We study the effect of nitrogen on the GaAs0.9−xNxSb0.1 (x=0.00, 0.65%, 1.06%, 1.45%, and 1.90%) alloy dielectric function by spectroscopic ellipsometry in the energy range from 0.73 to 4.75 eV. The compositional dependences of the critical points energies for the GaAs0.9−xNxSb0.1 are obtained. In addition to the GaAs intrinsic transitions E1, E1+Δ1, and E0′, the nitrogen-induced Γ-point optical transitions E0 and E+, together with a third transition E#, are identified. We find that with increasing the N content, the E0 transition shifts to lower energies while the E+ and E# transitions shift to higher energies. We suggest that the origin of the E0, E+, and E# transitions may be explained by the double band anticrossing (BAC) model, consisting of a conduction BAC model and a valence BAC model.


Feature-adaptive subdivision (FAS) is one of the state-of-the art real-time rendering methods for subdivision surfaces on modern GPUs. It enables efficient and accurate rendering of subdivision surfaces in many interactive applications, such as video games or authoring tools. In this paper, we present dynamic feature-adaptive subdivision (DFAS), which improves upon FAS by enabling an independent subdivision depth for every irregularity. Our subdivision kernels fill a dynamic patch buffer on-the-fly with the appropriate number of patches corresponding to the chosen level-of-detail scheme. By reducing the number of generated and processed patches, DFAS significantly improves upon the performance of static FAS.


This paper examines how spatial concepts of a region change over time and focuses on the Pilbara region in Western Australia as an example. Spatial concepts of 'old space' and 'new place' are employed to demonstrate how space gets re-written in the course of time. Re-writing of spatial concepts implies ontological shifts. By juxtaposing 'old space' and 'new place' concepts, questions of cultural values, the meaning of place – and of a region's identity – can be explored. In the Pilbara region a specific cultural clash of Indigenous and non-Indigenous perceptions and use of space is evident. This paper theorises the culture and identity of the Pilbara region spatially. It employs the concept of spatiality that is one element in the 'trialectic model of being', as suggested by Henri Lefebvre, which consists of spatiality, historicality and sociality. Arguably, knowledge of 'old space' and 'new place' can enrich and inspire Australian culture, enhance cross-cultural understanding and break new ground in establishing a unique reconciliatory and conservation ethic.


OBJECTIVE
To identify the functional status and quality of life of HAM/TSP patients.

METHOD
We evaluated prospectively 30 HAM/TSP patients (20 females) seen in the Neuroinfection Clinic of the HUGG. The functional capacity was analyzed by the functional independence measure (FIM), the expanded disability status (EDSS) scale and the Osame's motor disability score (OMDS). The quality of life was assessed by the Short-Form Health Survey 36 (SF-36)TM.

RESULTS
All patients need assistance device. The FIM, OMDS and EDSS scores classified 70%, 67% and 67% of the patients as dependent, respectively. The lowest scores of the SF-36 survey were found in the domains related to the physical health (D1, D2), role-emotional functioning (D7) and social functioning (D6).

CONCLUSION
Our data suggest that the HAM/TSP physical impairment has an impact in the emotional and social issues, considering the limitation in the daily activities.


Nanoparticles are discrete nanometer (10−9 m)-scale assemblies of atoms. Thus, they have dimensions between those characteristic of ions (10−10 m) and those of macroscopic materials. They are interesting because the number of atoms in the particles is small enough, and a large enough fraction of them are at, or near surfaces, to significantly modify the particle's atomic, electronic, and magnetic structures, physical and chemical properties, and reactivity relative to the bulk material. Nanoparticle surfaces themselves may be distinctive. Particles may be terminated by atomic planes or clusters that are not common, or not found, at surfaces of the bulk mineral. These, and other size-related effects will lead to modified phase stability and changes in reaction kinetics.

What makes a nanoparticle a nanoparticle? Definitions of the size ranges for molecules, nanoparticles, and macroscopic solids must be compound specific. However, a useful upper limit for nanoparticles is the size at which one of its properties deviates from the value for the equivalent bulk material by an amount that is significantly larger than the error of the method used to make the measurement (a few percent). In practice, some characteristic will probably be different enough to warrant description as a "nanoparticle" if it is less than a few tens of nanometers in diameter, and perhaps less than a fraction of a micron in diameter.

Because of the importance of size-dependent property changes to the materials sciences, size-property relationships have been studied in detail for some systems. For example, for semiconductors, size effects become important when the particle diameter is close to the Bohr diameter of excitons in the bulk phase. Generally, semiconductor size quantization effects (relevant for naturally occurring metal sulfides, for example) appear when particles are less than 10 nm in diameter (Vogel and Urban 1997).

Definition of the …


The links between sleep and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been a topic of ongoing research and clinical interest in children over the last three decades and more recently in adults suffering from ADHD. Clinically, psychiatrists are faced with frequent reports of sleep disorders in adults and children with ADHD and conversely, sleep specialists report certain symptoms of ADHD (attention deficits, urge for fidgeting) in patients suffering from primary sleep disorders. Excessive sleepiness is found in ADHD and sleep disorders such as hypersomnia, sleep breathing disorder (SDB), periodic limb movements in sleep (PLMS) and circadian rhythm disorders. This has encouraged authors to suggest a model of ADHD involving a deficit in alertness. The aim of this article is to clarify the pathophysiological rationale for the relationship between sleep/arousal and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and to explore future perspectives in terms of management, treatment and development of research fields.


BACKGROUND
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) recently has mandated the formation of a clinical competency committee (CCC) to evaluate residents across the newly defined milestone continuum. The ACGME has been nonproscriptive of how these CCCs are to be structured in order to provide flexibility to the programs.

OBJECTIVES
No best practices for the formation of CCCs currently exist. We seek to determine common structures of CCCs recently formed in the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD) member programs and identify unique structures that have been developed.

METHODS
In this descriptive study, an 18-question survey was distributed via the CORD listserv in the late fall of 2013. Each member program was asked questions about the structure of its CCC. These responses were analyzed with simple descriptive statistics.

RESULTS
A total of 116 of the 160 programs responded, giving a 73% response rate. Of responders, most (71.6%) CCCs are chaired by the associate or assistant program director, while a small number (14.7%) are chaired by a core faculty member. Program directors (PDs) chair 12.1% of CCCs. Most CCCs are attended by the PD (85.3%) and selected core faculty members (78.5%), leaving the remaining committees attended by any core faculty. Voting members of the CCC consist of the residency leadership either with the PD (53.9%) or without the PD (36.5%) as a voting member. CCCs have an average attendance of 7.4 members with a range of three to 15 members. Of respondents, 53.1% of CCCs meet quarterly while 37% meet monthly. The majority of programs (76.4%) report a system to match residents with a faculty mentor or advisor. Of respondents, 36% include the resident's faculty mentor or advisor to discuss a particular resident. Milestone summaries (determination of level for each milestone) are the primary focus of discussion (93.8%), utilizing multiple sources of information.

CONCLUSIONS
The substantial variability and diversity found in our CORD survey of CCC structure and function suggest that there are myriad strategies that residency programs can use to match individual program needs and resources to requirements of the ACGME. Identifying a single protocol for CCC structure and development may prove challenging.


Newspaper companies and other media companies are under pressure as their traditional business model is challenged. Some companies try to compensate by entering new markets, i.e. to internationalize. This strategy increases their presence in old and new media markets and segments. This paper problematizes how two family owned newspaper companies internationalize from two perspectives, i.e. an ownership perspective and an industry perspective. Empirically, the paper draws on two examples of family owned newspaper companies. Semi-structured interviews with owners, managers and editors have been conducted domestically and in the respective foreign market. Archival data has been used to complement the interviews. Both companies started as regional newspaper companies and have reached leading positions in their distribution area. Whereas one company entered the Eastern European market in the 1990s the other company focused on domestic expansion and small scale, international joint ventures in the later 2000s. From an ownership perspective it becomes visible that the family owners are initiating and supporting the internationalization process. In one company, an owner manager was in charge for the internationalization process which can be seen as a success factor. In the other company, the owners were not actively involved which is reflected in the relatively poorer results. From a newspaper industry perspective the study shows that synergies are possible by syndication of content across languages within the same industry as well as business models (printing).These perspectives contribute to the developing body of literature in the field of media management on internationalization and ownership.


When confronted with international dispute settlement (IDS) mechanisms the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) demonstrates great concern for the autonomy of the EU legal order. This paper examines the potential effects of the EU's participation in different categories of IDS for the autonomy and legitimacy of EU law and the EU judiciary. It addresses questions such as: Is the CJEU's overriding concern that certain IDS may threaten the autonomy of EU law justified? What is the link between autonomy and legitimacy of the EU legal order? What may be the consequences of the EU's participation in IDS mechanism for the legitimacy of EU law and the Court? Is the EU in a special position, as compared to its Member States, when participating in IDS mechanisms? If so, why?


Aims – To audit the recording of febrile paediatric patient examination in out-of-hours General Practice by both general practitioners and nursing staff. Methods – The standards taken from NICE clinical guideline CG47, feverish illness in children – assessment and initial management in children younger than 5 years, were measured. A data collection sheet was devised and used for the 100 randomly selected patients that attended in the first week of April 2012 with at least fever symptoms. Results – A total of 96/100 patients (96%) had their temperature measured. Heart rate, respiratory rate, and capillary refill time were measured less often – in 73%, 48% and 44% of cases respectively. However, only 18% of patients had all four vital signs recorded during consultation. Recording of 'traffic light' parameters and symptoms took place irregularly, with e.g. hydration status recorded in 38% of cases. However, 86% of parents were given verbal advice in terms of potential follow-up should the patient not improve or deteriorate. Conclusions – Compliance to NICE guidelines is very high in terms of the key parameter, temperature, but other vital signs and also clinical signs are recorded less often. Although results of this audit compare favourably with other published audit data on this exact topic, increased staff awareness through training is indicated. The introduction of an assessment tool based on NICE guidance is being considered to improve compliance further.


In this four-part article, I argue, as many others do, that the aether is the physical but non-material substance from which the universe came to exist. To exist, things must be in spacetime, but the aether is not in spacetime, it is before spacetime. It is, but does not exist as matter. It is all permeating and non-dimensional; it is inside and between particles; it is everywhere. Everything is made from it, even the space that surrounds us. It is indivisible, or it would not be the aether as it was defined thousands of years ago. Wholeness in space and time is what allowed Nature to evolve. Holistic awareness, or self-reference, emerges from an inward necessity which is satisfied as information is chosen from the context in which a system evolves. Human consciousness evolved from the same holistic awareness property all matter has shown to possess. Human consciousness is spacetime dependent, just like matter. No brain equals to no human consciousness. Part I of this four-part article includes: Preface;  Introduction; 1. Aether... where Physics meets Philosophy; and 2. Aether and Relativity.


The article represents the basic elements of "Municipality network - connection in the Alps". It was a pilot project in 1997. Kranjska Gora was also included in the project according to the sustainable development and Alpine landscape protection guidelines. The results were some concrete projects.


What makes humour an honest and a direct communication tool for people? How do social networking and digital media transmit user-generated political and humorous content? Our research argues that the way in which humour is deployed through digital media during protest action allows protestors to assert humanity and sincerity against dehumanising political manipulation frameworks. Humorous content, to this extent, enables and is indicative of independent thinking and creativity. It causes contemplation, confronts the hegemonic power of the oppressor, and challenges fear and apathy. In order to conduct this research, we collected and analysed tweets shared during the Gezi Park protests. Gezi Parkı was chosen as the keyword since it was an unstructured and neutral term. Among millions of visual images shared during the protests, we concentrate on those that depict humour both in photography and video formats.


Bandstructure effects in the electronic transport of strongly quantized silicon nanowire field-effect-transistors (FET) in various transport orientations are examined. A 10-band sp3d5s* semiempirical atomistic tight-binding model coupled to a self-consistent Poisson solver is used for the dispersion calculation. A semi-classical, ballistic FET model is used to evaluate the current-voltage characteristics. It is found that the total gate capacitance is degraded from the oxide capacitance value by 30% for wires in all the considered transport orientations ([100], [110], [111]). Different wire directions primarily influence the carrier velocities, which mainly determine the relative performance differences, while the total charge difference is weakly affected. The velocities depend on the effective mass and degeneracy of the dispersions. The [110] and secondly the [100] oriented 3 nm thick nanowires examined, indicate the best ON-current performance compared to [111] wires. The dispersion features are strong functions of quantization. Effects such as valley splitting can lift the degeneracies particularly for wires with cross section sides below 3 nm. The effective masses also change significantly with quantization, and change differently for different transport orientations. For the cases of [100] and [111] wires the masses increase with quantization, however, in the [110] case, the mass decreases. The mass variations can be explained from the non-parabolicities and anisotropies that reside in the first Brillouin zone of silicon.


A search for the decay of a light Higgs (120 - 140 GeV) to a pair of weakly-interacting, long-lived particles in 1.94 fb^-1 of proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV recorded in 2011 by the ATLAS detector is presented. The search strategy requires that both long-lived particles decay inside the muon spectrometer. No excess of events is observed above the expected background and limits on the Higgs boson production times branching ratio to weakly-interacting, long-lived particles are derived as a function of the particle proper decay length.


The Flexner Report highlighted the importance of teaching medical students to reason about uncertainty. The science of medical decision making seeks to explain how medical judgments and decisions ought ideally to be made, how they are actually made in practice, and how they can be improved, given the constraints of medical practice. The field considers both clinical decisions by or for individual patients and societal decisions designed to benefit the public. Despite the relevance of decision making to medical practice, it currently receives little formal attention in the U.S. medical school curriculum. This article suggests three roles for medical decision making in medical education. First, basic decision science would be a valuable prerequisite to medical training. Second, several decision-related competencies would be important outcomes of medical education; these include the physician's own decision skills, the ability to guide patients in shared decisions, and knowledge of health policy decisions at the societal level. Finally, decision making could serve as a unifying principle in the design of the medical curriculum, integrating other curricular content around the need to create physicians who are competent and caring decision makers.


The management of education is currently preoccupied with the notion of collaboration and co-operation: people working together for the good of the school. Much of the rhetoric about shared effort refers to and promotes the use of teams. There is a tacit assumption, however, that increased performance will be an automatic consequence of team formation. Little consideration is given to the need for continuous development of teams. Unless teams are thoughtfully constructed and skillfully developed, collaboration and responsiveness may be simply an illusion. Team development is concerned with having the right individuals with appropriate skills, with systematic approaches to task accomplishment, with effective interpersonal and communication processes, and with a high degree of support from the school and its management. In other words, it has to be seen from a multidimensional perspective. After discussing briefly the research into team development and its associated problems, we attempt to demonstrate that such development necessitates a diagnosis of problems affecting performance in several areas or 'dimensions'.


Recent studies have demonstrated that CAS is an active, regulated disease process akin to atherosclerosis, in which resident cells undergo remodeling and transformation. Normal valves harbor a low percentage of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) however their role in CAS is not defined. We analyzed 12 normal and 22 calcified valves for early and late differentiated SMC markers by immunocytochemistry. Expression of myocardin and myocardin-related transcription factors (MRTFA/B) was analyzed. TGFβ1 was used to activate MRTFs in valve interstitial cells and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to detect the presence of SMCs in areas of calcification. The expression of SMC markers calponin, SM1, SM2 and SM22 was increased in all 22 calcified valves with caldesmon, SMC myosin, SMC α-actin and desmin increased in 40-91% of calcified valves. SMC markers were abundantly and aberrantly expressed in surface and microvessel endothelial cells and vasculature in 40% of the calcified valves. Normal valves showed expression of myocardin, MRTF-A and -B in the base of the ventricularis, similar to the pattern of SMC in normal valves. An aberrant expression of myocardin, MRTF-A and MRTF-B, was found in 71%, 53% and 67%, respectively, of calcified valves, in a similar pattern to the aberrant expression of SMC markers. In calcified valves the expression of MRTFs was nuclear in both valve interstitial cells and endothelial cells suggestive of activation. Nuclear expression of MRTF-A was increased by 11-fold in VICs treated with TGFβ1 (10ng/ml) (p<0.05). TEM of the fibrosa layer of calcified valves showed bundles of SMCs and SMC-derived foam cells. In conclusion, SMCs are are aberrantly expressed around calcified nodules and in endothelial cells in CAS with myocardin and MRTFs, key regulators of SMC expression, abundantly expressed. These findings strongly suggest that the SMC phenotype plays an important role in the pathophysiology of CAS.


Herein, we report a multitasking Cu-MOF/rGO hybrid, fabricated by simple ultra-sonication of slow diffusion driven Cu-MOF crystals with chemically synthesized reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The molecular structure of the Cu-MOF was authenticated by single crystal X-ray studies. The prepared materials have been probed by various physicochemical characterization techniques. Due to the positive synergistic effects between Cu-MOF crystals and rGO nanosheets, the newly synthesized Cu-MOF/rGO hybrid delivers high charge storage efficiency (685.33 F g−1 at 1.6 A g−1), high energy (137.066 W h kg−1) and power density (4800.04 W kg−1) and excellent rate ability (retains 71.01% of its initial capacitance at 8 A g−1). Furthermore, the long cycle life (91.91% after 1000 cycles) of this hybrid indicates its high stability on the electrode surface. Additionally, the electrode modified with the Cu-MOF/rGO hybrid performs exceptionally towards the electrochemical detection of nitrite in a wide dynamic linear range of 3–40 000 μM (R2 = 0.99911), with a notable detection limit of 33 nm and a high sensitivity of 43.736 μA μM−1 cm−2. The versatility of the Cu-MOF/rGO modified electrode can be observed by distinguished selectivity in the presence of some common interfering species and also ability to detect nitrite in real samples.


The importance of dentofacial appeal in regard to the individual's psycho-social well-being is a proven fact. One of the most important factors that affect people's smiles is teeth. A dental restoration's positive impact on the patient's smile, appearance, self-confidence and overall mental health can not be underestimated. In this review, the relation between smile and dental aesthetics is being addressed together with teeth, gum, face elements, aesthetics criteria and cases.


The darkening of Tb(3+)-doped phosphosilicate optical fibers by resonant excitation at 488 nm is found to be almost completely reversible by exposure to off-resonance excitation at 514 nm. The darkening and bleaching are three- and two-photon processes, respectively, and the steady-state absorption of the fiber is controllable by the competition between the two processes.


The article considers the Ukrainian-language version of the book about etiquette of Iryna Filippova, the wife of a diplomat, Ambassador Extraordinary And Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to France, the Netherlands, and Monaco. It was mentioned that the book was published with the participation of the Directorate-General for Rendering Services to Foreign Missions and the creative team of the Advertising and Publishing Department of the "Mediacenter" Directorate. It is noted that this is the third book by the author. Her previous editions of "Paris in Gift Wrappings" and "High-Heeled" were successful with readers.
The definition of the term "etiquette" is given. Namely, it is indicated that these are rules and regulations that reflect the idea of decent behaviour of people in society.
The ideological content of this publication can be understood from the title. It is noted that due to the unusual presentation and the "Lego" style inherent in the author of the book, the wife of a Ukrainian diplomat attracts the reader to actively listen to a pleasant story about unusual, or even comic, cases from the diplomatic social life, creating an atmosphere of private conversation over a Cup of coffee. The book covers outfits for official visits, and delicate tips for meetings and receptions, and recommendations for the consumption of extraordinary dishes, as well as interesting suggestions for choosing clothes and creating appropriate images. In addition, the writer in her publication made an excursion into the past to tell readers the historical facts of the establishment of certain etiquette norms, and also shared current ideas of the balance between 'convenient' and 'representative'.
It is noted that this is not a manual of etiquette or protocol instruction for beginners, but a harmonious combination of stories and memories of the author of the book. The leading idea is a sincere and tolerant attitude to those who are near. It is noted that the tips that can be found in the book will be useful in everyday life. Therefore, this publication is an indispensable adviser not only for representatives of diplomatic circles.
Keywords: Iryna Filippova, etiquette, diplomat's wife, writer, advice.


Since the end of the U.S.-Soviet Cold War, there has been growing discussion of the possibility that technological advances in the means of combat would produce ftmdamental changes in how future wars will be fought. A number of observers have suggested that the nature of war itself would be transformed. Some proponents of this view have gone so far as to predict that these changes would include great reductions in, if not the outright elimination of, the various impediments to timely and effective action in war for which the Prussian theorist and soldier Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) introduced the term "friction." Friction in war, of course, has a long historical lineage. It predates Clausewitz by centuries and has remained a stubbornly recurring factor in combat outcomes right down to the 1991 Gulf War. In looking to the future, a seminal question is whether Clausewitzian friction would succumb to the changes in leading-edge warfare that may lie ahead, or whether such impediments reflect more enduring aspects of war that technology can but marginally affect. It is this question that the present essay will examine. Clausewitz's earliest known use of the term "friction" to "describe the effect of reality on ideas and intentions in war" occurred in a 29 September letter written to his future wife, Marie von Briihl, less than 3 weeks before France defeated Prussia at the twin battles of Jena and Auerstadt on 14 October 1806. (1) By the time Clausewitz died in 1831, his original insight regarding friction's debilitating effects on the campaign of 1806 had grown into a central theme of the unfinished manuscript that his widow published as Vom Kriege [On War]. (2) American military officers today most often refer to Clausewitz's unified concept of a general friction (Gesamtbegriff einer allgemeinen Friktion) as the "fog and friction" of war. (3) The diverse difficulties and impediments to the effective use of military force that those possessing military experience instinctively associate with this phrase are generally acknowledged to have played significant roles in most, if not all, of the wars since Clausewitz's time. Even in a conflict as inundated with technically advanced weaponry as the 1991 Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm), there was no shortage of friction at any level, tactical, operational, strategic, or even political. Indeed, close examination of Desert Storm suggests that frictional impediments experienced by the winning side were not appreciably different in scope or magnitude than they were for the Germans during their lightning conquest of France and the Low Countries in May 1940. The historical persistence of friction, despite vast changes in the means of war since Clausewitz's time, suggests that his concept may reflect far more than a transitory or contingent feature of land warfare during the Napoleonic era. Yet, as we try to think about how war may change over the next couple decades in response to technological advances, nothing precludes us from wondering whether the scope or overall magnitude of Clausewitzian friction may change. Some U.S. military officers who have grappled with how future wars may be fought have suggested that foreseeable advances in surveillance and information technologies will sufficiently lift "the fog of war" to enable future American commanders to "see and understand everything on a battlefield." (4) Nor are visionary military officers alone in this speculation. In a 6-month assessment conducted by a Washington, DC, defense-policy institute on the prospects for a "Military Technical Revolution" (MTR), the participants concluded that "what the MTR promises, more than precision attacks or laser beams, is ... to imbue the information loop with near-perfect clarity and accuracy, to reduce its operation to a matter of minutes or seconds, and, perhaps most important of all, to deny it in its entirety to the enemy." (5) These forecasts concerning conflict in the information age raise at least three first-order questions about Clausewitz's unified concept of a general friction. …


This unique text draws on the tools of modern linguistics to help the student acquire an effective understanding of learned, specialized, and scientific vocabulary. English Vocabulary Elements (EVE) helps develop familiarity with over 350 Latin and Greek word elements in English, and shows how these roots are the building blocks within thousands of different words. Along the way the authors introduce and illustrate many of the fundamental concepts of linguistics. Offering a thorough approach to the expansion of vocabulary, EVE is an invaluable resource that provides students a deeper understanding of the language. This book will be useful to upper level high school students, undergraduates in English, Linguistics, and Classics departments, ESL students, and anyone interested in building vocabulary skills. This edition is refined and thoroughly updated. It includes updated cultural references, and the authors have revised and improved the pedagogy based on classroom experience. In particular they account for variations in pronunciation among students; clarify when historical details are important or peripheral; and improve the many examples and exercises that form the core of the book.


This paper emphasizes the importance of broadening behavioral, ecological, and conservation science into a more integrative, interdisciplinary, socially responsible, compassionate, spiritual, and holistic endeavor. I will stress the significance of studies of animal behavior, especially ethological research concerned with animal emotions, in which individuals are named and recognized for their own personalities and temperaments, for helping us not only to learn about the nonhuman animal beings (hereafter animals) with whom we share Earth, but also for learning about who we are, our place in Nature, our humanness. We can be best understood in relationship to others. I will also develop the notions of "minding animals" and "deep ethology." Animals are a way of knowing; sources of wisdom. I am an optimist, a hopeful human being. I never say "never." I ache with the pains of other beings and also feel pangs when I feel inanimate landscapes being destroyed. Surely we do not want to be remembered as the generation that killed Nature. Now is the time for everyone to work for universal planetary peace. There is no alternative to world peace and we must sow seeds without hesitation to accomplish this urgent goal. It is essential that we do better than our ancestors. No one could argue that a world with significantly less, rather, no cruelty and boundless compassion, respect, grace, humility, spirituality, peace, and love would not be a better world in which to live and raise our children and theirs. We are all citizens of Earth, members of a global community in which intimate reciprocal and beneficent peaceful relationships are mandatory. We have compelling responsibilities for making Earth a better and more peaceful habitat for all beings. Time is not on our side. We must reflect and step lightly as we "redecorate Nature." I yearn for a seamless tapestry of oneness, a warm blanket, a soul-scape, of deep and reciprocal friendships in which all individuals count, a single community in which individuals are at one with all others, in which the seer and the seen are one, a community in which it feels good and makes individuals happy to be kind to others. My own dreams and spirituality are based on a deep and passionate drive for reconciliation, a seamless unity — a wholeness and oneness — motivated by trust, compassion, respect, grace, humility, and love. I plead for developing heartfelt and holistic science that allows for fun, joy, and play, along with interdisciplinary talk about kindness, generosity, compassion, respect, grace, humility, spirituality, peace, and love. Science need not be suspicious of things it cannot fully understand. We must never avert our eyes or our other senses from the eyes and voices of all other beings, our kin, our friends, who urgently beg for and truly need our immediate, uncompromising, and unconditional aid and love. We are obliged not to do so. We certainly can do much more than we have done for animals and Earth.


We study the motion of a hot particle in a viscous liquid at low Reynolds numbers, which is inspired by recent experiments with Brownian particles heated by a laser. The difference in temperature between a particle and the ambient fluid causes a spatial variation of the viscosity in the vicinity of the solid body. We derive a general analytical expression determining the force and the torque on a particle for low Péclet numbers by exploiting the Lorentz reciprocal theorem. For small temperature and viscosity variations, a perturbation analysis is implemented to evaluate the leading-order correction to the hydrodynamic force and torque on the particle. The results are applied to describe dynamics of a uniformly hot spherical particle and to spherical particles with a nonuniform surface temperature described by dipole and quadrupole moments. Among other results, we find for dipolar thermal fields that there is coupling of the translational and rotational motions when there are local viscosity variations; such coupling is absent in an isothermal fluid.


By means of plane wave pseudopotential method we have studied the electronic properties of the heterostructure formed by an high dielectric constant ( k ) oxide, the hexagonal La 2 O 3 epitaxially grown with (0001)-orientation on Si (111) substrate. We found that for La 2 O 3 both the dielectric constant along the growth direction and the band gap are larger in the epitaxial film than in the bulk. By super-cell techniques we have computed the band alignment of the junction finding a valence band offset and a conduction band offset of ~1.6 eV and ~1.7 eV respectively. We demonstrate that the band alignment can be engineered by δ -doping the interface: our simulations show that, by doping the interface with S or Se monolayer, the valence (conduction) band offset increases (decreases) of about 0.5 eV without the formation of spurious electronic states in the semiconductor band-gap. The simulation of the critical thickness of pseudomorphic Lanthana film complete the work. Our results are relevant for the realization of a new generation of devices based on ultra-scaled complementary metal oxides semiconductors (CMOS) technology.


Aerosol water content is an important component of aerosol radiative forcing, but the effect of water uptake on aerosols throughout the atmospheric column is not monitored at the present time. We present a technique for retrieving the volume fraction of water in atmospheric aerosols, and apply the technique to the AERONET database. We estimate that the volume fraction of water and the geometric hygroscopic growth factor (gHGF) can be retrieved to within 0.3 using this retrieval. The growth factors we obtain are consistent with published measurements, and indicate that aerosol water uptake is high in humid continental regions (gHGF ∼ 1.3 along the U.S. East Coast in August) and low in regions dominated by desert dust (gHGF ∼ 1.04 in Saudi Arabia).


Synthesis and Electronic Transport in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes of Known Chirality Robert Victor Caldwell Since their discovery in 1991, carbon nanotubes have proven to be a very interesting material for its physical strength, originating from the pure carbon lattice and strong covalent sp 2 orbital bonds, and electronic properties which are derived from the lattice structure lending itself to either a metallic or semiconducting nature among its other properties. Carbon nanotubes have been researched with an eye towards industry applications ranging from use as an alloy in metals and plastics to improve physical strength of the resulting materials to uses in the semiconductor industry as either an interconnect or device layer for computer chips to chemical or biological sensors. This thesis focuses on both the synthesis of individual single-walled carbon nanotubes as well as the electrical properties of those tubes. What makes the work herein different from that of other thesis is that the research has been performed on carbon nanotubes of known chirality. Having first grown carbon nanotubes with a chemical vapor deposition growth in a quartz tube using ethanol vapor as a feedstock to grow long individual single-walled carbon nanotubes on a silicon chip that is also compatible with Rayleigh scattering spectroscopy to identify the chiral indices of the carbon nanotubes in question, those tubes were then transferred with a mechanical transfer process specially designed in our research lab onto a substrate of our choosing before an electrical device was made out of those tubes using standard electron beam lithography. The focus in this thesis is on the work that went into designing and testing this process as well as the initial results of the electronic properties of those carbon nanotubes of known chirality, such as the first known electrical measurements on single individual armchair carbon nanotubes as well as the first known electrical measurements of a single semiconducting carbon nanotube on thin hexagonal boron nitride to study the effects of the surface optical phonons from the boron nitride on the electrical properties of the carbon nanotube. Finally a few research projects are discussed in which carbon nanotubes of known chirality were used in conjunction with first electrical tests on molecules, secondly on a prefabricated complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor integrated circuit as an inverter and lastly to study the photoconductivity generated by a synchrotron laser source to identify the values for the low energy excitonic peak.


Land eight times the size of the UK was sold off globally in the last decade, enough to grow food for a billion people, equivalent to the number of people who go hungry in the world each night. More than 60 per cent of investments in agricultural land by foreign investors between 2000 and 2010 were in developing countries with serious hunger problems. However, two-thirds of those investors plan to export everything they produce on that land. Oxfam supports greater investment in agriculture and to small-scale producers; however, the unprecedented rush for land has not been adequately regulated or policed to prevent land grabs. This means that poor people continue to be evicted, often violently, without consultation or compensation. Many lose their homes and are left destitute, without access to the land they rely on. The World Bank must act now to temporarily freeze investments involving large-scale land deals so it can review its advice to developing countries, help set standards for investors, and introduce more robust policies to stop land grabs.


In 1919, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes introduced the specter of a man falsely shouting fire in a theater into First Amendment law. Nearly one hundred years later, this analogy remains the most enduring analogy in constitutional law. It has been relied on in hundreds of constitutional cases and it has permeated popular discourse on the scope of individual rights.This Essay examines the both the origins and the later life of Holmes's theater analogy. Part One is a detective story, seeking to solve the mystery of how Holmes came up with this particular example. This story takes us to the forgotten world of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when false shouts of fire in theaters were a pervasive problem that killed hundreds of people both in the United States and Great Britain. The person who shouted "fire" in a crowded theater was a recognizable stock villain of popular culture, condemned in newspapers, magazines and books from coast to coast. The analogy, lifted by Holmes from a federal prosecutor in Cleveland, was rooted in this larger world of popular culture. Understanding this world also answers another question: Why do lawyers and non-lawyers alike refer to "shouting fire in a crowded theater" rather than "falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic," which is what Holmes actually wrote? Along the way, we will encounter a real detective and even a mustachioed villain.Part Two is based on an empirical study of the 278 subsequent judicial opinions that employ the theater analogy. In lower courts, opinions that invoke the analogy, not surprisingly, typically reject free speech claims, but opinions that paraphrase Holmes are, counter-intuitively, more receptive to free speech claims than opinions that quote Holmes precisely. The Essay concludes by noting that the theater analogy has largely lost its capacity to frighten in the visceral way that Holmes's audience would have understood it. Although it persists in constitutional law, it has become rarified and largely abstract, perhaps contributing in some small way to the general libertarian trend of modern First Amendment law.


Objective: To test the hypothesis that isolated carotid artery stenosis (CAS-isolated) and CAS as part of concurrent coronary artery disease (CAD) and/or peripheral arterial disease (PAD) are two distinct entities.

Methods: We used the data from Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) which is a population-based sample of 6,814 men and women aged 44-84 years recruited from six US field centers. Baseline measurements include measurement of coronary calcium using computed tomography; carotid intimal-medial wall thickness and stenosis severity using ultrasonography; and measurement of peripheral vascular disease using ankle and brachial blood pressures. Participants were followed for identification and characterization of cardiovascular events. We defined CAS-isolated based on presence of CAS without any CAD (calcium score of 0 with no history of angina/myocardial infarction) or PAD (arm-brachial index 1.0-1.4).

Results: Of the 858 persons with CAS ranging in severity from 25 to 100%, 155 (18%) and 703 (82%) were classified as CAS-isolated and CAS-plus, respectively. Persons with CAS-isolated were younger (mean age ±SD; 61±8 versus 70±8, p=0.001) and more likely to be women (63.2% versus 41.8%, p=<.0001). The proportion of persons with hypertension (51.6% versus 66.3%, p=0.0006) and family history of heart attack (37.2% versus 51.1%, p=0.003) were lower among those with CAS-isolated. The proportion of persons with current cigarette smoking (19.6% versus 14.5%, p=0.01) and current alcohol abuse (73.4% versus 62.8%, p=0.03) were higher among CAS-isolated. Persons with CAS-isolated were more likely to have smooth carotid lesions (80.6% versus 69.3%, p=0.004). The relative risk for ischemic stroke was similar among patients with CAS-plus compared with CAS-isolated (RR, 1.1 95% CI 0.3-4.1) after adjustment for age and gender.

Conclusions: CAS-isolated and CAS-plus appear to be two distinct entities with unique demographic and clinical attributes.


This book will allow anyone with little botanical knowledge to identify plants that they are most likely to encounter while walking in Victoria's High Country. The guide is written in plain English and includes a glossary of botanical terms.

Plants of the Victorian High Country contains species descriptions and photographs of plants to be found along popular walking tracks, such as Harrietville to Mt Feathertop and Mt Hotham. Plants of the montane, sub-alpine and alpine zones are included, sorted into five easily distinguished groups: herbs, daisy herbs, low woody shrubs, tall shrubs and trees, and eucalypts. The guide features straightforward identification keys and clear photos of the leaves, flowers and stems of the plant.

If you are a nature lover, planning to walk in the Victorian High Country, this book is an essential addition to your backpack.


Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) theoretically allows detailed tailoring of the dose distribution in tissue. The goal of this study was to determine if a method of dynamic IMRT could be used to deliver a high dose of radiation to a concave shaped target around the cervical spinal cord. Fifteen young adult dogs from our laboratory population were randomly divided into two groups. A radiation dose of 84 Gy in 4 Gy fractions was delivered with a conventional 4 field technique for Group A dogs, and with dynamic IMRT for Group B dogs to a "C-shaped" target close to the cervical spinal cord. Neurologic status, magnetic resonance imaging results and histopathologic changes were compared among dogs in the two groups. Group A dogs developed myelomalacia with a latency period of 65 +/- 9 days. Group B dogs did not have any histologic changes to the cervical spinal cord when euthanasia was performed 12 months after irradiation. The results demonstrate that this IMRT technique can be safely and precisely delivered to a patient in a clinical situation.


This paper proposes a novel approach, based on unequal error protection, to enhance rateless codes with progressive recovery for layered multimedia delivery. With a parallel encoding structure, the proposed Progressive Rateless codes (PRC) assign unequal redundancy to each layer in accordance with their importance. Each output symbol contains information from all layers, and thus the stream layers can be recovered progressively at the expected received ratios of output symbols. Furthermore, the dependency between layers is naturally considered. The performance of the PRC is evaluated and compared with some related UEP approaches. Results show that our PRC approach provides better recovery performance with lower overhead both theoretically and numerically.


Federal land management agencies are exploring how bicycle programs can provide employees and visitors with more travel choices, while working toward their environmental, public health and sustainability goals. This report explores three options for making bicycles more readily available in Federal lands: public bicycle sharing programs, bicycle rental operations and employee bicycle fleets. Bicycle sharing programs are a form of public transportation, supplying bikes for short-term use through a network of automated bike parking stations. Bike rental programs are typically for-profit businesses that rent bikes for recreational use for a few hours up to several days. Employee fleets make bikes available to individuals associated with an organization to use for work, errands and/or recreation, usually at no cost. This report builds on previous work from The Guide to Promoting Bicycling on Federal Lands (FHWA, 2008a), which sought to raise awareness of the environmental, public health and resource management benefits of bicycling. This report presents various methods to make bikes more available in Federal lands through bike sharing programs, rentals and employee fleets. This report explores how elements of successful bike programs may be adapted for Federal lands settings.


This paper investigates inertia within and across banks in retail deposit markets using detailed panel data on consumer choices and account characteristics. In a structural choice model, I find that costs of inertia are around one third higher for switching accounts across compared to switching within banks. Observable proxies of bank-level switching costs (number and type of additional financial products) explain most of this cost premium, while online banking usage reduces inertia. Consistent with theory, I provide evidence that banks incorporate inertia in their pricing as older accounts pay lower rates than comparable newer accounts. Counterfactual policies reducing inertia shift market share to more competitive smaller banks, but only eliminating inertia within banks already results in high potential gains in consumer surplus. This suggests that facilitating bank switching alone might be insufficient to improve consumer choices.


High and volatile inflation is a threat to good economic performance and has negative effects on many of the poor. Economic growth took off in 2004 in Kenya, but alongside higher growth, there has been rapid inflation and large inflation volatility. The study sought to establish the effect of unemployment, narrow money supply, wide money supply and level of GDP on inflation in Kenya. The study relied on secondary annual time series data. The sources of the secondary data were the Kenya Bureau of Statistics, Central Bank, IMF and World Bank. The study employed the use of a Vector Autoregression (VECM) model due to its robustness in forecasting. The corrected data was first subjected to unit root test at levels using Augmented Dickey Fuller, and Philips Perron methods. The data was found to be non-stationary at level but stationary at first difference. The data was then tested for cointegration using Johansen procedure. Modeled variables were found to have long term relation. The Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) was used to determine short term relations among the variables. It was established that GDP growth rate, narrow money supply, unemployment and exchange rates could significantly determine inflation. Modeled variables passed stability test as well as diagnostic tests thus were fit for analysis. Study highly recommends that the government should complete the planned projects under the vision 2030 to grow the GDP by the projected 10% annually and thus reduce inflation.


An authoritative guide to designing effective solutions for data cleansing, ETL, and file management with SQL Server 2008 Integration Services SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is the leading tool in the data warehouse industry, used for performing extraction, transformation, and load operations. After an overview of SSIS architecture, the authors walk you a series of real-world problems and show various techniques for handling them. Shows you how to design SSIS solutions for data cleansing, ETL and file management Demonstrates how to integrate data from a variety of data sources, Shows how to monitor SSIS performance, Demonstrates how to avoid common pitfalls involved with SSIS deployment Explains how to ensure performance of the deployed solution and effectively handle unexpected system failures and outages The companion Web site provides sample code and database scripts that readers can directly implement This book shows you how to design, build, deploy, and manage solutions to real-world problems that SSIS administrators and developers face day-to-day.


The cultural politics of visibility are complex and contradictory when it comes to nonhuman animals. To help interrogate and unpack the challenges, this paper concentrates on documentary film, and particularly Canadian filmmaker Liz Marshall's The Ghosts in our Machine (2013).Ghosts follows the aesthetic politics of the film's primary human subject, photographer Jo-Anne McArthur, as she conducts a campaign of guerrilla espionage and compiles a vast photographic record of the largely invisible suffering inflicted on a wide range of animals. As a result, the film develops through an interwoven helix of two visual media: filmmaking and photography. The meaning of sight is a visual trope in the film that not only serves to confront the viewer with McArthur and Marshall's visual record of animal cruelty, but also as a lens that encourages viewers to recognize interspecies (in)visibilities beyond the screen and the necro-economic foundation of contemporary capitalism. I use this film as a window into the cultural politics of sight, and as a way to illuminate the challenges and possibilities of fostering interspecies empathy.


This study investigated the tension that exists between promoting an educational agenda and practising an educational approach which emphasises autonomy within the framework of religious education. Our main thesis is that every educational deed contains a dialectical tension between endorsing an educational agenda and the promotion of autonomy. Moreover, this tension is not restricted to religious education. The intensity of such a conflict varies in accordance with the flexibility (or inflexibility) of the dogma, the conceptual cohesion of the educational agenda and the perceived importance of granting autonomy to students. The more cohesive and inflexible the educational agenda is, the greater the danger that autonomy will be discarded. The present research examined an educational reform implemented in the National-Religious School Network in Israel, which included the promotion of autonomy among principals, teachers and students. Conducted over a six-year period (2006–2012), the research employed both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and involved various stakeholders in the school network. The multifaceted picture that emerged of the relationship between educational autonomy and religious agenda is presented.


OBJECTIVES
The objective was to measure the association between returns to an emergency department (ED) within 72 hours and resource utilization, severity of illness, mortality, and admission rate.

METHODS
This was a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of ED visits using data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) from 1998 to 2006. Cohorts were patients who had been seen in the ED within the past 72 hours versus those without the prior visit. A multivariate model was created to predict adjusted-resource utilization and mortality or admission rate.

RESULTS
During the study period, there were 218,179 ED patient visits and a 3.2% 72-hour return rate. Patients with Medicare (3.5%) and without insurance (3.5%) were more likely to return within 72 hours. Visits associated with alcohol (4.1%), low triage acuity (4.0%), or dermatologic conditions (5.9%) were more likely to return. Seventy-two-hour return visits used fewer resources (5.0 [±0.1] vs. 5.5 [±0.1] tests, medications, procedures), were less likely to be Level I triage acuity (17% vs. 20%), and had a similar admission rate (13% vs. 13%) as those not seen within 72 hours. The sample size was too small to evaluate mortality.

CONCLUSIONS
Patients who return to the ED within 72 hours do not use more resources, are not more severely ill, and do not have a higher hospital admission rate than those who had not been previously seen. These findings do not support the use of 72-hour returns as a quality or safety indicator. A more refined variation such as 72-hour returns resulting in admission may have more value.


Achieving better swimming is a matter of swimming efficiently. While proper technique is the foundation of good swimming, it is often difficult to isolate a technique problem by simply swimming laps. Stroke flaws can slow a swimmer's progress and can even lead to injury if continued over time. For these reasons, swimming drills have become a fundamental part of training at all levels of the sport. Drill practice is a swimmer's primary tool in developing better stroke technique. The book is organized into sections covering the four competitive strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Each drill is explained step by step and accompanied by comprehensive diagrams. Drill feedback charts are included to help swimmers identify problems and make modifications. Underwater and surface photographs give swimmers optimal images to emulate as they practice.


With the increasing popularity of embedded devices, ARM is becoming the dominant architecture for them. In the meanwhile, there is a pressing need to perform security assessments for these devices. Due to different types of peripherals, it is challenging to dynamically run the firmware of these devices in an emulated environment. Therefore, the static analysis is still commonly used. Existing work usually leverages off-the-shelf tools to disassemble stripped ARM binaries and (implicitly) assume that reliable disassembling binaries and function recognition are solved problems. However, whether this assumption really holds is unknown. In this paper, we conduct the first comprehensive study on ARM disassembly tools. Specifically, we build 1,896 ARM binaries (including 248 obfuscated ones) with different compilers, compiling options, and obfuscation methods. We then evaluate them using eight state-of-the-art ARM disassembly tools (including both commercial and noncommercial ones) on their capabilities to locate instructions and function boundaries. These two are fundamental ones, which are leveraged to build other primitives. Our work reveals some observations that have not been systematically summarized and/or confirmed. For instance, we find that the existence of both ARM and Thumb instruction sets, and the reuse of the BL instruction for both function calls and branches bring serious challenges to disassembly tools. Our evaluation sheds light on the limitations of state-of-the-art disassembly tools and points out potential directions for improvement. To engage the community, we release the data set, and the related scripts at https://github.com/valour01/arm_disasssembler_study.


One consequence of elevated afterload pressure is the activation of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor and nonspecific cation channels with subsequent Ca accumulation via the Na /H -Na /Ca exchanger combination and the T-type or L-type Ca channels. Intracellular Ca overload is cytotoxic, in part, by inducing the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) pore. Therefore, we tested the hypotheses that: (1) increased afterload pressure worsens myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in healthy heart, (2) the Na /H -Na /Ca exchanger combination and both the T-type and L-type Ca channels are involved in the exacerbating impact of high afterload pressure on infarct size, and (3) elevated afterload enhances infarct size in part via the MPT pore. Accordingly, the effect of candesartan (angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist), cariporide (inhibitor of the Na /H exchanger), mibefradil (T-type Ca channel blocker), diltiazem (L-type Ca channel blocker), or cyclosporine A (inhibitor of MPT pore) were examined. The elevation in afterload pressure from 80 to 160 cmH2O increased baseline myocardial performance but caused larger infarcts and worsened recovery of mechanical function after ischemia reperfusion. Whereas mibefradil abrogated the effect of high afterload pressure on infarct size, the other agents reduced infarct size at both afterload pressures. Hearts exposed to mibefradil, diltiazem, or cariporide displayed greater functional recovery than those exposed to candesartan or cyclosporine A, revealing that an uncoupling exists between reduced cell death and recovery of mechanical function of the viable portions of the myocardium. The data also uncovered an important link between pressure-mediated exacerbation of infarct size and T-type Ca channel activity. (Hypertension. 2006;47:912-919.)


Reactive oxidants generated by phagocytes are of central importance in host defenses, tumor surveillance, and inflammation. One important pathway involves the generation of potent halogenating agents by the myeloperoxidase-hydrogen peroxide-chloride system. The chlorinating intermediate in these reactions is generally believed to be HOCl or its conjugate base, ClO-. However, HOCl is also in equilibrium with Cl2, raising the possibility that Cl2 executes oxidation/ halogenation reactions that have previously been attributed to HOCl/ClO-. In this study gas chromatography-mass spectrometric analysis of head space gas revealed that the complete myeloperoxidase-hydrogen peroxide-chloride system generated Cl2. In vitro studies demonstrated that chlorination of the aromatic ring of free L-tyrosine was mediated by Cl2 and not by HOCl/ClO-. Thus, 3-chlorotyrosine serves as a specific marker for Cl2-dependent oxidation of free L-tyrosine. Phagocytosis of L-tyrosine encapsulated in immunoglobulin- and complement-coated sheep red blood cells resulted in the generation of 3-chlorotyrosine. Moreover, activation of human neutrophils adherent to a L-tyrosine coated glass surface also stimulated 3-chlorotyrosine formation. Thus, in two independent models of phagocytosis human neutrophils convert L-tyrosine to 3-chlorotyrosine, indicating that a Cl2-like oxidant is generated in the phagolysosome. In both models, synthesis of 3-chlorotyrosine was inhibited by heme poisons and the peroxide scavenger catalase, implicating the myeloperoxidase-hydrogen peroxide system in the reaction. Collectively, these results demonstrate that myeloperoxidase generates Cl2 and that human neutrophils use an oxidant with characteristics identical to those of Cl2 during phagocytosis. Moreover, our observations suggest that phagocytes exploit the chlorinating properties of Cl2 to execute oxidative and cytotoxic reactions at sites of inflammation and vascular disease.


Flow Visualization experiments on the controlled melting and solidification of succinonitrile were conducted in the glovebox facility of the International Space Station (ISS). The experimental samples were prepared on ground by filling glass tubes, 1 cm 1D and approximately 30 cm in length, with pure succinonitrile (SCN) under 450 millibar of nitrogen. Porosity in the samples arose from natural shrinkage, and in some cases by direct insertion of nitrogen bubbles, during solidification of the liquid SCN. The samples were processed in the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI) apparatus that is placed in the glovebox facility (GBX) aboard the ISS. Experimental processing parameters of temperature gradient and translation speed, as well as camera settings, were remotely monitored and manipulated from the ground Telescience Center (TSC) at the Marshall Space Flight Center. During the experiments, the sample is first subjected to a unidirectional melt back, generally at 10 microns per second, with a constant temperature gradient ahead of the melting interface. The temperatures in the sample are monitored by six in situ thermocouples. Real time visualization of the controlled directional melt back shows bubbles of different sizes initiating at the melt interface and, upon dislodging from the melting solid, migrating at different speeds into the temperature field ahead of them, before coming to rest. The thermocapillary flow field set up in the melt, ahead of the interface, is dramatic in the context of the large bubbles, and plays a major role in dislodging the bubble. A preliminary analysis of the observed bubble formation and mobility during melt back and its implication to future microgravity experiments is presented and discussed.


Tourism is a major global industry and air travel is an increasingly vital component of international tourism. This paper examines the neglected relationship between tourism and aviation with regard to global environmental impacts, including energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Based on visitor arrival data collected by Statistics New Zealand, it estimates a total energy use of 27.8 PJ resulting from international passenger air travel to New Zealand, which would increase national energy use by 6% if international air travel were included in national inventories. This energy use translates into additional carbon dioxide emissions of 1.9 million tonnes. These estimates are discussed in terms of a tourist's 'energy bill', national and international climate change policies, and with regard to the concept of sustainable tourism development.


Glutamatergic excitatory neurotransmission is dependent on glutamate release from presynaptic vesicles loaded by three members of the solute carrier family, Slc17a6–8, which function as vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs). Here, we show that VGLUT2 (Slc17a6) is required for life ex utero. Vglut2 null mutant mice die immediately after birth because of the absence of respiratory behavior. Investigations at embryonic stages revealed that neural circuits in the location of the pre-Bötzinger (PBC) inspiratory rhythm generator failed to become active. However, neurons with bursting pacemaker properties and anatomical integrity of the PBC area were preserved. Vesicles at asymmetric synapses were fewer and malformed in the Vglut2 null mutant hindbrain, probably causing the complete disruption of AMPA/kainate receptor-mediated synaptic activity in mutant PBC cells. The functional deficit results from an inability of PBC neurons to achieve synchronous activation. In contrast to respiratory rhythm generation, the locomotor central pattern generator of Vglut2 null mutant mice displayed normal rhythmic and coordinated activity, suggesting differences in their operating principles. Hence, the present study identifies VGLUT2-mediated signaling as an obligatory component of the developing respiratory rhythm generator.


Despite recent advances, the remaining bottlenecks in deep generative models are necessity of extensive training and difficulties with generalization from small number of training examples. We develop a new generative model called Generative Matching Network which is inspired by the recently proposed matching networks for one-shot learning in discriminative tasks. By conditioning on the additional input dataset, our model can instantly learn new concepts that were not available in the training data but conform to a similar generative process. The proposed framework does not explicitly restrict diversity of the conditioning data and also does not require an extensive inference procedure for training or adaptation. Our experiments on the Omniglot dataset demonstrate that Generative Matching Networks significantly improve predictive performance on the fly as more additional data is available and outperform existing state of the art conditional generative models.


Extraction of the strange quark PDF is a long-standing puzzle. We use the nCTEQ nPDFs with uncertainties to study the impact of the LHC W/Z production data on both the flavor differentiation and nuclear corrections; this complements the information from neutrino-DIS data. As the proton flavor determination is dependent on nuclear corrections (from heavy target DIS, for example), LHC heavy ion measurements can also help improve proton PDFs. We introduce a new implementation of the nCTEQ code (nCTEQ++) based on C++ which has a modular strucure and enables us to easily integrate programs such as HOPPET, APPLgrid, and MCFM. Using ApplGrids generated from MCFM, we use nCTEQ++ to perform a preliminary fit including the p-Pb LHC W/Z vector boson data.


Highly efficient two-pulse and stimulated photon echoes are experimentally demonstrated in an absorbing medium. Recall efficiencies of 235% and 150% with excellent signal contrast are measured for two-pulse and stimulated photon echoes, respectively, in a Tm:YAG crystal with an absorption length of 3.8. The reported efficiencies do not include any correction for decay or beam profile. We believe that this is the first demonstration of an uncorrected echo efficiency greater than 100% with good signal fidelity in an optically thick medium.


This book is a timely report on current neurotechnology research. It presents a snapshot of the state of the art in the field, discusses current challenges and identifies new directions. The book includes a selection of extended and revised contributions presented at the 2nd International Congress on Neurotechnology, Electronics and Informatics (NEUROTECHNIX 2014), held October 25-26 in Rome, Italy. The chapters are varied: some report on novel theoretical methods for studying neuronal connectivity or neural system behaviour; others report on advanced technologies developed for similar purposes; while further contributions concern new engineering methods and technological tools supporting medical diagnosis and neurorehabilitation. All in all, this book provides graduate students, researchers and practitioners dealing with different aspects of neurotechnologies with a unified view of the field, thus fostering new ideas and research collaborations among groups from different disciplines


This study examined the associations between individual differences in romantic attachment and transgression frequency and reactions in daily life. Data from both members of the heterosexual relationship were collected to examine how a persons' attachment orientation influenced their own and their partner's perceived transgressions and reactions to these transgressions. Across 10 days, 139 heterosexual couples reported on perceived transgressions by their partner. If transgressions occurred, they also reported on subsequent reactions such as forgiveness and rumination. Actor–partner interdependence models were used to investigate actor and partner effects of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance on the number of experienced transgressions and reactions to transgressions. Attachment anxiety was not predictive with respect to any of the outcomes of interest. Higher attachment avoidance predicted fewer transgressions and more revenge in reaction to transgressions in men but not in women. Higher levels of attachment avoidance predicted more avoidance and rumination following a transgression. Additionally, a partner effect from attachment avoidance to avoidant reaction was observed. Findings are discussed regarding how attachment may account for differences in appraisal processes and emotion regulation strategies when confronted with relational transgressions.


Reflection measurements in the infrared are useful in the determination of optical constants of materials, reststrahlen peaks, efficiency of black paints, and attenuated total reflection studies. While many papers have dealt with reflection, few have investigated the effect of the angle of incidence upon the reflection spectra. Besides angle of incidence, another important factor is the use of a collimated beam. Both of these parameters must be known and controlled for best results. Some results illustrating the effect of varying the incident angle on samples are discussed, as well as the relationship between angle of incidence and polarization.


A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.


Diabetes is a condition when body fails to maintain the glucose levels in the blood properly and the level cross the normal ranges. Natural treatments particularly through bioactive components from fruit and vegetable sources are becoming popular worldwide and are broadly accepted because of no side effects and cost effectiveness. In current study, the antidiabetic potential of persimmon peel powder was investigated by using alloxan induced diabetic rabbits as an animal model. The rabbits were divided into five groups. Persimmon peel powder supplemented diets (0%, 10% and 20%) were given to the diabetic rabbits for the duration of 21 days. The blood samples of rabbits were examined for glucose, serum creatinine and urea levels on weekly basis. There was a significant decline in the levels of blood glucose in the alloxan induced diabetic rabbits. The reduction of blood glucose level was from 357.66 mg/dL to 256.45 mg/dL when the animals were fed on diet supplemented with 20% persimmon peel powder. Similarly, serum creatinine and urea levels were also significantly reduced because of supplementation of persimmon peel powder. It is concluded from the results that persimmon peel powder might be a potential natural best possible therapeutic option for the management and treatment of Diabetes mellitus.


The title of this research is 'Healing in Selected New Testament Texts and the Implications for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa'. The texts that are looked at in this research are Mark 6:12-13, Luke 10:8-9 and James 5:13-16. The texts are exegeted and appropriated to Bohlabela Circuit of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (B.C. ELCSA). On the basis of these texts, the historical background to healing and my research in some of the parishes of Bohlabela circuit, the researcher states some implications for B.C. ELCSA and makes some suggestions which serve as a way forward for an effective healing ministry in B.C. ELCSA. The researcher argues that B.C ELCSA should adopt an inculturated healing ministry and also maintains that B.C ELCSA should use local elements like water, ash and salt and African methods of healing in its healing ministry. However, the researcher highlights some of the dangers of inculturation. The danger is to adopt some of the symbols or healing practices that are incompatible with the gospel, e.g healing practices like the use of animal sacrifice and symbols like blood. Such need to be 'contested, purified, transformed or rejected in the light of the Bible which members of this circuit (B.C. ELCSA) value as the Word of God. Above all, there is also a need for discernment. The researcher suggests that the two basic ways of discernment described by Bate (2001:32) be adopted by B.C ELCSA. They are the criterion of faith and the criterion of fruits. The research revealed that the most common means of healing in B.C. ELCSA includes prayer with the patients or for patients, and the use of the Word and the Sacraments, specifically Holy Communion.


Although the open scholarship movement has successfully captured the attention and interest of higher education stakeholders, researchers currently lack an understanding of the degree to which open scholarship is enacted in institutions that lack institutional support for openness. I help fill this gap in the literature by presenting a descriptive case study that illustrates the variety of open and sharing practices enacted by faculty members at a North American university. Open and sharing practices enacted at this institution revolve around publishing manuscripts in open ways, participating on social media, creating and using open educational resources, and engaging with open teaching. This examination finds that certain open practices are favored over others. Results also show that even though faculty members often share scholarly materials online for free, they frequently do so without associated open licenses (i.e. without engaging in open practices). These findings suggest that individual motivators may significantly affect the practice of openness, but that environmental factors (e.g., institutional contexts) and technological elements (e.g., YouTube's default settings) may also shape open practices in unanticipated ways.


AbstractAt the heart of the recurrent discussion in the existing fansubbing scholarship is the subject of fansubbing as a self-mediated and technology-empowered practice that is changing the way in which the media product has been traditionally produced and distributed. To date, more research is needed to explore how fansubbing can be further understood as an audienceship constituting a community of practice. By examining the data collected from the archival research, that is, Chinese fansubbing practices in online virtual environments, including distinctive folders or layouts of forums, websites, postings and microbloggings, this paper analyses how Chinese fansubbing communities form an audienceship of mutual affinity by pooling collective intelligence and genre knowledge, and how networked technology including aggregation and curation further helps active media viewers form discursive engagement and meaning-making participation around fansubbed media materials, thereby extending the connectivity of fans...


Representing videos with layers has important applications such as video compression, motion analysis, 3D modeling and rendering. This thesis proposes a subspace approach to extracting layers from video by taking advantages of the fact that homographies induced by planar patches in the scene form a low dimensional linear subspace. In the subspace, layers in the input images are mapped onto well-defined clusters, and can be reliably identified by a standard clustering algorithm (e.g., mean-shift). Global optimality is achieved since both spatial and temporal redundancy are simultaneously taken into account, and noise can be effectively reduced by enforcing the subspace constraint. The existence of subspace also enables outlier detection, making the subspace computation robust. Based on the subspace constraint, we propose a patch-based scheme for affine structure from motion (SFM), which recovers the plane equation of each planar patch in the scene, as well as the camera epipolar geometry. We propose two approaches to patch-based SFM: (1) factorization approach; and (2) layer based approach. Patch-based SFM provides a compact video representation that can be used to construct a high quality texture map for each layer. We plan to apply our approach to generating Video Object Planes (VOPs) defined by MPEG4 standard. VOP generation is a critical but unspecified step in MPEG-4 standard. Our motion model for each VOP consists of a global planar motion and localized deformations, which has a closed-form solution. Our goals are: (1) combining different low level cues to model VOPs; and (2) extracting VOPs that undergo more complicated motion (non-planar or non-rigid).


BACKGROUND
 In September 2017, the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), a not-for-profit organization with a core purpose "to accelerate global efforts to reduce deaths and harm from smoking" was launched. However, the legitimacy of the FSFW's vision has been questioned by experts in tobacco control because of the organization's only funding partner, Philip Morris International (PMI).

 OBJECTIVE
 This study aimed to examine the response to the FSFW in Web-based and print news media to understand how the FSFW and its funding partner, PMI, were framed.

 METHODS
 News articles published within a 6-month period after the FSFW was announced were downloaded via Google News and Factiva and coded for topic, framing argument, slant, mention of tobacco control policies, and direct quotes or position statements.

 RESULTS
 A total of 124 news articles were analyzed. The news coverage of the FSFW was framed by 6 key arguments. Over half of the news articles presented a framing argument in opposition to the FSFW (64/124, 51.6%). A further 20.2% (25/124) of articles framed the FSFW positively and 28.2% of articles (35/124) presented a neutral debate with no primary slant. The FSFW was presented as not credible because of the funding link to PMI in 29.0% (36/124) of articles and as a tactic to mislead and undermine effective tobacco control measures in 11.3% of articles (14/124). However, 12.9% of articles (16/124) argued that the FSFW or PMI is part of the solution to reducing the impact of tobacco use. Evidence-based tobacco control policies were mentioned positively in 66.9% (83/124) of news articles and 9.6% (12/124) of articles presented tobacco control policies negatively.

 CONCLUSIONS
 The Web-based and print news media reporting of the formation of the FSFW and its mission and vision has primarily been framed by doubt, skepticism, and disapproval.


Plasma created during electrical discharge machining is systematically investigated using optical emission spectroscopy. Typical spectra show a strong H-alpha and continuum radiation, with many lines emitted by impurities coming from electrode and workpiece materials. The dielectric molecules are cracked by the discharge. Changing polarity affects the electrode wear and workpiece erosion rates, which can be qualitatively seen on the spectra. Time-resolved spectroscopy shows that the plasma density reaches 2 x 10(18) cm(-3) at the beginning of the discharge. This extreme density causes the merging of lines, strong Stark broadening and shift of the H-alpha line. Afterwards, the density decreases rapidly with time. The electron temperature remains roughly constant around 0.7 eV. The low temperature and the high density measured prove that the EDM plasma is non-ideal (Gamma similar or equal to 0.45). Absence of the H-beta line, asymmetric shape of the H-alpha line and complex structures around H-alpha are other spectroscopic evidences of the plasma non-ideality.


Waste wood, a renewable energy source is used as feedstock for Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's newly-developed two-stage incinerator system. The research goals are to optimize the operation of the thermal system, to improve its combustion efficiency and to minimize its pollutants formation. The work focuses on one of its components, i.e. the primary chamber which comprises of a large updraft fixed-bed chamber, measuring 187.5cm in height and 194.5 cm in diameter respectively. During experimental work, the primary chamber is fed in batches of the processed feedstock while the air for combustion is metered through an eight air nozzle supply system, incorporated at the lower side of the tapered chamber. The feedstock will undergo four different processes; drying, devolatilisation, gasification and combustion. The combustion process is evaluated with the variation of fuel's moisture content, i.e. set at 17%, 31%, and 40% respectively. The initial experimental work indicates that the temperature and oxide of nitrogen (NO) concentration are decreased with the increase of the moisture in the fuel. Furthermore, the concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) increases with the variation of this operating parameter. However the change for carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) concentrations are only around 1% with the variation of this operating parameter. For optimum operating condition, where the gasification efficiency is 95.53%, the moisture content of the fuel is best set at 17%; giving outlet operating temperature of 550oC and exhaust gas concentrations with 1213 ppm of CO, 6% of CO2, 66 ppm of NO and 14% of O2 respectively. In parallel to the experimental work, a computational fluid dynamics software is used to simulate the performance of the primary chamber at optimum operating condition. This technique provides detail insights on the dynamics of flow and the combustion behavior that occur in the reference chamber. A steady state model is formulated for the updraft fixed bed reactor. Here the predicted optimum gasification efficiency stands at 95.49% with CO, CO2, NO and O2 concentrations as 1301 ppm, 6.5%, 53.7 ppm and 13.5% respectively. The major amendment to the chamber design is proposed on the aspects of air-exit-velocity, i.e. by using smaller diameter of the air nozzles. In doing so, it will create high air-jet penetration in the combustion zone. Higher combustion temperature above 850oC is created for the gasification and combustion zones. This will also reduce NO formation from 54 ppm to 25 ppm at the exit point of the chamber.


The aims of this research were to formulate the strategies for business development of Bandrek Lampung. This study was conducted at Hajimena Village of Natar District in South Lampung Regency by case study method. Alternative strategies formulated by the SWOT matrix. Strategic priorities of business development were formulated by FGD method. The Results showed that strategic priorities for business development were managing the bookkeeping of business; maintaining the continuity of production and quality control; and training the employee about everything of the business so that he can work without supervision, but the product quality remains excellent; taking advantage of developments in technology to improve business performance both in the production side, as well as promoting products; taking an interest in human resource development; focusing on business to approach the supplier; expanding product distribution into the strategic region with close monitoring; maintaining and improving the quality of the product; doing research to find a substitute in recipes and product innovation.


Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and international financial reporting standards (IFRS) are becoming more and more similar. Though their sources are different and though GAAP has the force of the authority in the United States, the two sets of standards are reaching a greater level of convergence. In some cases, GAAP has been altered in order to align with the position of IFRS. Similarly, some IFRS have been altered in order to converge with GAAP. The motivation for these changes is to improve financial reporting standards across political borders by creating a common set of standards. In the process, global markets will benefit from having standards that are comparable worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the progress made toward convergence and report the results of a survey of accounting educators regarding their opinions of the current progress and future potential for convergence of financial accounting standards with special reference to AS 1


BACKGROUND
Verbal autopsy (VA) is the only available approach for determining the cause of many deaths, where routine certification is not in place. Therefore, it is important to use standards and methods for VA that maximise efficiency, consistency and comparability. The World Health Organization (WHO) has led the development of the 2012 WHO VA instrument as a new standard, intended both as a research tool and for routine registration of deaths.

OBJECTIVE
A new public-domain probabilistic model for interpreting VA data, InterVA-4, is described, which builds on previous versions and is aligned with the 2012 WHO VA instrument.

DESIGN
The new model has been designed to use the VA input indicators defined in the 2012 WHO VA instrument and to deliver causes of death compatible with the International Classification of Diseases version 10 (ICD-10) categorised into 62 groups as defined in the 2012 WHO VA instrument. In addition, known shortcomings of previous InterVA models have been addressed in this revision, as well as integrating other work on maternal and perinatal deaths.

RESULTS
The InterVA-4 model is presented here to facilitate its widespread use and to enable further field evaluation to take place. Results from a demonstration dataset from Agincourt, South Africa, show continuity of interpretation between InterVA-3 and InterVA-4, as well as differences reflecting specific issues addressed in the design and development of InterVA-4.

CONCLUSIONS
InterVA-4 is made freely available as a new standard model for interpreting VA data into causes of death. It can be used for determining cause of death both in research settings and for routine registration. Further validation opportunities will be explored. These developments in cause of death registration are likely to substantially increase the global coverage of cause-specific mortality data. To access the supplementary material to this article 'The InterVA-4 User Guide' please see Supplementary files under Article Tools online.


The phasing out of leaded gasoline in many countries around the world at the end of the last millennium has resulted in a complex mixture of lead sources in the atmosphere. Recent studies suggest that coal combustion has become an important source of Pb in aerosols in urban and remote areas. Here, we report lead concentration and isotopic composition for 59 coal samples representing major coal deposits worldwide in an attempt to characterize this potential source. The average concentration in these coals is 35 microg Pb g(-1), with the highest values in coals from Spain and Peru and the lowest in coals from Australia and North America. The 206Pb/207Pb isotope ratios range between 1.15 and 1.24, with less radiogenic Pb in coals from Europe and Asia compared to South and North America. Comparing the Pb isotopic signatures of coals from this and previous studies with those published for Northern and Southern Hemisphere aerosols, we hypothesize that coal combustion might now be an important Pb source in China, the eastern U.S., and to some extent, in Europe but not as yet in other regions including South Africa, South America, and western U.S. This supports the notion that "old Pb pollution" from leaded gasoline reemitted into the atmosphere or long-range transport (i.e., from China to the western U.S.) is important. Comparing the isotope ratios of the coals, the age of the deposits, and Pb isotope evolution models for the major geochemical reservoirs suggests that the PbIC in coals is strongly influenced by the depositional coal forming environment.


The expressions of prophenoloxidase activating enzyme (ppA), prophenoloxidase (proPO) I, proPO II, and antioxidant enzymes like cytosolic manganese dismutase (cytMnSOD), mitochondrial manganese dismutase (mtMnSOD), and extracellular copper and zinc dismutase (ecCuZnSOD) as well as heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) were examined in white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei reared for 24 weeks at salinities of 2.5%, 5%, 15%, 25%, and 35%. The expression levels of ppA, proPO I, proPO II, cytMnSOD, mtMnSOD, ecCuZnSOD, and HSP70 of shrimp reared at 2.5% and 5% were significantly higher than in shrimp reared at 15%, 25%, and 35%. We concluded that white shrimp kept under long-term culture at 2.5% and 5% were under chronic stress had up-regulated expressions of ppA, proPO, MnSOD, CuZnSOD, and HSP70 that may provide candidate biomarkers in low salinity shrimp farming.


In this thesis, the exploitation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods for the flight dynamics of manoeuvring aircraft is investigated. It is demonstrated that CFD can now be used in a reasonably routine fashion to generate stability and control databases. Different strategies to create CFD-derived simulation models across the flight envelope are explored, ranging from combined low-fidelity/high-fidelity methods to reduced-order modelling. For the representation of the unsteady aerodynamic loads, a model based on aerodynamic derivatives is considered. Static contributions are obtained from steady-state CFD calculations in a routine manner. To more fully account for the aircraft motion, dynamic derivatives are used to update the steady-state predictions with additional contributions. These terms are extracted from small-amplitude oscillatory tests. The numerical simulation of the flow around a moving airframe for the prediction of dynamic derivatives is a computationally expensive task. Results presented are in good agreement with available experimental data for complex geometries. A generic fighter configuration and a transonic cruiser wind tunnel model are the test cases. In the presence of aerodynamic non-linearities, dynamic derivatives exhibit significant dependency on flow and motion parameters, which cannot be reconciled with the model formulation. An approach to evaluate the sensitivity of the non-linear flight simulation model to variations in dynamic derivatives is described. The use of reduced models, based on the manipulation of the full-order model to reduce the cost of calculations, is discussed for the fast prediction of dynamic derivatives. A linearized solution of the unsteady problem, with an attendant loss of generality, is inadequate for studies of flight dynamics because the aircraft may experience large excursions from the reference point. The harmonic balance technique, which approximates the flow solution in a Fourier series sense, retains a more general validity. The model truncation, resolving only a small subset of frequencies typically restricted to include one Fourier mode at the frequency at which dynamic derivatives are desired, provides accurate predictions over a range of two- and three-dimensional test cases. While retaining the high fidelity of the full-order model, the cost of calculations is a fraction of the cost for solving the original unsteady problem. An important consideration is the limitation of the conventional model based on aerodynamic derivatives when applied to conditions of practical interest (transonic speeds and high angles of attack). There is a definite need for models with more realism to be used in flight dynamics. To address this demand, various reduced models based on system-identification methods are investigated for a model case. A non-linear model based on aerodynamic derivatives, a multi-input discrete-time Volterra model, a surrogate-based recurrence-framework model, linear indicial functions and radial basis functions trained with neural networks are evaluated. For the flow conditions considered, predictions based on the conventional model are the least accurate. While requiring similar computational resources, improved predictions are achieved using the alternative models investigated. Furthermore, an approach for the automatic generation of aerodynamic tables using CFD is described. To efficiently reduce the number of high-fidelity (physics-based) analyses required, a kriging-based surrogate model is used. The framework is applied to a variety of test cases, and it is illustrated that the approach proposed can handle changes in aircraft geometry. The aerodynamic tables can also be used in real-time to fly the aircraft through the database. This is representative of the role played by CFD simulations and the potential impact that high-fidelity analyses might have to reduce overall costs and design cycle time


This work aims to assess how well a model performs under distribution shifts without using labels. While recent methods study prediction confidence, this work reports prediction dispersity is another informative cue. Confidence reflects whether the individual prediction is certain; dispersity indicates how the overall predictions are distributed across all categories. Our key insight is that a well-performing model should give predictions with high confidence and high dispersity. That is, we need to consider both properties so as to make more accurate estimates. To this end, we use the nuclear norm that has been shown to be effective in characterizing both properties. Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of nuclear norm for various models (e.g., ViT and ConvNeXt), different datasets (e.g., ImageNet and CUB-200), and diverse types of distribution shifts (e.g., style shift and reproduction shift). We show that the nuclear norm is more accurate and robust in accuracy estimation than existing methods. Furthermore, we validate the feasibility of other measurements (e.g., mutual information maximization) for characterizing dispersity and confidence. Lastly, we investigate the limitation of the nuclear norm, study its improved variant under severe class imbalance, and discuss potential directions.