Preface. Acknowledgements. I Preliminaries. 1 Introduction. 1.1 From Imbalance to the Field of Missing Data Research. 1.2 Incomplete Data in Clinical Studies. 1.3 MAR, MNAR, and Sensitivity Analysis. 1.4 Outline of the Book. 2 Key Examples. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 The Vorozole Study. 2.3 The Orthodontic Growth Data. 2.4 Mastitis in Dairy Cattle. 2.5 The Depression Trials. 2.6 The Fluvoxamine Trial. 2.7 The Toenail Data. 2.8 Age-Related Macular Degeneration Trial. 2.9 The Analgesic Trial. 2.10 The Slovenian Public Opinion Survey. 3 Terminology and Framework. 3.1 Modelling Incompleteness. 3.2 Terminology. 3.3 Missing Data Frameworks. 3.4 Missing Data Mechanisms. 3.5 Ignorability. 3.6 Pattern-Mixture Models. II Classical Techniques and the Need for Modelling. 4 A Perspective on Simple Methods. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Simple Methods. 4.3 Problems with Complete Case Analysis and Last Observation Carried Forward. 4.4 Using the Available Cases: a Frequentist versus a Likelihood Perspective. 4.5 Intention to Treat. 4.6 Concluding Remarks. 5 Analysis of the Orthodontic Growth Data. 5.1 Introduction and Models. 5.2 The Original, Complete Data. 5.3 Direct Likelihood. 5.4 Comparison of Analyses. 5.5 Example SAS Code for Multivariate Linear Models. 5.6 Comparative Power under Different Covariance Structures. 5.7 Concluding Remarks. 6 Analysis of the Depression Trials. 6.1 View 1: Longitudinal Analysis. 6.2 Views 2a and 2b and All versus Two Treatment Arms. III Missing at Random and Ignorability. 7 The Direct Likelihood Method. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Ignorable Analyses in Practice. 7.3 The Linear Mixed Model. 7.4 Analysis of the Toenail Data. 7.5 The Generalized Linear Mixed Model. 7.6 The Depression Trials. 7.7 The Analgesic Trial. 8 The Expectation-Maximization Algorithm. 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 The Algorithm. 8.3 Missing Information. 8.4 Rate of Convergence. 8.5 EM Acceleration. 8.6 Calculation of Precision Estimates. 8.7 A Simple Illustration. 8.8 Concluding Remarks. 9 Multiple Imputation. 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 The Basic Procedure. 9.3 Theoretical Justification. 9.4 Inference under Multiple Imputation. 9.5 Efficiency. 9.6 Making Proper Imputations. 9.7 Some Roles for Multiple Imputation. 9.8 Concluding Remarks. 10 Weighted Estimating Equations. 10.1 Introduction. 10.2 Inverse Probability Weighting. 10.3 Generalized Estimating Equations for Marginal Models. 10.4 Weighted Generalized Estimating Equations. 10.5 The Depression Trials. 10.6 The Analgesic Trial. 10.7 Double Robustness. 10.8 Concluding Remarks. 11 Combining GEE and MI. 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 Data Generation and Fitting. 11.3 MI-GEE and MI-Transition. 11.4 An Asymptotic Simulation Study. 11.5 Concluding Remarks. 12 Likelihood-Based Frequentist Inference. 12.1 Introduction. 12.2 Information and Sampling Distributions. 12.3 Bivariate Normal Data. 12.4 Bivariate Binary Data. 12.5 Implications for Standard Software. 12.6 Analysis of the Fluvoxamine Trial. 12.7 The Muscatine Coronary Risk Factor Study. 12.8 The Crepeau Data. 12.9 Concluding Remarks. 13 Analysis of the Age-Related Macular Degeneration Trial. 13.1 Introduction. 13.2 Direct Likelihood Analysis of the Continuous Outcome. 13.3 Weighted Generalized Estimating Equations. 13.4 Direct Likelihood Analysis of the Binary Outcome. 13.5 Multiple Imputation. 13.6 Concluding Remarks. 14 Incomplete Data and SAS. 14.1 Introduction. 14.2 Complete Case Analysis. 14.3 Last Observation Carried Forward. 14.4 Direct Likelihood. 14.5 Weighted Estimating Equations. 14.6 Multiple Imputation. IV Missing Not at Random. 15 Selection Models. 15.1 Introduction. 15.2 The Diggle-Kenward Model for Continuous Outcomes. 15.3 Illustration and SAS Implementation. 15.4 An MNAR Dale Model. 15.5 A Model for Non-monotone Missingness. 15.6 Concluding Remarks. 16 Pattern-Mixture Models. 16.1 Introduction. 16.2 A Simple Gaussian Illustration. 16.3 A Paradox. 16.4 Strategies to Fit Pattern-Mixture Models. 16.5 Applying Identifying Restrictions. 16.6 Pattern-Mixture Analysis of the Vorozole Study. 16.7 A Clinical Trial in Alzheimer's Disease. 16.8 Analysis of the Fluvoxamine Trial. 16.9 Concluding Remarks. 17 Shared-Parameter Models. 18 Protective Estimation. 18.1 Introduction. 18.2 Brown's Protective Estimator for Gaussian Data. 18.3 A Protective Estimator for Categorical Data. 18.4 A Protective Estimator for Gaussian Data. 18.5 Concluding Remarks. V Sensitivity Analysis. 19 MNAR, MAR, and the Nature of Sensitivity. 19.1 Introduction. 19.2 Every MNAR Model Has an MAR Bodyguard. 19.3 The General Case of Incomplete Contingency Tables. 19.4 The Slovenian Public Opinion Survey. 19.5 Implications for Formal and Informal Model Selection. 19.6 Behaviour of the Likelihood Ratio Test for MAR versus MNAR. 19.7 Concluding Remarks. 20 Sensitivity Happens. 20.1 Introduction. 20.2 A Range of MNAR Models. 20.3 Identifiability Problems. 20.4 Analysis of the Fluvoxamine Trial. 20.5 Concluding Remarks. 21 Regions of Ignorance and Uncertainty. 21.1 Introduction. 21.2 Prevalence of HIV in Kenya. 21.3 Uncertainty and Sensitivity. 21.4 Models for Monotone Patterns. 21.5 Models for Non-monotone Patterns. 21.6 Formalizing Ignorance and Uncertainty. 21.7 Analysis of the Fluvoxamine Trial. 21.8 Artificial Examples. 21.9 The Slovenian Public Opinion Survey. 21.10 Some Theoretical Considerations. 21.11 Concluding Remarks. 22 Local and Global Influence Methods. 22.1 Introduction. 22.2 Gaussian Outcomes. 22.3 Mastitis in Dairy Cattle. 22.4 Alternative Local Influence Approaches. 22.5 The Milk Protein Content Trial. 22.6 Analysis of the Depression Trials. 22.7 A Local Influence Approach for Ordinal Data with Dropout. 22.8 Analysis of the Fluvoxamine Data. 22.9 A Local Influence Approach for Incomplete Binary Data. 22.10 Analysis of the Fluvoxamine Data. 22.11 Concluding Remarks. 23 The Nature of Local Influence. 23.1 Introduction. 23.2 The Rats Data. 23.3 Analysis and Sensitivity Analysis of the Rats Data. 23.4 Local Influence Methods and Their Behaviour. 23.5 Concluding Remarks. 24 A Latent-Class Mixture Model for Incomplete Longitudinal Gaussian Data. 24.1 Introduction. 24.2 Latent-Class Mixture Models. 24.3 The Likelihood Function and Estimation. 24.4 Classification. 24.5 Simulation Study. 24.6 Analysis of the Depression Trials. 24.7 Concluding Remarks. VI Case Studies. 25 The Age-Related Macular Degeneration Trial. 25.1 Selection Models and Local Influence. 25.2 Local Influence Analysis. 25.3 Pattern-Mixture Models. 25.4 Concluding Remarks. 26 The Vorozole Study. 26.1 Introduction. 26.2 Exploring the Vorozole Data. 26.3 A Selection Model for the Vorozole Study. 26.4 A Pattern-Mixture Model for the Vorozole Study. 26.5 Concluding Remarks. References. Index.


Older adults are particularly susceptible to cognitive biases that could potentially impact the quality of their decisions in e-commerce environments. This may negatively affect their online experience, depriving them from reaping the full benefits of e-commerce. It is thus important to explore this domain with the objective of assisting older adults in making higher quality decisions in e-commerce contexts. This research-in-progress paper takes on this challenging inquiry through a two-stage study to (i) understand how the decision making styles of older adults interact with cognitive biases affecting their decisions' quality in e-commerce and how these interactions vary by product type; and (ii) understand the influence of decision aids in de-biasing older adults with different decision making styles under the stimuli of cognitive biases and how this varies by product type. We outline a detailed exploratory experimental methodology for this proposed research as well as potential contributions to theory and practice.


The overexpression and aberrant function of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and its ligands in several human carcinomas have provided a rationale for targeting this signaling network with novel treatment approaches. The epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) is a selective target for inhibiting cancer because it is activated in many tumor cells, yet is strictly controlled in normal cells. The EGFR-TK initiates diverse signal transduction pathways in tumor cells that have a profound effect on their biology. Activation of the EGFR-TK provides signals that drive dysregulated proliferation, invasion and metastasis, angiogenesis, and enhanced cell survival. Therefore, the EGFR-TK is a promising drug target for many types of solid tumors, and its inhibition has potential in both the treatment and prevention of these neoplasias. Based on the structure and function of the EGFR, two antireceptor therapeutic strategies have been developed. The first strategy uses humanized monoclonal antibodies generated against the receptor's ligand-binding, extracellular domain. These antibodies block binding of receptor-activating ligands and, in some cases, can induce receptor endocytosis and downregulation. The second approach uses small molecules that compete with adenosine triphosphate for binding to the receptor's kinase pocket, thus blocking receptor activation and the transduction of postreceptor signals. Early clinical studies suggest that both of these approaches, either alone or in combination with standard anticancer therapies, are well tolerated and can induce clinical responses and tumor stabilization in a variety of common carcinomas. ZD1839 (Iressa; AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Wilmington, DE) is the EGFR-TK inhibitor furthest along in clinical development, and it is currently being investigated in a variety of solid tumors, including non-small-cell lung cancer.


Autoregulation of cerebral blood flow was studied with the hydrogen clearance method during development of hypertension in young spontaneously hypertensive rats. To examine the influence of sympathetic nerves on autoregulatory range, the unilateral superior cervical ganglion was removed 2 hours or 2 or 5 weeks before the study. Wall-to-lumen ratio of cerebral arteries was determined with freeze substitution technique. Basal blood pressures were 87 +/- 1 mm Hg (mean +/- SEM) at 4 weeks of age, 105 +/- 2 at 6 weeks, and 126 +/- 3 at 9 weeks, although resting cerebral blood flow was unchanged. Initially, cerebral blood flow remained relatively constant when the blood pressure was raised by intravenous infusion of phenylephrine. The upper limits of cerebral blood flow autoregulation in these groups were 110 +/- 4 mm Hg, 126 +/- 7, and 159 +/- 6 respectively. Acute ganglionectomy significantly lowered the upper limits (p less than 0.05), but chronic denervation did not affect the autoregulatory range. The wall-to-lumen ratios of cerebral arteries were 0.136 +/- 0.007 at 4 weeks and 0.130 +/- 0.005 at 9 weeks. These differences were not significant, nor did sympathetic denervation alter the ratio. These results indicate that (1) the upward shift of the autoregulation is closely related to a rise in the basal blood pressure, (2) acute interruption of sympathetic nerves modulates the autoregulatory range, and (3) adaptation of cerebral blood flow autoregulation to early developmental hypertension may be attributed to factors other than vascular smooth muscle hypertrophy.


Abstract An experimental simulation of a single-channel, double-angle viewing technique for the determination of sea surface temperature from satellite is presented. This method relies upon the fact that the same area can be viewed simultaneously at two different angles (different air masses) by the geostationary satellite METEOSAT and by the polar orbiting satellite TIROS-N. Extrapolating the two air mass observations to zero air mass is shown to give a value of the temperature in good agreement with the true sea surface temperature. A discussion concerning the viewing angles is presented.


A noise subspace projection (NSP) approach to extraction and subpixel detection of target signatures in an unknown background is presented. The proposed NSP approach is derived from a recently developed subspace orthogonal projection (OSP) method and can be shown to be approximated by an adaptive filter with the optimal weight given by the Wiener-Hopf equation. As a result, the operator resulting from the NSP approach can be used as an OSP operator for scene classification and subpixel detection, on one hand, and also implemented as an adaptive filter, on the other. These advantages make the NSP approach very attractive in practical applications. In particular, the NSP operator takes advantage of the noise subspace projection to prevent from inverting correlation matrices, as required by an adaptive filter.


The leaked Trans-Pacific Partnership Investment Chapter has been analyzed extensively with respect to its dangerous intellectual property protections and enhanced enforcement mechanisms and its equally dangerous extra-judicial investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions. In contrast, this analysis focuses on the particular risks of the Investment Chapter with respect to access to medicines because of the direct and indirect inclusion of IPRs in the Chapter's coverage. These risks are cumulative because of other provisions in the proposed US IP chapter that would strengthen, broaden, and lengthen intellectual property rights with respect to pharmaceutical patent, data, and pricing provisions and that would expand both private IP enforcement mechanisms via mandatory injunctions and expanded damages and impose new enforcement obligations on governments in terms of border measures and criminal enforcement. In essence, the IP-Chapter gives IP-"investors" new substantive "investment rights" upon which to base their abusive ISDS claims against sovereign governments' regulations and adjudicatory decisions. There are four main dangers in the Investment Chapter that threaten access to medicines. First, the minimum standard of treatment, including fair and equitable treatment, and indirect expropriation concepts contain significant ambiguities that could greatly restrict countries' ability to enact, use, and defend flexibilities that enhance access to medicines. Second, it is dangerous to include IP rights at all in the investment chapter, given the extensive private enforcement rights that right holders already have, including administrative remedies at borders and judicial remedies for infringing conduct, and given drug companies' proclivities to bring suits against governments. Third, the bracketed limited exception to IP-related investment rights for compulsory licenses does not provide the security against investor claims that TPP Parties might need to safeguard TRIPS-compliant measures that promote access to affordable medicines for all as promised by the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health. Finally, the Investment Chapter prevents certain performance requirements that in the IP context might give developing countries the leeway to develop domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in order to ensure a self-sufficient and uninterrupted supply of medicines and to legitimately promote their own industrial development.


Widespread occurrences of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in waterways have attracted a great attention of the scientific community. While scientific evidence associated with human health is restricted due to the long-term effects, impacts of EDCs on trout at the common concentration encountered in sewage effluent have been confirmed by both in vitro and in vivo studies. The impacts of steroid estrogens such as estrone, estradiol (natural hormones) and ethinylestradiol (a synthetic hormone) are often more serious than other synthetic EDCs as they have far higher endocrine-disrupting potency, despite of their low concentration. This paper investigates retention and adsorptive behavior of the natural hormones estrone by two commercial reverse osmosis membranes TFC-S and X-20, using dead end stirred cell systems. While an adsorptive process that reaches a breakthrough governs the retention of estrone by the TFC-S membrane; a sieving mechanism is responsible for the high removal of estrone using the X-20 membrane.


Twitter summarizes the great deal of messages posted by users in the form of trending topics that reflect the top conversations being discussed at a given moment. These trending topics tend to be connected to current affairs. Different happenings can give rise to the emergence of these trending topics. For instance, a sports event broadcasted on TV, or a viral meme introduced by a community of users. Detecting the type of origin can facilitate information filtering, enhance real-time data processing, and improve user experience. In this paper, we introduce a typology to categorize the triggers that leverage trending topics: news, current events, memes, and commemoratives. We define a set of straightforward language-independent features that rely on the social spread of the trends to discriminate among those types of trending topics. Our method provides an efficient way to immediately and accurately categorize trending topics without need of external data, outperforming a content-based approach.


The stereotypical view of professional academic writing is that it is grammatically complex, with elaborated structures, and with meaning relations expressed explicitly. In contrast, spoken registers, especially conversation, are believed to have the opposite characteristics. Our goal in the present paper is to challenge these stereotypes, based on results from large-scale corpus investigations. First, we argue that both conversation and professional academic writing are structurally complex, but their complexities are dramatically different: in some ways, conversation is more structurally elaborated than academic writing (e.g., finite dependent clauses are more common in conversation than in academic writing). In contrast, written academic discourse is actually much more 'compressed' than elaborated, with phrasal (non-clausal) modifiers embedded in noun phrases being the major type of structural complexity found in academic writing. Our historical analysis shows that academic writing has changed dramatically over the past century to prefer these compressed discourse styles. Second, we argue that a consideration of the meaning relations among structural elements illustrates that academic written texts are anything but explicit at the grammatical level. Rather, the 'compressed' discourse style of academic writing is much less explicit in meaning than alternative styles that employ elaborated structures. Again, our historical analysis shows that academic writing has changed dramatically over the past century to strongly prefer these less explicit styles of presentation.


Digital games constitute a new form of presenting history: With unprecedented intensity, users are taking part in the game-world through active participation. This creates an individually staged, seemingly historical situation in which the plausibility-requirements can exceed the level of classical historical narration.1 The crucial aspect is choosing which perspective is applied to a specific historical representation; the focus must be on the user's options for action, and their influence within the entire game-world. Other approaches are required when, for example, only a particular episode is to be investigated. This research shows how the analytical framework developed by Adam Chapman facilitates analyzing historical events represented in game-worlds (Chapman, Digital 59-172). The depiction of the Boston Tea Party in Assassin's Creed III provides an exemplary analysis, which compares relevant historiography. It will ultimately be concluded that the Sons of Liberty would not have been able to historicize the Boston Tea Party as a glorifying revolutionary act, if, as the game imagines it, dozens of British soldiers had been killed (Berg 14-15; Hochgeschwender 111; Humphrey 59-82).


We analyze the behavior of airlines in terms of route structure choice using a differentiated duopoly model that accounts for congestion externalities, passenger benefits from increased frequency, passenger connecting costs and airline endogenous hub location. We also examine the route structure configuration that maximizes welfare and whether it can arise as an equilibrium when a regulator implements optimal airport pricing, but does not regulate directly the route structure choice. We find that this is not always the case and that, therefore, an instrument directly aimed at regulating route structure choice may be needed to maximize welfare, in addition to per-passenger and per-flight tolls designed to correct output inefficiencies. This holds true when the regulator is constrained to set non-negative tolls, but also for unconstrained tolling. Finally, we also study the relative efficiency of airport pricing when the optimal route structure configuration cannot be decentralized by tolling.


Abstract. Extreme weather conditions like heatwaves and drought can substantially affect tree physiology and the emissions of isoprene. To date, however, there is only limited understanding of isoprene emission patterns during prolonged heat stress and next to no data on emission patterns during coupled heat–drought stress or during post-stress recovery. We studied gas exchange and isoprene emissions of black locust trees under episodic heat stress and in combination with drought. Heatwaves were simulated in a controlled greenhouse facility by exposing trees to outside temperatures +10 °C, and trees in the heat–drought treatment were supplied with half of the irrigation water given to heat and control trees. Leaf gas exchange of isoprene, CO2 and H2O was quantified using self-constructed, automatically operating chambers, which were permanently installed on leaves (n = 3 per treatment). Heat and combined heat–drought stress resulted in a sharp decline of net photosynthesis (Anet) and stomatal conductance. Simultaneously, isoprene emissions increased 6- to 8-fold in the heat and heat–drought treatment, which resulted in a carbon loss that was equivalent to 12 and 20 % of assimilated carbon at the time of measurement. Once temperature stress was released at the end of two 15-day-long heatwaves, stomatal conductance remained reduced, while isoprene emissions and Anet recovered quickly to values of the control trees. Further, we found that isoprene emissions covaried with Anet during nonstress conditions, while during the heatwaves, isoprene emissions were not related to Anet but to light and temperature. Under standard air temperature and light conditions (here 30 °C and photosynthetically active radiation of 500 µmol m−2 s−1), isoprene emissions of the heat trees were by 45 % and the heat–drought trees were by 27 % lower than in control trees. Moreover, temperature response curves showed that not only the isoprene emission factor changed during both heat and heat–drought stress, but also the shape of the response. Because introducing a simple treatment-specific correction factor could not reproduce stress-induced isoprene emissions, different parameterizations of light and temperature functions are needed to describe tree isoprene emissions under heat and combined heat–drought stress. In order to increase the accuracy of predictions of isoprene emissions in response to climate extremes, such individual stress parameterizations should be introduced to current BVOC models.


In order to solve problems of limited resources and their unbalanced distributions, considerable efforts to replace precious elements with naturally abundant elements have been made using various approaches. In this highlight article, we briefly introduce several recent examples of the use of earth-abundant elements for producing environmentally friendly catalysts with performance efficiencies comparable to those made from precious metals on the basis of three types of architectonics: atomic architectonics, nanoarchitectonics, and microarchitectonics. Atomic architectonics has been applied to make highly efficient catalysts of the activation of molecular hydrogen, NO oxidation, and photo-driven water splitting with inexpensive elements through well-considered combinations and compositions of these elements. Applying nanoarchitectonics to control lattice features and produce hierarchical arrangements of "junk" materials such as CuO have made these materials catalyze the consumption of NO better than Pt catalysts and as well as Rh catalysts. Larger-scale control of morphology by applying microarchitectonics has been used to effectively avoid the agglomeration of catalyst particles and hence suppress the degradation of these catalysts as well as to minimize the use of precious-element catalysts.


B Van der Zanden, KH Feldhoff euPrevent, Maastricht, The Netherlands Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com Border-regions are challenged by needs for cross-border cooperation and offer opportunities for mutual learning. They can be seen as laboratories for cross-border cooperation and integration within broader international contexts and for scaling up projects across borders. The EMR consists of regions in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands. It has a long history in crossborder cooperation with regard to (public) health services as well as preventive measures. Many activities aim to scale up or implement projects in the EMR. Examples are e.g. projects concerning MRSA, risky behaviour among youth and overweight. The foundation euPrevent has been set up to support the coordination and management of these activities in an environment with political and structural differences between regions, including political, administrative and health system structures, with different stakeholders. In a cross border setting, implementation processes (structural differences in health services, decision-making, internal communication, external collaboration) are very different and can complicate scaling up. 8th European Public Health Conference: Parallel Sessions 63


Flabby maxillary ridge is the most commonly encountered clinical condition during routine dental practice. The presence of these displaceable denture-bearing tissues often poses difficulty during fabrication of complete dentures resulting in compromised support, retention and stability. Many impression techniques and materials have been proposed in various literatures to help overcome this difficulty. These techniques vary in philosophies but are often quite time-consuming to perform, and rely on materials not commonly in use in contemporary dental practice. The purpose of this paper is to describe an impression technique for flabby ridges, using conventional impression material.


The hold-time fatigue behaviour of Allvac 718Plus was investigated both in the as-heat treated condition and after long-time exposure at temperature close to the maximum operating limit. At temperatures above 450°C the introduction of 90 s hold-time at maximum load significantly increased the fatigue crack growth rate. Both conditions showed purely cycle dependent behavior at 450°C and close to purely time dependent behavior at 700°C. At 600°C intermediate behavior was observed. The long-time exposure had little effect on the cyclic (0.5 Hz) crack growth rates, but the resistance to crack growth with 90 s hold-time decreased. No microstructural effects of long-time exposure (700°C/140 h + 675°C/460 h) could be observed by SEM, but there were indications that the hardness of the material increases somewhat after exposure.


A ll too often we keep a narrow focus on interaction and interface design. In this issue's cover story, Dan Rosenberg brings business constraints to center stage alongside the usual UX design constraints and discusses the tension between them. With a similar goal, David Siegel makes concrete recommendations for UX to play a stronger role in product strategy and conceptual design decisions. In the Special Topic on Design Futures, Chris Le Dantec invites us to break out of the daily constraints of interaction design and reframe our work to enable novel interpretations of the world. Contributors Dan Russell and Lana Yarosh examine the tension between speculative and pragmatic ideation when drawing inspiration from science fiction. Woodrow Winchester, III, brings us Afrofuturism as a way to embolden human-centered design to engage often underrepresented groups in context, thus imagining more empathic, inclusive, and impactful design solutions. Closing the Special Topic, Sandjar Kozubaev calls upon designers to expand how futures are imagined, experienced, and contested to tackle the myriad challenges we now face. To create more equitable futures, Vera Khovanskaya and colleagues provoke us to design against the status quo, leveraging design's close alignment with production. Also looking into reinterpreting the present, Silvia Lindtner provides a small sample of the books that have helped her make sense of the contradictions of making as both fringe to and influencer of markets. And to envision the future of architecture, Charlotte Wiberg prompts us to turn to the gaming industry. Participation is another theme in this issue: Ahmed Seffah discusses challenges and opportunities that citizen observatories bring to humandata interaction; Becca Rose Glowacki shows how tangible objects can invite children to participate in playful social experiences; and Leo Kang and Steven Jackson urge us to look at participatory and collaborative art practice as a method for HCI research and inquiry. Lui Ciolfi invites us to take a more participatory stance when designing in cultural heritage contexts, a special challenge for STEM students engaging with culturally distant communities, as Shaimaa Lazem and colleagues report in Blog@IX. Margot Brereton and colleagues introduce us to the Design Participation Lab in Brisbane, where they explore novel socio-envirotechnical systems with a dual humanitarian and environmental focus. Bringing nature home, Foad Hamidi and Melanie Baljko describe how an ambient digital living media system can help engage family members in spontaneous interactions, conversation, and collaboration. Participation in conferences is the theme of Uday Gajendar's reflection upon what is necessary for conferences to be stages for conversation, allowing each participant their own journey as they connect and engage with other attendees. This issue presents two views of promoting the growth of the HCI community worldwide: the PhillyCHI Board reflects on activities that have successfully engaged the Philadelphia HCI community, whereas Shaimaa Lazem and Susan Dray remind us about the diversity of our geography and culture by discussing the challenges and opportunities of HCI education in Africa. Ben Bengler and colleagues describe the making of Collidoscope, a musical instrument to collaboratively explore real-world sounds. In Demo Hour, we find technologies that enhance our senses, either by helping us to navigate in the real world with tactoRing or by bringing our auditory memories to life with the Sound of a Hug. We also find technologies supporting exploratory and collaborative design: to construct mechanical papercraft using expressive paper machines (PaperMech), and to create stories combining the digital and physical worlds with Bear Abouts. Finally, EXIT moves us to feel the warmth and affection that technology can be designed to convey. We are indebted to Chris Le Dantec for indulging us with a double contribution, editing both the Special Topic and the Community + Culture forum. Finally, we wholeheartedly welcome Anne Spaa, who is taking over as assistant to the editors-in-chief from Rachel Clarke. Rachel has been with us from the start of our journey with Interactions, not only skillfully keeping us on track but also effectively contributing as a curator of highquality content. Rachel has paved the way for a smooth transition, and Anne has already dived in competently. Although this issue marks Rachel's last contribution as assistant, we look forward to her contributions to Interactions in other capacities. Simone Barbosa and Gilbert Cockton email@example.com Designing Strategies, Futures, and Participation


Social comparison (SC) processes between romantic partners have been shown to occur each and every day. In this thesis, an experimental design was applied, which induced SC in couples by a systematic variation of performance feedback in a manipulated pretend IQ test. Sixty-two healthy heterosexual couples were randomly assigned to four experimental groups, in which either men (N=16 couples), or women (N=16 couples) were provided with a superior performance feedback and compared to couples, who received equal feedback (N=15 couples) or no feedback (N=15 couples). The immediate affective as well as physiological responses of partners to SC were assessed using repeated measures of mood and the level of the gonadal hormones Testosterone (T) and Estradiol (E2) and the stress hormone Cortisol ©. Our results revealed that women were subjectively as well as physiologically more affected by SC, indicated by significant changes in mood and the level of the gonadal hormones T and E2. In a second study, couples engaged in a decision making task, which was coded for the assessment of interpersonal behavior on the dimensions of dominance and affiliation. Salivary T and E2 were assessed prior to the interaction and were tested for their predictive value of females' and males' expressed social behavior towards their partners. Estradiol levels in women were positively associated with the total amount of friendly behavior.


The naphtho[2,3-c]pyran ring system is generally found amongst natural products as the 5,10- or 6,9-quinones. These compounds display a wide range of biological activities, and as such, have been synthesised by various research groups. The synthetic work described in this thesis is directed towards finding shorter, more convergent routes to enantiopure quinone A 10, quinone A' 11 and quinone-pm 13, three derivatives of the aphid insect pigments protoaphin-fb 6, protoaphin-sl 7 and protoaphin-pm 9, respectively.

The first chapter describes the previous syntheses of some naphtho[2,3-c]pyrans including those relating to the aphid insect pigment derivatives. Also detailed is the ability of these naphthopyranquinones to act as potential bioreductive alkylating and dialkylating agents. The latter part of the chapter records some of the previously achieved assemblies of quinones A 10 and A' 11 in both racemic and enantiopure form, as well as the only synthesis of enantiopure quinone-pm 13.

Chapter 2 involves the preparation of regioselectively halogenated aryldioxolanes starting with the allylation of brominated and chlorinated phenols. The isomerisation of these dioxolanes into the corresponding halogenated 2-benzopyrans is then investigated.

Chapter 3 examines the regioselectivity of the Diels-Alder reaction between protected benzopyranquinones and the substituted diene 1-methoxy-1,3-bis(trimethylsilyloxy)-buta-1,3-diene 80. Such protection involves preparing the acetates and methoxymethyl ethers of the benzopyranquinones. The latter part of the chapter describes the direct bromination of benzopyranquinones.

Chapter 4 reports on the stereoselective reaction between metal phenolates and the chiral aldehyde 108 to subsequently afford naphthyldioxolanes 264, 291, 292 and 295. The rearrangement reaction of the derived naphthyldioxolane 295 is then investigated.


The river basin approach of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the introduction of ecological status represent a shift in the assessment and management of freshwater systems from discipline-specific to more holistic, catchment-based principles. At the core of the WFD's approach are catchments as highly interconnected systems. Despite strict timetables, progress towards achieving the WFD objectives has been slow, with deterioration in some cases not being halted. In this paper, looking at evidence from five European basins (Adige, Anglian, Ebro, Evrotas and Sava) we identify some of the key implementation challenges faced by each catchment during the development and implementation of the 1st River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) of 2009. Despite significant differences in socio-ecological conditions, geographic coverage and starting points in the implementation between these river basins, findings highlight some similar key issues. The lack of a common systemic understanding of each river basin and detailed monitoring data to capture pressure-status interactions in order to anticipate how the system will react to interventions; as well as compliance driven implementation efforts were underlying problems in all five study areas. While some improvements to address these problems can be seen in the 2nd River Basin Management Planning Cycle (2015–2016), our findings demonstrate that a more effective approach is to question the deviation of the whole implementation from the directive's systemic nature and therefore improve the adaptive, collaborative, participatory and interdisciplinary nature of the implementation efforts.


Resource selection and task placement for distributed execution poses conceptual and implementation difficulties. Although resource selection and task placement are at the core of many tools and workflow systems, the methods are ad hoc rather than being based on models. Consequently, partial and non-interoperable implementations proliferate. We address both the conceptual and implementation difficulties by experimentally characterizing diverse modalities of resource selection and task placement. We compare the architectures and capabilities of two systems: the AIMES middleware and Swift workflow scripting language and runtime. We integrate these systems to enable the distributed execution of Swift workflows on Pilot-Jobs managed by the AIMES middleware. Our experiments characterize and compare alternative execution strategies by measuring the time to completion of heterogeneous uncoupled workloads executed at diverse scale and on multiple resources. We measure the adverse effects of pilot fragmentation and early binding of tasks to resources and the benefits of backfill scheduling across pilots on multiple resources. We then use this insight to execute a multi-stage workflow across five production-grade resources. We discuss the importance and implications for other tools and workflow systems


This paper describes an empirical study of 1.6M deleted tweets collected over a continuous one-week period from a set of 292K Twitter users. We examine several aggregate properties of deleted tweets, including their connections to other tweets (e.g., whether they are replies or retweets), the clients used to produce them, temporal aspects of deletion, and the presence of geotagging information. Some significant differences were discovered between the two collections, namely in the clients used to post them, their conversational aspects, the sentiment vocabulary present in them, and the days of the week they were posted. However, in other dimensions for which analysis was possible, no substantial differences were found. Finally, we discuss some ramifications of this work for understanding Twitter usage and management of one's privacy.


In Making the Most of Mess, Emery Roe emphasizes that policy messes cannot be avoided or cleaned up; they need to be managed. He shows how policymakers and other professionals can learn these necessary skills from control operators who manage large critical infrastructures such as water supplies, telecommunications systems, and electricity grids. The ways in which they prevent major accidents and failures offer models for policymakers and other professionals to manage the messes they face. Throughout, Roe focuses on the global financial mess of 2008 and its on-going aftermath, showing how mismanagement has allowed it to morph into other national and international messes. More effective management is still possible for this and many other policy messes but that requires better recognition of patterns and formulation of scenarios, as well as the ability to translate pattern and scenario into reliability. Developing networks of professionals who respond to messes is particularly important. Roe describes how these networks enable the avoidance of bad or worse messes, take advantage of opportunities resulting from messes, and address societal and professional challenges. In addition to finance, he draws from a wide range of case material in other policy arenas. Roe demonstrates that knowing how to manage policy messes is the best approach to preventing crises.


Nowadays, wheat is the most important crop for organic farming systems. However, the varieties bred and tested in the conditions of organic farming systems are still missing, resulting in a very low level of yield in the Czech Republic (less than 50% of level of conventional yield in the same conditions). One reason is that the ideotype of the organically bred variety is different from that of the conventional. The varieties suitable for an organic farming system differ in many respects from those adopted in conventional farming. The first difference is obvious from the conventional tests of the varieties' value for use, taking only direct indicators influencing the main parameter (yield) into account. Generally speaking, the features to be tested can be divided into 4 groups: the morphological, biological, economic and quality parameters. The conventional varieties are bred in conditions characterised by an abundance of soluble nutrients, and therefore, their root systems are not adapted to an insufficiency or weaker bonding of nutrients. The competitiveness with weeds has also been ignored. Any conventional variety which has not had to confront strong weeds during the breeding process cannot be assumed to be competitive enough in the conditions of an organic agro-ecosystem. Resistance to diseases and pests can be similarly characterised. Varieties are protected by pesticides throughout the conventional breeding process. Because of the seasonal fluctuations in weather, we need a plastic and flexible variety. They also differ in their qualitative parameters.


This article seeks to determine the migration of exchange-traded fund (ETF) liquidity and its factor constituents in the U.S. market over time, with the ultimate goal of making the ETF market more efficient and transparent. Using a set of factors commonly thought to impact liquidity, the authors develop a four-factor liquidity scoring algorithm (A-C liquidity score), extending the 2009 study by Agrrawal and Clark. The most liquid ETFs typically have lower bid–ask spreads, higher market capitalizations, lower expense ratios, and higher average trading volumes. The transition of ETF liquidity over the 2009–2014 period indicates that there is liquidity persistence and factor strengthening across all variables. Bid–ask spreads and expense ratios have compressed, which is a good trend for investors. Asset size and trading volume have gone up, which can be indicative of greater market participation and possibly high-frequency trading in the ETF environment. From 2009 to 2014, the ETF asset class has witnessed a phenomenal 34.9% annual growth rate, compared with a 19.8% growth rate in the Russell 3000 (the aggregate market capitalization for the ETF dataset increased from $438 billion in 2009 to $2,112 billion in 2014). The ETF ecosystem seems to be thriving as the new asset class of choice among both institutional and informed retail investors. However, there are two findings of concern. First, the overall beta of the ETFs in the study seems to have transitioned over time and moved up more than 9%. This may be due to increased cross-asset correlations, sector intertwining, global market cointegration, overlapping core constituents in ETFs, or simply a systematic upward drift in overall market risk premium; this limits portfolio diversification benefits. Second, over the five-year period, 25.7% of ETFs in the initial 622 ETF dataset (2009) were liquidated. This is an additional risk that investors and regulators have to keep in mind when evaluating ETFs. The cost of poor liquidity, overlooked by some retail investors, is often in the form of shallow market depth, high expense ratios, and a range of trade execution difficulties, besides potentially high tracking errors with the associated benchmark index. In conclusion, although ETF liquidity has grown significantly over time for most assets, there is some natural pruning, with pockets of concern. Overall, ETFs have rapidly become a viable and efficient instrument in the asset management landscape.


The expressions "idiot, you idiot, you're an idiot, don't be an idiot," and the like are generally interpreted as momentary insults. But, they are also expressions that represent an old, if unstable, history. Beginning with an examination of the early nineteenth century labeling of mental retardation as "idiocy," to what we call developmental, intellectual, or learning disabilities, Mental Retardation in America chronicles the history of mental retardation, its treatment and labeling, and its representations and ramifications within the changing economic, social, and political context of America. Mental Retardation in America includes essays with a wide range of authors who approach the problems of retardation from many differing points of view. This work is divided into five sections, each following in chronological order the major changes in the treatment of people classified as retarded. Exploring historical issues, as well as current public policy concerns, Mental Retardation in America covers topics ranging from representations of the mentally disabled as social burdens and social menaces; Freudian inspired ideas of adjustment and adaptation; the relationship between community care and institutional treatment; historical events, such as the Buck v. Bell decision, which upheld the opinion on eugenic sterilization; the evolution of the disability rights movement; and the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990.


The paper offers a reflection on how applications of computer technology (including data analytics) are and may be taught to (future) lawyers and what are the benefits and limitations of the different approaches. There is a growing sense among legal professionals and law teachers that the technological changes in the practice of law are likely to promote the kind of knowledge and skills that law graduates often do not possess today.

Teaching computer technology can be done in various ways and at various levels of depth and that those different ways and levels have different cost and benefit considerations. The paper discusses four models of teaching technology: (1) teaching basic technological literacy, (2) more advanced but general technology teaching, (3) teaching computer programming and quantitative methods and (4) teaching a particular aspect of technology – other than programming (e.g. cybersecurity).

I suggest that there are strong reasons for all current and future lawyers to acquire proficiency in effective uses of office and legal research software and standard means of online communication and basic cybersecurity. This can be combined with teaching of numerical and informational literacy. I also claim that advanced technology topics, like computer programming, should only be taught to the extent this is justified by the direct need for such skills and knowledge in students' future careers, which I predict to be true for only a minority of current lawyers and law students.


Inspired by number series tests to measure human intelligence, we suggest number sequence prediction tasks to assess neural network models' computational powers for solving algorithmic problems. We define the complexity and difficulty of a number sequence prediction task with the structure of the smallest automaton that can generate the sequence. We suggest two types of number sequence prediction problems: the number-level and the digit-level problems. The number-level problems format sequences as 2-dimensional grids of digits and the digit-level problems provide a single digit input per a time step. The complexity of a number-level sequence prediction can be defined with the depth of an equivalent combinatorial logic, and the complexity of a digit-level sequence prediction can be defined with an equivalent state automaton for the generation rule. Experiments with number-level sequences suggest that CNN models are capable of learning the compound operations of sequence generation rules, but the depths of the compound operations are limited. For the digitlevel problems, simple GRU and LSTM models can solve some problems with the complexity of finite state automata. Memory augmented models such as Stack-RNN, Attention, and Neural Turing Machines can solve the reverse-order task which has the complexity of simple pushdown automaton. However, all of above cannot solve general Fibonacci, Arithmetic or Geometric sequence generation problems that represent the complexity of queue automata or Turing machines. The results show that our number sequence prediction problems effectively evaluate machine learning models' computational capabilities.


We introduce multiscale vector volumes, a compact vector representation for volumetric objects with complex internal structures spanning a wide range of scales. With our representation, an object is decomposed into components and each component is modeled as an SDF tree, a novel data structure that uses multiple signed distance functions (SDFs) to further decompose the volumetric component into regions. Multiple signed distance functions collectively can represent non-manifold surfaces and deliver a powerful vector representation for complex volumetric features. We use multiscale embedding to combine object components at different scales into one complex volumetric object. As a result, regions with dramatically different scales and complexities can co-exist in an object. To facilitate volumetric object authoring and editing, we have also developed a scripting language and a GUI prototype. With the help of a recursively defined spatial indexing structure, our vector representation supports fast random access, and arbitrary cross sections of complex volumetric objects can be visualized in real time.


Changing the built environment is a sound, but often underutilized approach to injury control. The authors reviewed the literature and conducted a meta-analysis to synthesize the evidence on the association of roadway characteristics with risk of pediatric pedestrian injury. To synthesize the data, they converted results to odds ratios based on direct results or abstracted outcomes and used Bayesian meta-analytic approaches by modeling outcomes as the logit of a normally distributed set of outcomes with vague prior distributions for the central measure of effect and its variance. On the basis of 10 studies of roadway features restricted exclusively to pediatric populations, the synthesized effect estimate for the association of roadway characteristics with pedestrian injury risk was 2.5 (95% credible interval: 1.8, 3.2). The probability of a new study showing an association between the built roadway and pediatric pedestrian injury was nearly 100%. The authors concluded that the built environment is directly related to the risk of pedestrian injury. This review and meta-analysis suggests that even modest interventions to the built roadway environment may result in meaningful reductions in the risk of pediatric pedestrian injury.


OBJECTIVE
To study the linkage and association of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) with genotypes for matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP3), a gene located at chromosome 11q22.3 and lying within the 101-124 cM region observed in a recent genome-wide scan as a region associated with AS susceptibility.

METHODS
MMP3 genotypes were examined in 229 pedigrees with AS, 131 sporadic AS cases and 87 Caucasian controls. Eight single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected and genotyped using Taqman. Non-parametric linkage (NPL) analysis was conducted between the eight MMP3 SNPs and AS using the NPL-all statistic and two-point parametric linkage analysis using GeneHunter Plus. Unrelated AS cases and controls were compared using chi2 statistics, and family-based controls using the transmission disequilibrium test and pedigree disequilibrium test.

RESULTS
None of the eight MMP3 SNPs were significantly associated with AS, either using the 131 sporadic cases alone or in analyses which combined these cases with the 226 unrelated affected AS patients derived from the pedigrees. Analysis of linkage disequilibrium (LD) demonstrated that seven of the eight SNPs studied were in strong LD except for rs626750, which is about 6 kb upstream of the 5' end of the gene. No significant linkage was observed using NPL and LODs in the families. No association was seen of any of the MMP3 SNPs with disease severity (defined by patient functioning), as measured either by the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index or the modified Health Assessment Questionnaire.

CONCLUSION
These data suggest that MMP3 genotypes are not involved in AS susceptibility or severity.


Coastal gray infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and buildings, is critical for communities, and we invest significantly in it. We also invest in the restoration and maintenance of coastal green infrastructure such as wetlands and reefs, which provide many services and benefits to human communities. However, the relative scale of financial investments in different coastal sectors – that is, our global coastal investment portfolio – remains poorly understood. We identify some of the major sources of funding for coastal green and gray infrastructure globally, including international aid funds; US public and private funds for coastal conservation, restoration and management; and private (insurance) and public funds spent on rebuilding after coastal storms. For the 10-year period from 2004-2013, we identify a total of US $14 billion in funds for coastal conservation and green infrastructure and $198 billion in international aid funds for coastal grey infrastructure. Coastal storms during the same decade caused an estimated US $514 billion in damages globally, of which $214 billion were insured losses, while $3.5 billion in international aid funds were spent on relief and reconstruction after these storm events. We conclude that funds for green infrastructure make up a small fraction – roughly three per cent – of global financial investments along coastlines. We identify the major funders in different coastal spending categories and discuss ways to move toward a more balanced investment portfolio that could benefit biodiversity, prevent billions of dollars of storm damage, and help protect the lives and livelihoods of coastal residents. This research article is available in Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics: https://cbe.miis.edu/joce/vol3/iss2/6


With drilling capability extends to water depths up to 3000m, significantly increased is the risk associated with a failed riser recoil control in the event of an emergency riser disconnect due to loss of vessel station keeping. In deeper waters the tensioner system undertakes higher top tension due to the accumulation of riser length and mud weight. During emergency disconnect, the riser is disconnected between the blow-out preventer (BOP) and the lower marine riser package (LMRP), releasing the base tension and mud pressure. Impact between the top riser system and the diverter housing system should be avoided, and the clearance between the LMRP and BOP should be secured. Efforts have been continuously made in the industry to achieve a more accurate predict of the riser recoil response. The relevance of mud discharge to recoil control has been widely discussed but little quantitative data has been revealed in the literature.In this paper, effect of mud shedding on riser recoil response is discussed. The Herschel-Bulkley rheology model is utilized for mud flow and is considered the latest advance in the drilling industry. Water hammer theories with column separation are modified to account for mud discharge in laminar, transitional and turbulent flow regimes.As a case study herein, recoil response of a drilling riser attached to a dynamically positioned semi-submersible drilling vessel is assessed to present the mud discharge effect on riser anti-recoil control. At emergency events, the riser is disconnected above the BOP, which is located at a water depth of about 2150m for this study. Mud is generally preferred to be freely discharged during an emergency disconnect for ease of anti-recoil control and riser integrity. The density difference between drilling mud in the riser annulus and sea water outside the riser outer casing before disconnect induces a high pressure difference, which drives mud shedding at riser disconnect. Mud flow rate plays an important role in the speed control of the riser uplift. 3D finite element analysis is performed in time domain to simulate riser response before and after disconnect. 2HRECOIL software is integrated into ANSYS user programmable features to better model the riser response and mud discharge.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Abstract The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission recently developed the CANTIA (CANDUTM Tube Inspection Assessment) methodology for probabilistic assessment of inspection strategies for steam generator (SG) tubes as a direct effect on the early detection and prevention of tube failure and primary-to-secondary leak of reactor coolant. In an effort to improve CANTIA, an SG tube integrity assessment code, a relevant survey of the literature on the discharge of subcooled water from cracks and critical flow models, SG tube cracks, leakage, and probabilistic assessment methodologies was carried out. The original CANTIA and ANL/CANTIA code models for the flaw opening area and flow leakage rate were reviewed. The predictions from the crack opening area and the leakage flow rate models were compared with experimental measured data from cracked SG tubes.


LHCb is one of the four large experiments hosted at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva. It will start taking data in September 2008, and will then operate for several years. It consists of a single-arm forward spectrometer dedicated to precise measurements of CP violation and rare decays in the B sector, with the aim of testing the Standard Model and possibly of discovering the first signatures of New Physics. Building such a large experiment as LHCb is a challenge, and many contributions are needed. The Lausanne lab is responsible for the design and the production of the Silicon Inner Tracker (IT) of LHCb. This detector is made of Silicon sensors which need to be cooled to avoid thermal runaway. We present here a contribution to the design of this sub-detector and a description of the production steps. In particular, a study of the cooling of the Inner Tracker is described. It is shown that the cooling abilities of the IT can avoid thermal runaway. CP violation in B meson decays was first observed in the measurement of the so-called "golden channel", in which a Bd0 meson decays into a J/ψ and a Κs0 . The time-dependent CP asymmetry in Bd0 → J/ψΚs0 allows to measure the angle β of the (d, b) unitary triangle. This parameter is now known with 4% accuracy at B factories. However, this determination of sin 2β is made under the assumption that there is only a single amplitude present in this decay : this means that penguin diagrams which might be present have been neglected. In 1999, Robert Fleischer [29] proposed a theoretical method to access those penguin diagrams in the Bd0 → J/ψΚs0 decay, using the Bs0→ J/ψΚs0 channel. This method relies on U-Spin symmetry and also allows to determine the γ angle of the (d, b) unitary triangle. We have developed a selection method for the Bd0 → J/ψΚs0 channel in order to strongly suppress the background and to allow the separation of the Bs0 and Bd0 peaks. We obtained mass resolution of 8 MeV/c2 and a B/S ratio for the channel Bd0 → J/ψΚs0 estimated to belong to [0, 0.039] at 90% confidence level in a ±2σ mass window around the Bd0 mass, after the first level of trigger (L0). For the channel Bs0 → J/ψΚs0 , the B/S ratio is calculated from the result for Bd0 → J/ψΚs0 assuming known branching fractions. It lies in the interval [0, 3.33] at 90% CL. The annual yield is expected to be around 300 events for an integrated luminosity of 2 fb-1. We have simulated with fast Monte Carlo the Bs0 → J/ψΚs0 signal using the parametrization proposed in [29] and taking as input the results of selection obtained for Bd0 → J/ψΚs0 . The simulation has been repeated several times for different integrated luminosities and B/S ratios. We conclude that after 5 years of normal running, LHCb will be able to determine the penguin contribution in the Bd0 → J/ψΚs0 decay with a sensitivity of (0.172 ± 0.004) using this method based on U-spin symmetry.


T he 11th International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services (MobiSys 2013) was held June 25th through the 28th in Taipei, Taiwan. Hosted in Asia for the first time, the event attracted over 200 attendees, with 57 percent of the participants coming from Asian institutions (33 percent were from North America and 7 percent were from Europe). This three-day event featured 33 papers, 18 posters, 15 demos, and a first-time video track with 14 videos. After 10 successful years of showcasing cutting-edge academic and industrial research in mobile technology, this year's MobiSys introduced a new panel, "The Untold Stories of Research." The panel facilitated a lively discussion on topics related to the life of research projects after they appear in an academic publication. In addition, MobiSys continued to bridge industry and research with its Industry Panel. This year's panel featured two Taiwan-based world leaders in the field of mobile communications—HTC and MediaTek—and provided insight into Taiwan's perspective on the future of mobile communications.


Abstract. Information on sediment concentration in rivers is important for design of reservoirs and for environmental applications. Because of the scarcity of continuous sediment data, methods have been developed to predict sediment loads based on few discontinuous measurements. Traditionally, loads are being predicted using rating curves that relate sediment load to discharge. The relationship assumes inherently a unique relationship between concentration and discharge and therefore although performing satisfactorily in predicting loads, it may be less suitable for predicting concentration. This is especially true in the Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia where concentrations decrease for a given discharge with the progression of the rainy monsoon phase. The objective of this paper is to improve the sediment concentration predictions throughout the monsoon period for the Ethiopian highlands with a modified rating type equation. To capture the observed sediment concentration pattern, we assume that the sediment concentration was at the transport limit early in the rainy season and then decreases linearly with effective rainfall towards source-limited concentration. The modified concentration rating curve was calibrated for the four main rivers in the Lake Tana basin where sediment concentrations affect fish production and tourism. Then the scalability of the rating type equation was checked in three 100 ha watersheds for which historic data were available. The results show that for predicting sediment concentrations, the (modified) concentration rating curve was more accurate than the (standard) load rating curve as expected. In addition loads were predicted more accurately for three of the four rivers. We expect that after more extensive testing over a wider geographical area, the proposed concentration rating curve will offer improved predictions of sediment concentrations in monsoonal climates.


ABSTRACT Despite decades of formal work with teachers, little is known about what they gain from professional development at and with historic sites. This article presents the first data-set from a 3-year Institute for Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grant project designed to develop a broad-based assessment for understanding what teachers learn in historic site-based professional development. The centerpiece of this project is an assessment tool based in Q methodology. This round of study focuses on the pre-post Q sorts and interviews of 29 teachers in a history-focused institute regarding how they see their work at historic sites affecting their professional development. Contrary to advocates' assertions, results indicate that only a small number of participants specifically set out to seek historical disciplinary expertise and analysis, while greater emphasis was placed on working with content-area peers, developing pedagogical practices, and the power of place.


Over the course of developments since Vatican II, Catholics scholars engaged in dialogue with Jews have interpreted the church's mission as one "with" Jews in furthering the Reign of God. Yet it is evident that others advocate a mission "to" Jews, that is, seek to convert Jews. This essay reviews and assesses the various theological perspectives with regard to the mission of the Catholic Church in relationship to the Jewish people.


Abstract Objective To determine whether hospital admission is associated with potentially inappropriate prescribing among older primary care patients (aged ≥65 years) and whether such prescribing was more likely after hospital admission than before. Design Longitudinal study of retrospectively extracted data from general practice records. Setting 44 general practices in Ireland in 2012-15. Participants Adults aged 65 years or over attending participating practices. Exposure Admission to hospital (any hospital admission versus none, and post-admission versus pre-admission). Main outcome measures Prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescribing assessed using 45 criteria from the Screening Tool for Older Persons' Prescription (STOPP) version 2, analysed both as rate of distinct potentially inappropriate prescribing criteria met (stratified Cox regression) and binary presence of potentially inappropriate prescribing (logistic regression) and adjusted for patients' characteristics. A sensitivity analysis used matching with propensity scores based on patients' characteristics and diagnoses. Results Overall 38 229 patients were included, and during 2012 the mean age was 76.8 (SD 8.2) years and 43% (13 212) were male. Each year, 10.4-15.0% (3015/29 077 in 2015 to 4537/30 231 in 2014) of patients had at least one hospital admission. The overall prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescribing ranged from 45.3% (13 940/30 789) of patients in 2012 to 51.0% (14 823/29 077) in 2015. Independently of age, sex, number of prescription items, comorbidity, and health cover, hospital admission was associated with a higher rate of distinct potentially inappropriate prescribing criteria met; the adjusted hazard ratio for hospital admission was 1.24 (95% confidence interval 1.20 to 1.28). Among participants who were admitted to hospital, the likelihood of potentially inappropriate prescribing after admission was higher than before admission, independent of patients' characteristics; the adjusted odds ratio for after hospital admission was 1.72 (1.63 to 1.84). Analysis of propensity score matched pairs showed a slight reduction in the hazard ratio for hospital admission to 1.22 (1.18 to 1.25). Conclusion Hospital admission was independently associated with potentially inappropriate prescribing. It is important to determine how hospital admission may affect appropriateness of prescribing for older people and how potential adverse consequences of admission can be minimised.


Abstract. Black carbon (BC) aerosols absorb sunlight thereby leading to a positive radiative forcing and a warming of climate and can also impact human health through their impact on the respiratory system. The state of mixing of BC with other aerosol species, particularly the degree of internal/external mixing, has been highlighted as a major uncertainty in assessing its radiative forcing and hence its climate impact, but few in situ observations of mixing state exist. We present airborne single particle soot photometer (SP2) measurements of refractory BC (rBC) mass concentrations and mixing state coupled with aerosol composition and optical properties measured in urban plumes and regional pollution over the United Kingdom. All data were obtained using instrumentation flown on the UK's BAe-146-301 large Atmospheric Research Aircraft (ARA) operated by the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM). We measured sub-micron aerosol composition using an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) and used positive matrix factorization to separate hydrocarbon-like (HOA) and oxygenated organic aerosols (OOA). We found a higher number fraction of thickly coated rBC particles in air masses with large OOA relative to HOA, higher ozone-to-nitrogen oxides (NO x ) ratios and large concentrations of total sub-micron aerosol mass relative to rBC mass concentrations. The more ozone- and OOA-rich air masses were associated with transport from continental Europe, while plumes from UK cities had higher HOA and NO x and fewer thickly coated rBC particles. We did not observe any significant change in the rBC mass absorption efficiency calculated from rBC mass and light absorption coefficients measured by a particle soot absorption photometer despite observing significant changes in aerosol composition and rBC mixing state. The contributions of light scattering and absorption to total extinction (quantified by the single scattering albedo; SSA) did change for different air masses, with lower SSA observed in urban plumes compared to regional aerosol (0.85 versus 0.9–0.95). We attribute these differences to the presence of relatively rapidly formed secondary aerosol, primarily OOA and ammonium nitrate, which must be taken into account in radiative forcing calculations.


Bankrupt case of Indonesia Aerospace (Persero) represent one of the case which is to be a test regulation Bankrupt in Indonesia which is arranged in Act Number 37 of 2007 about Bankrupt and Postponement Obligation Of debt
Payment (UUKPKPU 2004). One piquancy is verification process simply which is arranged in section 8 sentence (4) UUKPKPU which ought connectisity section 2 sentence (1) about conditions of bankrupt.
The formula problem of this research: 1) how simplicity of evidence in Indonesia bankrupt law; 2) how to applying of simplicity of evidence in case of PT.DI ?. this Research type is legal socio normative of research with method of
Analiytical Approach by using materials primary, secondary, and tertiary by looking of book with technical purposive and also pursuant to method snowball system and classified according to source and its to be studied comprehensively
and processed by descriptive qualitative analysis.
The result of research that in applying of simplicity of evidence in Commercial Justice practice and in so many literature have happened interpretation of double standard of its application in meaning as event law and congeniality which related of debt concept.
Bankrupt of PT. DI, First Commercial Justice of Jakarta Center have precisely applied its decision because conditions as arranged which is conectisity between section 8 sentence (4) UUKPKPU 2004 section 2 sentence (1) UUKPKPU 2004 have earned to be applied. Become, existence of concept owe and 2 creditor which and can be billed for have fufilled. Applicant have as statement of bankrupt as arranged in section 2 sentence (1) UUKPKPU 2004, because applicant is included in category as preferen creditor which is its rights can prioritize though PT. DI (Persero) fall bankrupt.
In Appellate Court have happened mistake when applying of law which looking into that which only bankrupt PT. DI (Persero) is Minister for Finance. However this rights will oppose against concept theory and intention of BUMN Persero and of BUMN Perum which is arranged in UUKPKPU 2004 and BUMN Act. Become BUMN (Persero) in its concept is equal to corporation concept without existence of imunt rights.


Digitalization in small- and medium-sized (SME) family firms and processes of family-external business succession within these firms are under-researched areas. As SME and their future viability are important for many economies around the world, we aim to study the effects of succession processes on those companies' digitalization activities. Utilizing a unique data set comprising of around 340 pages of transcribed interviews within a multiple case study involving four family firms in the DACH region of Europe, we perform exploratory research of this matter. Our findings indicate that incumbent and new owner-managers focus on efficiency-related digitalization activities during succession processes. More long-term issues such as changes to business models or the exploitation of external opportunities through digitalization are underrated and postponed. Our findings contribute to both digitalization and family firm literature and we provide suggestions for future research in this regard.


Grassland research has undergone a definite acceleration since the great drought of 1933-40 (Albertson, 1949). The importance of grass in the conservation of our nation's agricultural resources has been brought clearly before research workers as well as the nation's population. In past years, especially after World War II, marginal and submarginal lands have been plowed and seeded to crops in an effort to supply food, and to take advantage of high crop prices (Albertson and Weaver, 1942). Many acres of land, which have been proven unfit for cultivation, should be reseeded to suitable grasses and returned to grazing. This is a large task, as Pearse, et al. (1948) estimate that 80 million acres of land are depleted and must be reseeded if they are to recover and become productive in our generation. By 1948 approximately 5 million acres had been planted. Nixon (1949) states that in Oklahoma and Texas alone, about 7 million acres of depleted cropland should be returned to permanent grassland and 14 million acres of grazing l and reseeded. The recent severe drought of the southwest will probably result in still larger acreages being put back to grass. The re-establishment of grass on dusted or abandoned land by natural succession is a very slow process. In the western Great Plains, Shantz (1911) acquired data which indicate that 20 to 50 years is required to restore buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides) to its original state where the cover was destroyed by cultivation. At Hays, Kansas, Riegel (1944) found that on a reseeded area blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) attained a cover in 3 seasons exceeding the cover which had taken 24 years to develop on a natural revegetation site. For satisfactory results in revegetation, a grass should be 2 used which will rapidly cover the surface of the soil, provide abundant palatable forage for livestock, and be sufficiently hardy to withstand the variable climatic conditions of the Great Plains. Since damage to grassland may result from dusting and intense heat as well as from lack of precipitation it is necessary to plant a species which will endure these conditions (Weaver and Albertson, 1940).


Few-shot learning aims to recognize new concepts from very few examples. However, most of the existing few-shot learning methods mainly concentrate on the first-order statistic of concept representation or a fixed metric on the relation between a sample and a concept. In this work, we propose a novel end-to-end deep architecture, named Covariance Metric Networks (CovaMNet). The CovaMNet is designed to exploit both the covariance representation and covariance metric based on the distribution consistency for the few-shot classification tasks. Specifically, we construct an embedded local covariance representation to extract the second-order statistic information of each concept and describe the underlying distribution of this concept. Upon the covariance representation, we further define a new deep covariance metric to measure the consistency of distributions between query samples and new concepts. Furthermore, we employ the episodic training mechanism to train the entire network in an end-to-end manner from scratch. Extensive experiments in two tasks, generic few-shot image classification and fine-grained fewshot image classification, demonstrate the superiority of the proposed CovaMNet. The source code can be available from https://github.com/WenbinLee/CovaMNet.git.


Biodiversity conservation continues to be a challenging task for societies worldwide. We undertook a resilience assessment to address the following question: What are the ramifications of social-ecological system dynamics for biodiversity governance of a nationally significant landscape? Resilience assessment offers promise for guiding response strategies, potentially enabling consideration of ecological, social, economic, and governance influences on biodiversity-related activities. Most resilience assessments have, however, struggled to effectively incorporate governance influences. We applied a modified version of the Resilience Alliance workbook approach to explicitly address governance influences at each stage of an assessment of internationally significant biodiversity features in protected areas of the Australian Alps. The vulnerability of the Alps system to climate change suggests that it is moving into a release stage, with subsequent transformation hypothesized. Network governance is argued as enabling flexible, adaptive management and comprehensive engagement of stakeholders, both of which are critical to shaping how this transformation of the Alps as a valued focal system will occur. The Australian Alps Liaison Committee provides a promising governance structure for collaboration and comanagement across multiple jurisdictions. Our contribution was to demonstrate how a resilience assessment that explicitly embeds governance influences in social-ecological system dynamics can point to pathways for governance reform in the context of system transformation.


Obesity and childhood overweight is a worldwide epidemic that has significant long-term public health implications both in developed and developing countries. South Africa, which has a well-documented burden of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases, now also has an increasing burden of obesity and noncommunicable diseases (NCD) such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. This article describes results of formative research on childhood obesity risk factors with parents of school-age children in the Western Cape region of South Africa. We interviewed parents living in low-income urban, rural, and township communities on nutrition and physical activity, media use, and potential social marketing messages. Study aims were threefold: to collect formative information on media use and health knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to support the development of an obesity prevention social marketing campaign targeting youth; to identify parents' preferred sources of health information, and to obtain reactions to potential obesity prevention social marketing messages. Overall, the family and community nutrition and physical activity environments in the Western Cape are highly complex. Parents report major safety concerns, lack of organized markets or other sources of healthy foods in rural and township areas, and lack of resources for physical activity. We also identified preferred sources for health information primarily through print and radio, obtained information about possible channels to reach parents, and identified potential message strategies to promote healthy lifestyles similar to some HIV/AIDS social marketing campaigns in Africa. This information supports future childhood obesity prevention social marketing.


Rapid clearance of dying cells is a vital feature of apoptosis throughout development, tissue homeostasis and resolution of inflammation. The phagocytic removal of apoptotic cells is mediated by both professional and amateur phagocytes, armed with a series of pattern recognition receptors that participate in host defence and apoptotic cell clearance. CD14 is one such molecule. It is involved in apoptotic cell clearance (known to be immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory) and binding of the pathogen-associated molecular pattern, lipopolysaccharides (a pro-inflammatory event). Thus CD14 is involved in the assembly of two distinct ligand-dependent macrophage responses. This project sought to characterise the involvement of the innate immune system, particularly CD14, in the removal of apoptotic cells. The role of non-myeloid CD14 was also considered and the data suggests that the expression of CD14 by phagocytes may define their professional status as phagocytes. To assess if differential CD14 ligation causes the ligand-dependent divergence in macrophage responses, a series of CD14 point mutants were used to map the binding of apoptotic cells and lipopolysaccharides. Monoclonal antibodies, 61D3 and MEM18, known to interfere with ligand-binding and responses, were also mapped. Data suggests that residue 11 of CD14, is key for the binding of 61D3 (but not MEM18), LPS and apoptotic cells, indicating lipopolysaccharides and apoptotic cells bind to similar residues. Furthermore using an NF-kB reporter, results show lipopolysaccharides but not apoptotic cells stimulate NF-kB. Taken together these data suggests ligand-dependent CD14 responses occur via a mechanism that occurs downstream of CD14 ligation but upstream of NF-?B activation. Alternatively apoptotic cell ligation of CD14 may not result in any signalling event, possibly by exclusion of TLR-4, suggesting that engulfment receptors, (e.g. TIM-4, BAI1 and Stablin-2) are required to mediate the uptake of apoptotic cells and the associated anti-inflammatory response.


Although the diffusion of information technologies has been widely considered in the Australian context, very few studies seem to have focus on the adoption and diffusion of information systems among individual accountants. This research investigates factors affecting the use of Accounting Information Systems (AIS) by Australian accounting practitioners. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model by Venkatesh et al. (2003) is adopted to investigate this issue. The model is extended by integrating the national culture theory by Hall (1973), with an emphasis on culture and communication. Data were collected from 190 accountants in Australia. The data collected were analysed using Structural Equation Modeling in association with the Partial Least Squares technique. The results show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating condition and low context communication characterising the Australian culture positively influence behavioral intention and utilisation of AIS.


The question of how Europe ruled Africa relates to the crucial issues of settlernative identity as constructions of colonialism as well as political consciousness
formation and development among the colonized as well as the colonizers. Because colonialism operated ambiguously throughout its life to the extent of hiding its adverse contours of epistemological and mental invasion that have come to haunt during the post-colonial era, it deserve to be subjected to systematic theorization and historicization. This article deploys various conceptual tools culled from post-colonial theories to delve deeper into the dialectics and ontology of colonial governance in Zimbabwe and it simultaneously historicize the phenomenon of colonial governance on the basis of how white Rhodesians
inscribed themselves in Matabeleland in the early twentieth century. It also systematically interrogates the development of Ndebele political consciousness under the alienating influences of settler colonialism up to the mid-twentieth century. The article contributes to the broader debates on colonial encounters and colonial governance that have left an indelible mark on ex-colonies across the world. Colonialism was not just a footnote in African history. It had long term pervasive impact of altering everyone and everything that it found in Africa. LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 5 2008: pp. 85-102


Background & Aims of the Study Irradiation with ultraviolet light (UV) is used for the disinfection of bacterial contaminants in the production of potable water. The main objective of the study was to investigate and model Disinfection By-Products (DBPs) formation due to the UV Irradiation of the Tajan River water under different Irradiation conditions. Materials & Methods:  Water samples were collected throughout September 2011 to August 2013. Transportation of the sample to the laboratory was done on ice in a cooler, and physiochemical analysis was conducted immediately within one day. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was determined by a TOC analyzer. Irradiation experiments were conducted in a series of 25 mL glass serum bottles with Teflon septa. The present study adopts an orthogonal design. The design involved irradiation with UV at a UV/DOC ratio of 0.5–3.0 and incubating (headspace-free storage) for 5–25 sec. A 1 mM phosphate buffer maintained the pH at 6, 7, or 8 respectively, and an incubator maintained the temperature (Temp) at 15, 20, or 25 °C respectively. The development of empirical models for DBPs formation used a multivariate regression procedure (stepwise) which applied the SPSS System for Windows (Version 16.0). Results:  The results showed that the total DBPs formation ranged between 12.3 and 67.4 mg/l and that control of the levels was primarily due to the reaction time and the dissolved organic carbon level (DOC) in the water. Conclusions:  Reaction time and level of DOC concentrations in water exerted a dominant influence on the formation of DBPs during the UV irradiation of water from the Tajan River. The relationships between the measured and predicted values were satisfactory with R 2 values ranging from 0.89 (for Octanal)–0.92 (for Formaldehydes). The DOC level in water is the key factor in controlling DBPs formation.


The purpose was to determine the effectiveness of three feedback conditions (aversive tone, preferred music, and no feedback) on time-on-task of correct upper body postural alignment in adults with profound mental retardation (PMR). Participants were seven adults (3 males and 4 females), ages 25 to 34. A randomized multiple-treatment design with generalization and follow-up phases was used. Participants received three randomly assigned conditions each day for a total of 45 sessions over 15 days. Five of the participants increased time-on-task in response to preferred music, whereas two participants increased time-on-task in response to both aversive tone and preferred music. Friedman two-way analysis of variance indicated that music was significantly more effective than other conditions. It was concluded that preferred music feedback is, at least minimally, effective in improving time-on-task of upper body postural alignment of adults with PMR.


In The Fire Next Time , James Baldwin argues that the American dream is far from being a reality in part because there is much Americans do not wish to know about themselves. Given the current political climate in the United States, this idea seems just as timely as it did in the 1960s. Baldwin's politics and thinking about race and religion are informed by an optimistic belief in the human capacity to love and change for the better, in contrast with Ta-Nehisi Coates, the heir apparent to Baldwin's legacy. Considering current events, it seems particularly useful to turn back to The Fire Next Time . Not only does Baldwin provide a foundation for understanding racism in the United States, but more importantly, he provides some much-needed hope and guidance for the future. Baldwin discusses democracy as an act that must be realized, in part by coming to a greater understanding of race and religion as performative acts that have political consequences for all Americans. In this article, I examine the influence of pragmatism on Baldwin's understanding of race and religion. By encouraging readers to acknowledge race and religion as political constructs, Baldwin highlights the inseparability of theory and practice that is a hallmark of both pragmatism and the realization of a democratic society. Furthermore, I argue that Baldwin's politics provide a more useful framework than Coates's for this particular historical moment because of Baldwin's emphasis on change and evolving democracy.


The subject of this paper is the calculation of the in-core neutron noise induced by the shell-mode vibrations of the core barrel. The original motivation was to investigate whether an out-of-phase behavior can exist between the in-core and ex-core (ex-vessel) detectors lying at the same azimuthal position. To this end, a two-region two-group diffusion model was used in one dimension. The noise was calculated by representing the vibrations of the core barrel by a model developed earlier to describe control rod vibrations. It was found that such an out-of-phase behavior indeed exists, although only for in-core detector positions close to the core boundary. This behavior is due to the local component of the noise, which is accounted for in a two-group treatment. The finding is in accordance with the experiment whose result prompted the present work. In addition to its effect on the phase, the local component also manifests itself by a large amplitude of the noise around the vibrating core boundary, i.e., in both the core and the reflector. The appearance and the properties of the local component of the neutron noise for core-barrel vibrations is the main finding of this paper. The results suggest that the efficiency of core-barrel vibrations can be enhanced if in addition to the ex-core detectors, the in-core detectors in the outermost fuel assemblies are used.


The use of the concepts "diversity" and "inclusion" are analyzed with regard to deaf people, whom we call Sign Language Peoples (SLPs), specifically in policy discourses (as used by the World Federation of the Deaf and in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) and academic discourses (particularly the concept of Deaf Gain). Discussing such discourses, we evaluate the promises and perils of "diversity" and "inclusion" in policy positions and scholarly analysis. We argue that in order for these concepts to be useful for SLPs in the achievement of rights, we need to foreground a specific understanding of inclusion as societal inclusion, and diversity as needing a group rights-based foundation. As such, we explore different paradigms for understanding how SLPs are part of diversity and how they can be included. As such, we contribute to scholarship and debate on inclusion and diversity beyond the particular case of SLPs.


The landscape at Samoylov Island is characterized by permafrost and permafrost related processes that create the typical polygonal micro structures of wet tundra landscapes. These micro-morphologic structures strongly affect surface characteristics such as moisture content and vegetation cover. The polygonal structures usually consist of wet centers surrounded by elevated dry rims that vary in size and moisture content. Some structures show well developed rims and small centers, while others are dominated by wet areas. Several polygon centers consist of peat while other form small ponds. A few structures are affected by thermokarst erosion and form complex lake structures. These microscale landscape variations affect the ratio of dry and wet areas on a larger scale. This ratio is critical to sensible and latent heat exchange processes between soil surface and atmosphere. Thus, small scale variations of polygonal landscape features affect larger scale energy balance processes. This work concerns simultaneous eddy-covariance measurements of sensible and latent heat fluxes and their variations due to small scale differences in surface morphology on Samoylov Island. The first eddy-covariance station was erected in spring 2007 on the west side of the island. In summer 2008, a second, mobile eddy-covariance system was constructed to gather parallel flux measurements across the island. The first eddy-system served as the reference station. Three different measurement locations along a west-east transect across the island were established for the mobile system. The first measurement location is dominated by wet polygonal structures, while the second is characterized by dry, well-developed polygon rims. The third location is situated within an area of free water bodies such as small ponds and thermokarst lakes. The measurement period covers six weeks while the interval of data collection at each location was seven days. Hence every measurement location was measured twice by the mobile station. Both eddy-covariance systems were calibrated against each other while measurements occurred at the same location. Differences in sensible and latent heat fluxes were observed within the wet polygonal tundra site, although landscape variations are very small. In particular, these differences were observed during clear sky conditions, when the difference in the energy flux partitioning is at a maximum between dry and wet surfaces. The most evident differences in sensible heat fluxes were measured at location two, where dry surface conditions are dominant. At this location, the sensible heat flux is up to 20% higher than at the reference station. Differences in latent heat fluxes could be observed at the third measurement location, where free water bodies characterize the surrounding area. At this location, the latent heat flux is up to 30% lower compared to the reference station. The first results indicate that microscale surface variations of the polygonal tundra affect larger scale heat flux processes.


A small fraction of all quasars are strongly lensed and multiply imaged, with usually a galaxy acting as the main lens. Some, or maybe all of these quasars are also affected by microlensing, the effect of stellar mass objects in the lensing galaxy. Usually only the photometric aspects of microlensing are considered: the apparent magnitudes of the quasar images vary independently because the relative motion between source, lens and observer leads to uncorrelated magnification changes as a function of time. However, stellar microlensing on quasars has yet another effect, which was first explored by Lewis & Ibata (1998): the position of the quasar - i.e. the center-of-light of the many microimages - can shift by tens of microarcseconds due to the relatively sudden (dis-)appearance of a pair of microimages when a caustic is being crossed. Here we explore quantitatively the astrometric effects of microlensing on quasars for different values of the lensing parameters K and y (surface mass density and external shear) covering most of the known multiple quasar systems. We show examples of microlens-induced quasar motion (i.e. astrometric changes) and the corresponding light curves for different quasar sizes. We evaluate statistically the occurrence of large jumps in angular position and their correlation with apparent brightness fluctuations. We also show statistical relations between positional offsets and time from random starting points. As the amplitude of the astrometric offset depends on the source size, astrometric microlensing signatures of quasars - combined with the photometric variations - will provide very good constraints on the sizes of quasars as a function of wavelength. We predict that such signatures will be detectable for realistic microlensing scenarios with near future technology in the infrared/optical (Keck-Interferometry, VLTI, SIM, GAIA). Such detections will show that not even high redshift quasars define a fixed coordinate system.


Purpose and/or objectives: The purpose of this article is to apply expenditure-based segmentation to visitors at the Tsitsikamma National Park. The objective of the research is twofold, to identify the socio-demographic and behavioural variables that influence spending at the Tsitsikamma National Park and to make recommendations on how to attract the high-spending market. Problem investigate: The Tsitsikamma National Park is Africa's oldest and largest marine reserve and plays a vital role in the preservation and conservation of marine fauna and flora. The park is also a popular holiday destination for international and local tourists and therefore plays an important role in the regional economy. Due to the importance of the park to the community and region, the Tsitsikamma National Park needs to attract more high spenders since this will contribute to the sustainability of the park. Expenditure-based segmentation is regarded as the best method for creating a profile of the high-spending market. Design and/or methodology and/or approach: To achieve this, tourist surveys from 2001 to 2008 were used. In total, 593 questionnaires were used in the analysis. Statistical analysis was done by applying K-means clustering and Pearson's chi-square as well as ANOVA analysis. Findings and/or implications: The research revealed that the province of origin, group size, length of stay and accommodation preference have a positive influence on higher spending. Originality and/or value of the research : Even though this type of research has been done for the Kruger National Park, a more innovative approach was followed by using K-means clustering, which is also the first time that this approach was used in determining the high-spending market at the Tsitsikamma National Park. Conclusion: Two distinct markets were identified. These were the high and low spenders where the most significant differences were with regard to province of origin, group size, length of stay and preferred type of accommodation. Interestingly, aspects such as owning a Wild Card (which is a loyalty card) showed no significant difference. The same applied for age, marital status or frequency of visits. Therefore, the results (if one compares this research with that done at the Kruger National Park) confirm that the size of operations and activities available have a dual impact.