In early 2000s, a large group of Gogodala-speaking villagers in the Western Province (WP) of Papua New Guinea, led by a man I refer to as Henry, claimed to be members of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Henry and his supporters arranged for the visit of Tudor Parfitt, then Director of the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of London, to WP. In this paper, I suggest that an ongoing local interest in 'origins' has been framed in light of biblical teachings, and this more recent claim of a connection between the Gogodala ancestors and the Lost Tribes of Israel. I explore the generation of such ideas and claims through an examination of the significance of babala ('rules' or 'laws') as practices vital to the maintenance of village-based life, and biblical teachings on behaviour and practice focused on by the local Unevangelised Fields Mission. In this context, I explore the implications of the conjuncture of babala and the Bible, and the visits by Parfitt and his team, through the recent development of a 'Messianic Church' in Balimo with explicit forms of worship associated with Judaism.


Electrolytic lesions of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) produce an obesity syndrome characterized by hyperphagia, adiposity, and heightened parasympathetic tone. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the possibility that these symptoms arise from damage to distinct and separated loci within the hypothalamus. Rats received either VMH lesions, perifornical hypothalamic (PFH) knife cuts, ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN) lesions, or sham surgery (Sham). When maintained ad libitum, VMH and PFH rats were hyperphagic, overweight, and became obese. VMN rats were not hyperphagic, nor did they gain excessive weight, but they did develop an obesity reflected as a significantly elevated level of carcass fat. Under restricted feeding conditions, both VMH and VMN rats became obese; PFH rats did not. Also, only VMH lesions and PFH knife cuts increased basal gastric acid secretion. These data demonstrate dissociations between hyperphagia and obesity, as well as between stomach secretion and obesity, in the VMH syndrome. The implications of these findings for a dissociative model of the VMH obesity syndrome are discussed.


This study was carried out to assess the implementation of the Amnesty programme with regards to restoration of peace in the Niger Delta region. This study becomes necessary given the importance of the region to economic prosperity and well being of Nigeria. Given the nature of the main objective of the study, content analytical method was employed to review published records (official publications, articles from reputable journals). After critical examination of available records, it was found that the Amnesty programme is just a scratch on the surface of the underlying factors that triggered the conflict; it was also found that the programme was lopsided in approach as victims of environmental degradation who were not members of militant groups were totally excluded from enjoying benefits accruing from the programme; that there was obvious corruption in the management of the programme as its handlers expended about 80% of the programme's budget in consultancy services among others. On the basis of the findings, we recommended as follows: that the root causes of the Niger Delta agitations such as poverty, underdevelopment, environmental degradation, unemployment among the youths, etc should be frontally tackled by government; that government should demonstrate political will by ensuring immediate end to gas flaring in the region; that government should ensure the sustenance of Amnesty programme by expanding its scope and ensuring regularity in the payment of stipends to repented militants, etc.


An efficient and effective logistics industry is essential if Namibia to achieve the objectives of its "Vision 2030" and "NDP_4" plans to stimulate growth through trade. Logistics can support trade, but only if it achieves the appropriate service levels. Namibia plans to develop a thriving port-centric logistics cluster, however for this to succeed it is vital that Namibia's logistics industry delivers levels of customer service that match those required by international shippers and does so at a competitive price. This research used an exploratory approach through questionnaires and telephone interviews to try to gain a better understanding of those levels of service. The findings produced a preliminary view of the service levels offered by the logistics industry in Namibia. The results showed the service aspects that are of greatest importance to Namibian logistics users and indicated how well the industry is fulfilling them.


In this paper we analyze by means of accurate MultiSubband Monte Carlo simulations the mobility reduction associated to high-! dielectrics in a large number of n- and p-MOSFETs. We argue that soft optical phonon scattering can not explain the experimental mobility reduction for neither the electron nor the hole inversion layer. In order to reproduce the experimental data, a large amount of Coulomb centers in the gate stack is required, which would result in a huge threshold voltage shift not observed in the experiments. Even if we assume the remote charge to be in the form of dipoles, the associated threshold voltage shift is still large and not consistent with the experimental findings.


The research explored perceptions of preparedness for bushfire-related matters at the rural-urban community of Tamborine Mountain. A literature review expressed the need for changes in bushfire mitigation/management as a result of the need for increased self-reliance. The social construction of risk methodology was applied to a multi-method case study to derive and deliver an analysis of agreements and differences in the perceptions/expectations of fire services and the community (see results below).

How the fire services' and the community's perceptions/expectations agreed:
1. There are varied degrees of perception regarding bushfire risk.
2. Experience with fire appears to be related to awareness of associated risks.
3. Risk awareness does not appear to be related to recent Australian bushfire events.
4. The overall view was that fire breaks are a necessary fire management initiative.
5. The local bushfire season was perceived to be from early spring to summer.
6. There is a need for Bushfire Management Plans to be effectively implemented.

How the fire services' and the community's perceptions/expectations differed:

Fire services' perspective:
1. Most people in the community would rely on fire services to respond in the event of a fire.
2. Most people are unaware of the bushfire risk.
3. The public expects things to be done for them.
4. Controlled burns are not wanted by the public.
5. Provision of advice is possible but can not tell residents they need to take action.

Community's perspective:
1. At least half of survey respondents reported they would not rely on help from fire services in the event of a fire.
2. Most people reported being aware of the bushfire risk but have other priorities in their life that take precedence.
3. The survey results indicated that individual householders see themselves as the most responsible for personal and home safety.
4. Respondents supported controlled burns as long as they are carefully done.
5. Respondents reported feeling frustrated that specific advice is not provided.

Bushfire-related matters that need further resolution:
Also important for the basis of discussion are some bushfire-related matters that need further resolution. These matters are separate from how the perceptions/expectations agreed and differed because they were solely from either the fire services' or the community's perspective (as represented below).

Bushfire-related matters identified through interviews with the fire services:
1. Fire services perceive there is confusion within the community about the roles of urban and rural fire brigades.
2. Fire services want to improve their capacity to convert data and information relevant to bushfire mitigation and management into knowledge to guide decisions.
3. Fire services were interested in how they can inform the public of the need for preparation against the risk of bushfire without sensationalising the topic.
4. Fire services see that it is necessary to find ways of improving the community's
participation in bushfire mitigation and management.

Bushfire-related matters that arose from the community survey and community group interviews:
1. Community groups seek operation of optimum controlled burn return intervals.
2. Research data indicated a high proportion of retired people in the community.
Strategies need to be developed to effectively engage such resources of time and
knowledge.
3. Survey respondents indicated that they are not confident in the costs of protecting property against fire and bushfire safety aspects to do or use if the need arose.
4. A wide range of media was identified as being the preferred way of receiving information, direct engagement with fire services was the least preferred.

Survey and interview results were interpreted into the key research findings (as presented on this and the previous page) and were used as the basis of discussion. The
research findings were distilled into patterns of language and further summarised into a common language so that they could be compared and combined with similar research such as the findings and recommendations of State and Federal Governments of Australia. A common language related to preparedness for bushfire has the potential for fire services, Governments and communities to move forward with bushfire community education efforts. The research findings indicated that the community's preparedness for bushfire was especially associated with the topics of risk perception, experience of fire, confidence in bushfire safety aspects and responsibility for life/property protection and less associated with controlled burning acceptance, impact of educational efforts and cost/effort required.

The research explored contemporary bushfire issues in an at-risk-from-bushfire Australian rural-urban locality adjacent to and mixed amongst protected areas. The term "marginalised" can be used to describe the landscape of some places partly as a result of the effects of bushfire. Some people are "marginalised" because of how their perceptions/situation regarding bushfire-related matters shape their behaviours and attitudes towards preparedness for bushfire. This finding is of particular concern to fire services throughout Australia as are expanding rural-urban interface areas, difficulties in impacting upon targeted areas for community education and the possible increase in the incidence of adverse weather conditions. The current situation is that citizens need to be aware of their exposure to hazardous conditions, and share responsibility for the mitigation of bushfires.

The research provides the relevant information to understand preparedness for bushfire issues from the local fire services' and an at-risk-from-bushfire rural-urban community's perspectives. Where there is agreement between fire services and the community, investment in communication is about reinforcing shared perceptions/ expectations. The differences in perceptions/expectations highlight those areas that need particular attention by fire services and communities alike. It was an important priority for the research to effectively capture certain locals' perspectives, especially those with fire experience so that such invaluable knowledge is recorded. The case study illustrated a snapshot of a rural-urban community with bushfire-related matters as a medium to communicate that. This thesis provided an unbiased account of stakeholder perspectives with an emphasis upon recognition of the different constructions of bushfire risk within a community as a part of the transition towards increased self-sufficiency for bushfire preparations and shared responsibility for the protection of life and property.


The 2007 data fusion contest that was organized by the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Data Fusion Technical Committee was dealing with the extraction of a land use/land cover maps in and around an urban area, exploiting multitemporal and multisource coarse-resolution data sets. In particular, synthetic aperture radar and optical data from satellite sensors were considered. Excellent indicators for mapping accuracy were obtained by the top teams. The best algorithm is based on a neural classification enhanced by preprocessing and postprocessing steps.


Abstract. In this paper, we address the assessment of the tropospheric performance of a new temperature radiometer (TEMPERA) at 60 GHz. With this goal, an intercomparison campaign was carried out at the aerological station of MeteoSwiss in Payerne (Switzerland). The brightness temperature and the tropospheric temperature were assessed by means of a comparison with simultaneous and collocated radiosondes that are launched twice a day at this station. In addition, the TEMPERA performances are compared with the ones from a commercial microwave radiometer (HATPRO), which has some different instrumental characteristics and uses a different inversion algorithm. Brightness temperatures from both radiometers were compared with the ones simulated using a radiative transfer model and atmospheric profiles from radiosondes. A total of 532 cases were analyzed under all weather conditions and evidenced larger brightness temperature deviations between the two radiometers and the radiosondes for the most transparent channels. Two different retrievals for the TEMPERA radiometer were implemented in order to evaluate the effect of the different channels on the temperature retrievals. The comparison with radiosondes evidenced better results very similar to the ones from HATPRO, when the eight more opaque channels were used. The study shows the good performance of TEMPERA to retrieve temperature profiles in the troposphere. The inversion method of TEMPERA is based on the optimal estimation method. The main advantage of this algorithm is that there is no necessity for radiosonde information to achieve good results in contrast to conventional methods as neural networks or lineal regression. Finally, an assessment of the effect of instrumental characteristics as the filter response and the antenna pattern on the brightness temperature showed that they can have an important impact on the most transparent channels.


A dredging process is essential for the development of harbours and ports, allowing the functional daily operation of the port. The management of dredged material represents a worldwide challenge, especially considering unwanted deposition of material. Because of their chemical, petrographic, mineralogical and homogeneity composition, marine sediments could represent an appropriate raw material for the brick industry, particularly for the production of clay blocks, roofing and ceramic tiles. In this study dredged material from Port of Koper was tested for such use, thus various analyses were carried out in order to determine if the dredged material is environmentally friendly and suitable for use in the brick industry. These included: chemical analysis, mineralogical analysis, particle size analysis, chloride content analysis and tests of firing in a gradient furnace. Furthermore, tests of mechanical properties, as well as tests of the frost-resistance of the samples were carried out. On the basis of the primary analyses and samples prepared in a laboratory, it was confirmed that marine sediments from the Port of Koper, without any additives are only conditionally suitable as a source material for producing brick products, because without additives they exhibit too much shrinkage on drying and firing, as well as high water absorption, this can be improved by the incorporation of suitable additives, for example, virgin clay or other suitable waste material. The approach described herewith can also be followed to assess sediments from other ports and rivers regarding its potential use in clay brick sector.


Given that the number of CCTV cameras in the UK is the largest in the world, and given that it is unclear when video data should be regarded as Personal Data (or what rights a blanket definition would reasonably provide to the surveilled) it is claimed that a CCTV Act is needed in the UK. This claim appears to be supported by the police authorities [Bal06a], although in addition to a broad claim regarding protection of privacy, their view is that private CCTV should be forced to be of sufficient quality and sufficiently accessible, to be of use to the police. Given the Office of the Surveillance Commissioners' [OSC] existing role in oversight of police surveillance operations, it is suggested that the OSC be made responsible for licensing and regulating CCTV systems and operators. Protection of raw video data as a potential source of Personal Data when processed is necessary (and currently outside the scope of the Office of the Information Commissioner [OIC]). Where raw video data is sufficiently processed to produce Personal Data or where it is linked with other data sufficient to identify individuals, the data would then pass to the aegis of the OIC. Specific proposals for securing data and infrastructure are suggested, in addition to some general Surveillance Protection Principles.


A prestressed fiber Bragg grating with high temperature stability has been successfully fabricated by use of 800 nm femtosecond laser pulse irradiation through high-temperature annealing, followed by a rapid cooling treatment. The reflectivity and the resonant wavelength of the grating are maintained constants for more than 26 h in an isothermal measurement up to 1200°C, showing significant improvement over conventional femtosecond laser pulse induced fiber gratings. Longitudinal tension tests demonstrate that the prestressed fiber exhibits enhanced mechanical robustness compared with the residual stress relaxed fiber. This paper reveals that residual stress plays an important role and essentially provides a new solution to enhance the thermal stability of fiber gratings at elevated temperatures and offering high reliability.


Background and Hypothesis: There is limited information regarding healthcare utilization and outcomes in children hospitalized for traumatic brain injury (TBI). Nearly 50% of adults hospitalized for trauma do not attend follow-up appointments, although completion of post-discharge care is associated with improved outcomes and decreased likelihood of subsequent emergency department (ED) visits. The Regestrief Institute Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC) is a regional health information exchange (HIE) with health record data. This includes inpatient, outpatient, and ED visits, as well as imaging and lab data. The objective of this study is to use HIE data to assess long-term healthcare utilization, complications, and sequelae of pediatric patients hospitalized for TBI to see if follow-up compliance can identify patients at risk for post-TBI complications, including unplanned care, as well as long-term secondary health conditions.

Methods: 387 patients treated at a pediatric level 1 trauma center in Indiana admitted for TBI were identified using trauma registry data. EHR data in the INPC on patients for two years post-discharged were analyzed. Associations between compliance with follow-up care instructions given at discharge/subsequent medical visits and longitudinal utilization/outcomes were examined using Fisher's exact test.

Results: After reviewing patient records, we found that 60.7% of patients received all follow-up care and 8.5% of patients received partial follow-up care, leaving 25.1% of patients receiving no follow up care and 5.7% of patients lost to follow-up after discharge. 12% of patients went to the ER for an injury-related issue and 6.2% of patients were readmitted. 19.4% of individuals experienced complications from injury while 12.4% of individuals had suspected sequela. Factors influencing recovery included race, age, insurance, injury severity, ICU admission, and ventilator usage.

Implications and Importance: Using HIE data can identify factors of hospitalized children vulnerable to not achieving optimal recovery and determine what care is critical to improving long-term health and quality of life outcomes.


Anxiety and mood symptoms are common in Attention Deficit Disorder. We highlight a case of 23-year-old man who presented with poor attention and gradual poor academic performance. His poor academic achievement was noted by the parent, only for the past 2-3 yrs prior to the psychiatric consultation. He developed low mood but there was no biological symptoms of depression. He was started on both daily treatment of Buproprion 150 mg daily, and Ritalin 10 mg PRN basis. The common treatment for attention deficit disorder in was a stimulant but in this case an antidepressant was used. It was shown that patient started to show improvement with treatment and was able to focus on his study.


We present a flexible illustrative line style model for the visualization of streamline data. Our model partitions view-oriented line strips into parallel bands whose basic visual properties can be controlled independently. We thus extend previous line stylization techniques specifically for visualization purposes by allowing the parametrization of these bands based on the local line data attributes. Moreover, our approach supports emphasis and abstraction by introducing line style transfer functions that map local line attribute values to complete line styles. With a flexible GPU implementation of this line style model we enable the interactive exploration of visual representations of streamlines. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our model by applying it to 3D flow field datasets.


Scorpion stings are so frequent complaints as like other bites across the globe and it is one of the more common causes of hospitalization in the rural India. Normally, the stings will lead to the intense pain but having less mortality compare to another stings and bites, around 30% of untreated cases may proceed to serious clinical conditions like Bradycardia, Arrhythmia, Pain, Loss of function in bitten area. The life-threatening complications of myocarditis and pulmonary oedema are known in red scorpion in India Hence, The case is reported to emphasize the proper management of scorpion especially in the rural areas.


Due to the internationalization of markets and growing interdependence of policy issues, many forms of transnational collaboration have emerged, enmeshing domestic agencies in a wide variety of (formal and informal) transnational policy settings. However, the internal problems of management and coordination this potentially creates for domestic agencies are rarely studied by public administration scholars. This paper applies the concept of boundary-spanning and connects it to organizational structure, as to provide a better understanding of the different ways in which external network activities can be internally organized and what potential tensions might emerge. The analysis demonstrates how domestic agencies use network coordinators to resolve tensions between the differentiation needed to operate in complex transnational environments and the integration needed to keep them accountable. The discussion notes several challenges resulting from a reliance on such network coordinators and sets out directions for future research. To be presented at the PMRC Conference, Panel 14D, Chapel Hill, June 11-14 2019


Water-resource managers in Hawaiÿi rely heavily on salinity profiles from deep monitor wells to estimate the thickness of freshwater and the depth to the midpoint of the transition zone between freshwater and saltwater in freshwater-lens systems. The deep monitor wells are typically open boreholes below the water table and extend hundreds of feet below sea level. Because of possible borehole-flow effects, there is concern that salinity profiles measured in these wells may not accurately reflect the salinity distribution in the aquifer and consequently lead to misinterpretations that adversely affect water-resource management. Steplike changes in salinity or temperature with depth in measured profiles from nonpumped deep monitor wells may be indicative of water moving within the well, and such changes are evident to some extent in all available profiles. The maximum vertical step length, or displacement, in measured profiles ranges from 7 to 644 feet. Vertical steps longer than 70 feet exceed the typical thickness of massive lava flows; they therefore cannot be attributed entirely to geologic structure and may be indicative of borehole flow. The longest vertical steps occur in monitor wells located in southern Oÿahu, coinciding with the most heavily developed part of the aquifer. Although regional groundwater withdrawals have caused a thinning of the freshwater lens over the past several decades, the measured midpoint of the transition zone in most deep monitor wells has shown only inconsequential depth displacement in direct response to short-term variations in withdrawals from nearby production wells. For profiles from some deep monitor wells, however, the depth of the measured top of the transition zone, indicated by a specific-conductance value of 1,000 microsiemens per centimeter, has risen several hundred feet in response to withdrawals from nearby production wells. For these deep monitor wells, monitoring the apparent top of the transition zone may not provide an accurate indication of water quality in the adjacent aquifer. Hence, the measured midpoint in boreholes is a better proxy for freshwater-lens thickness. Brackish water transported upward in a deep monitor well can exit the borehole in the upper, freshwater part of the aquifer and affect the water quality in nearby production wells. Piezometers installed at different depths will provide the best information on aquifer salinity because they are unaffected by borehole flow. Despite the effects of borehole flow, monitoring the midpoint in deep monitor wells is still useful to identify long-term trends in the movement of the transition zone.


Bats are the only mammals with self-powered flight and account for 20% of all extant mammalian diversity. In addition, they harbor many emerging and reemerging viruses, including multiple coronaviruses, several of which are highly pathogenic in other mammals, but cause no disease in bats. How this relationship between bats and viruses exists is not yet fully understood. Existing evidence supports a specific role for the innate immune system, in particular type I interferon (IFN) responses, a major component of antiviral immunity. Previous studies in bats have shown that components of the IFN pathway are constitutively activated at the transcriptional level. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the type I IFN response in bats is also constitutively activated at the protein level. For this we utilized highly sensitive Single Molecule (Simoa) digital ELISA assays, previously developed for humans that we adapted to bat samples. We prospectively sampled four non-native chiroptera species from French zoos. We identified a constitutive expression of IFNα protein in the circulation of healthy bats, and concentrations that are physiologically active in humans. Expression levels differed according to the species examined, but was not associated with age, sex, or health status suggesting constitutive IFNα protein expression independent of disease. These results confirm a unique IFN response in bat species that may explain their ability to coexist with multiple viruses in the absence of pathology. These results may help to manage potential zoonotic viral reservoirs and potentially identify new anti-viral strategies.


This article is an examination of the ways in which Englishness was associated with horror long before the success of Hammer, the British studio that in the late 1950s and 1960s became synonymous with a particularly English version of Gothic cinema. During the 1930s and 1940s, many key horror stars were English or signified Englishness; and the article explores the ways in which this was due to a preoccupation with themes of psychological dominance and dependence during the period. In other words, the threat of psychological dominance and dependence that preoccupied horror films meant that the horror villain was often associated with the spectre of old-world despotism in relation to which the United States defined itself as a rejection. Furthermore, these psychological themes also demonstrate that, during this period, the horror film either included, or was intimately related to, the gangster film and spy thriller so that most horror stars played a range of horror villains, gangsters and spies. However, rather than focusing of figures such as Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Lionel Atwill or George Zucco (the British actors most commonly associated with the horror film during this period), the article will concentrate on a series of actors closely associated with horror in the period, but who are not necessarily remembered in this way today—Claude Rains, Charles Laughton, Basil Rathbone and Vincent Price—stars who demonstrate the ways in which psychological themes not only connected the horror villain, gangster and spy but were also related to the spectre of old-world despotism.


One of the keys to understand how net interest margin securities, or NIMs, are structured is to understand how the "triggers" from the underlying asset-backed transaction work. The purpose of this article is to explain those triggers and their impact on the residual cash flows to a NIM. Triggers have an impact on the reallocation of cash flows in a securitization structure, which in turn can impact the amount of excess spread allocated to the residual holder. Triggers could require an increase in the target overcollateralization (O/C), known as a "step-up" event or they could prevent a release of O/C, or "step down" event. The two primary cash flow triggers are a delinquency trigger and a cumulative loss trigger. "NIM friendly" triggers are triggers where there is no step-up in O/C above the initial O/C and the trigger does not come into effect until the step-down date. Depending on where an investor participates in the capital structure, whether it is in senior, mezzanine, subordinate or first-loss positions, the view on a particular trigger can be very different.


Influence of this activity on the environment. We take a holistic approach to review off-bottom and suspended mussel culture effects on the benthic environment and benthic communities. Both longline and "bouchot" mussel culture add much physical structure (infrastructure and mussels) to the environment, altering hydrosedimentary processes by modifying currents and increasing sedimentation locally, and providing habitat for many benthic organisms. Biodeposition from mussels and these organisms increases benthic organic loading and linked biogeochemical processes to influence O2, pH, redox potentials, dissolved sulphides, and other sediment parameters, benthic respiration and nutrient fluxes, and benthic infaunal communities. Mussel culture may also influence seagrasses and algae, although this has not been well-studied. Far-field effects on the benthos may occur through a number of mechanisms, including aggregation of epibenthic macrofauna in culture sites, alteration of plankton communities, and the enhancement of exotic and indigenous pest species owing to the addition of physical structure to the environment. Quantitative relationships between farming level and benthic influences are lacking, making predictions of effects difficult.


The need for storage of renewable energy (RE) generated by photovoltaic, concentrated solar and wind arises from the fact that supply and demand are ill-matched both geographically and temporarily. This already causes problems of overcapacity and grid congestion in countries where the fraction of RE exceeds the 20% level. A system approach is needed, which focusses not only on the energy source, but includes conversion, storage, transport, distribution, use and, last but not least, the recycling of waste. Furthermore, there is a need for more flexibility in the energy system, rather than relying on electrification, integration with other energy systems, for example the gas network, would yield a system less vulnerable to failure and better adapted to requirements. For example, long-term large-scale storage of electrical energy is limited by capacity, yet needed to cover weekly to seasonal demand. This limitation can be overcome by coupling the electricity net to the gas system, considering the fact that the Dutch gas network alone has a storage capacity of 552 TWh, sufficient to cover the entire EU energy demand for over a month. This lecture explores energy storage in chemicals bonds. The focus is on chemicals other than hydrogen, taking advantage of the higher volumetric energy density of hydrocarbons, in this case methane, which has an approximate 3.5 times higher volumetric energy density. More importantly, it allows the ready use of existing gas infrastructure for energy storage, transport and distribution. Intermittent wind electricity generated is converted into synthetic methane, the Power to Gas (P2G) scheme, by splitting feedstock CO2 and H2O into synthesis gas, a mixture of CO and H2. Syngas plays a central role in the synthesis of a range of hydrocarbon products, including methane, diesel and dimethyl ether. The splitting is accomplished by innovative means; plasmolysis and high-temperature solid oxygen electrolysis. A CO2-neutral fuel cycle is established by powering the conversion step by renewable energy and recapturing the CO2 emitted after combustion, ultimately from the surrounding air to cover emissions from distributed source. Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) coupled to P2G thus creates a CO2-neutral energy system based on synthetic hydrocarbon fuel. It would enable a circular economy where the carbon cycle is closed by recovering the CO2 emitted after reuse of synthetic hydrocarbon fuel. The critical step, technically as well as economically, is the conversion of feedstock CO2/H2O into syngas rather than the capture of CO2 from ambient air. (c) Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2015


This paper discusses the breakthroughs in science and engineering that have brought fire testing technology to its current state of maturity and provides insight into the possibilities for future fire test development by highlighting some areas where advancements are needed. The quest for understanding the properties of fire has been a part of the human experience since the first primitive human viewed the glow of a flame potentially 2.5 million years ago, during the Paleolithic Period. Since these early observations, humankind slowly developed the knowledge to use and understand fire. However, the initial revolution in fire testing did not begin until recently, in the nineteenth century, when the basic tools were developed that allowed for remote measurement of temperatures and heat flow. Discoveries such as the "thermoelectric effect" and the development of the First Law of Thermodynamics led to the creation of tools for calorimetry providing for the measurement of temperatures and heat flux. The second revolution in measuring and understanding fire occurred in the early twentieth century with worldwide recognition that scientifically based fire standards were needed to protect life and property. At the same time engineering innovation developed electromechanical equipment that could automatically record data measured from fire experiments. This advancement in data recording allowed for the detailed study of measured fire behavior. The third revolution in fire testing (measurement technology) occurred in the last half of the twentieth century with the development of affordable digital data logging equipment and computers that enhanced data analysis and the development of scientifically based predictive models. Wide spread use of technology and computational methods have opened the theoretical world which provides insight into the subtle features of fire dynamics and provides a means for developing a greater understanding of fire test method performance. Fire measurement technology now has the scientific and computational tools to make significant advancements in the development of fire safety standards. Use of these tools has directed attention to improvements needed in testing for structural fire endurance to enhance fire resistant structural designs. This would include, but not be limited to, advancements in testing of structural components, assemblies, and systems under realistic simulations of fire and load conditions. The objective for these new tests would be to enhance structural performance so that uncontrolled building fires result in burnout without partial or total collapse. Additionally, these fire measurement technologies would also lead to improvements in ignition resistant materials, surface flammability, fire growth, smoke and toxic gas production that will save lives and reduce the high cost of unwanted fires.


This study focuses on sustainability impacts as wastewater treatment plants implement treatment technologies to meet increasingly stringent nutrient limits. The objective is to determine if a point of "diminishing returns" is reached where the sustainability impacts of increased levels of nutrient removal outweigh the benefits of better water quality.

Five different hypothetical treatment trains at a nominal 10 mgd flow were developed to meet treatment targets that ranged from cBOD mode (Level 1) to four different nutrient removal targets. The nutrient removal targets ranged from 8 mg N/L; 1 mg P/L (Level 2) to the most stringent at <2 mg N/L; <0.02 mg P/L (Level 5).

Given that sustainability is a broad term, the industry-accepted three pillars of sustainability were evaluated and discussed, and particular emphasis was placed on the environmental and economic pillars. The following variables received the most attention: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a water quality surrogate that reflects potential algal growth, capital and operational costs, energy demand, and consumables such as chemicals, gas, diesel, etc.

The results from the GHG emissions metric are shown below. Note that biogas cogeneration is represented by negative values as biogas production can be used to offset energy demands. The nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions values are based on the average biological nutrient removal (BNR) and non-BNR plants evaluated in the United States national survey by Ahn et al. (2010b). The error bars represent the data range of the national survey.

The GHG emissions results suggest that a point of diminishing return is reached at Level 4 (3 mg N/L; 0.1 mg P/L). The GHG emissions show a steady increase from Levels 1 to 4, followed by a 65% increase when moving from Level 4 to 5. Despite a 70% increase in GHGs, the discharged nutrient load only decreases by 1% by going from Level 4 to 5. The primary contributors to GHG emissions are energy related (aeration, pumping, mixing). The GHG emissions associated with chemical use increases for the more stringent nutrient targets that required chemical treatment in addition to biological nutrient removal.

In terms of cost, the total project capital cost increases approximately one-third from $9.3 million to $12.7 million for changing from Level 1 to 2, followed by a more than doubling in cost when changing from Level 1 to 5. Total project capital costs in this report are for a Greenfield plant. The operational cost increase between levels is more pronounced than total project capital cost with more than five-times increase from Level 1 to 5 ($250/MG treated to $1,370/MG treated, respectively).

This report focused on in-plant (point source) options for nutrient removal and the implications for cost and sustainability. Other approaches, such as addressing non-point sources, could be added to the assessment. Rather than focusing strictly on point source dischargers and requiring Level 4 or 5 treatments, Level 3 or 4 treatments complimented with best management practices of non-point sources might be a more sustainable approach at achieving comparable water quality.

This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series .

ISBN: 9781780400433 (Print)

ISBN: 9781780403298 (eBook)


This study proposed a pedicle screw design where the proximal 1/3 of the screw is unthreaded to improve fixation in posterior spinal surgery. This design was also expected to reduce the incidence of mechanical failure often observed when an unsupported screw length is exposed outside the vertebra in deformed or degenerated segments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fatigue life of the novel pedicle screw design using finite element analysis and mechanical testing in a synthetic spinal construct in accordance with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) F1717. The following setups were evaluated: (i) pedicle screw fully inserted into the test block (EXP-FT-01 and EXP-PU-01; full thread (FT), proximal unthread (PU)) and (ii) pedicle screw inserted but leaving an exposed shaft length of 7.6 mm (EXP-FT-02 and EXP-PU-02). Corresponding finite element models FEM-FT-01, FEM-FT-02, FEM-PU-01, and FEM-PU-02 were also constructed and subjected to the same loading conditions as the experimental groups. The results showed that under a 220 N axial load, the EXP-PU-01 group survived the full 5 million cycles, the EXP-PU-02 group failed at 4.4 million cycles on average, and both EXP-FT-01 and EXP-FT-02 groups failed after less than 1.0 million cycles on average, while the fatigue strength of the EXP-FT-02 group was the lowest at 170 N. The EXP-FT-01 and EXP-FT-02 constructs failed through fracture of the pedicle screw, but a rod fractured in the EXP-PU-02 group. In comparison to the FEM-FT-01 model, the maximum von Mises stress on the pedicle screw in the FEM-PU-01 and FEM-PU-02 models decreased by −43% and −27%, respectively. In conclusion, this study showed that having the proximal 1/3 of the pedicle screw unthreaded can reduce the risk of screw fatigue failure when used in deformed or degenerated segments.


ABSTRACT Tryptophan residues can possess a multitude of functions within a multidrug transport protein, e.g., mediating interactions with substrates or distal parts of the protein, or fulfilling a structural requirement, such as guiding the depth of membrane insertion. In this study, the nine tryptophan residues of the staphylococcal QacA multidrug efflux protein were individually mutated to alanine and phenylalanine, and the functional consequences of these changes were determined. Phenylalanine substitutions for each tryptophan residue were functionally tolerated. However, alanine modifications revealed an important functional role for three tryptophan residues, W58, W149, and W173, each of which is well conserved among QacA-related transport proteins in the major facilitator superfamily. The most functionally compromising mutation, an alanine substitution for W58, likely to be located at the extracellular interface of transmembrane segment 2, abolished all detectable QacA-mediated resistance and transport function. Second-site suppressor analyses identified several mutations that rescued the function of the W58A QacA mutant. Remarkably, all of these suppressor mutations were shown to be located in cytoplasmic loops between transmembrane helices 2 and 3 or 12 and 13, demonstrating novel functional associations between amino acid positions on opposite sides of the membrane and in distal N- and C-terminal regions of the QacA protein.


The primary shoot apical meristem of Arabidopsis is initiated late in embryogenesis, after the initiation of the cotyledons. We have identified a gene, called SHOOT MERISTEMLESS, which is critical for this process. shoot meristemless mutant seedlings lack a shoot apical meristem but are otherwise healthy and viable. The anatomy of mutant embryos demonstrates that the shoot meristemless-1 mutation completely blocks the initiation of the shoot apical meristem, but has no other obvious effects on embryo development. The failure of shoot meristemless tissue to regenerate shoots in tissue culture suggests that this gene regulates adventitious shoot meristem formation, as well as embryonic shoot meristem formation.


Introduction: Existing literature on the geriatric-related attitudes of medical students reveals inconsistent results in terms of feelings for the elderly. This study aims to determine the perceptions of medical students regarding ageing and geriatric education. Materials and Method: A qualitative study was conducted with 160 second-year medical students who visited a nursing home and responded to three open-ended questions about this experience. The responses were qualitatively analysed using the constant comparative method for themes. Results: Second year medical students indicated both positive and negative impressions of ageing. Although they generally believed that ageing brings experience and maturity, happy ageing was seen as being dependent on individual characteristics and personality factors that affect the emotional aspects of ageing and, therefore, quality of life. The students indicated recognition that ageing is related to inevitable physiological changes and a belief that most illnesses in the elderly are untreatable because of the natural decline in health related to ageing. Students indicated a sense of inadequacy in communicating with the elderly and emphasised the importance of introducing geriatric psychiatry lessons into the curriculum to improve their understanding of the elderly. Conclusion: This study provides a better understanding of the opinions of future doctors about ageing and of beliefs that should be addressed to help in the making of doctors with more positive attitudes toward older people.


Despite decades of experience treating heroin or prescription opioid dependence with methadone or buprenorphine--two forms of opioid substitution therapy--gaps remain between current practices and evidence-based standards in both Canada and the United States. This is largely because of regulatory constraints and pervasive suboptimal clinical practices. Fewer than 10 percent of all people dependent on opioids in the United States are receiving substitution treatment, although the proportion may increase with expanded health insurance coverage as a result of the Affordable Care Act. In light of the accumulated evidence, we recommend eliminating restrictions on office-based methadone prescribing in the United States; reducing financial barriers to treatment, such as varying levels of copayment in Canada and the United States; reducing reliance on less effective and potentially unsafe opioid detoxification; and evaluating and creating mechanisms to integrate emerging treatments. Taking these steps can greatly reduce the harms of opioid dependence by maximizing the individual and public health benefits of treatment.


Abstract The objective of this study is to identify whether decline in cognitive functioning after chemotherapy in women with breast cancer is associated with health/disease, treatment, and psychological variables. Neuropsychological performance, health/disease, and treatment-related information of 136 women with breast cancer (age M = 49.38; SD = 7.92; range = 25.25–67.92) was assessed pre-chemotherapy and 1-month post-chemotherapy. The Reliable Change Index corrected for practice (RCIp) identified women whose performance significantly declined, while Pearson correlations assessed the relationship between cognitive change and predictor variables. A total of 16.9% of women showed significant decline post-chemotherapy, with affected domains including verbal learning and memory, abstract reasoning, and motor coordination. Decline in hemoglobin levels and increased anxiety over the course of chemotherapy was found to significantly predict impairment in multiple cognitive measures. Change in specific cognitive measures was significantly associated with baseline fatigue, depression, and functional well-being (r = 0.23 to 0.33; p = .01 to < .001). Although the effects are small, there is evidence that psychological and health factors may increase vulnerability to cognitive dysfunction after chemotherapy for breast cancer. Significant associations reported in this study may be useful in the identification and treatment of at-risk individuals. (JINS, 2009, 15, 951–962.)


Food security, nutritional quality and safety vary widely around the world. Reaching these three goals is one of the major challenges for the near future. Up to now, industrialized production methods have clearly shown severe limitations such as a worldwide contamination of the food chain and water by persistent pesticide residues, and reduced nutrient and flavor contents through low-cost intensive food production and/or processing. In line with several published literature reviews, the French Agency for Food Safety (AFSSA) performed under my coordination an up-to-date exhaustive and critical evaluation of the nutritional and sanitary quality of organic food. This review is based on the AFSSA report issued and recently published studies. The major points are: 1/ organic plant products contain more dry matter and minerals (Fe, Mg); and contain more anti-oxidant micronutrients such as phenols and salicylic acid, 2/ organic animal products contain more polyunsaturated fatty acids, 3/ data on carbohydrate, protein and vitamin levels are insufficiently documented, 4/ 94–100% of organic food does not contain any pesticide residues, 5/ organic vegetables contain far less nitrates, about 50% less; and 6/ organic cereals contain overall similar levels of mycotoxins as conventional ones. Thus, organic agricultural systems have already proved able to produce food with high quality standards. I propose also improvements of organic production to achieve sustainable food production for humans in the near future.


The article summarizes years of experience of geographical situation modelling of coastal marine systems in the Baltic Sea region and adjacent territories. Kaliningrad universities and academic institutions have done extensive research on the diversity of approaches and models of the regional geographical situations as well as on identifying the most promising coastal marine areas. Some of the models presented in the present paper are qualitative, while others are empirical and statistical ones. However, the majority of the models can be referred to as forms of graphic and image mapping. The significance of the regional models lies in their specificity, a more detailed character (compared to the generalist ones) and the possibility of using them to back up managerial decisions in critical and emergency situations in order to minimize the negative effects of natural (storms, floods, earthquakes, etc.) and anthropogenic emergency situations. The authors developed a matrix classification attributable to a particular class of models for the situations leading to uncertain outcomes. The authors suggest using numerical methods combined with the empirical and statistical models for the assessment of the impact of industrial fishing on marine environment, minimizing the consequences of storms, floods and others factors. Special attention is paid to the modelling of climate change and geo-ecological consequences, as well as to atlas mapping and landscape planning. As a result of the geographical situation analysis the authors got new insights into the solar-terrestrial links, marineterrestrial ecosystems, global and regional processes related to climate change, oceanisation, the vulnerability of natural systems under the increasing pressure of anthropogenic activities, and continuously increasing risks presented by industrial agriculture and other types of land use.


Background: Awareness regarding oral diseases and its prevention aids in the development of correct oral health practices, thereby controlling oro-dental problems; hence, this study aimed to evaluate the level of oral health knowledge pertaining to its causes and prevention among higher secondary school students in Walajapet, Vellore district, India. Materials and Methods: The survey was carried out among 400 schoolchildren who were in the age group of 16–18 years studying in various schools of Walajapet in Vellore district. Data on knowledge about oral diseases were collected by means of self-administered questionnaire. The results were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Chi-square test using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 19. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 400 secondary school students with an age range of 16–18 years and mean age of 17.2 ± 10.44 years participated in the study. About 324 (81.0%) secondary school students had adequate level of knowledge on causes and prevention dental caries, 267 (66.7%) school students were aware of causes and prevention of periodontal diseases, only 195 (48.7%) school students had awareness on cause and prevention of oral cancer, and 305 (76.2%) students were familiar with causes and prevention of dental malocclusion. Conclusion: Majority of schoolchildren showed adequate knowledge toward causes and prevention of dental caries, periodontal disease, and dental malocclusion but had inadequate knowledge toward oral cancer.


The Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) (www.pyrn.org) is a unique resource for students and young scientists and engineers studying permafrost. It is an international organization fostering innovative collaboration, seeking to recruit, retain, and promote future generations of permafrost scientists and engineers. Initiated for and during IPY, PYRN directs the multi-disciplinary talents of its membership toward global awareness, knowledge, and response to permafrost-related challenges in a changing climate.Created as an education and outreach component of the International Permafrost Association (IPA), PYRN is a central database of permafrost information and science for more than 750 young researchers from over 43 countries. PYRN distributes a newsletter, recognizes outstanding permafrost research by its members through an annual awards program, organizes training workshops (2007 in Abisko, Sweden and St. Petersburg, Russia, 2008 in Fairbanks, Alaska and St. Petersburg, Russia, 2009 in Puschchino, Russia), and contributes to the growth and future of the permafrost community.While networking forms the basis of PYRNs activities, the organization also seeks to establish itself as a driver of permafrost research for the IPY and beyond. We recently launched a series of initiatives on several continents aimed at providing young scientists and engineers with the means to conduct ground temperature monitoring in under-investigated permafrost regions.Focusing on sites not currently covered by the IPAs Thermal State of Permafrost project, the young investigators of PYRN successfully launched and funded the PYRN-TSP project. The first phase of the project was started in the spring of 2008 at Scandinavian sites. In Iskoras, Karasjok, northern Norway, a deep borehole (58 m) were drilled in September 2008. In Skallovarri, Utsjoki, northern Finland a borehole 3 m, was drilled in a palsa mire in June 2008. In Abisko, northern Sweden, 5 boreholes ranging from 6 to 13 m were drilled in April 2008, also in peat mires. In Svalbard, two boreholes were drilled at Endalen in April 2008 and at the old Auroral Station in Adventdalen in May 2008. The borehole at Endalen was 20 m deep and the borehole at the Old Auroral Station in Adventdalen was 10 m deep. All boreholes are instrumented and permafrost temperatures have been recorded successfully since the boreholes were drilled. The data and results have and will be incorporated in the NORPERM permafrost database that was developed through the TSP Norway project.


Dispute resolution among firms is becoming a more pressing problem as the international marketplace has expanded. This paper serves to identify needs in cross-border arbitration situations and recommends an Arbitration Agreement Decision Chain for use by for-profit organizations. In addition to the Decision Chain process, the paper provides detailed insight as to the obstacles and opportunities in each phase of the process. INTRODUCTION As the international marketplace has expanded, so has the need for dispute resolution. According to William K. Slate II, (1996), "The 21 st century promises an information age of accelerated change in a global environment. This new age will depend on swift and fair means of resolving conflict" (p. 7). A preferred method of dispute resolution in international agreements is arbitration. More than 100 countries have agreed to enforce arbitration awards made in one another's territories (Nation's Business 1996). This agreement is known as the Convention On The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Arbitral Awards also known as the 1958 New York Convention. The literature generally claims that two of the reasons for choosing arbitration are that it is less expensive and quicker than going to court. As commented on in the Corporate Counsel's Guide To International Alternative Dispute Resolution (1993): "One of the most important aspects of any arbitration is the cost. Strangely, the cost is more directly proportional to the amount of time involved in resolving the dispute than to the number and complexity of the issues. Thus, parties can enjoy sharply reduced costs by expediting their case." The above statement will only be correct if the parties have included a properly negotiated arbitration clause in the original agreement. The cost of arbitration may be greater than the court option if the parties include an arbitration clause that merely states the parties agree to arbitrate and that they have chosen a particular arbitration body to administer the process (Corporate Counsel's Guide 1993). For example, using the International Court of Arbitration which is part of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, the maximum cost for a claim of $1,000,000, using three arbitrators is $104,500. This represents a fee of more than 10% of the claim. The proportionality sharply decreases as the amount of the claim goes up (Casella 1996). Because the arbitration process needs much more than such a simple agreement clause the purpose of this article is to consider all the terms that should be in an arbitration agreement, so that arbitration may, in fact, be less expensive and quicker. Arbitration, just as everything else that is part of a contract, needs to be carefully negotiated by parties who have an understanding of what is involved in the arbitration process. (See Figure 1, The Arbitration Agreement Decision Chain). EXAMPLES OF ARBITRATION ORGANIZATIONS A person who is considering an arbitration agreement should understand that there are numerous arbitration organizations around the world that will administer the arbitration process. To control the scope of this article, discussion has been limited to arbitration organizations in Europe and the United States. Those selected represent variety regarding their location and in their rules. Even though no arbitration organizations from Asia or other locales are included, the issues that are discussed here also apply when choosing one of those organizations. The organizations that were selected include the following: The American Arbitration Association (AAA), located in New York City, U.S.A.; The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), located in Paris, France; The London Court of Arbitration(LCA), located in London, England; The Zurich Chamber of Commerce (ZCC), located in Zurich, Switzerland; The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (AISCC), located in Stockholm, Sweden; The Arbitration Court of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce (HCC), located in Budapest, Hungary; and The Arbitration Court of the Russian Chamber of Commerce (RCC), located in Moscow, Russia. …


Spanning almost a decade in the business vernacular, electronic commerce has been an exciting endeavor for the business world and a challenging field in which to teach. From the launch of instant success stories such as Amazon.com, and the glory days of rapidly accelerating Internet stocks, electronic commerce has evolved into a valid business methodology, and the Internet accepted as an appropriate alternative distribution channel. Cross-functional in nature and with rapidly changing technology, electronic commerce challenges our ability to develop meaningful academic experiences that build marketable technical skills. The good news is that maturity in this area may finally have yielded a level of stability in course content and successful learning experiences to prepare our graduates for a world that thrives on electronic business. This paper outlines the issues and challenges of developing electronic commerce curricula to achieve Fink's definition of significant learning. One method of accomplishing this goal is through team projects in which students consult to small businesses, collaborate on development projects, and achieve significant learning though the realistic application of theory.


Accounts of the social experience within livestreaming channels vary widely, from the frenetic "crowdroar" offered in some channels to the close-knit, "participatory communities" within others. What kinds of livestream-ing communities enable the types of meaningful conversation and connection that support relationship development, and how? In this paper, we explore how personal relationships develop within Twitch, a popular livestreaming service. Interviews with 21 pairs who met initially within Twitch channels illustrate how interactions originating in Twitch's text-based, pseudonymous chat environment can evolve into close relationships, marked by substantial trust and support. Consistent with Walther's hyperpersonal model [76], these environments facilitate self-disclosure and conversation by reducing physical cues and emphasizing common ground, while frequent, low-stakes interaction allow relationships to deepen over time. Our findings also highlight boundaries of the hyperpersonal model. As group size increases, participants leverage affordances for elevated visibility to spark interactions; as relationships deepen, they incorporate complementary media channels to increase intimacy. Often, relationships become so deep through purely computer-mediated channels that face-to-face meetings become yet another step in a continuum of relationship development. Findings from a survey of 1,367 members of Twitch communities demonstrate how the suitability of these spaces as venues for relational interaction decreases as communities increase in size. Together, these findings illustrate vividly how hyperpersonal interaction functions in the context of real online communities. We consider implications for the design and management of online communities, including their potential for supporting "strong bridges," relationships which combine the benefits of strong ties and network bridges.


Enteral feeding is a life-saver at the right time, but costs the NHS many thousands of pounds a year: £6500 in feeds and consumables alone for a 4-year-old child.1 Yet many children who can eat remain tube fed for lack of help in feed withdrawal.

Wilken and colleagues2 describe a case series of children who took part in a two-week home-based tube weaning programme where feeds were withdrawn over a matter of days. Rapid weaning is a controversial approach and this is probably the first article to describe longer term results for such children so thoroughly. It was not a trial, so cannot prove the relative effectiveness of the techniques used, but it does provide some much needed information on safety. The children's growth patterns were reassuringly steady and the number of total treatment failures was small. These are surprising results since fast weaning is an extreme approach that potentially places a major physical stress on the child. However, this programme involved much more than just rapid tube withdrawal. Children were carefully vetted in advance, seen daily by a paediatrician and the freelance psychologist lived nearby throughout the programme and undertook an intensive feeding behaviour regime with the family.

So, is this an option more mainstream services should consider? A very intensive short-term professional involvement is required, which would be difficult for most UK units to accommodate, although there are a few specialist services worldwide that are specifically set up to work in this way.3 ,4 Our experience in Glasgow has been that parents are very anxious about feed withdrawal5 and that few would be willing to allow their child to be weaned so quickly. However …


Now that it is generally accepted that asthma is a heterogeneous condition, phenotyping of asthma patients has become a mandatory part of the diagnostic workup of all patients who do not respond satisfactorily to standard therapy with inhaled corticosteroids. Late-onset eosinophilic asthma is currently one of the most well-defined asthma phenotypes and seems to have a different underlying pathobiology to classical childhood-onset, allergic asthma. Patients with this phenotype can be identified in the clinic by typical symptoms (few allergies and dyspnoea on exertion), typical lung function abnormalities ("fixed" airflow obstruction, reduced forced vital capacity and increased residual volume), typical comorbidities (nasal polyposis) and a good response to systemic corticosteroids. The definitive diagnosis is based on evidence of eosinophilia in bronchial biopsies or induced sputum, which can be estimated with reasonable accuracy by eosinophilia in peripheral blood. Until recently, patients with eosinophilic asthma had a very poor quality of life and many suffered from frequent severe exacerbations or were dependent on oral corticosteroids. Now, for the first time, novel biologicals targeting the eosinophil have become available that have been shown to be able to provide full control of this type of refractory asthma, and to become a safe and efficacious substitute for oral corticosteroids. Late-onset eosinophilic asthma has a distinct clinical and functional profile with treatment implications http://ow.ly/MH7AH


We study the long-time dynamics of complex-valued modified Korteweg-de Vries (mKdV) solitons, which are recognized because they blow-up in finite time. We establish stability properties at the H^1 level of regularity, uniformly away from each blow-up point. These new properties are used to prove that mKdV breathers are H^1 stable, improving our previous result, where we only proved H^2 stability. The main new ingredient of the proof is the use of a B\"acklund transformation which links the behavior of breathers, complex-valued solitons and small real-valued solutions of the mKdV equation. We also prove that negative energy breathers are asymptotically stable. Since we do not use any method relying on the Inverse Scattering Transformation, our proof works even under rough perturbations, provided a corresponding local well-posedness theory is available.


The MIT Space Systems Laboratory has developed the Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) facility for the testing of formation ight and autonomous docking algorithms inside the International Space Station (ISS), in NASA's reduced gravity aircraft and in a 1-g laboratory environment. To provide SPHERES with reliable and accurate position, velocity, attitude and angular rate estimation, an innovative state estimation system based on ultrasound transmission has been developed. An extended Kalman lter (EKF) processes time-of-ight data collected by ultrasonic receivers, as well as angular rate measurements provided by gyroscopes, to compute the state estimates required by the satellites when maneuvering. To increase the robustness of the system, the EKF has been augmented with a fault detection capability that uses the lter innovation (residual) to diagnose measurement errors. Two versions of the algorithm were successfully implemented and used on the SPHERES facility onboard the ISS during a series of ve test sessions, from May 2006 to November 2006. This paper describes both versions in detail, along with diculties encountered during the implementation on the hardware and their solution. Results from experiments performed in the ISS to validate the algorithms are also presented.


The purpose of this study is to provide a proper method for evaluating performance of teachers, which leads to authorities awareness about the quality and quantity of activities that are acceptable to the organization; also creating the grounds for empowering human resources, reduction of dissatisfaction, and complaints. This can result in eliminating discrimination or unfair judgments and therefore reduction of tensions, and conflicts between managers and employees. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) which was developed by Saaty is a decision analysis tool. It has been applied to many different decision fields. In this paper, we use AHP as a performance assessment tool to inquire diverse assessments in the organization about the performance of each employee. Since the number of the items to be compared in AHP is increased, the number of pairwise comparisons that each assessor answer, are increased drastically. So, we develop a method called EVMP to elicit the preference vector of pairwise comparison matrices with missing entries. The newly developed method is tested in a school; the generated results have been proved by experts.


Technology based on the interaction between light and matter has entered something of a renaissance over the past few decades due to improved control over the creation of nanoscale patterns. Tunable nanofabrication has benefitted optical sensing, by which light is used to detect the presence or quantity of various substances. Through methods such as Raman spectroscopy, the optical spectra of solid, liquid, or gaseous samples act as fingerprints which help identify a single type of molecule amongst a background of potentially many other chemicals. This technique therefore offers great benefit to applications such as biomedical sensors, airport security, industrial waste management, water treatment, art/jewelry validation, and more. The primary setback of such techniques has been the difficulty of signal measurement, especially when the detected molecules are very sparse within a surrounding material, such as trace levels of a harmful chemical in a gas or liquid sample. The ability to enhance light signals from such samples is key to developing affordable solutions to bring this type of optical sensing from being a research lab tool to an every-day technology. It has been found that local electric fields increase significantly by incorporating nanostructures onto surfaces containing the detected substances, thus increasing the signal strength measured at the detector. Using specially engineered metal nanostructures and their plasmonic resonance properties, signals such as Raman scattering from particles of interest can be enhanced to much more useable detection limits. This dissertation work employs two nanofabrication methods to engineer light enhancement to understand and improve real surfaceenhanced Raman spectroscopy substrates that can predictably boost the identifying signals measured for probe molecules. A lithography-based technique and a self-assembly process were studied for producing plasmonic nanostructures with at least one tunable geometrical parameter. These variable nanoscale features were the tuning knobs used during design engineering of optimal light enhancement through computational physics studies. Experimental enhanced Raman spectra were measured using plasmonic metasurfaces, with the signal enhancement found to corroborate theoretical calculations. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the tunable devices as surface-enhanced sensing devices worthy of further development and study.


Tunnels are regarded as one of the most important infrastructures in Europe, as they may improve the connection of regions and aid economic development through facilitating the transportation of people and goods. In order to achieve a minimum acceptable level of safety, the EC issued Directive 2004/54/EC, which describes specific safety measures that have to be taken for all road tunnels in the trans-European road network. In parallel, there are several qualitative or quantitative methods for measuring road tunnel safety, while the method that seems to be the most accepted by administrative authorities for quantitative risk analysis is the OECD/PIARC QRA Model (QRAM), which has been developed by INERIS, WS-Atkins and the Institute for Risk Research. QRAM is based on engineering software that aids quantitatively assessment of the societal risk due to transporting goods and dangerous goods with Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) through road tunnels. The aim of this paper is to expose the effectiveness of the measures imposed by the EC in Greek road tunnels. A typical road tunnel, as designed and implemented after Directive 2004/54/EC, is compared to the same tunnel as if it was developed before the Directive was put into action. The comparison is made on the basis of the societal risk existing in the two cases. The conclusion of the paper, based on the outcome of the risk analysis with the QRAM method, is that the safety of Greek Tunnels is significantly improved due to the implementation of the measures imposed by the EC Directive 2004/54/EC.


Purpose: This study examines the influence of principal leadership in high schools on classroom instruction and student achievement through key organizational factors, including professional capacity, parent–community ties, and the school's learning climate. It identifies paths through which leadership explains differences in achievement and instruction between schools and differences in instruction among teachers within the same school. Research Design: Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships among principal leadership, school organizational structures, classroom instruction, and student grades and test gains on ACT's Education Planning and Assessment System. Measures of principal leadership and school organizational structures were collected from teacher surveys administered to all high school teachers in Chicago Public Schools in the 2006–2007 school years. Findings: Within schools, variation in classroom instruction is associated with principal leadership through multiple pathways, the strongest of which is the quality of professional development and coherence of programs. Between schools, differences in instruction and student achievement are associated with principal leadership only via the learning climate. This suggests that in high schools, establishing a safe, college-focused climate may be the most important leadership function for promoting achievement schoolwide.


The genetic diversity of marine bacteria from coastal Mediterranean water was ana- lyzed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and comparative sequence analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes. The diversity of the whole bacterial assemblage was compared to the diversity of the fraction of actively respiring bacterial cells and of culturable bacteria. Culturable bacteria were isolated on agar plates using 4 different culture media, as well as in filtered autoclaved seawater following dilution to extinction. The cell fractions exhibited varied genetic diversity. High similarity between DGGE patterns obtained from the whole bacterial assemblage and those obtained from the active cell fraction (representing only 3% of total cells) indicated the simultaneous presence of both active and inactive cells within populations corresponding to numerous bacterial phylotypes defined as DGGE bands. Furthermore, an important source of genetic diversity corresponding to viable organisms, detected by culturability on agar media and in dilution culture with unamended seawater, was not detectable by DGGE patterns obtained from total cells. Most of the strains isolated by dilution cultures were different from those isolated on solid agar media. These results suggest that studies on the structure of complex marine bacterial communities do not necessarily reflect the phys- iological heterogeneity of ecologically important populations and may ignore populations present at low relative abundance that can play a key ecological role.


This paper explores the major points of contrast between Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State as one of movement versus state. Presenting the former as a revolutionary movement and the later as a state-building entity, I contend that despite their jihadi nature, both groups adopt different narratives and strategies. Following a comparative approach, I illustrate that the identity of Al-Qaeda as a revolutionary social movement and the Islamic State as a modern state entity in addition to the social backgrounds of their members presented them as two separate entities with institutional differences, structure, ideology and strategy. The movement versus state tension I present is not a new one that is exclusive to Islamist groups only, but rather one that was witnessed by groups like the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks of Russia as well as the Zionists of Europe and Palestine. I argue that this divergence between Al-Qaeda and the Islamic state, demonstrates jihadi ideology to be heterogeneous and decentralize.


A class of low-nonlinearity dispersion-shifted fibers based on depressed-core multistep index profiles is investigated. A systematic approach for designing these fibers in which a reference W-index profile is used to initiate the design is presented. Transmission properties, including effective area, mode-field diameter, dispersion, dispersion slope, and cutoff wavelength, are evaluated for several design examples. The effects of varying fiber dimensions and indices on effective area and mode-field diameter are assessed. It is shown that there is a trade-off between these two properties and, generally, larger effective areas are associated with larger mode-field diameters. Dispersion-shifted single-mode fiber designs with effective areas of from 78 to 210 microm2 and the corresponding mode-field diameter of from 8.94 to 14.94 microm, dispersion less than 0.07 ps/nm km, and dispersion slope of approximately 0.05 ps/nm2 km are presented.


Vertical excitation energies and transition dipole moments between excited electronic states have been calculated for the trans-polyenes series C4H6–C12H14 in order to study the formation of excited state absorption
 spectra of these species. Quadratic response theory is applied in conjunction with the self-consistent field method and a hierarchical set of coupled-cluster methods. The convergence of the excited state absorption, with respect to wavefunction and treatment of electron correlation and also the length of the oligomer unit, is studied, revealing a considerable demand on the computational effort in order to predict the excited
 state spectra with precision. The organization of the excited states is found to change in character along the polyene series. The inflexion point for the vertical excitation energies between the one-photon allowed 11Bu and the two-photon 21Ag state is predicted to occur between hexatriene and octatetraene. Good agreement with experiment is obtained for butadiene and hexatriene for which the most accurate calculations have been carried out.


Research programmes in the social sciences and elsewhere can be seen as 'set-ups' which combine inscription devices and thought styles. The history of inscription devices without consideration of changing and often discontinuous thought styles effectively takes the historical dimension out of the history of thought. Perhaps thought styles are actually more important than the techniques of inscription that arise from them. The social sciences have relied upon multiple modes of inscription, often using, adapting or extending those invented for other purposes, such as the census. But the strategic prioritisation and deployment of specific inscriptions in analysis and argument has inescapably been dependent on particular thought styles; of which by far the most significant over the course of the first half of the twentieth century was eugenics with its specific problem of 'population'. This paper describes the way that Alexander Carr-Saunders took up the problem of population within early attempts to develop sociology. We ask whether Carr-Saunders can be considered a 'precursor' of a sociologist. The history of British sociology takes different shapes – as indeed does the very idea of a history of sociology – depending on how one answers this question.


In this paper we present a task allocation method based on auction mechanisms that allows to find how many robots are needed to execute a task. This number is unknown and depends on several factors. There are also different types of tasks that must be executed using different skills of the robots. It is very difficult to find a correct allocation under this conditions and at present it is an open problem. We also propose two motion coordination methods to reduce the interference effect between robots. To test our system a modification of the well know foraging task has been used. This task introduces special characteristics, not directly studied in previous work, that our method try to solve.


For at least the next two years, the U.S. economy will grow more slowly than it has on average since World War II. This is the forecast of a Bayesian vector autoregression model developed and used by researchers at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. The model's previous forecast—of a very weak start to the 1991–92 recovery—was remarkably accurate. Both forecasts are supported by evidence on long-term problems among consumers, in the commercial real estate industry, and at all levels of government. These problems will most likely constrain economic growth for years, although short spurts of strength could appear anytime, due to unpredictable special factors.


We conducted a prospective follow-up MRI study of originally asymptomatic healthy subjects to clarify the development of Modic changes in the cervical spine over a ten-year period and to identify related factors. Previously, 497 asymptomatic healthy volunteers with no history of cervical trauma or surgery underwent MRI. Of these, 223 underwent a second MRI at a mean follow-up of 11.6 years (10 to 12.7). These 223 subjects comprised 133 men and 100 women with a mean age at second MRI of 50.5 years (23 to 83). Modic changes were classified as not present and types 1 to 3. Changes in Modic types over time and relationships between Modic changes and progression of degeneration of the disc or clinical symptoms were evaluated. A total of 31 subjects (13.9%) showed Modic changes at follow-up: type 1 in nine, type 2 in 18, type 3 in two, and types 1 and 2 in two. Modic changes at follow-up were significantly associated with numbness or pain in the arm, but not with neck pain or shoulder stiffness. Age (≥ 40 years), gender (male), and pre-existing disc degeneration were significantly associated with newly developed Modic changes. In the cervical spine over a ten-year period, type 2 Modic changes developed most frequently. Newly developed Modic changes were significantly associated with age, gender, and pre-existing disc degeneration.


Good barriers make good languages. Scholars have long speculated that geographical barriers impede linguistic contact between speech communities and promote language diversification in a manner similar to the process of allopatric speciation. This hypothesis, however, has seldom been tested systematically and quantitatively. Here, we adopt methods from evolutionary biology and attempt to quantify the influence of oceanic barriers on the degree of lexical diversity in the Japanese Islands. Measuring the degree of beta diversity from basic vocabularies, we find that geographical proximity and, more importantly, isolation by surrounding ocean, independently explains a significant proportion of lexical variation across Japonic languages. Further analyses indicate that our results are neither a by‐product of using a distance matrix derived from a Bayesian language phylogeny nor an epiphenomenon of accelerated evolutionary rates in languages spoken by small communities. Moreover, we find that the effect of oceanic barriers is reproducible with the Ainu languages, indicating that our analytic approach as well as the results can be generalized beyond Japonic language family. The findings we report here are the first quantitative evidence that physical barriers formed by ocean can influence language diversification and points to an intriguing common mechanism between linguistic and biological evolution.


This work describes a model of the R&D process derived by technology management and experience in carrying out this type of activity. The model gives a comprehensive description of the numerous processes of technological nature involving innovations from science to business. The model sees R&D as an organizing activity of fluxes of knowledge and capitals with a dynamics that is determined by R&D projects and their implementing rather than by R&D investments. The model recognizes the existence of a general knowledge generated by R&D activities, formed either by successful or abandoned projects, not necessarily linked to the objectives of the projects, and diffusing among the various actors making R&D in the distributed innovation system existing in conditions of open innovation. Such general knowledge has a role of driving force in developing innovative ideas and saving R&D costs. The model separates neatly the R&D process from scientific research considering existence of an intertwining process between research and R&D. About relation with socio-economic factors determining the effects of new technologies, the model presents different views about relation of R&D investments and economic growth. In fact it considers the inexistence of limits to generation of new technologies, when unlimited financing of R&D is available, and highlights the importance of the specific innovative system of a country in determining the contribution of R&D investments to its economic growth. Concluding the model considers that economic growth does not depend actually on R&D investments, that should be considered rather a means, but on the intensity of generation of innovative ideas, that depends on the efficiency of the territorial innovative system, and on adopted strategies and availability of capitals financing their development joined with an effective industrial organization.


Recursive Neural Networks (RvNNs), which compose sequences according to their underlying hierarchical syntactic structure, have performed well in several natural language processing tasks compared to similar models without structural biases. However, traditional RvNNs are incapable of inducing the latent structure in a plain text sequence on their own. Several extensions have been proposed to overcome this limitation. Nevertheless, these extensions tend to rely on surrogate gradients or reinforcement learning at the cost of higher bias or variance. In this work, we propose Continuous Recursive Neural Network (CRvNN) as a backpropagation-friendly alternative to address the aforementioned limitations. This is done by incorporating a continuous relaxation to the induced structure. We demonstrate that CRvNN achieves strong performance in challenging synthetic tasks such as logical inference and ListOps. We also show that CRvNN performs comparably or better than prior latent structure models on real-world tasks such as sentiment analysis and natural language inference.


The propagation of blackberry and raspberry occur mainly through root cutting and even of softwoods stem; however, it is already increasing the interest for the use of the micropropagation as an alternative technique of vegetative propagation of fruit plants, since the rooting is one of the most difficult stages, in which the definition of both the culture environment and the best concentration of AIB for the rooting, is an important stage. For that purpose, the aim of this research was to determine the best cultivation type and the best concentration of IBA in the culture environment for the in vitro rooting of the blackberry 'Xavante' and the raspberry 'Batum' and 'Heritage'. The vegetable material used was atex microcutting with two leaves, measuring about 1 cm of length, originated from the in vitro cultivation. The studied factors were the kinds of culture (MS and WPM), the IBA concentration in the culture environment and the time of cultivation of the microcutting in an environment with IBA. The WPM environment, in low concentrations, less than 3 µM of IBA, together with T1, induced larger rooting averages and length. High concentrations of AIB induced the callus formation for blackberry 'Xavante'. For raspberry, using WPM environment with smaller concentrations of AIB (0 and 3 , µM), it was shown the best average in the number of roots, length of roots and small callus intensity, with the largest concentrations of IBA it happened larger callus emergence.


This document is based on previous documentation of the nationally standardized Forest Inventory and Analysis database (Hansen and others 1992; Woudenberg and Farrenkopf 1995; Miles and others 2001). Documentation of the structure of the Forest Inventory and Analysis database (FIADB) for Phase 2 data, as well as codes and definitions, is provided. Examples for producing population level estimates are also presented. This database provides a consistent framework for storing forest inventory data across all ownerships for the entire United States. These data are available to the public.


We present a general model of the solar wind interaction with a dipolar lunar crustal magnetic anomaly (LMA) using three‐dimensional full‐kinetic and electromagnetic simulations. We confirm that LMAs may indeed be strong enough to stand off the solar wind from directly impacting the lunar surface, forming a so‐called "minimagnetosphere," as suggested by spacecraft observations and theory. We show that the LMA configuration is driven by electron motion because its scale size is small with respect to the gyroradius of the solar wind ions. We identify a population of back‐streaming ions, the deflection of magnetized electrons via the E × B drift motion, and the subsequent formation of a halo region of elevated density around the dipole source. Finally, it is shown that the presence and efficiency of the processes are heavily impacted by the upstream plasma conditions and, on their turn, influence the overall structure and evolution of the LMA system. Understanding the detailed physics of the solar wind interaction with LMAs, including magnetic shielding, particle dynamics and surface charging is vital to evaluate its implications for lunar exploration.


Anthropogenic climate change is a quintessentially modern problem in its historical origins and discursive framing, but how well does modernist thinking provide us with the tools to solve the problems it created? On one hand even though anthropogenic climate change is argued to be a problem of human origins, solutions to which will require human actions and engagements, modernity separates people from climate change in a number of ways. On the other, while amodern or more-than-human concepts of multiple and relational agency are more consistent with the empirical evidence of humans being deeply embedded in earth surface processes, these approaches have not sufficiently accounted for human power in climate change, nor articulated generative pathways forward. We argue that recent research in human geography has much to offer because it routinely combines both deconstructive impulses and empirical compulsions (ethnographic, material, embodied, practice-based). It has a rather unique possibility to be both deconstructive and generative/creative. We bring together more-than-human geographies and cross-scalar work on agency and governance to suggest how to reframe climate change and climate change response in two main ways: elaborating human and non-human continuities and differences, and identifying and harnessing vernacular capacities.


Existing IP anonymity systems tend to sacrifice one of low latency, high bandwidth, or resistance to traffic-analysis. High-latency mix-nets like Mixminion batch messages to resist traffic-analysis at the expense of low latency. Onion routing schemes like Tor deliver low latency and high bandwidth, but are not designed to withstand traffic analysis. Designs based on DC-nets or broadcast channels resist traffic analysis and provide low latency, but are limited to low bandwidth communication. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation of Aqua, a high-bandwidth anonymity system that resists traffic analysis. We focus on providing strong anonymity for BitTorrent, and evaluate the performance of Aqua using traces from hundreds of thousands of actual BitTorrent users. We show that Aqua achieves latency low enough for efficient bulk TCP flows, bandwidth sufficient to carry BitTorrent traffic with reasonable efficiency, and resistance to traffic analysis within anonymity sets of hundreds of clients. We conclude that Aqua represents an interesting new point in the space of anonymity network designs.


Objectives: To study time estimates by women smokers for when smoking-related consequences will occur given continuing or quitting smoking. The relationship of these estimates to pregnancy and intent to quit smoking was also investigated. Methods: Over a two-week period, eighty women, selected to constitute four subgroups formed by pregnant vs. non-pregnant and trying vs. not trying to quit smoking, rated times at which they would expect smoking-related consequences to occur given continuing or quitting smoking. Results: Somatic health consequences were estimated to occur later than consequences related to mood and social relations. All consequences were estimated to occur later given quitting smoking. Pregnancy had an effect on the estimated time that consequences would occur, with pregnant women estimating earlier occurrence of consequences related to mood and social relations than non-pregnant women did. Conclusion: Health messages should stress consequences for somatic health in quitting smoking, since outcomes later in time might have too low a value to exert a positive effect on decisions to quit smoking.


Although Patient-Controlled Analgesia (PCA) is routinely available in most hospitals in the United States, there appears to be little standardization regarding who provides this valuable service to postoperative patients. This study evaluates the differences in PCA management practices and patient outcomes between primary service (PS) physicians and acute pain service (APS) physicians. Over a 3-mo period, 40 patients prescribed PCA by PS physicians were prospectively studied without the knowledge of the physicians or nurses involved in PCA management. After collecting PS data, a proportionate stratified random sampling procedure was used to select 40 APS patients matched for gender, age, and type of surgery. Data regarding patient demographics, PCA prescription, changes in PCA orders, opioid consumption, reason for discontinuation of PCA, verbal analog scale pain scores, side effects, and post-PCA pain management were analyzed. Although pain scores were not different between groups, APS patients had fewer side effects, were more likely to receive a loading dose, had their PCA settings adjusted more often (P < 0.05), and used more opioid. PS patients were more likely to receive intramuscular medications after PCA discontinuation (P < 0.05). This study demonstrates potentially important PCA management differences between APS and PS physicians.


Ian Shapiro identifies three traditions of democratic thought: aggregative, deliberative, and minimalist. All three are apparent in the Pacific Islands despite most commentators and donors assuming that the meaning of democracy is fixed. The focus in development studies on institutions and their capacity to deliver pro-poor growth has generated a fourth tradition that revolves around the now pervasive governance concept. Rather than focusing on the general will of a sovereign people, this perspective is predominately concerned with the legitimate use of violence as a precursor to any development-orientated democratic state. Having reviewed the literature on democracy in the Pacific to parse out these four meanings, this article concludes that paying greater attention to this ideational equivocality would extend discussions about the suitability and transferability of this type of regime.


Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world. Achaete-scute complex homolog-1 (Ascl1) is a member of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor family that has multiple functions in the normal and neoplastic lung such as the regulation of neuroendocrine differentiation, prevention of apoptosis and promotion of tumor–initiating cells. We now show that Ascl1 directly regulates matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) and O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT). Loss- and gain-of-function experiments in human bronchial epithelial and lung carcinoma cell lines revealed that Ascl1, MMP-7 and MGMT are able to protect cells from the tobacco-specific nitrosamine NNK-induced DNA damage and the alkylating agent cisplatin-induced apoptosis. We also examined the role of Ascl1 in NNK-induced lung tumorigenesis in vivo. Using transgenic mice which constitutively expressed human Ascl1 in airway lining cells, we found that there was a delay in lung tumorigenesis. We conclude that Ascl1 potentially enhances DNA repair through activation of MMP-7 and MGMT which may impact lung carcinogenesis and chemoresistance. The study has uncovered a novel and unexpected function of Ascl1 which will contribute to better understanding of lung carcinogenesis and the broad implications of transcription factors in tobacco-related carcinogenesis.


Metal-organic frameworks, particularly those coordinated with nitrogen-rich ligands, are extremely versatile materials. Here the structural factors and performances of 1D and 2D energetic MOFs are compared briefly with those of 3D species. Advantages of hydrothermal in situ synthesis, properties of azole-based ligands, and choices of environmentally friendly metal ions for 3D energetic MOFs are also explored.