In Britain, the tax-payer pays the lion's share of the national bill for medicines through the tax-supported NHS. There can be no doubt that the supplier of this long list of compounds, new and old, the pharmaceutical industry, gets a bad press. I am personally persuaded that this is at least in part because today's newspaper, radio and television producers, researchers, newscasters and programme people are generally young, attractive and healthy. Compared with older people, they have been well protected from illness and consequently have little appreciation of the contribution medicines now make to the quality of life of so many of our citizens. Doctors, whatever the public may be guided to think, are convinced about the therapeutic revolution and prescribe these very powerful substances and vigorously defend their rights to do so under their clinical freedom. In the end, the catastrophic side-effects of a very small number—less than a score out of the thousands of compounds provided under the N HS—have themselves had some good side-effects. They have resulted in a drive to develop measures aimed at assessing the quality of life as part of clinical trials of new treatments. So an important by-product has also been the growing interest in assessing health, rather than disease. For far too long, doctors have been accused by their rivals in the market place—homoeopathists, acupuncturists and so on—of being completely dominated by the concepts of disease and treating patients with potentially dangerous chemically derived medicines. Indeed, this sort of idea has spilled over as a criticism of medical training programmes currently in use. I still get plenty of letters and remarks about the so-called but reviled 'medical model', which seems to be a belief that doctors do regard their patients as cases of diseases and categorize them as so, and then treat them by computer-directed regimens—a sad reflection of the profession's willingness to accept modern technology and start to record clinical details in easily accessed computer data-banks! So it is very apt that just at the moment Professor George Teeling Smith and his expert colleagues got together and now publish their discussions about how health professions can measure health, which is what the patients and their relatives naturally have become primarily interested in, now that we can treat effectively so many diseases which were masters of our bodies and fates in the recent past. I therefore hope that this book will be very widely read, very widely discussed and that it will stimulate more work in this important field. I hope too that the dear public reader will recognize what it is all about—part of our reaching up for the best in medicine, therapeutics and health promotion generally.


The analysis of court decisions and associated events is part of the daily life of many legal practitioners. Unfortunately, since court decision texts can often be long and complex, bringing all events relating to a case in order, to understand their connections and durations is a time-consuming task. Automated court decision timeline generation could provide a visual overview of what happened throughout a case by representing the main legal events, together with relevant temporal information. Tools and technologies to extract events from court decisions however are still underdeveloped. To this end, in the current paper we compare the effectiveness of three different extraction mechanisms, namely deep learning, conditional random fields, and rule-based method, to facilitate automated extraction of events and their components (i.e., the event type, who was involved, and when it happened). In addition, we provide a corpus of manually annotated decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, which shall serve as a gold standard not only for our own evaluation, but also for the research community for comparison and further experiments.


We demonstrate theory and computations for finite-energy line defect solutions in an improvement of Ericksen-Leslie liquid crystal theory. Planar director fields are considered in two and three space dimensions, and we demonstrate straight as well as loop disclination solutions. The possibility of static balance of forces in the presence of a disclination and in the absence of flow and body forces is discussed. The work exploits an implicit conceptual connection between the Weingarten-Volterra characterization of possible jumps in certain potential fields and the Stokes-Helmholtz resolution of vector fields. The theoretical basis of our work is compared and contrasted with the theory of Volterra disclinations in elasticity. Physical reasoning precluding a gauge-invariant structure for the model is also presented.


State of the art computer vision models have been shown to be vulnerable to small adversarial perturbations of the input. In other words, most images in the data distribution are both correctly classified by the model and are very close to a visually similar misclassified image. Despite substantial research interest, the cause of the phenomenon is still poorly understood and remains unsolved. We hypothesize that this counter intuitive behavior is a naturally occurring result of the high dimensional geometry of the data manifold. As a first step towards exploring this hypothesis, we study a simple synthetic dataset of classifying between two concentric high dimensional spheres. For this dataset we show a fundamental tradeoff between the amount of test error and the average distance to nearest error. In particular, we prove that any model which misclassifies a small constant fraction of a sphere will be vulnerable to adversarial perturbations of size $O(1/\sqrt{d})$. Surprisingly, when we train several different architectures on this dataset, all of their error sets naturally approach this theoretical bound. As a result of the theory, the vulnerability of neural networks to small adversarial perturbations is a logical consequence of the amount of test error observed. We hope that our theoretical analysis of this very simple case will point the way forward to explore how the geometry of complex real-world data sets leads to adversarial examples.


This paper is about the application of user-influencing design for improving wellbeing, focusing on the ethical issue of finding the right balance between determination and freedom. Two contemporary approaches for user-influencing design, "Persuasive Technology" and "Nudge," are discussed against the background of social engagement in the history of design. What can be learned from the past? The most explicit but also contested examples of improving people's lives by means of design can be found in movements of "utopian design." We discuss the utopian aspirations in Arts and Crafts, New Objectivity, Gute Form, and Postmodernism. The major lesson to be learned is that it is necessary to find a way out of the repeated ethical dilemma between coercing human behavior on the one hand and fostering human freedom on the other. Following Michel Foucault, we will conceptualize freedom not as the absence of influences on people, but as a practice of shaping one's life in interaction with these influences. User-influencing design methods can help to prolong the tradition of socially engaged design, with tempered, non-utopian goals, but at the same time with improved understanding and more effective tools concerning how technology mediates our existence.


Background England is now in the midst of its second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple regions of the country are at high infection prevalence and all areas experienced rapid recent growth of the epidemic during October 2020. Methods REACT-1 is a series of community surveys of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR swab-positivity in England designed to monitor the spread of the epidemic and thus increase situational awareness. Round 6 of REACT-1 commenced swab-collection on 16th October. A prior interim report included data from 16th to 25th October for 85,971 participants. Here, we report data for the entire round on 160,175 participants with swab results obtained up to 2nd November 2020. Results Overall weighted prevalence of infection in the community in England was 1.3% or 130 people per 10,000 infected, up from 60 people per 10,000 in the round 5 report (18th September to 5th October 2020), doubling every 24 days on average since the prior round. The corresponding R number was estimated to be 1.2. Prevalence of infection was highest in North West (2.4%, up from 1.2% ), followed by Yorkshire and The Humber (2.3% up from 0.84%), West Midlands (1.6% up from 0.60%), North East (1.5% up from 1.1%), East Midlands (1.3% up from 0.56%), London (0.97%, up from 0.54%), South West (0.80% up from 0.33%), South East (0.69% up from 0.29%), and East of England (0.69% up from 0.30%). Rapid growth in the South observed in the first half of round 6 was no longer apparent in the second half of round 6. We also observed a decline in prevalence in Yorkshire and The Humber during this period. Comparing the first and second halves of round 6, there was a suggestion of decline in weighted prevalence in participants aged 5 to 12 years and in those aged 25 to 44 years. While prevalence remained high, in the second half of round 6 there was suggestion of a slight fall then rise that was seen nationally and also separately in both the North and the South. Conclusion The impact of the second national lockdown in England is not yet known. We provide here a detailed description of swab-positivity patterns at national, regional and local scales for the period immediately preceding lockdown, against which future trends in prevalence can be evaluated.


Shadow of the Dragon examines the long historical cycle of tribute, domination, and independence that has shaped Sino-Vietnamese bilateral relations. After generations of bloody struggle for independence and a slow crawl toward prosperity, Vietnam has reached a crossroads. The Vietnamese can fall back into their historically predetermined fate of kowtowing to their large neighbor, China, or they can continue to stand alone, forging their own developmental path. Henry Kenny outlines what role the United States can play in encouraging Vietnamese growth and prosperity while protecting U.S. interests and easing the Chinese hegemonic tendency without humiliating Beijing. The analysis addresses potential tinderboxes in the Con Son Basin, the Paracel and Spratly Islands, and the Gulf of Tonkin.


Federated learning allows distributed users to collaboratively train a model while keeping each user's data private. Recently, a growing body of work has demonstrated that an eavesdropping attacker can effectively recover image data from gradients transmitted during federated learning. However, little progress has been made in recovering text data. In this paper, we present a novel attack method FILM for federated learning of language models (LMs). For the first time, we show the feasibility of recovering text from large batch sizes of up to 128 sentences. Unlike image-recovery methods that are optimized to match gradients, we take a distinct approach that first identifies a set of words from gradients and then directly reconstructs sentences based on beam search and a prior-based reordering strategy. We conduct the FILM attack on several large-scale datasets and show that it can successfully reconstruct single sentences with high fidelity for large batch sizes and even multiple sentences if applied iteratively. We evaluate three defense methods: gradient pruning, DPSGD, and a simple approach to freeze word embeddings that we propose. We show that both gradient pruning and DPSGD lead to a significant drop in utility. However, if we fine-tune a public pre-trained LM on private text without updating word embeddings, it can effectively defend the attack with minimal data utility loss. Together, we hope that our results can encourage the community to rethink the privacy concerns of LM training and its standard practices in the future.


In industrial situations, vibration tends to be measured using
accelerometers. Interest in the measurement of the modal
behaviour of test objects, as a means for determining ways
of controlling their vibratory response, led to the use of
holographic interferometry and thence to the comparative
exercise which was the basis for this paper. To establish the
bona fides of the interpretation procedures for the analysis
of the optical fringe patterns, the behaviour of a complex
three-dimensional test object was determined using both
holography and multiple accelerometers. The purpose of this
paper is to review some of the problems encountered when
endeavouring to interpret the fringe patterns and to discuss
methods which may be used to surmount them. The problem
lies in the determination of the local vector of object motion.
Since this motion can have six degrees of freedom, it is of the
utmost importance to understand exactly what displacement
is indicated by the fringe pattern. The second stage is to
ascertain exactly the order of each fringe. In simple cases
this is quite easy but when the object shape contains discontinuities,
such direct identification methods are no longer
valid. The most expedient method then is to employ an
auxiliary reference to which the test position can be coupled
by flexible tape; fringe counting along the tape providing the
requisite order clarification. In the paper we shall present
an explanation of the means for determining object displacements
from interferograms and indicate the agreement that
can be achieved with measurement data obtained using
accelerometers. We shall discuss the problems to be expected
when attempting to interpret fringe patterns on real
engineering test pieces of complex shape and will summarise
the methods we have now adopted to achieve successful
application of holographic interferometry to this type of task.


This paper is an empirical investigation of the relation between urban form and commuting behaviour in a polycentric urban region. It explores to what extent urban form and location variables help to explain commuting time, distance and mode based on an empirical case, East Jutland, which is a polycentric urban region in Denmark. Data from the National Transport Survey of Denmark were used for this quantitative analysis and two time periods were selected to highlight any potential changes over time. Empirical findings indicate that urban form and location variables help to explain the three selected aspects of commuting. However, urban form variables have greater explanatory power in explaining commuting modes than commuting time and commuting distance. No general trends in commuting were detectable from the data. Finally, the empirical findings revealed specificities of the case study. For instance, two of the important findings are that the distance to the closest urban centre is an important factor which affects the three selected aspects of commuting, while the distance from the residence to the closest large city (i.e. second-ranked city) is associated with a relatively short commuting distance in East Jutland.


We are in the midst of a heart failure (HF) pandemic with wide-ranging implications for aging populations, physicians, and healthcare delivery systems (1). The major epidemiologic determinants for HF have been traditionally viewed as hypertension, coronary artery disease, valvular disease, and more recently obesity, diabetes, and kidney disease (2,3). Among those with HF, approximately half have HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and the other half with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). In this issue of the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology , Lindgren and co-workers report on a ray of hope in HF epidemiology (4). They describe a protective relationship between cardiopulmonary fitness as well as muscle strength and the development of HF at a relatively young age in all categories in which it can be accounted for using automated sources of data. This report is a major advance in the cardiopulmonary fitness literature, which has had a global interest in "survival of the fittest" which was a way of explaining the relationship between fitness and mortality (5). In brief, cardiopulmonary fitness has been associated with reduced mortality not only because of improved risk factors, and modest reductions in atherosclerotic events such as myocardial infarction, but because it markedly improves the survival of potentially fatal events such as critical illness.


This work presents a methodology for the evaluation of antenna susceptibility to various types of random physical damage. A Monte Carlo statistical method is proposed to estimate antenna parameters for different damage levels. A virtual experiment is used in order to avoid lengthy experimental trials. Antenna parameters are modeled for each randomly generated damage pattern. Statistical post processing with the Bootstrap method evaluates the parameters acquired from the antenna modeling software. To illustrate the methodology a comparative study of the Input Return Loss for the damage inflicted upon a planar dipole and a bow-tie antenna is made. The median value is estimated to describe the "typical" behavior of the antenna. With taken assumptions, Input Return Loss for the Bow-tie antenna is found more sensitive to partial damage.


On November 9, 2015, the president and chancellor at the University of Missouri resigned in response to protests and threat of the football team's boycott (Svrluga, 2015). The unrest and racial disharmony that surfaced at Mizzou had been building for years and, in fact, has been evidenced since on many other campuses across the United States (Gross, 2015). In this article, we use performance ethnography (Denzin, 2003) to demonstrate social activism as enacted by college athletes historically and in recent years. Denzin advocates using performance ethnography as a way to imagine and perform "a society in which differences are honored" (p. xiii). Thus, our resistance can be "shaped by how we read, write, perform, and critique culture" (p. xiii). The authors are graduate students and faculty members who are invested in enacting social justice at our individual colleges and universities.


Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus are bacteria pathogens that cause a myriad of infections affecting various sites in the body including the eyes, ears, lungs, skin, heart, bones, and blood amongst others. These bacteria can be disseminated via the blood to other parts of the body away from the primary site of infection and consequences vary from mild to severe with death occurring in certain instances. Both bacterial infections can occur individually, as well as in co-infection resulting in even worse outcomes. P. aeruginosa and S. aureus exhibit multidrug resistance against current antibiotic treatment regimens, which accentuates the challenge in managing the infections caused by these bacteria. To prevent the looming era of untreatable bacterial infections, alternative treatment regimens that are cost effective and accessible are needed. To explore novel treatment options, twenty-five organic compounds comprising fatty acids and their derivatives were screened for antibacterial activity in broth microdilution assay to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration against both P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. Five candidates (N–nonanoic acid, butyric acid, heptanoic acid, palmitoleic acid, and isopropyl myristate) were effective against P. aeruginosa. Seven candidates (N–nonanoic acid, palmitoleic acid, tridecanoic acid, sebaic acid, undecanoic acid, monolaurin, and monocaprin) were effective against S. aureus. Candidates such as N–nonanoic acid and palmitoleic acid were effective against both P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, demonstrating that the same fatty acids show potential to be used against both Gram negative and Gram positive bacterial infections.


Diminutive devices and high clock frequency of future microprocessor generations are causing increased concerns for transient soft failures in hardware, necessitating fault detection and recovery mechanisms even in commodity processors. In this paper, we propose a fault-tolerant extension for modern superscalar out-of-order datapath that can be supported by only modest additional hardware. In the proposed extensions, error-detection is achieved by verifying the redundant results of dynamically replicated threads of executions, while the error-recovery scheme employs the instruction-rewind mechanism to restart at a failed instruction. We study the performance impact of augmenting superscalar microarchitectures with this fault tolerance mechanism. An analytical performance model is used in conjunction with a performance simulator The simulation results of 11 SPEC95 and SPEC2000 benchmarks show that in the absence of faults, error detection causes a 2% to 45% reduction in throughput, which is in line with other proposed detection schemes. In the presence of transient faults, the fast error recovery scheme contributes very little additional slowdown.


In this chapter, two-dimensional mixed convection heat transfer in a laminar cross-flow from two heated isothermal semicircular cylinders in tandem arrangement with their curved surfaces facing the oncoming flow and confined in a channel is studied numerically. The governing equations are solved using the control-volume method on a nonuniform orthogonal Cartesian grid. Using the immersed-boundary method for fixed Reynolds number of ReD 1⁄4 uDD=υ 1⁄4 200, Prandtl number of Pr 1⁄4 7, blockage ratio of BR 1⁄4 D=H 1⁄4 0:2 and nondimensional pitch ratio of σ 1⁄4 L=D 1⁄4 3, the influence of buoyancy and the confinement effect are studied for Richardson numbers in the range −1 ≤Ri ≤ 1. Here, uD is the average longitudinal velocity based on the diameter of the semicylinder. The variation of the mean and instantaneous nondimensional velocity, vorticity and temperature distributions with Richardson number is presented along with the nondimensional oscillation frequencies (Strouhal numbers) and phase-space portraits of flow oscillation from each semicylinder. In addition, local and averaged Nusselt numbers over the surface of the semicylinders are also obtained. The results presented herein demonstrate how the buoyancy and wall confinement affect the wake structure, vortex dynamics and heat transfer characteristics.


Australian women make decisions about return to paid work and care for their child within a policy environment that presents mixed messages about maternal employment and child care standards. Against this background an investigation of first-time mothers' decision-making about workforce participation and child care was undertaken. Four women were studied from pregnancy through the first postnatal year using interview and diary methods. Inductive analyses identified three themes, all focused on dimensions of family security: financial security relating to family income, emotional security relating to child care quality, and pragmatic security relating to child care access. The current policy changes that aim to increase child care quality standards in Australia present a positive step toward alleviating family insecurities but are insufficient to alleviate the evidently high levels of tension between workforce participation and family life experienced by women transitioning back into the workforce in Australia.


The skeleton plays a vital role in the survival of aquatic invertebrates by separating and protecting them from a changing environment. In most of these organisms, calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) is the principal constituent of the skeleton, while in others, only a part of the skeleton is calcified, or CaCO 3 is integrated into an organic skeleton structure. The average pH of ocean surface waters has increased by 25% in acidity as a result of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, which reduces carbonate ions (CO 32 − ) concentration, and saturation states ( Ω ) of biologically critical CaCO 3 minerals like calcite, aragonite, and magnesian calcite (Mg-calcite), the fundamental building blocks for the skeletons of marine invertebrates. In this chapter, we discuss how ocean acidification (OA) affects particular species of benthic calcareous hydroids in order to bridge gaps and understand how these organisms can respond to a growing acidic ocean.


Abstract. The long-term and large-scale dynamics of ecosystems are in large part determined by the performances of individual plants in competition with one another for light, water, and nutrients. Woody biomass, a pool of carbon (C) larger than 50% of atmospheric CO2, exists because of height-structured competition for light. However, most of the current Earth system models that predict climate change and C cycle feedbacks lack both a mechanistic formulation for height-structured competition for light and an explicit scaling from individual plants to the globe. In this study, we incorporate height-structured competition for light, competition for water, and explicit scaling from individuals to ecosystems into the land model version 3 (LM3) currently used in the Earth system models developed by the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). The height-structured formulation is based on the perfect plasticity approximation (PPA), which has been shown to accurately scale from individual-level plant competition for light, water, and nutrients to the dynamics of whole communities. Because of the tractability of the PPA, the coupled LM3-PPA model is able to include a large number of phenomena across a range of spatial and temporal scales and still retain computational tractability, as well as close linkages to mathematically tractable forms of the model. We test a range of predictions against data from temperate broadleaved forests in the northern USA. The results show the model predictions agree with diurnal and annual C fluxes, growth rates of individual trees in the canopy and understory, tree size distributions, and species-level population dynamics during succession. We also show how the competitively optimal allocation strategy – the strategy that can competitively exclude all others – shifts as a function of the atmospheric CO2 concentration. This strategy is referred to as an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) in the ecological literature and is typically not the same as a productivity- or growth-maximizing strategy. Model simulations predict that C sinks caused by CO2 fertilization in forests limited by light and water will be down-regulated if allocation tracks changes in the competitive optimum. The implementation of the model in this paper is for temperate broadleaved forest trees, but the formulation of the model is general. It can be expanded to include other growth forms and physiologies simply by altering parameter values.


Teleocichla preta nov. sp. inhabits the rapids along the Rio Xingu and lower portion of the Rio Iriri. It is the largest species in the genus, reaching 121·3 mm standard length (LS ) while others do not reach more than 87·8 mm LS . Teleocichla preta is distinguished from all other species of Teleocichla by the unique blackish (in live specimens) or dark brown (preserved specimens) overall colouration of the body, which masks the faint vertical bars or zig-zag pattern of blotches on the flanks. Teleocichla preta also has a deeper body and a deep laterally compressed caudal peduncle, unlike any other congener, as well as a stout lower pharyngeal tooth plate bearing molariform teeth on its median area.


Part 1 of this article, which appeared in the last edition of this journal, focused on intensity and causality through the lens of social conventions and communicative practices. This part focuses on related themes from the standpoint of phenomenology, cosmology, and materiality. The central ethnographic object is still landslides in Highland Guatemala, and the ways speakers of Q'eqchi' (Maya), from a small village in the cloud forest, relate to such events. And so we will continue to analyze the aftermath of one such landslide, taking up precisely where part 1 left off. More generally, though less explicitly, this article continues our articulation of four key terms for the Anthropocene (and, as should now be clear, for almost Everycene): "gradients" (the way qualities vary in their intensity over space and time, and the ways such variations relate to causal processes), "grading" (the ways agents assess and alter such intensities, and experience and intervene in causal processes), "degradation" (the ways highly valuable variations in qualitative intensities are lowered or lost), and "grace" (the way agents work to maintain gradients, care for those whose lives have been degraded, and value those agents who work and care in such ways).


The purpose of this paper is to study the effectiveness of oral presentation as an assessment tool in a Finance subject. Assessment data collected from a postgraduate Finance subject in an Australian university over a period of five years from 2005 to 2009 was analysed statistically to determine the relation between students' performance in oral presentation and other forms of assessments. The sample consists of assessment records of 412 students and 98 group presentations. From the study of correlations between oral presentations and other assessments, it is concluded that students perform better in written assessments compared to oral assessment. The study of effect of gender on students' performance leads to the conclusion that female students perform better than male students in all forms of assessments except oral presentations where male students perform better although difference between males and females in oral presentation is not very large. The study of students' performance based on their nationality leads to the conclusion that domestic students perform better than international students in all forms of assessments. Based on the study of student' performance in oral presentation, it is found that students did well in the development of content of presentations, quality of their analysis, group coordination and organisation of presentation. There is however a general tendency to treat group work as a sum of parts instead of treating the group work as a single task. This study is limited by the fact that effectiveness of oral presentation is studied in only one Finance subject. This study makes an original contribution to the literature as the effectiveness of oral assessment in Finance subject is being studied for the first time. The conclusions arrived in this paper have many implications for policies and practice of learning and teaching in Finance.


Currently efficacy of therapy of patients with MDR ТВ does not exceed 48.7% worldwide and in Russian Federation. One of the reason is a frequent development of adverse drug reactions during the use of combination of antituberculosis drugs. Since 2013 after registration of tioureidoiminomethylpyridinium perchlorate (Pecrhlozon®) in Russian Federation, opportunities appeared for further study of its efficacy and safety in treatment of tuberculosis with multiple drug resistance (MDR). In the present study we applied monitoring of adverse drug reactions during complex therapy by Perchlozon in combination with five other drugs with the use of international 5-grade scale. We used Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 3.0). In the study only mild (grade 1) and moderate (grade 2) adverse drug reactions were observed except single case when severe (grade 3) adverse drug reaction happened. Mild adverse reactions that during receiving Perchlozon therapy in complex with other drugs for MDR-TB did not require its cessation.


Vessel maintenance entails periodic visual inspections of internal and external parts of the vessel hull in order to detect structural failures. Typically, this is done by trained surveyors at great cost. Clearly, assisting them during the inspection process by means of a fleet of robots capable of defect detection would decrease the inspection cost. In this paper, a novel algorithm for visual detection of coating breakdown is presented. The algorithm is based on an AdaBoost scheme to combine multiple weak classifiers based on Laws' texture energy filter responses. After a number of enhancements, the method has proved successful, while the execution times remain contained.


Object shape information is an important parameter in robot grasping tasks. However, it may be difficult to obtain accurate models of novel objects due to incomplete and noisy sensory measurements. In addition, object shape may change due to frequent interaction with the object (cereal boxes, etc). In this paper, we present a probabilistic approach for learning object models based on visual and tactile perception through physical interaction with an object. Our robot explores unknown objects by touching them strategically at parts that are uncertain in terms of shape. The robot starts by using only visual features to form an initial hypothesis about the object shape, then gradually adds tactile measurements to refine the object model. Our experiments involve ten objects of varying shapes and sizes in a real setup. The results show that our method is capable of choosing a small number of touches to construct object models similar to real object shapes and to determine similarities among acquired models.


I The aim of the thesis is to reduce the occurrence of errors in construction documents by developing a theoretical model to capture the dynamics of processes that define the relationship between the factors causing errors in construction documents. The research justified a mixed-mode research approach and the use of system dynamics as the modelling tool. Different types of errors in construction documents were identified that can be classified as follows, starting with the most serious: the erroneous; omissions; failure to conform to design parameters; failure to follow procedures; coordination problems; failure to address operability and constructability issues; and finally, the difficulty of biddability. Also factors affecting the occurrence of errors in construction documents were identified and classified. The classification was based on individual and includes project management, designer, client, and project characters. Using System Dynamics modelling tools each factor has been concluded, with experts' validated causal analysis diagrams that explain the highly dynamic relationship between the factors and the element(s) having a direct influence on the occurrence of errors in construction documents, using prior theoretical knowledge extracted from the literature, case-study projects and interviews. The developed model simulated the occurrence and behaviour of errors while producing construction documents. The focus of the model is based on an understanding of the internal mechanism of the occurrence of these errors, to avoid placing blame in favour of finding the true, long-term solution to a problem. Measuring the model's behaviour and using sensitivity tests for the correctly solved errors revealed two types of behaviour: one where the model shows reasonable behaviour up to a certain drop in the value of the factors, and the second where the model is under full control of the value of the factors when this value drops below 10%. Among the most sensitive factors were the designer's previous experience, the designer's education, the experience of the designer with similar projects, and the factor of the designer's reputation. These findings were validated and supported by case study projects. The model can be used as a valuable tool in communicating the impact of complex structures on the behaviour of errors in construction documents, and has created opportunities for expanding the study of project dynamics in several potentially valuable directions. This research points to ways of improving performance through improved understanding of the occurrence and structure of errors in construction documents.


Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system with a modest concordance rate in monozygotic twins that strongly argues for involvement of epigenetic factors. We observe in 45 MS discordant monozygotic twins highly similar peripheral blood mononuclear cell-based methylomes. However, a few MS-associated differentially methylated positions (DMP) were identified and validated, including a region in the TMEM232 promoter and ZBTB16 enhancer. In CD4+ T cells we observed an MS-associated differentially methylated region in FIRRE. In addition, many regions showed large methylation differences in individual pairs, but were not clearly associated with MS. Furthermore, epigenetic biomarkers for current interferon-beta treatment were identified, and extensive validation revealed the ZBTB16 DMP as a signature of prior glucocorticoid treatment. Altogether, our study represents an important reference for epigenomic MS studies. It identifies new candidate epigenetic markers, highlights treatment effects and genetic background as major confounders, and argues against some previously reported MS-associated epigenetic candidates.


Project Vesta was a comprehensive research project to investigate the behaviour and spread of high-intensity bushfires in dry eucalypt forests with different fuel ages and understorey vegetation structures. The project was designed to quantify age-related changes in fuel attributes and fire behaviour in dry eucalypt forests typical of southern Australia.

The four main scientific aims of Project Vesta were: To quantify the changes in the behaviour of fire in dry eucalypt forest as fuel develops with age (i.e. time since fire); To characterise wind speed profiles in forest with different overstorey and understorey vegetation structure in relation to fire behaviour; To develop new algorithms describing the relationship between fire spread and wind speed, and fire spread and fuel characteristics including load, structure and height; and to develop a National Fire Behaviour Prediction System for dry eucalypt forests.

These aims have been addressed through a program of experimental burning and associated studies at two sites in the south-west of Western Australia.


Wind power is one of the most popular renewable energy resources in the world. However, the variability of wind power leads to a situation in which a wind turbine only system cannot exist. Optimization of wind power flow dispatch is a long term work. And the variable wind generation in optimal power flow dispatching by mathematical model is an initial step in the operational process. It is because that the mathematical module in simulation software is almost no cost, simple and easy to go. The assumption in this thesis is that wind turbine is sited in the same location as the Plymouth.[8] The cost of being sited in a research different location and long distance power transmission will be discussed as future research.
The optimization modelling is built using Scilab simulation. Scilab is an engineering simulation software, and Scialb is similar with MATLAB. The characteristic of Scilab is the open source coding. It is means users can coding program by using Scilab languages as their requirement. To built a network, the equation of different cost has been distinguished, which include the thermal only system cost as a test system, and the wind power cost. The variable value of wind information is set as wind turbine scheduled power rather than wind speed. For a given system, the scheduled power canbe calculated from wind speed, however, the wind speed calculation is not animportant partof this paper, and it is only briefly discussed.

This study present a method to incorporate, the variable wind generation in optimal power flow dispatching and can find the best power set up by calculating scheduled power of wind turbine and generators power. The fact work of intermittent wind generation in optimal power flow dispatching will be talk with the result analysis. For the result of the simulation, the program can calculate a best power flow dispatch which has the lowest average cost in a given network.


Muscularity is an ever-growing concern and desire for both men and women in modern society. When we think of muscular desires we are instantly drawn to images of large, lean, attractive physiques. A want for a muscular physique, however, is potentially more complex and may be interpreted and expressed differently by various individuals. To better understand this potential diversity, the purpose of this current thesis was to explore the personal meanings of muscularity in those invested in weight training. The research questions that helped address this aim were: What different muscular projects are the participants invested in? How do the participants frame their muscularity in the context of their lives and identities? How do the participants' stories of muscular desire develop over time? Three qualitative studies were conducted to answer these questions; an autoethnography, a life-history study, and an ethnography. Across the studies, 22 participants (including myself) were interviewed and shared the narratives that framed their muscular desires. Additionally, I conducted 16 months of participant observations in two weight lifting gyms. Collecting rich qualitative data from myself and others in different weight training subcultures provided an insight into the personal experiences, the different muscular projects, and the identity-related meanings associated with muscularity. The first study presents an autoethnography that shares my relationship with muscularity and how a muscular physique became intertwined with a fluid sense of masculinity that permeated several social identities. A strong muscular physique was engrained in my developing masculine identity. This construction of masculinity was initially guided by my observations and interactions with my father and was further shaped by the social comparisons and experiences I faced in different social fields (e.g., sport and the gym). Building muscle became a resource and form of masculine capital that helped me construct my masculinity and address any related conflicts within multiple contexts, such as a rugby player, gym user, and a personal trainer. The autoethnography provides a personal insight into the development of my muscular desires and their role in constructing and resolving various masculinity-infused identities. The life-history study shares the stories of 10 male weight trainers. The men appeared to frame their muscular desires within a masculine performance narrative. Like my story, within these men's masculine performances, muscularity was crucial source of masculine capital with which they could construct and act out desired masculine-infused identities (e.g., as men, rugby players, and weight trainers). Additionally, the life-history study presents the different muscular projects that these men invested in, which placed varying emphasis on muscular appearance and functionality. The life-history study also expands on the idea of identity conflicts presented in the autoethnography study and shares 3 realignment narratives that reflected attempts to overcoming threats to masculinity (e.g., injury) and reinstating an overall masculine performances. The life-history study proposes the different narratives men may construct to maintain, protect, and perform their muscular masculine identities The final ethnographical study demonstrates the sociocultural processes that shaped different subcultural muscular projects and facilitated the construction of distinctive training identities epitomised by varying emphases on muscular appearance and functionality. Additionally, the ethnography shared 3 socially dependent narrative themes (internalist, compensator, and promoter) that represented the meanings assigned to muscularity within the participants' identity performance narratives. The different narrative themes applied to their performance narratives allowed the participants to make sense of their muscular desires in multiple social contexts and draw on muscularity as a form of identity capital. Making sense of their muscularity as a resource for internal strength, compensation, and self-promotion facilitated the construction, mastery, and coherent performance of their multiple identities both inside and outside the weight training environment. The current thesis contributes to the literature by suggesting that muscularity desires consist of different muscular projects, which have many, broader, identity-related meanings than existing research and conceptualisations may portray. The building of muscularity appears to be driven by more than superficial aesthetic reasons and not restricted to atavistic masculine identities, as is apparent in existing muscularity literature. Instead the current thesis findings propose that muscularity is a versatile source of identity capital with which individuals can construct, resolve, and perform multiple identities in various social contexts (e.g., occupational, parental, and gendered). It also apparent that the narratives that frame the participants' muscular projects and desires are socially constructed over their life course by familial role models (e.g., the father) and the processes within their social fields (e.g., subcultural heroes). The various socially constructed identity narratives and meanings demonstrated in the current studies suggest that people's relationship with muscularity cannot be generalised, which too often is the goal of existing contemporary muscle research. Instead we could benefit from embracing diversity and understanding the broad narratives that encapsulate the different meanings people assign to a muscular physique.


The attached article, A Rotten System: Subsidizing Environmental Degradation and Poor Public Health with Our Nation's Tax Dollars, is a scholarly piece that I wrote as my LL.M. thesis at Vermont Law School. This article thoroughly analyzes the United States Farm Bill to highlight the grave societal implications of buttressing our nation's industrial agricultural system with ever-larger subsidies. Specifically, this article first provides a brief history of both American agriculture and the Farm Bill before scrutinizing the far-reaching effects of the Farm Bill on rural development, U.S. immigration, international trade, and hunger and poverty in the developing world. Next, the article discusses the Farm Bill's attempts to implement conservation measures before exposing the failures of such efforts and examining the severe environmental consequences of a subsidized industrial agricultural system. The article then reviews the Farm Bill's role in U.S. nutritional programs before underscoring the sheer inadequacy of such programs and surveying the deleterious public health impacts caused by our nation's agricultural policies. Finally, the article concludes by re-centering the discussion on Farm Bill reform by proposing an innovative policy solution that can single-handedly solve many of the problems identified in the preceding chapters.


This paper provides a method to estimate plastic loads [defined by the twice-elastic-slope (TES)] for elbows with non-uniform thicknesses under in-plane bending and under internal pressure, based on systematic FE limit analyses using elastic-perfectly plastic materials. The intrados thickness is assumed to be up to 30% thicker than the straight pipe thickness, whereas the extrados thickness up to 30% thinner. The FE plastic loads are compared with estimated ones using closed-form approximations for elbows with uniform thicknesses, to provide guidance on the choice of a representative thickness to predict plastic loads for elbows with non-uniform thicknesses. Results suggest that the use of the straight pipe thickness gives overall satisfactory predictions. Estimated plastic loads are conservative, and differ from FE results by less than 10% for all cases considered. Despite its simplicity, results look very promising, and thus the use of the straight pipe thickness can be recommended to estimate plastic loads for elbows with non-uniform thicknesses in practice.


Author(s): Triapitsyn, Serguei Vladimirovich; Kim, Jung-Wook | Abstract: The catalog provides information on the type material of 75 valid species of the genus Aphytis Howard (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) in the collection of the Entomology Research Museum, University of California, Riverside. 7,390 specimens were remounted from Hoyer's medium into Canada balsam, including 309 primary types, 2,473 secondary types, and 4,608 non-type specimens. Lecotypes are designated for 11 species


Streptomyces coelicolor is a model for studying bacteria renowned as the foremost source of natural products used clinically. Post‐genomic studies have revealed complex patterns of gene expression and links to growth, morphological development and individual genes. However, the underlying regulation remains largely obscure, but undoubtedly involves steps after transcription initiation. Here we identify sites involved in RNA processing and degradation as well as transcription within a nucleotide‐resolution map of the transcriptional landscape. This was achieved by combining RNA‐sequencing approaches suited to the analysis of GC‐rich organisms. Escherichia coli was analysed in parallel to validate the methodology and allow comparison. Previously, sites of RNA processing and degradation had not been mapped on a transcriptome‐wide scale for E. coli. Through examples, we show the value of our approach and data sets. This includes the identification of new layers of transcriptional complexity associated with several key regulators of secondary metabolism and morphological development in S. coelicolor and the identification of host‐encoded leaderless mRNA and rRNA processing associated with the generation of specialized ribosomes in E. coli. New regulatory small RNAs were identified for both organisms. Overall the results illustrate the diversity in mechanisms used by different bacterial groups to facilitate and regulate gene expression.


Aims. We aim to investigate the long-term temporal evolution of the magnetic field of the solar-type star ξ Bootis A, both from direct magnetic field measurements and from the simultaneous estimate of indirect activity indicators. Methods. We obtained seven epochs of high-resolution, circularly-polarized spectra from the NARVAL spectropolarimeter between 2007 and 2011, for a total of 76 spectra. Using approximately 6100 photospheric spectral lines covering the visible domain, we employed a cross-correlation procedure to compute a mean polarized line profile from each spectrum. The large-scale photospheric magnetic field of the star was then modelled by means of Zeeman-Doppler Imaging, allowing us to follow the year-to-year evolution of the reconstructed magnetic topology. Simultaneously, we monitored the width of several magnetically sensitive spectral lines, the radial velocity, the line asymmetry of intensity line profiles, and the chromospheric emission in the cores of the Ca II H and Hα lines. Results. During the highest observed activity states, in 2007 and 2011, the large-scale field of ξ Bootis A is almost completely axisymmetric and is dominated by its toroidal component. The toroidal component persists with a constant polarity, containing a significant fraction of the magnetic energy of the large-scale surface field through all observing epochs. The magnetic topologies reconstructed for these activity maxima are very similar, suggesting a form of short cyclicity in the large-scale field distribution. The mean unsigned large-scale magnetic flux derived from the magnetic maps varies by a factor of about 2 between the lowest and highest observed magnetic states. The chromospheric flux is less affected and varies by a factor of 1.2. Correlated temporal evolution, due to both rotational modulation and seasonal variability, is observed between the Ca II emission, the Hα emission and the width of magnetically sensitive lines. The rotational dependence of polarimetric magnetic measurements displays a weak correlation with other activity proxies, presumably due to the different spatial scales and centre-to-limb darkening associated with polarimetric signatures, as compared to non-polarized activity indicators. Better agreement is observed on the longer term. When measurable, the differential rotation reveals a strong latitudinal shear in excess of 0.2 rad d −1 .


In environmental epidemiological investigations, information on morbidity in terms of diagnoses are usually collected from registers or self-reports in questionnaires or interviews. The presence of symptoms is also collected via questionnaires or interviews. Researchers may try to improve the validity of self-reported diagnoses by specifically asking for physician-diagnosed disease. Another way is to enquire about medication used for certain diseases or symptoms that also may be available in registers. This can be an efficient way of finding patients with diseases associated with very specific drugs, such as levodopa in the case of Parkinson's disease (1, 2).

Studies with questionnaire items about physician-diagnosed hypertension and antihypertensive medication is an example from environmental noise research (3–10). Self-reports about the use of antihypertensives or other pharmaceuticals may, however, suffer from information bias, for example due to patients' misunderstanding about the classification of drugs. A paper in the present issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health (11) focuses on antidepressant, anxiolytic, and hypnotic medications and associations with noise exposure using objective data on these drugs. It could be assumed that individuals taking such medication would have more pronounced symptoms than those responding positively to questions on mood changes, anxiety, or sleep disturbances but not using any medications. Individuals may acknowledge symptoms in a questionnaire even if they are transient, while medication requires more long-lasting symptoms and is usually prescribed in response to an illness diagnosed by a doctor. Objective data on medications were also recently reported in a cohort study on occupational nose and hypertension (12). In this case, individual data on antihypertensive medications were collected from the Danish national Prescription Registry. We found, however, no reports using similar objective data on psychotrophic drugs among workers occupationally exposed to noise.

Halonen et al (11) performed a cross-sectional study of the association between modeled road traffic noise at the facades of residential addresses and questionnaire data on self-rated health and register data on certain prescribed drugs (antidepressants, anxiolytics, hypnotics) in a Finnish cohort of 15 000 people from three cities. Road traffic noise was expressed in L den , a measure in which noise in the evening and night is weighted more than noise exposure during the day. Information about medication was collected at the individual level. Such objective data should be more valid than self-reported information on medication obtained from questionnaires.

The authors found no association between modeled road traffic noise and prescribed medications. They did find an association between noise and self-rated poor health (poor+average versus good+very good) among 3 000 men but not 12 000 women. Among men, the point estimate odds ratio (OR) was 1.5 in the noise stratum >60 dB, however, this was based on a relatively small sample in this noise stratum. The authors have previously reported associations between noise and sleep disturbance in part (two of the cities, N=7 000) of the same cohort (13). Symptoms of insomnia were found to be more common among women with modeled night-time noise >55 dBA. This effect was only found among women.

Relatively few studies have previously collected data on medications for psychiatric symptoms. Knipschild (14) found increased purchase (per inhabitant) of hypnotics and tranquilizers in an area with high aircraft noise levels close to the Schiphol airport, compared with a control area. There was also a higher prevalence of hypnotics and tranquilizers among patients treated by general practice physicians (15). The study design was ecological, that is the associations between noise and medications could be assessed only on area and not the individual level.

A few other studies have examined associations between traffic noise and psychotropic medication at the individual level, but have relied on self-reported data on medications. De Kluizenaar (8) found no association between road traffic noise and medications (sleeping pills or tranquilizers). Franssen et al (4) found a non-significant association (OR 1.25 per increase of L den with 10 dBA) between aircraft noise around Schiphol and prescribed medication. However, there was a significantly increased OR of 2.3 (per 10 dB L den ) for non-prescribed medications, but these are less likely to be a marker for confirmed disease. Lercher et al (9) found a significantly increased OR of 1.53 between railway noise (65–75 dBA, Lden) and sleep medication in a phone interview in an Alpine valley study. Floud et al (2011) showed a significantly increased association (OR 1.28 per 10 dB increase) between aircraft noise and self-reported use of anxiolytics in seven European airports in the HYENA (HYpertension and Exposure to Noise near Airports) study (10). One additional issue that may complicate these studies of psychotropic medications is that, as well as hypnotics, anxiolytics and antidepressants may also be prescribed for sleep problems.

The only previous study using data on the individual level, studied the association between road traffic noise and use of anxiolytics or hypnotics in Marseille, France (16). Among 181 000 individuals, there was no overall association, but a weak and significant association (OR 1.16) when comparing night-time noise levels >55 dBA in the least socioeconomically deprived areas. No such association was found in the more deprived areas. The authors speculate that the calculation of noise levels has less misclassification in less deprived areas with a large fraction of single-family houses compared with areas including many multi-apartment houses. Possibly also in more deprived areas, there are more socioeconomically-linked confounding factors that may obscure the association of noise exposure with anxiolytics and hypnotics.

In summary, two studies with objective data on the individual level (11, 16) and one study relying on self-reports (8) showed no overall associations between road traffic noise and antidepressants, anxiolytics or hypnotics. Three studies of aircraft noise showed positive associations between noise and medications, but, in two of the studies, data on medications were self-reported (4, 10), and the one using objective data had an ecological design (14, 15).

Regarding hypertension, both objective data (14, 15) and self-reports (3–8, 10) have been used. The additional value of obtaining objective data on use of medications may be larger for psychiatric symptoms than for hypertension, as the latter condition is diagnosed by a physician, and if physician-diagnosed hypertension is requested, the additional information from use of medication is probably limited.
Future research should study the effects of traffic noise on psychotropic medication using data collected through registers and also link medication data in relation to noise exposure to psychiatric diagnoses and outpatient and inpatient hospital attendance data.


Population ageing is likely to have a long-lasting negative impact on
the financial sustainability of European pension systems. As a reaction
to this, some European nations have adopted automatic adjustment
mechanisms that connect the amount of starting pensions to the development
of demographic and economic factors, such as life expectancy
and the old-age dependency ratio. Lacking such measures,
other countries account for the financial problems of their public payas-
you-go pension schemes by ad hoc amendments to their national
legislation.
This paper provides empirical evidence that national legislation
linking life expectancy at retirement age and the level of old-age pensions
attenuates opposition against reforms seeking increases to the
statutory retirement age. Using multinomial logit models fitted on individual-
level survey data, I analyze the probability that individuals accept
a potential increase in retirement age among respondents in the Czech
Republic, Poland and Slovakia. The results show that national institutional
contexts explicitly binding pensions to the development of life
expectancy attenuate opposition against a potential increase in the
statutory retirement age.
The implications of the study are of particular importance for policy-
makers looking to resolve the problem of constantly increasing oldage
dependency ratios in Europe. This requires the application of an
incentive structure that increases the acceptability of later withdrawal
from the labour market. Analyzing survey data from the late 2000s,
this study demonstrates that an explicit attachment between the level
of starting pensions and life expectancy at retirement age is particularly
useful in motivating longer working careers when life expectancy
is on the rise.


For optimizing the performance of optical code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems, there is a need for determining the sensitivity of the bit-error rate (BER) of the system to various system parameters. Asymptotic approximations and bounds, used for system bit-error probabilities, seldom capture the sensitivities of the system performance. We develop single-run gradient estimation methods for such optical CDMA systems using a discrete-event dynamic systems (DEDS) approach. Specifically, computer-aided techniques such as infinitesimal perturbation analysis (IPA) and likelihood ratio (LR) methods are used for analyzing the sensitivity of the average BER to a wide class of system parameters. It is shown that the above formulation is equally applicable to time-encoded and frequency-encoded systems. Further, the estimates derived are unbiased, and also optimality of the variance of these estimates is shown via the theory of common random variates and importance sampling techniques.


Ethernet is a success story in local area networks (LAN). Efforts for extending its boundaries beyond LAN to the carriers' backbone networks are in progress. We study the problem of designing reliable and cost-efficient high-rate (100 Gbit/s) carrier-grade Ethernet in a multiline-rate optical network under signal transmission-range constraints. Reliability is achieved using shared-path protection at the connection level (Ethernet tunnel in this study). We construct an auxiliary graph, called mixed topology (MT), using which it is possible to: 1) identify traffic grooming possibilities; 2) select a path which requires the minimum amount of 3R regeneration; and 3) effectively choose the data rate of the channel to be established. Our algorithms, tested on the 17-node German network, resulted in lower network cost and higher resource utilization compared with other schemes.


In most states of Australia, agricultural extension policies and practices have increasingly been based on considerations of private/public goods, user pays and cost recovery. In addition, the delivery of extension has been strongly influenced by changing administrative structures and a change in the paradigm within which the extension community operates. These changes have had major impacts, including more extension being delivered by the private sector. There are positive aspects to the changes and, for some issues, they are appropriate. However, we have a number of reservations, particularly about the effectiveness of current extension systems in assisting the adoption of complex environmental and farming system technologies.


Immune cells develop to preempt intestinal colonization by microbial symbionts. Innate lymphocytes (ILCs) are a recently described population of immune cells that produce cytokines like those associated with T helper cells but lack the recombined antigen receptors characteristic of T cells. Again, like some T helper cell lineages, a proportion of ILCs express the transcription factor RORγt. These include lymphoid tissue–inducer (LTi) cells required for fetal lymphoid tissue organogenesis and a population of natural killer (NK)–like cells that function in gut immune responses. Sawa et al. (see the Perspective by Veldhoen and Withers) wondered whether the RORγt-expressing ILCs all develop from the same progenitor population. Indeed, they found a fetal liver progenitor that gave rise to several phenotypically distinct populations. However, the LTi cells were not progenitors for the NK-like cells. It seems the trajectory of different ILC populations is developmentally regulated, and postnatally ILCs are favored that play a role in intestinal defense before the gut is fully colonized by intestinal microbiota. S. Sawa, M. Cherrier, M. Lochner, N. Satoh-Takayama, H. J. Fehling, F. Langa, J. P. Di Santo, G. Eberl, Lineage relationship analysis of RORγt+ innate lymphoid cells. Science 330, 665–669 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text] M. Veldhoen, D. R. Withers, Innate lymphoid cell relations. Science 330, 594–595 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Archives of digital audio and video expand, and people need to find specific information within those archives. This is why it becomes clear that a highly efficient method of searching recorded media is required. The metadata that currently tag audio information such as title, date of recording, subject or person, is not sufficient for the accurate and rapid retrieval of specifically requested information. The field of media retrieval has achieved relatively little attention, but lately, the interest has increased. New techniques to support content-based access to archives of digital audio and video information are therefore evolving and receive much attention from the research community. Recently, a novel technique for speech retrieval was presented. The technique consists of a method to represent speech as a sequence of framewise phoneme probabilities and a new method to search speech. The search method suggested is able to use the framewise phoneme probabilities to determine the most closely matched segment of speech for a spoken query. This thesis first looks at methods to improve the retrieval performance of the proposed dynamic programming algorithm. The proposed dynamic programming algorithm finds 65% of the wanted hits among the top 10 results, using our test set consisting of 1,132 speech files. The thesis then deals with ways of increasing the speed of the search. The proposed method gives somewhat promising results, reducing the response time by 11% without affecting the retrieval effectiveness.


In this paper, a whale optimization algorithm (WOA) is applied to solve the multi-objective real power loss and bus voltage deviation (VD) minimizations for grid connected micro power system with non-firm small power plants. The control variables are the voltage magnitude at voltage control buses and the transformer tap changers. The methods were tested with IEEE 6 and 14 buses systems comparing to genetic algorithm (GA), artificial bee colony (ABC), and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The simulation results shown that WOA can successfully provide the minimum the multi-objective real power loss and bus VD solution than those computed by GA, ABC, and PSO. Moreover, the applied methods use the minimum computation time among all methods.


This study attempts to provide a new perspective on current shifts in knowledge production through analysing the relationship between research and education. The study, based on interviews and questionnaires, focus on the interaction within applied research centres with a close industry co-operation. The results suggests that the interaction between research and education benefits from a collaborative environment since: researchers hold positive attitudes toward integrating research, education and collaboration, and students are given the opportunity to work within applied research projects. The findings are discussed in terms of researchers' ability to handle their scholarly tasks of research, teaching, and collaboration, and the importance for acknowledging research collaborations from both research and teaching perspectives.


Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is the leading cause of death due to bacterial infections in mankind, and BCG, an attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis, is an approved vaccine. BCG sequesters in immature phagosomes of antigen presenting cells (APCs), which do not fuse with lysosomes, leading to decreased antigen processing and reduced Th1 responses. However, an Mtb derived ΔfbpA attenuated mutant underwent limited phagosome maturation, enhanced immunogenicity and was as effective as BCG in protecting mice against TB. To facilitate phagosome maturation of ΔfbpA, we disrupted an additional gene sapM, which encodes for an acid phosphatase. Compared to the wild type Mtb, the ΔfbpAΔsapM (double knock out; DKO) strain was attenuated for growth in mouse macrophages and PMA activated human THP1 macrophages. Attenuation correlated with increased oxidants in macrophages in response to DKO infection and enhanced labeling of lysosomal markers (CD63 and rab7) on DKO phagosomes. An in vitro Antigen 85B peptide presentation assay was used to determine antigen presentation to T cells by APCs infected with DKO or other mycobacterial strains. This revealed that DKO infected APCs showed the strongest ability to present Ag85B to T cells (>2500 pgs/mL in 4 hrs) as compared to APCs infected with wild type Mtb or ΔfbpA or ΔsapM strain (<1000 pgs/mL in 4 hrs), indicating that DKO strain has enhanced immunogenicity than other strains. The ability of DKO to undergo lysosomal fusion and vacuolar acidification correlated with antigen presentation since bafilomycin, that inhibits acidification in APCs, reduced antigen presentation. Finally, the DKO vaccine elicited a better Th1 response in mice after subcutaneous vaccination than either ΔfbpA or ΔsapM. Since ΔfbpA has been used in mice as a candidate vaccine and the DKO (ΔfbpAΔsapM) mutant is more immunogenic than ΔfbpA, we propose the DKO is a potential anti-tuberculosis vaccine.


The aim of this thesis is to define 1D shear wave velocity (Vs) models with depth for crustal structures in the Campanian Plain (southern Italy). This objective is achieved by the non linear inversion with Hedgehog method of Rayleigh wave dispersion data of fundamental mode extracted by FTAN multifilter technique from two station noise cross-correlation (NCF), combined with regional data. The Campanian Plain is a graben like structure mainly filled of Miocene-Pleistocene alluvial, terrigenous and marine sediments deposited on Mesozoic carbonate platform lying at depths greater than 3 km. It is bordered by quiescent volcanoes in the North (Roccamonfina) and in the South (Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio) and seat of past volcanic activity as testified by lava bodies detected in deep drillings. The definition of Vs models in such context is very important to detect high temperatures related to magmatic activities. Vs velocity reductions have been detected beneath Campi Flegrei and the bay of Napoli at ~10 km depth; at a depth of about ~5 km or at 8-10 km depth below Vesuvio; at 6-9 km beneath Roccamonfina; 10-15 km depth, beneath two paths crossing the Campanian Plain. Seismic noise measurements have been performed during the period April 2009 – April 2010, using Kinemetrics Q330 broadband stations equipped with Episensor ES–T FBA (Force balanced Accelerometer). The stations have been set at the borders of the Campanian Plain and noise recordings have been also cross-correlated with those of the INGV-Osservatorio Vesuviano network (OV) at Campi Flegrei. The cross-correlation of a diffused field, recorded at a pair of receivers, is related to the Green function of the medium. According to many researches in the last years, this is true also for one side NCF, coming out from a preferential source-receivers distribution. A total of 19 NCF have been analysed but only 7 average dispersion curves of Rayleigh group velocities have been computed. One-side cross-correlations have resulted being the sea the source of the recorded noise. Stability analysis shows that the computed NCF change daily but preserve monthly, even after some year. Dispersion data from NCF are relative to higher periods than those from earthquake recordings and are in very good agreement at the same periods. Despite some path, only the vertical component of the cross-correlation function has given reliable results. The dispersion data extracted from the NCF and some earthquake signals with T ≥ 3 s, have been combined with regional group and phase dispersion data (7-10 s < T < 150 s) in the Hedgehog inversion, allowing to investigate a maximum depth of 73 km. The main features of the Vs models in the central part of the Campanian Plain are the top of Mesozoic carbonatic sequences at about 4 km and the presence of Vs velocity reductions at 15 km. Such low velocity layer rises to 6-8 km in the south-eastern part of the Plain, towards Vesuvio. The Vs reductions (about 10%) can be explained with the presence of partially melted material, in agreement with the studies at Vesuvio and Campi Flegrei. Moreover, a sharp increase of Vs to 3.85 km/s at about 8-9 km of depth, above the low velocity layer, resembles the models at Roccamonfina and Colli Albani of a cooling magma chamber. These results are in agreement with the noticeable thickness of lava found in deep drillings and can be considered as the seismic signature of a widespread volcanic activity in the Campanian Plain as hypothesized on the basis of volcanological and geochemical studies (Campanian Volcanic Zone).


In this paper, I present a solution to the Doomsday argument based on a third type of solution, by contrast to on the one hand, the Carter-Leslie view and on the other hand, the Eckhardt et al. analysis. The present line of thought is based on the fact that both aforementioned analyses are based on an inaccurate analogy. After discussing the imperfections of both models, I present then a two-sided model that fits more adequately with the human situation corresponding to DA and encapsulates both Carter-Leslie's and Eckhardt et al.'s models. I argue then that this new analogy also holds when one takes into account the issue of indeterminism and the reference class problem. This leads finally to a novel formulation of the argument that could well be more consensual than the original one.


This study assesses the redistributive effects of fiscal policy in Mali and Niger. Fiscal policy is poverty increasing in Mali (by 2.4 percentage points) and Niger (2.5 percentage points). This is a result of primarily two factors: indirect taxes (value-added taxes and import duties) and direct fiscal transfers. Although the richest people in Mali and Niger pay the majority of indirect taxes, the poorest people pay a nonnegligible amount (more than 8 and 10 percent for the bottom three deciles, respectively). Although existing direct fiscal transfers have poverty-reducing effects, they are too small (Mali) or not well targeted (Niger).


Background: Pakistan is one of the most populated countries with a population of 160 million; 67% are rural population but all the tertiary care facilities are concentrated in large cities. The Northern Areas is the most remote region with difficult terrain, harsh weather conditions and the tertiary care hospital at a distance of 600 km with traveling time of 16 h. The Aga Khan Medical Centre, Singul (AKMCS) is a secondary healthcare facility in Ghizer district with a population of 132,000. AKMCS was established in 1992 to provide emergency and common elective surgical care. It has strengthened the primary health service through training, education and referral mechanism. It also provided an opportunity for family physicians to be trained in common surgical operations with special emphasis on emergency obstetric care. In addition it offers elective rotations for the residents and medical students to see the spectrum of diseases and to understand the concept of optimal care with limited resources. Methods and Results: The clinical data was collected prospectively using international classification of diseases ICD -9 coding and the database was developed on a desktop computer. Information about the operative procedures and outcome was separately collected on an Excel worksheet. The data from January 1998 to December 2001 were retrieved and descriptive analysis was done on epi info-6. Thirty-one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two patients were seen during this period, 53% were medical, 24% surgical, 16% obstetric and 7% with psychiatric illness. Out of 1990 surgical operations 32% were general surgery, 31% orthopedic, 21% pediatric, 12% obstetric and 4% urological cases; 42% of operations were done under general anesthesia, 22% spinal, 9% intravenous (IV) ketamine, 6% IV sedation and 21% under local anesthesia. Six hundred and sixty-two were done in the main operation room including general surgery 337, obstetric 132, urological 67, pediatric 66 and orthopedic 66 cases; 64% of cases in the main operation room were done under general and 22% under spinal anesthesia. The commonest surgeries were exploratory laparotomy, caesarian sections, open prostatectomy, urological stone surgeries, appendectomy, hernia repairs and surgery for osteomyelitis. There were 21 surgical mortalities including six operative deaths, 15 non-operative deaths and 89% of the mortalities were unavoidable. The crude in-hospital mortality decreased significantly from 5.5% in 1992 to 1.1% in 2001 and the contributing factors were improved structure and process of care. Conclusion: The impact of a secondary care rural medical centre (AKMC) is very obvious from the clinical audit including accessibility, sustainability and quality of care. This could be a model of care in rural Pakistan where accessibility, affordability and quality of care is lacking.


Windmill park on the open North Sea coast at Hävsul area in Norway is one of the first in the world to be build on such extreme high-energy coast. To determine possible environmental impact of this project, baseline study was performed in 2010-2011. Two areas, impacted (area where windmill park is planned to be build) and reference were chosen. For hard bottoms work class ROV was used to take underwater video, as no traditional sampling methods are suitable for such environment and depths. The system was equipped with powerful (400 Watt) xenon lights, USBL navigation and HDTV color camera. For video analysis videomosaicing approach was used. Combining overlapping frames into a single picture allows include in the analysis all visual information, and avoid over counting due to the possible presence of the same feature in the number of differnt frames. Bottom fauna and flora in the area include highly heterogenic small patches of various red algae, encrusting algae and encrusting animals. For lesser depths kelp " forests " are common, some megabenthos species are also present. Due to extreme patchiness of the bottom views, it is difficult to process them manually. To overcome this problem computer aided analysis method was developed. Computer aided videomosaics analysis method used for this study is based on color differences of different bottom features. After manually creating training color pallets for different features, it is possible to process large amount of visual data obtaining repeatable and reliable quantitative estimations on the coverage. Additional benefits of videomosaickning are extended abilities to manipulate visual data, what allows more accurate manual estimation of certain features, such as counts of mega benthos species individuals. Although initial study was successful and color based features extraction approach proved to be robust and accurate, it can't reliably separate certain features (for example, different red algae species). Additional researches on implementing textures and shapes based analysis are needed.


This thesis explores the ethical impact of literary narrative fictions on the reader. It does so by focusing mainly on the reading experience since one of the main claims of the thesis is that literary narrative fictions are co-products of the author and the reader. In that sense the aforementioned impact cannot be understood without taking into account the creative acts of the reader. The exploration is carried out by focusing on three scholars whose investigations on the problem of literary experience can be read as complementary works.

In the first chapter I descriptively lay out Roman Ingarden's investigation on the ontological and structural character of the literary work of art along with his phenomenological inquiry into the cognition of this work. By examining his basic claims about the nature of the literary work of art and its cognition, I discuss the ontological incompleteness of these works which necessitates the active role of the reader in giving the work its final shape.

In the second chapter I focus upon Wolfgang Iser's reader-response theory. Iser's theory goes parallel to Ingarden's in the sense that they both accept the openness of the work to the creative acts of the reader. Iser, however by his notions of depragmatization, negation and negativity suggest us a two-way traffic between the fictional work and the reader. Through the reading proses, by virtue of the negations and de-pragmatizations, the work invites the reader to reflect on the familiar norms it represents and suggest to her a new model to understand the real world. In this way, while giving a shape to the work, the reader is also shaped by it.

The third chapter addresses the phenomenological hermeneutics of Paul Ricoeur. By exploring his notion of "narrative identity" as a mediator between the ipse and idem identities, my aim is to show the influence of the literary fictional narratives in understanding the identity of the individual subject as a temporal, historical, and intersubjective being. It is only through this understanding that we can construe the subject in her ethical identity. I will also focus on Ricoeur's notions of "emplotment," and "threefold mimesis," which implies the active role of the reader in realizing the literary narrative fiction, so that I can reveal how fictional narratives enhance the notion of narrative identity.


After Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 US presidential election, there was widespread public and scholarly outcry that particularized this historical moment. But the tendency to exceptionalize Trump obscures how his rise reflects long-standing political and economic currents, both domestically and globally. By contrast, the effort to deprovincialize Trump effectively locates his electoral win within broader historical, political, and economic assemblages of which it is but one part. This entails examining how colonial and racial legacies shaped perceptions of the 2016 election, as well as the role of anthropology in the contemporary political landscape.


The aim of this study is to explore issues of inclusion and quality of life (QoL) for older people in relation to their experiences of and attitudes towards using information and communication technologies (ICT) in meeting their transport and healthcare needs. The objectives of the research were to use focus groups and supplementary questionnaires to collect rich qualitative data from older people in order to inform policy-relevant work on designing more user-friendly and user-targeted intelligent transport systems (ITS). The authors trace the complex relationships between individual attitudes and needs in accessing the services provided by the three relevant policy sectors of transport, healthcare and communications technologies. This study observed that older cohorts show a slight tendency to be less comfortable with ICT, and therefore to integrate it less into daily life. Moreover, the data reveal that the differences between individuals occur through interactions between knowledge and their practices, combined with factors relating to an individual's physical and mental experience of ageing. The trend of an ageing demographic and increased longevity makes normalising ICT in older people's lifestyles a policy imperative, so that the development of ITS recognises the particular needs of older people, avoids unintentional exclusion, and enhances QoL. Our recommendations focus on using ITS to facilitate access to healthcare, as that was the main concern of the participants. The authors suggest a conceptual representation of the ideal relationship between ICT, accessibility of services and mobility of individuals that gives policy-makers and service providers a better understanding of the desired outcome of working together.


Asynchronous distributed machine learning solutions have proven very effective so far, but always assuming perfectly functioning workers. In practice, some of the workers can however exhibit Byzantine behavior, caused by hardware failures, software bugs, corrupt data, or even malicious attacks. We introduce \emph{Kardam}, the first distributed asynchronous stochastic gradient descent (SGD) algorithm that copes with Byzantine workers. Kardam consists of two complementary components: a filtering and a dampening component. The first is scalar-based and ensures resilience against $\frac{1}{3}$ Byzantine workers. Essentially, this filter leverages the Lipschitzness of cost functions and acts as a self-stabilizer against Byzantine workers that would attempt to corrupt the progress of SGD. The dampening component bounds the convergence rate by adjusting to stale information through a generic gradient weighting scheme. We prove that Kardam guarantees almost sure convergence in the presence of asynchrony and Byzantine behavior, and we derive its convergence rate. We evaluate Kardam on the CIFAR-100 and EMNIST datasets and measure its overhead with respect to non Byzantine-resilient solutions. We empirically show that Kardam does not introduce additional noise to the learning procedure but does induce a slowdown (the cost of Byzantine resilience) that we both theoretically and empirically show to be less than $f/n$, where $f$ is the number of Byzantine failures tolerated and $n$ the total number of workers. Interestingly, we also empirically observe that the dampening component is interesting in its own right for it enables to build an SGD algorithm that outperforms alternative staleness-aware asynchronous competitors in environments with honest workers.


This thesis empirically investigates the use of impression management in the narrative sections of the annual reports of UK listed companies. Impression management is examined by testing the obfuscation hypothesis which claims that firms with poor performance have a tendency to obfuscate negative organisational outcomes. For this
purpose, the thesis provides an assessment of the extent to which reading difficulty and self-presentational dissimulation are associated with the disclosure of favourable or unfavourable results ('good/bad news') in annual financial statements, conditional on a firm's size and sector of operations.
Impression management has previously been studied in the context of agency theory explanations of managerial and investor behaviour. This study contributes to the
understanding of impression management in a corporate reporting context by first reviewing relevant theoretical work in behavioural finance, social psychology, and
linguistics. Social psychology provides additional insights into the managerial motivation to engage in impression management, the circumstances fostering
managerial impression management, and preferred managerial strategies. Behavioural finance offers insights into the effectiveness of impression management. Research in
linguistics and social psychology provides the basis for developing new methodologies for measuring impression management in corporate narrative documents which overcome the validity problems inherent in conventional measures.
Three new methodologies are introduced. The first develops cohesion-based measures of reading difficulty that focus on grammatical devices within and between sentences,
including the number and density of cohesive ties and the proportion of new and given information (MMAX2). The second methodology provides multiple cohesionbased
measures of readability, as applied in web-based readability scoring (CohMetrix).
The third methodology measures impression management in the form of selfpresentational
dissimulation (i.e. portraying a public image of firm performance and prospects inconsistent with a managerial view of firm performance and prospects),
using linguistic markers which include word count, self-reference, reference to others,
the use of emotion words, and cognitive complexity.
The empirical analysis that is reported in this thesis is based on a sample that is
balanced across industrial sectors and representative of the size distribution of firms.
Results show firm size and not 'good/bad news' to be the determining factor in reading difficulty. Although the main effects model shows 'bad news' to be directly
related to reading difficulty, this association is no longer significant when 'good/bad news' is interacted with firm size. Results suggest that large firms are more likely to produce corporate narrative documents which are less cohesive (and thus more difficult to read) than small firms. This is not interpreted as impression management,
but as an indication that firms might tailor their corporate narrative documents to the
reading strategies of their target readership groups. Thus, large firms seem to cater to
the needs of high-knowledge readers (professional investors or readers largely familiar with the infom1ation content of the chairman's report), and small firms to the
needs of low-knowledge readers (individual investors or readers largely unfamiliar
with the information content of the chairman's report). Results regarding impression management in the form of self-presentational dissimulation suggest that the linguistic markers are not indicative of impression management in the form of selfpresentational
dissimulation, but of other psychological issues.


Modeling and visualization of natural and realistic outdoor ecosystems like forests or meadows remains a highly challenging task in computer graphics. Convincing and non-artificial scenes require many thousands to millions of plants, each modeled with a high degree of geometric, shading, and lighting detail. At the same time many applications demand interactive rendering at high fidelity. In this paper we demonstrate a ray tracing based approach that does not rely on geometric simplification. Using real-time ray tracing technology, we are able to directly render the highly complex original models with advanced shading and lighting, including pixel-accurate shadows, and even high dynamic range lighting from environment maps. On high-end PCs we obtain interactive performance with reduced quality that quickly converges to high quality in static situations. On clusters of PCs high quality can be sustained even at interactive rates. We demonstrate these results using a highly complex forest model.


The late twentieth century was marked by a significant summertime trend in the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), the dominant mode of tropospheric variability in the extratropical Southern Hemisphere (SH). This trend with poleward shifting tropospheric westerlies was attributed to downward propagation of stratospheric changes induced by ozone depletion. However, the role of the ocean in setting the SAM response to ozone depletion and its dynamical forcing remains unclear. Here we show, using idealized experiments with a state‐of‐the‐art atmospheric model and analysis of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change climate simulations, that frontal sea surface temperature gradients in the midlatitude SH are critical for translating the ozone‐induced stratospheric changes down to the surface. This happens through excitation of wave forcing, which controls the vertical connection of the tropospheric SAM with the stratosphere and shows the importance of internal tropospheric dynamics for stratosphere/troposphere coupling. Thus, improved simulation of oceanic fronts may reduce uncertainties in simulating SH ozone‐induced climate changes.


The intestinal epithelium serves as barrier maintained by tight junction (TJ) proteins. TJ integrity is compromised by release of matrix-metalloproteases (MMPs). Degradation of TJ proteins may lead to increased permeability of the small intestine. Previous research has shown that MMPs are up-regulated with estrogen deficiency. In postmenopausal women, there may be a causal relationship between intestinal permeability and inflammation-related disease. The purpose of this project is to create an in vitro cell culture model, representative of the estrogen-deficient small intestine in vivo, to screen phytochemicals that may attenuate increased intestinal permeability observed with a decline in estrogen levels.

 Human colorectal adenocarcinoma (CaCo-2) cells seeded on 12 mm Transwell® inserts were co-cultured with 3T3 Swiss fibroblasts, a major source of MMPs in the intestines, in 12-well plates. Cells were pre-treated with 10 μM universal estrogen receptor inhibitor (ICI 181,780; ABCAM, Boston, MA) for 1 hour, then treated with 10 nM estrogen (17 β-Estradiol; Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) with or without MMP-9 Inhibitor (MMP-9 Inhibitor I; Millipore Sigma, Burlington, MA). Transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) was measured at 24, 48, and 72 hours following treatment. Confocal immunocytochemistry was used to determine the expression and distribution of TJ proteins. Differences between treatment groups were analyzed via ANOVA using SAS 9.3.

 Inhibition of the estrogen receptors resulted in downregulation of TJ proteins in this model, suggesting a decline in intestine epithelial barrier integrity. MMP 9 inhibition concomitant with suppression of estrogen signaling resulted in increased TER values.

 MMP 9 inhibition when estrogen signaling is blocked enhances the intestinal epithelial barrier integrity. Future work will use this model to identify food components, especially those known to inhibit MMP 9, that may attenuate the decline in intestine epithelial barrier integrity observed with estrogen deficiency. Our long-term goal is to identify nutrition-related therapeutic targets to decrease the various inflammation-related comorbidities associated with estrogen deficiency, thereby improving the health of postmenopausal women.

 College of Allied Health Student Research and Creativity Grant.


To deal with quality, influence of the product of the same medicine of different companies in India we are going to provide all the details needs by the users. Like the quality of each medicine of different companies year wise based on the user review and influence on patient. Firstly, this report introduces the report of the medicine which is used in day to day life and we do not have any idea of the quality of that company. Secondly, it will show in different periods and their characteristics in different perspective, aiming to explore and analyse the findings and examines the impacts of the quality of the medicine based on the customer's feedbacks and reviews. We will take the quality report from the different sources and will analyse it based on that reports and will provide the best report based on all these information. To work on this report, we are using the business analytical tool for better user experience that will a provide different angle of the information like in pie chart, dash chart, graphical view and year report. Medical performance management (MPM) is a key business initiative that enables companies to align strategic and operational objectives with business activities in order to fully manage the quality of medicine through better informed decision making and action. Effective medical performance requires an organization to model and monitor not only its tactics, but also its strategies and the assumption on which these strategies are built. Here the question is not that the customer are choosing right product or bad product, the question is, because of every bad choice and bad product patient are getting more problem or getting more time to recover from their issue or some time they are effected in a bad way and losing their life so this is not a one way, this is two way effect on the patient. Finally, we have come to concluding that the quality and influence of medicine not only based on the name of the medicine but also on the company which is making this medicine.