In this paper the indoor wireless localization problem is addressed both from the theoretical and application standpoints. The main result of the paper is on the theoretical side: the topological definition of regular and irregular nodes is introduced, and formal results are presented to support regularity as a desirable network property for the attainment of precise node localization. In force of this definition, a mixed convex/non-convex optimization approach has been derived for the solution of the positioning problem. The two procedures, suitably combined, allow the achievement of better convergence towards the best positioning of a multitude of blind wireless nodes. A completely decentralized, partially asynchronous algorithm is presented, which proceeds locally on each node based on the sole knowledge of the distances measured from, and of the estimated positions of the connected nodes only. Its repeated asynchronous application on each nodes guarantees the convergence of the algorithm to the positioning of the whole network, even in presence of a limited number of peripheral reference points. Indeed, no global information is required for the proper functioning of the algorithm. Simulations of relevant case studies have been performed to qualify the proposed scheme in realistic conditions, and the results are presented.


This paper presents a non-linear p-HEMT model taking into account the non quasi-static currents and charges variations versus Vgs and Vds to predict accurate behaviour of the devices up to millimetric frequencies. The major refinement of this model concerns the introduction of voltage dependant 2 nd order frequency coeficients (1 st order non quasi-static terms) generally considered constant or partially variable in previous published models. The non quasi-static ehaviour of the transistor is modelled by time second derivatives of non-linear functions Ags(vgs,vds) and Ads(vgs,vds) integrated from linear 2 ndorder frequency coefficients. Classical method are used to extract non-linear elements from pulsed S-parameters and current measurement set-up [1]. Most of the voltage dependant coefficients (currents, charges and non-quasi-static terms) are precisely fitted with bicubic spline functions for very accurate description. This model has been implemented in commercial balance harmonic software. Ags and Ads tim second derivatives are generated partially in the non-linear part of the model (time first derivative considered as charge derivative) and partially with a linear sub-circuit (second derivative). This model would predict more accurate 2nd and 3 rd harmonics behaviour for applications at fundamental frequencies up to 20 GHz.


We propose an experimental holographic imaging scheme combining compressive sensing (CS) theory with digital holography in phase-shifting conditions. We use the Mach-Zehnder interferometer for hologram formation, and apply the compressive sensing (CS) approach to the holography acquisition process. Through projecting the hologram pattern into a digital micro-mirror device (DMD), finally we will acquire the compressive sensing measurements using a photodiode. After receiving the data of two holograms via conventional communication channel, we reconstruct the original object using certain signal recovery algorithms of CS theory and hologram reconstruction techniques, which demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed method.


Wetland management in the United States has never been as challenging as in today's highly modified landscape. Initially, wetland science and management emerged as professions in response to widespread conversion of wetlands to other uses and concerns over negative impacts on wildlife populations, especially migratory birds. Consequently, wetland management was focused on wildlife, and the initial management technique was simply to protect wetlands. However, extensive conversion of lands for agricultural and urban expansion over the past 60 years has modified ecosystem processes at the landscape scale sufficiently to compromise wetland management activities on adjacent lands dedicated to conservation. Moreover, society now expects a broad suite of ecosystem services to be delivered. As a result, many previously used wetland management techniques are no longer appropriate because they do not take into account influences of adjacent land uses or other ecosystem services, such as ground-water recharge. Other early management approaches may have been ineffective because they were based on an incomplete understanding of wetland processes or social influences. Meanwhile, wetland losses continued, as well as loss of services provided by the remaining managed wetlands. Regulation starting in the 1970s and subsequent research attention on wetland functioning has led to new knowledge and a broader understanding of wetland processes and recognition of the full suite of services (e.g., water storage, water quality improvement, aquifer maintenance, climate mitigation). To be effective in today's highly modified landscape, knowledge of social choices, political influences, and dynamic wetland processes is required to meet wetland management objectives for a range of ecosystem services. We argue that adopting a process-based perspective is critical to develop strategies to optimize a suite of wetland services, including providing traditional wildlife habitat.


Altitude profiles of Carbon Monoxide (CO) and aerosols have been compared from the Network for Stratospheric Change (NDSC) mid‐latitude southern hemisphere site at Lauder, New Zealand. The CO mixing ratio profile was derived from infrared spectra recorded with a very high resolution Fourier Transform interferometer using three lines of the (1–0) band between 2057 and 2160 cm−1. The aerosol surface area was derived from balloon‐borne backscatter radiation at 940 nm. Both datasets show significant enhancements occurring over the observation site in the austral spring. When displayed together their combined effect illustrates the close correlation between CO and aerosols. Peak concentrations are consistently recorded between September and October over a five year time frame (1994–1999), with the enhancements typically occurring at heights of between 3 to 8 km. The temporal and spatial correlation between the aerosol plumes and enhanced CO concentrations are interpreted in terms of the effect of long range transport of biomass burning plumes in combination with the El Nino‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycles influence on southern hemisphere climate dynamics.


Several parties throughout the world are democratizing their internal processes. The most notable tools for achieving this aim are the primary elections through which electoral candidates and party leaders are selected. This article seek to analyze these "selections" by using survey data relating to primary elections held in October 2011 by the French Socialist Party. In particular, we make use of survey data to describe extensively some social and political characteristics of the voters and to connect them with the electoral performances of the candidates.


While discussing the problems of legal regulations governing the profession of cosmetologist, one has to consider the ever-increasing expectations of the customers (patients) with regard to professional skills and competences of cosmetologists. The aim of this study was to describe the current problems resulting from the lack of regulation of the cosmetologist's profession in the Polish legal system, as well as to propose the possible direction in which further initiatives in this area should be aimed, and from which achievements and experience can be learnt, and what aspects should be taken into account in the first instance. Material and methods: The legal Polish regulations (Acts, directives) have been reviewed that directly or indirectly relate to the execution of the cosmetologist's profession. Results: At present, there is still a lack of legal regulations which clearly and unequivocally set the professional rules for cosmetologists. The acceptance of the status of the profession of cosmetologist as one of the medical professions and placing it within the jurisdiction of the Act of auxiliary medical professions seems a more simple, fast and reliable way of achieving the intended goal. In case of deeming the profession of cosmetologist as a non-medical profession, passing a dedicated legal Act into the body of legislation would be necessary. Although the latter option would provide an opportunity for creating a regulation better fitting to the profession of cosmetologist, it would also require more time and effort without any guarantee of achieving the intended objective. Conclusion: The professional activities of a cosmetologist include procedures carried out on live people; therefore, strict rules for the execution of duties within this scope should serve the vital public interest. At present, however, the profession of cosmetologist is not regulated in any way that would ensure the safety of both the individual customer (patient) and the cosmetologist. There is a need for further research and analysis to provide facts that would facilitate a constructive discussion on the definition of the profession of cosmetologist, as well as the creation of the necessary legal regulations.


During the past five years, the National Weather Service (NWS) has replaced over half of its liquid-in-glass maximum and minimum thermometers in wooden Cotton Region Shelters (CRSs) with thermistor-based Maximum-Minimum Temperature Systems (MMTSs) housed in smaller plastic shelters. Analyses of data from 424 (of the 3300) MMTS stations and 675 CRS stations show that a mean daily minimum temperature change of roughly +0.3°C, a mean daily maximum temperature change of-0.4°C, and a change in average temperature of -0.1 °C were introduced as a result of the new instrumentation. The change of -0.7°C in daily temperature range is particularly significant for climate change studies that use this element as an independent variable. Although troublesome for climatologists, there is reason to believe that this change (relative to older records) represents an improvement in absolute accuracy. The bias appears to be rather sharp and well defined. Since the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) station history database contains records of instrumentation, adjustments for this bias can be readily applied, and we are reasonably confident that the corrections we have developed can be used to produce homogeneous time series of area-average temperature.


T11-Target Structure (T11TS) is a 42 K SRBC membrane glycoprotein and the classical ligand of the E-receptor (CD2). It is an important costimulator of T cell activation process. Therapeutic potential of the bioactive molecule has recently been deciphered and thus necessitated structural analysis. 3D structure of extracellular domain (residues 2-192) of T11TS was generated using 1CCZ_A as template by web based molecular modeling program 'LOOPP' and refined by energy minimization (SD and CG) and molecular dynamics simulations in cff91.frc force field. Structural quality assessment of the final model with six high throughput structure validation programs (PROCHECK, MODELYN, MOLPROBITY, VERIFY_3D, ERRAT and PROSA) demonstrated its reliability for further studies. Secondary structural analysis reveals that 41.36%, 21.99%, 3.66%, 3.14% and 29.84% residues of the final model form β-sheet, bend, turn, 310 helix and coil conformations respectively. Insilico analysis of the three receptor-ligand complexes viz. T11TS-humanCD2, T11TS-ratCD2 and T11TS-mouseCD2 highlight that the main interacting residues (Met27, Phe29, Lys32, Asp33, Lys34, Glu37, Asp39, Gln40 and Phe47) are highly conserved and located in a heterophilic, charged AGFCC′C″ face on the N-terminal IgV domain of T11TS. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding and electrostatic force play a prominent role in these receptor-ligand interactions. Although the CD2 binding domain contains two potential N-type glycosylation sites (N-12, and N-62) but none is found to be present within 4A0 of the CD2 binding interface, implies their probable functional silence in immune activation process. The phylogenetic analysis using KITSH program shows that T11TS and bovine CD58 is closely related to each other.


Copyright and Reprint Permissions: Abstracting is permitted with credit to the source. Libraries may photocopy beyond the limits of US copyright law, for private use of patrons, those articles in this volume that carry a code at the bottom of the first page, provided that the per-copy fee indicated in the code is paid through the Copyright The papers in this book comprise the proceedings of the meeting mentioned on the cover and title page. They reflect the authors' opinions and, in the interests of timely dissemination, are published as presented and without change. Their inclusion in this publication does not necessarily constitute endorsement by the editors, the IEEE


This paper presents new empirical evidence on the effects of retirement benefits on labor force participation decisions. We use administrative data on the census of private sector employees in Austria and variation from mandated discontinuous changes in retirement benefits from the Austrian pension system. We present nonparametric, graphical evidence documenting labor supply responses to the policy discontinuities. Next, based on the nonparametric evidence and mandated financial incentives, we estimate extensive margin labor supply elasticities. We estimate elasticities of 0.12 for men and 0.38 for women. The evidence indicates these elasticities are primarily driven by substitution effects rather than wealth effects.


Electoral systems struggle to combine proportionality (fair representation) and direct accountability (local representation). This paper introduces an electoral system that combines proportional representation (PR) with optimal assignment of constituencies (OAC). Once shares of seats for individual parties have been calculated based on proportional representation, seats won by individual parties are assigned to individual constituencies for direct representation based on an optimization algorithm that maximizes the number of votes that are directly represented by their preferred party. This process rectifies one of the main shortcomings of PR and obliges elected members of parliament to represent local interests more faithfully. A variation of the PR-OAC system allows for the optimal assignment of a senior and a junior representative for each constituency. The proposed system is applied to results from Canada's 2015 federal election for illustration and comparison purposes.


Background. Luck is a distinct concept from chance and skill that has been demonstrated to impact gambling and treatment-seeking behaviour. Despite its ubiquity across different cultures, it has been suggested that the Chinese hold more profound beliefs of luck than other ethnic groups. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence to support such anthropological findings and anecdotal evidence, particularly in the area of gambling.  Elucidating the role of luck in gambling may be useful given the higher rates of problem gambling that has been reported amongst the Chinese. Specifically, previous studies have estimated the prevalence rate of problem gambling to be almost three times higher in Chinese communities than in the general Australian population. This was also consistent with other population studies conducted in Canada, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Aims. The main objective of the present study is to explore the differences in the level of belief in luck between Chinese and Caucasian individuals from the general population, as well as gamblers presenting for treatment.  In addition, the relationship between the concept of luck and other gambling correlates will be examined findings. Preliminary findings suggest that there are differences in the belief of luck across the two cultural groups. In addition, the differences in the perception and endorsement of luck, as well as its association with other gambling-related factors will be discussed further. Implications. Findings from the present study will contribute toward underlining cultural specificity in problem gambling. The research can also shed understanding on the development of a culturally relevant model of gambling amongst the Chinese, which is important in establishing effective treatment and management of problem gambling in this community.


Purpose: To offer a -necessarily non-exhaustiveanalysis of the meaning and significance of the notion of a complex system for research on the Business Model (BM). Design/Methodology/Approach: Conceptual paper Findings: Drawing from early research in complexity and debates that have inspired work in General System Theory, system thinking and cybernetics, we identify four insights, notably i) modeling of complex systems, ii) interdependencies, iii) nested hierarchies and iv) information processing that, we contend, have the potential to shed light on novel possibilities for understanding BMs. We offer an analysis. Research Limitations/Implications: Limitation: exclusive focus on early interpretation of the notion of complexity as referring to a characteristic of a system. The paper does not explore the implications of the more modern understanding of complexity as referring to the 'behavior' of a system (complex system vs. complex behavior) Practical Implications: we may be attempting to represent a system which is very complex, the BM and the organization behind it, at the level of the anatomy, only reflecting its main components. This is subject to inherent limitations. Originality/Value: To show that, within the line of inquiry understanding the business model (BM) as some reality existing at the level of the firm, a BM may resemble what students of complexity refer to as a complex system. To explore the meaning and significance of the notion of complexity and of a complex system for research on the BM. Please cite this paper as: Massa, L., Viscusi, G., and Tucci, C. (2018), Business Models and Complexity, Journal of Business Models, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 70-82


Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, wife and political partner of John Quincy Adams, became one of the most widely known women in America when her husband assumed office as sixth president in 1825. Shrewd, intellectual, and articulate, she was close to the center of American power over many decades, and extensive archives reveal her as an unparalleled observer of the politics, personalities, and issues of her day. Louisa left behind a trove of journals, essays, letters, and other writings, yet no biographer has mined these riches until now. Margery Heffron brings Louisa out of the shadows at last to offer the first full and nuanced portrait of an extraordinary first lady. The book begins with Louisa's early life in London and Nantes, France, then details her excruciatingly awkward courtship and engagement to John Quincy, her famous diplomatic success in tsarist Russia, her life as a mother, years abroad as the wife of a distinguished diplomat, and finally the Washington, D.C., era when, as a legendary hostess, she made no small contribution to her husband's successful bid for the White House. Louisa's sharp insights as a tireless recorder provide a fresh view of early American democratic society, presidential politics and elections, and indeed every important political and social issue of her time.


ERP acceptance by its users in companies has been researched by several authors while ERP acceptance by students within study programmes has not been researched so often. For teachers should be important to know which factors have influence on student ERP acceptance. Our study researches student acceptance of ERP solutions while they are exposed to ERP solution and they are involved in ERP actual use. Our research is based on TAM which provides a basis for tracing impact of external factors on internal beliefs (perceived usefulness – PU and perceived ease of use – PEOU), attitudes (AT), intentions (behavioural intention – BI) and actual use. Research model includes additional external factors such as: experience with computer, computer self-efficiency, personal innovativeness toward IT, computer anxiety, user manuals (help), system quality, social influence (environment), training and education etc. Research was conduct within a group of 121 students after short interaction with Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP solution. Results show that most important external factors for student ERP acceptance are: individual benefits, training and education on ERP system and quality of ERP system.


To assess the inflfl uence of rainfall simulator type and plot dimensions on runoff and erosion, seven small portable rainfall simulators from Freiberg, Tubingen, Trier (all Germany), Valencia, Zaragoza (both Spain), Basel (Switzerland) and Wageningen (the Netherlands) were compared on a prepared bare fallow fifi eld. The experiments were carried out during an international rainfall simulator workshop, organized at Trier University (Germany) from 30th of June to 1st of July 2011.The tested rainfall simulators differ in design, rainfall intensities, rain spectra, etc. and represent most of the devices which have been used over the last decade in Europe. The plots for the different rainfall simulators were selected as similar as possible concerning soil physical and chemical properties, aspect and inclination and were chosen to be placed side by side in horizontal direction. Test procedure was standardized in order to examine the inflfl uence of the rainfall simulator andplot dimension only. The results show a clear and consistent relationship in runoff, erosion and infifi ltration behaviour of the different used rainfall simulators. With all the devices total soil loss is measurable, but different plot sizes, intensities and kinetic energies of the simulated rainfall caused differences in soil loss and runoff quantities per unit of area. Regarding course characteristics over runs, similarities could be observed especially in runoff behaviour. The rainfall simulators (> 1 m² plot size) are able to reproduce infifi ltration and interrillerosion processes. With an increase of plot size (≥ 1 m²), rill-erosion will be also reflfl ected. Therefore it can be concluded that up to a certain plot size, the results of the different simulators are comparable and depend in their magnitude on the properties of the applied rainfall. The increase in process complexity with increasing plot size shows, that the scale of the simulation is one of the most important parameters to be taken intoaccount when comparing values of erosion and runoff.


Reflectance of thermally oxidized, mechanically polished titanium surfaces was measured with a spectrometer at 5889–5895 A. The principal aim of the experiments was to furnish an optical means of measuring the thickness of thermal oxide layers on titanium. These measurements also provided a method for determining the optical constants of the metal and the thermal oxide. The system was found to be an absorbing base with an absorbing film. The optical constant of titanium was found to be nˆ3=2.41−3.24i and the optical constant of the thermal oxide film was nˆ2=2.40−0.17i. From these constants, the oxide growth curve at 482°C was determined. The curve is of the same type found by other workers, and indicates that the growth rate can be expressed as a combination of a simple parabolic law and a linear law.


Background

Coral reefs are the most productive and biologically diverse marine ecosystems, and they provide ecosystem services to an estimated half billion people through fisheries, tourism, and coastal protection. To protect these values, significant investments have been made to stem reef decline, resulting in successes on a case by case basis. Overall however, the accelerating scope and scale of the threats facing coral reefs have overwhelmed existing governance regimes, creating a widespread call to improve the effectiveness of coral reef governance. My research addresses the problem of how to better learn from on‐going experiences in coral reef governance to reverse the current degradation of reef ecosystems.

Improving effectiveness is simultaneously a process of strengthening individual initiatives and learning from experiences across a range of sites to develop a body of theory that can be used to diagnose and improve diverse governance arrangements. To date, the process of learning from past experiences has been fragmented, largely because the complexity of the governance enterprise confounds a straight‐forward understanding of how lessons learned from one initiative might appropriately be applied elsewhere. All programs facilitating coral reef governance vary in their specific goals, the management strategies they implement, their organizational characteristics, and the socio‐ecological contexts in which they operate. Given this complexity, what approach can be used to move beyond context‐specific, case‐by‐case successes to achieve effective governance on scales that can turn the tide on coral reef decline?

Overview

My doctoral research aims to address this problem by adapting a framework from organizational theory. I develop a conceptual typology—"or Map and Compass"— that contextualizes the experiences of individual coral reef governance programs toward better planning, cross‐site learning, and theory development (Thesis Part 2). The typology complements existing approaches for evaluating the effectiveness of coral reef governance by providing an innovative strategy for generalization. I then apply the Map and Compass in Southeast Asia to develop a field taxonomy that describes approaches to coral reef governance being implemented in that region (Thesis Part 3). This field application serves to validate the Map and Compass. It also provides insights into the key assumptions underpinning dominant approaches to coral reef governance in Southeast Asia, which suggests ways they might be further strengthened.

The Unified Effectiveness Framework: A Map of Effectiveness in Coral Reef Governance

Part 2 of my thesis develops a conceptual typology of effective coral reef governance. Effectiveness is not a discrete concept, but a multidimensional construct. The conceptual map provides an overarching, visual framework that explicitly describes effectiveness, and offers a common denominator for appropriately comparing coral reef governance programs to strengthen theory and practice. Because it is a comprehensive description of effectiveness, the conceptual map is called the Unified Effectiveness Framework (UEF).

The UEF was developed by replicating an approach from organizational theory. As an input to this analysis, I conducted a detailed review of 12 evaluation systems related to coral reef governance, and identified a comprehensive list of the concepts included under the umbrella construct of effectiveness. I then used an on‐line survey to elicit opinions from 80 experts in coral reef governance about the similarities between 17 concepts that spanned the breadth of the effectiveness construct. Analyzing these data with multidimensional scaling produced a picture of the experts' shared mental model of effectiveness.

My analysis found a high degree of consensus among the experts around the resulting conceptualization, which organized effectiveness along two axes: the balance between social versus ecological goals, and the balance between governance processes versus governance outcomes. Using the literature, I demonstrate that the four quadrants which emerge from these axes are highly aligned with the major theoretical paradigms relevant to coral reef governance: Integrated Coastal Management, Community‐Based Management, Ecosystem‐Based Management, and Adaptive Management. My review describes the inherent tensions and complementarities between these four governance paradigms, and develops a set of hypotheses that become the basis for further validation of the UEF through field testing in Southeast Asia.

A Field Taxonomy of Approaches to Coral Reef Governance in Southeast Asia

Part 3 of my thesis applies the Unified Effectiveness Framework to develop a theory-based taxonomy of the approaches currently being implemented by coral reef governance programs in Southeast Asia. The taxonomy identifies patterns in the goals, strategies, organizational characteristics, and socio‐ecological context of 61 programs facilitating coral reef governance in the region.

Using a stratified sampling design, I collected data from coral reef governance programs in the Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand through 200 surveys administered by local field assistants. The mixed methods survey collected detailed information on the investments each program made in 65 different management strategies, and the respondents' perceptions of the programs' organizational characteristics, accomplishments, and socio‐ecological context. Following an approach from organizational theory, one section of the survey, called the UEF Compass, collected information that allowed me to draw a profile of each program on the Unified Effectiveness Framework. I tested the reliability and validity of the UEF Compass with a confirmatory factor analysis, and the results validated the measurement properties of the Compass.

I hierarchically clustered the 61 coral reef governance programs using data collected with the UEF Compass, and identified five distinct approaches to coral reef governance. Using analysis of variance, discriminant analysis, and qualitative research methods, I describe each of these approaches in terms of its theory‐of‐action, management strategies, programmatic and contextual characteristics, and reported strengths and weaknesses. The five approaches are traditional park management, community‐based management, collaborative management, adaptive management, and a "balanced" approach that focuses on volunteer restoration and livelihood enhancements.

Conclusions: Reconciling Theory with Practice

I conclude the thesis by comparing the hypotheses represented by the Unified Effectiveness Framework with the results of the Field Taxonomy for Southeast Asia to assess the validity and usefulness of my proposed "Map and Compass." I determine that the UEF exhibits the essential characteristic of a good typology, which is the ability to simplify multidimensional complexity in meaningful ways. I also identify three discontinuities between theory and practice that warrant further research. Overall, I find that there is support for the Unified Effectiveness Framework as a valid and useful typology for interpreting and contextualizing practical field experience.


The 'greenhouse climate' of the Late Cretaceous epoch was one of the Earth's warmest periods of the past 140 Ma, particularly at high latitudes. However, records allowing insights into terrestrial environmental conditions south of the Antarctic circle during that time are extremely rare. Hence, it remains highly elusive how the sensitive South Polar environment may have been impacted by such an extreme climate. Here we report a unique sedimentary sequence that was recovered with the MeBo-70 sea floor drill rig from the central Amundsen Sea Embayment shelf, West Antarctica. The record contains ~26 m of quartzitic sandstone underlain by a lithified swamp deposit that consists of a ~2 m-long complex and intact network of in-situ fossil plant roots embedded in a mudstone matrix. The lower ~1.5 m of this mudstone contain a highly diverse pollen and spore assemblage, documenting a temperate coastal lowland rain forest environment with mean annual temperatures of 11-15°C at a palaeolatitude of 77°S. Hence, the drill record provides the hitherto southernmost evidence of Cretaceous terrestrial environmental conditions and reveals a 'greenhouse climate' that was capable of maintaining a temperate environment much further south than previously known. The predictive capabilities of model simulations for high-latitude climate and environment characteristics for this critical period of Earth's climatic history can therefore now be evaluated more reliably.


While initially conceived a s a d e dicated c ommunications facility for the United States federal government, today's Internet aggregates traac from among a far wider set of constituencies. P o oling resources of so many constituents into a massively interconnected environment raises the issue of resource and cost allocation. In this paper we describe the importance of network analysis in support of resource attribution and evaluate a number of examples. We ooer evidence to support our hypothesis that, in the face of the current evolution of global information infrastructure, vastly expanding both in ubiquity and sophistication of applications, Internet policy considerations and network analysis must begin to interact in ways not previously recognized or implemented. In particular, as the scale of, access to, commercialization of the Inter-net broadens, cost allocation among even globally shared resources will require the development of new accounting and billing models to accommodate the wide range of players and services.


Inversely obtained hydrologic parameters are always uncertain (nonunique) because of errors associated with the measurements and the invoked conceptual model, among other factors. Quantification of this uncertainty in multidimensional parameter space is often difficult because of complexities in the structure of the objective function. In this study we describe parameter uncertainties using uniform distributions and fit these distributions iteratively within larger absolute intervals such that two criteria are met: (i) bracketing most of the measured data (>90%) within the 95% prediction uncertainty (95PPU) and (ii) obtaining a small ratio (<1) of the average difference between the upper and lower 95PPU and the standard deviation of the measured data. We define a model as calibrated if, upon reaching these two criteria, a significant R2 exists between the observed and simulated results. A program, SUFI‐2, was developed and tested for the calibration of two bottom ash landfills. SUFI‐2 performs a combined optimization and uncertainty analysis using a global search procedure and can deal with a large number of parameters through Latin hypercube sampling. We explain the above concepts using an example in which two municipal solid waste incinerator bottom ash monofills were successfully calibrated and tested for flow, and one monofill also for transport. Because of high levels of heavy metals in the leachate, monitoring and modeling of such landfills is critical from environmental points of view.


INTRODUCTION: Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in children aged ≤ 2 years in the U.S. The American Academy of Pediatrics advised that children should remain in rear-facing child car seats to mitigate injury from the most common type of severe collision (frontal). Several states have passed laws following these recommendations. Methods: In 2013 publicly available statutes and comprehensive motor vehicle fatality data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System database were used to investigate whether there is a relationship between motor vehicle crash fatality rates for children under 1 year of age and state laws regulating the direction of car seat placement. States with known rear-facing car seat laws in place were analyzed in a two-step approach in 2014. Simple fatality rates per 100 million vehicle miles were calculated with 95% Poisson CIs. A negative binomial count model for infant deaths was calculated, with state fixed effects, adjusted for the exposure of vehicle miles in each state by year. Results: Unadjusted models showed a protective mortality effect for rear-facing car seat laws, while adjusted models demonstrated no beneficial effect. Implications: This preliminary study suggests that state rear-facing child restraint laws may be having an impact on infant motor vehicle mortality; however the current model is unable to determine their relative contribution given the overall decline in traffic mortality. Language: en


Key economic variables for pension plan projections are identified. These variables are modeled based on data since 1955. Several time series models are considered including regime switching models and a simplified Wilkie Model. To investigate the dynamics of different models, simulations are carried out to project the economic series for the next 50 years using different starting values. All the models for each series are then compared using different criteria including economic theories and common actuarial practice. The best model out of the considered models for each series is selected for pension plan projections. Using actual starting values, simulation is performed again to project the economic series to model a sample defined benefit (DB) pension plan and a sample defined contribution (DC) pension plan. The total employer contributions as a percentage of wages for the DB plan, and the replacement ratio for the DC plan are studied.


Recent recommendations by the Food and Drug Administration1 and the European Medicines Agency2 are to limit the clinical use of linear gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) due to convincing evidence of deposition in tissues. Macrocyclic GBCA continued to be considered safe, provided that patients have normal renal function. To date, given the low sensitivity of conventional MRI, there has been a debate about the signal increase following the injections of a macrocyclic GBCA.3,4


Agent-based models (ABMs) / multi-agent systems (MASs) are today one of the most widely used modeling– simulation–analysis approaches for understanding the dynamical behavior of complex systems. These models are often characterized by several parameters with nonlinear interactions which together determine the global system dynamics, usually measured by different conflicting criteria. The problem that emerges is that of tuning the controllable system parameters at the local level, in order to reach some desirable global behavior. In this research paper, we cast the tuning of an ABM for emergency response planning as a multi-objective optimization problem (MOOP). We then propose the use of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) for exploration and optimization of the resultant search space. We employ two well-known MOEAs, the Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) and the Pareto Archived Evolution Strategy (PAES), and test their performance for different pairs of objectives for plan evaluation. In the experimental results, the approximate Pareto front of the non-dominated solutions is effectively obtained. Further, a conflict between the proposed objectives is patent. Additional robustness analysis is performed to help policymakers select a plan according to higher-level information or criteria not present in the original problem description.


This paper puts forward the main elements of the theory of constitutional synthesis as a constitutional theory of European integration. Constitutional synthesis is both a political philosophy of European integration (which dilucidates what kind of polity the Union is an what is its basis of legitimacy) and a theoreticalframework capable of guiding constitutional adjudication in hard cases (such as the resolution of conflicts between European and national constitutional law). In essence, constitutional synthesis refers to aprocess in which already established constitutional states integrate through constitutional law, without losing their institutional structure and identity. We claim that there are three basic insights in constitutional synthesis. The first is that the constitutional law which frames and contributes to steer integration is characterised by the central role played by the constitutions of the participating states (by the regulatory ideal of a common constitutional law). The second is that the supranational legal order comes hand in hand with a supranational institutional structure which is only partially established at the founding, takes time to be rendered functional in aprocess where different national institutional cultures and structures try to leave their mark on the supranational level, and its structureis necessarily rendered more complicated as new institutions anddecision-making processes are added up to handle new policies. The third is that while supranational law is one, there are several institutions that apply the supranational law in an authoritative manner. In the last section of the paper, we complete the exposition of constitutional synthesis by considering how it is placed and how it relates to other political and legal theories of integration.


Longitudinal datasets measured repeatedly over time from individual subjects, arise in many biomedical, psychological, social, and other studies. A common approach to analyse high-dimensional data that contains missing values is to learn a low-dimensional representation using variational autoencoders (VAEs). However, standard VAEs assume that the learnt representations are i.i.d., and fail to capture the correlations between the data samples. We propose the Longitudinal VAE (L-VAE), that uses a multi-output additive Gaussian process (GP) prior to extend the VAE's capability to learn structured low-dimensional representations imposed by auxiliary covariate information, and derive a new KL divergence upper bound for such GPs. Our approach can simultaneously accommodate both time-varying shared and random effects, produce structured low-dimensional representations, disentangle effects of individual covariates or their interactions, and achieve highly accurate predictive performance. We compare our model against previous methods on synthetic as well as clinical datasets, and demonstrate the state-of-the-art performance in data imputation, reconstruction, and long-term prediction tasks.


A successful P/M part production process starts with a suitable powder mix with good properties such as good flow and AD, good lubrication, easy to handle, high productivity and precision. Efficiency and reliability of P/M process as any other powder processing is depending upon behaviour of the powder composition during handling and processing. Starmix 500i is a bonded mix with excellent lubrication. It offers good powder properties and bonding. It works well for parts with complicated shapes requiring additional lubrication and by applying warm die compaction, its properties can be further improved. Good filling characteristics, of the Starmix 500i, enables higher compaction rates as well as improved productivity and tolerances simultaneously. As the Starmix 500i is free from zinc the staining tendency is low. Moreover, as there will be no zinc residues in the furnace, the need for furnace maintenance is reduced. A benchmark where Starmix 500i is compared to other mixes are presented in this paper.


The subject of this scientific research will be information systems for supporting the electronic business of health organizations as well as the multi-criteria analysis of widely-distributed software solutions for effective communication between the health organization units as well as with the patients. Actuality and significance of this topic is reflected in global efforts to improve the provision of health services electronically, in terms of timely and successful treatment, based on an analysis of the history of patient illness by daily monitoring of large amounts of data in real time. The creation of virtual health networks and communities enhances the exchange of opinions of medical personnel and transfer of knowledge, modern equipment, medicines and medical materials. By using the concept of electronic cardboard in virtual health communities, organizations can also achieve cross-border cooperation when it comes to effective treatment of patients and preventive action. In this paper it will be also talking about the evolution of information technologies and tendencies in health sector which enabled the use of information as a resource without which one can not imagine the efficient operation of an organization and its market recognition. Therefore information generate comparative advantages and makes the difference between successful and unsuccessful business entities on the market. The management of information systems for eHealth support is also a result of the need for different health organizations to differentiate themselves in the market, by providing the highest quality and cost-effective healthcare services. Information systems in health organizations such as Heliant Health, which will be analyzed, contribute to better monitoring of patients' disease history and analytical tools allowing forecasting of the future state of the disease. Also, in electronic healthcare, facilitated exchange of information, gives 'space' for the exchange of opinions of medical personnel that does not have to be geographically connected. In the development and implementation of information systems for electronic healthcare support, such as Heliant Health, which is present in domestic healthcare institutions, it is extremely important to choose the optimal software alternative based on empirical research, among many existing on the market. The right choice of the health information system will provide not only cost and operational efficiency, but also a higher degree of interoperability, collaboration and coordination. The methodology for selecting an adequate health information system will be presented in the work based on the results of the empirical research using softwares like Expert Choice, Visual PROMETHEE and Fuzzy Topsis. In this way, information systems in healthcare organizations enable a higher level of quality of provided services, which originate from adequately collected and analyzed information of the patients health condition.


In a world with imperfect competition, market externalities or asymmetric information, the impact of money and monetary policy on the real sector depends on the way money is created. Two conflicting views of money supply can be distinguished in the literature: the endogeneity view and the exogeneity view. In this paper, both views are discussed and compared from a theoretical and from an empirical point of view. An industrial organization model of the money-creating sector with endogenous money is presented and compared to the money multiplier approach. The concept of a heterogeneous oligopoly is used to model the credit market and the deposits market. Using the aggregated balance sheet of the banking sector, endogenous money is explained by its counterparts, especially loans. The monetary base is determined endogenously, too, and a money multiplier equivalent expression can be derived. A cointegrated vector autoregressive model for the development of the nominal money stock in Germany in the period of monetary targeting from 1975 to 1998 is estimated. The implications of the theoretical model are compared to the properties of the estimated VAR. It turns out that both the money multiplier approach and the presented model of the money-creating sector with endogenous money fail to explain all the empirical evidence from the VAR model.


The mite order Anactinotrichida consists of three distinctly related suborders, viz., Holothyrina, Ixodina, and Gamasina2). Recently, in a morphological study of a species of Holothyrus (Van der Hammen, 1961), I published a short list of ordinal characters, in which I mentioned that the tarsus of the palp is relatively small. At first sight this character does not hold good for the tick family Argasidae, where the terminal palpal segment is of normal length. It must be noted, however, that the palp of the ticks consists of four segments only (one of these being apparently a fusion of two), so that they are generally referred to by the numbers 1 to 4. In the course of a morphological investigation of the Ixodina according to the method used for my Holothyrus paper, I studied the palp of two species of ticks, viz., Ornithodoros (Ornithodoros) savignyi (Audouin) and Hyalomma dromedarii C. L. Koch, respectively belonging to the Argasidae and to the Ixodidae (the two main tick families) 3). The present paper contains the result of this comparative study; the two palps are described and figured, and an attempt is made to draw preliminary conclusions on the homology of the segments. Complete data on the material are given with each species. DESCRIPTION OF THE PALP OF A SPECIES OF THE FAMILY ARGASIDAE (fig. 1) Ornithodoros (Ornithodoros) savignyi is dealt with here as an example of the Argasidae. The material investigated for this study consists of numerous specimens from a sheep resting place, Mansuriya, Imbaba, Giza Fig. 1. Ornithodoros (Ornithodoros) savignyi (Audouin), right palp of the female. A,


On December 15-16, 2011, Harvard Law School convened a conference on "Political Risk and Public Law." A special issue of the Journal of Legal Analysis will be devoted to publishing papers on this topic by Jon Elster, Edward Glaeser, Eric Posner, Fred Schauer, Mark Tushnet, and myself. The overall aim is to introduce a new set of questions about public law and a new analytical framework for thinking about those questions. The premise of the enterprise is that constitutions and other instruments of public law may fruitfully be viewed as devices for regulating political risks. Large literatures in law, economics, political science and policy studies examine first-order risks that arise from technology, the market, or nature. By contrast, constitutions and foundational statutes, such as the Administrative Procedure Act, may be understood as devices for regulating second-order risks. These are risks that arise from the design of institutions, the allocation of legal and political power among given institutions, and the selection of officials to staff those institutions. This perspective employs the framework of risk analysis elaborated by many disciplines across the social and policy sciences. The framework promises new insights for public law. Constitutional actors have often spoken the prose of risk regulation without knowing it, offering arguments about constitutional and institutional design that implicitly posit second-order risks and offer institutional prescriptions for managing those risks. By bringing the analytic structure of those arguments to the surface, political risk analysis promises to allow a more intelligent description and evaluation of the major problems of public law.


A M B E R W A V E S 7 Federal dietary guidance advises Americans to increase their consumption of vegetables and fruit to meet recommended quantities and variety. Food prices, along with taste, convenience, income, and awareness of the link between diet and health, shape food choices. How much does it cost to meet the recommendations for vegetables and fruit? The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans advises individuals needing 2,000 calories per day to consume 2 cup equivalents of fruit and 2.5 cup equivalents of vegetables daily. ERS researchers used 2008 Nielsen Homescan data to estimate retail prices for 59 fresh and processed fruit and 94 fresh and processed vegetables averaged across package sizes, brand names, and types of stores. Average prices were adjusted for the removal of inedible parts and losses from cooking. When they applied these adjusted average prices, the ERS researchers found that, in 2008, Americans on a 2,000-calorie diet could purchase the quantity and variety of both fruit and vegetables recommended in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans for between $2.00 and $2.50 per day, or roughly 50 cents per edible cup equivalent. Prices per edible cup equivalent varied widely between different types of fruit and vegetables. Fresh watermelon, at 17 cents per edible cup equivalent, sold for the lowest average price among the fruit, while fresh raspberries, at $2.06, were priciest. A similar range of prices existed among the vegetables. Processed fruit and vegetables were not consistently more or less expensive than fresh. Canned carrots (34 cents per edible cup equivalent) were more expensive to consume than whole fresh carrots (25 cents). However, canned peaches (58 cents) were less expensive than fresh (66 cents). The ERS researchers found that fruit and vegetables priced similarly at retail stores often varied substantially when priced in edible equivalents. For example, fresh broccoli florets and fresh ears of sweet corn both sold for around $1.80 per pound at retail in 2008. However, the average price of sweet corn after boiling and disposing of the cob was $1.17 per edible cup equivalent, compared with 63 cents for cooked broccoli florets. Price differences ref lect a variety of factors, such as prices at the farm gate, processing and other marketing costs, and losses from cooking and inedible parts.


Abstract. A dual stable water isotope (δ2H and δ18O) study was conducted in the developed (managed) landscape of the Schwingbach catchment (Germany). The 2-year weekly to biweekly measurements of precipitation, stream, and groundwater isotopes revealed that surface and groundwater are isotopically disconnected from the annual precipitation cycle but showed bidirectional interactions between each other. Apparently, snowmelt played a fundamental role for groundwater recharge explaining the observed differences to precipitation δ values. A spatially distributed snapshot sampling of soil water isotopes at two soil depths at 52 sampling points across different land uses (arable land, forest, and grassland) revealed that topsoil isotopic signatures were similar to the precipitation input signal. Preferential water flow paths occurred under forested soils, explaining the isotopic similarities between top- and subsoil isotopic signatures. Due to human-impacted agricultural land use (tilling and compression) of arable and grassland soils, water delivery to the deeper soil layers was reduced, resulting in significant different isotopic signatures. However, the land use influence became less pronounced with depth and soil water approached groundwater δ values. Seasonally tracing stable water isotopes through soil profiles showed that the influence of new percolating soil water decreased with depth as no remarkable seasonality in soil isotopic signatures was obvious at depths > 0.9 m and constant values were observed through space and time. Since classic isotope evaluation methods such as transfer-function-based mean transit time calculations did not provide a good fit between the observed and calculated data, we established a hydrological model to estimate spatially distributed groundwater ages and flow directions within the Vollnkirchener Bach subcatchment. Our model revealed that complex age dynamics exist within the subcatchment and that much of the runoff must has been stored for much longer than event water (average water age is 16 years). Tracing stable water isotopes through the water cycle in combination with our hydrological model was valuable for determining interactions between different water cycle components and unravelling age dynamics within the study area. This knowledge can further improve catchment-specific process understanding of developed, human-impacted landscapes.


The extensive postglacial mammal losses in the West Indies provide an opportunity to evaluate extinction dynamics, but limited data have hindered our ability to test hypotheses. Here, we analyze the tempo and dynamics of extinction using a novel data set of faunal last-appearance dates and human first-appearance dates, demonstrating widespread overlap between humans and now-extinct native mammals. Humans arrived in four waves (Lithic, Archaic, Ceramic, and European), each associated with increased environmental impact. Large-bodied mammals and several bats were extinct by the Archaic, following protracted extinction dynamics perhaps reflecting habitat loss. Most small-bodied rodents and lipotyphlan insectivores survived the Ceramic, but extensive landscape transformation and the introduction of invasive mammals following European colonization caused further extinctions, leaving a threatened remnant fauna. Both large- and small-bodied nonvolant mammals disappeared, reflecting complex relationships between ...


Rumor has it that the first-sale doctrine is dying. According to the rumor, the doctrine, forged in the era of the physical copy, will lose its prominence in the brave new world where works in digital formats are no longer distributed and enjoyed as particular identifiable objects but exist merely as data flows. Some (e.g., librarians, consumer advocates) mourn the loss of their beloved doctrine with trepidation, while others (e.g., publishers) rejoice at its anticipated demise. Both camps assume that the doctrine is confined to the transfer of tangible copies and that it limits only copyright owners' distribution right, not any other exclusive rights.The death prognosis further relies on the proliferation of contractual and licensing conditions that purport to prohibit one buyer from transferring what he or she purchased to another, even if the transfer was otherwise technically possible and legally permissible.This chapter argues that the rumor of the doctrine's death is premature. The death prognosis regards the first-sale doctrine merely as a statutory exception, and one that limits only the copyright owner's distribution right, but not other rights. The doctrine, thus, protects defendants who can show that their acts fall within the bounds of the statutory exception, but any mismatch would be fatal.The chapter offers a different understanding of the first-sale doctrine. As a "first sale" doctrine it may limit the distribution right, but its statutory presence merely affirms a broader principle of exhaustion — one of several copyright law principles that limit the copyright owners' powers, and a species of a larger genus of rules that restrict the exercise of private power more generally. Since the doctrine isn't a creature of statute, its codification does not limit courts in applying the broader principle of exhaustion that it reflects. The death prognosis rests on the first and narrow view, which also implies that only legislative reform can expand exhaustion beyond that limited statutory scope. Under the second view, however, the first-sale doctrine may not only be alive but might well be kicking.The chapter shows that the second view is both plausible and sound.


To a reader of Joyce's Ulysses , it makes a difference whether one of Stephen Dedalus's first thoughts is "No mother" (as in the printed version) or "No, mother!" (as in the manuscript). The scholarship surrounding such textual differences--and why this discipline should concern readers and literary scholars alike--is the focus of William Proctor Williams and Craig S. Abbott's acclaimed handbook. This updated, fourth edition outlines the study of texts' composition, revision, physical embodiments, process of transmission, and manner of reception; describes how new technologies such as digital imaging and electronic tagging have changed the way we produce, read, preserve, and research texts; discusses why these matters are central to a historical understanding of literature; and shows how the insights, methods, and products of bibliographical and textual studies can be applied to other branches of scholarship.


This book explores the complex issues surrounding the management of cleft lip and palate in the Developing World, and aims to raise the profile of a condition commonly considered to be of only cosmetic importance in countries where infant and child mortality rates are high. It provides information and guidelines to three groups: those in the Developing World setting up programmes of cleft lip and palate care, and clinicians from developed countries delivering care in that context, as well as clinicians in the Developing World itself. The book is multidisciplinary, demonstrating the role of every member of the team, not just the surgeon, and includes contributions from charity organisations which support these cleft lip and palate programmes. Each area of clinical practice is covered, comparing typical care in developed countries with that in the Developing World, and contains practical suggestions as to how the gap may be narrowed.


Human rhinoviruses (HRVs) are responsible for more than half of all cases of the common cold and cost billions of USD annually in medical visits and missed school and work. An assessment was made of the antiviral activities and mechanisms of action of paeonol (PA) and 1,2,3,4,6-penta-O-galloyl-β-D-glucopyranose (PGG) from Paeonia lactiflora root toward HRV-2 and HRV-4 in MRC5 cells using a tetrazolium method and real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results were compared with those of a reference control ribavirin. Based on 50% inhibitory concentration values, PGG was 13.4 and 18.0 times more active toward HRV-2 (17.89 μM) and HRV-4 (17.33 μM) in MRC5 cells, respectively, than ribavirin. The constituents had relatively high selective index values (3.3–>8.5). The 100 μg/mL PA and 20 μg/mL PGG did not interact with the HRV-4 particles. These constituents inhibited HRV-4 infection only when they were added during the virus inoculation (0 h), the adsorption period of HRVs, but not after 1 h or later. Moreover, the RNA replication levels of HRVs were remarkably reduced in the MRC5 cultures treated with these constituents. These findings suggest that PGG and PA may block or reduce the entry of the viruses into the cells to protect the cells from the virus destruction and abate virus replication, which may play an important role in interfering with expressions of rhinovirus receptors (intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and low-density lipoprotein receptor), inflammatory cytokines (interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, tumor necrosis factor, interferon beta, and IL-1β), and Toll-like receptor, which resulted in diminishing symptoms induced by HRV. Global efforts to reduce the level of synthetic drugs justify further studies on P. lactiflora root-derived materials as potential anti-HRV products or lead molecules for the prevention or treatment of HRV.


In 1959 C. P. Snow delivered his now-famous Rede Lecture, 'The Two Cultures,' a reflection on the academy based on the premise that intellectual life was divided into two cultures: the arts and humanities on one side and science on the other. Since then, a third culture, generally termed 'social science' and comprised of fields such as sociology, political science, economics, and psychology, has emerged. Jerome Kagan's book describes the assumptions, vocabulary, and contributions of each of these cultures and argues that the meanings of many of the concepts used by each culture are unique to it and do not apply to the others because the source of evidence for the term is special. The text summarizes the contributions of the social sciences and humanities to our understanding of human nature and questions the popular belief that biological processes are the main determinant of variation in human behavior.


Films of solid deuterium at a temperature around 3 K have been irradiated by 1.5 or 2 keV electrons. The films were deposited on the silver electrode of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) suspended below a pumped liquid helium cryostat [1,2]. The thickness of the films ranged from 10 nm to up to 5 µm. The initial film thickness and the mass loss as result of desorption were monitored by the QCM. The electron beam current was kept at about or below 100 nA to avoid beam-induced evaporation. Secondary electron emission was suppressed to a value below 0.01-0.03 electrons/electron by a repeller ring at a bias of – 90 V. However, for films thicker than 3-4 times the range of the bombarding electrons, the electron yield suddenly rose to a value close to 0.40. From this secondary electron yield the voltage potential could be determined unambiguously from secondary electron emission curves obtained by short pulse measurements on fresh films. For the thickest films the charging induced a surface potential of more than 1.0 kV, i.e. one-half of the energy of the bombarding electron. For these thick films the desorption yield increased from the minimum value of 6-10 D2/electron up to 380 D2/electron at 1.5 keV and 960 D2/electron at 2 keV. The surface potential is induced by electron charge accumulation in the film at large thicknesses from where the electrons no longer are able to migrate to the conductive substrate with a sufficiently high rate.


Type 2 diabetes is an insidious disorder, with micro and/or macrovascular and nervous damage occurring in many patients before diagnosis. This damage is caused by hyperglycaemia and the diverse effects of insulin resistance. Obesity, in particular central obesity, is a strong pre-disposing factor for type 2 diabetes. Skeletal muscle is the main site of insulin-stimulated glucose disposal and appears to be the first organ that becomes insulin resistant in the diabetic state, with later involvement of adipose tissue and the liver. This study has investigated the use of novel agents to ameliorate insulin-resistance in skeletal muscle as a means of identifying intervention sites against insulin resistance and of improving glucose uptake and metabolism by skeletal muscle. Glucose uptake was measured in vitro by cultured L6 myocytes and isolated muscles from normal and obese diabetic ob/ob mice, using either the tritiated non-metabolised glucose analogue 2-deoxy-D-glucose or by glucose disposal. Agents studied included lipoic acid, isoferulic acid, bradykinin, lipid mobilising factor (provisionally synonymous with Zinca2 glycoprotein) and the trace elements lithium, selenium and chromium. The putative role of TNFa in insulin resistance was also investigated. Lipoic acid improved insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in normal and insulin resistance murine muscles, as well as cultured myocytes. Isoferulic acid, bradykinin and LMF also produced a transient increase in glucose uptake in cultured myocytes. Physiological concentrations of TNFa were found to cause insulin resistance in cultured, but no in excised murine muscles. The effect of the M2 metabolite of the satiety-inducing agent sibutramine on lipolysis in excised murine and human adipocytes was also investigated. M2 increased lipolysis from normal lean and obese ob/ob mouse adipocytes. Arguably the most important observation was that M2 also increased the lipolytic rate in adipocytes from catecholamine resistant obese subjects. The studies reported in this thesis indicate that a diversity of agents can improve glucose uptake and ameliorate insulin resistance. It is likely that these agents are acting via different pathways. This thesis has also shown that M2 can induce lipolysis in both rodent and human adipocytes. M2 hence has potential to directly reduce adiposity, in addition to well documented effects via the central nervous system.


Prostate cancer (PC) is a common cancer (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) in men in many parts of the world, although incidence and mortality rates vary significantly by population. In current medical practice, prognostic markers for PC include the presenting serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, tumour Gleason score (GS) and clinical tumour stage. However, existing pre-treatment factors cannot be used to predict acute radiotherapy (RT)-induced toxicity. Therefore, new protein biomarkers are required in RT oncology to improve decision-making, treatment and therapy monitoring for PC patients. The aim of this systematic review is to the update potential research to address the difference in cytokine expression and their association with RT-induced toxicity and clinical outcomes. Studies were collected after searching three electronic databases: PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar. An additional search was carried out through cross-check on a bibliography of selected articles. After the selection process made by two of the authors, 19 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review. Results from previous studies identified elevated levels of cytokines have been reported in several types of cancers and have sometimes correlated with disease progression or prognosis. Elevated levels of cytokine were noticed after immediate exposure to RT and their association with RT-induced acute/late toxicity of PC patients. Moreover, above studies also identified overexpression of cytokines on tumour biopsies and correlation with shortening cancer-specific survival and biochemical recurrence. Thus, altered levels of cytokine might be predictive biomarkers for RT-induced and clinical outcomes of PC patients.


Somatic mutations of the human mitochondrial genome can be a possible determinant of atherosclerosis. To test this possibility, forty mitochondrial mutations were analyzed in the present study in order to see which of these mutations might be associated with atherosclerosis. Ten mitochondrial mutations belonging to mitochondrial genes MT-RNR1 (rRNA 12S); MT-TL1 (tRNA-Leu, recognizes UUR); MT-TL2 (tRNA-Leu, recognizes CUN); MT-ND1, MT-ND2, MT-ND5, and MT-ND6 (subunits 1, 2, 5, and 6, respectively, of NADH dehydrogenase); and MT-CYB (cytochrome b) were potentially associated with atherosclerosis. From 29% (2 of 7 aortic samples) upto 86% (6 of 7 aortic samples) of aortic samples had a significant difference between atherosclerotic plaques and unaffected tissue, with the respect to the level of heteroplasmy for each mutation. Further, the homogenates of affected and normal intimae of 22 aortas were compared to reveal the average level of heteroplasmy for the above-mentioned 10 mutations. For five mutations, the mean level of heteroplasmy was significantly different in atherosclerotic intimal homogenates in comparison with the unaffected tissue. These mutations were A1555G, C3256T, T3336C, G13513A, and G15059A. Thus, it was demonstrated that at least five mitochondrial mutations occurring in MT-RNR1, MT-TL1, MT-ND2, MT-ND5, and MT-CYB genes are associated with atherosclerosis.


The BMJ has uncovered evidence that the government's consultation last year on the promised introduction of a minimum price for alcohol in England and Wales was little more than a sham.

David Cameron, the prime minister, pledged in March 2012 that the policy would be introduced, in his words, to save hundreds of lives a year.

Yet internal emails from the Department of Health show that as the subsequent consultation on the level at which the price should be set was under way the alcohol industry was arguing successfully against the principle of the policy in a series of meetings with ministers.

The revelations have emerged as part of an investigation by the BMJ that has found extensive evidence of the influence on public health policy of an industry granted easy and open access to all departments of government.

Documents released under a freedom of information request show that the health department alone had 130 meetings with representatives of the alcohol industry between the coalition taking power in May 2010 and the end of 2013. Some 80 of these meetings remain publicly unacknowledged and undocumented.

Details of the meetings will come as …


The expression "drinking the Kool-Aid" has entered the American idiom with little reference to its origins in the Jonestown tragedy of 18 November 1978. Instead, people are using Jonestown—— the event——and
 Kool-Aid——the phrase——to signify a number of contradictory meanings and values. This is because those who died in Jonestown were ritually excluded from cultural consideration. The more traumatic
 the original incident, the more likely memory of that event will be forgotten or repressed. The author identifies the ways Kool-Aid and Jonestown are used in the news and on the Internet, and catalogues
 four main groups of uses: cult disasters, including 9/11; political uses; entertainment; and business uses. The categories of cult disasters and politics use Jonestown references negatively,thereby indicating
 a tenuous connection with the origins of the concepts. The entertainment and business worlds, however, use the references both negatively and positively,thus revealing dissociation and amnesia about the
 reality of Jonestown.


How do we recognize a topic in dialog? How can we detect topic shifts? How do we know whether a topic is closed or still ongoing? In the context of our Bielefeld KnowCIT1 project we are building an artificial agent that can do such things! Topic awareness in spoken dialogs is based on cognitive and interactive processes taking place unconsciously during conversation. Bublitz [1] defined a dialog topic to be a category subordinating and enclosing a sequence of associated dialog utterances. We pick up this idea in the context of recent research on social networks by making use of Wikipedia which provides huge amounts of categories subordinating object knowledge by means of natural language articles [2]. Adapting the tasks of the Topic Detection and Tracking research program [3] to spontaneous dialogs, our model implements six tasks essential for automatic topic awareness on the basis of a graphical representation of the Wikipedia category system. Thereby the processes completing the several tasks operate online to handle (dialog) streams of ever-changing topical threads in real-time. Eventually transferring these tasks to our conversational agent Max means transferring human-like topic awareness to the artificial dialog partner and thus facilitates talking topically to him.


It has been investigated the In-Vessel Melt Retention (IVMR) strategy with external vessel water cooling after the initiation of Large Break LOCA (2 × 850 mm) simultaneously with full station blackout (SBO) at WWER-1000 reactor. The reference nuclear power plant for this analysis is Units 5 and 6 of the Kozloduy NPP. Two calculations have been done with ASTECv126.96.36.199 computer code: In the first calculation ICARE and CESAR modules of ASTECv18.104.22.168 computer code have been used in a coupled mode. The calculation starts at 4910 s. after the initiation of LBLOCA and SBO. At this moment a large amount of molten corium is poured in the lower vessel bottom head. In this calculation just the vessel bottom head was modelled without water and without internals. The external water cooling is initiated also at 4910 s. The second calculation is integral plant simulation of LBLOCA simultaneously with SBO. The modules 'CESAR', 'ICARE', 'SOPHAEROS' and 'CPA' fromASTECv126.96.36.199 computer codehave beenused in the calculation. LBLOCAandSBOare initiated at 0 s. The external water cooling is initiated at 1025 s. This is the time of the first material and fission products (FP) slump in the lower head vessel. The investigations discussed the maximal values of the internal and the external heat fluxes inside and outside the vessel bottom head for the different segments and other major parameters.


Two hundred and fifteen children aged between 5 and 9 years were asked to estimate the answers to addition sums. Their competence at addition was first assessed, and they were accordingly divided into five groups. Children of each level were given a set of estimation problems involving sums a little too difficult for them to calculate (termed their "base correspondence"). Of the 215 children, 108 were then given sets of estimation problems corresponding to levels higher than their own. In the base correspondence, children of higher levels tended to produce more reasonable estimates than did children of lower levels. As difficulty increased beyond the base correspondence, the reasonableness of the estimates declined. The existence and nature of a zone of partial knowledge and understanding are discussed.


Phenological observations have been carried out on all the dipterocarps (except the genera #Vatica# and #Hopea#) recorded on 20 ha of mixed lowland dipterocarp forest in the Berau district (Kalimantan Timur, Indonesia). More particularly, a fruiting peak was observed at the end of January 1995. Although fruiting trees were observed in all diameter classes from 10 cm dbh, it turned out that the proportion of fertile trees was maximum and stable only above 50 cm dbh, which could be considered as a limit of maturity for dipterocarps. Considering only the trees above 50 cm dbh, the proportion of fruiting individuals was 66%, which is defined as a "mast fruiting" in the literature. Nevertheless, this fertility varied between genera. The genus #Dipterocarpus# participated at 82.3% while the genus #Shorea# participated at 54.5%. Within one genus, differences between species were also observed.


ABSTRACT In this issue of The Condor: Ornithological Applications, Haig et al. (2014) summarize negative impacts of lead ammunition and fishing tackle on birds and discuss strategies for mitigating risks to wildlife and human health. Their Review raises an important set of questions for hunters, wildlife managers, and conservation scientists. Effective mitigation will require careful understanding of technical, economic, and social dimensions of the problem. Here, I focus on challenges specific to adopting non-lead ammunition for hunting, particularly for large game animals. I discuss limitations of using the ban on lead ammunition for waterfowl hunting as an analog for reducing lead use for other types of hunting, explain important technical considerations in design and use of non-lead ammunition, and point out areas where effective non-lead alternatives are still lacking. I suggest that currently available economic analyses of the cost of non-lead alternatives are inadequate and do not recognize wide variation in hunter behavior. These considerations have strong implications for designing effective outreach and predicting responses of hunters asked to consider non-lead alternatives. Enforcing outright bans on using lead ammunition for all types of hunting, as recently enacted in California, may prove even more challenging than similar restrictions for waterfowl hunting. Despite this, I propose that major reductions in exposure of wildlife and people to lead bullet fragments are achievable, particularly through outreach and incentive programs that focus on the most commonly used types of firearms for big game hunting—high velocity modern rifles. Bullets from these widely used rifles typically produce the most lead fragments and have the best selection of effective non-lead options available at this time. Efforts to change hunter behavior must recognize the true costs and challenges of changing to non-lead ammunition. Likewise, hunters should recognize and accept their important role in wildlife conservation and work to embrace effective alternatives to lead as they become available.


We address the problem of designing practical methods for natural language semantic matching. While current deep neural networks can achieve high accuracy on benchmark datasets, their model structures are typically rigidly defined and as a result often encounter generalization issues and cannot easily adapt to various training data limitations. In this paper, we propose a Markov Network Model that leverages linguistic independence assumptions to decompose the problem into subproblems that can be solved independently for both generalization and the ability to adapt to various amounts of training data. The proposed framework is orthogonal to deep neural networks, since they can be integrated to the framework in the form of potential functions on the cliques corresponding to smaller sub-problems. Experiments on diverse real-world datasets show our method outperforms current state-of-the-art both in terms of accuracy, generalization and the ability to perform under various training data limitations.


Sarcopenia and frailty are common in older persons and pose particular challenges for health and social care systems especially in the context of global population ageing. Sarcopenia, the loss of skeletal muscle mass, strength and function with age is associated with adverse individual physical and metabolic changes contributing to morbidity and mortality. The health and socioeconomic implications of sarcopenia are also considerable. Sarcopenia is a core component of physical frailty that together impact negatively on an individual's capability to live independently. Frailty is a biological syndrome of low reserve and resistance to stressors resulting from cumulative declines across multiple physiological systems that collectively predispose an individual to adverse outcomes. Frailty develops along a continuum from independence through to death as physiological reserves progressively diminish an individual's capacity to recover from an acute insult or illness. Managing sarcopenia and frailty involves the multidisciplinary led completion of a comprehensive care plan that is patient centred, responsive to the needs of the patient and adaptable therefore enabling an individual to maintain their independence.


Manuscripts documenting the occurrence of resistance against all commonly used anticoccidial drugs abroad, together with the high incidence of clinical coccidiosis in the field (60-90% of flocks) in the Netherlands, were the reasons to start investigations on the occurrence of anticoccidial drug resistance of Dutch and other European Eimeria spp. field isolates. The results showed a high degree of resistance against most tested anticoccidial drugs. The research performed in this thesis was preceded by an extensive literature review focusing on anticoccidial products and alternative strategies. Based on this literature study one alternative coccidiosis control strategy, namely a mannanoligosaccharide (a prebiotic), was chosen for further experimental studies in broiler chickens. Additionally, two other products i.e. ibuprofen (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)) and a mucolytic enzyme (protease) were also used in experimental research aiming at assessing their anticoccidial potential. Ibuprofen was chosen because as a cyclooxygenase inhibitor it was expected to reduce the pathology of coccidiosis lesions through impairment of the production of prostaglandins, and because it was reported that another NSAID (indometacin) was able to reduce oocyst shedding. The mucolytic enzyme was studied as it was speculated that a protease might block the attachment of Eimeria to the mucus layer through its degradation. In view of the poor anticoccidial effect found in the studies performed with mannanoligosaccharide, ibuprofen and the mucolytic enzyme, further research focused on vaccination against chicken Eimeria, which despite some drawbacks has shown to be highly effective against outbreaks of clinical coccidiosis. Another reason to focus on vaccination was the inefficacy of rotation and shuttle programs to solve the coccidiosis resistance problem, which is explained by the fact that resistance is stable even in the absence of drug selection pressure. A welcome side effect of vaccination is the improved sensitivity of Eimeria spp. field isolates for anticoccidial drugs reported by some researchers. This phenomenon may play a key role in reducing the anticoccidial drug resistance problem. However, large-scale field studies documenting this were lacking. Therefore, the relation between the coccidiosis prevention program (vaccination with a live attenuated anticoccidial vaccine or anticoccidial drugs in feed) and anticoccidial drug sensitivity profiles of Eimeria spp. field isolates for diclazuril and monensin was studied. The results showed that use of vaccination was associated with an increased sensitivity of Eimeria spp. field isolates to anticoccidial drugs. Coccidiosis vaccines could be produced more efficiently if cross protection between Eimeria spp. would be relevant enough to reduce the number of species included in the vaccine and/or reduce the vaccination dose. Therefore, cross protection studies between an E. acervulina vaccine line and E. tenella, and E. maxima were performed. The results showed complete protection against E. acervulina, partial cross protection against E. tenella but no cross protection against E. maxima. The thesis is finalized with a summarizing discussion with conclusions and perspectives for future research.


This title includes the complete covers from the seminal avant garde fashion magazine. In celebration of 30 years at the forefront of international fashion and lifestyle publishing, this book, edited by Creative Director and "i-D" founder Terry Jones, features all of the iconic covers to date as well as the best stories behind the making of the images. In personal discussion with many of the creative talents he has worked with over the years, Terry Jones weaves his own personal web of diary, memories, and magic to give the reader an unforgettable look into a secret world before the digital age made everything accessible and public. Taking us to the present day with Nick Knight's three latest covers (streamed instantly and shown online as he was photographing them), this book offers an incredible insight into a creative world that is changing under our eyes, but still has its heart and its creativity firmly rooted in its beginnings.


Mexico's 2013–2014 energy reform promises to bring the country's economic drivers and regulatory institutions in line with the global practices of free market democracies. If successful, this development would be a 180-degree turn. The accomplishment of such realignment is hardly assured, however, because of endogenous political, institutional, and legal constraints that could openly defeat the aims of energy reform or quietly subvert them, even under the guise of success. Energy reform must be coherent with the global oil industry; its success must be measured by the amount and composition of investors who believe in Mexico's resources, public oversight institutions, and rule of law. Success will also be measured by how far energy reform goes in transforming Mexico's national oil company (NOC) into an enterprise that is competitive outside of Mexico. If energy reform leaves a stayat-home NOC, it will not have been worth the effort.


We consider free surface flow in random porous media by treating hydraulic conductivity of a medium as a random field with known statistics. We start by recasting the boundary-value problem in the form of an integral equation where the parameters and domain of integration are random. Our analysis of this equation consists of expanding the random integrals in Taylor's series about the mean position of the free boundary and taking the ensemble mean. To quantify the uncertainty associated with such predictions, we also develop a set of integro-differential equations satisfied by the corresponding second ensemble moments. The resulting moment equations require closure approximations to be workable. We derive such closures by means of perturbation expansions in powers of the variance of the logarithm of hydraulic conductivity. Though this formally limits our solutions to mildly heterogeneous porous media, our analytical solutions for one-dimensional flows demonstrate that such perturbation expansions may remai...


The present, Spring 2010, issue of Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge includes, but is not limited to, contributions from the 2010 Annual Conference on Teaching for Transformation, organized by the Center for the Improvement of Teaching, directed by Vivian Zamel at UMass Boston. The issue also includes five student papers from courses taught by Anna Beckwith, Lecturer at UMass Boston, as well as three contributions submitted to the journal during the past year. As instructors regularly teaching the same course and often using the same text across semesters, we may have noticed the difference between our own initial readings and teachings of our texts, and subsequent readings and teachings of them, when familiar ways of interpreting and teaching the text in the classroom seem to emerge over time. As we teach, we may find ourselves adopting routine approaches to interpreting and teaching text. The freshness of the first reading or teaching of a text often has a taste and after-taste that the routinized/habitual reading and teaching of the same in later trials often lack. In their important contribution, "Constructing the Innocence of the First Textual Encounter," UMass Boston English Department faculty Alex Mueller, Cheryl Nixon and Rajini Srikanth creatively succeed in making their readers aware of the complexity of the first textual encounter and its significance in the learning (and teaching) process. Moreover, they propose three strategies (what they call, "the innocence of the material text," "the pedagogy of the restraint," and "the suspension of mastery") that will enable teachers and students to purposely "construct" and reinvent the innocence of the first textual encounter in order to balance the "uncertain and confident" encounters with the text while reaping its pedagogical and transformative benefits. As the co-authors aptly conclude, "innocence is an opening to question our texts, our world, and ourselves as students and teachers" (p. 3). In her article entitled, "Examining a First Amendment Court Case to Teach Argument Analysis to Freshman Writers at an Art College," Angelika Festa, of Massachusetts College of Art and Design, draws on her experience of teaching and her students' viewpoints to re-encounter the legal arguments in a First Amendment case involving the Brooklyn Institute of the Arts and Sciences v. City of New York Rudolph W. Giuliani over the 1996 exhibition of the painting "The Holy Virgin Mary" by the artist Chris Ofili in the Institute. It is interesting to see the parallel between the "innocence" of the new encounter of Festa's students with the legal and artistic texts surrounding Ofilia's painting, for this experience proves to be not only one of learning about the legal case and the painting. The experiences also allows these students to learn about U.S. history on the one hand, and their own sense of artistic imagination and expression, on the other. From a textual encounter with a legal case about the exhibition of painting, students end up voicing their own identities and imaginations as expressed through their creative writings about the case. In Festa's words, ... as [students] study to analyze and reason effectively when making arguments about art and freedom of expression, it becomes clear to me that they are also eager to enter the free space of their imagination and expression, where personal judgment and experience mingle with language, form, color, sound, and tactile materials to produce a work of art. (p.40) In both studies above, teachers and students are directly involved in their joint encounters with the text, be it a novel, poem, or legal argumentation. "The Absent Professor: Rethinking Collaboration in Tutorial Sessions," co-authored by Arianne Baker, Kristi Girdharry, Meghan Hancock, Rebecca Katz, Meesh McCarthy, Jesse Priest, and Megan Turilli--all tutors at the Reading, Writing, and Study Strategies Center at UMass Boston--involves a different encounter with students over the text, not only of student writings, but of the syllabi, margin commentaries, and expectations of professors who are physically absent in the conversation, but very much present as far as the nature and goals of the assignment are concerned. …


We present a grating model of two-dimensional (2D) rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) to study top diffraction gratings on light-emitting diodes (LEDs). We compare the integrated-transmission of the non-grating, rectangular-grating, and triangular-grating cases for the same grating period of 6 µm, and show that the triangular grating has the best performance. For the triangular grating with 6-\mm period, the LED achieves the highest light transmission at 6-m grating bottom width and 2.9-µm grating depth. Compared with the non-grating case, the optimized light transmission improvement is about 74.6%. The simulation agrees with the experimental data of the thin polymer grating encapsulated flip-chip (FC) GaN-based LEDs for the light extraction improvement.


A Membrane BioReactor (MBR) is the combination of a membrane process (e.g. microfiltration/ ultrafiltration) with a suspended growth bioreactor. When used with domestic wastewater, MBR processes can produce effluent of high enough quality to be discharged to waterways, or to be reclaimed for urban irrigation. Other advantages of MBRs over conventional processes include small footprint, easy retrofit and upgrade of old wastewater treatment plants.
The MBR Book covers all important aspects of Membrane BioReactors in water and waste water treatment, from the fundamentals of the processes via design principles to MBR technologies. Industrial case studies help interpret actual results and give pointers for best practice. Useful appendices provide data on commercial membranes and international membrane organizations.
The MBR book enables readers to:

Understand the fundamental processes involved in membrane and biotreatment technologies
Compare and contrast design options and work through sample calculations
Review commercial MBR systems in terms of specific applications
Learn from case studies involving domestic and industrial effluent treatment and recycling
Analyze process design, operation, performance and maintenance to draw conclusions appropriate to their requirements

New to the second edition:
45% more content than the first edition.

Over 120 contributors from the academic research and municipal/industrial practitioner communities.

Review  of MBR status in ten countries.

Expanded section on anaerobic MBRs, micropollutant fate and hybrid systems.

Simplified design methodology, with biokinetics for dynamic modelling and cost benefit analysis.

Expanded operation and maintenance section, informed by expert panel of practitioners offering more than 40 years combined experience.

Over 40 MBR membrane products described, with most of the technical specifications provided.

Over 50 case studies provided, including key design, performance, and operation and maintenance data in almost all cases.

Membrane Bioreactors are a major growth area in the water and waste water treatment industries
Internationally-known author, one of the leading senior experts in MBR research
Principles and practice, backed by industrial case studies


We introduce and analyze a class of algorithms, called Mirror Ascent against an Improved Opponent (MAIO), for computing Nash equilibria in two-player zero-sum games, both in normal form and in sequential form with imperfect information. These algorithms update the policy of each player with a mirror-ascent step to maximize the value of playing against an improved opponent. An improved opponent can be a best response, a greedy policy, a policy improved by policy gradient, or by any other reinforcement learning or search techniques. We establish a convergence result of the last iterate to the set of Nash equilibria and show that the speed of convergence depends on the amount of improvement offered by these improved policies. In addition, we show that under some condition, if we use a best response as improved policy, then an exponential convergence rate is achieved.


Research on relationships between anxiety and depression has proceeded at a rapid pace since the 1980s. The similarities and differences between these two conditions, as well as many of the important features of the comorbidity of these disorders, are well understood. The genotypic structure of anxiety and depression is also fairly well documented. Generalized anxiety and major depression share a common genetic diathesis, but the anxiety disorders themselves are genetically hetergeneous. Sophisticated phenotypic models have also emerged, with data converging on an integrative hierarchical model of mood and anxiety disorders in which each individual syndrome contains both a common and a unique component. Finally, considerable progress has been made in understanding cognitive aspects of these disorders. This work has focused on both the cognitive content of anxiety and depression and on the effects that anxiety and depression have on information processing for mood-congruent material.


Abstract. Climate change and its impacts already pose considerable challenges for societies that will further increase with global warming (IPCC, 2014a, b). Uncertainties of the climatic response to greenhouse gas emissions include the potential passing of large-scale tipping points (e.g. Lenton et al., 2008; Levermann et al., 2012; Schellnhuber, 2010) and changes in extreme meteorological events (Field et al., 2012) with complex impacts on societies (Hallegatte et al., 2013). Thus climate change mitigation is considered a necessary societal response for avoiding uncontrollable impacts (Conference of the Parties, 2010). On the other hand, large-scale climate change mitigation itself implies fundamental changes in, for example, the global energy system. The associated challenges come on top of others that derive from equally important ethical imperatives like the fulfilment of increasing food demand that may draw on the same resources. For example, ensuring food security for a growing population may require an expansion of cropland, thereby reducing natural carbon sinks or the area available for bio-energy production. So far, available studies addressing this problem have relied on individual impact models, ignoring uncertainty in crop model and biome model projections. Here, we propose a probabilistic decision framework that allows for an evaluation of agricultural management and mitigation options in a multi-impact-model setting. Based on simulations generated within the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP), we outline how cross-sectorally consistent multi-model impact simulations could be used to generate the information required for robust decision making. Using an illustrative future land use pattern, we discuss the trade-off between potential gains in crop production and associated losses in natural carbon sinks in the new multiple crop- and biome-model setting. In addition, crop and water model simulations are combined to explore irrigation increases as one possible measure of agricultural intensification that could limit the expansion of cropland required in response to climate change and growing food demand. This example shows that current impact model uncertainties pose an important challenge to long-term mitigation planning and must not be ignored in long-term strategic decision making.