An effective thermal management system is necessary for lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles particularly for fast charging applications to dissipate the excessive generated heat in the batteries. The liquid-based cooling system is one of the most common cooling solutions for batteries due to the compact structure and high cooling efficiency. In this paper, an experimental study is conducted to analyze the effectiveness of a new flat-tube liquid cooling plate for thermal management of a high-power lithium-ion cell during the fast charging process. The cooling plate is made of Aluminum and it is placed at both sides of the battery. A test bench is developed for performing the experimental tests and the temperature of the cell at different points is measured by five thermocouples. The thermal behavior of the cell is investigated at a high C-rate periodic pulse and fast charging current profiles. The results indicate that the cooling system can keep the battery temperature close to the maximum desired temperature range for Li-ion batteries. Moreover, good temperature uniformity is observed on the battery surface. The results of this study demonstrate that the proposed liquid cooling system is an efficient solution in the design of battery systems for fast charging applications. an experimental investigation on a liquid-based system for a high-power battery at high The cooling plate made placed on both sides of the cell. Two different tests studied including a pulse current and a fast-charging test both at a high current In the pulse test, the cooling system off beginning test, and it was triggered when It seen


It has already been shown that in rate-constrained broadcast channels, under the assumption of independent Rayleigh, Rician and Nakagami fading channels for different receivers, the user capacity (i.e. the maximum number of users that can be activated simultaneously) scales double logarithmically with the total number of users. However, to achieve the aforementioned result, it is assumed that channel state information (CSI) is perfectly known to the receivers. In practical situations, the receivers do not have access to the true CSI and they only know estimated channels. In this paper, the effects of channel estimation is analyzed on the user capacity of rate-constrained broadcast channels. In particular, the Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) channel estimation scheme is considered and the effects of this estimation method on the user capacity is investigated. Under the assumption of commonly used fading channels for different receivers, it is shown that the user capacity still scales double logarithmically; however, there is a gap depending on channel estimators accuracy between the upper and lower bound of the user capacity. The bound will be asymptotically tight if the variance of the channel estimator remains constant.


Diabetes mellitus is a major metabolic disorder and has a big proportion of affliction in the world which is recognized for many complications, as diabetic nephropathy, neuropathy, and retinopathy. Fenugreek, cinnamon, bitter melon, Gymnema Sylvestre, ginger, olive leaf extract, and berberine are the most common plants for treating diabetes. These plants contain many important substances as alkaloids, flavonoids, etc, which are also rich in soluble fibers that help decrease blood sugar by hindering the assimilation and retention of carbohydrates. Fenugreek could improve metabolic symptoms types by bringing down blood glucose and improve glucose tolerance.


Transactional memory (TM) has long been advocated as a promising pathway to more automated concurrency control for scaling concurrent programs running on parallel hardware. Software TM (STM) has the benefit of being able to run general transactional programs, but at the significant cost of overheads imposed to log memory accesses, mediate access conflicts, and maintain other transaction metadata. Recently, hardware manufacturers have begun to offer commodity hardware TM (HTM) support in their processors wherein the transaction metadata is maintained "for free" in hardware. However, HTM approaches are only best-effort: they cannot successfully run all transactional programs, whether because of hardware capacity issues (causing large transactions to fail), or compatibility restrictions on the processor instructions permitted within hardware transactions (causing transactions that execute those instructions to fail). In such cases, programs must include failure-handling code to attempt the computation by some other software means, since retrying the transaction would be futile. Thus, a canonical use of HTM is lock elision: replacing lock regions with transactions, retrying some number of times in the case of conflicts, but falling back to locking when HTM fails for other reasons. Here, we describe how software and hardware schemes can combine seamlessly into a hybrid system in support of transactional programs, allowing use of low-cost HTM when it works, but reverting to STM when it doesn't. We describe heuristics used to make this choice dynamically and automatically, but allowing the transition back to HTM opportunistically. Our implementation is for an extension of Java having syntax for both open and closed nested transactions, and boosting, running on the OpenJDK, with dynamic injection of STM mechanisms (into code variants used under STM) and HTM instructions (into code variants used under HTM). Both schemes are compatible to allow different threads to run concurrently with either mechanism, while preserving transaction safety. Using a standard synthetic benchmark we demonstrate that HTM offers significant acceleration of both closed and open nested transactions, while yielding parallel scaling up to the limits of the hardware, whereupon scaling in software continues but with the penalty to throughput imposed by software mechanisms.


Computational biology researchers today announced a new Internet tool for the exploration of the scientific literature in medicine and biology. The freely accessible iHOP service provides fast, accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date summary information on more than 80,000 biological molecules by automatically extracting key sentences from millions of PubMed documents when a search is requested. PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes morethan 16 million citations from life science journals for biomedical articles. "By using genes and proteins as hyperlink sources between sentences and abstracts, iHOP converts the information in PubMed into a navigable information network, exploiting the power of the Internetfor scientific literature investigation," said Sloan-Kettering Institute postdoctoral fellow Robert Hoffmann, who started the iHOP project when he worked at the Protein Design Group in Madrid, Spain. The most recent work of the Computational Biology Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), headed by Chris Sander, Chairman of the Sloan-Kettering Institute's Computational Biology Program, has taken iHOP to the next level in terms of speed, accuracy, relevance, and coverage. "This is a next-generation search tool that allows scientists to extract comprehensive information regarding the function of genes in signaling pathways, interaction networks, and biological processes," said Dr. Sander. "We are now able to provide daily updates, processing about 2000 new publications per day, which makes iHOP the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource for literature-derived gene information on the Web." iHOP has been available at no cost to the public since 2004 and has become one of the most used resources for biomedical research, accessed by up to 200,000 different users per month. The new version provides current information on even more genes and chemical compounds, covering all organisms - ranging from human and chimpanzee to yeast and HIV - making iHOP useful to tens of thousands of biomedical researchers. iHOP allows researchers to explore a network of gene interactions by directly navigating the pool of published scientific literature. Rather than providing long lists of entire abstracts upon keywordsearches, iHOP selectively retrieves information that is specific to genes and proteins and summarizes their interactions and functions. The system adds value by filtering and ranking extracted sentences according to significance, impact factor, date of publication, and syntax. The complexity of the information stored in scientific databases and journals and the growing number of scientific publications gave rise to the need for text-mining systems to help researchers navigate through these interrelated information resources. Openly accessible text-mining systems, such as iHOP, facilitate the integration of database and text information and support researchers in theformulation of novel hypotheses. "We plan to extend the iHOP concept to full text sources and the algorithmic exploration of gene networks," added Dr. Hoffmann. Access to iHOP, an acronym for the tool's original version, Information Hyperlinked over Proteins, is freely available at www.ihop-net.org. More information about computational biology research is at www.cBio.mskcc.org. For more information, contact: Tel.: 212.639.3573; Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


Lentil, Lens culinaris subsp. culinaris Medic., is an important legume crop on the Canadian prairies. Anthracnose, a fungal disease caused by Colletotrichum truncatum (Schwein.) Andrus & W.D. Moore, is a major barrier to seed yield and quality in lentil. Pathogenicity testing has revealed two races, Ct1 and Ct0, of C. truncatum in western Canada. No cultivar or landrace of cultivated lentil has been reported with resistance to anthracnose race Ct0. A search for Ct0 resistance in the wild species identified a high frequency of resistant accessions in Lens ervoides (Brign.) Grande. To incorporate higher levels of resistance from L. ervoides to the two races of anthracnose, a cross was made between a susceptible L. culinaris cultivar, Eston, and a resistant accession of L. ervoides germplasm, L-01-827A, which has both Ct0 and Ct1 resistance. Embryo rescue technique was used to obtain an F 1 hybrid. Single-seed descent was used to advance the individual F 2 plants to F 7:8 recombinant inbred lines. Evidence of transfer of resistance to both anthracnose races Ct1 and Ct0 from the wild species to cultivated lentil is presented. Chi-square tests of goodness of fit indicated that resistance to race Ct1 and race Ct0 may be conferred by two recessive genes. However, these results may be skewed due to variable fertility encountered in development of the population. Selection of resistant lines for use in pyramiding genes in breeding programs should result in a more durable level of resistance to anthracnose in lentil.


To perform nuclear reactor safety analysis related to accidental conditions that can lead to severe accidents it's necessary to perform some experiments before that. QUENCH-06 is exactly that kind of experiment. It is related with the consequences that can arise from severe accidents and subsequent water injection in LightWater Reactors. Themain goal of the present paper is to compare measured by the QUENCH-06 experiment and calculated by the RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD3.5 temperatures of twelve rods and shroud at different elevations of the test bundle.


We introduce Scriptable RPC (SRPC), an RPC-based framework that enables distributed system services to take advantage of active components. Technology trends point to a world where each component in a system (whether disk, network interface, or memory) has substantial computational capabilities; however, traditional methods of building distributed services are not designed to take advantage of these new architectures, mandating wholesale change of the software base to exploit more powerful hardware. In contrast, SRPC provides a direct and simple migration path for traditional services into the active environment.We demonstrate the power and flexibility of the SRPC framework through a series of case studies, with a focus on active storage servers. Specifically, we find three advantages to our approach. First, SRPC improves the performance of distributed file servers, reducing latency by combining the execution of operations at the file server. Second, SRPC enables the ready addition of new functionality; for example, more powerful cache consistency models can be realized on top of a server that exports a simple NFS-like interface. Third, SRPC simplifies the construction of distributed services; operations that are difficult to coordinate across client and server can now be co-executed at the server, thus avoiding costly agreement and crash-recovery protocols.


A significant correlation exists between financial crises and bank liquidity problems, thus exposing the investor to increased risk where the banking industry forms part of their investment portfolios. Also, due to more volatile markets and more complex financing banking activities, the general notion of evaluating only share price trends to determine future investment prospects can become misleading. This paper, therefore, focuses on a multi-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model as a complementary share performance tool to the traditional set of fundamental factors. When combining the results from the DEA model and a set of traditional financial measures, Nedbank and FirstRand were found to be the more sensible investment choices for the period under investigation.


In order to assess the rural migrants' resettlement in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area and provide a reference for formulating the later migrant support policies, we select 342 rural migrants from County A in Hubei Province and County B in Chongqing Municipality for the household survey. The survey results show that after removal, housing, and infrastructure (electricity, transportation, communication, household appliances) concerning the migrants are improved substantially, but there are still some problems in water drinking, land, employment and income restoration. The later support should put great emphasis on the following aspects: including the rural migrants into the social security system; improving drinking water and irrigation facilities; promoting industrial restructuring; strengthening skills training and education for the migrants, to gradually enrich the migrants and make them live a comfortable life.


The research was motivated by the phenomenon of competition in the
banking industry in order to gain customer loyalty. Sufficient quantity of banks,
especially in this area Pemalang, create a branch of Bank Rakyat Indonesia
Pemalang need to maintain and improve new strategies to retain customers to
remain loyal even increase the number of customers. Bank Rakyat Indonesia
Pemalang Branch should be able to satisfy existing customers and create new
customers, if want to win the competition and become market leader in the
banking industry, especially in the area Pemalang. Seen that in the last few years a
branch of Bank Rakyat Indonesia Pemalang increase the number of customers. It
required an effort to maintain and continuously improve the development of
strategy and innovation. A banking company which is able to offer excellence
through outstanding service, may ultimately affect the attitude to loyal customers
at the banking company. In specifically, the study aims to determine the effect of
variables of trust, commitment, communication, and handling of complaints
against the loyalty of customers from branches of Bank Rakyat Indonesia
Pemalang.
After review of the literature and formulation of hypotheses, data collected
through questionnaire method on 100 customers of Bank Rakyat Indonesia
respondents obtained by using accidental sampling technique. Then conducted an
analysis of data obtained using multiple regression analysis techniques. This
analysis includes: validity and reliability, the classic assumption test, multiple
regression analysis, hypothesis testing via t test and F test, and analysis of the
coefficient of determination (R2). Based on the analysis of the obtained regression
equation:
Y = 0,216 X1 + 0,249 X2 + 0,270 X3 + 0,239 X4
Where the customer loyalty variables (Y), trust (X1), commitment (X2),
communication (X3), and the handling of complaints (X4). Hypothesis testing
using t tests showed that four independent variables studied variable is trust,
commitment, communication, and handling complaints proved to have a positive
and significant impact on customer loyalty is the dependent variable. Then
through the F test can be seen that the four independent variables is feasible to test
the dependent variable customer loyalty. Figures adjusted R Square of 0.547
indicates that 54.7 percent of variable customer loyalty can be explained by four
independent variables in the regression equation. While the remaining 45.3
percent is explained by other variables outside of the four variables used in this
study.


Previous work on cooperative communications has concentrated primarily on the diversity benefits of such techniques. This paper, instead, considers the multiplexing benefits of cooperative communications. First, a new interpretation on the fundamental tradeoff between the transmission rate and outage probability in multiple-antenna relay networks is given. It follows that multiplexing gains can be obtained at any finite signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), in full-duplex multiple-antenna relay networks. Thus, relaying can offer not only stronger link reliability, but also higher spectral efficiency. Specifically, the decode-and-forward protocol is applied and networks that have one source, one destination, and multiple relays are considered. A receive power gain at the relays, which captures the network large-scale fading characteristics, is also considered. It is shown that this power gain can significantly affect the system diversity-multiplexing tradeoff for any finite SNR value. Several relaying protocols are proposed and are shown to offer nearly the same outage probability as if the transmit antennas at the source and the relay(s) were colocated, given certain SNR and receive power gains at the relays. Thus, a higher multiplexing gain than that of the direct link can be obtained if the destination has more antennas than the source. Much of the analysis in the paper is valid for arbitrary channel fading statistics. These results point to a view of relay networks as a means for providing higher spectral efficiency, rather than only link reliability.


In this dissertation, I draw on the work of Martin Heidegger to provide a critical account of the way our understanding of the world is shaped by modern conceptions of reason. I claim that our current ways of thinking about ourselves and the world of our everyday lives are already framed by a particular form of reason that Heidegger identifies as sufficient 'scientific' reasoning. This type of reasoning limits our understanding of the world by framing it a priori within the confines of the scientific conception of 'nature'. What this entails, more specifically, is an account of the world and human existence that is reduced to the level of things. I argue that this scientific conception is a historically situated interpretation, which following Heidegger, I suggest is based on our tendency to forget the way we primarily understand and interpret the things around us. I begin by addressing the question of Being, which I frame in terms of the meaningful presence of things. Following this, I present Heidegger's account of the meaningful surrounding world, which we encounter through our projects. Finally, I close by discussing some of the specific ways that scientific reasoning has covered over this meaningful surrounding world. My aim is to show how the world around us is primarily meaningful, and that Heidegger's analyses of sufficient reason and modern science are an extension of his earlier critique of the metaphysical divide between subject and object, whereby human beings are reduced to the thinking thing—res cogitans. Overall, I argue that the scientific account of the 'natural world' is one interpretation among others, and by no means the final or ultimate interpretation of that which is. Rather, we must challenge ourselves to new ways of thinking in order to see that the world 'is' primarily the place where we carry out the meaningful projects of our everyday lives.


With the introduction of the Tax Administration Act in October 2012, SARS became more stringent with taxpayers, with penalties and additional taxes being raised in cases of non-compliance, etc. This Act to date, as discussed in the last National Tax seminar, seems to be in favour of SARS, as there are still numerous concerns pertaining to how long it takes for SARS to finalise audits, the skill and knowledge of certain SARS auditors, supporting documentation being lost when handed over to SARS and assessments being raised without any notice or time to object thereto.


Abstract A new robust algorithm for the pressure/rate deconvolution problem, described by Duhamel's convolution integral, which is a first-kind linear Volterra integral equation, has been developed. A transformation of the convolution integral to a nonlinear one is used to impose explicitly the positivity constraint on the solution. The weighted least-squares method with regularization on the solution by a curvature constraint has been used for computation of the convolution kernel (impulse function or deconvolved pressure) of the system. The algorithm takes into account the errors (or noise) in both the left-hand-side (measured pressures) and flow rate measurements (normally, the time dependent inner boundary condition) of the convolution integral. The solution algorithm also allows one to adjust flow rates and/or the initial reservoir pressure (an initial condition for the solution) during calculations, where both flow rate and the initial pressure may contain some level of uncertainty. For validation of the results of the algorithm, three synthetic examples are presented.


This book provides both students and intelligence professionals with basic theory and a number of practical tools to enhance their careers as analysts. Its subject matter goes under many names: competitive intelligence, competitor intelligence, business intelligence, and marketing intelligence. The aim has been to show the logic behind analysis so that the student and the professional may learn the techniques of building or adapting his or her own analysis to fit any practical problem, rather than presenting well-known analyses as if they were static truths. The book is not about state and military intelligence, nor about the history of intelligence. Having said this, it will be apparent to the reader that the scientific methods and tools presented are shared by all the intelligence functions.


As chip multiprocessors (CMPs) become the main trend in processor development, various power and thermal management strategies have recently been proposed to optimize system performance while controlling the power or temperature of a CMP chip to stay below a constraint. The availability of per-core dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) also makes it possible to develop advanced management strategies. However, most existing solutions rely on open-loop search or optimization with the assumption that power can be estimated accurately, while others adopt oversimplified feedback control strategies to control power and temperature separately, without any theoretical guarantees. In this paper, we propose a chip-level power control algorithm that is systematically designed based on optimal control theory. Our algorithm can precisely control the power of a CMP chip to the desired set point while maintaining the temperature of each core below a specified threshold. Furthermore, an online model estimator is designed to achieve analytical assurance of control accuracy and system stability, even in the face of significant workload variations or unpredictable chip or core variations. To further improve system performance, we also integrate dynamic cache resizing into our control framework so that power can be shifted among CPU cores and the shared L2 cache. Empirical results on a physical testbed show that our controller outperforms two state-of-the-art control algorithms by having better SPEC benchmark performance and more precise power control. In addition, extensive simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of our algorithm for various CMP configurations.


Is floc drainage a cause for substantial pressure peaks in low-consistency refiners? High-resolution pressure measurements using a sensor mounted in a stator bar have been performed. These show that during the initial stage of a bar crossing, a substantial pressure is sometimes generated, which can reach a level of several MPa. A theoretical model that explains the pressure pulses is presented. The analysis is based on the assumption that a floc of fibres is trapped between the leading edges of the approaching bar surfaces. Water needs to be expelled from the part of the floc that is compressed and enters into the refiner gap. The hydrodynamic resistance to expel the liquid from within the floc is shown to give rise to substantial pressures in the region close to the leading edge of the rotor bar. The estimated pressures are of the same order as the measured values.


In this paper, we present a time-discrete, incremental methodology for modeling, at the microscopic and macroscopic levels, the dynamics of distributed manipulation experiments using swarms of autonomous robots endowed with reactive controllers. The methodology is well suited for non-spatial metrics, as it does not take into account robot trajectories or the spatial distribution of objects in the environment. The strength of the methodology lies in the fact that it has been generated by considering incremental abstraction steps, fromreal robots to macroscopic models, each with well-defined mappings between successive implementation levels. Precise heuristic criteria based on geometrical considerations and systematic tests with one or two real robots prevent the introduction of free parameters in the calibration procedure of models. As a consequence, we are able to generate highly abstracted macroscopic models that can capture the dynamics of a swarm of robots at the behavioral level while still being closely anchored to the characteristics of the physical setup. Although this methodology has been and can be applied to other experiments in distributed manipulation (e.g. object aggregation and segregation, foraging), in this paper we focus on a strictly collaborative case study concerned with pulling sticks out of the ground, an action that requires the collaboration of two robots to be successful. Experiments were carried out with teams consisting of two to 600 individuals at different levels of implementation (real robots, embodied simulations, microscopic and macroscopic models). Results show that models can deliver both qualitatively and quantitatively correct predictions in time lapses that are at least four orders of magnitude smaller than those required by embodied simulations and that they represent a useful tool for generalizing the dynamics of these highly stochastic, asynchronous, nonlinear systems, often outperforming intuitive reasoning. Finally, in addition to discussing subtle numerical effects, small prediction discrepancies, and difficulties in generating the mapping between different abstractions levels, we conclude the paper by reviewing the intrinsic limitations of the current modeling methodology and by proposing a few suggestions for future work.


Le Pile in east Roubaix has been particularly hard-hit by the industrial and financial crisis. Over 40% of the neighborhood's residents live under the poverty line (€642 a month for a person living alone). Social divisions are clear to see and recreating spaces where people can interact and make contact with each other is a key challenge in building resilience for the future. These social divisions will become worse without a proactive policy to combat them, and may be further exacerbated by the digital revolution. If nothing is done to restore harmonious co-existence in the community, positive initiatives such as urban farming and zero waste will never have an effect beyond a limited circle of insiders.Located in this deprived neighborhood, La Condition Publique is a creative laboratory at the crossroad between art, culture and the imperatives of urban renewal and sustainability. Its aim is to recreate ties and spaces between different actors across the territory – residents, nonprofits, businesses, etc. – to support urban renovation and foster resilience.


Accelerating processing of very large datasets on GPUs is challenging, in particular when algorithms exhibit unpredictable data access patterns. In this paper we investigate the utility of GPUfs, a library that provides direct access to files from GPU programs, to implement such algorithms. We analyze the system's bottlenecks, and suggest several modification to the GPUfs design, including new concurrent hash table for the buffer cache and a highly parallel memory allocator. We evaluate our changes by implementing a real image processing application which creates collages from a dataset of 2 Million images. The enhanced GPUfs design improves the application performance by 2× over the original GPUfs and outperforms both 12-core parallel CPU and standard CUDA-based GPU implementations, while significantly simplifying GPU application design.


Scope Description Space exploration relies on sensors for science measurements as well as spacecraft operation. As sensing precisions push their limits, quantum phenomena inevitably must be exploited. It is expected that sensors utilizing quantum properties will offer new and significantly improved capabilities. NASA is interested in advancing quantum sensing technologies and infusing them into space science missions. In particular, this call seeks the development and maturation towards space application and qualification of atomic systems that leverage their quantum properties (e.g., optical atomic clocks, atom interferometers, Rydberg atom sensors, artificial atom-based sensors such as nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center point-defect sensors, etc.).


Three years ago, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. discovered an unpublished manuscript, The Bondwoman's Narrative, By Hannah Crafts, A Fugitive Recently Escaped From North Carolina, which turned out to be the first novel by a female African-American slave ever found, and possibly the first novel written by a black women anywhere. The Bondwoman's Narrative was published in 2002. In Search of Hannah Crafts now brings together twenty-two authorities on African-American studies to examine such issues as authenticity, and the history and criticism of this unique novel, including Nina Baym, Jean Fagan Yellin, William Andrews, Lawrence Buell, Karen Sanchez-Eppler and Shelley Fisher-Fishkin.The Bondwoman's Narrative will take its place in the African-American canon, and In Search of Hannah Crafts is the book that scholars and students of African-American Studies, of women writers, and of slavery, need to have to understand this unprecedented historical and literary event.


Biometrics systems typically work best in settings where probe samples are captured in the same manner as the training set. When biometrics are acquired under different conditions or with different sensors, naïve approaches to recognition perform poorly. Coupled mappings have been introduced for performing face recognition across different resolutions, and learn a common subspace between different domains. In this paper, we introduce Maximum-Margin Coupled Mappings (MMCM), which aims to learn projections such that there is a margin of separation between pairs of cross-domain data from the same class and pairs of cross-domain data from different classes. While coupled mapping techniques have traditionally been used for matching face images at different resolutions, we demonstrate that MMCM is effective for cross-sensor biometric matching as well.


This editorial delivers an introduction to the thematic Media and Communication issue on "The Turn to Affect and Emotion in Media Studies". The social and cultural formation of affect and emotion has been of central interest to social science-based emotion research as well as to affect studies, which are mainly grounded in cultural studies. Media and communication scholars, in turn, have especially focused on how emotion and affect are produced by media, the way they are communicated through media, and the forms of emotion audiences develop during the use of media. Distinguishing theoretical lines of emotion theory in social sciences and diverse traditions of affect theory, we reflect on the need to engage more deeply with affect and emotion as driving forces in contemporary media and society. This thematic issue aims to add to ongoing affect studies research and to existing emotion research within media studies. A special emphasis will be placed on exploring structures of difference and power produced in and by media in relation to affect and emotion.


Objective The outcome of female patients after adult cardiac surgery has been reported to be less favourable compared with the outcome of male patients. This study compares men with women with respect to patient and procedural characteristics and early mortality in a contemporary national cohort of patients who underwent aortic valve (AV) and combined aortic valve/coronary (CABG/AV) surgery. Methods All patients who underwent AV (n=8717, 56% male) or a combined CABG/AV surgery (n=5867, 67% male) in the Netherlands between January 2007 and December 2011 were included. Results In both groups, women were generally older than men (p<0.001) and presented with higher logistic EuroSCORES. In isolated AV surgery, men and women had comparable in-hospital mortality (OR 1.20, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.61; p=0.220). In concomitant CABG/AV surgery, in-hospital mortality was higher in women compared with men (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.44 to 2.79; p<0.001). The area under the curve for logistic EuroSCORE 1 was systematically higher for men versus women in isolated AV surgery 0.82 (95% CI 0.78 to 0.86) vs 0.75 (95% CI 0.69 to 0.80) and in concomitant CABG/AV surgery 0.78 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.82) vs 0.69 (95% CI 0.63 to 0.74). Finally, (the weight of) risk factors associated with in-hospital mortality differed between men and women. Conclusions There are substantial male-female differences in patient presentation and procedural aspects in isolated AV and concomitant CABG/AV surgery in the Netherlands. Further studies are necessary to explore the mechanisms underlying the observed differences. In addition, the observation that standard risk scores perform worse in women warrants exploration of male-female specific risk models for patients undergoing cardiac surgery.Brief title:


Since 2014, eight U.S. cities have implemented sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes. Several other cities and states are contemplating similar measures. SSB taxes are intended to curb sugar consumption and improve public health, but policymakers too often ignore the unintended consequences these measures provoke. This ConsumerGram examines the effects of SSB taxes, including their disproportionate impact on poor households, their failure to meaningfully shift consumers behaviors, and their negative economic effects on local communities.


The "settling" of the American West has been perceived throughout the world as a series of quaint, violent, and romantic adventures. But in fact, Patricia Nelson Limerick argues, the West has a history grounded primarily in economic reality; in hardheaded questions of profit, loss, competition, and consolidation. Here she interprets the stories and the characters in a new way: the trappers, traders, Indians, farmers, oilmen, cowboys, and sheriffs of the Old West "meant business" in more ways than one, and their descendents mean business today.


The Legacy of Cain (1888), the last novel Wilkie Collins published before his death, is structured as a case study of the respective influences of nature and nurture. The central question is whether the daughter of a murderess will reveal a 'hereditary taint' or whether a loving and religious environment will prove the stronger influence on the child's character. The Victorians knew nothing about genetics, but scientists and novelists alike shared a vigorous discourse about the hereditary transmission of behaviour and whether 'character' was heritable. In the wake of genetic and epigenetic discoveries, we find ourselves faced with a situation comparable to that Collins encountered in the 1880s, when evolutionary theory was unsettling many things Victorians held dear. Exploring how novelists and scientists in the late-nineteenth century attempted to cope with notions of inherited behaviour without genetics sheds an interesting light on twenty-first-century reactions to the news that acquired characteristics and behavioural traits may be passed on to future generations through mechanisms other than the gene. The emergence of an influential, semi-autonomous zone of activity known as the policy arena, which occupies an intermediate position between the disciplinary specialist and the public sphere, enables humanists to participate in science policy today in ways comparable to the contributions made by Victorian literary figures such as Wilkie Collins, George Eliot, Matthew Arnold and Samuel Butler.


Coral communities are increasingly found to populate non-reef habitats prone to high environmental variability. Such sites include seagrass meadows, which are generally not considered optimal habitats for corals as a result of limited suitable substrate for settlement and substantial diel and seasonal fluctuations in physicochemical conditions relative to neighboring reefs. Interest in understanding the ability of corals to persist in non-reef habitats has grown, however little baseline data exists on community structure and recruitment of scleractinian corals in seagrass meadows. To determine how corals populate seagrass meadows, we surveyed the established and recruited coral community over 25 months within seagrass meadows at Little Cayman, Cayman Islands. Simultaneous surveys of established and recruited coral communities at neighboring back-reef sites were conducted for comparison. To fully understand the amount of environmental variability to which corals in each habitat were exposed, we conducted complementary surveys of physicochemical conditions in both seagrass meadows and back-reefs. Despite overall higher variability in physicochemical conditions, particularly pH, compared to the back-reef, 14 coral taxa were capable of inhabiting seagrass meadows, and multiple coral families were also found to recruit to these sites. However, coral cover and species diversity, richness, and evenness were lower at sites within seagrass meadows compared to back-reef sites. Although questions remain regarding the processes governing recruitment, these results provide evidence that seagrass beds can serve as functional habitats for corals despite high levels of environmental variability and suboptimal conditions compared to neighboring reefs.


Is it true that non-practicing entities (NPEs) are primarily a U.S. phenomenon? Over time, several definitions of NPEs have been presented. They range from research institutions that hold patent portfolios for their inventions but do not develop and commercialize any products, to IP asset management firms whose exclusive business is asserting patent claims to collect significant fees from companies operating in certain industries. The latter are also referred to as "patent trolls" and have been the subject of significant debate as to their role in the innovative process in different fields. NPEs are a relatively new phenomenon. Studies have shown that their activity has only become prominent in the United States during the last decade. And these studies have suggested that NPEs are not nearly as active in other countries, namely European countries. Nevertheless, no prior research has attempted to quantify the extent of the international NPE problem nor find possible explanations for the difference. This article investigates whether NPEs are indeed less active in Europe. Interestingly, the findings indicate that NPEs are present in Europe, but their operations there are minimal compared to their operations in the United States. This article discusses possible explanations for this finding, including a comparative analysis of key differences between European and US industries, remedy systems, and judicial cultures. This article demonstrates that NPE activity in Europe is more depressed than in the United States because the affected industries–electronics, machinery and computer equipment, software and communication–are smaller in Europe than on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. It also shows that NPEs operate in Europe DESPITE the presence of certain features of local legal systems – such as fee-shifting - that advocates of patent reform have recommended for adoption to control NPE activity in the United States. Consequently, this article questions the supposed effects of those proposed reforms. Finally, this article cautions against reforming the current U.S. patent system to make it more similar to European ones, as the European industries targeted by NPEs are less prosperous than their US equivalents. The impact of these proposed reforms on the activities of PRACTICING entities has not yet been adequately questioned. Even the question of whether NPE activity is in fact harming innovation has not been conclusively answered. Thus, much more investigation is necessary in this field before it would be wise to reform the patent system.


Recently, a number of states have sought to withdraw or restrain local power. In this Article, which is part of the "Re-Thinking State Relevance" symposium hosted by the Ohio State Law Journal, I write about a state taking the opposite approach, and attempting to affirmatively endow its local governments with additional powers. The state is Maine, and the context is control over local food production and sales. This Article begins by addressing the emergence of the sustainable local foods movement broadly, and reasons for the growth of this movement. It then focuses more pointedly on the food sovereignty movement, considering the ways that this movement has sought to put control into the hands of local people, and thus local governments. This Article then considers the power struggles between state and local governments, and the reason that even strong local governments might not be able to act as forcefully as they would like in areas such as food regulation. Finally, this Article addresses Maine's passage of a state law recognizing local food sovereignty, and the federalism concerns that this law raised. This Article seeks to present a roadmap for states that wish to play a more active role in advancing local food goals, or empowering local governments more broadly.


Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in West
Azerbaijan province. This study was conducted to estimate the contribution to the burden of
modification risk factor of central obesity and determine the effect of reducing its prevalence on
cardiovascular diseases in this province.
Materials & Methods: To calculate the Potential Impact Fraction (PIF), the World Health
Organization comparative risk assessment (CRA) methodology was used. The prevalence of risk
factor was obtained from provincial data of the sixth steps survey of non-communicable risk factors
which was conducted in 2011 and the effect size of risk factor was extracted from Tehran Lipid and
Glucose Study.
Results: By reducing the percent of women with central obesity from %19.1 to the theoretical (zero
level) and the feasible minimum risk level i.e.% 12, respectively 9.5% and 3.5% of attributable
Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) to cardiovascular disease were avoidable, also with the
decrease in the prevalence of obesity in men from 18% to the theoretical risk (zero) and feasible
minimum risk (12%) the corresponding value were 7.4% and 2.5%, respectively.
Conclusion: According to the considerable contribution of central obesity on attributable burden of
cardiovascular disease in West Azerbaijan province and considering this fact that central obesity has
important role in increasing hypertension, cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar, prevention and
control of central obesity will be an essential approach to reducing morbidity and mortality from
cardiovascular diseases


The Wave Project at the University of California at Berkeley was established in 1944 to develop a relationship between nearshore waves and the underlying topography for supporting amphibious military landings. The project was continued for scientific purposes until 1952 under the more general name of "Wave Observation and Beach Surveys," including the Amphibious Oceanography Project. These early field observations are a central part of the genesis of coastal engineering in the United States. Beach profiles were surveyed by stadia and by amphibious vehicle along the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California, and the results were documented in University of California, Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, reports in the HE-116 series. The profile survey measurements, now 50 years old, are still the only such data available for many beaches along the U.S. Pacific Coast. The data set thus comprises a valuable baseline for documenting change in the coast, and it is a resource on the morphology and grain size for high-energy beaches that are extremely difficult to survey. The profile survey plots in the limited-circulation reports have been digitized and are available for general access in the present study. This paper reviews the early measurement program and the available data set.


The proposed method in this paper aims to better understand the log data from the commuter ferry. By the method, the mechanism of how the human expertise operates the ferry can be found, and thus help to establish ship intelligence for the autonomous commuting sailing. The log data of sailings with the same departure and arrival ports is of interest in this respect. The method defines different phases of a sailing as different scenarios in terms of the features contained in the collected data. The features are reflected by the ship behavior/response and the ship machinery/actuators. Compared to the typical sailing phases which are distinct to each other, the features can be uncertain when the ferry transfers from the current phase to the sequential. The concept of the transition time window is thus raised to interpret the uncertainty between adjacent phases. Based on the collected data, the human expertise is involved to summarize features and generate empirical criteria for the decomposition. After the whole sailing being split into a sequential-scenario series, statistical heat maps are drawn to illustrate the likelihood site with respect to the collected log data. In practice, log data collected from a customized commuting route in Trondheim are analyzed by the proposed method.


Until the 2000s, water resources in Tunisia were managed solely by government bodies without any consultation with water users. At the local level, Commissariats Regionaux de Developpement Agricole [Regional Agricultural Development Committees (CRDAs)], which represented the government bodies, managed water resources. The Tunisian Government then decided to involve farmers in the local management of water resources by creating Agricultural Development Associations (GDAs). Water resource management by CRDAs must now take into account water demand from farmers belonging to GDAs and, in return, farmers must acknowledge water scarcity and accept the need for resource-sharing. How can CRDAs and GDAs work towards cooperative water management? In this paper, we present a simulation game requested by officials at the Kairouan CRDA in order to develop cooperative management of the water resources in a typical small watershed in central Tunisia. Our aim was to use the game to increase both farmers' awareness of water resource-sharing, scarcity, and the impact of overexploitation, and CRDA officials' awareness of different uses that determine water demands. The game is based on a hydrological model of the watershed and an agro-economic model of farming systems that use water resources for irrigation.


This paper generalises the previously proposed interpolative reasoning method to cover the interpolations involving the complex polygon, Gaussian or other bell-shaped fuzzy membership functions. This can be achieved by the generality of the proposed scale and move transformations. The method works by first constructing a new inference rule via manipulating the two given adjacent rules, and then by using scale and move transformations to convert the intermediate inference results into the final derived conclusions. This generalised method has two advantages, thanks to the elegantly proposed transformations: 1) It can easily handle the interpolation of multiple antecedent variables with simple computation; and 2) It guarantees the uniqueness as well as normality and convexity of the resulting interpolated fuzzy sets. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the use of this method.


Abstract. In this study, we present O3 retrievals from ground-based Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) solar absorption measurements between June 2018 and December 2019 at Xianghe, China (39.75° N, 116.96° E). The FTIR spectrometer at Xianghe is operated with indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) and indium antimonide (InSb) detectors, recording the spectra between 1800 and 11000 cm−1. As the harmonized FTIR O3 retrieval strategy (Vigouroux et al., 2015) within the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) uses the 1000 cm−1 spectral range, we designed an alternative O3 retrieval strategy in the 3040 cm−1 spectral range at Xianghe. The retrieved O3 profile is mainly sensitive to the vertical range between 5 and 40 km, and the degree of freedom for signal is 2.4 ± 0.3 (1σ), indicating that there are two individual pieces of information in partial columns between the surface and 20 km and between 20 and 40 km. According to the optimal estimation method, the systematic and random uncertainties of the FTIR O3 total columns are about 13.6 % and 1.4 %, respectively. The random uncertainty is consistent with the observed daily standard deviation of the FTIR retrievals. To validate the FTIR O3 total and partial columns, we apply the same O3 retrieval strategy at Maido, Reunion Island (21.08° N, 55.38° E). The FTIR O3 (3040 cm−1) measurements at Xianghe and Maido are then compared with the nearby ozonesondes at Beijing (39.81° N, 116.47° E) and at Gillot (20.89° S, 55.53° E), respectively, as well as with co-located TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) satellite measurements at both sites. In addition, at Maido, we compare the FTIR O3 (3040 cm−1) retrievals with the standard NDACC FTIR O3 measurements using the 1000 cm−1 spectral range. It is found that the total columns retrieved from the FTIR O3 3040 cm−1 measurements are underestimated by 5.5–9.0 %, which is mainly due to the systematic uncertainty in the partial column between 20 and 40 km (about −10.4 %). The systematic uncertainty in the partial column between surface and 20 km is relatively small (within 2.4 %). By comparison with other measurements, it is found that the FTIR O3 (3040 cm−1) retrievals capture very well the seasonal and synoptic variations of the O3 total and two partial columns. Therefore, the ongoing FTIR measurements at Xianghe can provide useful information on the O3 variations and (in the future) long-term trends.


Rhinosinusal mucormycosis is a life-threatening disease caused by fungus of the order Mucorales, which commonly affects individuals with diabetes and those in immunocompromised states. It is the most common form of mucormycosis with a high mortality rate (50-80%). Treatment options include reversal of the underlying risk factors when it is possible, systemic antifungal medication and radical surgical debridement. Prognosis is reserved because of the high potential of invasiveness, so diagnosis and early treatment are essential.
 Herein, we make a review about the most important features of this pathology and we report two cases of rhinosinusal mucormycosis with similar presentations who followed the same treatment protocol – extended surgical debridement of the necrotic tissue combined with systemic antifungal treatment (Amphotericin B). Complete recovery was achieved in one patient, whereas in the other one, due to late presentation, massive extension and incomplete surgical debridement, the disease was complicated with multiple organ dysfunction and cerebral stroke.
 By presenting these cases, we would like to point out the importance of early diagnosis, appropriate medical and surgical therapy to obtain a significant survival rate in patients with this fatal disease.


In recent years demand from production industry for high performance cutting tools, aero and automobile engine parts has prompted research into both existing and novel methods of laying down hard, low friction coatings . A key process for the production of such coatings has been Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) which has proved to be a consistent and reliable tool for industry. For this technique to continue to be improved and more advanced coatings to be produced, research at the fundamental level is required. This thesis describes research investigating the behaviour of the steered arc cathode spot and methods of improving existing steered arc coating technology.The majority of existing steered arc systems use either permanent magnets or a combination of permanent and electromagnets to steer the arc. Described here is a novel system which employs a pair of electromagnetic coils of cylindrical geometry which enable the arc to be positioned on a circular orbit through a range of continuously variable radii. In addition to this the coils are capable of controlling the transverse and normal magnetic field profiles independently of the steering radius selected. This enables the behaviour of the arc spot to be investigated under a range of magnetic field conditions thus allowing the comparison of measured arc behaviour with a new model of arc motion. Care has described the motion of the arc spot as a biased random walk and has derived an analytical solution to describe the time dependent, probability density function for the arc position in two dimensions. Two distributions are proposed (one in each dimension); the first describes the probability density for the arc position in the direction of driven motion, the second the probability density in the direction of arc confinement. The shape of these distributions is dependent upon the transverse and normal components of the applied magnetic field.A series of experiments are described here that measure the shape of these distributions as a function of either magnetic field, cathode material or both. In the case of the distribution of the arc position in the direction of confinement the width of the distribution is measured as a function of normal and transverse field components. In the direction of steered motion, distributions of arc orbital transit times are measured for a number of cathode materials: analysis of these distributions allow the determination of a mean macroscopic spot velocity and the spot diffusion coefficient. In both cases comparison with Care's model reveals good agreement between experiment and theory to the limits of the experimental apparatus. A further experiment was also conducted to test the prediction that the diffusion coefficient (measured in the direction of steered motion) is independent of the applied field. In this case results are inconclusive and further work is recommended.The mean spot velocity and diffusion coefficients for four materials were measured; titanium, zirconium, aluminium and 316 stainless steel. The results for aluminium and stainless steel compared favourably with some measurements performed by other workers, whilst those for titanium and zirconium are new results with no data available for comparison.


Abstract Both India and Japan have evinced interest in deploying defences against ballistic missiles because of the threat they pose. Significantly, both have shifted their stance on US Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD), from previous opposition to active support. Notwithstanding certain basic differences between India and Japan on the nature and degree of interest and participation at present, shared interests offer an opportunity for them to cooperate with each other on the BMD issue to further consolidate the 'strategic partnership' understanding they have evolved. Since Japan is already actively collaborating with the United States in not only deploying BMDs but also co-developing certain critical components, and India actively weighing various options, including cooperation with the United States, in this field, it may become imperative for India and Japan to cooperate once India takes a firm decision on BMD deployment. Apart from common concerns about proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missiles, in particular the clandestine deals between North Korea and Pakistan, the strategic relations between the two countries have so far been focused on the maritime cooperation. Joint work on missile defence could become a new dimension of bilateral relationship and help co-development of advanced technologies.


Over the past fifteen years dye-sensitised nanocrystalline solar cells have been the subject of intense research and development efforts. These systems provide a technically and economically credible alternative to classical p-n junction solar cells, reaching over 10 % certified efficiency under standard solar illumination conditions (AM 1.5, 1000 W/m2). Recently, the liquid electrolyte, commonly used in these dye-sensitised solar cells, could successfully be replaced by a novel solid hole-conducting material (spiro-OMeTAD). The absence of volatile solvents and corrosive components like iodine presents a clear advantage of these solid-state devices over their photoelectrochemical counterparts. Yet, their maximum overall efficiency of about 3 % clearly lacks behind the performance features of classical dye-sensitized solar cells. The objective of this work is the replacement of the usually used sensitiser (transition metal complexes and organic dyes) by quantum-dots. It was motivated by the possibility to achieve panchromatic light absorption due to the size-dependent properties of the quantum-dots. Some studies have been published using quantum-dots of inorganic low-bandgap semiconductors as sensitisers for mesoporous wide bandgap semiconductor electrodes in conjunction with liquid electrolytes. These systems often suffer from corrosion and photo-corrosion mainly due to the aggressive nature of the electrolyte employed. Solid-state organic-inorganic heterojunctions might provide the desired environment for quantum-dot sensitisation, as the environment is much less aggressive. A large variety of inorganic quantum-dot materials like PbS, CdS, PbSe and CdSe were scrutinized for their use as sensitisers. All particles were synthesised in situ on the TiO2 surface using two different techniques: dip-coating and chemical bath deposition. Lead sulphide was the most investigated due to its superior photovoltaic characteristics. High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) of PbS sensitised TiO2 electrodes fabricated via dip-coating clearly showed the distinct particles on the surface of the semiconductor. The electron transfer dynamics following optical excitation of quantum-dot sensitized TiO2/spiro-OMeTAD heterojunctions were thoroughly studied. Fluorescence spectroscopy was used to prove the possible electron injection from the PbS into the TiO2. Nanosecond laser spectroscopy was applied to monitor the interfacial recombination of the injected electron and the oxidised hole-conductor. Femtosecond laser spectroscopy allowed measuring the ultra-fast kinetics in the system, including electron trapping, exciton recombination and PbS regeneration. An overall efficiency of 0.5 % at 0.1 sun (AM 1.5) has been reached with such systems. Chemical bath deposition (CBD) of PbS leads to the formation of a layer rather than distinct particles on the TiO2. Solar cells fabricated via CBD exhibited open-circuit voltages which were generally 100 mV higher then those of comparable devices made via dip-coating. The PbS layer acts as blocking layer, hindering the contact between TiO2 and the hole-conductor. This technique allowed achieving devices highly linear with respect to the illumination power. Different strategies were pursued to impede interfacial recombination, among which the introduction of self-assembled monolayers at the interface between the organic and inorganic phases was proven to be the most efficient. Nanosecond laser spectroscopy showed a strong decrease of the interfacial recombination kinetic rates in the presence of hexadecylmalonic acid or decylphosphonic acid monolayers. Short-circuit currents could be raised by a factor two to four using such type of molecules. The overall efficiency of the device could be strongly increased, reaching 1 % at 0.1 Sun (AM 1.5). CBD was also used to deposit PbSe and CdSe layers at the surface of TiO2. Fluorescence spectroscopy was used to probe electron injection from CdSe quantum dots to TiO2. Generally it was observed that metal sulfides were more efficient in sensitizing TiO2/OMeTAD heterojunctions then the respective selenides.


Human P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a kind of ATP-Binding Cassette transporter, can export a diverse variety of anti-cancer drugs out of the tumor cell. Its overexpression is one of the main reasons for the multidrug resistance (MDR) of tumor cells. It has been confirmed that during the substrate transport process, P-gp experiences a large-scale structural rearrangement from the inward- to outward-facing states. However, the mechanism of how the nucleotide-binding domains (NBDs) control the transmembrane domains (TMDs) to open towards the periplasm in the outward-facing state has not yet been fully characterized. Herein, targeted molecular dynamics simulations were performed to explore the conformational rearrangement of human P-gp. The results show that the allosteric process proceeds in a coupled way, and first the transition is driven by the NBDs, and then transmitted to the cytoplasmic parts of TMDs, finally to the periplasmic parts. The trajectories show that besides the translational motions, the NBDs undergo a rotation movement, which mainly occurs in xy plane and ensures the formation of the correct ATP-binding pockets. The analyses on the interaction energies between the six structure segments (cICLs) from the TMDs and NBDs reveal that their subtle energy differences play an important role in causing the periplasmic parts of the transmembrane helices to separate from each other in the established directions and in appropriate amplitudes. This conclusion can explain the two experimental phenomena about human P-gp in some extent. These studies have provided a detailed exploration into human P-gp rearrangement process and given an energy insight into the TMD reorientation during P-gp transition.


The mechanism of hallucinated speech, a symptom commonly reported by schizophrenic patients, is unknown. The hypothesis that these hallucinations arise from pathologically altered working memory underlying speech perception was explored. A neural network computer simulation of contextually guided sequential word detection based on Elman (1990a,b) was studied. Pruning anatomic connections or reducing neuronal activation in working memory caused word percepts to emerge spontaneously (i.e., in the absence of external speech inputs), thereby providing a model of hallucinated speech. These simulations also demonstrated distinct patterns of word detection impairments when inputs were accompanied by varying levels of noise. In a parallel human study, the ability to shadow noisecontaminated, connected speech was assessed. Schizophrenic patients reporting hallucinated speech demonstrated a pattern of speech perception impairments similar to a simulated neural network with reduced anatomic connectivity and enhanced neuronal activation. Schizophrenic patients not reporting this symptom did not demonstrate these speech perception impairments. Neural network simulations and human empirical data, when considered together, suggested that the primary cause of hallucinated voices in schizophrenia is reduced neuroanatomic connectivity in verbal working memory.


Cold seep ecosystems are often characterized by carbonate precipitation processes fueled by methane-rich fluids and microbial activity. Understanding and quantifying feedback mechanisms between methane sources, ocean chemistry, and climate requires detailed data about the dynamics of seafloor methane emanation throughout geological time.
Carbonates from these ecosystems provide unique archives of marine methane emanation by their geobiological, geochemical, mineralogical, and structural inventory. Precise and high resolution geochronology of these
archives provides new insights into the rate and duration of precipitation processes and the related microbial activity. In this compilatory study large carbonate samples from very different cold seep settings were investigated for the time scales of their formation and their specific precipitation environment. Beside new insights into growth structures, emplacement processes and initial approaches on high resolution geochemistry and biomarker analyses [1], special emphasis was given to the geochronological identification of paleo-seep-activity phases.
The actual data set is spanning a wide range in space and time. It covers circum-Pacific settings (South China Sea, Costa Rica & Nicaragua, New Zealand), including more than 200 thousand years old archives ( Hydrate Ridge, off Oregon), and almost recent methane-related carbonates from Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea.
On long time scales, the data indicates sea level decrease as an important enhancement factor for focused methane flux via destabilization of underlying gas hydrates upon hydraulic pressure release. Data from tectonically highly
active settings imply structural changes as major control on initiation and position of cold seeps and their activation on short time scales [2, 3].
[1] Leefmann et al. (2008) BG. [2] Kutterolf et al. (2008) Geology, doi: 10.1130/G24806A [3] Liebetrau et al. (2010) MG,
doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2010.01.003


The backscattering characteristics of optical microfiber (OM) are experimentally studied by controlling heating temperature and cooling method during the OM fabrication process. OM samples with various reflectances from 0.1% to 1% are achieved. An OM with waist length of 5 mm, waist diameter of 1 \mu m, and approximately 0.5% reflectance is used as the end reflector of a fiber Fabry-Perol (F-P) interferometer. A piezoelectric ceramic transducer (PZT) fiber phase modulator is used to test the sensing performance of the fiber F-P interferometer. Experimental results verify that the OM with low reflectance can be used as a reflector in the F-P interferometer.


A two-dimensional dynamic moving mesh algorithm is implemented for simulating aerodynamic oscillating airfoils. The airfoil is inserted into a uniform unstructured background mesh by exploiting an new technique named mesh rupturing, which allows for significant geometry movement without grid regeneration or interpolation between grids. Then unsteady flow simulation results are presented and validated by several test cases. Previous methodologies for unsteady flow simulation are listed and compared, advantages and disadvantages of the new mesh technique are discussed and advice for further research as well.


Risk Management and Financial Institutions, Fifth Edition explains all aspects of financial risk and financial institution regulation, helping you better understand the financial marketsand their potential dangers. Inside, you?ll learn the different types of risk, how and where they appear in different types of institutions, and how the regulatory structure of each institution affects risk management practices. Comprehensive ancillary materials include software, practice questions, and all necessary teaching supplements, facilitating more complete understanding and providing an ultimate learning resource. All financial professionals need to understand and quantify the risks associated with their decisions. This book provides a complete guide to risk management with the most up to date information: understand how risk affects different types of financial institutions, learn the different types of risk and how they are managed, study the most current regulatory issues that deal with risk, get the help you need, whether you?re a student or a professional, risk management has become increasingly important in recent years and a deep understanding is essential for anyone working in the finance industry; today, risk management is part of everyone's job. For complete information and comprehensive coverage of the latest industry issues and practices, Risk Management and Financial Institutions, Fifth Edition is an informative, authoritative guide. [source : site de l'?diteur]


The creation of educational audio-visual materials has recently become popular. It is an innovative and entertaining practice, which can reach millions of people through social networks and YouTube. For this reason, this specific was designed for students enrolled in the following three modules: The Spanish political system, public administration in Spain, and institutions and decision-making structures in both the of joint degrees in law and political science and in public management and economic sciences, as well as degrees in public management and degrees in political science. Educational audio-visual materials were co-designed and co-created to define a Municipal Council, its workings and its organization. This was a three phased experiment.. In the first, under the supervision of teachers, students developed five videos showing how Municipal Councils work. This allowed university students to become involved in a collaborative learning activity through which they acquired a series of important skills for future use, in addition to reinforcing their learning by participating in creation of digital teaching material, and also establishing a new teaching methodology consisting of learning-by-doing. In the second, professors and students attended CEIP Severo Ochoa Primary School in Madrid showing videos and playing two practical games, thus promoting knowledge transfer. In the third, the teachers evaluated the impact of this activity and the degree of satisfaction of university and primary school students. The result was positive, because not only was an educational innovation successfully implemented, but also a large part of objectives were achieved.


This paper addresses the novel problem of characterizing conversational group dynamics. It is well documented in social psychology that depending on the objectives a group, the dynamics are different. For example, a competitive meeting has a different objective from that of a collaborative meeting. We propose a method to characterize group dynamics based on the joint description of a group members' aggregated acoustical nonverbal behaviour to classify two meeting datasets (one being cooperative-type and the other being competitive-type). We use 4.5 hours of real behavioural multi-party data and show that our methodology can achieve a classification rate of upto 100%.


This paper documents the patterns and correlates of retirement in China using a nationally representative survey, the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. After documenting stark differences in retirement ages between urban and rural residents, the paper shows that China's urban residents retire earlier than workers in many Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and that rural residents continue to work until advanced ages. Differences in access to generous pensions and economic resources explain much of the urban-rural difference in retirement rates. The paper suggests that reducing disincentives created by China's Urban Employee Pension system, improving health status, providing childcare and elder care support may all facilitate longer working lives. Given spouse preferences for joint retirement, creating incentives for women to retire later may facilitate longer working lives for both men and women.


This report presents the findings of a sub-study on transitions undertaken as part of the
Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education 3-14 (EPPSE 3-14 project) a
major longitudinal study investigating the influence of pre-school, primary and secondary
school on children's cognitive and social/behavioural development in England. The
transitions sub-study of more than 500 children and families sheds light on current
transition practices and highlights what helps and hinders a successful transition. It
takes into account the influence of child and family background characteristics such as
socio-economic status (SES) and gender. It suggests how the transition experience
could be improved to enhance the smooth continuity between primary and secondary
school.
By adopting a mixed methods approach, the study investigated the issues related to
transition for four distinctive groups: Local Authorities, children, parents and schools.
Officers in six Local Authorities were asked about the way transition was dealt with in
their Authority. Children in their first term at secondary school completed a
questionnaire on their thoughts and experiences of transition, and the study also sought
their parents' opinions in order to illustrate the whole family's experience.
Finally, there were twelve case studies selected from the respondents of the
questionnaire because of their positive experiences of transition. These involved
interviews with the children and their primary and secondary teachers. This provided
further details of the systems in place that support the transition processes between
school phases.
The sample was drawn from children and families in the wider EPPSE project. 1190
children from the EPPSE sample made a transition at the end of the 2005-06 academic
year. Responses were received from 550 children (a 46% response rate) and 569
parents (a 48% response rate) from across England drawn from 6 Local Authorities
(Shire County, Inner London borough, Midlands/Metropolitan region, East Anglia area,
and two authorities in the North East). Children were recruited to the case studies using
stratified selection to get a balanced mix by region, gender, socio-economic status (SES)
and ethnicity. A wide range of data, already available from the main EPPSE study was
used to complement the analyses.


Background and Objectives: To determine whether personal and/or a partner's use of crack cocaine is associated with the diagnosis of early syphilis or gonorrhea independent of high‐risk sex behaviors, and to determine whether the relationships between crack cocaine and associated sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are similar for adolescents and adults. Study Design: A cross‐sectional behavioral survey of heterosexual males and females attending public STD clinics in three cities. Logistic regression was used to identify risk behavior patterns associated with each STD compared with no STD. Results: Multivariate analysis revealed that men who were high on drugs, including crack cocaine, before or during sex were more likely to be diagnosed with syphilis (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.49; Confidence Intervals [CI] = 1.06, 2.13). Males more likely to be diagnosed with gonorrhea were younger (OR = 0.94; CI = 0.92, 0.96), had sex with a crack cocaine user (OR = 1.99; CI = 1.36, 2.91), did not use condoms last time they had sex with a nonmain partner (OR = 1.59; CI = 1.09, 2.13), and did not have sex with an intravenous drug user (OR = 0.45; CI = 0.22, 0.95). For women, there were no independent risk factor for syphilis but younger age was a risk factor for gonorrhea (OR = 0.95; CI = 0.91, 0.99). The associations between crack cocaine and syphilis and gonorrhea in men and between crack cocaine and syphilis in women were not significant among adolescents in this study. Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the differences in the crack cocaine‐related behaviors of adults and adolescents at risk for gonorrhea and syphilis. The nature of these differences support the use of distinct intervention strategies for each STD and for adolescents and adults.


History awareness, historical experience and thus history education is a basic reference point for adapting the ways in which individuals and societies perceive the future (Bruner, 1990; Fosnot, 1996; Kuhn, Cheney& Weinstock, 2000). Studies on history education in the developed countries have led to a teaching of history as a social science at schools in history courses. A close inspection of history programmes of the United Kingdom and the United States of America represents the teaching of historical events of their own countries as well as political, economic and social events of the past and recent history of the world. Countries consider the social policy of their governments and the philosophy these policies are based on when developing their teaching programmes (Charmaz, 2006. Evans, 1990; Iggers, 1997). The aim of history education is generally perceived as educating citizens by the society. However, such an aim is not feasible as regards the circumstances of the global world. Consequently history teaching programmes focus on how new history construction, conceptions and education ought to be (Marwick, 2001; National Research Council, 1996; Olafson & Schraw, 2006). European countries acknowledge the importance of history education in bringing up conscious citizens in the process of sustaining the unity of their continent. In general history education has three main purposes: to maintain personal development of the learners, to help them socialise by conveying the cultural heritage and to be used as a tool for citizenship education. (Evans, 1990; Lee, 1983; Iggers, 1997). In a modern and developed Turkey, as a country which tries hard to join the European Union, it is crucial to specify history teacher trainees' understanding and perceptions of history education (Akinoglu, 2005; Doyle, 1997; Kagan, 1992; Schraw& Olafson, 2002). Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate and present the views and perspectives of history teacher trainees on the functions of history education. Method The study has a qualitative research design based on an exploration of history teacher trainees' perspectives through face: to-face semi-structured interviews (Patton, 2002). Participants The participants were 36 (16 male, 20 female) teacher trainees registered to the History Education masters degree (without dissertation), within the Secondary Education Social Sciences discipline at Ataturk Education Faculty, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey in the 2005-2006 academic year. The participants all held a history bachelor's degree from one of a variety of 15 different universities. Data Collection Instruments A total of 14 (6 semi-structured and 8 open-ended) questions were addressed to the participants (N=36) about the functions of history education in the context of bringing up citizens and the priorities of culture and history teaching. In addition to these questions, individual face-to-face interviews were conducted with 10 teacher trainees (5 female, 5 male). The interviews were re-administered with the same individuals a week later. Content validity of the interview questions were achieved by reviews of 5 experienced researchers. Reliability of the interviews was determined by the consistency between the results of initial interviews and repeated interviews. Data Analysis 14 questions answered by the history teacher trainees were coded and some of the findings are exemplified in the next section. Other data is analysed and interpreted qualitatively. Findings and Interpretation History education is generally considered as an essential first step in the development of citizenship awareness. Individuals understand the stages leading to the present day by learning about the history of the country (Brickhouse, 1990; Hofer & Pintrich, 1997). In modern and post-modern approaches, however, the fundamental purpose of history education is to focus on the development of a sense of contemporary identity. …


OBJECTIVES--To determine the extent to which variation in rates of referral among general practitioners may be explained by inappropriate referrals and to estimate the effect of implementing referral guidelines. SETTING--Practices within Cambridge Health Authority and Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Data on practice referral rates from hospital computers, inappropriate referrals as judged by hospital consultants, and inappropriate referrals as judged against referral guidelines which had been developed locally between general practitioners and specialists. Effect of referral guidelines on referral patterns as judged by general practitioners using the guidelines in clinical practice. RESULTS--There was 2.5-fold variation in referral rates among general practices. According to the specialists, 9.6% (95% confidence interval 6.4% to 12.9%) of referrals by general practitioners and 8.9% (2.6% to 15.2%) of referrals from other specialists were judged possibly or definitely inappropriate. Against locally determined referral guidelines 15.9% of referrals by general practitioners were judged possibly inappropriate (11.8% to 20.0%). Elimination of all possibly inappropriate referrals could reduce variation in practice referral rates only from 2.5-fold to 2.1-fold. An estimate of the effect of using referral guidelines for 60 common conditions in routine general practice suggested that application of guidelines would have been unlikely to reduce rates of referral in hospital (95% confidence interval -4.5% to 8.6% of consultations resulting in referral). CONCLUSION--The variation in referral rates among general practitioners in Cambridge could not be explained by inappropriate referrals. Application of referral guidelines would be unlikely to reduce the number of patients referred to hospital.


Overcoming identity crises during adolescence may help adolescents understand the world around them. Although adolescents may have developmental potential for wisdom, little is known about the direct relationship between wisdom and ego-identity or any cross-cultural effects. Wisdom dimensions (cognitive, affective, and reflective) and ego-identity statuses (achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion) among 639 Korean and American late adolescents (aged 18 to 22) were investigated. The findings suggest that (a) age contributes to reflective wisdom, (b) identity achievement associates with wisdom among Korean but not among American adolescents, and (c) foreclosure and diffusion statuses are negatively associated with wisdom. This highlights school curriculum trends and emphasizes reflective wisdom for holistic adolescent development. However, the findings should be interpreted with caution.


This research is concerned with the impact and influence of information technology on the curriculum of Business Studies courses in Sunderland. Fifteen educational establishments from the tertiary, secondary and private training agency sectors participated in the research. Data was collected in the form of questionnaires completed by Tutors and Learners, interviews with Tutors and observation of classroom practice. No evidence was found of any communication link between educational institutions within the same educational sector, or between the tertiary, secondary and private sectors, to rationalise software, collaborate on resource provision or develop progression levels between sectors in Information Technology in the Business Studies Curriculum. Utilisation of information technology in the business studies curriculum was found to have a positive affect on extending the attention span, increasing the interest and heightening the motivation of learners generally. These factors are all the more evident when learners are using software which has colour, movement and graphics. Generally learners in a practical IT learning situation help each other in problem solving situations. There was no evidence of learners being absorbed in interaction with computers only. Learners from the secondary sector particularly enjoy IT and the suggestion is made that they perceive IT more for leisure purposes than business applications. The role of the Tutor has not moved towards that of Facilitator or Manager as a result of the impact of Information Technology and little evidence was found of true integration of Information Technology into the Business Studies Curriculum. Certain recommendations are made.


International law scholarship has predominantly been doctrinal in nature. Nevertheless, international law and rational choice assumptions have been closely connected for a long time. For the most part, realist thinkers in international relations are the ones who have used rational choice assumptions to explain states' behavior (though [liberal] institutionalist thinkers have done so as well), but they have rarely entered into legal intricacies. Instead, "big theories" have been at the forefront of the discussion. Economics is the study of rational choice. The rational choice approach to international law allows for theoretical conjectures that can be tested empirically regarding two questions: What are the effects of international law (international law as explanans; this question includes its effectiveness)? Why do states legalize their relations (international law as explanandum)? The rational choice assumption has been a cornerstone of positive economics and economic analysis of law, which applies economic methods to analyze law. International law is a rather young subject of economic analysis of law, but it has gained prominence since 2000. Following the traditional international law assumptions in the aftermath of the Westphalian peace, the nation-state has mostly been analyzed as a unitary actor, or what has been described as a "black box" state, but in the discussion on international governance this has also changed recently. Analyzing international law through the rational choice perspective has become a joint enterprise by economists, international lawyers, and rational-choice political scientists, focusing on more precise questions of international law scholarship intended to inform doctrinal scholarship as well. Rational choice analysis may be used to diagnose substantive problems and frame better legal solutions, explain the structure or function of particular international legal rules or institutions, and reconceptualize or reframe particular institutions or international law generally, such as customary international law. It is well acknowledged that legal scholars alone cannot accomplish these tasks, and that social science approaches are needed to address them. By now, many international relations scholars, as well as law and economic scholars, start from a rationalist assumption but do not exclude other explanatory factors used by other theories. The scholarship is US-driven, and English is the main language in which research on the topic is published.


Phenolic waste water from the largest coke coking plant in Poland is treated at a full technical scale. From the very beginning it became evident that very high qualitative variations in short and long periods are to be expected. For this purpose, the biological treatment plant based on activated sludge is protected through preliminary physical-chemical treatment and the results are secured by a final chemical stage of treatment. Nevertheless, improvements in the performance of the treatment plant have been found necessary to introduce. The experienced gained over the last five years has been described and developed improvements have been presented. At the preliminary stage the importance and necessity of preparation was evaluated. It was found essential to use dissolved air flotation, instead of a simple pressured air flotation system. Even with an average relatively high retention in the aeration tanks, there was an uneven distribution of load, dissolved oxygen concentration and oxygen uptake. Dissolved iron or highly dispersed hydroxide particulates in the over flow of the first chemical treatment stage has had a beneficial effect on activated sludge flocs. As a result not only the physical properties but also the overall effect of treatment.


Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) does not promote sexual activity among young girls who receive it, as some have claimed, a study in Pediatrics concludes.1

Researchers from Kaiser Permanente, a large managed healthcare organization, and Emory University, both in Atlanta, Georgia, reviewed clinical markers of increased sexual activity—such as pregnancy, diagnosis of or testing for sexually transmitted infections, and contraceptive counseling—during the three years after girls were vaccinated against HPV. The study looked at 1398 girls aged 11-12 years between July 2006 and December 2007 and followed them up to December 2010.

Of the girls, 493 received the vaccine and 905 did not. Clinical markers of sexual activity were no more …


The report examines the extent of environmental damage in the Community and in certain other European countries that may be attributable to acid pollutant emissions within Member States. The study assesses the evidence for possible causal effects and considers the physical, chemical and biological processes which have been suggested as damage mechanisms. Concern in Europe has grown in the past few years as a result of observed damage to forests found principally in central and southern Germany, and also because of the loss of fish populations in the lakes of parts of south west Norway and Sweden. More recently, a few lakes, rivers and streams in Scotland, England and Wales, with geological and upper river catchments similar in character to those areas of Scandinavia referred to, have also reported absence or death of fish. Acid precipitation is considered a possible contributory cause. Loss of needles from pine trees has also been found in other areas of the Community. Less well appreciated is the existence of damage to building materials, caused by short range acid pollutant effects and the possibility under certain conditions that yields of some crops and vegetables are affected by the dry deposition of acid pollutants and their derivative products. Historically most attention has focused on S02, and its oxidised 'wet' form, sulphuric acid. Overall emissions of S02 in the Community have declined in the last ten years and this trend may well continue.


A colorimetric chemosensor adopting polydiacetylene derivatives was rationally designed to detect malondialdehyde (MDA) as a potential food spoilage indicator. A newly developed diacetylene monomer containing an active methylene group effectively reacted with the aldehyde units of the MDA molecule via Knoevenagel-type condensation and resulted in a CC bond, judging from the results of FT-IR spectroscopy. When the monomer was incorporated into polydiacetylene liposomes, they exhibited a strong change in color from blue to red in the presence of MDA molecules, even though their sensitivity was partly affected by the feed ratio of the applied diacetylene monomers during liposome preparation. In addition, it was verified that the devised MDA chemosensor selectively responded to the divalent MDA, rather than the monovalent butanal. The detection limit of the optimized MDA chemosensor was about 250 μM in solution, but when a film-type MDA chemosensor was fabricated through the accumulation of the liposomes on top of a nylon membrane and then applied, the detection limit improved dramatically, reaching down to 10 μM at room temperature, even by judging the change in color with the naked eye. To confirm that the change of the resulting Hue angle can reflect the detection sensitivity of the MDA chemosensor under different experimental conditions, CIELAB analysis was conducted with the film-type MDA sensor. The results indicated that the Hue angle changed according to the MDA concentration, and the resulting slope can be quantitatively correlated with the sensitivity of the colorimetric detection system.


The significance of this publication can be appreciated with reference to two recent moments in Australian public life. The first is Australian Attorney-General George Brandis' signalling a shift in foreign policy by stating that "no Australian government of either political persuasion 'acknowledges or accepts' the use of the word occupied in relation to Palestine" (Australian Associated Press 2014). This semantic reorientation was endorsed by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who described the longstanding conflict between Palestine and Israel as pertaining to 'disputed' territories, rather than as a matter of 'occupation' (Hurst 2014). The second moment was during Q&A, a live panel show screened by the national broadcaster, when a senior Indigenous leader from Utopia, Rosalie Kunoth Monks (2014), criticised not only the failures, but also the flawed premise of the federal government's 'intervention' into remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. After explaining the importance of her language and her resistance to historical and current attempts to assimilate Indigenous people to better serve the nation's cultural and economic 'development', she said very slowly and clearly to camera: "I am not the problem."


This paper experimentally analyzes the schooling decisions of poor households in urban Brazil. We elicit parents' choices between monthly government transfers conditional on their adolescent child attending school and guaranteed, unconditional transfers of varying sizes. In the baseline treatment, an overwhelming majority of parents prefer conditional transfers to larger unconditional transfers. However, few parents prefer conditional payments if they are offered text message notifications whenever their child misses school. These findings suggest important intergenerational conflicts in these schooling decisions, a lack of parental control and observability of school attendance, and an additional rationale for conditional cash transfer programs—the monitoring they provide.


In this paper we propose an equilibrium model in order to analyze the impact of electricity market design on generation and transmission expansion in liberalized electricity markets. In a multi-level structure, our framework takes into account that generation investment and operation is decided by private investors, while network expansion and redispatch is decided by a regulated transmission system operator - as well as the different objectives of firms (profit maximization) and the regulator (welfare maximization). In order to illustrate the possibilities to quantify long term economic effects with our framework, we calibrate our model for the German electricity market. We consider various moderate adjustments of the market design: (i) the division of the market area into two price zones, (ii) the efficient curtailment of renewable production and (iii) a cost-benefit-driven balance between network expansion and network management measures. We then analyze the impact of these market designs on generation and transmission investment in case those design elements are anticipated upon network development planning. The resulting investment and production decisions are compared to a benchmark that reflects the current German electricity market design and to an overall optimal first-best benchmark. Our results reveal that price zones do have a significant impact on locational choice of generators and result in a reduced need for network expansion, but lead to only moderate annual welfare gains of approximately 0.9% of annual total system costs. Anticipation of optimal curtailment of renewables and a cost-benefit-driven use of redispatch operations upon network expansion planning, however, implies a welfare gain of over 4.9% of annual total system costs per year as compared to the existing market design, which equals 85% of the maximal possible welfare gain of the first-best benchmark.


Podocytes play a critical role in glomerular barrier function, both in health and disease. However, in vivo terminally differentiated podocytes are difficult to be maintained in in vitro culture. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offer the unique possibility for directed differentiation into mature podocytes. The current differentiation protocol to generate iPSC-derived podocyte-like cells provides a robust and reproducible method to obtain podocyte-like cells after 10 days that can be employed in in vitro research and biomedical engineering. Previous published protocols were improved by testing varying differentiation media, growth factors, seeding densities, and time course conditions. Modifications were made to optimize and simplify the one-step differentiation procedure. In contrast to earlier protocols, adherent cells for differentiation were used, the use of fetal bovine serum (FBS) was reduced to a minimum, and thus ß-mercaptoethanol could be omitted. The plating densities of iPSC stocks as well as the seeding densities for differentiation cultures turned out to be a crucial parameter for differentiation results. Conditionally immortalized human podocytes served as reference controls. iPSC-derived podocyte-like cells showed a typical podocyte-specific morphology and distinct expression of podocyte markers synaptopodin, podocin, nephrin and WT-1 after 10 days of differentiation as assessed by immunofluorescence staining or Western blot analysis. qPCR results showed a downregulation of pluripotency markers Oct4 and Sox-2 and a 9-fold upregulation of the podocyte marker synaptopodin during the time course of differentiation. Cultured podocytes exhibited endocytotic uptake of albumin. In toxicological assays, matured podocytes clearly responded to doxorubicin (Adriamycin™) with morphological alterations and a reduction in cell viability after 48 h of incubation.