research, method and technology development, as well as studies conducted in the interests of Swedish defence and the safety and security of society. The organisation employs approximately 1250 personnel of whom about 900 are scientists. This makes FOI Sweden's largest research institute. FOI gives its customers access to leading-edge expertise in a large number of fields such as security policy studies, defence and security related analyses, the assessment of various types of threat, systems for control and management of crises, protection against and management of hazardous substances, IT security and the potential offered by new sensors. Routing Hysteresis Impact on Traffic Adaptation


A statistical evaluation of the occurrence of selected surface textures on quartz sand grains from eolian and subaqueous environments was made to determine their environmental sensitivity. Samples collected at Padre Island, Texas, and the adjacent inland dune fields were used to identify the limits of sensitivity on a local scale ( i.e. , beach, dune, etc.). In comparing means and standard deviations, only the lagoonal facies was found to be distinctive. It could be identified easily by the abundance of chemically etched, oriented triangular-shaped patterns. The other features characteristic of subaqueous or eolian processes are more or less equally distributed throughout the coastal area. Analysis of scatter plots and linear regression revealed weak trends in which subaqueous features are replaced by eolian features moving inland from the beach. Comparison of statistics for the samples from the Texas coastal region with statistics for samples from four interior deserts suggests that if over half of the grains in a sample have chemically etched, oriented triangular-shaped patterns or mechanically formed V-shaped pits and straight or slightly curved grooves and scratches, then a coastal province might be deduced. Irregular or polygonal cracks were present on over half of the desert grains examined and were much less abundant on the grains from the coastal region. None of the other six features examined were statistically distinctive for environmental determinations.


Background: The success rates and related complications of various techniques for intubation in children with difficult airways remain unknown. The primary aim of this study is to compare the success rates of fiber-optic intubation via supraglottic airway to videolaryngoscopy in children with difficult airways. Our secondary aim is to compare the complication rates of these techniques. Methods: Observational data were collected from 14 sites after management of difficult pediatric airways. Patient age, intubation technique, success per attempt, use of continuous ventilation, and complications were recorded for each case. First-attempt success and complications were compared in subjects managed with fiber-optic intubation via supraglottic airway and videolaryngoscopy. Results: Fiber-optic intubation via supraglottic airway and videolaryngoscopy had similar first-attempt success rates (67 of 114, 59% vs. 404 of 786, 51%; odds ratio 1.35; 95% CI, 0.91 to 2.00; P = 0.16). In subjects less than 1 yr old, fiber-optic intubation via supraglottic airway was more successful on the first attempt than videolaryngoscopy (19 of 35, 54% vs. 79 of 220, 36%; odds ratio, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.04 to 4.31; P = 0.042). Complication rates were similar in the two groups (20 vs. 13%; P = 0.096). The incidence of hypoxemia was lower when continuous ventilation through the supraglottic airway was used throughout the fiber-optic intubation attempt. Conclusions: In this nonrandomized study, first-attempt success rates were similar for fiber-optic intubation via supraglottic airway and videolaryngoscopy. Fiber-optic intubation via supraglottic airway is associated with higher first-attempt success than videolaryngoscopy in infants with difficult airways. Continuous ventilation through the supraglottic airway during fiber-optic intubation attempts may lower the incidence of hypoxemia.


The contemporary fields of interdisciplinary studies and the policy sciences have evolved over similar intellectual paths and timelines, beginning in the early 20th century. Both have their roots in professional efforts—within and outside the academy—to address numerous, growing, and complex problems that face humanity. The policy sciences' approach to integration via interdisciplinarity serves the civic and public processes of community and decision making that address these problems, while at the same time respecting the individual human being. This goal explicitly Convergent Evolution in the Interest of Integrative Problem Solving 135 seeks dignity for all individuals in healthy environments. The policy sciences offer a framework and an intellectual toolbox with a fundamental set of operations to achieve integration via interdisciplinarity in the interests of problem solving. This framework guides interdisciplinarity in practical, teachable, and learnable terms, the history of which mirrors the evolution of interdisciplinary studies. A review of the policy sciences in the context of interdisciplinary studies emphasizes their shared heritage and raises important questions about how isolated communities of scholars and practitioners with a convergent evolution might collaborate to promote greater achievement of their common goals.


This article presents a novel approach in industrial stormwater treatment based on flotation. For this use, the technique has some significant enhancements, including the addition of a sorption filter in the flotation tank. The approach was implemented at the Ust'-Ilimskaya hydropower plant. This type of stormwater treatment plant may be used when the strictest stormwater drainage rules are applied.


Abstract. The role of isoprene as a precursor to secondary organic aerosol (SOA) over Europe is studied with the two-way nested global chemistry transport model TM5. The inclusion of the formation of SOA from isoprene oxidation in our model almost doubles the atmospheric burden of SOA over Europe compared to SOA formation from terpenes and aromatics. The reference simulation, which considers SOA formation from isoprene, terpenes and aromatics, predicts a yearly European production rate of 1.0 Tg SOA yr −1 and an annual averaged atmospheric burden of about 50 Gg SOA over Europe. A fraction of 35% of the SOA produced in the boundary layer over Europe is transported to higher altitudes or to other world regions. Summertime measurements of organic matter (OM) during the extensive EMEP OC/EC campaign 2002/2003 are better reproduced when SOA formation from isoprene is taken into account, reflecting also the strong seasonality of isoprene and other biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) emissions from vegetation. However, during winter, our model strongly underestimates OM, likely caused by missing wood burning in the emission inventories. Uncertainties in the parameterisation of isoprene SOA formation have been investigated. Maximum SOA production is found for irreversible sticking (non-equilibrium partitioning) of condensable vapours on particles, with tropospheric SOA production over Europe increased by a factor of 4 in summer compared to the reference case. Completely neglecting SOA formation from isoprene results in the lowest estimate (0.51 Tg SOA yr −1 ). The amount and the nature of the absorbing matter are shown to be another key uncertainty when predicting SOA levels. Consequently, smog chamber experiments on SOA formation should be performed with different types of seed aerosols and without seed aerosols in order to derive an improved treatment of the absorption of SOA in the models. Consideration of a number of recent insights in isoprene SOA formation mechanisms reduces the tropospheric production of isoprene derived SOA over Europe from 0.4 Tg yr −1 in our reference simulation to 0.1 Tg yr −1 .


This book examines a wide range of emerging sources off water pollution. It consists of thirteen chapters dedicated to the topic, giving readers comprehensive information about the types of materials involved and the solution for their removal.

The first five chapters present an analysis of the emerging water pollutants, their toxicities, legislations available to monitor and regulate their emissions. This introduction is followed by 3 chapters that cover risk assessment of emerging pollutants, their fate and life cycle assessment. The last section of the book goes through the details of remediation technologies for wastewater treatment.

This reference is equally suitable for academia, industry professionals and students, presenting state-of-the-art learnings on emerging water pollutants and their remediation methods.


Severe weather events are responsible for hundreds of fatalities and millions of euros of damage every year on the Mediterranean basin. Lightning activity is a characteristic phenomenon of severe weather and often accompanies torrential rainfall, which, under certain conditions like terrain type, slope, drainage, and soil saturation, may turn into flash flood. Building on the existing relationship between significant lightning activity and deep convection and precipitation, the performance of the Lightning Potential Index, as a measure of the potential for charge generation and separation that leads to lightning occurrence in clouds, is here evaluated for the V‐shape back‐building Mesoscale Convective System which hit Genoa city (Italy) in 2014. An ensemble of Weather Research and Forecasting simulations at cloud‐permitting grid spacing (1 km) with different microphysical parameterizations is performed and compared to the available observational radar and lightning data. The results allow gaining a deeper understanding of the role of lightning phenomena in the predictability of V‐shape back‐building Mesoscale Convective Systems often producing flash flood over western Mediterranean complex topography areas. Moreover, they support the relevance of accurate lightning forecasting for the predictive ability of these severe events.


This study presents six communication tactics that describe innovation advocacy leadership. It examines differences in communication abilities and behaviors represented by divergent processes, which develop new directions necessary to support innovative ideas, and convergent processes which represent the dominant organizational view necessary to support formal strategic planning (Pappas, 2004). Tactics provide advocates with a procedural bridge to the new ideas they propose and include defining innovation context, developing dynamic networks, channeling opportunities, and framing perceptions.


Objective: The process of changing student nurses attitudes, values, and behaviours so that they become congruent with the profession are neither easy nor successful in all cases. This paper will clearly highlight to the reader the conditions necessary in order to both optimise teaching activities and measure the degree of change in the affective domain of student nurses.
Method: The aim of the meta-ethnography was to analyse and synthesize literature on the impact of four undergraduate pre-registration programme enrichment activities (Inter-professional learning, International placements, simulation, and blended learning) on the affective domain development of student nurses. A systematic search of the literature identified qualitative studies using explicit criteria. Key concepts were identified and translated across the studies, by using a recognised framework that measured changes in values and attitudes: compliance, identification, and internalisation, from the collective views of the participants. The findings created a line of argument synthesis from the developed tables and mind maps.
Results: Data were synthesised from twenty nine papers, across seven countries, with more than 755 student nurse participants. Reciprocal translation highlighted teaching activities that created significant modification in affective domain development, resulting in the internalisation of learning, were those that introduced the nursing students to a new patient, personal or professional culture via an international placement or an inter-professional training programme.
Conclusion: The final synthesis presents conclusions not evident in the primary studies. To develop students so they have attitudes and values congruent with the profession, academics and registered practitioners need to focus on creating enrichment activities alongside the regular curriculum that are: based on cultural issues that challenge beliefs and assumptions, either immersive or repeated for more than 6 weeks, based around or in clinical practice, and provide regular opportunities for premise reflection with experienced staff.


Cultural materialism has become an influential discipline in recent
years, particularly so in 'Renaissance' studies, but also more generally in
'English', as well as departments defined as practising 'cultural' or
'communications' studies. The phrase is usually linked with the name of
Raymond Williams, but a cursory examination of Williams's own work
quickly establishes that it is a phrase he rarely uses, and only schematically
attempts to define. The thesis therefore takes the form of an investigation into
the way cultural materialism has come to be understood, by examining in
detail the trajectory of Raymond Williams's theoretical development, and how
his own engagement with various theoretical positions has helped to set
'limits' on the meaning of cultural materialism.
Chapters 1 and 2 deal with some of Williams's earliest work,
particularly Reading and Criticism, as a way of investigating how reasonable
it is to tag him as a 'Left-Leavisite', arguing that Leavis's undoubted
influence is resisted (though not entirely rejected) from a very early stage. The
first chapter considers in detail Leavis's work at Cambridge, the influence of
Eliot, and the significance of the 'Organic Community'. Chapter 2, which is
based around a comparative analysis of Williams's and Leavis's readings of
Dickens, argues that Williams rejects the 'organic community' in favour of his
'knowable community'. Chapters 4 and 5 deal with specific 'theoretical'
issues: the first, based around a reading of Terry Eagleton's critique of
Williams's use of the Marxist metaphor of 'base and superstructure', shows
some of the problems which arise from Williams's cultural model, as well as
suggesting refinements; the second deals with the influence of Volosinov's
theories on Williams. Chapter 6 comes out of Williams's readings of the
'Country-House' poems in The Country and the City, showing how his
practice of literary criticism relies on an acceptance of 'ideology' apparently
denied in his more 'theoretical' writings. This analysis is extended as a result
of investigations into the 'De L'Isle' manuscripts relating to the Penshurst
estate. Chapter 7 argues that it is possible to see the work of Fredric Jameson
as developing Williams's cultural materialism into Jameson's debates on
postmodernism.
In the Introduction and Conclusion, I have taken the opportunity to
look briefly at the activity of cultural materialism as it has developed since
Raymond Williams's death in 1988. The Introduction emphasizes what I see
to be important methodological differences between 'cultural materialism'
and 'new historicism'; the Conclusion deals with the continuing debate over
the value of a cultural materialist approach by considering the 'appropriation'
of Shakespeare.


Our recent survey on publicly reported router bugs shows that many router bugs, once triggered, can cause various traffic trajectory errors including traffic deviating from its intended forwarding paths, traffic being mistakenly dropped and unauthorized traffic bypassing packet filters. These traffic trajectory errors are serious problems because they may cause network applications to fail and create security loopholes for network intruders to exploit. Therefore, traffic trajectory errors must be quickly and efficiently detected so that the corrective action can be performed in a timely fashion. Detecting traffic trajectory errors requires the real-time tracking of the control states (e.g., forwarding tables, packet filters) of routers and the scalable monitoring of the actual traffic trajectories in the network. Traffic trajectory errors can then be detected by efficiently comparing the observed traffic trajectories against the intended control states. Making such trajectory error detection efficient and practical for large-scale high speed networks requires us to address many challenges.
First, existing traffic trajectory monitoring algorithms require the simultaneously monitoring of all network interfaces in a network for the packets of interest, which will cause a daunting monitoring overhead. To improve the efficiency of traffic trajectory monitoring, we propose the router group monitoring technique that only monitors the periphery interfaces of a set of selected router groups. We analyze a large number of real network topologies and show that effective router groups with high trajectory error detection rates exist in all cases. We then develop an analytical model for quickly and accurately estimating the detection rates of different router groups. Based on this model, we propose an algorithm to select a set of router groups that can achieve complete error detection and low monitoring overhead.
Second, maintaining the control states of all the routers in the network requires a significant amount of memory. However, there exist no studies on how to efficiently store multiple complex packet filters. We propose to store multiple packet filters using a shared Hyper- Cuts decision tree. To help decide which subset of packet filters should share a HyperCuts decision tree, we first identify a number of important factors that collectively impact the efficiency of the resulting shared HyperCuts decision tree. Based on the identified factors, we then propose to use machine learning techniques to predict whether any pair of packet filters should share a tree. Given the pair-wise prediction matrix, a greedy heuristic algorithm is used to classify packet filters into a number of shared HyperCuts decision trees. Our experiments using both real packet filters and synthetic packet filters show that our shared HyperCuts decision trees require considerably less memory while having the same or a slightly higher average height than separate trees. In addition, the shared HyperCuts decision trees enable concurrent lookup of multiple packet filters sharing the same tree.
Finally, based on the two proposed techniques, we have implemented a complete prototype system that is compatible with Juniper's JUNOS. We have shown in the thesis that, to detect traffic trajectory errors, it is sufficient to only selectively implement a small set of key functions of a full-fletched router on our prototype, which makes our prototype simpler and less error prone. We conduct both Emulab experiments and micro-benchmark experiments to show that the system can efficiently track router control states, monitor traffic trajectories and detect traffic trajectory errors.


The lack of clear indications of success in integrated conservation and development projects has resulted in strong criticisms of these projects, and a call for the return to conservation activities that exclude local communities. Impeding this discussion is the lack of clarity around how project success is defined and measured in conservation and development projects, especially in terms of development goals. This study involved an in-depth exploration of two agroforestry-focused conservation and development projects in Nicaragua to provide insights into how success in reaching development goals is interpreted in such projects. In both projects, development was equated with increased household income, in contrast to more contemporary definitions that include aspects such as self-respect and social integration. Both projects in turn relied on income as a measure of development success, which ultimately lessened attention to impacts not easily measured quantitatively as well as participant perspectives on desired goals. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for conservation practitioners; specifically the need for better alignment of project goals with contemporary explanations of development, and a need to move beyond primarily numerical indicators to measure change through an interdisciplinary approach in order to have a more comprehensive understanding of project impacts.


Preparations and production technologies of cleansing milks based on cenosphere obtained from flying ashes Application of cenosphere obtained from flying ashes as effective abrasive for cleansing milks was analyzed in the paper. Preparations and production technology of ten milks with various contents of cenosphere (from 2% to 20%) were designed. The products were tested to determine their most important usable properties. The efficiency of application and dispersion, cleansing ability, ability to emulsify fatty soils and destructing activity, measured as polish of surfaces, were analyzed. Selected trade products were tested analogously. The results obtained show that cenosphere can be a good replacement of abrasives that are widely used. The cenosphere-based products revealed comparable usable properties to the trade products (or even better). It is probable that producers of cleansers will pay their attention to this waste, which will bring profits to the natural environment.


The main purpose of this study was to determine whether a Physical Science intervention programme that has been running for three years at St John's College for selected Grade 1012 students from under-resourced schools in inner city Johannesburg, has had any impact on the final academic results of these selected students in the National Senior Certificate examination. There is little international or local research that deals with third world academic extension and enrichment programmes, particularly with respect to South Africa. A mixed methods case study on the programme was carried out. Numerical data was collected over a period of three years to be used to determine the effectiveness of the programme. Interviews with the participants and teachers on the programme were conducted and surveys were carried out with participants on the programme as well as students who were not on the programme from the three partner schools. The three instruments used in the research provided different forms of data which produced findings that were combined to look for common trends and understandings. The data collected from the surveys, interviews and term scores were coded, captured organised, analysed and interpreted. Among the more significant findings were: (a) Not all of the participants on the programme showed academic improvement; (b) The overall academic improvement of the two groups researched was marginally better than their peers who were not part of the programme; (c) In the view of the participants, the intervention had a greater influence on their academic achievements than the actual findings from analysis of the numerical data indicated; (d) There are a number of factors that determine the success of the programme; (e) The self-motivation is an important determinant for success of individuals on the programme. These findings could assist current programme organisers and institutions that seek to introduce similar types of intervention programmes in the future.


BACKGROUD
Declining renal function is an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality in cardiovascular disease. Visfatin has been described as a marker of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction, but whether circulating visfatin levels are predictive to a subsequent decline in renal function remains unclear.

METHODS
In total, 200 nondiabetic, non-proteinuric hypertensive outpatients with initial serum creatinine (Scr) ≤1.5 mg/dl were enrolled. Plasma visfatin concentration and endothelial function estimated by brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) were determined in the study subjects. The primary endpoints were the occurrence of renal events including doubling of Scr, 25% loss of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) from baseline values, and the occurrence of end-stage renal disease during follow-up.

RESULTS
The mean annual rate of GFR decline (ΔGFR/y) was -1.26±2.76 ml/min/1.73 m(2) per year during follow-up (8.6±2.5 years). At baseline, plasma visfatin was negatively correlated with estimated GFR. In longitudinal analysis, the ΔGFR/y was correlated with visfatin, baseline GFR, FMD, systolic blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose (FBG). Multivariate analysis indicated that increased visfatin (r = -0.331, P <0.001), baseline GFR (r = -0.234, P = 0.001), FMD (r = 0.163, P = 0.015), and FBG (r = -0.160, P = 0.015) are independent predictors of ΔeGFR/y. Cox regression model analysis showed that visfatin (hazard ratio (HR), 1.09; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.05-1.13, P <0.001), FBG (HR, 1.01; 95% CI, 1.00-1.02, P = 0.020), and FMD (HR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.76-1.00, P = 0.049) were independently associated with the risk of developing future renal events.

CONCLUSIONS
Increased circulating visfatin are associated with subsequent decline in renal function in nondiabetic hypertensive patients.


Two efficient and convenient methods have been described for synthesis of 2-substituted-2,3-dihydro-4(1H)-quinazolinone derivatives by one-pot condensation of 2-anthranilamide with aldehydes or ketones in the presence of a catalytic amount of boric acid or sodium dihydrogen phosphate under solvent-free conditions. The attractive features of these processes are short reaction times, easy isolation of products, excellent yields and an environmental friendly procedure.


Sustainability is related with environmental, social and economic variables. Each one of these areas is, by itself, complex due to the huge number of factors that one must analyze. Because of the combination of the levels with the factors, and the needed replications, an exponential growth in the number of executions appears. In this paper we describe a methodology that helps us to deal with this complexity applying three key concepts, formal representation of simulation models, optimization algorithms and high-performance computing. We present an infrastructure named NECADA that supports the methodology. This approach can be applied to a building refurbishment or to define optimal parameters in new buildings. The specialists work with the conceptual model, and from it with the system; following the method, they will be able to find optimal scenarios using a selection of build-in heuristics that can be applied for the problem resolution.


This study analyzed the classroom interaction in an EYL classroom by describing its communication contents and patterns of interaction. The data were collected through classroom observation and semi-structured interview for the teacher. The writer observed the spoken communication between the EYL teacher and 39 fifth graders in a national elementary school using the video and audio recorders. Others, teacher's interview and field notes were the supplementary data. Having been transcribed, the data were analyzed using the adapted form of FLint system. The results showed that asking questions (20.05%), giving information (10.09%), and repeating students response verbatim (6.65%) were the top three of the communication contents expressed by the teacher. On the other hand, the top three of the communication contents expressed by the students were students' choral response to the teacher (17.61%), individual student response to the teacher (13.27%), student's nonverbal behavior (4.84%). At last, the pattern of interaction revealed was still teacher-centered since most of the interactions were initiated by the teacher. In other words, the expectation of K13 in this study was not yet fulfilled. However, the students showed active participation during the lesson. This study can give valuable contributions to English teachers by broadening their horizon about EYL classroom interaction.


This chapter examines the predictions of Biberauer, Holmberg a Roberts's (2007, 2008) Final-over-Final Constraint/FOFC for grammatical change and borrowing. As a putatively invariant syntactic principle, FOFC excludes the synchronic possibility of head-final phrases dominating categorially alike head-initial phrases. For diachrony, FOFC predicts certain word-order changes to be impossible, whether contact is involved or not: specifically, head-final to head-initial change is predicted to proceed top-down, whereas the reverse change should proceed bottom-up. Case studies from the history of English, Afrikaans and French seem to support the first of these predictions. Furthermore, we show on the basis of data from South Asian languages, that the presence of a phrase-initial head blocks the borrowing of a higher phrase-final head, thereby avoiding a FOFC-violation.


We present a systematic and comprehensive analysis of photonic crystal fibers with a general Bravais lattice and one hole per unit cell. We show how the lack of a proper separation of lattice shape effects from volume rescaling can lead to an incorrect assessment of the impact of lattice shape. We study and compare the endlessly single-mode, waveguide dispersion, and birefringence properties of the fundamental mode across all lattice shapes. For example, we show that the triangular and square lattice shapes offer the largest critical air-hole radius for the endlessly single-mode operation. We identify a general class of PCFs with large birefringence and show that the total birefringence of the fundamental mode is the result of the competition between two opposing effects: the cladding lattice shape and the asymmetry of the core and can vanish for some PCFs with even very nonsymmetric lattices. We show designs for which the birefringence vanishes even with nonsymmetric lattices and cores.


The probability of occurrence of ice crystal number densities in young cirrus clouds is examined based on airborne measurements. The observations have been carried out at midlatitudes in both hemispheres at equivalent latitudes (52 − 55 • N/S) during the same season (local autumn in 2000). The in situ measurements considered in the present study include temperatures, vertical velocities, and total ice crystal concentrations, the latter determined with high precision and accuracy using a counterflow virtual impactor. Most young cirrus clouds typically contain high number densities (1−10 cm −3) of small (diameter < 20 µm) ice crystals. This mode dominates the probability distributions and is shown to be caused by rapid cooling rates associated with updraft speeds in the range 10 − 100 cm s −1. A second mode containing larger crystals extends from ∼ 1 cm −3 to low concentrations close to the detection threshold (∼ 3 × 10 −4 cm −3) and could be associated with lower updraft speeds. Results of a statistical analysis provide compelling evidence that the dy-namical variability of vertical air motions on the mesoscale is the key factor determining the observed probability distributions of pristine ice crystal concentrations in cirrus. Other factors considered are changes of temperature as well as size, number, and ice nucleation thresholds of the freezing aerosol particles. The variability in vertical velocities is caused by atmospheric gravity waves leading to small-scale temperature fluctuations. Inasmuch as gravity waves are widespread, mesoscale variability in vertical velocities can be viewed as a universal feature of young cirrus clouds. Large-scale models that do not account for this subgrid-scale variability yield erroneous predictions of the variability of basic cirrus cloud properties. Climate change may bring about changes in the global distribution of updraft speeds, mean air temperatures, and aerosol properties. As shown in this work, these changes could significantly modify the probability distribution of cir-rus ice crystal concentrations. This study emphasizes the key role of vertical velocities and mesoscale variability in vertical velocities in controlling cirrus properties. The results suggest that, in any effort to ascribe cause to trends of cirrus cloud properties, a careful evaluation of dynamical changes in cloud formation should be done before conclusions regarding the role of other anthropogenic factors, such as changes in aerosol composition, are made.


Machine learning strongly relies on the covering test to assess whether a candidate hypothesis covers training examples. The present paper investigates learning relational concepts from examples, termed relational learning or inductive logic programming. In particular, it investigates the chances of success and the computational cost of relational learning, which appears to be severely affected by the presence of a phase transition in the covering test. To this aim, three up-to-date relational learners have been applied to a wide range of artificial, fully relational learning problems. A first experimental observation is that the phase transition behaves as an attractor for relational learning; no matter which region the learning problem belongs to, all three learners produce hypotheses lying within or close to the phase transition region. Second, a failure region appears. All three learners fail to learn any accurate hypothesis in this region. Quite surprisingly, the probability of failure does not systematically increase with the size of the underlying target concept: under some circumstances, longer concepts may be easier to accurately approximate than shorter ones. Some interpretations for these findings are proposed and discussed.


A skeletonized fauna of possible Tommotian age (earliest Cambrian) has been discovered in the Caborca region, Sonora, in a unit considered approximately equivalent to the basal part of the Wood Canyon Formation of the Death Valley region. Probable metazoan traces occur about 900 m stratigraphically below the shelly fossils and may be among the oldest trace fossils known in the southern Cordillera. About 1,200 m stratigraphically below the shelly fossils, a new filamentous algal microbiota has been found in silicified wackestone from the El Arpa Formation. These new fossil occurrences, found within three stratigraphically correlated upper Proterozoic through Middle Cambrian sections from the Caborca region, have significant paleobiologic and biostratigraphic implications for the "Precambrian-Cambrian boundary" and Proterozoic paleobiology in western North America.


In the northwest Great Basin, western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis subsp. occidentalis Hook.) is encroaching into aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) communities. There is a concern that aspen communities in this region are in a state of decline, but their status has not been documented. This study determined the timing, extent, and some of the effects of this expansion. Ninety-one aspen stands were sampled for density, canopy cover, age, stand structure, and recruitment of western juniper and aspen. Soils and tree litter beneath aspen and western juniper were collected to analyze the effects of western juniper on soils. Additionally, 2 large aspen complexes in southeast Oregon were intensively aged to determine disturbance (fire) frequencies. Western juniper encroachment peaked between 1900 and 1939 with 77% of all juniper trees sampled having been established during this period. Three-fourths of aspen stands sampled have established populations of western juniper. Twelve percent of aspen stands sampled were completely replaced by western juniper and another 23% dominated by western juniper. Average density of western juniper in aspen sites was 1,573 trees ha. Seventy percent of aspen stands sampled had zero recruitment of new aspen. Aspen stands averaged 98 years old. There was an inverse correlation between aspen canopy cover and western juniper canopy cover. Soils influenced by western juniper had a higher C:N ratio, pH, salts, lime, and sulfate, and lower amounts of magnesium, iron, copper, and manganese. Aspen litter had a lower C:N ratio than western juniper litter. Two major aspen complexes sampled had even-age, 2-tiered even-age, and multiple-age aspen trees. The absence of presettlement juniper within all sampled aspen stands suggests fire was the primary stand-replacing disturbance in these northwest Great Basin aspen communities. The lack of fire coupled with aspen stand decadence and low recruitment levels will allow for the continued encroachment and replacement of aspen communities by western juniper in the northwest Great Basin.


In this study we investigate the physical processes underlying maintenance of an in-phase transition between the South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) and the succeeding North Australian summer monsoon (NASM). In particular, our attentions were focused on identification of the roles of sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) in the Indian Ocean in contrast to that of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). To realize this goal, we partition the in-phase years into two groups, those being ENSO and non-ENSO groupings, and then we conduct a composite study. For the non-ENSO-year composite, the associated SST changes resemble a dipole structure characterized by a SST warming in the western Indian Ocean and a cooling in the southeastern Indian Ocean in the boreal summer and fall. The warm SSTA, along with a stimulated ascent, expands eastward in the boreal fall and arrives in the eastern Indian Ocean around northern Australia, concurrent with a cold SSTA to its north with a descent. Therefore, a strong ascent in northern Australia associated with the regional Hadley circulation occurring in the Philippine Sea-northern Australia region is responsible for a wet NASM. Our study also identifies the enlarged influence of the SSTA in the Indian Ocean being likely associated with change in the background SST state that occurred around 1976 - 77 over the Indian Ocean.


With searing wit and incisive commentary, John Kenneth Galbraith redefined America's perception of itself in The New Industrial State , one of his landmark works. The United States is no longer a free-enterprise society, Galbraith argues, but a structured state controlled by the largest companies. Advertising is the means by which these companies manage demand and create consumer "need" where none previously existed. Multinational corporations are the continuation of this power system on an international level. The goal of these companies is not the betterment of society, but immortality through an uninterrupted stream of earnings. First published in 1967, The New Industrial State continues to resonate today.


In this paper, we present a modelling experiment developed to study systems of cities and processes of urbanisation in large territories over long time spans. Building on geographical theories of urban evolution, we rely on agent-based models to 1) formalise complementary and alternative hypotheses of urbanisation and 2) explore their ability to simulate observed patterns in a virtual laboratory. The paper is therefore divided into two sections : an overview of the mechanisms implemented to represent competing hypotheses used to simulate urban evolution; and an evaluation of the resulting model structures in their ability to simulate—efficiently and parsimoniously—a system of cities (between 1000 and 2000 cities in the Former Soviet Union) over several periods of time (before and after the crash of the USSR). We do so using a modular framework of model-building and evolutionary algorithms for the calibration of several model structures. This project aims at tackling equifinality in systems dynamics by confronting different mechanisms with similar evaluation criteria. It enables the identification of the best-performing models with respect to the chosen criteria by scanning automatically the parameter space along with the space of model structures (the different combinations of mechanisms).


BACKGROUND
A variety of antifungal drugs, drug preparations and drug combinations are available to treat newborn infants with suspected or confirmed invasive fungal infection. There is a need to assess their relative merits.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effect of treatment with different antifungal drugs, drug preparations or drug combinations on mortality and morbidity in newborn infants with suspected or confirmed invasive fungal infection.

SEARCH METHODS
We used the standard search strategy of the Cochrane Neonatal Review Group. This included searches of the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library, 2012, Issue 2), MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL (to March 2012), conference proceedings and previous reviews.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised and quasi-randomised control trials comparing one antifungal agent or combination of agents with another in newborn infants with suspected or confirmed invasive fungal infection.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
We extracted the data using the standard methods of the Cochrane Neonatal Review Group, with separate evaluation of trial quality and data extraction by each author, and synthesis of data using risk ratio and risk difference.

MAIN RESULTS
We identified only one small trial in which 24 newborn infants participated. This trial compared the use of fluconazole versus amphotericin B (plus 5-fluorocytosine if fungal meningitis present). The trial did not detect a statistically significant effect on mortality (risk ratio 0.73; 95% confidence interval 0.26 to 2.05).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
There are insufficient data to inform practice. Large randomised controlled trials are required to compare antifungal drugs, drug preparations or drug combinations for treating newborn infants with invasive fungal infection.


We introduce a novel technique for generating green-noise halftones—stochastic dither patterns composed of homogeneously distributed pixel clusters. Although techniques employing error diffusion have been proposed previously, the technique here employs a dither array referred to as a green-noise mask, which greatly reduces the computational complexity formerly associated with green noise. Compared with those generated with blue-noise masks, halftones generated with green-noise masks are less susceptible to printer distortions. Because green noise constitutes patterns with widely varying cluster sizes and shapes, the technique introduced here for constructing these green-noise masks is tunable; that is, it allows for specific printer traits, with small clusters reserved for printers with low distortion and large clusters reserved for printers with high distortion. Given that blue noise is a limiting case of green noise, this new technique can even create blue-noise masks.


The first book to show precisely how genes build the wonders of the human brain, and why the Human Genome project could radically alter our view of the world. In The Birth of the Mind , award-winning cognitive scientist Gary Marcus irrevocably alters the nature vs. nurture debate by linking the findings of the Human Genome project to the development of the brain. Startling findings have recently revealed that the genome is much smaller than we once thought, containing no more than 30,000-40,000 genes. Since this discovery, scientists have struggled to understand how such a tiny number of genes could contain the instructions for building the human brain, arguably the most complex device in the known universe. Synthesizing up-to-the-minute biology with his own original findings on child development, Marcus is the first to resolve this apparent contradiction by chronicling exactly how genes create the infinite complexities of the human mind. Along the way, he dispels the common misconceptions people harbor about genes, and explores the stunning implications of this research for the future of genetic engineering. Vibrantly written and completely accessible to the lay reader, The Birth of the Mind will forever change the way we think about our origins and ourselves.


Connecting theoretical discussion with empirical qualitative work, this article examines how sickle cell became a site of public health intervention in terms of 'racialised' risks. Historically, sickle cell became socio-politically allied to ideas of repair, in terms of the state improving the health of a neglected ethnic minority population. Yet, we elucidate how partial improvements in care and education arose alongside preventative public health screening efforts. Using qualitative research based in the United Kingdom, we show how a focus on collective efforts of repair can lie in tension with how services and individuals understand and negotiate antenatal screening. We illustrate how screening for sickle cell disorder calls into question narrative identity, undoing paradigms in which ethnicity, disablement and genetic impairment become framed. Research participants noted that rather than 'choices', it is 'risks' and their negotiation that are a part of discourses of modernity and the new genetics. Furthermore, while biomedical paradigms are rationally and ethically (de)constructed by participants, this was never fully engaged with by professionals, contributing to overall perception of antenatal screening as disempowering and leading to disengagement.


Abstract. Inverse modeling is widely employed to provide "top-down" emission estimates using atmospheric measurements. Here, we analyze the dependence of derived CH4 emissions on the sampling frequency and density of the observational surface network, using the TM5-4DVAR inverse modeling system and synthetic observations. This sensitivity study focuses on Europe. The synthetic observations are created by TM5 forward model simulations. The inversions of these synthetic observations are performed using virtually no knowledge on the a priori spatial and temporal distribution of emissions, i.e. the emissions are derived mainly from the atmospheric signal detected by the measurement network. Using the European network of stations for which continuous or weekly flask measurements are available for 2001, the synthetic experiments can retrieve the "true" annual total emissions for single countries such as France within 20%, and for all North West European countries together within ~5%. However, larger deviations are obtained for South and East European countries due to the scarcity of stations in the measurement network. Upgrading flask sites to stations with continuous measurements leads to an improvement for central Europe in emission estimates. For realistic emission estimates over the whole European domain, however, a major extension of the number of stations in the existing network is required. We demonstrate the potential of an extended network of a total of ~60 European stations to provide realistic emission estimates over the whole European domain.


Genrification, or the act of organizing a library or section of a library by genres or topics, has been a trend in recent years in both school and public libraries. Little to no research has been conducted on the effectiveness of this transition from the Dewey Decimal System in fiction and or nonfiction collections. The purpose of this research is to explore the usefulness of a genrified fiction collection in a school library by examining how students interact with the collection along with teachers' perceptions of genrifying. This study focused on student browsing behavior in a genrified fiction collection and how frequently students browsed and borrowed books from across genre sections in the fiction collection. It also focused on how the genrification affected classroom teachers. The researcher observed one sixth grade class with sixteen students during four library visits and conducted follow-up interviews with eight students (four females and four males) to provide insight into the student's' library experiences. Collection statistics before and after genrifying the school library's fiction collection were also used to determine changes in circulation. Based on these data sources, it was clear that students were checking out more books across genres, preferred browsing genres to find books of interest to checkout, and had at least one genre they preferred. An online survey with eight literacy teachers showed teacher support for the library genrification. All teachers felt genrification had helped students find books with ease.


There is a growing need to develop adaptive mobile agent systems to meet the increasing complexity and dynamic environments of distributed applications. This paper proposes and argues that using compositional adaptation of individual and teamed software agents allows multiagent systems to radically change their behaviors and structure at runtime. We describe and analyze an application scenario which motivates a compositionally adaptive agent based approach. The challenges and different solutions are described. The paper then proposes the VERSAG approach which is used to combine the benefits of the various approaches in a novel manner. This paper also presents experimental evaluations which compare these adaptive mobile agents with standard non-adaptive mobile agents.


Background Hearing impairment is the most common sensory impairment in humans, affecting 1∶1,000 births. We have identified an ENU generated mouse mutant, Mozart, with recessively inherited, non-syndromic progressive hearing loss caused by a mutation in the synaptojanin 2 (Synj2), a central regulatory enzyme in the phosphoinositide-signaling cascade. Methodology/Principal Findings The hearing loss in Mozart is caused by a p.Asn538Lys mutation in the catalytic domain of the inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase synaptojanin 2. Within the cochlea, Synj2 mRNA expression was detected in the inner and outer hair cells but not in the spiral ganglion. Synj2 N538K mutant protein showed loss of lipid phosphatase activity, and was unable to degrade phosphoinositide signaling molecules. Mutant Mozart mice (Synj2 N538K/N538K) exhibited progressive hearing loss and showed signs of hair cell degeneration as early as two weeks of age, with fusion of stereocilia followed by complete loss of hair bundles and ultimately loss of hair cells. No changes in vestibular or neurological function, or other clinical or behavioral manifestations were apparent. Conclusions/Significance Phosphoinositides are membrane associated signaling molecules that regulate many cellular processes including cell death, proliferation, actin polymerization and ion channel activity. These results reveal Synj2 as a critical regulator of hair cell survival that is essential for hair cell maintenance and hearing function.


When the first person was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Ghana in 1986, it was seen as a health problem. This conception has since changed into a development issue pregnant with grave consequences. The government, development partners and civil society organisations teamed up to tackle the problem before infection rates went beyond the 3.7% recorded in 2003. The face-to-face educational approach benefited only a limited number the population at risk, and at specific locations and times.

This became a concern to the Institute of Adult Education, University of Ghana, so in partnership with UNFPA, Ghana AIDS Commission, Police Hospital and the West African AIDS Foundation, it decided to adopt the ODL methodology to address the issue. A six module ODL course was developed and delivered to four batches of 1,756 learners between October 2003 and March 2006.

Outcomes include:
*increased participation than when the Institute used the face-to-face approach
*participants ranged from secondary school leavers to PhD holders
*teachers and pastors were the two groups most represented
* graduates from the programme have been engaged on HIV projects to educate others, especially in rural communities
* community groups and NGOs have sponsored participants on the programme.


The Enhancer of split locus is required during many cell-fate decisions in Drosophila, including the segregation of neural precursors in the embryo. We have generated monoclonal antibodies that recognise some of the basic helix-loop-helix proteins encoded by the Enhancer of split locus and have used them to examine expression of Enhancer of split proteins during neurogenesis. The proteins are expressed in a dynamic pattern in the ventral neurogenic region and are confined to those ectodermal cells that surround a neuroblast in the process of delaminating. There is no staining in the neuroblasts themselves. We have also examined the relationship between Enhancer of split protein accumulation and the Notch signalling pathway. Protein expression is abolished in a number of neurogenic mutant backgrounds, including Notch, but is increased as a result of expressing a constitutively active Notch product. We conclude that Notch signalling activity is directly responsible for the accumulation of basic helix-loop-helix proteins encoded by the Enhancer of split locus.


The investigation of weak interactions within biofilms of P. aeruginosa SG81 and its isolates (EPS, alginate) show a strong relationship between the mechanical properties of the biofilm and the aqueous solvent (e.g. pH value, ionic strengh, presence of mono- or bivalent cations).
Comparing the C-5 resonance lines of 13C- NMR spectra within a Li+ - concentration series with simulated spectra, a rapid decrease of the correlation time even at low ionic strengh is clearly observed. Therefore, the addition of monovalent counterions reduces the intramolecular electrostatic interactions between adjacent carboxyl groups within the polysaccharide. This results in a further entanglement of the macromolecule.
Regarding bivalent counterions, significant differences with regard to the degree of interactions of the examined species (Mg2+, Ca2+) with the alginate could be observed. Mg2+ ions show rather weak and non-specific interactions towards bacterial alginates, whereas Ca2+ ions indicate a specific binding behaviour. In addition to this, a new model for the binding of Ca2+ ions to bacterial alginate was proposed on the basis of NMR- measurements in the presence of paramagnetic ions (Mn2+).
Furthermore, the effects of stress factors (nutrient or oxygen depletion)on biofilm structure have been investigated in a long-term in vivo experiment. It was shown, that the mechanical stability of a biofilm under these environmental conditions is rapidly decreased due to the release of alginate lyase.


In recent years, there has been growing interest in understanding a person's reaction to ambiguous situations, and two similar constructs related to ambiguity, "ambiguity aversion" and "ambiguity intolerance," are defined in different disciplines. In the field of economic decision-making research, "ambiguity aversion" represents a preference for known risks relative to unknown risks. On the other hand, in clinical psychology, "ambiguity intolerance" describes the tendency to perceive ambiguous situations as undesirable. However, it remains unclear whether these two notions derived from different disciplines are identical or not. To clarify this issue, we combined an economic task, psychological questionnaires, and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) of structural brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a sample of healthy volunteers. The individual ambiguity aversion tendency parameter, as measured by our economic task, was negatively correlated with agreeableness scores on the self-reported version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. However, it was not correlated with scores of discomfort with ambiguity, one of the subscales of the Need for Closure Scale. Furthermore, the ambiguity aversion tendency parameter was negatively correlated with gray matter (GM) volume of areas in the lateral prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex, whereas ambiguity intolerance was not correlated with GM volume in any region. Our results suggest that ambiguity aversion, described in decision theory, may not necessarily be identical to ambiguity intolerance, referred to in clinical psychology. Cautious applications of decision theory to clinical neuropsychiatry are recommended.


The world of fashion seems to be going towards a neurotic fast-fashion speed capable of burning (at dramatic pace) designers' creativity as well as collections lifespan. The never-ending needs for 'newness', recent famous designers resigning by exhaustion or sudden brand deterioration, are proving how monotone seems to be the world of fashion (at any level of price positioning or design proposal). Slowear started more than a decade ago, by playing a different role: The Slowear unmatched and new approach to the business of fashion is strategically different as well as based on culture, heritage and product details, forgetting the obsession of many public groups for quarterly analysis on margins, profits and economics. Slowear shares a business philosophy and culture based on ethical values and approach, contemporary comfort and design projected for everyday use of the best products made by the company.


Many scholars and researchers have argued that dreams are important symbolic forms. They contend that dreams are a "royal road to the Interpretation of the Unconscious". Sigmund Freud argues that dreams transcend wish-fulfilling discourses; thus, in a significant way, dreams portray actual situations in a symbolic form. Freud further argues that dreams have a meaning accessible to interpretation and that they have a function. Dreams are expressions of wishes and defences. Therefore the motive behind a dream is a repressed conscious wish which comes into contact with a thought or train of thoughts during the course of the day. The physicist, Albert Einstein, is considered one of the greatest scientists who ever lived. However, his big breakthrough "Theory of Relativity" came to him, in a dream. After the dream, Einstein realized that secrets had been revealed to him, but he needed to understand what they meant. This means that dreams are an important aspect of human behaviour and must be subjected to analysis in order to unveil their latent meaning. When dreams are utilized in literary works, they foreground meaning. It is in this context that the paper seeks to analyze dreams. The paper argues that the authors under study borrow from their social perspective of dream to attempt to give an interpretation of phenomena. Specifically, it is apparent that dreams are utilized as a way of acknowledging other ways of seeing the world other than science in an African context. Dreams cannot be analyzed by examining one element but an entire discourse of the dream. It is in this context that the paper utilizes Critical Discourse Analysis Theory (CDA). In the interpretation, dreams are treated as discourses. In order for these to be fruitfully analyzed, the entire socio-cultural and communicative context is central.


While the potential for intellectual property rights to inhibit the diffusion of scientific knowledge is at the heart of several contemporary policy debates, evidence for the "anti-commons effect" has been anecdotal. A central issue in this debate is how intellectual property rights over a given piece of knowledge affects the propensity of future researchers to build upon that knowledge in their own scientific research activities. This article frames this debate around the concept of dual knowledge, in which a single discovery may contribute to both scientific research and useful commercial applications. A key implication of dual knowledge is that it may be simultaneously instantiated as a scientific research article and as a patent. Such patent-paper pairs are at the heart of our empirical strategy. We exploit the fact that patents are granted with a substantial lag, often many years after the knowledge is initially disclosed through paper publication. The knowledge associated with a patentpaper pair therefore diffuses within two distinct intellectual property environments – one associated with the pre-grant period and another after formal IP rights are granted. Relative to the expected citation pattern for publications with a given quality level, anticommons theory predicts that the citation rate to a scientific publication should fall after formal IP rights associated with that publication are granted. Employing a differences-indifferences estimator for 169 patent-paper pairs (and including a control group of publications from the same journal for which no patent is granted), we find evidence for a modest anti-commons effect (the citation rate after the patent grant declines by between 9 and 17%). This decline becomes more pronounced with the number of years elapsed since the date of the patent grant, and is particularly salient for articles authored by researchers with public sector affiliations. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: O300, O330, O340, L330


We began our teaching careers in special education in the 1970's, a decade in educational history which delivered a return to the back to basics movement in general education coupled with the landmark passage of the federal Law 94-142 requiring public school education for all special education students. These two movements led to increased scrutiny of classroom instructional practices and a proliferation of commercialized programs for special education teachers and students. Common buzzwords of that decade's lexicon included "dyslexia", "multi-sensory integration", and "visual perception training." We were led to believe the panacea for every special education ailment was simply using the right program, not in utilizing practitioner judgment and decision-making. Being the young and inexperienced teachers that we were, we followed the current party line until realizing first-hand these programs did not work with our students. We find it disturbing that 30 years later there exists a resurgence of these same ineffective practices and programs. They're back! But this time, with several new twists which will be explained. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief history of dyslexia, scripted reading instruction, and how federal mandates have brought direct instruction to general education. At the time of our matriculation and early careers, the term "dyslexia" was bantered around in schools of education, the classroom, and as well as in the professional literature. At that time the term was more broadly defined than today. In fact, the terms "dyslexia" and "reading disability" were often used interchangeably among practitioners as well as academia. The concept of dyslexia was first proposed by Samuel Orton in 1937 to describe children with severe reading difficulties who demonstrated a noticeable absence of physical, emotional, or intellectual interferences. Orton hypothesized dyslexia could result from a lack of hemispheric dominance in the brain. Orton based this conjecture on this observation of the many reversals he saw readers demonstrate, such as b for d and saw for was. These mirror images must be a result of the brain receiving simultaneous messages from both hemispheres, rather than one dominant hemisphere (Orton, 1937). Although Orton later expanded his initial conception of dyslexia (Weaver, 1994), the urban legend that dyslexic readers reverse letters and words continues to persist today. For example, a recent state education policy primer (Wong and Guthrie, 2004) lists the following definition for dyslexia in the glossary: "Reading impairment, thought to be a genetic condition, in which children transpose letters" (p. 9). Needless to say, Orton was the first scientist in the 20th century to suggest that dyslexia resulted from a neurobiological disorder which you will see stubbornly persists as an additional urban legend into the 21st century. As mentioned earlier, "dyslexia" and "reading disabled" were spoken in the same breath 30 years ago. Sam Kirk (Klenk & Kibby, 2000) first coined the term "learning disability" in 1963 to distinguish children who experienced difficulty in learning to read but yet demonstrated no evidence of mental retardation, psychiatric illness, and physical handicaps. By 1964, Critchely wrote of "a constitutional specific type of dyslexia identified among the miscellany of cases of poor readers" (p. 89). We assumed our students had unspecified perceptual problems stemming from faulty brains and taught them reading using prescriptive, rigidly sequenced, and frankly, quite boring, reading programs such as Merrill Linguistic Readers (Otto, Rudolph, Smith, & Wilson, 1975), DISTAR (Engelmann & Bruner, 1978), Sullivan Programmed Readers (Buchanan, 1973), and ita (Pitmann, 1969). Little did we know that the text in these intellectually sterile readers would come to be called "decodable text" in the 1990s and become the perceived panacea for all reading ailments in the early 21st century. …


This paper presents a fatigue damage model to estimate fatigue lives of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices and account for the effects of topological randomness of material microstructure. For this purpose, the damage mechanics modeling approach is incorporated into a new Voronoi finite-element model (VFEM). The VFEM developed for this investigation is able to consider both intergranular crack initiation (debonding) and propagation stages. The model relates the fatigue life to a damage parameter "D" which is a measure of the gradual material degradation under cyclic loading. The fatigue damage model is then used to investigate the effects of microstructure randomness on the fatigue of MEMS. In this paper, three different types of randomness are considered: (1) randomness in the microstructure due to random shapes and sizes of the material grains; (2) the randomness in the material properties considering a normally (Gaussian) distributed elastic modulus; and (3) the randomness in the material properties considering a normally distributed resistance stress, which is the experimentally determined material property controlling the ability of a material to resist the damage accumulation. Thirty-one numerical models of MEMS specimens are considered under cyclic axial and bending loading conditions. It is observed that the stress-life results obtained are in good agreement with the experimental study. The effects of material inhomogeneity and internal voids are numerically investigated.


Genetic studies have revealed that the antagonistic interplay between PcG and TrxG/MLL complexes is essential for the proper maintenance of vertebrate Hox gene expression in time and space. Hox genes must be silenced in totipotent embryonic stem cells and, in contrast, rapidly activated during embryogenesis. Here we discuss some recently published articles that propose a novel mechanism for the induction of Hox gene transcription. These studies report a new family of histone demethylases that remove H3K27me3/me2 repressive marks at Hox promoters during differentiation of stem cells. Though the overall importance of these enzymes for proper embryogenesis was demonstrated, their precise role in Hox gene epigenetic regulation during development still remains to be firmly established.


The mechanical behavior of glasses in the micro- and/or nanometer regime increasingly gains importance in nowadays modern technology. However, suitable small scale preparation and mechanical testing approaches for a reliable assessment of the mechanical properties of glasses still remain a big challenge. In the present work, a novel approach for site-specific preparation and quantitative in situ tensile testing of thin silica glass membranes in the transmission electron microscope is presented. Thereby, advanced focused ion beam techniques are used for the preparation of nanoscale dog bone shaped silica glass specimens suitable for in situ tensile testing. Small amounts of gallium are detected on the surface of the membranes resulting from redeposition effects during the focused ion beam preparation procedure. Possible structural changes of silica glass upon irradiation with electrons and gallium ions are investigated by controlled irradiation experiments, followed by a structural analysis using Raman spectroscopy. While moderate electron beam irradiation does not alter the structure of silica glass, ion beam irradiation results in minor densification of the silica glass membranes. In situ tensile testing of membranes under electron beam irradiation results in distinctive elongations without fracture confirming the phenomenon of superplasticity. In contrast, in situ tensile testing in the absence of the electron beam reveals an elastic/plastic deformation behavior, and finally leads to fracture of the membranes. The Young's moduli of the glass membranes pulled at beam off conditions in the TEM are comparable with values known for bulk fused silica, while the tensile strength is in the range of values reported for silica glass fibers with comparable dimensions. The impact of electron beam irradiation on the mechanical properties of silica glass membranes is further discussed. The results of the present work open new avenues for dedicated preparation and nanomechanical characterization of silica glasses, and further contribute to a fundamental understanding of the mechanical behavior of such glasses when being scaled down to the nanometer regime.


Summary
From the results tabulated in this report the following conclusions may be made:
1.
The Bullis fever syndrome is a distinct clinical entity which may be reproduced in humans by the inoculation of blood from febrile cases of the disease.
2.
The Bullis fever agent from the blood of febrile cases has been propagated on the yolk sac of the developing chick embryo. Theyolk sac propagated agent reproduced the Bullis fever syndrome in humans after twenty serial transfers in the yolk sac.
3.
The Bullis fever agent has been isolated from tick emulsion (A. americanum) from Camp Bullis, and has been propagated in the yolk sac of the developing chick embryo. After the agent was propagated for twelve generations on the yolk sac of the developing chick embryo, it reproduced the Bullis fever syndrome in the human.
4.
The immunological responses induced by natural cases of disease by the blood propagated yolk sac strain and by the tick propagated yolk sac strain are the same.
5.
There is no immunological relationship between the agent of Bullis fever and the agent of Colorado tick fever.


Postgraduate learners are not only important for contributing to the development of Pakistan, but their age and exposure to English has the potential to reveal interesting motivations and attitudes towards learning English when compared to lower-level learners. This thesis investigates the motivations and attitudes toward learning English in rural-urban contexts of postgraduate (MA/MSc) non-major English as Second Language (ESL) students in Pakistan. This thesis addresses three main objectives. First, to identify postgraduate learners' motivational orientations toward learning English and their attitudes toward English as a World Language (EWL); second to determine whether the learners' gender has an effect on their attitudes toward EWL; third to identify learners' perceptions about the de-motivational factors related to impeding their successful English learning in the classroom. This study employed a concurrent mixed-methods design. The data collected from a remote public university in the developing province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, with the survey completed by 500 students, and the semi-structured interviews were conducted on 26 postgraduate students. The quantitative data were analysed using factor, correlation, and regression analyses and t-tests. The qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. In contrast to earlier studies, this study identified that learners exhibit a wide range of L2 motivational orientations. The findings confirmed the newly-discovered 'National Interest' orientation in its extended form categorised as 'National-Islamic Interests, and confirmed Dörnyei's recent Ideal L2 self in this context, and also points toward the emergence of the rarely noted 'L2 Indigenous Integrative' orientation, related to using English for local purposes. Similarly, the other rarely noted orientations of 'EWL as a L2 motivation', 'Family Interests', and 'Use of English for Voicing Females' Rights' emerged in the study. The traditional concept of L2 Integrative did not emerge, which confirms findings from studies such those by Lamb (2004) suggesting that L2 Integrative may be unattainable in a globalizing world. The findings also highlighted four aspects of the learners' positive attitudes towards EWL: 'attitudes toward the non-native varieties of English', 'attitudes toward English as a main source of global communication', 'attitudes toward the use of English as a tool of cross-cultural communication', and 'attitudes toward the supremacy of native speakers and their Englishes'. The study revealed that learners' attitudes toward EWL had a positive correlation with learners' motivational orientations. In general, learners' gender did not have an impact on their attitudes toward EWL. However, females appeared to hold more positive beliefs in the supremacy of native speakers and their use of English. Finally, the three main sources of learners' de-motivation: teacher-related factors (methods of teaching, behaviour, etc.), learnerrelated factors (feelings of L2 anxiety and reduced confidence), and factors related to the classroom environment and facilities are highlighted. On the basis of all findings, theoretical implications, suggestions for language policymakers and recommendations for further research are provided in Pakistan.


In this paper, a novel anisotropic conductive film (ACF) flip chip bonding method using ultrasonic vibration for flip chip interconnection is demonstrated. The curing and bonding behaviors of ACFs by ultrasonic vibration were investigated using a 40-kHz ultrasonic bonder with longitudinal vibration. In situ temperature of the ACF layer during ultrasonic (U/S) bonding was measured to investigate the effects of substrate materials and substrate temperature. Curing of the ACFs by ultrasonic vibration was investigated by dynamic scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis in comparison with isothermal curing. Die adhesion strength of U/S-bonded specimens was compared with that of thermo-compression (T/C) bonded specimens. The temperature of the ACF layer during U/S bonding was significantly affected by the type of substrate materials rather than by the substrate heating temperature. With room the temperature U/S bonding process, the temperature of the ACF layer increased up to 300degC within 2 s on FR-4 substrates and 250degC within 4 s on glass substrates. ACFs were fully cured within 3 s by ultrasonic vibration, because the ACF temperature exceeded 300degC within 3 s. Die adhesion strengths of U/S-bonded specimens were as high as those of T/C bonded specimens both on FR-4 and glass substrates. In summary, U/S bonding of ACF significantly reduces the ACF bonding times to several seconds, and also makes bonding possible at room temperature compared with T/C bonding which requires tens of seconds for bonding time and a bonding temperature of more than 180degC.


Medical organizations find it challenging to adopt cloud-based electronic medical records services, due to the risk of data breaches and the resulting compromise of patient data. Existing authorization models follow a patient centric approach for EHR management where the responsibility of authorizing data access is handled at the patients' end. This however creates a significant overhead for the patient who has to authorize every access of their health record. This is not practical given the multiple personnel involved in providing care and that at times the patient may not be in a state to provide this authorization. Hence there is a need of developing a proper authorization delegation mechanism for safe, secure and easy cloud-based EHR management. We have developed a novel, centralized, attribute based authorization mechanism that uses Attribute Based Encryption (ABE) and allows for delegated secure access of patient records. This mechanism transfers the service management overhead from the patient to the medical organization and allows easy delegation of cloud-based EHR's access authority to the medical providers. In this paper, we describe this novel ABE approach as well as the prototype system that we have created to illustrate it.


The purpose of this study was to investigate phonological attrition in 10 native Albanian speakers who acquired Standard Southern British English (SSBE) as a second language (L2) in London, United Kingdom. A contrast was examined which is phonemic in Albanian but allophonic in SSBE, namely the production of light and dark lateral approximants. Impressionistic and acoustic analyses revealed that one late bilingual completely neutralized the phonemic contrast in her native Albanian speech. Furthermore, two other bilinguals neutralized the phonemic contrast between light /l/ and dark /ɫ/ in coda position, and overall there appeared to be a stronger trend for light /l/ to become dark in coda position than for dark /ɫ/ to become light in onset position. The findings are discussed in relation to the Speech Learning Model (Flege, 1995) and indicate that phonological attrition in native speech production is possible in late L2 acquisition, although not inevitable.


The subject of this thesis is the emerging academic area of public relations (PR)
(Hazleton and Botan, 1989: 13), which remains theoretically undeveloped and lacks
empirical substantiation (Pasadeos et A, 1999). The phenomenon of PR activity incorporating -- all the people, institutions and activities that determine, constitute or
result from PR work-- has exercised a growing influence upon society in general and
the business world in particular (Cutlip, 1994; Ewen, 1996).
The thesis seeks to contribute to the examination of a poorly researched phenomenon
through a holistic approach by emphasising the importance of the whole and the
interdependence of its parts. Given the limited understanding of public relations, it
was assumed that a more substantial contribution could be achieved through a general
preliminary understanding of the complex phenomenon, rather than by focusing on
separate parts without the knowledge of which parts are the most important.
Following a review of the relevant literature, a preliminary study was conducted
through 15 exploratory interviews, and this led to the identification of core
characteristics associated with PR activity. These informed the construction of the
research instrument for the main survey, which explored three units of analysis: PR
practitioner, PR consultancy and PR industry. The holistic approach was achieved by
using three units of analysis, instead of one, thereby facilitating the study of the
phenomenon from a variety of angles. The population under study consisted of PR
practitioners managing external consultancies in England.
A total of 297 valid questionnaires (representing a 29.7% response rate) were analysed
through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) in order to examine the component
structure of the data. Nine scales of measurement were tested through confirmatory
factor analysis (CFA), with maximum likelihood estimation using LISREL 8.3
(Joreskog et al, 1999). The final constructs revealed composite reliability and
convergent and nomological validity, which verified unidimensionality (Bollen,
1989). Eleven significant correlations among the nine latent constructs were found
and analysed. Finally, 16 follow-up interviews were undertaken in order to assess the
external validity of the new constructs and to help interpret their correlations.
The main academic contributions of the research are: the identification of dimensions
of PR activity, the operationalisation of its constituent elements, and the preliminary
understanding of their co-existence. Three dimensions of PR activity are identified:
practitioner, consultancy and industry forces. A PR practitioner is someone who
practises the occupation of public relations. A PR consultancy is a company that gives
expert advice on the particular subject of PR in exchange for payment. The PR
industry consists of all the people and activities involved in providing the particular
service of PR, and its forces consist of all the structural elements of the PR industry
that affect those people and activities. Nine constructs relating to the three dimensions
are identified. At the practitioner dimension, the constructs are managerial PR and
permanence in job. At the consultancy dimension, the constructs are strategic needs
from clients, and size. At the industry forces dimension, the constructs are industry
standard, trade body contribution, quality of PR graduates, importance of qualifications, and competition. Researchers are encouraged to incorporate this
study's new valid and reliable measures, the new empirically-based findings, and
research directions in the future investigation of PR. Further refinement of both
conceptual and measurement issues is suggested. The findings have important
implications for both PR theory and practice (consultants, professional associations,
academics and the industry as a whole). Additional guidelines are provided to
stimulate future discussion and reveal potentially fruitful streams of research in the
field.
The study contributes to practice by identifying some of the main contemporaneous
challenges: for the PR industry forces, the evolution towards a semi-professionalising
occupation; for the PR consultancy, the satisfaction of client corporations' strategic
needs; for the individual practitioner, the acquisition of new skills motivated by an
ongoing evolution of PR from a tactical function to a strategic function. It is suggested
that this natural transition period can be quickened in proportion to the ability of
individual practitioners to unite and act as a unified community in order to achieve
advances in public relations.


This case discusses the design, implementation, and regulation of a hybrid training program (60 credits over two years) organised by three business schools in Europe, and stretching over a five-year period. Following an incremental design process, the design team faced multiple challenges, from finding the added value of hybridization to choosing the technological environment that would be key to the instructional design of the 17 program modules. Subtle interpersonal skills were required to develop a program that suited every professor (n = approximately 40) and every institutional context (3).


Most data integration applications require a matching between the schemas of the respective data sets. We show how the existence of duplicates within these data sets can be exploited to automatically identify matching attributes. We describe an algorithm that first discovers duplicates among data sets with unaligned schemas and then uses these duplicates to perform schema matching between schemas with opaque column names. Discovering duplicates among data sets with unaligned schemas is more difficult than in the usual setting, because it is not clear which fields in one object should be compared with which fields in the other. We have developed a new algorithm that efficiently finds the most likely duplicates in such a setting. Now, our schema matching algorithm is able to identify corresponding attributes by comparing data values within those duplicate records. An experimental study on real-world data shows the effectiveness of this approach.


For power suppliers, an important task is to accurately
predict the short-term load. Thus many papers have
introduced different kinds of artificial intelligent models to
improve the prediction accuracy. In recent years, Random Forest
Regression (RFR) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) are widely
used for this purpose. However, they can not perform well when
the sample data set is too noisy or with too few pattern feature.
It is usually difficult to tell whether a regression algorithm can
accurately predict the future load from the historical data set
before trials. Here we demonstrate a method which estimates the
similarity between time series by Dynamic Time Warping (DTW)
combined with Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Results show this
is a simple and fast method to filter the raw large electrical load
data set and improve the learning result before looping through
all learning processes.


We live in a world awash in manmade chemicals, from the pesticides on our front lawns to the diesel exhaust in the air we breathe. Although experts are beginning to understand the potential dangers of these substances, there are still more than 80,000 synthetic compounds that have not been sufficiently tested to interpret their effects on human health. Yale University professor John Wargo has spent much of his career researching the impact of chemical exposures on women and children. In this book, he explains the origins of society's profound misunderstanding of everyday chemical hazards and offers a practical path toward developing greater "green intelligence." Despite the rising trend in environmental awareness, information about synthetic substances is often unavailable, distorted, kept secret, or presented in a way that prevents citizens from acting to reduce threats to their health and the environment. By examining the histories of five hazardous technologies and practices, Wargo finds remarkable patterns in the delayed discovery of dangers and explains the governments' failures to manage them effectively. Sobering yet eminently readable, Wargo's book ultimately offers a clear vision for a safer future through prevention, transparency, and awareness.


Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a gaseous species produced by both bacteria and higher eukaryotic organisms, including mammalian vertebrates, has attracted attention in recent years for its contributions to human health and disease. H2S has been proposed as a cytoprotectant and gasotransmitter in many tissue types, including mediating vascular tone in blood vessels as well as neuromodulation in the brain. The molecular mechanisms dictating how H2S affects cellular signaling and other physiological events remain insufficiently understood. Furthermore, the involvement of H2S in metal-binding interactions and formation of related RSS such as sulfane sulfur may contribute to other distinct signaling pathways. Owing to its widespread biological roles and unique chemical properties, H2S is an appealing target for chemical biology approaches to elucidate its production, trafficking, and downstream function. In this context, reaction-based fluorescent probes offer a versatile set of screening tools to visualize H2S pools in living systems. Three main strategies used in molecular probe development for H2S detection include azide and nitro group reduction, nucleophilic attack, and CuS precipitation. Each of these approaches exploits the strong nucleophilicity and reducing potency of H2S to achieve selectivity over other biothiols. In addition, a variety of methods have been developed for the detection of other reactive sulfur species (RSS), including sulfite and bisulfite, as well as sulfane sulfur species and related modifications such as S-nitrosothiols. Access to this growing chemical toolbox of new molecular probes for H2S and related RSS sets the stage for applying these developing technologies to probe reactive sulfur biology in living systems.


Skin Biopsies as a Sensitive Non-Lethal Technique for the Ecotoxicological Studies of Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) Sampled in South Africa
Top-predators may be extremely vulnerable to environmental contaminants, such as organochlorines (OCs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), mostly because of their position in the trophic web. In this study, the use of skin biopsy is proposed as a sensitive non-lethal technique for the toxicological assessment of white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) living off the South African coasts. In 2012, 15 specimens of great white shark were sampled in the waters off Dyer Island and Geyser Rock. Then OCs and PAHs were extracted from muscle and biomarkers techniques for the evaluation of the cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A), Vitellogenin (Vtg) and Zona Radiata Proteins (Zrp) in the skin have been developed for the first time. The results showed levels of OCs higher than those found in the literature, ranging in ng/g dry weight (d.w.) from 6.80 to 21.26 for hexachlorobenzene (HCB), from 86.72 to 1416.97 for DDTs and from 379.76 to 11284.31 for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).


Igor responds to a featured article in the journal by Fotios Petropoulos, Forecasting Support Systems: Ways Forward. Copyright International Institute of Forecasters, 2015


Summary: This report uses various data sources to show the incidence of night-time alcohol-related violence and other alcohol harm in the Sydney CBD in the ten years prior to the 2014 lockout intervention. Between 2004 and 2013 police crime statistics and triple zero (000) calls both show a decrease in alcohol-related assault while emergency department presentations for alcohol illnesses increased. Aim: To assess the role of administrative police and health databases in monitoring trends in, and epidemiology of, alcohol-related violence and acute alcohol illness associated with the night time economy in the Sydney central business district (CBD) "Entertainment Precinct", prior to the introduction of 2014 government reforms addressing "alcohol-fuelled violence". Method: We examined annual trends in police-recorded incidents of grievous bodily harm, ambulance Triple Zero (000) calls for assault, and acute alcohol illness emergency department presentations that occurred between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. over a 10-year period (2004–2013). Trends were examined among persons of all ages and young adults (18 to 29 year olds) in the CBD. The rest of metropolitan Sydney provided a comparison area to evaluate whether trends were CBD-specific. Results: Among persons of all ages, there were 913 police-recorded incidents of grievous bodily harm, 10,427 ambulance calls for assault and 14,106 emergency department presentations for acute alcohol illness in the CBD over the 10-year period. Young adults accounted for between 62 per cent and 78 per cent of assault incidents and 58 per cent of alcohol emergency department presentations. Between 2004 and 2008, the annual number of assaults and acute alcohol illness increased two-fold. Alcohol illness emergency department presentation trends subsequently stabilised, while assaults in 2013 were at the lowest levels in 10 years. Similar trends were observed in the rest of metropolitan Sydney. Conclusion: The majority of alcohol-related assaults and emergency department presentations involved young adults. Ambulance and police administrative data sources provided a consistent picture of a recent decline in late-night assault trends. Alcohol-related emergency department presentation trends suggested other alcohol harms may be continuing at relatively high levels both in the CBD and in metropolitan Sydney. While violence appears to be declining in the CBD and across Sydney, continuing alcohol harm remains to be addressed.


A wealth of research in comparative politics and international relations examines how the military intervenes in politics via coups. We shift attention to broader forms of military involvement in politics beyond coups and claim that terrorist violence and the threat of terror attacks provide a window of opportunity for military intervention, without taking full control of state institutions. We highlight two mechanisms through which terrorism influences military involvement in politics: (1) government authorities demand military expertise to fight terrorism and strengthen national security and "pull" the armed forces into politics, and (2) state armed actors exploit their informational advantage over civilian authorities to "push" their way into politics and policy-making. A panel data analysis shows that domestic terror attacks and perceived threats from domestic and transnational terrorist organizations increase military involvement in politics. We illustrate the theoretical mechanisms with the cases of France (1995–1998 and 2015–2016) and Algeria (1989–1992).


Histopathological, ultrastructural and immunohistochemical investigations were conducted on 26 specimens of powan Coregonus lavaretus (L.) from Loch Lomond (Scotland). The hearts of all 26 powan (15 females and 11 males) investigated harboured metacercariae of the digenean trematode Ichthyocotylurus erraticus (Rudolphi, 1809). The vast majority of metacercariae were located either singly or as an aggregation of white cysts on the surface of the bulbus arteriosus. The intensity of infection ranged from 2 to 200 larvae heart(-1), although the number of metacercariae found on male powan did not exceed 13. Histochemically, the parasite cyst wall gave a strong positive reaction with periodic acid schiff (PAS) and a faint positive signal with Azan-Mallory stain. All the metacercariae cysts were embedded in a granulomatous proliferation of heart epicardium tissue, forming a reactive fibroconnective capsule around the parasite. The capsule enclosing the parasite (produced by the host's reaction to the parasite) measured 13.57 to 90.20 microm (37.43 +/- 3.56) in thickness. Within the capsule wall, eosinophilic granular cells (EGCs), granulocytes, melanocytes and, in some instances, partially degenerated or vacuolated epithelioid cells were observed in close proximity to the cyst wall. Pigment-bearing macrophages were scattered throughout the granulomatous host-tissue reaction and as macrophage aggregates (MAs) within the capsules surrounding parasites. Immunohistochemical tests were applied to infected heart sections using 12 different antisera. Nerve fibres immunoreactive to bombesin, substance P (SP), and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) antisera were observed in close proximity to the parasite larvae. The presence of a serotonin-like substance was also observed within host immune-cells surrounding trematode cysts. Large cells of the epicardium were found to be immunoreactive to met-enkephalin and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) antisera but not immunoreactive to anti-protein gene-product 9.5 (PGP9.5) sera.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: BBB disruption after acute ischemic stroke and subsequent permeability increase may be enhanced by reperfusion. Agmatine has been reported to attenuate BBB disruption. Our aim was to evaluate the effects of agmatine on BBB stabilization in a rat model of transient cerebral ischemia by using permeability dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging at early stages and subsequently to demonstrate the feasibility of dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging for the investigation of new therapies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to transient MCA occlusion for 90 minutes. Immediately after reperfusion, agmatine (100 mg/kg) or normal saline was injected intraperitoneally into the agmatine-treated group (n = 17) or the control group, respectively. MR imaging was performed after reperfusion. For quantitative analysis, regions of interest were defined within the infarct area, and values for volume transfer constant, rate transfer coefficient, volume fraction of extravascular extracellular space, and volume fraction of blood plasma were obtained. Infarct volume, infarct growth, quantitative imaging parameters, and numbers of factor VIII–positive cells after immunohistochemical staining were compared between control and agmatine-treated groups. RESULTS: Among the permeability parameters, volume transfer constant and volume fraction of extravascular extracellular space were significantly lower in the agmatine-treated group compared with the control group (0.05 ± 0.02 minutes−1 versus 0.08 ± 0.03 minute−1, P = .012, for volume transfer constant and 0.12 ± 0.06 versus 0.22 ± 0.15, P = .02 for volume fraction of extravascular extracellular space). Other permeability parameters were not significantly different between the groups. The number of factor VIII–positive cells was less in the agmatine-treated group than in the control group (3-fold versus 4-fold, P = .037). CONCLUSIONS: In ischemic stroke, agmatine protects the BBB, which can be monitored in vivo by quantification of permeability by using dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging. Therefore, dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging may serve as a potential imaging biomarker for assessing the BBB stabilization properties of pharmacologic agents.


An understanding of the properties and the handling characteristics of liquids and gases has long been regarded as an essential requirement for most practising engineers. It is therefore not surprising that, over the years, there has been a regular appearance of books dealing with the fundamentals of fluid mechanics, fluid flow, hydraulics and related topics. What is surprising is that there has been no parallel development of the related discipline of Bulk Solids Handling, despite its increasing importance in modern industry across the world. It is only very recently that a structured approach to the teaching, and learning, of the subject has begun to evolve. A reason for the slow emergence of Bulk Solids Handling as an accepted topic of study in academic courses on mechanical, agricultural, chemical, mining and civil engineering is perhaps that the practice is so often taken for granted. Certainly the variety of materials being handled in bulk is almost endless, ranging in size from fine dust to rocks, in value from refuse to gold, and in temperature from deep-frozen peas to near-molten metal.


"A Century of Russian Ballet" brings its readers as close as written records can to the realities of being a student, dancer, choreographer or critic in Russia, from the period 1810 to 1910.It is built on a framework of famous ballets (translations of the printed libretti of which are included) by such celebrated choreographers as Charles Didelot, Filippo Taglioni, Jules Perrot, Arthur Saint-Leon, Marius Petipa, and Mikhail Fokine. On to this framework are placed eyewitness accounts and criticisms, including biographies of choreographers, accounts of life in the Imperial Theatres' school, reminiscences of important artists, and reviews of first performances. Each of the ten chapters of the book is introduced with further commentary which draws on press accounts and literature of the time.