and Implications This on-going study is continuously monitoring emissions of gases including ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, methane and (intermittently) selected odorous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as well as particulate matter (PM) from a 2500-head sow farm consisting of two gestation barns and one farrowing barn in central Iowa. An on-farm instrumentation shelter houses the equipment for measuring pollutant concentrations at representative barn air inlets and outlets, barn airflows, operational processes and environmental variables. Sampling began in July 2007 with data logged every 15 s and 60 s; sampling will continue for 24 months in total. Data are retrieved with network-connected PC, formatted, and validated for calculations of emission rates. A multipoint air sampling system draws air sequentially from representative locations at the barns and delivers it to a manifold from which on-line gas analyzers draw their subsamples. Different size PM including total suspended particulate (TSP), PM10 and PM2.5 are measured in real time using tapered element oscillating microbalances (TEOMs) and a Beta Gage PM analyzer. Mechanically-ventilated barn airflows are estimated by continuously measuring fan operational status and building static pressure, in combination with calibrated curves for each fan's airflow. Specific processes that directly or indirectly influence barn emissions, including pig activity, manure management/handling and feeding, are measured. Environmental parameters including inside and outside air temperatures and humidity, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation are also monitored. Feed and water consumption, manure production and removal, swine mortalities, and animal production are recorded. Samples of feed, water, and manure are collected and analyzed for total nitrogen and total sulfur.


Distributional National Accounts (DINA) link macroeconomic aggregates with distributional information enabling a better understanding of distributional implications of macroeconomic developments and facilitate cross-country comparisons of inequality. This article proposes a practically feasible framework to allocate components of wealth to different sections of society and serves two functions: a comprehensive measure of net worth and its distribution, and a link to macroeconomic statistics. The article compiles DINA by breaking down twelve components of marketable wealth by wealth and income groups, as well as three major functions of wealth for Austria, Finland, France, Germany and Spain. The three functions of wealth considered are (i) precautionary saving, (ii) own use of housing assets and (iii) income generation via the ownership of businesses or landlordship. The resulting multidimensional wealth distributions reveal large heterogeneity in inequality and help understand (institutional) differences across countries and time. Results are top-tail adjusted using Pareto and Generalized Pareto models, and combining survey data (HFCS) with rich lists, or top wealth shares derived from tax data and leaked information on wealth held in offshore tax havens.


Christians and Jews have tended to approach theological understandings of Israel through different categorizations of what constitutes appropriate topics for theology. Separation of religious and political realities has been an aspect of Christian culture since the fourth century, but it was never a native separation for Judaism. Thus, contemporary Christian theologians have attempted to develop understandings of Jewish relationship to the land that excludes its political aspects. From a Jewish perspective, this amounts to a recasting of Judaism according to a foreign set of values, one that devalues the potential (if not yet actualized) theological meanings inherent in contemporary Jewish sovereignty over its historical homeland. Progress in dialogue about Israel requires confronting this difference directly.


Background: Radiation-induced intracranial aneurysm (RIICA) is a rare complication. From the literature, 74.1% of the reported RIICA ruptured with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), and the mortality rate was 42.3%. Here, we report a case of repeated SAH due to a RIICA after surgical clipping.
Case description: A 42-year-old woman presented with SAH. She had undergone radiotherapy for suprasellar germinoma 27 years previously. Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) showed an aneurysm at the anterior wall of the non-branching site of the left internal carotid artery and multiple luminal narrowing. The aneurysm was located within the radiation field, and was not detected by previous DSA. Surgical clipping was performed, but bleeding repeated after 3 months. We performed a second neck clipping and confirmed that the clip had slipped from the neck of the aneurysm. Thirty-nine days after the second operation, DSA revealed an enlargement of residual neck of the aneurysm. Therefore, we performed an endovascular stent-assisted coil embolization of the aneurysm. At the end of the endovascular coiling, the small residual neck of the aneurysm was still observed. The follow-up DSA obtained three weeks after the coil embolization demonstrated enlargement of the residual neck. At 6 months after the first coil embolization, we performed an additional coil embolization which achieved complete obliteration of the aneurysm. Her cranial nerves were intact, and motor and sensory examinations revealed no deficits. Close followup by imaging is in progress.
Conclusion: A careful annually follow up, with not only MR imaging but also MR angiography as well, is important for the patients who had a full response to radiation therapy for germinoma in childhood. Special attention must be paid in the treatment of RIICA patients, because of fragility of arterial wall adjacent to the RIICA and the radiation-induced severe atherosclerotic change.


We estimate the impacts of nitrogen limitation on the CO2 emissions from land use and land-use change (LULUC), including wood harvest, for the period 1900-2100. We use a land-surface model that includes a fully coupled carbon and nitrogen cycle, and accounts for forest regrowth processes following agricultural abandonment and wood harvest. Future projections are based on the four Representation Concentration Pathways used in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Results show that excluding nitrogen limitation will underestimate global LULUC emissions by 34-52 PgC (20-30%) during the 20th century and by 128-187 PgC (90-150%) during the 21st century. The underestimation increases with time because: (1) Projected annual wood harvest rates from forests summed over the 21st century are 380-1080% higher compared to those of the 20th century, resulting in more regrowing secondary forests, (2) Nitrogen limitation reduces the CO2 fertilization effect on net primary production of regrowing secondary forests following wood harvest and agricultural abandonment, and (3) Nitrogen limitation effect is aggravated by the gradual loss of soil nitrogen from LULUC disturbance. Our study implies that: (1) Nitrogen limitation of CO2 uptake is substantial and sensitive to nitrogen inputs, (2) If LULUC emissions are larger than previously estimated in studies without nitrogen limitation, then meeting the same climate mitigation target would require an equivalent additional reduction of fossil fuel emissions, and (3) The effectiveness of land-based mitigation strategies will critically depend on the interactions between nutrient limitations and secondary forests resulting from LULUC.


Software engineering research now considers that no system is an island, but it is part of an ecosystem involving other systems, developers, users, hardware, ... When one system (e.g., a framework) evolves, its clients often need to adapt. Client developers might need to adapt to functionalities, client systems might need to be adapted to a new API, client users might need to adapt to a new User Interface. The consequences of such changes are yet unclear, what proportion of the ecosystem might be expected to react, how long might it take for a change to diffuse in the ecosystem, do all clients react in the same way? This paper reports on an exploratory study aimed at observing API evolution and its impact on a large-scale software ecosystem, Pharo, which has about 3,600 distinct systems, more than 2,800 contributors, and six years of evolution. We analyze 118 API changes and answer research questions regarding the magnitude, duration, extension, and consistency of such changes in the ecosystem. The results of this study help to characterize the impact of API evolution in large software ecosystems, and provide the basis to better understand how such impact can be alleviated.


Apart from a single study of Jeanie Deans, MacCunn's music has, to date, never received a detailed examination. This thesis aims to provide a contextual basis for, and a stylistic analysis of, his major works, and so establish informed criteria by which a truer assessment of MacCunn's significance may be made, challenging the sovereignty of Land of the Mountain and the Flood in the public's reckoning of his compositions and hence revealing it to be not an isolated peak but one summit among many. Hamish MacCunn (1868-1916) grew up in Greenock on the west coast of Scotland before removing to London at the tender age of 15 to further his musical studies at the Royal College of Music. His assimilation of a robust orchestral technique was rapid and before he reached his twentieth birthday he had already tasted the pleasures of public approbation. Thereafter, a sequence of orchestral works, cantatas, songs and two grand operas with a pronounced Scottish character appeared in the late eighties and nineties. It is this period which is the focus of the study, but later works dating from MacCunn's time conducting West End shows are also discussed. Through a generic survey of his output, the thesis locates the composer's works within a historical and biographical framework, isolating characteristic traits both novel and derived from the earlier Nineteenth Century inheritance, and evaluating his position as a composer of his time and afterwards. In particular his strengths and penchants as a composer have been identified with special emphasis on the composer's bias for dramatic or narrative music, amply demonstrated in his overtures, cantatas and, above all, his two operas Jeanie Deans and Diarmid. To complement the chapters on MacCunn's musical works, an opening biographical chapter, a comprehensive catalogue, a family tree, iconography and bibliography have been provided. Throughout the thesis, reference has been made to primary sources held in Glasgow and other libraries throughout Britain and the United States, in an attempt to arrive at as complete a picture of MacCunn as possible.


Abstract. We have developed a new compact balloon payload called LITOS (Leibniz-Institute Turbulence Observations in the Stratosphere) for high resolution wind turbulence soundings in the stratosphere up to 35 km altitude. The wind measurements are performed using a constant temperature anemometer (CTA) with a vertical resolution of ~2.5 mm, i.e. 2 kHz sampling rate at 5 m/s ascent speed. Thereby, for the first time, it is possible to study the entire turbulence spectrum down to the viscous subrange in the stratosphere. Including telemetry, housekeeping, batteries and recovery unit, the payload weighs less than 5 kg and can be launched from any radiosonde station. Since autumn 2007, LITOS has been successfully launched several times from the Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) in Kuhlungsborn, Germany (54° N, 12° E). Two additional soundings were carried out in 2008 and 2009 in Kiruna, Sweden (67° N, 21° E) as part of the BEXUS program (Balloon-borne EXperiments for University Students). We describe here the basic principle of CTA measurements and prove the validity of this method in the stratosphere. A first case study allows a clear distinction between non-turbulent regions and a turbulent layer with a thickness of some tens of meters. Since our measurements cover the transition between the inertial and viscous subrange, energy dissipation rates can be calculated with high reliability.


Recent reports have shown that SLG, one of two genes linked to the S locus of Brassica, encodes a secreted glycoprotein. We have used RNA gel blot analysis, genomic and cDNA clone analysis, expression in transgenic plants, and immunodetection to characterize SLG2, the SLG gene derived from the S2 haplotype. This haplotype belongs to the class II group of S haplotypes that exhibit a weak incompatibility phenotype and are pollen recessive. We showed that SLG2 produces two transcript forms: the expected 1.6-kb transcript that predicts a secreted glycoprotein and an alternative 1.8-kb transcript that predicts a membrane-anchored protein. Stigmas of the S2 haplotype and pistils of transgenic tobacco plants transformed with the SLG2 gene produce a membrane-associated 62-kD protein as well as soluble 57- and 58-kD glycoforms. Because of the sequence similarity between SLG2 and the extracellular domain of the S Locus Receptor Kinase (SRK2) gene, the membrane-anchored form of SLG2 may be viewed as a naturally occurring truncated form of the receptor that lacks the kinase catalytic domain. The occurrence of this protein has potential implications for the activity of the full-length receptor. Furthermore, the underlying structure of the SLG2 gene suggests the evolution of SLG from an ancestral SRK-like gene.


Numerous applications in different fields, such as spatial databases, multimedia databases, data mining, and recommender systems, may benefit from efficient and effective aggregate similarity search, also known as aggregate nearest neighbor (AggNN) search. Given a group of query objects Q, the goal of AggNN is to retrieve the k most similar objects from the database, where the underlying similarity measure is defined as an aggregation (usually sum or max) of the distances between the retrieved objects and every query object in Q. Recently, the problem was generalized so as to retrieve the k objects which are most similar to a fixed proportion of the elements of Q. This variant of aggregate similarity search is referred to as "flexible AggNN", or FANN. In this work, we propose two approximation algorithms, one for the sum variant of FANN, and the other for the max variant. Extensive experiments are provided showing that, relative to state-of-the-art approaches (both exact and approximate), our algorithms produce query results with good accuracy, while at the same time being very efficient.


A simple algorithm based on the transformation equations of homogeneous deformation allows application of computer-graphic software for estimation of strain and restoration of shape of distorted fossils in a single operation. This paper gives a computer-aided digital method for the estimation of strain in situations where a single fossil, or a set of fossils, is found embedded in rocks. Because the digital method deciphers reciprocal strain ellipse by removing the effect of tectonic deformation, it is also useful in precise taxonomic identification. Several natural examples of trilobites and brachiopods are tested by the digital method, as well as by other conventional methods of strain analysis. The digital method is easy to use, rapid, and accurate in comparison to other existing methods of strain analysis and retrodeformation.


Preschool children's vocabulary mainly develops verbal through interaction. Therefore, the technology-enhanced storytelling (TES) activity Jeffy's Journey is developed to support parent–child interaction and vocabulary in preschool children. TES entails shared verbal storytelling supported by a story structure and real-time visual, auditory and textual prompts on a tablet computer. In this exploratory study, we investigated how TES influenced parent–child interaction and vocabulary. An experimental pretest-intervention-posttest design was followed with 44 3-year-old children and their parents in the experimental group and 27 peers in the control group. Results revealed that TES stimulated active child involvement and generated parent–child interaction, yet a great variety in TES characteristics both in time spent and usage of prompts was found among participants. Dyads that spent more time on story phases showed more and higher quality parent–child interaction. The usage of prompts was associated with improved parent–child interaction quality. Finally, an effect of TES was evidenced on children's productive vocabulary knowledge. To conclude, this study demonstrates that TES can be considered as a promising context for fostering parent–child interaction and children's vocabulary development.


Summary 1. Transmembrane potentials (Em) of vascular muscle cells in caudal arteries in vitro from one-kidney, one-clip hypertensive and onekidney, sham-clipped normotensive rats were measured. 2. The Em recorded in hypertensive rats was significantly lower (depolarized) than that recorded in normotensive control rats. 3. Boiled plasma supernatants from hypertensive rats depolarized the muscle cells in normotensive caudal artery but had no effect on muscle cells in arteries from hypertensive rats. 4. Boiled plasma supernatants from normotensive control rats had no effect on the Em of either animal. 5. Ouabain depolarized muscle cells of the normotensive artery only and the magnitude of depolarization induced was nearly the same as that produced by the supernatant from the hypertensive animals. 6. These data suggest that a ouabain-like humoral substance may play a role in the pathophysiology of one-kidney, one-clip hypertension through a voltage-dependent mechanism.


Criminal law is important because it helps to define who we are as a constitutional democracy. There is much that distinguishes our form of government from others, but certainly much of that distinction is found in the Bill of Rights and in two simple words: due process. All of which help to affirm the value and sanctity of the individual in our society. Broadly then, criminal law helps to define who we are as a nation that values both order and liberty.That is what many of the greatest judicial debates are about, like those involving Holmes, Hand, Jackson, and Douglas over the application of the First Amendment to potentially criminal contexts in Debs, Dennis, and Terminiello. These debates reached across courts and across generations of jurists. The Alien and Sedition Acts, McCarthy's use of the contempt statutes, and seminal Supreme Court cases such as Miranda v. Arizona and Gideon v. Wainwright involved historic applications of criminal law. But they were also about much bigger issues regarding liberty and the relationship between government and the individual in democracy. Likewise, the "Scottsboro boys" rape case, Powell v. Alabama, is a right to counsel case, but it is also a touchstone moment when the societal ship began its long turn from lynch law to rule of law. And that is why one-hundred percent of Americans support the war on terrorism, but there is less agreement on the whether, how, when, and where of military tribunals. This is criminal law, but it is also about constitutional values and duties.Law is incremental. It adds up. And if you believe as I do in the importance of criminal law to our society, every act we take deserves our best effort draped in dignity. Criminal law is integral to national security, not a separate stove pipe; in pure statistical form it deeply affects the lives of many in lasting manner; it tells us a great deal about the human condition; and it defines who we are as a constitutional democracy, which Constitution we have sworn to uphold and defend.


This chapter aims to present the fundamentals of the design of wireless communication links for networked robotics applications. First, we provide an overview of networked robotics applications, motivating the importance of the wireless communication link as an enabler of these applications. Next, we review the wireless communication technologies available today, discussing the existent tradeoffs between range, power, and data rate, and introducing the main concepts regarding the design of wireless communication links. Finally, we present a design example of a wireless communication link and the results obtained. We conclude the chapter with a discussion of the results and the challenges faced in the design of wireless communication links for networked robotics.


This paper studies whether U.S. public pension funds reach for yield by taking more investment risk in a low interest rate environment. To study funds' risk-taking behavior, we first present a simple theoretical model relating risk-taking to the level of risk-free rates, to their underfunding, and to the fiscal condition of their state sponsors. The theory identifies two distinct channels through which interest rates and other factors may affect risk-taking: by altering plans' funding ratios, and by changing risk premia. The theory also shows the effect of state finances on funds' risk-taking depends on incentives to shift risk to state debt holders. To study the determinants of risk-taking empirically, we create a new methodology for inferring funds' risk from limited public information on their annual returns and portfolio weights for the interval 2002-2016. In order to better measure the extent of underfunding, we revalue funds' liabilities using discount rate s that better reflect their risk. We find that funds on average took more risk when risk-free rates and funding ratios were lower, which is consistent with both the funding ratio and the risk-premia channels. Consistent with risk-shifting, we also find more risk-taking for funds affiliated with state or municipal sponsors with weaker public finances. We estimate that up to one-third of the funds' total risk was related to underfunding and low interest rates at the end of our sample period.


The payment system is a communications industry in which Federal Reserve Banks, in their check collection activities, provide communication services. The history of government intervention in other communications industries offers lessons for the Fed in its efforts at payment system innovation. Intervention, when it employs barriers to competition in the interest of promoting widespread access to services, weakens the incentives of market participants to adopt new technologies. Conversely, removing barriers to competition promotes efficient innovation but may also require some retreat from the goal of universal access.


The Civilian American and European Surface Anthropometry Resource (CAESAR) database provides a comprehensive source for body measurement in numerous industries such as apparel, aerospace, and automobile. Generating animated CAESAR body sequences from still surface and landmark data will stimulate research and design in these areas. A tool kit has been developed to convert CAESAR bodies to models compliant with the Humanoid Animation specification (H-Anim). It will be helpful to set up a realistic motion capable humanoid library for application environment that can be reused in a wide variety of ergonomic applications. The process consists of preprocessing the mesh, building a skeleton structure, creating segments of the body, assigning weights for vertices, and integrating motion capture data. Publicly available software is adopted for mesh compression and hole filling. C programs were developed to implement the translation from CAESAR body data to H-Anim. The technical issues involved in the process are discussed, and experimental results are shown in the paper.


Intrauterine growth retardation means that the growth of a fetus is restricted as compared with its biological growth potential. This contributes to an increased risk for illnesses or death of the newborn. Therefore it is important to characterize, detect and to follow up clinically any suspected or confirmed growth restriction of the fetus. In this master thesis we aim to describe the course of growth during the pregnancy based on repeated ultrasound measurements and study how the growth depends on different background variables of the mother in analyzing the data from the SGA (small-for-getational age) - project. The SGA-project contains data from 5722 pregnancies that took place in Trondheim, Bergen and Uppsala from 1986-1988, named The Scandinavian SGA-studies. In this thesis we have confined ourselves to a random sample of 561 pregnancies. A problem with many studies of this kind is that the data set contain missing values. In the SGA data set under study there were missing values from one or more of the ultrasound measurements for approximately 40% of the women. Until recently, the most popular used missing-data method available has been complete case analysis, where only subjects with a complete set of data are being analysed. There exist a number of alternative ways of dealing with missing data. Bayesian multiple imputation (MI) has become a highly useful paradigm for handling missing values in many settings. In this paper we compare 2 general approaches that come highly recommended: Bayesian MI and maximum likelihood (ML), and point out some of its unique features. One aspect of MI is the separation of the imputation phase from the analysis phase. It can be advantageous in settings where the models underlying the two phases are different. We have used a multilevel analysis for the course of fetal growth. Multilevel analysis has a hierarchic structure with two levels of variation: variation between points in time for the same fetus (level 1) and variation between fetuses (level 2). Level 1 is modeled by regression analysis with gestational age as the independent variable and level 2 is modeled by regarding the regression coefficients as stochastic with a set of (non directly observed) values for individual fetuses and some background variables of the mother. The model we ended up with describes the devolopment in time of the abdominal diameter (MAD) of the fetus. It had several ``significant'' covariates (p-value < 0.05), they were gestational age (Time-variable), the body-mass index (BMI), age of the mother, an index varible wich tells if a mother has given birth to a low-weight child in an earlier pregnancy and the gender of the fetus. The last covariate was not significant in a strictly mathematical way, but since it is well known that the gender of the fetus has an important effect we included gender in the model as well. When we used the MI-method on the random sample (561) with missing values, the estimated standard deviations of the parameters have been reduced compared to those obtained from the complete case analysis. There were not a significant change in the parameter estimates except for the coefficient for the age of the mother. We also have found a procedure to verify if the MI-method gives us reasonable imputed values for the missing values by following the MCAR-procedure defined in Section 6. Another interesting observation from a simulation study is that estimates of the coefficients for variables used to generate the MAR and MNAR missing mechanism are ``suffering'' because they tend to be more biased compared to the values from the complete case analysis on the random sample (320) than the other variables. According to the MAR assumption such a procedure should give unbiased parameter estimates. {Key Words: Longitudinal data, multilevel analysis, missing data, multiple imputation (MI), Gibbs sampling, linear mixed-effects model and maximum likelihood (ML)-procedure.


We present MalONT2.0 -- an ontology for malware threat intelligence [4]. New classes (attack patterns, infrastructural resources to enable attacks, malware analysis to incorporate static analysis, and dynamic analysis of binaries) and relations have been added following a broadened scope of core competency questions. MalONT2.0 allows researchers to extensively capture all requisite classes and relations that gather semantic and syntactic characteristics of an android malware attack. This ontology forms the basis for the malware threat intelligence knowledge graph, MalKG, which we exemplify using three different, non-overlapping demonstrations. Malware features have been extracted from openCTI reports on android threat intelligence shared on the Internet and written in the form of unstructured text. Some of these sources are blogs, threat intelligence reports, tweets, and news articles. The smallest unit of information that captures malware features is written as triples comprising head and tail entities, each connected with a relation. In the poster and demonstration, we discuss MalONT2.0 and MalKG.


The authors have been leading the GEO Grid project since 2005. This project is primarily aiming at providing an e-Science infrastructure for the worldwide Earth Sciences community. The GEO Grid is designed to virtually integrate all relevant data as a VO-enabled service based on Grid technology, and as such, is accessible as a set of services. This kind of infrastructure is demanded not only by geoscience, but also by biology, high-energy physics, and astronomy. In particular, an integration of existing application-driven service specifications is needed by the application community. However, the specifications in the geoscience community, which are discussed in the open geospatial consortium (OGC), are usually implemented in GET and POST operations under HTTP. Thus, it is difficult to enforce the security framework of Grid technology to OGC services, because the Grid security framework require SOAP-based application protocols. Hence, we consider the architecture and an implementation method for enabling them. In this paper, we design a security framework of the GEO grid services based on the requirements from an example application scenario. These services comply with standardized specifications from both grid technologies and the geoscience community thereby achieving service harmonization. In order to achieve this framework, we implement a credential broker, called OGCProxy, which provides an access method that the user connect VO-enabled OGC services without any modifications of existing applications. We also implement a credential delegation for OGC services, which is impossible so far, to achieve complex chaining, such as cascading services, third party data transfer, applying high performance computing behind processing services, etc. As a result of this security framework, an application that uses a complex chaining of VO-enabled OGC services is available without any modifications.


Introduction: Music may be used as therapeutic interventions or educational practices. Tomatis method is used in treatment of children with learning disorders, autism, attention deficits disorders, developmental delays, brain injury, multiple sensory system dysfunctions. The aim of the study was to investigate which reading skills may improve thanks to treatment based on Tomatis method. The study was conducted among 78 participants (25 girls and 53 boys).
Methods: The '?atysz' non-word reading test was used to assess phonological aspect of language processing and the influence of Tomatis Listening Training to ability of reading.
Results: There was the relationship between proper read to all read words and visual perception (p=-0,04). We detected the correlation between short - term phonological memory and auditory memory (p=0,04).
Conclusion: The smallest the ratio between proper read words to general read word the better is visual perception. The better short - term phonological memory means the higher especially auditory memory.


In this work we used the temporal analog of spatial Fresnel diffraction to design a temporal fractional Fourier transformer with a single dispersive device, in this way avoiding the use of quadratic phase modulators. We demonstrate that a single dispersive passive device inherently provides the fractional Fourier transform of an incident optical pulse. The relationships linking the fractional Fourier transform order and scaling factor with the dispersion parameters are derived. We first provide some numerical results in order to prove the validity of our proposal, using a fiber Bragg grating as the dispersive device. Next, we experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of this proposal by using a spool of a standard optical fiber as the dispersive device.


Burkholderia sp. strain WSM2232 is an aerobic, motile, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming acid-tolerant rod that was trapped in 2001 from acidic soil collected from Karijini National Park (Australia) using Gastrolobium capitatum as a host. WSM2232 was effective in nitrogen fixation with G. capitatum but subsequently lost symbiotic competence during long-term storage. Here we describe the features of Burkholderia sp. strain WSM2232, together with genome sequence information and its annotation. The 7,208,311 bp standard-draft genome is arranged into 72 scaffolds of 72 contigs containing 6,322 protein-coding genes and 61 RNA-only encoding genes. The loss of symbiotic capability can now be attributed to the loss of nodulation and nitrogen fixation genes from the genome. This rhizobial genome is one of 100 sequenced as part of the DOE Joint Genome Institute 2010 Genomic Encyclopedia for Bacteria and Archaea-Root Nodule Bacteria (GEBA-RNB) project.


In a candidate gene association study the goal is to find associations between a trait of interest and genetic variation at markers, such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs. SNPs are grouped within candidate genes thought to influence the trait. Such grouping imposes a tree structure on the hypotheses, with hypotheses about single-SNP associations nested within gene-based associations. In this project we give a tutorial on the inheritance procedure, a powerful new method for testing tree-structured hypotheses. We define sequentially rejective procedures and show that the inheritance procedure is a sequentially rejective procedure that strongly controls the family-wise error rate under so-called monotonicity and single step conditions. We also show how to further improve power by taking advantage of the logical implications among the nested hypotheses. The resulting testing strategy enables more powerful detection of geneand SNP-based associations, while controlling the chance of incorrectly claiming that such associations exist.


We present a new method for training pedestrian detectors on an unannotated set of images. We produce a mixed reality dataset that is composed of real-world background images and synthetically generated static human-agents. Our approach is general, robust, and makes few assumptions about the unannotated dataset. We automatically extract from the dataset: i) the vanishing point to calibrate the virtual camera, and ii) the pedestrians' scales to generate a Spawn Probability Map, which is a novel concept that guides our algorithm to place the pedestrians at appropriate locations. After putting synthetic human-agents in the unannotated images, we use these augmented images to train a Pedestrian Detector, with the annotations generated along with the synthetic agents. We conducted our experiments using Faster R-CNN by comparing the detection results on the unannotated dataset performed by the detector trained using our approach and detectors trained with other manually labeled datasets. We showed that our approach improves the average precision by 5-13% over these detectors.


Stable integration of collagenous tissue-engineered constructs to surrounding solid devices can be accomplished by coating the solid surfaces with exogenous alkaline phosphatase (ALP). We showed previously that coating of culture well surfaces with the enzyme in combination with the presence of its substrate β-glycerophosphate (β-GP) induces mineral deposition at the interface of matrix and surface, thereby preventing matrix detachment. In this study the effect of such mineral-inducing conditions on differentiation of human periodontal ligament (PDL) fibroblasts into osteoblasts/cementoblasts was analyzed in three-dimensional collagen gels. Mineral-inducing conditions decreased collagen type I gene expression and induced dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1; a marker of late osteoblasts/cementoblasts) gene expression by fibroblasts. DMP1 protein was detected in some fibroblasts only in mineralizing gels. Exogenous ALP released high levels of inorganic phosphate from β-GP. Addition of inorganic phosphate alone induced DMP1 gene expression, which could be prevented by blocking phosphate entry into fibroblasts by foscarnet. We concluded that mineralizing conditions induced by exogenous ALP affect the phenotype of PDL fibroblasts. The fibroblasts are stimulated to express the late osteoblast/osteocyte marker protein DMP1, which is mediated by uptake of inorganic phosphate into the cells. The enzyme-mediated mineral deposition may thus facilitate enhanced integration of collagenous tissue-engineered constructs to devices or implants in vitro.


Concerns over the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in poultry production has led to interest in finding alternative growth promoters such as natural compounds and probiotics. Supplementing feed with probiotics has shown to enhance the Gastrointestinal Tract (GIT) development of chickens and turkeys. The human probiotic, E. coli Nissle 1917 (EC Nissle) has been shown to stimulate innate immunity in mammals and to increase body weight in poultry. However, the effect of this probiotic on GIT development has not been studied. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of EC Nissle in the maturation of the GIT of young turkey poults. Fifty-four day of hatch turkey poults were housed in battery brooders and fed either a standard diet or the same diet containing of 10 cfu EC Nissle /bird/day for 21 days. For GIT morphometric 8 analysis, birds were euthanized on days 4, 7 or 21 and samples collected to evaluate villus height, villus surface area, lamina propria thickness, crypt depth and the number of neutral goblet cells. GIT morphometric analysis was conducted on duodenum, jejunum, ileum and cecum on days 4 and 7 and the duodenum on day 21. Villus height and villus surface of the GIT were higher in the EC Nissle treatments compared to control (p<0.05) on all sampling days with the exception of the jejunum and ileum on day 4. Lamina propria thickness and crypt depth were also increased in the EC Nissle treatment in all sections of the GIT except on day 4 in the jejunum. These data suggest that this human E. coli isolate enhanced the maturation of the GIT in young turkey poults and may have potential as an alternative to growth promoting antibiotics.


Objective : This study examined the relationship between maternal postnatal depression (PND) at 6 weeks and first-year parenting stress for mothers of very preterm (gestation < 32 weeks) singleton children. Background: PND is reported as a strong predictor of parenting stress, but few studies examine the effectiveness of parenting interventions according to PND status. In the preterm population, the differential benefit mothers with PND experience from parenting interventions is also unclear. Methods: Validated questionnaires were used to collect information on both PND at 6 weeks and first-year parenting stress from 123 mothers of very preterm singleton children. Results: After adjusting for baseline birth and social risks, mothers who had PND at 6 weeks were more likely to experience parenting stress (OR 3.6, 95%CI 1.2, 12, p = 0.03) and have higher parental distress (OR 5.5, 95%CI 1.6, 18.0, p < 0.01) during the first postpartum year. Conclusion: When assessing the benefits of parenting interventions in reducing parenting stress, the effects of early PND in mothers of preterm infants should not be underestimated.


Plasticity is an intrinsic property of the central nervous system, reflecting its capacity to respond in a dynamic manner to the environment and experience via modification of neural circuitry. In the context of healthy development, plasticity is considered beneficial, facilitating adaptive change in response to environmental stimuli and enrichment, with research documenting establishment of new neural connections and modification to the mapping between neural activity and behaviour. Less is known about the impact of this plasticity in the context of the young, injured brain. This review seeks to explore plasticity processes in the context of early brain insult, taking into account historical perspectives and building on recent advances in knowledge regarding ongoing development and recovery following early brain insult, with a major emphasis on neurobehavioural domains. We were particularly interested to explore the way in which plasticity processes respond to early brain insult, the implications for functional recovery and how this literature contributes to the debate between localization of brain function and neural network models. To this end we have provided an overview of normal brain development, followed by a description of the biological mechanisms associated with the most common childhood brain insults, in order to explore an evidence base for considering the competing theoretical perspectives of early plasticity and early vulnerability. We then detail these theories and the way in which they contribute to our understanding of the consequences of early brain insult. Finally, we examine evidence that considers key factors (e.g. insult severity, age at insult, environment) that may act, either independently or synergistically, to influence recovery processes and ultimate outcome. We conclude that neither plasticity nor vulnerability theories are able to explain the range of functional outcomes from early brain insult. Rather, they represent extremes along a 'recovery continuum'. Where a child's outcome falls along this continuum depends on injury factors (severity, nature, age) and environmental influences (family, sociodemographic factors, interventions).


Ankle Instability is characterized by recurrent giving way and often develops after repeated lateral ankle sprains. Kinesiotape is more elastic than traditional athletic tape and is becoming increasingly popular. It is reported to decrease pain, improve muscle function, circulation and proprioception, however, research examining the effects of Kinesiotape in ankle instability is limited. The objective of this study was to determine if applying Kinesiotape to unstable ankle may improve performance in the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT), which has been shown to be a sensitive and reliable measure for quantifying dynamic balance. Thirty subjects with first degree ankle sprain were participated in this study. SEBT was used to test the subject dynamic balance under three conditions; without taping, with white athletic tape and with kinesiotape. One way repeated measure ANOVA using Greenhouse-Geisser corrections were conducted to evaluate differences in SEBT for the three conditions. Pairwise comparison of the outcome measures in the three occasions (without taping, with athletic taping, and with kinesio taping) revealed statistically significant differences of all outcomes between occasion 1 (without taping) and occasion 2 (with athletic taping) favoring the athletic taping (p < 0.05). Also, a statistically significant difference between occasion 1 (without taping) and occasion 3 (with kinesio taping) were found (p < 0.05) favoring kinesio taping. Moreover, pairwise comparison of the ankle stability outcomes using athletic taping versus kinesio taping indicated a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) in favor of kinesio taping measures. Conclusion: kinesiotape has superior effect than athletic tape in patients with first degree ankle sprain and can be used safely for improving ankle joint stability.


Recently, there have been a lot of researches to synthesize / edit the motion of a single avatar in the virtual environment. However, there has not been so much work of simulating continuous interactions of mulitple avatars such as fighting. In this paper, we propose a new method to generate a realistic fighting scene based on motion capture data. We propose a new algorithm called temporal expansion approach which maps the continuous time action plan to a discrete causality space such that turn-based evaluation methods can be used. As a result, it is possible to use many mature algorithms available in strategy games such as the Minimax algorithm and α− β pruning. We also propose a method to generate and use an offense/defense table, which illustrates the spatialtemporal relationship of attacks and dodges, to incorporate tactical manuevers of defense into the scene. Using our method, avatars will plan their strategies taking into account the reaction of the opponent. Fighting scenes with multiple avatars are generated to demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm. The proposed method can also be applied to other kinds of continuous activities that require strategy planning such as sport games.


R290 which has been considered for use in room air conditioning systems as low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerant has attracted great attention. This refrigerant is determined the lubrication performance of the sliding parts (especially the bearings) in rotary compressor. It is important to prevent the sliding parts from seizure and wear. To ensure the bearing reliability, it is traditional for R290 compressor manufacturer to specify a minimum oil sump temperature difference above the saturated discharge temperature. It is a surrogate measure of minimum viscosity required to ensure adequate lubricant film thickness in bearings under the system flooding conditions. The minimum viscosity depends on the bearing geometry, the load and the speed. This paper describes a method for specifying the minimum safe viscosity of the high-side R290 rotary compressors based on lubricant film thickness calculations.


This work discusses the relevance of architectural design towards the field of information visualization by showing historical and contemporary examples of built structures with encoded information. This overview should demonstrate that information visualization in three dimensional physical environments was already created throughout the history of architecture, even within different cultures. From these examples some design principles for spatial coding of information will be extracted that can be transferred to the field of information visualization. Additionally architectural principles are related to metaphors from different fields of knowledge.


Using a polarized pump-probe technique, we studied the continuous-wave absorption and emission polarization anisotropy of Cr4+:YAG crystals and modeled the ground state absorption and excited state absorption loss. We propose a twisted mode laser cavity to compensate for this anisotropic loss and achieve narrow linewidth output.


Botryosphaeria spp. have been found around the world on numerous hosts. Recent work has indicated
that Botryosphaeria ribis and B. parva may not be distinct species but rather represent the extremes in a
complex. It has been difficult to separate these species based on phenotypic, molecular or niche
associations. fu this thesis, a selection of isolates, representing the diversity in the whole group, were
chosen from a larger subset. This thesis sought to uncover the true status of B. ribis-B. parva. Four
possible scenarios were hypothesized:

a) they were never two distinct species and are instead one species

b) they are a species complex in the process of speciation

c) they were two distinct species that have never developed reproductive isolation mechanisms and
when brought back into contact with each other hybridized and formed a species complex

d) There are many species

Multiple gene genealogies using five gene regions, ITS, EF, CHS, RPB2 and ACT, were investigated. The topology of each generated from each individual gene region reflected a different phylogenetic relationship between isolates in the B. ribis-B. parva complex. The trees were incongruent and could not be combined. This inability to combine the data sets indicated recombination amongst isolates from these two "species". Isolates were classified as either B. parva, B. ribis or "other", depending on whether they grouped with the type specimens of each "species" or not. Based on this there were isolates that consistently grouped with types of B. parva and B. ribis and there were isolates contained a combination of characters from both B. parva sensu stricto and B. ribis sensu stricto. The reticulate nature of each tree topology indicated recombination amongst isolates, lending weight to the scenario hypothesising one species.

SSR data was used to help support the conclusions drawn from the multiple gene genealogies and to try and identify possible gene flow and assess level of genetic diversity amongst isolates. Eight SSR markers that had previously been developed for B.parva were used Distance analysis indicated no association with host or geographic location. The data indicated limited gene differentiation amongst isolates from the Australasian region suggestion the movement throughout the region on eucalypts. Whilst there was evidence of gene flow between South Africa and Australasia, the highest diversity and most unique alleles were found in South Africa from a group of isolates collected from a native Syzygium species. Perhaps this could be the origin of B. parva. The IA values indicated clonality despite high genotypic diversity (73 different genotypes out of 100 isolates). The SSR data did not support the maintenance of two distinct species of B. rib is and B. parva.

Pathogenicity tests showed no significant differences between isolates previously identified as B. parva sensu stricto and B. ribis sensu stricto, one group of isolates did show a significant reduction in pathogenicity but no correlation between host or geographical region could be made to support this. Both hyaline, fusoid (Fusicoccum) and pigmented, irregular (formerly Dichomera) spore types were found amongst isolates in this group however, there were no differences between isolates of the types of B. parva and B. ribis. The appearance of Dichomera spore type is very interesting and further investigations of Dichomera-like spores in the genus Botryosphaeria should be undertaken. Phenotypic evidence does not support the maintenance of two distinct species, nor does it provide any evidence of hybridisation.

There are no significant, consistent morphological differences, multiple gene genealogies generate reticulate incongruent phylogenies (indicating recombination) and SSR data indicates substantial gene flow and shared alleles. Under the Morphological Species Concept, the Biological Species Concept and the Phylogenetic Species Concepts the separation of two distinct species is not supported. Therefore the results of this thesis indicates that B. parva should be synonymized into B. ribis (B. ribis was
described before B. parva).


Recently, it is increasing that double-shot molding technology using some engineering plastics is required particu-larly for molding parts such as sensors and connectors in automobile and electronics fields. There are two major constraints in conventional double molding technology: (1) difference in melting temperature or softening temperature between primary and secondary materials, and (2) compatibility between primary and secondary materials. These limitations are obstacles to adopt double shot molding technology for joining molding parts with similar materials or dissimilar materials. Joining mechanism of conventional double shot molding is fusing primary material by heat transfer and shear from secondary material flow. By changing from the fusion joining mechanism to use of a physical anchor, we thought it would be possible to overcome the aforementioned constraints and join between even if dissimilar materials. As a result, we developed a technique that adopted laser etching on surface of primary material to remove resin and expose the glass fibers which then acts as an anchor for the secondary molding material. We named this process AKI-Lock ® (Advanced Knitting Integrated Lock)and introduce its various features.


In a recent Decision Sciences Journal on Innovative Education article, my colleagues and I used Involvement-Regimen-Self Management-Social (IRSS) network theory as defined by Boice [1992] to assess mentor and mentee experiences among under-represented Information Systems (IS) doctoral students and faculty [Payton, White and Mbarika 2005]. IRSS is defined as InvolvementRegimen-Self Management-Social activities intended to delineate and advise newly-minted doctorates into the professoriate. Boice's framework fosters the establishment of professional support initiatives warranted for career progression and is critical as neophytes to the field attempt to balance the three pillars often characterizing academic life: teaching, research, and service. Though Boice [1992] centers his research in the context of actions and behaviors of newly-minted doctorates and others [Payton et al. 2005] examined those forthcoming to the professoriate, this article focuses on how Gary W. Dickson influenced my thinking about and applying IRSS in my academic career.


Ten exploratory wells have been drilled in the Agua Fria area, led by amplitude anomalies and structural highs. Five of them resulted in dry wells and the other five in gas and oil discoveries. In some of these wells, water sands respond seismically as amplitude anomalies. On the other hand, some oil and gas sands are not easily recognizable from post-stack seismic data. Bright spots are also observed in the study area. Seismic interpretation can be uncertain if no geology is related to elastic response of the subsurface rocks. The purpose of this thesis is to integrate diagenesis data from log and core data, rock physics models, AVO analysis and seismic inversion information to characterize the Agua Fria 3D seismic cube. Mechanical compaction and sorting are the main factors affecting the porosity trend in the selected wells according to the rock physics modeling. AVO class III are the main class present in the study area. However, these responses can be related to brine, oil or gas sands. Rock physics templates and seismic inversion data are useful to understand these responses and to decrease uncertainty to the analysis of these anomalies. The integration of these methodologies allow to improve the understanding of the seismic amplitude response to different geological facies present in the study area.


We consider the problem of recovering a function input of a differential equation formulated on an unknown domain $M$. We assume to have access to a discrete domain $M_n=\{x_1, \dots, x_n\} \subset M$, and to noisy measurements of the output solution at $p\le n$ of those points. We introduce a graph-based Bayesian inverse problem, and show that the graph-posterior measures over functions in $M_n$ converge, in the large $n$ limit, to a posterior over functions in $M$ that solves a Bayesian inverse problem with known domain.
The proofs rely on the variational formulation of the Bayesian update, and on a new topology for the study of convergence of measures over functions on point clouds to a measure over functions on the continuum. Our framework, techniques, and results may serve to lay the foundations of robust uncertainty quantification of graph-based tasks in machine learning. The ideas are presented in the concrete setting of recovering the initial condition of the heat equation on an unknown manifold.


Brazil has consistently been seeking a more influential place at global decision-making tables in order to preserve its sovereignty and protect its national policy autonomy. The challenge for Brazilian diplomats is that their country lacks the economic or military muscle to force a way onto these tables. Subtler avenues for inclusion are thus needed. Seven of the main tactics employed in Brazilian foreign policy are outlined here, and range from the defensive/passive (avoiding mindless opposition, collectivisation) through the neutral (consensus creation, technocratic speak) to the assertive (building new organisations, propagating new thinking) and finally to the aggressive (principled presidential righteousness).


This volume deals with the law governing the administrative implementation of European Union public policy. Much of this law is specific to individual policy sectors. The volume provides a study of such specialized admininstrative law for more than twenty sectors. This cross-sectoral approach allows for detailed comparisons of EU administration in diverse policy fields. It identifies situations where legal structures and approaches may be unnecessarily duplicated, thus indicating where a comprehensive, general system could be advantageous for both Union law and policy achievement. The comparative nature of the study also draws attention to policy fields which have proven to be testing grounds for approaches adopted subsequently in other areas. In addition, the work highlights the distinctive, highly networked, and strongly cooperative character of EU administration, as a reflection of, and a foundation for, the operative nature of the European Union as a whole.


Party member women's organizations were early features of party development. While some contemporary studies maintain these are important sites for the substantive representation of women, there is also a claim that they are in decline. Our primary purpose here is to establish the existence of party member women's organizations – as one test of the first dimension of party feminization: the inclusion of women. We draw on new survey data of 17 European countries provided by Scarrow, Poguntke and Webb. We establish that almost half have a party member women's organization. The new data also permits analysis of relationships between party member women's organization and gender quotas for the top party leadership body (National Executive Committee (NEC)), women's presence among the party leadership and candidate quota rules. Together we see these (i) as a means to establish whether women are marginalized within the party, thereby limiting descriptive representation and (ii) as surrogate measures for women's substantive representation. We importantly find that the presence of a party member women's organization does not come at the cost of women's presence on the NEC. In the final section, we turn our attention to building a new comparative research agenda that more fully addresses substantive representation.


Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O Thin Films Grown by Flash Evaporation and Pulsed Laser Deposition. (December 2003) Santhana Gopinath Ganapathy Subramanian, B.E., University of Mysore Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. M. Yavuz Dr. D.G. Naugle Bismuth-Strontium-Calcium-Copper-Oxide (BSCCO) compounds are an important family of compounds that have one of the highest transition temperatures among all high-temperature superconductors. The compound is known to exist in three distinct phases, commonly referred to as the 2201, 2212 and 2223 phases. Of these three phases, the 2212 and 2223 phases are the most important, as their transition temperature is higher than the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. It is desirable to produce the compound in thin film form, as the bulk samples are normally polycrystalline. This thesis compares thin films produced by two techniques for depositing BSCCO in order to understand the effect of various processing parameters on the final quality of the thin films. Thin films were grown by flash evaporation at Texas A&M University, and by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at the University of Wollongong, Australia. The latter of these techniques is widely used for growing thin films of various compounds. Single-phase 2212 films were grown on a MgO substrate using the pulsed laser deposition technique from commercially available 2212 powder. The effect of annealing on the thin films was also studied.


Among a sample of college students, roughly 30% of the women and 12% of the men reported having been the victim of a sexual assault sometime in their lives. Of the assault victims, approximately 23% of both sexes stated that they had sexual intercourse with their assaulters on at least one subsequent occasion. Female victims of a completed sexual assault were significantly more likely to continue being sexually active with their assailants than were female victims who managed to block the assault, while no such difference was found for male victims. This would imply that some men are using assaultive tactics to secure sex partners beyond a single sexual episode, thereby enhancing their potential reproductive success in evolutionary terms. Also, men who committed sexual assault reported having had more lifetime sex partners than did sexually experienced men with no sexual assault history. Overall, the idea that sexual assault is part of an evolved reproductive strategy is consistent with findings from this study.


This poster represents the development of a prototype for a measurement tool of the human hand to be used for arthritis patients. The prototype integrates the 'Interactive Hand' research which involved the development of an articulated 3d digital model of the skeletal system of the human hand. This model has been integrated into a working prototype which includes use of a DataGlove for tracking movement of the human hand joints. The prototype includes software and graphical user interface (GUI) development.


OBJECTIVE: To examine general practitioners' (GPs') attitudes towards taking a sexual history. METHODS: Questions on sexual history taking were included in a random survey on the STD knowledge, attitudes, and practices of 600 GPs practising in Victoria, Australia. RESULTS: Most GPs commonly asked patients about safe sex (79%), number of sex partners (63%), and injecting drug use (60%) while fewer asked about recent overseas travel (50%) and sex with sex workers (31%). GPs who performed sexual health consultations daily or weekly identified barriers to sexual history taking to be of less concern than those who performed such consultations infrequently. Most GPs (92%) would take a sexual history from a man presenting as the sexual contact of an infected partner, but less than a third would do so for a patient routinely requesting the contraceptive pill (28%), a Papanicolaou (Pap) smear (30%), or advice about immunisation before overseas travel (30%). Female GPs were significantly more likely than male GPs to take a sexual history in those clinical situations involving a female patient and also to perceive these patients as experiencing less embarrassment. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights both the lack of opportunistic sexual history taking and the main barriers to sexual history taking in general practice in Victoria, Australia. The importance of educating both patients and GPs about sexual history taking are discussed.


This experiment was designed to examine the effects of resistance exercise on a manipulated preexercise mood. Participants were 40 undergraduate males who were randomly assigned to either resistance exercise or no-exercise, placebo activity. Prior to each session, participants were exposed to 1 of 3 mood inductions: positive, negative, or neutral, each of which was induced through the use of guided imagery. Resistance exercisers in the control condition reported increased anxiety and anger within 5 nun postexercise. This quickly dissipated, with anxiety falling below baseline values within 30 min postexercise. Neither condition was able to maintain the manipulated positive mood. Likewise, both conditions reduced the manipulated negative mood. However, the mood-enhancing effect of the placebo activity plateaued within 15 min. while the anxiolytic effect of exercise continued throughout recovery.


Alliance research has traditionally focused on structural and relational aspects of the networks in which firms are situated, paying less attention to the inherent characteristics of their partners. This study introduces the notion of alliance portfolio internationalization (API), which refers to the degree of foreignness of partners in a firm's collection of immediate alliance relationships. We develop a framework to explain how API impacts firm performance. We suggest that as a firm's API increases, financial performance is expected to initially decline, then improve, and finally decline again. This sigmoid relationship between API and financial performance is ascribed to evolving learning effects that shape the net benefits of API. When the firm's alliance portfolio, on average, consists of proximate foreign partners, the firm may fail to recognize latent national differences, but at moderate levels of API, its absorptive capacity and specialized collaborative routines support the exchange of valuable network resources. Nevertheless, high levels of API undermine firm performance because of the failure of collaborative routines and mounting liabilities of cross-national differences. We test the framework using data on the alliance portfolios of U.S.-based software firms from 1990 to 2001. The results provide support for the sigmoid relationship as well as for our predictions that firms, which have gained experience with foreign partners and maintained wholly owned subsidiaries in their partners' countries of origin, can overcome some of the liabilities of API and better leverage its benefits.


In the theory of option pricing one is usually concerned with evaluating expectations under the risk-neutral measure in a continuous-time model.
However, very often these values cannot be calculated explicitly and numerical methods need to be applied to approximate the desired quantity. Monte Carlo simulations, numerical methods for PDEs and the lattice approach are the methods typically employed. In this thesis we consider the latter approach, with the main focus on binomial trees.

The binomial method is based on the concept of weak convergence. The discrete-time model is constructed so as to ensure convergence in distribution to the continuous process. This means that the expectations calculated in the binomial tree can be used as approximations of the option prices in the continuous model. The binomial method is easy to implement and can be adapted to options with different types of payout structures, including American options. This makes the approach very appealing. However, the problem is that in many cases, the convergence of the method is slow and highly irregular, and even a fine discretization does not guarantee accurate price approximations. Therefore, ways of improving the convergence properties are required.

We apply Edgeworth expansions to study the convergence behavior of the lattice approach. We propose a general framework, that allows to obtain asymptotic expansion for both multinomial and multidimensional trees. This information is then used to construct advanced models with superior convergence properties.

In binomial models we usually deal with triangular arrays of lattice random vectors. In this case the available results on Edgeworth expansions for lattices are not directly applicable. Therefore, we first present Edgeworth expansions, which are also valid for the binomial tree setting. We then apply these result to the one-dimensional and multidimensional Black-Scholes models. We obtain third order expansions
for general binomial and trinomial trees in the 1D setting, and construct advanced models for digital, vanilla and barrier options. Second order expansion are provided for the standard 2D binomial trees and advanced models are constructed for the two-asset digital and the two-asset correlation options. We also present advanced binomial models for a multidimensional setting.


List of Contributors. 1. Computational Fluid Dynamics modelling for environmental hydraulics. (Bates (Bristol, UK), Lane (Leeds, UK) and Ferguson (Sheffield, UK)). PART ONE: AN OVERVIEW OF COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS SCHEMES. 2. Fundamental equations for CFD in river flow simulations (D.B. Ingham and L. Ma). 3. Modelling Solute Transport Processes in Free Surface Flow CFD Schemes (I. Guymer, C. Wilson and J. Boxall). 4. Basic equations for sediment transport in CFD for fluvial morphodynamics (E. Mosselman). 5. Introduction to Statistical Turbulence Modeling for Hydraulic Engineering Flows (F. Sotiropoulos). 6. Modelling wetting and drying processes in hydraulic models (P. D. Bates and M. S. Horritt). 7. Introduction to Numerical Methods for Fluid Flow (N. G. Wright). 8. A framework for model verification and validation of CFD schemes in natural open channel flows (S. N. Lane, R. J. Hardy, R. I. Ferguson and D. R. Parsons). 9. Parameterisation, validation and uncertainty analysis of CFD models of fluvial and flood hydraulics in the natural environment (M. S. Horritt). 10. Modelling reach-scale fluvial flows (S. N. Lane and R. I. Ferguson). 11. Numerical modeling of floodplain flow (P. D. Bates, M. S. Horritt, N. M. Hunter, D. Mason and D. Cobby). 12. Modelling water quality processes in estuaries (R. A. Falconer, B. Lin and S. M. Kashefipour). 13. Roughness parameterization in CFD modeling of gravel-bed rivers (A. P. Nicholas). 14. Modelling of sand deposition in archaeologically significant reaches of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, USA (S. Wiele and M. Torizzo). 15. Modelling of open channel flow through vegetation (C. A. M. E. Wilson, T. Stoesser and P. D. Bates). 16. Ecohydraulics: a new interdisciplinary frontier for CFD (M. Leclerc). 17. Towards risk based prediction in real world applications of complex hydraulic models (B. G. Hankin and K. J. Beven). 18. CFD for environmental design and management (G. Pender, H. P. Morvan, N. G. Wright and D. A. Ervine). Author Index. Subject Index.


There is a growing population of aging parents with dementia and subsequent obligations of adult children to provide care for them. Approaches to helping adult siblings care for their parents are centered on primary caregiver network models that overly focus on instrumental support and the integration of formal care into the system of dementia caregiving. Unfortunately, models that exist do not address the unique caregiving sibling connections or social support that are perceived and experienced in the dementia care system, which may prove more beneficial than instrumental assistance in helping family caregivers. To address the gaps in dementia care literature and practice, this dissertation study explored the perceptions and experiences of sibling connections and social support between adult siblings caring for their aging parents with dementia. The current study involved interviews with five sibling dyads of families living in the Midwest who were in the process of caring for a parent with dementia. Ten siblings (two from each family) completed demographic questionnaires and independently participated in semi-structured interviews about their experiences and perceptions of dementia care, including their perceived social support and sibling connection. In cross-family analysis, four superordinate clusters and 18 superordinate themes were found in participants' narratives. Results of this study confirm the importance of examining dementia concerns and providing assistance and resources from a systemic and contextual paradigm to adult siblings who are caregiving for a parent with dementia, rather than working from a primary caregiver network model. Additionally, instead of medical and instrumental tasks taking the forefront of support in dementia caregiving, providing different levels of mental and emotional social support seemed to be most important in balancing the dementia caregiving system. Moreover, cultural guides related to ethnicity, religion, and generational differences proved to be important in helping caregivers deal with and understand their parents' cognitive decline. Findings from this study support an expanded way of helping and understanding adult sibling dementia caregivers' experiences and perceptions of sibling connections and social support from a family systems/ecological model. Keywords: adult siblings, aging parents, dementia caregivers, caregiving, cognitive decline, dementia, ecological systems, eldercare, familial care, family systems, filial care, formal care, interpretive phenomenological analysis, phenomenology, qualitative research, sibling connection, sibling relationships, siblings, social support.


Models of systems biology, climate change, ecology, complex instruments, and macroeconomics have parameters that are hard or impossible to measure directly. If we fit these unknown parameters, fiddling with them until they agree with past experiments, how much can we trust their predictions? We have found that predictions can be made despite huge uncertainties in the parameters – many parameter combinations are mostly unimportant to the collective behavior. We will use ideas and methods from differential geometry and approximation theory to explain sloppiness as a 'hyper-ribbon' structure of the manifold of possible model predictions. We show that physics theories are also sloppy – that sloppiness may be the underlying reason why the world is comprehensible. We will present new methods for visualizing this model manifold for probabilistic systems – such as the space of possible universes as measured by the cosmic microwave background radiation.


SUMMARY:  As diabetes is a common disease state that is often underdiagnosed and undermanaged, this article aims to provide a practical approach to understanding the details of widely accepted recommendations for diabetes in the USA. Three guidelines are reviewed highlighting screening, diagnosis and treatment algorithms, with a focus on practical application to a patient scenario. The guidelines reviewed are published by the American Diabetes Association/European Association for the Study of Diabetes (ADA/EASD), the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and the American College of Physicians (ACP). By applying to the scenario of a newly diagnosed diabetic patient, this article aspires to highlight treatment differences between each expert recommendation, providing insight into evaluations made to determine the ideal initial treatment regimen.


Drawing from literature straddling tourism, marketing, geography and anthropology, this thesis investigates how US tourists consume and thereby make sense of Ireland as a place through practicing photography as part of 'being a tourist'. The constructivist approach to this research facilitated an exchange of ideas between the researcher and the participants. This exchange between the researcher and the participants, in which knowledge is not discovered, but rather created, informs the hermeneutically-situated methodologies sometimes used by constructivists. The thesis, therefore, employs a suite of participant-focused, hermeneutically-situated methodologies, including in-depth interviews and focus groups to produce a phenomenographical account of how the participants made sense of Ireland as a place. A three-phased approach was taken to collecting the primary data. The first phase used in-depth interviews and photo-elicitation techniques to explore a selection of induced images of Ireland with US tourists prior to visiting Ireland. This phase in the research took place in JFK airport in New York, and the key themes to emerge from the photoelicitation work categorised photographs used to market Ireland as: "indicative of Ireland", "stereotypically Irish", or "it could be anywhere". Phase two of the research made use of in-depth interviews to collect and discuss photographs taken by the participants from phase one while they were on holiday in Ireland. The key themes to emerge from this phase in the research reflect the participants' pre-visitation imagined view of Ireland as: green; rural; beautiful; Irish people; symbols of Ireland; religion. Phase three of the research involved eight focus groups with US tourists on their last night in Ireland. During the focus groups each participant was asked to submit a selection of their photographs that, in their opinion, truly represented Ireland as they experienced it. The themes which emerged from this phase of the research reflect the intensity of emotion and enchantment experienced by them with Ireland as a place during their holiday. Their photographs offer a window into their world, and how they view Ireland as an enchanting place, where enchanting people live, and where it is still possible to experience an enchanting way of life. This thesis captures the essence of the participants' sense-making of Ireland by discussing with them the photographs taken by them on holiday. This thesis reveals that by looking at organic images of destinations, but more importantly, by taking their own photographs while on holiday, tourists play an active role in their own seduction and enchantment with places. The thesis concludes that tourists pass through a cycle of enchantment and meaning, as they make sense of places by taking photographs. It is also clear that tourists legitimise their imagined view of places by seeking out and taking photographic evidence while on holiday, to prove that their imagined view of place really exists.


BACKGROUND
Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a relatively uncommon disease, but the incidence is increasing and is expected to peak in many developed countries in the next two decades. The management of patients with malignant mesothelioma is controversial. Very few patients are suitable for any potentially curative treatment and the effectiveness of radical therapy with surgery, radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy in curing patients or prolonging survival is uncertain. The role of radiotherapy is controversial although it has been used as part of multimodal therapy. The present review will try to clarify these uncertainties.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effectiveness and safety of radiotherapy on patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma in any stage of the disease.

SEARCH STRATEGY
Both electronic and handsearches were conducted. All randomised controlled clinical trials were searched in electronic databases such as: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE and EMBASE. Handsearching was aimed at the identification of evidence by reviewing journals not indexed in databases, proceedings of conferences and/or scientific meetings.

SELECTION CRITERIA
All randomised controlled clinical trials using radiotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma in any stage, alone or combined with other therapies in patients of either sex and any age, were included. Studies without a control group were excluded.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
There were no studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria.

MAIN RESULTS
To date we have not found any reports of randomised comparisons of radiotherapy alone or combined for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
As radiotherapy has never been compared to chemotherapy or surgery or to best supportive care (as part of combination therapy) in a prospective, randomised trial, no data exist supporting one or the other treatment as a better option for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. There is a need for multicentre controlled randomised trials assessing the role of radiotherapy in the radical treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma. The studies should be limited to patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, classified by stage, cytology and type of radiotherapy. The type of radiotherapy should be defined in advance and variables of radiotherapy dose definition and delivery should be carefully controlled.


An approach by laser ablation (LA) coupled with inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for multi-element determination in whole blood is described. The method allows quantitative determination of several major (K, Na and S), minor (Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, P, Rb and Zn), and trace elements (Al, As, Ba, I, Li, Pb, Sb, V and Tl) in dried blood spot (DBS) samples. Optimum conditions and validation were assessed using Seronorm™ level II and Seronorm™ level III certified reference materials. Laser ablation of DBS samples was performed using a focused Nd:YAG laser beam in linear scan mode (wavelength 213 nm, laser fluency 3.0 J cm−2, repetition rate 20 Hz, laser spot diameter 90 μm, depth 0 μm, and scan speed 8 μm s−1). Different quantification strategies for the LA-ICP-MS data using matrix-matched calibration or a prearranged external calibration/addition set were applied. 13C and 32S were used for signal intensity normalization. Using a matrix-matched calibration curve and 13C or 32S as internal standards for normalization, the limits of quantification were found to be from 1.9 μg L−1 to 1094 mg L−1. Accuracy (analysis of Seronorm™ level II) was satisfactory after statistical evaluation by applying a t-test at the 95% confidence level. The repeatability and reproducibility of the methods were generally below 14%. The method was applied to several DBS samples from newborns.


The Starlings Sturnus vulgaris breeding in sixteen nestbox groups, three in northern and thirteen in southern Sweden, were monitored in 1988—2003. Date of the first egg was found to correlate with both latitude and elevation when all sites were included (13 degrees of latitude; 5–430 m elevation). Restricting the analysis to only the south Swedish sites (4 degrees of latitude; 5–230 m elevation), only elevation had any effect. The absence of an effect of latitude in southern Sweden is interpreted as an effect of the large-scale Atlantic low-pressure systems that rapidly pass Sweden and bring mild spring weather to that whole area almost simultaneously, making local climate as determined by elevation more important than effects of latitude. Onset of laying at the sites in northern Sweden did not differ with more than two days in spite of one site being at the coast and the other two in mountain valleys at 380 and 430 m, possibly because the western birds winter at the Norwegian coast only c. 70 km away.


Indicators of labour market slack such as the unemployment rate provide an important input into the Reserve Bank's assessment of capacity pressures in the economy, and therefore wage and price inflation. A measure of capacity pressure in the labour market is the unemployment gap, the difference between the headline rate of unemployment and some 'equilibrium' level of unemployment. Economists typically refer to this underlying level as the natural rate of unemployment or the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU), and the two terms are sometimes used inter-changeably. In this Analytical Note, we distinguish between these two unobservable measures of equilibrium unemployment. Then, using estimated macroeconomic relationships, we filter the data to obtain measures of the NAIRU and the natural rate for New Zealand. While the natural rate of unemployment and the NAIRU are synonymous in the long run, there is an important distinction between the two concepts over shorter horizons. The natural rate is essentially a steady-state concept – it is the level of unemployment that reflects the structure of the labour market (for example, its demographic make-up, institutional and contractual factors, and technology), and after transitory shocks have fully worked through labour and product markets. The NAIRU concept is similar to the extent that it is affected by similar structural forces in the economy. However it is not a steady-state concept – instead it represents the level of unemployment consistent with stable inflation in the short to medium term. The NAIRU takes into account the influence of structural changes and other shocks in the economy, and how they interact with frictions in labour and product markets. In the long run, the NAIRU converges to the natural rate of unemployment once the effects of the shocks hitting the economy have faded. Much of this Analytical Note focuses on the NAIRU, which is the more relevant concept for understanding inflationary pressure over the medium-term time horizon relevant for monetary policy. The focus of monetary policy is to minimise fluctuations in cyclical unemployment, as indicated by the gap between the unemployment rate and the NAIRU, while also maintaining its objective of price stability. Monetary policy has limited influence on the natural rate of unemployment. However, since the natural rate can be influenced via structural policies, it is the more relevant measure of equilibrium unemployment for the long-term objectives of the Government. For 2017Q3, the end-point of our sample, our NAIRU estimates correspond to an unemployment gap that is around zero. This is consistent with other measures of capacity pressures. However, we emphasise that point estimates of the NAIRU and the natural rate are imprecise and highly sensitive to sample periods, data choices, and model specifications. The confidence interval of our estimates approximately spans from 4.0 to 5.5 percent. This imprecision suggests that other observable indicators are needed to supplement estimates of equilibrium unemployment in assessing the overall degree of labour market slack.


Abstract : In support of the Joint community's efforts to develop a viable operational concept, the author argues that the Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO) concept's developers deserve high praise for attempting to link two relative properties--speed and decisiveness--but that the definition of RDO is at present incoherent and based on several deeply flawed assumptions. The author concludes that RDO creates dubious expectations and will likely fail to balance the strengths and weaknesses introduced by new technologies. He further recommends a method for identifying and addressing an operational concept s critical assumptions.


Okay, the title of this article is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but travel does involve considerable costs. The average household spends about $8,500 per year on transportation, making it one of our biggest expenditures. Time is another cost of travel, because the roughly hour and ten minutes American adults spend traveling each day might be better spent on things like work, family, and even sleep. Travel can also be tiring, stressful, dangerous, and more.


I. INTRODUCTION In No Lessons Learned from the Holocaust? Assessing Risks of Genocide and Political Mass Murder Since 1955, author Barbara Harff lays out "six factors that jointly make it possible to distinguish with 74% accuracy . . . regime collapses that do and those that do not lead to geno-Xpoliticide."1 Professor Harff s article on the risks of genocide marks a new step in the study of genocide and related phenomena. It is one of the first studies to bring together a large sample of genocide cases for quantitative analysis. Harff considers a number of characteristics of states as possible precursors to genocide and seeks to determine which show statistically significant correlations to actual genocides and politicides across a large set of cases. She then analyzes current states and develops a "watch list" for countries that exhibit both armed conflict and one or more of the factors identified as precursors to genocide or politicide.2 The net result of Harff s study is a set of seven factors-one screening criterion and six evaluation criteria-that successfully identify almost three-quarters of her sampled cases. Academic focus on Uzbekistan, and Central Asia more generally, has until recently been limited to a discrete few. Composed of states barely a decade old, the study of Central Asia requires additional emphasis to ensure the accuracy of its contributions to global comparative analyses. This Article seeks to begin that process in the exploration of genocide in global comparative studies. Uzbekistan is a particularly interesting place to apply Harff s model, as it arguably demonstrates five of the six distinguishing factors, yet Harff fails to include it on the "watch list."3 In one sense, Uzbekistan remains in the broad categories of states without genocide or armed conflict. Yet, these categorizations are debatable. Using Uzbekistan as a case study, this Article considers HarfFs theory in light of the overarching goal of "us [ing] social science analysis to explain genocides . . . with an eye to developing early warning systems to detect humanitarian disasters in the making."4 Part II defines genocide and discusses a brief history of recent genocidal atrocities. Part III explores Harff s methodology and evaluates Uzbekistan as a genocide watch candidate in light of Harff s six factors, while also using the case of Uzbekistan to critique certain aspects of Harff s framework. It considers three weaknesses in Harff s framework: the use of "political upheaval"5 as a screening criterion for potential geno-/politicides; the explanation of the "trade openness" factor;6 and the conflation of genocide and political mass murders.7 Part III also explores the extent to which the decision not to place Uzbekistan on the "watch list" is a result of failures in Harff s framework-as well as a failure of the global databases on conflict to incorporate regional events in Central Asia-thereby demonstrating the relevance of regional expertise in applying more general comparative theories, including an exploration of how the case of Uzbekistan challenges the categorization of countries by broad political, social and economic variables implicit in Harff s model. Finally, Part III identifies important risk factors that are not used by Harff s model, but that are important considerations in evaluating potential risk, and attempts to evaluate the danger of genocide in Uzbekistan. II. PRIOR EVALUATION OF GENOCIDE A. Definition of Genocide The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention)8 defines genocide as: [A]ny of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. …


In recent years, one-way car sharing systems have gained momentum across the world with their promise to encourage more sustainable urban mobility models. However, economic viability of car sharing is still uncertain due to high investment cost for station and fleet deployment, as well as high operation cost for fleet management and rebalancing. Furthermore, existing car sharing are typically confined to city centres with significant business and residential concentrations. In this study, we evaluate the performance of a novel oneway car sharing system that will be deployed in a suburban area of the city of Lyon using a detailed multi-agent and multi-modal transport simulation model. Data from a recent large-scale household travel survey is used to determine the travel demands on different transportation alternatives. We analyse the impact of different coverage constraints on the system capacity in terms of number of trips and vehicle availability. We also investigate the potential of user-based relocation strategies to increase the efficiency of the car sharing service. The model shows that: (i) the car sharing system is most sensitive to the infrastructure and fleet sizes, and (ii) user-based relocation does not have a significant impact on the total number of car sharing trips.


Given a point <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$p$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="song-ieq1-2562627.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and a set of points <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$S$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="song-ieq2-2562627.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>, the kNN operation finds the <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula> closest points to in <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$S$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="song-ieq4-2562627.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>. It is a computational intensive task with a large range of applications such as knowledge discovery or data mining. However, as the volume and the dimension of data increase, only distributed approaches can perform such costly operation in a reasonable time. Recent works have focused on implementing efficient solutions using the MapReduce programming model because it is suitable for distributed large scale data processing. Although these works provide different solutions to the same problem, each one has particular constraints and properties. In this paper, we compare the different existing approaches for computing kNN on MapReduce, first theoretically, and then by performing an extensive experimental evaluation. To be able to compare solutions, we identify three generic steps for kNN computation on MapReduce: data pre-processing, data partitioning, and computation. We then analyze each step from load balancing, accuracy, and complexity aspects. Experiments in this paper use a variety of datasets, and analyze the impact of data volume, data dimension, and the value of k from many perspectives like time and space complexity, and accuracy. The experimental part brings new advantages and shortcomings that are discussed for each algorithm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that compares kNN computing methods on MapReduce both theoretically and experimentally with the same setting. Overall, this paper can be used as a guide to tackle kNN-based practical problems in the context of big data.


An estimated 10% of the Philippine population — about 10 million people — is overseas. While they contribute significantly to the Philippine economy by way of remittances and other connections, there may be a growing risk of brain and skills drain that could be detrimental to the country's long run growth prospects. In crafting any possible response, it would be critical to understand the motivations of the Filipino youth, who comprise a large share of the migrant population, and notably since the country is on the cusp of a youth bulge. In order to contribute to the evidence-base in this area, this study turns to a unique survey of about 2500 Philippine college students, empirically examining the factors that influence youth migration intentions. It identifies and evaluates the strength of the various push and pull factors that might ultimately determine the decision to migrate. The study finds that a student who has relatives and friends abroad who encourage migration as well as relatives and friends in the Philippines who encourage migration is 11.75 times more likely to have an intention to migrate compared to the baseline student. A student who witnessed cheating in local elections is 1.35 times more likely to have an intention to migrate compared to the baseline student. The results of the study highlight the potentially increasing challenges for policymakers who seek to facilitate a better match between young people's skills and job opportunities at home. Regional integration, such as the imminent emergence of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, could accentuate these factors, further underscoring the importance of policies to address youth unemployment, underemployment, and education-job mismatches. While domestic policies will still be needed, international cooperation could prove increasingly critical.


This "city of light" has long been a world leader in so many ways, not least of them in design. This attractively illustrated book covers the most up-to-date Parisian design from the fields of architecture, interiors and fashion. With an in-depth round-up featuring projects for cultural, commercial, and residential spaces, we get a privileged glimpse at what's happening in this creative capital. We also are granted access to the latest developments in product design and other specialties. Browse this book for a whole host of designs by native Parisians and those who work or live here.


Finger millet is rich in proteins, sulphur, calcium, iron, low glycemic index and high fibre content. Despite its importance, it has yields of 400 kg ha-1 compared to 2,500 kg ha-1. Trials were conducted in 2017 and 2018 at the Research farm of Federal University Wukari (Latitude 7o50'-8o30'N and Longitude 9o68'-9o89' E.) to investigate the response of finger millet and blast to plant population and fertilizer. The treatments consisted of two plant population (1 plant per stand and 2 plants per stand) and three N-fertilizer rates (0, 30 and 60 kg/ha). The treatments were laid out in factorial manner using RCBD with three replications. The results indicated that the leaf, neck and finger blast were highly significantly highest at 1 plant per stand and N level of 60 N kg ha-1. The highest numbers of effective tillers, fingers per head and 1000 kernel weight were recorded at the highest rate of 30N kg ha-1 compared to 0 N kg ha-1. Furthermore, plant population of 1 plant per stand and fertilization of 30 N kg ha-1 gave the highest grain yield (1728.42–2, 138.24 kg ha-1), compare to the lowest yield from 2 plants per stand and fertilizer rate of 0 kg ha-1.