasting Dignity) study, which consists of a prospective 2-group comparative nonrandomized trial (n=385), a cross-sectional survey (n=100), and in-depth interviews assessing SPARC implementation (n=45). Participants enrolled in the nonrandomized trial completed a survey and HIV and STI testing at 4 intervals (baseline and 6, 12, and 18 months). Participants recruited from predefined areas closest to SPARC comprised the intervention group, and participants from all other areas of Baltimore were included in the control group.

 RESULTS
 We hypothesize that addressing structural drivers and more immediate medical needs, in combination with peer outreach, will improve the HIV and STI risk environment, leading to community empowerment, and reduce the HIV and STI cumulative incidence and behavioral risks of FSWs. Data collection is ongoing. A baseline description of the cohort is presented.

 CONCLUSIONS
 In the United States, structural interventions aimed at reducing HIV and STIs among FSWs are scarce; to our knowledge, this is the first intervention of its kind in the United States. The results of the EMERALD study can be used to inform the development of future interventions targeting FSWs and other at-risk populations.

 CLINICALTRIAL
 ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04413591; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04413591.

 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT
 DERR1-10.2196/23412


The aim of this study was analyze the offensive actions of the Portuguese futsal team which resulted in finalization to the opposing goalpost, compare the actions which were being used, according to its origin, and verify which are the results obtained from these actions. Three games were analyzed during the tournament selection for the European Futsal Championship in 2010. Spreadsheets were used as data collection instrument, and the applied method was descriptive observational analysis. The Portuguese team carried out a total of 167 finalizations; 95 finalizations (56.89%) were originated from the organized game (OG) actions, 29 finalizations (17.36%) were from counterattack actions (CA) and 43 finalizations (25.75%) were from Stopped Ball (SB) actions. Analyzing the obtained results in these actions, 13 finalizations (7.78%) resulted in scored goals, 4 finalizations (2.20%) resulted in balls on crossbar, 55 finalizations (32.94%) were defended by the opponent goalkeeper, 56 finalizations (33.53%) were intercepted by the opponent player and 39 finalizations (23.35%) went outside the sideline. Regarding to the importance of each offensive action in the total number of goals (13), 2 of them were scored (15.39%) in the OG actions, 5 goals (38.46%) in CA actions and 6 goals (46.15%) in SB actions. Portugal has finalized much through OG actions (56.89%), however it has a low effectiveness. 46.15% of goals were scored through SB, it makes sure that this move is an important offensive action and should be


The cold winter of 1978/1979 provided an opportunity for comparing effective bridge temperatures and temperature differences measured during these severe conditions with those predicted using methods developed at TRRL. The month of January 1979 contained the lowest temperatures, and both the effective temperatures of the Marlow-Bisham bridge (concrete box) and the temperature differences measured through the depth of its deck during this month are presented in the report and compared with predictions. Temperatures were also measured in the three elevated concrete slabs and two steel plates situated within the TRRL grounds. The levels of temperature reached during January 1979 are some of the lowest recorded at this site since measurements started there in 1970. Because of the sizes of the slabs and plates and their proximity to the ground, their temperatures are not strictly representative of bridge temperatures, but they provide useful supplementary information on the thermal behaviour of exposed concrete and steel. According to the Royal Meteorological Society weather logs, a provision 'general value' of temperature for the winter of 1978/1979 suggests that it was the fifth coldest of the century in England and Wales.(a)


We present the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) effect observations of a sample of 25 massive relaxed galaxy clusters observed with the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich array (SZA), an eight-element interferometer that is part of the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA). We performed an analysis of new SZA data and archival Chandra observations of this sample to investigate the integrated pressure—a proxy for cluster mass—determined from x-ray and SZ observations, two independent probes of the intra-cluster medium (ICM). This analysis makes use of a model for the ICM introduced by Bulbul (2010 Astrophys. J. 720 1038) which can be applied simultaneously to the SZ and x-ray data. With this model, we estimated the pressure profile for each cluster using a joint analysis of the SZ and x-ray data, and using the SZ data alone. We found that the integrated pressures measured from the x-ray and SZ data are consistent. This conclusion is in agreement with recent results obtained using WMAP and Planck data, confirming that SZ and x-ray observations of massive clusters detect the same amount of thermal pressure from the ICM. To test for possible biases introduced by our choice of model, we also fitted the SZ data using the universal pressure profile proposed by Arnaud (2010 Astron. Astrophys. 517 A92) and found consistency between the two models out to r500 in the pressure profiles and integrated pressures.


The effect of microstructure of nickel-aluminum bronze alloy (NAB) on the corrosion behavior in artificial seawater is studied using linear polarization, impedance and electrochemical noise tests. The alloy was heat treated in different heating cycles including quenching, normalizing and annealing. Microstructure of the specimens was characterized before and after heat treatment by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Results showed that the value of pearlite phase in the normalized alloy is much more than other specimens, leading to higher corrosion resistance. Polarization test showed that starting point of passivation in the polarization of the normalized alloy is lower than other specimens. The dissolution of Mn and Fe rich phases increased the Mn and Fe contents in solid solution, and this enhanced the passivation power of the surface of the alloy. The effect of the alloying elements was seen by a lower corrosion potential and an inflexion at around 280 mV (SCE) in the polarization curve, indicating the preferential dissolution of some elements beyond that potential. The polarization curve showed that the anodic polarization behavior of the alloy in the solution was essentially controlled by the intermetallic phases, mainly containing Cu. Two types of corrosion, pitting and selective corrosion, were observed in the specimens after being exposed to artificial seawater.


A feature of the Internet of Things (IoT) is that some users in the system need to be served quickly for small packet transmission. To address this requirement, a new multiple-input multiple-output non-orthogonal multiple access (MIMO-NOMA) scheme is designed in this paper, where one user is served with its quality of service requirement strictly met, and the other user is served opportunistically by using the NOMA concept. The novelty of this new scheme is that it confronts the challenge that the existing MIMO-NOMA schemes rely on the assumption that users' channel conditions are different, a strong assumption which may not be valid in practice. The developed precoding and detection strategies can effectively create a significant difference between the users' effective channel gains, and therefore, the potential of NOMA can be realized even if the users' original channel conditions are similar. Analytical and numerical results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed MIMO-NOMA scheme.


Conservation planning must accommodate changes in ecosystem composition to protect biodiversity Human impacts on the planet, including anthropogenic climate change, are reshaping ecosystems in unprecedented ways. To meet the challenge of conserving biodiversity in this rapidly changing world, we must understand how ecological assemblages respond to novel conditions (1). However, species in ecosystems are not fixed entities, even without human-induced change. All ecosystems experience natural turnover in species presence and abundance. Taking account of this baseline turnover in conservation planning could play an important role in protecting biodiversity.


The admixture of a small amount of emitter oxides, e.g. ThO2 ?>, La2O3 ?> or Ce2O3 ?> to tungsten generates the so-called emitter effect. It reduces the work function of tungsten cathodes, that are applied in high intensity discharge (HID) lamps. After leaving the electrode bulk and moving to the surface, a monolayer of Th, La, or Ce atoms is formed on the surface, which reduces the effective work function ϕ. Depending on the coverage of the electrode, the effective reduction in ϕ is subjected to the thermal desorption of the monolayer from the hot electrode surface. The thermal desorption of emitter atoms from the cathode is compensated not only by the supply from the interior of the electrode and by surface diffusion of the emitter material to its tip, but also to a large extent by a repatriation of the emitter ions from the plasma by the strong electric field in front of the cathode. Yet, an emitter ion current from the arc discharge to the anode may only be present, if the anode is cold enough to refrain from thermionic emission. Therefore, the ability of emitter oxides to reduce the temperature of tungsten anodes is only given for a moderate temperature so that the thermal desorption is low and an additional ion current is present in front of the anode. A higher electrode temperature leads to their evaporation and to an inversion of the emitter effect, which increases the temperature of the respective anodes in comparison with pure tungsten anodes. Within this article, the emitter effect of doped tungsten anodes and the transition to its inversion is investigated for thoriated, lanthanated, and ceriated tungsten electrodes by measurements of the electrode temperature in dependence on the discharge current. It is shown for a lanthanated and a ceriated anode that the emitter effect is sustained by an ion current at anode temperatures at which the thermal evaporation of emitter material is completed.


Learning occurs not only when we encode information but also when we test our memory for this information at a later time. In three empirical studies, I investigated the individual and combined effects of interleaved testing (via repeated rounds of study and test practice) and encoding (via motor enactment) during learning on later cued-recall performance for action phrases. Such materials (e.g., "water the flowers") contain a verb and a noun and approximate everyday memory that typically revolves around past and future actions. Study I demonstrated that both interleaved testing (vs. study only) and enactment (vs. verbal encoding) individually reduced the forgetting rate over a period of 1 week, but these effects were nonadditive. That is, the direct testing effect on the forgetting rate occurred for verbal, but not for enactive encoding; enactment reduced the forgetting rate for the study-only condition, but not for the study–test condition. A possible explanation of these findings is that both study techniques sufficiently elicit verb–noun relational processing that cannot be increased further by combining them. In Studies II and III, I replicated these testing-effect results and investigated whether they varied as a function of recall type (i.e., noun-cued recall of verbs and verb-cued recall of nouns). For verbal encoding (Study II), the direct testing effect was of similar size for both noun- and verb-cued recall. For enactive encoding, the direct testing effect was lacking irrespective of recall type. In addition, interleaved tests enhanced subsequent re-encoding of action phrases, leading to an accelerated learning. This indirect testing effect was increased for the noun-cued recall of verbs—for both verbal and enactive encoding. A possible explanation is that because nouns are semantically more stable, in that the meaning of nouns changes less over time and across different contexts, they are more recognizable. Hence, associated information (e.g., about the recall status) may be more available to the learner during restudy that, in turn, can initiate more effective re-encoding. The two different testing benefits (i.e., direct and indirect) may, partly, engage different mechanisms, as they were influenced differentially by the manipulations of encoding type and recall type. The findings presented in the thesis provide new knowledge regarding the combined effects of strategies and materials that influence memory.


There are few destinations more alluring than resorts. The combination of an evocative location, lavish rooms, exceptional service and architecture that's designed to inspire, has long been irresistible to travellers. In the past decade, however, the global search for stylish getaways has become so intense that hospitality has now become the world's fastest growing industry. Few people understand the nature of resorts and the secrets of designing them more than the world-renowned architects and designers, Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG), whose mission over the last six decades has been 'to design experiences that lift the spirit'. Having created hundreds of exclusive destinations for well-known companies such as the Four Seasons, Sheraton and Hyatt, ranging from luxurious island resorts to exotic desert getaways, sophisticated urban hideaways, and cool mountaintop retreats, WATG has become a respected name in the area of resorts and hotels. Some of their extraordinary projects include the Hotel Bora Bora in French Polynesia, The Palace of the Lost City in South Africa, The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel in California, and the Hyatt Regency in Kauai Resort & Spa in Hawaii. This spectacular volume looks at these and other world-class destinations, and also takes you behind the foyers to explore the inspiration and ideas behind the designs, which often begin from a thought on a notepad. As well, it offers insightful interviews with those involved with the projects, explains how the vernacular architecture of the region can influence the end design, and even predicts what resorts may look like in the future.


Abstract In the opinion of some experts in problems of nuclear nonproliferation, the threat that subnational terrorist groups may become owners of gas centrifuges is real. If enrichment of feeding uranium increases from 0.7 to 20%, then the scope of separative works and amount of the feeding uranium needed for uranium enrichment up to the weapons-grade level decreases by many times. In this connection it can be expected that a potential nuclear proliferator will use gas centrifuges for illegal reenrichment of 20% uranium, taken from export deliveries for research reactors or from any other sources, up to weapons-grade quality and then manufacture a crude nuclear explosive device. These reasons indicate that besides reduction of uranium enrichment to 20% 235U, other measures may also be required to upgrade self-protection of 20% uranium against its unauthorized reenrichment. Denaturing of 20% uranium due to the admixture of small 232U amounts (~0.1%) creates an effective barrier against its renrichment up to the weapons-grade level because in the reenriching process the following occurs: (a) the content of 232U increases; (b) the internal source of alpha radiation intensifies; (c) UF6 molecules are destroyed by alpha particles from decays of 232U with generation of low-volatile uranium fluorides and free fluorine; and (d) the neutron emission rate intensifies too, and this results in a cardinal reduction of energy yield from the chain fission reaction (CFR) by three orders of magnitude. So, uranium denatured with 232U becomes quite unattractive for potential nuclear proliferators. The authors are continuing the studies on the effects induced by the 232U admixture on the radiation resistance of UF6 and on the energy yield of CFR in reenriched uranium.


Actioning – and How to Do It is the indispensable companion to a vital component in every actor's toolkit.

Actioning is one of the most widely used rehearsal techniques for actors. It helps bring clarity to every moment or thought in the text, energising rehearsals and bringing performances to life.

Actioning will enable you to discover and unlock newfound energy, range, variety and clarity of body and voice, by:

Interrogating the text and making initial action verb choices
Playing your chosen actions, both verbally and physically
Maintaining an imaginative and emotional connection with each moment
Signposting each thought to your scene partner
From the publishers of the internationally successful Actions: The Actors' Thesaurus, this is the first in-depth exploration of Actioning for student actors, those who train them, and professionals working in the industry, whether they're brand new to the technique or have been practising it for years.

This step-by-step guide draws on concepts from Stanislavsky, using sample scenes from classic plays such as The Seagull and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as contemporary pieces, and is filled with exercises to demonstrate the technique at work.


Free-cell cultures of Trametes versicolor were compared with cultures immobilized on nylon mesh in a 2-litre bioreactor for transformation of pentachlorophenol (PCP) and 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), added at intervals to the liquid culture medium over a period of 816 hrs. Increasing amounts of PCP from 200 ppm to 2000 ppm added batchwise to cultures permitted acclimatization of the fungus to these toxic pollutants. A total addition of 2000 ppm of 2,4-DCP and 3400 ppm PCP were removed from the immobilized cultures with 85% of 2,4-DCP and 70% of PCP transformed by enzymes (laccase and Mn-peroxidase), 5% 2,4-DCP and 28% PCP adsorbed by the biomass and 10% 2,4-DCP and 2% PCP retained in the medium at the termination of the fermentation after 1020 hrs. In contrast free-cell cultures in the same medium with the same addition regime of PCP and 2,4-DCP, transformed 20% 2,4-DCP and 12% PCP by enzyme action, adsorbed 58% 2,4-DCP and 80% PCP by the biomass, and retained 22% 2,4-DCP and 8% PCP in the medium. The use of nylon mesh as an immobilization matrix for removal of PCP and 2,4-DCP facilitates more efficient removal of chlorophenols and can be adapted to scale-up for application of large volumes of chlorophenol-containing aqueous effluents.


In this user friendly introduction, European and American experts in the field join forces to explain what panel studies can achieve and to illustrate some of the potential pitfalls in the construction and analysis of panel data. Household panel studies provide one of the most significant national and international resources for analysing social and economic change. This is an essential and accessible introduction for those contemplating the use of panel studies for the first time and will be an invaluable resource for both practicing researchers and the commissioners of research.


Modeling can play a vital role in predicting, optimizing and analyzing the results of therapeutic ultrasound treatments. Simulating the propagating acoustic beam in various targeted regions of the body allows for the prediction of the resulting power deposition and temperature profiles. In this session we will apply various modeling approaches to breast, abdominal organ and brain treatments. Of particular interest is the effectiveness of procedures for correcting for phase aberrations caused by intervening irregular tissues, such as the skull in transcranial applications or inhomogeneous breast tissues. Also described are methods to compensate for motion in targeted abdominal organs such as the liver or kidney.
Douglas Christensen – Modeling for Breast and Brain HIFU Treatment Planning
Tobias Preusser – TRANS-FUSIMO - An Integrative Approach to Model-Based Treatment Planning of Liver FUS
Urvi Vyas – Acoustic Simulations in Transcranial MRgFUS: Treatment Prediction and Analysis
Learning Objectives:
1.
Understand the role of acoustic beam modeling for predicting the effectiveness of therapeutic ultrasound treatments.
2.
Apply acoustic modeling to specific breast, liver,
kidney and transcranial anatomies.
3.
Determine how to obtain appropriate acoustic modeling parameters from clinical images.
4.
Understand the separate role of absorption and scattering in energy delivery to tissues.
5.
See how organ motion can be compensated for in ultrasound therapies.
6.
Compare simulated data with clinical temperature measurements in transcranial applications.
Supported by NIH R01 HL172787 and R01 EB013433 (DC); EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under 270186 (FUSIMO) and 611889 (TRANS-FUSIMO)(TP); and P01 CA159992, GE, FUSF and InSightec (UV).


The role of templating sulfate anions in the hydrothermal formation of nanowires from Bi2O3 and K2SO4 is critically discussed on the basis of X-ray diffraction patterns, electron microscopy studies and ion exchange experiments. Thorough analytical investigations of the obtained nanowires together with mechanistic information from in situ studies indicate that sulfate ions are structurally incorporated into the product, thereby transforming the bismuth oxide precursors into a new material. We present an in-depth analysis of structural data in order to point out potential pitfalls of inorganic additives as templates in solution.


A fundamental trait of intelligence is the ability to achieve goals in the face of novel circumstances, such as making decisions from new action choices. However, standard reinforcement learning assumes a fixed set of actions and requires expensive retraining when given a new action set. To make learning agents more adaptable, we introduce the problem of zero-shot generalization to new actions. We propose a two-stage framework where the agent first infers action representations from action information acquired separately from the task. A policy flexible to varying action sets is then trained with generalization objectives. We benchmark generalization on sequential tasks, such as selecting from an unseen tool-set to solve physical reasoning puzzles and stacking towers with novel 3D shapes. Videos and code are available at this https URL


Two parallel real estate bubbles emerged in the United States between 2004 and 2008, one in residential real estate, the other in commercial real estate. The residential real estate bubble has received a great deal of popular, scholarly, and policy attention. The commercial real estate bubble, in contrast, has largely been ignored.This Article shows that the commercial real estate price bubble was accompanied by a change in the source of commercial real estate financing. Starting around 1998, securitization became an increasingly significant part of commercial real estate financing. The commercial mortgage securitization market underwent a major shift in 2004, however, as the traditional buyers of subordinated commercial real estate debt were outbid by collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Savvy, sophisticated, experienced commercial mortgage securitization investors were replaced by investors who merely wanted "product" to securitize. The result was a decline in underwriting standards in commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS).The commercial real estate bubble holds important lessons for understanding the residential real estate bubble. Unlike the residential market, there is almost no government involvement in commercial real estate. The existence of the parallel commercial real estate bubble presents a strong challenge to explanations of the residential bubble that focus on government affordable housing policy, the Community Reinvestment Act, and the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.


Entrenchment is fundamental to law. Grand documents like the U.S. Constitution, and mundane ones like city and corporate charters, entrench themselves against change through supermajority rules and other mechanisms. Entrenchment frustrates responsiveness, but it promotes stability, a rule of law virtue extolled for centuries. It does so through a straightforward channel: entrenched law is difficult to change. Scholars and legal designers have long understood this idea, which can be called the first status quo bias of entrenchment. I show that a second bias lurks: entrenchment confines changes that do take place to incremental steps. As entrenchment deepens, the scope of potential change to law collapses on the status quo. This has implications for constitutional law, especially the debate about Article V and the separation of powers, both of which shield the Constitution from change more than scholars realize. It also illuminates several questions, especially in comparative constitutional law, such as why constitutions remain unpopular after amendment. Finally, it generates a theory of constitutional failure. When voters' preferences evolve consistently in one direction, entrenched law eventually becomes as unstable as ordinary law, only less popular. Thus, entrenchment buys neither stability nor responsiveness. Because entrenchment confines legal change to incremental steps, amendment cannot correct the problem. This recasts fundamental questions of legal design in new light, and it may explain why some constitutions endure while others collapse.


There is concern in the UK about declining degree standards due to the impact of internationalisation initiatives upon the expanded taught Masters postgraduate sector. Despite interest in the policy and managerial aspects of internationalisation of higher education, few studies have researched selection procedures that might illuminate current practices. A case study approach was employed to study student selection in various Masters programmes in a postgraduate UK higher education institution specialising in engineering and management. The research revealed various selection processes in operation, some dependent upon English test scores, others reliant upon expert linguist assessments. There were differences between Schools in entry requirements for NNES students and in selection practices. Whatever the process or requirements, there was substantial support for complex, holistic rationales underlying Course Directors' selection decisions. Course Directors took into consideration academic qualifications and interests, motivation, readiness to adapt to UK HE culture, educational background and work experience. Course Directors were most concerned about students' writing abilities which were difficult to assess reliably on entry and sometimes this resulted in failure to reach the required standard for the thesis. This impacted upon the workloads of thesis supervisors and cast doubts upon the reliability of entry assessments to predict academic writing abilities in this context. The academic progress of students with borderline English language skills was followed during the year using several measures. Over half of the group was instructed to revise and resubmit their theses. In general, these students performed in line with their initial borderline status until the end of the year. The initial identification of students as borderline appeared sound whichever method was used to assess their language proficiency. The unusual aspects of the institutional context and the nature of the enquiry discourage generalisation but offer opportunities for further comparative case study research in contrasting settings.


In this study, a novel method for consolidation and improvement of resistance to water of gypsum-stuccoes was preliminarily investigated. The idea is treating gypsum with an aqueous solution of diammonium hydrogen phosphate (DAP, (NH4)2HPO4) to form hydroxyapatite (HAP, Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2), which has much lower solubility than gypsum. Tests carried out on gypsum paste samples, manufactured to resemble historic stuccoes, showed that, after treatment with the DAP solution, a significant improvement in mechanical properties was achieved and brushite (CaHPO4∙2H2O) was formed (alongside some other by-products, that can be removed by an additional poultice treatment). Even if brushite is more soluble than HAP, still its formation is expected to be beneficial for stuccoes conservation, as brushite is significantly less soluble than gypsum.


Background: we examined the pattern of Russian alcohol consumption, in particular its link with the social and economic situation in Russia after the first year of 'shock therapy' and super-inflation in a middle-sized Russian city, Taganrog. Methods: face-to-face Interviews were conducted, with a sampling frame consisting of dwellings selected from an official register and stratified by type and size. Results: In 1993–1994 heavy alcohol drinking (>0.5 I of 40% alcohol/week) was very common among men in Taganrog (34%), while it was uncommon among women (3%). Male heavy drinking was closely related to social, economic and family characteristics. The lowest educational groups and those In manual occupations reported heavy drinking more frequently than others, independently of household income. Among men, quarrels and conflicts in the family were associated with a sixfold higher frequency of heavy drinking compared to families reporting good relations. The social transformation taking place at present is being accompanied by increased social and economic pressures on families. Conclusions: we suggest that heavy alcohol consumption Is particularly common among men who are likely to have lost out during this transition. Russia's mortality crisis seems to be closely linked to its social transformation, but in different ways for men and women.


Autonomic computing was intended to tackle the growing complexity of Information Technology infrastructure by making it self-managing and self-adaptive. The core idea is to endow the system with enough intelligence to monitor continuously all aspects of the changing environments and resources, and to control management decisions according to high-level policies. For several years, great efforts have been devoted to the study of system performance, security, and fault management issues, but without much attention paid to self-adaptive social-collaborative system development. This may be because it is difficult to create such autonomic systems, which must sense and adapt to ongoing social context changes and support cyber-physical collaborations with minimal human involvement. These collaborations will have interactions between human and non-human entities that need to be self-managing with adaptive goals. This paper tackles the problem by introducing a new Generic Autonomic Social-Collaborative Framework (GASCF). It focuses on a high-level social-context based self-adaptive system, and its use of intelligent agents called autonomic adapters(AAs) that are driven by predefined policies. The paper describes the architecture of autonomic adapters and the general representation of policies. It explores the effectiveness of the approach by applying it to a large-scale collaborative healthcare service called GRaCE (https://www.egrist.org/) that supports mental-health within the United Kingdom National Health Service and other organisations.


On 26 February 2012, an inland ML 6.4 earthquake occurred near Wutai Township in Pingtung County, Taiwan and caused massive shaking in southern Taiwan. After the 2010 ML 6.4 Jiasian earthquake caused extensive damage in southern Taiwan, deep, complicated structures were revealed. This earthquake provided us an opportunity to further investigate related tectonic issues and hazard mitigation. Although the focal mechanisms of the Wutai earthquake from various institutes's readings were quite consistent, a large uncertainty was present with regard to focal depth. The relocated source parameters suggest a deeper depth of 32.3 km and a focal mechanism of a 326° strike, a 35° dip, and a 57° rake. Based on the tectonic seismic profile in southern Taiwan, the hypocenter of the Wutai earthquake is therefore likely located in the lower crust and implied that the deep blind fault system under the southwestern Central Range could even go deeper southward, revealing complicated thick-skinned tectonics. In addition, due to the abundance records of the P-wave first-motion polarities collected, we also tested the feasibility of searching the source depth by a polarity fitting for which we demonstrated several synthetic tests and showed its strength. In applying the polarity fitting method to the real case of Wutai earthquake, the results indicated that this approach may be affected by the uncertainty of the epicenter sensitively. However, the application showed the potential that a large number of polarity data existing in earthquake catalog does not only dedicate to determine the focal mechanisms conventionally but may also contribute to the source location in the future.


There is currently a limited understanding of adolescent sibling relationships where Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is present. This research gap remains despite preliminary findings suggesting that neurotypically developing (NTD) siblings undertake extra caregiving responsibilities and experience differential treatment from family members. Using a Family Systems approach, this qualitative study investigated NTD adolescent sisters' roles and responsibilities for their younger adolescent brother with ASD from the perspectives of 11 family members (including NTD sisters, brothers with ASD, mothers, and fathers). Findings indicate the sisters undertook various caregiving roles and responsibilities, particularly at school, which had both positive and negative influences on the family system. Additionally, sisters perceived they undertook unfair household responsibilities, received reduced parental attention, and desired both distance from and engagement with their families. These perceptions varied amongst other family members. Implications of these findings and strategies for best supporting adolescent NTD siblings are discussed.


Background Primary care providers have been criticised for inadequate routine assessment of patients' exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV). Aims To report on the content/ methods used and experiences learned regarding three key objectives in identifying and managing victimised patients at primary care settings, as part of a Thesis. Methods A qualitative study employing three focus groups with 18 General Practitioners drawn from respective Networks in Greece was designed to explore physicians' views, perceptions and current practices. Tools for the assessment of physicians' training needs were validated and implemented focusing on Physicians' Readiness to Manage Intimate Partner Violence (PREMIS) employing a sample of 80 physicians. Lastly, acceptability and effectiveness of an educational outreach aiming at increasing physicians' perceived and actual knowledge, perceived readiness and number of detected cases was assessed using a pre/post-evaluation study design of a two-day training programme offered to 26 licensed General Practitioners/General Practice residents employing also a control group. Results Issues of discomfort in discussing IPV, lack of confidence in diagnoses and mistrust in referral structures were indicated as barriers of effective case management. The Greek version of the PREMIS survey demonstrated good psychometric properties. The educational programme met high acceptability and proved to be effective in introducing changes in the physicians' perceived readiness as well as their perceived and actual knowledge. Significance International experience/tools were tailored for Greek primary care services, demonstrating the great potential of comprehensive efforts to address IPV at the very early stage of contact of victimised patients with health care system.


The UK has been an exception to the trend of channelling revenues arising from the depletion of subsoil assets into a resource fund. In this paper, we construct an asset account for the UK's oil and gas resources to evaluate the cost of this exceptionalism and, looking forward, the implications of establishing a fund now. We show that had a decision been made to establish a resource fund in 1975, this fund could now be substantial in size (about GBP 280 billion in 2010). A significant contributor to this result is the historical efficiency of the UK fiscal regime in capturing oil and gas rents, as we demonstrate. A further benefit of the resource fund would have been a reduction in volatility of resource revenues flowing to the Treasury. An ex post cost-benefit analysis of the simulated fund suggests it could have been a sound public investment. However, our simulation of a future resource fund based on (possible) shale gas and oil revenues shows that it could reach a size similar to the 1975-2010 fund only under optimistic assumptions about prices, revenues and economic reserves.


We use graceful labellings of paths to give a new way of constructing terraces for cyclic groups. These terraces are then used to find cyclic solutions to the three table Oberwolfach problem, ${\rm OP}(r,r,s)$, where two of the tables have equal size. In particular we show that, for every odd $r \geq 3$ and even $r$ with $4 \leq r \leq 16$, there is a number $N_r$ such that there is a cyclic solution to ${\rm OP}(r,r,s)$ whenever $s \geq N_r$. The terraces we are able to construct also prove a conjecture of Anderson: For all $m \geq 3$, there is a terrace of ${\Bbb Z}_{2m}$ which begins $0, 2k, k, \ldots$ for some $k$.


Although there is progress in developing green sectors in some countries, the key challenge facing the expansion of economy-wide green innovation and structural change is the absence of relevant policy follow-up to the green stimulus enacted during the Great Recession. The boost to green sectors provided by such measures is waning quickly, given that much of the green stimulus focused on energy efficiency. The biggest obstacles to sustaining green growth are major market disincentives, especially the underpricing of fossil fuels and market failures to spur green innovation. A three-part strategy to overcome these obstacles would involve, first, removing fossil fuel subsidies, second, employing market-based instruments to further reduce the social costs of fossil fuel use, and third, allocating any resulting revenue to public support for green innovation and investments. Such a strategy would ensure that green growth is not about promoting niche green sectors but instigating economy-wide innovation and structural transformation.


The book examines the problems of mathematical modeling of complex, including information systems. Fundamental problems of information theory, coding theory, complexity theory, algorithms, theory, probability theory, theoretical cryptography are considered. The basic mathematical problems of information security are discussed. Special attention is given to the availability of presentation. Relationships of fundamental mathematical tasks and problems of information security are obtained.


Although Streptococcus pneumoniae is the leading cause of community-acquired pneumonia in humans, the mechanism whereby the organism penetrates lung tissue is poorly understood. In the present study we have examined the capacity of pneumococci to penetrate A549 cells, a human lung alveolar carcinoma (type II pneumocyte) cell line. Not all clinical S. pneumoniae isolates initially tested were capable of penetration of the cells, as judged by resistance to extracellular antibiotics. The presence of a polysaccharide capsule also significantly reduced the capacity to both adhere to and penetrate A549 cells. Electron micrographs showed the presence of pneumococci enclosed within vacuoles of intact A549 cells, but bacteria were also seen free in the cytoplasm of damaged cells. Ongoing bacterial DNA, RNA, or protein synthesis was not essential for uptake of pneumococci by A549 cells, and uptake was not diminished by pretreatment of the pneumococci with trypsin. However, inhibition of A549 microfilament assembly with cytochalasin D abolished the phenomenon.


As the rampant speculation preceding Justice Kennedy's retirement made clear, it is difficult to predict when Justices will retire. Justices often defy the conventional wisdom that a Justice is more likely to retire when the president and Senate share the Justice's ideology. For example, Justice Ginsburg chose to remain on the Court rather than retire during President Obama's terms. Her choice is not unusual. Since 1954, a majority of similarly situated Justices refused to retire. In light of this behavior, it is no surprise that existing studies struggle to explain Justices' retirement decisions and disagree on whether political factors predict retirement. This Article identifies key reasons past studies have found Justices' retirement decisions inexplicable. No studies measure whether Justices actually succeed in obtaining like-minded successors. Nor do past studies consider accurate measures of ideology while controlling for retirements forced by health. This empirical study of modern-era retirements addresses each of these shortcomings. It constructs more, accurate measures of ideology by using voting records to pinpoint ideological similarities or differences between Justices, presidents, and Senators who may appoint a successor. It also dfferentiates between voluntary retirements and involuntary retirements forced by health. Finally, by comparing the votes of a Justice and his or her successor relative to other Justices remaining on the Court, this study offers the first measure of Justices' success in obtaining like-minded replacements. The analysis reveals that Justices have had limited opportunities to retire to ideologically compatible presidents and Senates, and even then, limited success in obtaining like-minded replacements. Not all Justices had opportunities to time their retirements politically. Health problems forced many Justices to leave at politically inopportune times, and some Justices near the center of the Court were ideologically distant from leaders of both parties by the time they retired Further, even Justices who retired to ideologically compatible presidents rarely obtained a successor who closely replicated the retiring Justice's voting behavior. Limited *


As children we are encouraged to dream big, and many young people including young women and girls aspire to a career in science. While there are role models at the top tiers of science combating gender bias, the jump from PhD student to lead researcher may at first seem insurmountable for many women. Students considering a career in science are told that competition for research funding is fierce, giving rise to short-term contracts and job insecurity. This sees scientists working overtime and weekends and that makes it harder to succeed if you are a female scientist and mother. This outlook can leave students questioning their future in science. But there is a way to make a successful and rewarding career in science. Our own personal stories demonstrate this. Disciplines Medicine and Health Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences Publication Details Perrow, K., Wyatt, A. & Sanderson-Smith, M. (2017). How to find success as a woman in science. The Conversation, 10 February 2017 1-5. This journal article is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/4414


In this paper, we propose a new notion called $k$ -times attribute-based anonymous access control , which is particularly designed for supporting cloud computing environment. In this new notion, a user can authenticate himself/herself to the cloud computing server anonymously. The server only knows the user acquires some required attributes, yet it does not know the identity of this user. In addition, we provide a $k$ -times limit for anonymous access control. That is, the server may limit a particular set of users (i.e., those users with the same set of attribute) to access the system for a maximum $k$ -times within a period or an event. Further additional access will be denied. We also prove the security of our instantiation. Our implementation result shows that our scheme is practical.


Coronitic metagabbros (CMGs) in the Adirondack Highlands display chemical and isotopic features consistent with derivation from an enriched asthenospheric mantle source and are samples of the parental magma of Adirondack anorthosite. Primary ophitic textures in the CMGs are overprinted by mineral coronas developed during granulite-facies metamorphism of anhydrous olivine gabbronorites during the Ottawan orogeny. Restricted in silica content (45–48 wt%) and olivine normative, the CMGs are predominantly tholeiitic in composition, although a minority display some calc-alkaline features. Unlike older Adirondack mafic and felsic suites, the CMG rocks lack or have greatly reduced, incompatible element patterns (N PM ) generally associated with subduction processes. Rare-earth elements (N CH ) have minor light rare-earth element (LREE) enrichment with La/Sm values from 1.42 to 1.98, compatible with a transitional to enriched mantle source. When CMGs are plotted on various major (TiO 2 versus P 2 O 5 ) and trace-element (Sm versus Cr) diagrams, the CMGs form a continuous field between that of oxide- and apatite-rich gabbros (OGNs and OAGNs) and anorthosites and leucogabbros within the Adirondacks. Initial epsilon Nd (e Nd ) values are +3.13 to +3.69, generally higher than Adirondack anorthosite values, but significantly less than contemporaneous depleted mantle. Neodymium T DM model ages that are ∼400 million years older than their crystallization age and enriched compositional trends indicate that they were not derived from depleted mantle. These data indicate Adirondack CMGs were derived from a previously untapped and enriched asthenospheric source. Asthenospheric upwelling was triggered by lithospheric delamination following Shawinigan orogenesis at ca. 1160 Ma and provides a link between tectonism, mantle geodynamics, and massif anorthosite petrogenesis in the Grenville allochthonous monocyclic belt.


For me, oppression is the greatest calamity of humanity. It diverts and pollutes the best energies of man – of oppressed and oppressor alike. For if colonization destroys
the colonized, it also rots the colonizer.
Memmi, 1965: xvii

Modern Western psychology emerged and developed in the context of European conquest, exploitation and domination. That historical link is no accident. Indeed, it can help us understand how psychological concerns may be approached more critically in our increasingly globalized world. Thus,
American community psychologist Tod Sloan, in his useful introduction to globalization, poverty and social justice, asks a largely psychological question: why, in light of what the world has experienced through exploitation built
into capitalist economics, do so many people believe capitalism is a good system? His answer – 'the curious phenomenon associated with ideology'(2005: 319) – is a central theme of this chapter.

I present first a brief critical history of colonial relations to help link cultural and psychological phenomena such as ideology with 'the entangled web' of global economic and political processes in which human survival and wellbeing are now embedded (Marsella, cited in Sloan, 2005). I focus throughout on the relationship between colonizer and indigenous peoples. The term 'indigenous peoples' emerged in the 1970s from the struggles of the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the United States and the Canadian Indian Brotherhood as a way to internationalize the experiences and issues of some of the world's
colonized peoples (Smith, 1999). I also attempt to internationalize the issues, in this case for some of the world's colonizer peoples, by using an approach consistent
with a critical psychology. In this chapter I consider globalization as a form of ongoing colonialism, open to the same criticism that it relies on an instrumental
racism and European cultural supremacy as ideological supports. These ideologies are the building blocks for a contemporary version of a colonial'commonsense' that colonizer groups in modern societies draw upon for everyday
decisions. Such 'commonsense' continues to see indigenous people as an enemy and assertions of their collective rights as primitive impediments to a
world-wide capitalism.

A single case story woven throughout the chapter illustrates a situation in New Zealand in which I was involved as an activist Pakeha psychologist. The story provides an example of how racism and cultural supremacy are 'lived ideologies' (Billig, Condor, Edwards, Gane, Middleton, & Radley, 1989) in
contemporary Western societies. These ideologies underpin a pervasive 'commonsense' with which colonizer groups support, or at least acquiesce in,
modern-day confiscations and suppressions of indigenous peoples. The impact of such a 'colonial commonsense' on indigenous peoples in New Zealand, has particular application to other former British colonies such as
Australia, Canada and the United States of America where non-indigenous groups are now the numerical majority.


Book culture has emerged as an extremely dynamic and border-crossing field of research, internationally and in Finland. The editors and most of the writers of this book were members of the organizing and program committees of the 18th Annual Conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP), Book Culture from Below, that took place in Helsinki in 2010. This book provides, for the first time in English, an overview of an important epoch in Finnish book and reading history. Besides depicting book culture at the periphery of Europe, it contributes to our understanding of the power of the urbanized European literary world of the 1700s. The new reading culture that emerged in Finland during the 1700s affected readers and all levels of society in many ways. Along with other trends, the arrival of translated fiction and Enlightenment literature from Europe opened and irrevocably altered the Finns' world view. The change was especially pronounced in cities. Scholars, merchants, craftspersons, as well as military officers stationed at Helsinki's offshore Sveaborg fortress, acquired world literature and guides intended for professionals at, for example, book auctions. In this book, researchers from different fields examine the significance and influence of that era's books from cultural, historical, ideological, and social perspectives. What kinds of books did the citizens of Helsinki really buy, loan, and read during the 1700s? What topics and ideas introduced by the new literature were discussed in salons and reading circles? Who were the books' large-scale consumers? Who were the literary opinion leaders of their times? Why did people read? Did the books change their readers' lives?


Introduction The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act acknowledges the value of community health workers (CHWs) as frontline public health workers. Consequently, growing attention has been placed on promoting CHWs as legitimate partners to provide support to health care teams and patients in the prevention, management, and control of chronic disease, particularly among diverse populations and high-need individuals. Methods Using a mixed-methods research approach, we investigated the integration of CHWs into health care teams from the CHW perspective. We conducted a survey of 265 CHWs and interviews with 23 CHWs to better understand and describe their experience and their perceived opportunities and challenges regarding their integration within the context of health care reform. Results Feelings of organizational support were positively correlated with the number of CHWs in the organization. CHWs reported the following facilitators to integration: having team meetings (73.7%), training inside (70.4%) and outside of the organization (81.6%), access to electronic health records, and ability for CHWs to stay connected to the community. Conclusion The perspectives of CHWs on their positive and negative experiences offer useful and innovative insight into ways of maximizing their impact on the health care team, patients, and their role as key emissaries between clinical services and community resources.


Cis-regulatory elements ensure that the expression domains of two patterning signals do not overlap. Signaling by the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) class of transforming growth factor–β (TGF-β) ligands directs the establishment of embryonic dorsoventral (DV) polarity in most animals. In many vertebrates (mammals excluded), the BMP ligand antidorsalizing morphogenetic protein (Admp) opposes the actions of BMP4 and BMP7 to specify the DV axis. In the sea squirt Ciona intestinalis, opposing activities of Admp and a BMP orthologous to vertebrate BMP2 and BMP4 (BMP2/4) direct DV axis formation, with Bmp2/4 expressed in the ventral epidermis and Admp in the lateral epidermis and dorsal ectoderm. Imai et al. report that the gene encoding the Ciona homolog of the Xenopus TGF-β ligand Pinhead is located adjacent to Admp and is expressed in the ventral epidermis in a domain that overlapped that of Bmp2/4 but did not overlap the Admp expression domain. Both Admp and BMP2/4 were required for Pinhead expression. Pinhead antagonized both BMP2/4 and Admp signaling, as assayed by the expression of ventral and lateral cell fate markers in embryos injected with morpholino oligonucleotides directed against these ligands. In coimmunoprecipitation assays with tagged proteins, Pinhead directly interacted with Admp robustly, but only weakly with BMP2/4. The authors found that the Pinhead and Admp genes were located next to one another and in the same orientation in many invertebrates and nonmammalian vertebrates, suggesting that this arrangement of the genes was important for some aspect of their function. Using fluorescent reporter constructs driven by the cis-regulatory regions of Pinhead and Admp, the authors demonstrated that transcription of these two genes was mutually exclusive. Chromatin conformation capture methods indicated that transcription of Pinhead caused sequestration of the enhancer driving Admp expression. These results suggest a model in which Pinhead suppresses Admp activity in two ways: first indirectly at the transcriptional level by reducing Admp production and then at the protein level through direct interaction. K. S. Imai, Y. Daido, T. G. Kusakabe, Y. Satou, Cis-acting transcriptional repression establishes a sharp boundary in chordate embryos. Science 337, 964–967 (2012). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The dominant approach to counter-piracy strategy off Somalia is astonishingly narrow-minded. Deterrence, surveillance and military operations do not provide sustainable or efficient solutions; better strategic alternatives must draw on the lessons of 21st-century peace operations. This perspective leads to an understanding of counterpiracy as a problem of peacebuilding. This allows restructuring and reframing of the problem to permit a much wider repertoire of policy solutions than is currently conceived. This repertoire may include development and security assistance programmes as well as state-building programmes. The approach also permits integration of lessons learned in the frame of international peacebuilding operations, including avoiding technocratic solutions, focusing on power constellations, integrating local knowledge and incrementalism. If the international community wishes to take piracy seriously and respond to its complexities, it would be well advised to adopt a policy in which such alternatives are considered.


Background: Scars developing after wrist cutting (a deliberate action of self-harm) have various patterns and are difficult to treat. In addition, they can occur at anatomically prominent sites and are easily recognized as caused by self-harm; thus, scars can cause lifelong regrets. However, there are no standard treatment guidelines for wounds inflicted through self-harm. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of our novel technique using 90-degree rotated skin grafts, which were thinly collected at a thickness of 250 μm from a wound site, together with minced-skin grafts. Methods: Five regions on the forearm of 5 Japanese women (age, 19–29 years) were treated from July 2011 to April 2012. The skin at the scar site was cut with an electric dermatome at a thickness of 250 μm. The scar contained therein was excised, and the skin was rotated 90 degree and transplanted. The scar remaining in the dermis of the wound was resected and resurfaced. At the site where the skin graft was insufficient, the skin was processed into a minced shape and then transplanted (minced-skin graft). Results: In all cases, skin grafting was performed. The scar was successfully camouflaged and transformed into a socially acceptable appearance. At the wound site, the skin texture was reproduced. Following skin grafting, nodules, pigmentation, and redness around the graft transiently occurred, which then disappeared over time. No scar contractures were observed. Conclusion: A combination of thin-skin graft rotated 90 degrees and minced-skin graft is useful in camouflaging a wide variety of deliberate self-harm scars.


It is now widely accepted that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have an important role in national development. However, the nature of the link between the two remains unclear. Much of this state is due to lack of clarity on how ICT is conceptualized in this context. While some conceptual frameworks have been proposed, they lack important aspects that can give a more comprehensive picture. In this paper, we attempt to further clarify how ICT is conceptualised in development. Using secondary data, we evaluate two conceptual frameworks that bring together the range of views of ICT, their manifold impacts, and the assumptions and perspectives of the range of actors in any given development project that involves ICT. The specific case we examine is an e-Government initiative called e-Seva in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. We found that even when using the two frameworks in conjunction, many aspects of the ICT initiatives remain unclear. We suggest ways of combining different frameworks to provide a sharper lens to give us a better understanding of why ICT for development projects may fail or succeed.


This article examines differences in average estimated risk premiums of individual distressed hedge funds as compared to those of their surviving counterparts, along with a unique measure of performance in order to provide evidence of why the distressed funds eventually dissolved. The sample period is selected to cover the sharp downturn in U.S. equity markets of 2000 and beyond, when many individual hedge funds dissolved. Sample data are derived from a unique database of the five major hedge fund providers existing during the sample period. The estimation technique is performed on a sample of 212 distressed hedge funds and 1,555 surviving funds of various investment styles. The main results generally show that for the diverse hedge fund styles the average risk premiums of the distressed funds are greater in absolute value than those of their surviving peers; moreover, these differences generally correspond to significantly lower average performance values for the distressed funds. In short, the hedge funds with the greatest exposure to the risk factors are the funds most at risk of dissolution. These results are of particular importance for individual investors as economic warning signals in monitoring the performance and risk characteristics of the funds comprising their investment portfolios.


ABSTRACT This paper explores the construct validity and structural properties of the ERG22+ formulation tool, used in the assessment of risk and need in extremist offenders. The ERG22+ was developed from a clinical perspective, and was based on the small number of case studies and limited research evidence that were available at the time. It suggests three domains relevant to risk, namely Engagement, Intent, and Capability. These were originally offered as a guide to risk formulation within a functional analysis framework, but were not empirically derived. The items within the ERG22+ are scored on ordinal ratings which offers the possibility to develop subscales within the tool, but the conceptual overlap across the domains offered suggests that these would not be empirically reproduced. In this paper the structural properties of the ERG22+ were examined through factor analysis and multidimensional scaling (MDS) to inform the development of measurement scales. The ERG22+ shows promise as a risk and need formulation tool, which could be developed further in light of the findings from this study. Issues of content validity and areas for further development are discussed.


Climate warming on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) potentially influences many climate parameters other than temperature including wind speed, cloudiness and precipitation. Temporal trends of surface wind speed at 71 stations above 2000 m above sea level in the TP are examined during 1980–2005. To uncover causes of observed trends in wind speed, relationships with surface temperature, a TP index and sunshine duration are also analysed. The TP index is calculated as the accumulated 500 hPa geopotential height above 5000 m over the region of 30°N–40°N, 75°E–105°E from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. The annual mean wind speed patterns during 1980–2005 are similar to those in different seasons, with higher wind speeds in the northern and western parts of the TP. Highest mean wind speeds occur in spring and lowest in autumn. During 1980–2005, annual and seasonal mean wind speeds show statistically decreasing trends at most stations. The mean trend magnitude for annual mean wind speed is −0.24 m s−1 decade−1, with the maximum decline in spring (−0.29 m s−1 decade−1) and minimum in autumn (−0.19 m s−1 decade−1). Both annually and in different seasons, wind speed is significantly negatively correlated with mean temperature, minimum temperature, maximum temperature, and the TP index, but significantly positively correlated with sunshine duration. Wind speed trends fail to show a simple elevation dependency but speeds are positively correlated with meridional surface temperature/pressure gradients. Warming in the TP may weaken the latitudinal gradients of both regional temperature and surface pressure, thus altering the regional atmospheric circulation and accounting in part for the observed decline of wind speed.


Among the most beautifully executed and highly collectible advertising art is that related to firearms and fishing tackle. Companies like Winchester, Remington, Colt, Dupont, Marlin, Bristol and many others took great care and went to great expense to promote their products. Among the artists engaged to create the images were N.C. Wyeth, E. Osthaus, A.B. Frost, Remington, and A. Russell. This beautiful new book, in full color, captures the power of these images in a way that has never been done in book form before. Designed for the enthusiasts and collector, it has gives the information in a concise, accurate way and has a value guide. Anyone who looks through the pages of Firearms and Tackle Memorabilia will appreciate the beauty of the art. Included are signs and posters, calendars, trade cards, boxes, envelopes, and other highly sought after memorabilia gathered from auction houses, dealers, and private collections around the country.


The development of artificial copper enzymes from sterol carrier protein type 2 like domain (SCP‐2L) for the use in asymmetric catalysis was explored. For this purpose, proteins were modified with various nitrogen donor ligands. Maleimide‐containing ligands were found most suitable for selective cysteine bio‐conjugation. Fluorescence spectroscopy was used to confirm copper binding to an introduced phenanthroline ligand, which was introduced in two unique cysteine containing SCP‐2L mutants. Copper adducts of several modified SCP‐2L templates were applied in asymmetric Diels–Alder reactions. A clear influence of both the protein environment and the introduced ligand was found in the asymmetric Diels–Alder reaction between azachalcone and cyclopentadiene. A promising enantioselectivity of 25 % ee was obtained by using SCP‐2L V83C modified with phenanthroline–maleimide ligand. Good endo selectivity was observed for SCP‐2L modified with the dipicolylamine‐based nitrogen donor ligand. These artificial metalloenzymes provide a suitable starting point for the implementation of various available techniques to optimise the performance of this system.


A novel schema of intrapatient dose escalation was applied to determine a population-based maximum tolerated dose (pMTD) for irinotecan (CPT-11, Camptosar) and carboplatin (Paraplatin) in a phase I trial. A total of 74 patients with advanced solid tumors were enrolled with the following characteristics: men/women, 46/28; median age, 61 years; 51 patients with and 23 patients without prior chemotherapy; performance status of 0-1 (93%) and 2 (7%). Patients were started at dose level 1 with irinotecan at 200 mg/m2, and carboplatin at an area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) of 5 mg/mL x min, administered every 21 days. Depending on degree of toxicity observed, the dose for each patient in each subsequent cycle was determined according to a predetermined schema of dose levels. Individual maximum tolerated dose (iMTD) was determined for each patient. The pMTD was defined as the highest dose level for which the incidence of dose-limiting toxicity occurred in less than 33% of the patient population. The most common dose-limiting toxicity included neutropenia (58%), thrombocytopenia (15%), diarrhea (8%), and nausea/emesis (7%). The iMTD ranged from dose level-3 (irinotecan at 100 mg/m2 and carboplatin at an AUC of 4) to dose level 5 (irinotecan at 350 mg/m2 and carboplatin at AUC 6). The pMTD was determined to be dose level-1 and 1 for previously chemotherapy-treated and--untreated patients, respectively. Fifty-nine patients were assessable for response. Of note, a response rate of 40% was observed in 15 patients with relapsed small-cell lung cancer previously treated with platinum-based therapy. We recommend dose level 1 of irinotecan (200 mg/m2) and carboplatin (AUC 5) for chemotherapynaive patients, and dose level-1 of irinotecan (150 mg/m2) and carboplatin (AUC 5) for chemotherapy-treated patients in phase II trials.


Correcting misinformation is challenging because of the difficulty in changing biases (Ecker et al., 2013). Biased decisions are learned behaviors. People choose information that they are more frequently exposed to and from which they gather rewards (Sali, Anderson, & Courtney, 2016). Social media has become a new reward system for biased information (Neubaum et al, 2016). The difficulty of correcting misinformation multiplies as people have begun choosing social media as their preferred news platform. Social media news has recently focused its reporting on police (Sela-Shayovitz, 2015). Among participants who saw a misleading clip before a longer video of a police/suspect interaction, those with negative perceptions of police would be less likely to change their perspectives after seeing the full video. This study utilized results from 23 adults ages 18 to 77. Participants were given surveys on media consumption and a modified Global Attitudes Toward Police Scale (Hurst & Frank, 2000). Participants were directed towards one of two scenarios: 1) viewing a short, misleading clip from a longer video or 2) viewing a short, representative clip from a longer video. Participants were then given a survey to record their impression of their video clip. Participants were then shown the full video, followed by the survey. Results demonstrated that participants' personal bias did not have a significant influence on their perceptions of what occurred during the videos until viewing the full video. Results of showed the prevalence of confirmation bias over personal bias. Results also found that the representative video had a positive impact on participants' perceptions despite previously held biases, mirroring the findings of previous research on the impact of positive messages in television (Brown, 1992). As social media news expands, and information becomes easier to send and receive, it is important to explore its uses as a positive tool.


The atomic force microscope (AFM) has been widely used as a nano-effector with a function of force sensing to detect interaction forces between an AFM tip and a sample, thereby controlling the process of the nanomanipulation. However, both the extent and accuracy of force application are significantly limited by the nonlinearity of the commonly used optical lever with a nonlinear position-sensitive detector (PSD). In order to compensate the nonlinearity of the optical lever, a nonlinear calibration method is presented. This method applies the nonlinear curve fit to a full-range position-voltage response of the photodiode, obtaining a continuous function of its voltage-related sensitivity. Thus, interaction forces can be defined as integrals of this sensitivity function between any two responses of photodiode voltage outputs, instead of rough transformation with a single conversion factor. The lateral position-voltage response of the photodiode, a universally acknowledged puzzle, was directly characterized by an accurately calibrated force sensor composed of a tippless piezoresistive microcantilever and corresponding electronics, regardless of any knowledge of the cantilevers and laser measuring system. Experiments using a rectangular cantilever (normal spring constant 0.24 N/m) demonstrated that the proposed nonlinear calibration method restrained the sensitivity error of normal position-voltage responses to 3.6% and extended the force application range.


Given the prevalence of suicide and self-harm throughout global societies, the need to more readily manage associated behaviours is of central importance. Particularly as in many countries and cultures harmful acts towards oneself remain a prosecutable crime if the person in crisis survives. Yet despite once constituting a novel approach, mindfulness techniques within clinical settings have rapidly grown in popularity and become an integral component of behavioural regulation and management. Recognising the potential benefits of mindful techniques including increased self-awareness and enhanced coping strategies, application of the technique has now been widely used as a tool to help individuals desist from engaging in deliberate self-harm and experiencing suicidal ideations. Addressing the need for a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of mindfulness applications within clinical settings as an approach to managing self-harming behaviours, the present exploration concludes mindfulness techniques are an appropriate intervention but on-going evaluation is required to provide greater clarity in explaining the specific link to effective emotional management.


The arrival of digital data in agriculture opens the possibility to realise productivity gains
through precision farming. It also raises questions about the distribution of these gains
between farmers and agricultural service providers. Farmers' control of the data is often
perceived as a means to appropriate a larger share of these gains. We show how data-driven
agricultural business models lock farm data into machines and devices that reduce
competition in downstream agricultural services markets. Personal data protection regulation
is not applicable to non-personal agricultural machine data. Voluntary data charters in the
EU and US emulate GDPR-like principles to give farmers more control over their data but do
not really change market-based outcomes due to their legal design. Third-party platforms are
a necessary intermediary because farmers cannot achieve the benefits from applications that
depend on economies of scale and scope in data aggregation. The low marginal value of
individual farm data in such applications puts farmers in a weak bargaining position. Neutral
intermediaries that are not vertically integrated into agricultural machines, inputs or services
may circumvent monopolistic data lock-ins provided they can access the data. Unless they
find a way to generate and monetise economies of scale and scope with their data, their
business model may not be sustainable. Regulatory intervention that facilitates portability and
interoperability might be useful for farmers to overcome data lock-ins, but designing data
access rights is a complicated issue as many parties contribute data to the production process
and may claim access rights. Minor changes in who gets access to which data under which
conditions may have significant effects on stakeholders. We conclude that digital agriculture
still has some way to go to reach equitable and efficient solutions to data access rights.
Similar situations are likely to occur in other industries that rely on non-personal machine
data.


We combined a detailed field study of canopy gap fraction with spectral mixture analyses of Landsat 7 ETM1 satellite imagery to assess landscape and regional dynamics of canopy damage following selective logging in an eastern Amazon forest. Our field studies encompassed measurements of ground damage and canopy gap fractions along multitemporal sequences of post-harvest regrowth of 0.5-3.5 yr. Areas used to stage har- vested logs prior to transport, called log decks, had the largest forest gap fractions, but their contribution to the landscape-level gap dynamics was minor. Tree falls were spatially the most extensive form of canopy damage following selective logging, but the canopy gap fractions resulting from them were small. Reduced-impact logging resulted in consistently less damage to the forest canopy than did conventional logging practices. This was true at the level of individual landscape strata such as roads, skids, and tree falls as well as at the area-integrated scale. A spectral mixture model was employed that utilizes bundles of field and image spectral reflectance measurements with Monte Carlo analysis to estimate high spatial resolution (subpixel) cover of forest canopies, exposed nonphotosynthetic vegetation, and soils in the Landsat imagery. The method proved highly useful for quantifying forest canopy cover fraction in log decks, roads, skids, tree fall, and intact forest areas, and it tracked canopy damage up to 3.5 yr post-harvest. Forest canopy cover fractions derived from the satellite observations were highly and inversely correlated with field-based canopy gap fraction. Subsequent regional-scale estimates of forest gap fraction were derived from the combi- nation of field- and satellite-based measurements. A 450-km 2 study of gap fraction showed that approximately one-half of the canopy opening caused by logging is closed within one year of regrowth following timber harvests. This is the first regional-scale study utilizing field measurements, satellite observations, and models to quantify forest canopy damage and recovery following selective logging in the Amazon.


One of the leading theories about consciousness is Integrated Information Theory (IIT) which presents a mathematical equation that will calculate a Φ value based on probability distributions of the brain as a whole and its various regions that perform different functions. This Φ value then generates a multi-dimensional shape in a hypothetical space called qualia space which actually defines our conscious experience. As its name suggests IIT relies heavily on the reasoning that led to information theory and digital computing and telecommunications. It is argued that as numbers do not exist in Nature it is impossible for an organic brain to perform as a digital computer. However electromagnetic radiation (EMR) does exist in Nature and EMR is capable of communicating information. A theory is presented that information in the brain is communicated via brainwaves at the speed of light and that the brain is in fact an electronic device that acts as an analog computer.


The therapeutic efficacy of two bis(thiosemicarbazonato) copper complexes, glyoxalbis[N4-methylthiosemicarbazonato]Cu(II) [Cu(II)(gtsm)] and diacetylbis[N4-methylthiosemicarbazonato]Cu(II) [Cu(II)(atsm)], for the treatment of prostate cancer was assessed in cell culture and animal models. Distinctively, copper dissociates intracellularly from Cu(II)(gtsm) but is retained by Cu(II)(atsm). We further demonstrated that intracellular H2gtsm [reduced Cu(II)(gtsm)] continues to redistribute copper into a bioavailable (exchangeable) pool. Both Cu(II)(gtsm) and Cu(II)(atsm) selectively kill transformed (hyperplastic and carcinoma) prostate cell lines but, importantly, do not affect the viability of primary prostate epithelial cells. Increasing extracellular copper concentrations enhanced the therapeutic capacity of both Cu(II)(gtsm) and Cu(II)(atsm), and their ligands (H2gtsm and H2atsm) were toxic only toward cancerous prostate cells when combined with copper. Treatment of the Transgenic Adenocarcinoma of Mouse Prostate (TRAMP) model with Cu(II)(gtsm) (2.5 mg/kg) significantly reduced prostate cancer burden (∼70%) and severity (grade), while treatment with Cu(II)(atsm) (30 mg/kg) was ineffective at the given dose. However, Cu(II)(gtsm) caused mild kidney toxicity in the mice, associated primarily with interstitial nephritis and luminal distention. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that Cu(II)(gtsm) inhibits proteasomal chymotrypsin-like activity, a feature further established as being common to copper-ionophores that increase intracellular bioavailable copper. We have demonstrated that increasing intracellular bioavailable copper can selectively kill cancerous prostate cells in vitro and in vivo and have revealed the potential for bis(thiosemicarbazone) copper complexes to be developed as therapeutics for prostate cancer.


These notes have the status of letters written to ourselves: we wrote them down because, without doing so, we found ourselves making up new arguments over and over again. So began the abstract of our earlier paper Notes on Postmodern Programming. We now revisit the issue of postmodern programming, and attempt to address some of the questions raised by our exposition. To illustrate the nature of postmodernism we do not do this directly, but instead present a series of snapshots, parodies, and imagined conversations that we hope will help. What do you think of the abstract so far? Self-reference and a irreverent approach are part of this topic, so it's important to chill out and let things flow. We claim that computer science and software design grew up amid the unquestioned landscape of modernism, and that too often we cling to the otherwise ungrounded values, even as modernism itself is ever more compromised.


A simple, inexpensive design for the generation of subnanosecond pulses from an N2-pumped dye laser is given. The critical alignment necessary for most dye lasers is minimized because the dye laser is entirely self-contained. The dye laser, operating at 18 Hz, produced intense broad band emission pulses of ∼0.2–0.4 ns in the visible region.


In this article the first three parts of Thomas Aquinas' treatise On Law (S.Th., I-II, q.90-92) are considered as metajurisprudential discourse; for in these questionibus the author speaks of the nature, origin and functions of law on the most general level. Also some misinterpretations of Aquinas' philosophy of law by modern thinkers are analyzed. The article consists of two parts. In the first Aquinas' concept of discourse is explicated by means of linguistic analysis and the presence of meta-jurisprudential discourse in the considered text is determined. Following the etymology of discurrere Aquinas compares mental discourse with the physical process of running and jumping. The mental "running" and "jumping" is the necessary means of human reason for achieving truths which man is unable to understand immediately. It starts from the true self-evident principles and ends with true inferences, provided it follows logically correct course. In the second part the most important arguments and inferences of T. Aquinas' meta-jurisprudential discourse are considered. He starts that discourse by constituting the most general fourfold definition of law which he applies in the further considerations of different kinds of law: eternal, natural, human, divine, and a law in the fomes of sin. The eternal law alone is the law without qualifications whereas the others are just imperfect images or shadows of it. Finally T. Aquinas speaks of the effects of human law, the main of which is to make citizens good. Law intends this effect by means of command, prohibition, permission and punishment. If the human law corresponds to the natural, divine and eternal law it makes men good simply, but if it contradicts to these higher kinds of law, or Creator's will, it makes men good only in some particular respect, i.e. good to the particular government. So, a good citizen not always is a good man. But a person, who strives to the supernatural happiness, or beatific vision, has to be good without qualification. Therefore in relation to human laws the guiding principle is conscience. According to Aquinas, just law binds a man in conscience, distorted laws concerning human goods does not bind in conscience, but contrary to the Divine law human laws must nowise be observed. This way Aquinas defines the autonomy of human conscience in relation to the laws of state. The relation between the main effect of human law and man's supernatural end shows the organic unity of theological and judicial as well as of judicial and ethical aspects in the Aquinas' meta-jurisprudential discourse. This unity appears especially discernable, when the relation between law and evil is considered.


What Professor William Eskridge once called the new textualism is not so new anymore. Statutory textualism has adherents on the Supreme Court, throughout the federal judiciary, and, increasingly, in academia as well. And almost all of them are politically conservative. Why is that true? This Note contends that it need not be. Taken at face value, textualism serves neither conservative nor liberal ends. However, those most closely identified with textualism - namely, Justice Antonin Scalia and Judge Frank Easterbrook - practice a form of textualism that creates institutional dynamics that tend to reconcile with a preference for limited government. Their textualism, which this Note dubs clarity-driven textualism, constrains the functioning of Congress, executive agencies, and judges in ways that make government hard to do: Statutes are hard to write, agencies have tightly circumscribed authority, and judges have few opportunities to exercise discretion. This Note argues that textualism alone will not necessarily produce these outcomes. By identifying how clarity-driven textualism departs from the bare requirements of textualism itself, this Note seeks to rescue textualism's powerful interpretive approach from its current political entanglements.


Parton energy loss is a process within QCD that draws considerable interest. The measurement of parton energy loss can provide valuable information for other hard-scattering processes in nuclei, and also serves as an important tool for exploring the properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Quantifying the energy loss in cold nuclear matter will help to set a baseline relative to energy loss in the QGP. With the Drell-Yan process, the energy loss of incoming quarks in cold nuclear matter can be ideally investigated since the final state interaction is expected to be minimal. E906/SeaQuest is a fixed-target experiment using the 120 GeV proton beam from the Fermilab Main Injector and has been collecting data from p+p, p+d, p+C, p+Fe, and p+W collisions. Within the E906 kinematic coverage of Drell-Yan production via the dimuon channel, the quark energy loss can be measured in a regime where other nuclear effects are expected to be small. In this thesis, the study of quark energy loss from different cold nuclear targets is presented.


Abstract. Spatio-temporal big data cloud platform is an important spatial information infrastructure that can provide different period spatial information data services, various spatial analysis services and flexible API services. Activities of policy coordination, facilities connectivity and unimpeded trade on the Belt and Road Initiative (B&R) will create huge demands to the spatial information infrastructure. This paper focuses on researching a distributed spatio-temporal big data engine and an extendable cloud platform framework suits for the B&R and some key technologies to implement them. A distributed spatio-temporal big data engine based on Cassandra™ and an extendable 4-tier architecture cloud platform framework is put forward according to the spirit of parallel computing and cloud service. Four key technologies are discussed: 1) a storage and indexing method for distributed spatio-temporal big data, 2) an automatically collecting, processing, mapping and updating method of authoritative spatio-temporal data for web mapping service, 3) a schema of services aggregation based on nodes registering and services invoking based on view extension, 4) a distributed deployment and extension method of the cloud platform. We developed a distributed spatio-temporal big data centersoftware and founded the main node platform portal with MapWorld™ map services and some thematic information services inChina and built some local platform portals for those countries in the B&R area. The management and analysis services for spatio-temporal big data were built in flexible styles on this platform. Practices show that we provide a flexible and efficient solution tobuild the distributed spatio-temporal big data center and cloud platform, more node portals can be aggregated to the main portal bypublishing their own web services and registering them in the aggregation schema. The data center and platform can support thestorage and management of massive data well and has higher fault tolerance and better scalability.


In recent years, breeding Canada Geese Branta canadensis interior have established themselves in areas of West Greenland previously exploited by Greenland White-fronted Geese Anser albifrons flavirostris only. In this study, diet, behaviour and spatial distribution of moulting non-breeding Greenland White-fronted and Canada Geese were studied in sympatry and in allopatry, in order to assess the degree of potential inter-specific competition. In a sympatric site, the diet of Greenland White-fronted Geese comprised significantly higher content of low quality mosses compared to sympatric Canada Geese and both species in allopatry. Sympatric Greenland White-fronted Geese also showed a significantly broader diet (niche breadth) and lower intake rate than Canada Geese in sympatry and both species in allopatry. Sympatric Greenland White-fronted Geese spent significantly more time feeding possibly to compensate for the low quality food and the low intake rate. Several physical inter-specific agonistic interactions were recorded with Greenland White-fronted Geese being the loser in all cases. In the study area, numbers of Canada Geese increased from c. 10-90 birds coincident with a decrease of Greenland White-fronted Geese from c. up to 70 to 5 birds during 1988-1998. These results suggest that inter-specific competition between Greenland White-fronted Geese and Canada Geese has occurred and may still occur in West Greenland.