We use an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), to- gether with the GEOS-Chem chemistry transport model, to estimate regional monthly methane (CH4) fluxes for the pe- riod June 2009-December 2010 using proxy dry-air column- averaged mole fractions of methane (XCH4) from GOSAT (Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite) and/or NOAA ESRL (Earth System Research Laboratory) and CSIRO GASLAB (Global Atmospheric Sampling Laboratory) CH4 surface mole fraction measurements. Global posterior esti- mates using GOSAT and/or surface measurements are be- tween 510-516 Tg yr 1 , which is less than, though within the uncertainty of, the prior global flux of 529 ± 25 Tg yr 1 . We find larger differences between regional prior and pos- terior fluxes, with the largest changes in monthly emissions (75 Tg yr 1 ) occurring in Temperate Eurasia. In non-boreal regions the error reductions for inversions using the GOSAT data are at least three times larger (up to 45 %) than if only surface data are assimilated, a reflection of the greater spa- tial coverage of GOSAT, with the two exceptions of latitudes > 60 associated with a data filter and over Europe where the surface network adequately describes fluxes on our model spatial and temporal grid. We use CarbonTracker and GEOS- Chem XCO2 model output to investigate model error on quantifying proxy GOSAT XCH4 (involving model XCO2) and inferring methane flux estimates from surface mole frac- tion data and show similar resulting fluxes, with differences reflecting initial differences in the proxy value. Using a se- ries of observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) we characterize the posterior flux error introduced by non- uniform atmospheric sampling by GOSAT. We show that clear-sky measurements can theoretically reproduce fluxes within 10 % of true values, with the exception of tropical regions where, due to a large seasonal cycle in the num- ber of measurements because of clouds and aerosols, fluxes are within 15 % of true fluxes. We evaluate our posterior methane fluxes by incorporating them into GEOS-Chem and sampling the model at the location and time of surface CH4 measurements from the AGAGE (Advanced Global Atmo- spheric Gases Experiment) network and column XCH4 mea- surements from TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observing Network). The posterior fluxes modestly improve the model agreement with AGAGE and TCCON data relative to prior fluxes, with the correlation coefficients ( r 2 ) increasing by a mean of 0.04 (range: 0.17 to 0.23) and the biases de- creasing by a mean of 0.4 ppb (range: 8.9 to 8.4 ppb).


Overview: CU-SIS Campus Solutions (CS) is the primary component of CU Student Integrated Systems (CU-SIS) and encompasses many functions directly related to student administration, faculty workload and course management. Campus Solutions is made up of five modules: Admissions, Campus Community, Student Records, Student Financials and Financial Aid and is related to and integrated with several other enterprise applications, like the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) [2]system, Central Information Warehouse (CIW) [3] and Enterprise Content Services (ECS) [4].


This work is an exploration of the spatial boundaries of dress through the moving body's interaction with arranged space. The work aims to question the distinction that is done between a "garment" and a "room" in the context of set deign and costume design as well as "dress" and "architecture". The work is carried out through a series of staged experiments with different materials abilities to understand, extend or transform; - Movement of the body - The spatial boundaries of the body The work is a focusing on the similarities of set and costume design and garment and architecture rather than looking up on the differences and by doing so suggesting a more dynamic relationship between the traditional definitions. It challenges both the way dress is viewed upon within the context of fashion design as well as the room is viewed upon with in the context of architecture and through this is seeking to find a new context of the body. Because of its focus on the moving body's relationship with arranged material the work is closely linked to the field of dance performance and the field of preformance have served as dialogue when developing the work. Eventhough the work is of artistic nature it is in line with the resent developments within architecture as well as textile design questioning the contemporary and suggesting for the future.


Many mechanical and structural design problems encountered in practice require solutions which balance several conflicting objectives. The vector, scalarization, and trade-off-curve methods have been developed to achieve multiobjective solutions. One of the best known methods for generating a compromise solution, based on the concept of Pareto minimum solution, is the cooperative game theory method since it uses a scalarized approach and has a numerical measure of compromise. However, game theory is hard to automate due to a two step optimization process involved. Hence, in this work, a modification to the game theory is introduced in which the two optimization steps are combined and an algorithm for its implementation is developed. The algorithm is tested on two numerical examples, including one dealing with the probabilistic design of an eighteen speed machine tool gear train. The probabilistic theory necessary for the design of the gear train is also introduced. The examples validate the modified game theory.


Aim To evaluate a two-year longitudinal development of health-related fitness, anthropometry and body composition status amongst adolescents in Tlokwe Municipality, Potchefstroom, South Africa. Setting A total of 283 high-school learners (111 boys and 172 girls) of ages 14 and 15 years who were part of the ongoing Physical Activity and Health Longitudinal Study (PAHLS) participated in the study. For the purpose of the present study, data collected for 2011 and 2012 for anthropometric, body composition and health-related physical fitness were used. Results Body mass index (BMI) classification of boys and girls for 2011 and 2012 showed that 24.3% of them were underweight compared with 21% in 2012. In 2011, 50% of boys and girls had normal body weight compared with 52% in 2012, whilst 25.5% of the total group of participants were overweight compared with 27% in 2012. Both boys and girls showed significant increases of 5.9% in body fat (BF) and 3.2 kg in body weight over two years' measurements, respectively. Regarding health-related fitness (i.e BAH), boys showed an increase of 14.8 seconds whilst girls gained 9.6 seconds. Significant decreases were found for sit-ups in both boys and girls. A significant VO2max increase of 2.9 mL/kg/min. was found in boys over the time period. A non-significant decrease of −0.5 mL/kg/min. was observed in girls. Regression coefficients showed that changes in BMI were inversely associated with those in health-related physical fitness. The changes in percentage BF were negatively associated with standing broad jump (SBJ), bent arm hang (BAH) and VO2 max in both boys and girls. A low significant positive association was found between changes in waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and SBJ in both genders, whilst inverse low associations were found between WHtR and BAH in girls and for VO2max in both genders. Conclusion Changes in BMI, %BF and WHtR were negatively associated with strength and running performances in the participating children. The relative increase in overweight, especially in girls, negatively affected their endurance running and static strength performances. The health implications of the observed findings are discussed and recommendations offered for physical activity intervention in school physical education (PE) programmes.


Introduction: The metabolic energy cost of human walking has been extensively studied. However, the influence of terrain on the metabolic costs incurred across commonly encountered surfaces is not well understood. Objective: Our objective was to test whether the metabolic cost of walking would vary between treadmill, asphalt, and grass surfaces. We hypothesized that the metabolic energy cost of walking would not differ between the three common level walking conditions: (standard) commercial treadmill, firm asphalt and well-groomed grass field. Methods: Five subjects walked on a level treadmill at speeds ranging from 0.4 m·s-1 to 1.9 m·s-1. Indirect calorimetry was used to measure rates of oxygen uptake under steady-state conditions (Parvo Medics TrueOne 2400, Sandy, UT). The same five subjects walked at 1.0, 1.3, and 1.6 m·s-1 on a 50 meter oval course set up both in a parking lot and in a wellmaintained field with short grass. Expired air was collected in Douglas bags during steady-state conditions at each of the three speeds and the gas composition (Parvo Medics TrueOne 2400, Sandy, UT) and gas volume (Dry Gas Meter, Harvard Apparatus, Holliston, MA) were measured for each bag. Analysis: Oxygen uptake was calculated based on gas analysis and volume measurements for the asphalt and grass walking tests, and was obtained from the Parvo Medics system for the treadmill tests. The relative oxygen uptake (ml·kg-1·min-1) at 1.0, 1.3, and 1.6 m·s-1 was compared across the treadmill, asphalt, and grass walking conditions. Results: Oxygen uptake was similar between treadmill and asphalt walking across all speeds; however, oxygen uptake was greater when walking on grass (14.1 ± 0.7 ml·kg-1·min-1) than on the treadmill (13.5 ± 0.6 ml·kg-1·min-1) or on asphalt (13.2 ± 0.6 ml·kg-1·min-1) by 5.2% and 6.6%, respectively. Further, the difference between walking on grass and walking on the treadmill or on asphalt was more pronounced at faster speeds. Conclusion: We conclude that the metabolic energy cost of walking on well-groomed level grass is greater than either walking on a treadmill or on asphalt.


This paper proposes asimple walking control method for a 10 degree of freedom (DOF) biped robot with stable and human-like walking using simple hardware configuration. The biped robot is modeled as a 3D inverted pendulum. A walking pattern is generated based on ZMP tracking control systems, which are constructed to track the ZMP of the biped robot to zigzag ZMP reference trajectory decided by the footprint of the biped robot. An optimal tracking controller is designed to control the ZMP tracking control system. When the ZMP of the biped robot is controlled to track the x and y, ZMP reference trajectories always locates the ZMP of the biped robot inside stable region known as area of the footprint, a trajectory of the COM is generated as a stable walking pattern of the biped robot. Based on the stable walking pattern of the biped robot, a stable walking control method of the biped robot is proposed by using the inverse kinematics.The stable walking control method of the biped robot is implemented by simple hardware using PIC18F4431 and dsPIC30F6014. The simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed control method.


We introduce coalitional games with beliefs (CGBs), a natural generalization of coalitional games to environments where agents possess private beliefs regarding the capabilities (or types) of others. We put forward a model to capture such agent-type uncertainty, and study coalitional stability in this setting. Specifically, we introduce a notion of the core for CGBs, both with and without coalition structures. For simple games without coalition structures, we then provide a characterization of the core that matches the one for the full information case, and use it to derive a polynomial-time algorithm to check core nonemptiness. In contrast, we demonstrate that in games with coalition structures allowing beliefs increases the computational complexity of stability-related problems. In doing so, we introduce and analyze weighted voting games with beliefs, which may be of independent interest. Finally, we discuss connections between our model and other classes of coalitional games.


This paper presents a construction system which offers an efficient materialization method for double-curved gridshells. This results in an active-bending system of controlled deflections. The latter system embeds its construction manual into the geometry of its components. Thus it can be used as a self-formation process. The two presented gridshell structures are composed of geometry-induced, variable stiffness elements. The latter elements are able to form programmed shapes passively when gravitational loads are applied. Each element consists of two layers and a slip zone between them. The slip allows the element to be flexible when it is straight and increasingly stiffer while its curvature increases. The amplitude of the slip defines the final deformation of the element. As a result, non-uniform deformations can be obtained with uniform cross sections and loads. When the latter elements are used in grid configurations, self-formation of initially planar surfaces emerges. The presented system eliminates the need for electromechanical equipment since it relies on material properties and hierarchical geometrical configurations. Wood, as a flexible and strong material, has been used for the construction of the prototypes. The fabrication of the timber laths has been done via CNC industrial milling processes. The comparison between the initial digital design and the resulting geometry of the physical prototypes is reviewed in this paper. The aim is to inform the design and fabrication process with performance data extracted from the prototypes. Finally, the scalability of the system shows its potential for large-scale applications, such as transformable structures.


Bacterial bioremediation has been proposed as an efficient, low cost and ecologically safe method to clean vital water reservoirs from cyanobacterial peptide toxins microcystins (MCs). In previous work carried out in 2008 several bacteria were isolated from Scottish freshwaters that effectively degraded MCs. Rhodococcus sp. C1, among the biocatalytic isolates, exhibited particular catabolic capacities as it degraded a range of chemically and structurally diverse prokaryotic and eukaryotic peptides. The work presented here aimed to unravel the universal peptide degradation mechanisms in Rhodococcus sp. C1. However, current biodegradation studies indicated repeated sub-culturing and long-term cryopreservation to have caused changes in the cellular mechanisms involved in MC-LR degradation as MC-LR degradation activity was no longer observed. Therefore, the focus of the study was shifted towards other isolates of the freshwater samples as well as a MC-LR degrading organism of unknown origin. Based on 16S rRNA gene analysis the isolates were identified as Rhodococcus sp., Arthrobacter sp. and Pseudomonas sp., respectively. The different bacterial genera were subjected to MC-LR biodegradation studies including Paucibacter toxinivorans (2007), a MC degrading bacterium from Finnish water previously used as positive control organism. However, it was shown that the three isolates and P. toxinivorans (2007) also lost their MC-LR degradation activity over long-term maintenance under laboratory conditions. This led to the belief that routine maintenance of the bacterial isolates in nutrient rich media such as Luria-Bertani (LB) broth had caused a functional drift that impeded the isolates ability to degrade MC-LR. To assess whether nutrient availability has an impact on the bacterial MC-LR degradation activity a simple and rapid 96-well plate based method was developed for testing MC-LR biodegradation in growth media of different nutrient concentration and composition. In addition to the long-term maintained and repeatedly sub-cultured strain of P. toxinivorans (2007) a new P. toxinivorans strain (2015) from the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures was included in the nutrient assay. Comparison studies between the two strains supported the occurrence of a physiological drift in the repeatedly sub-cultured strain as cell morphology, oxidase activity and media tolerance of the strains were found to be different. The nutrient assay showed that the use of different growth media had little effect on MC-LR degradation activity of the long-term preserved bacteria. However, the newly obtained P. toxinivorans (2015) effectively removed MC-LR from all media except LB broth. Furthermore, UPLC-PDA-MS analysis revealed MC-LR intermediates in samples exposed to P. toxinivorans (2015). Two of the degradation products were identified as linearised (acyclo-) MC-LR and one as the side chain Adda. Broader investigation of the organisms catabolic abilities demonstrated P. toxinivorans (2015) is capable of degrading multiple MC variants, nodularin (NOD), anabaenopeptin-type peptides and human peptides. MC variants and NOD were found to be cleaved by hydrolysis indicating a single mechanism to be involved in their degradation. This is the first study to report partial elucidation of the MC and NOD degradation pathway in P. toxinivorans. Further research could include a complete elucidation of the enzymatic degradation pathway in P. toxinivorans (2015) along with studies to determine the genes encoding the enzymes involved.


A graphene-based metamaterial lens is theoretically proposed by combining plasmonic nanoribbons with Fresnel Zone Plate (FZP) architecture to realize wavelength-selective and tunable lensing. The plasmonic FZP lens shows higher focal intensity and efficiency compared to conventional FZP. As compared with normal graphene FZP, the lensing effect of the plasmonic FZP can be enhanced by 83 times. When compared with Au thin film based FZP lenses, the graphene plasmonic lenses can achieve comparable lensing effects, but with a thinner geometry and with an additional advantage of being wavelength selective and tuneable. The analyses of selectivity and tunability of the plasmonic lens show that the plasmonic lens functions as a filter with broadband incident light or as a switch which can be turned on and off via changing the Fermi levels. The diffraction between neighboring graphene nanoribbons and the effect of the substrate on the lensing effect is also discussed. The plasmonic effect of the nanoribbons only contributes to the focal intensity without affecting the diffraction properties of Fresnel zone plate lenses such as focal lengths. This plasmonic FZP lens is an ideal combination of near and far field optics. However, the complex interaction of diffractions within and between the FZP rings could lead to a significant change of the lensing effect, which opens the possibility of creating innovative graphene metamaterial devices. The findings in this work can be used for developing wavelength-selective electro-optical applications operating in the infrared and terahertz ranges.


The tumour vascular network is essential for tumour growth. Over the next few years, the use of vascular targeting drugs in the treatment of patients with cancer will escalate, which in turn will increase demand for non-invasive methods of assessing tumour vasculature. A perfusion CT technique was developed, allowing measurement of tumour vascular leakage (K) and blood volume (BV) of entire large tumours. This technique is shown to improve on measurement repeatability compared to conventional single level techniques, and can be used to measure tumour vascular changes following anti-cancer treatment. Ionising radiation has been shown to act synergistically with the vascular disrupting agent Combretastatin A4 Phosphate (CA4P) in animal tumour models. Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer were treated with fractionated radiotherapy in combination with CA4P. Radiation alone increases tumour K and BV, especially at the tumour rim, and appears to enhance the vascular disrupting activity of CA4P. The increase in K after radiotherapy correlates with subsequent decrease in BV after CA4P, and a sustained reduction in tumour BV was achieved with this combination. Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signalling molecule responsible for maintaining the vasodilator tone in tumour vessels, as well as having pro-angiogenic properties. As part of a phase I study, patients with cancer were treated with the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N-nitro L-arginine (LNNA). Patients with measurable tumours were scanned using perfusion CT, and all patients demonstrated sustained reductions in tumour BV, demonstrating for the first time in man that NO inhibition has tumour anti-vascular activity. In summary, perfusion CT is a repeatable technique that can be used to measure vascular changes in whole tumours following therapy. The results presented here have provided further evidence that targeting the tumour vasculature is a promising approach in the treatment of cancer.


ABSTRACT We examined the structure of the black spots on the ventral surface of Rana ridibunda specimens, which were collected from the west Anatolia region of Turkey, and a multi-cellular parasite was discovered under these spots on the dermis within a cyst. The number of melanocytes had increased and the connective tissue of the dermis had surrounded the cyst. The parasite was a trematode in its metacercarial stage.


We present a framework for analyzing the performance of multithreaded programs using a model called a constraint graph. We review previous constraint graph definitions for sequentially consistent systems, and extend these definitions for use in analyzing other memory consistency models. Using this framework, we present two constraint graph analysis case studies using several commercial and scientific workloads running on a full system simulator. The first case study illustrates how a constraint graph can be used to determine the necessary conditions for implementing a memory consistency model, rather than conservative sufficient conditions. Using this method, we classify coherence misses as either required or unnecessary. We determine that on average one half of all load instructions, which suffer cache misses due to coherence activity, are unnecessarily stalled because the original copy of the cache line could have been used without violating the memory consistency model. The second case study demonstrates the effects of memory consistency constraints on the fundamental limits of instruction level parallelism, compared to previous estimates, which did not include multiprocessor constraints. Using this method we determine the fundamental performance differences of various memory consistency models for processors, which do not perform consistency-related speculation.


In the medical setting, conscience legislation serves to protect health care professionals who refuse to provide certain procedures or services that would violate their consciences. The "Personhood Movement," on the other hand, is characterized by advocates' attempts to adopt legislation or constitutional amendments at the state and/or federal level that would extend the legal and moral protection associated with personhood to members of the human species at the earliest stages of biological development. The relationship between conscience legislation and the Personhood Movement may not be self-evident, but the connection becomes apparent when considering trends in conscience legislation. This is particularly true in the context of expanding legal protection to health care professionals who object to certain forms of birth control, such as emergency contraception (EC). In a recent paper Professor Elizabeth Sepper noted that instead of protecting a health care provider's conscience, a possible purpose behind broad conscience legislation is to "make abortions, family planning, and end-of-life care more difficult to obtain," and that the true goal of such legislation is "hostility to reproductive health and patients' interests." Indeed, this essay will suggest that the adoption of a personhood framework could represent majoritarian approval of the very principles that cause certain people to conscientiously object to EC. While some have raised concerns that conscience legislation itself could lead to problems with access to EC (especially in rural communities), adoption of a personhood framework seems to pose a much greater risk. This essay describes the expansion of conscience legislation in the medical setting, which reflects a trend toward authorizing the refusal of a broader range of procedures and services by a broader range of health care professionals. It then draws a connection between Mississippi's very expansive conscience legislation and the decision by a national organization, Personhood USA, to propose a personhood amendment to the Mississippi Constitution. A brief discussion of the relevant biology reveals the relationship between concepts of personhood and EC. This essay suggests that even if a personhood framework is not officially adopted, legislatures that favor the movement and the broad protection of conscience-based refusals may be less inclined to enact measures that protect a woman's ability to obtain EC. This should be viewed as problematic given that many people, including physicians and pharmacists, may not have an accurate understanding of the reproductive biology associated with early human development and the operation of EC, which may lead such professionals to make conscientious objections based on clinically false information.


One of the difficulties in completing scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is anticipating all of the effects of the operational environment on the procedural sequences. Human Performance Modelling (HPM) and Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA)-like approaches could together generate such predictions for the space life sciences experimentation application domain. An informal risk assessment was completed through Subject Matter Expert (SME) interviews on procedural completion and potential for erroneous performance. The results suggested there would be significant differences in the performance and risk of completing a series of experiments sequentially as compared to completing the experiments in parallel. As a result, an initial HPM was developed to test predictions of simulated operator workload for a complex space-related biological experiment and the risk of error. Two procedural sequences are analysed, which highlight different human performance profiles that raise risks, or vulnerabilities, in physical, cognitive and psychomotor performance and task times. Future efforts need to build on these findings to include a comprehensive PRA process computationally linked to performance predictions generated from HPMs.


At the center of debates on deliberative democracy is the issue of how much real deliberation citizens experience in their core social networks. These ―disagreements about disagreement‖ come in a variety of forms, with scholars advocating significantly different empirical approaches (e.g., Huckfeldt et al. 2004; Mutz 2006), and coming to significantly different substantive conclusions. We tackle these discrepancies by investigating the effect of conceptual and measurement differences on key findings relating interpersonal political disagreement to political attitudes and behaviors. Drawing on the 2008-2009 ANES panel study, we find evidence that different measures of disagreement have distinct effects when it comes to individuals' preferences, patterns of engagement, and propensities to participate. We discuss the implications of these findings for the study of social influence; as interpersonal disagreement can mean different things and does not have easily characterized effects, scholars should exercise caution when making pronouncements concerning its empirical and democratic consequences.


What do we want to know? A large amount of money has been invested in the provision of computers in schools, and many young people are increasingly using them to research, compose and present homework. However questions remain about the impact of ICT on schooling, and in particular, on literacy learning. This review investigates the impact of networked technologies - the internet and email - on literacy learning. Who wants to know? Policy-makers, those involved in teacher education, professionals, parents and students What did we find? In general, the studies assumed that networked ICT had a positive impact, and explored how that impact was made. Increased motivation for literacy, empowerment and ownership were considered to be important factors. Most studies used a narrow, pre-digital conception of literacy. The results must be considered suggestive rather than conclusive. What are the implications? Recommendations must be considered tentative: The provision of hardware and software in schools, and the application of ICT to teaching and learning, need to be informed by research and evaluation. Both large-scale and small-scale, qualitative and quantitative studies are needed. More attention needs to be given to the ways in which ICT is used in the classroom in support of teaching; teachers need to take more account of the ways in which young people work at home on computers; and ICT needs to be seen as one tool among many for the improvement and support of literacy learning. How did we get these results? 16 studies were synthesised, of which half were outcome evaluations, seven were process evaluations and one was a needs assessment. This summary was prepared by the EPPI-Centre.


The Fundamentals of Illustration (second edition) by Lawrence Zeegen introduces students to the subject of illustration, taking them through the key skills and practical processes required for the study of this exciting degree course.

This edition has been updated with a wealth of fresh visuals and contemporary case studies. It includes new and revised content and examples that reflect the changes and developments in the discipline over the past few years. Current visual approaches are examined and evaluated, along with new chapters on visual thinking, idea generation and the illustrator as an artist.

A chapter on the professional practice of a freelance designer helps students to understand the realities of this creative career path.

Each chapter concludes with a case study, which outlines a brief and then describes each stage of the process, from the illustrator's initial response to the completion of the project. The case studies feature the work of: John Clementson, Tim Vyner, Olivier Kugler, Damian Gascoigne, Ben Kelly and Howard Read. The book also contains a series of interviews with practising illustrators such as Autumn Whitehurst, Stina Persson and Anthony Burrill.


1. Excitatory junction potentials (EJPs) recorded in isolated segments of the proximal main ventral artery of the rat tail were reduced in amplitude and prolonged in time course as temperature was lowered from 35 to 15 degrees C. 2. The slow depolarization that followed the EJPs after supramaximal or repetitive perivascular stimulation was markedly slowed in time course, but little affected in amplitude, as temperature was lowered. 3. The time constant (tau EJP) of the exponential decay phase of the EJP recorded from cells deep in the media was similar to the membrane time constant, so that the increase in tau EJP at low temperatures is consistent with a decrease in membrane conductance. 4. The value of tau EJP was also prolonged if the EJP was evoked at the time of the peak of the slow depolarization; this effect was blocked by idazoxan (10(‐7) M) but not by prazosin (10(‐6) M). 5. During repeated short bursts of high‐frequency stimulation, action potential initiation was facilitated by both the prolongation of EJPs and summation of slow depolarizations; these effects were greater at 25 than at 35 degrees C. 6. The interactions between EJPs and alpha‐adrenoreceptor‐mediated membrane conductance changes are considered with respect to the electrical events occurring during sympathetic neuromuscular transmission at the natural temperatures of the rat tail.


The increasing pervasiveness of Internet connected devices and services is altering the perception and practice of public spaces through the provisioning of location-specific digital information. Location-aware technologies allow people to access, annotate, address and attach information to locations, which transforms the space for other people who use the same services. Such locations acquire relevance and reshape social and spatial interactions through increased use on social media as people 'check-in' to places, photograph or 'like' them. Collectively the authors are marking-up the city around them. The popularization of location-aware technologies thus contributes to the changing meaning of locations in cities. In contrast to the technological focus in the emerging discourses on smart cities and big data, this paper offers an alternative view of the three lenses of Social, Local and Mobile technologies that describe and explain crowd-sourced socio-technical layers on the city landscape. The proposed integrated theoretical model describes the relevant information linkages between people and places in the online and offline worlds and introduces a new evaluation method for the evaluation of city places: affinity spectrum of social endorsements. The authors conclude with a discussion of the new opportunities for governments to better understand socially emergent 'urban qualities' and how citizens construct and appreciate them in order better convert city places into public spaces.


We study optimal nominal demand policy in an economy with monopolistic competition and flexible prices when firms have imperfect common knowledge about the shocks hitting the economy. Parametrizing firms' information imperfections by a (Shannon) capacity parameter that constrains the amount of information flowing to each firm, we study how policy that minimizes a quadratic objective in output and prices depends on this parameter. When price setting decisions of firms are strategic complements, for a large range of capacity values optimal policy nominally accommodates mark-up shocks in the short-run. This finding is robust to the policy maker observing shocks imperfectly or being uncertain about firms' capacity parameter. With persistent mark-up shocks accommodation may increase in the medium term, but decreases in the long-run thereby generating a hump-shaped price response and a slow reduction in output. Instead, when prices are strategic substitutes, policy tends to react restrictively to mark-up shocks. However, rational expectations equilibria may then not exist with small amounts of imperfect common knowledge. JEL Classification: E31, E52, D82


The prospect of outliving retirement savings is a very real risk for many Baby Boomers and Gen Xers. Yet, only a very small percentage of defined contribution (DC) and individual retirement account (IRA) balances are annuitized — and a significant percentage of defined benefit (DB) accruals have been taken as lump-sum distributions when the option was available.

Some believe that cost is an issue; Deferred Income Annuities (DIAs) are designed to reduce the probability of outliving savings by providing monthly benefits in the later stages of retirement. Because of their delayed payments, DIAs could be offered for a small fraction of the cost for a similar monthly benefit through an annuity that starts payments immediately at retirement. Many believe that the lower cost would at least partially mitigate retirees' reluctance to give up control over a large portion of their DC and/or IRA balances at retirement age.

New research was prepared for this Issue Brief to explore how the probability of a "successful" retirement, measured by the EBRI Retirement Readiness Rating (RRR), varies with the percentage of the 401(k) balance that is used to purchase a DIA. Results are provided for all households (with a 401(k) balance) combined as well as by simulated age of death. The results are also provided by age-specific wage quartiles.

We find that, at current annuity rates, purchases of a DIA at age 65 deferring 20 years with no death benefits result in an overall improvement in RRR (for all ages of death combined) for DIA purchases equal to 5, 10, 15, and 20 percent of the 401(k) balance. However, there is an overall decrease in RRR for DIA purchases equal to 25 and 30 percent — due in part to the interaction with long-term care costs. If a pre-commencement death benefit is added to the DIA, there is an overall improvement in RRR for DIA purchases equal to 5, 10, and 15 percent of the 401(k) balance.

When the results are broken out by age at simulated death, we find overall decreases in RRR for those dying before benefits begin (ages 65–84) as well as for those dying soon after benefits begin (ages 85–89). For each of the groups living beyond age 89 we find an increase in RRR, and, as expected, the larger the percentage of 401(k) balance used to purchase a DIA, the larger the percentage increase in RRR. The results are significantly improved by adding a pre-commencement death benefit for those who die before benefits begin, but this is offset by larger decreases in RRR for those dying between ages 85 and 89 and smaller increases in RRR for those living beyond age 89.

The need for longevity protection is arguably less for those in the lowest wage quartile given their greater reliance on Social Security. We broke out the overall RRR changes by age-specific wage quartiles and found that in all but the smallest DIA purchase (5 percent of the 401(k) balance), households in the lowest age-specific wage quartiles experienced a decrease in RRR from the purchase of a DIA without a pre-commencement death benefit. However, households with higher wages had a much more positive experience, with those in the second age-specific wage quartile experiencing an increase in RRR for all purchases through the 20 percent value. Households in the third age-specific wage quartile experienced an increase in RRR for all purchases through the 25 percent value, and those in the highest age-specific wage quartile experienced an increase in RRR for all purchases simulated (through the 30 percent level).


Sparsity is characteristic of a signal that potentially allows us to represent information efficiently. We present an approach that enables efficient representations based on sparsity to be utilized throughout a signal processing system, with the aim of reducing the energy and/or resources required for computation, communication, and storage. The representation we focus on is compressive sensing. Its benefit is that compression is achieved with minimal computational cost through the use of random projections; however, a key drawback is that reconstruction is expensive. We focus on inference frameworks for signal analysis. We show that reconstruction can be avoided entirely by transforming signal processing operations (e.g., wavelet transforms, finite impulse response filters, etc.) such that they can be applied directly to the compressed representations. We present a methodology and a mathematical framework that achieve this goal and also enable significant computational-energy savings through operations over fewer input samples. This enables explicit energy-versus-accuracy tradeoffs that are under the control of the designer. We demonstrate the approach through two case studies. First, we consider a system for neural prosthesis that extracts wavelet features directly from compressively sensed spikes. Through simulations, we show that spike sorting can be achieved with 54× fewer samples, providing an accuracy of 98.63% in spike count, 98.56% in firing-rate estimation, and 96.51% in determining the coefficient of variation; this compares with a baseline Nyquist-domain detector with corresponding performance of 98.97%, 99.69%, and 97.09%, respectively. Second, we consider a system for detecting epileptic seizures by extracting spectral-energy features directly from compressively sensed electroencephalogram. Through simulations of the end-to-end algorithm, we show that detection can be achieved with 21× fewer samples, providing a sensitivity of 94.43%, false alarm rate of 0.1543/h, and latency of 4.70 s; this compares with a baseline Nyquist-domain detector with corresponding performance of 96.03%, 0.1471/h, and 4.59 s, respectively.


The major obstacle in cancer treatment is the resistance of cancer cells to therapies. Nrf2 is a transcription factor that regulates a cellular defense response and is ubiquitously expressed at low basal levels in normal tissues due to Keap1-dependent ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. Recently, Nrf2 has emerged as an important contributor to chemoresistance. High constitutive expression of Nrf2 was found in many types of cancers, creating an environment conducive for cancer cell survival. Here, we report the identification of brusatol as a unique inhibitor of the Nrf2 pathway that sensitizes a broad spectrum of cancer cells and A549 xenografts to cisplatin and other chemotherapeutic drugs. Mechanistically, brusatol selectively reduces the protein level of Nrf2 through enhanced ubiquitination and degradation of Nrf2. Consequently, expression of Nrf2-downstream genes is reduced and the Nrf2-dependent protective response is suppressed. In A549 xenografts, brusatol and cisplatin cotreatment induced apoptosis, reduced cell proliferation, and inhibited tumor growth more substantially when compared with cisplatin treatment alone. Additionally, A549-K xenografts, in which Nrf2 is expressed at very low levels due to ectopic expression of Keap1, do not respond to brusatol treatment, demonstrating that brusatol-mediated sensitization to cisplatin is Nrf2 dependent. Moreover, a decrease in drug detoxification and impairment in drug removal may be the primary mechanisms by which brusatol enhances the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs. Taken together, these results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of using brusatol to combat chemoresistance and suggest that brusatol can be developed into an adjuvant chemotherapeutic drug.


Inter-Asian cultural flows are transforming everyday Thai gender practices and performances in unexpected ways. The most striking example is the way in which Korean popular music, or K-pop, is molding contemporary beauty and dance aesthetics through cover dance, the copying of choreographed movements from music videos. K-pop cover dance has become a definitive social activity among Asian sissies (young feminine gay men) and is organized into an extensive contest circuit leading to an annual competition in Korea. Thai sissies are among the most enthusiastic and skillful practitioners of K-pop cover dance, and some practitioners, such as the members of the group Wonder Gay, have become national celebrities. I describe how cover dance demarcates a new social arena for feminine Thai males to express themselves through the idiom of modern Korean female embodiment. Semiprofessional cover dancers constitute a class of "hyper-fans" who become "demiidols," with fan followings in their own right. I argue that Thai K-pop cover dance can be read as both an aspiration for personal and national development that indexes participation in a new cosmopolitan Asian sphere. The cover dance phenomenon in Thailand highlights recent shifts in Asian regionalism, idol fandom, and transgressive gender performance.


Myanmar's irrigation and domestic water supply is very dependent on the storage capacity of their
fresh water reservoirs. Due to forest fires, deforestation and bad governmental policies, erosion is
posing a big treat to the life time of their reservoirs. Erosional processes cause reservoirs to silt up,
resulting in major capacity losses. Myanmar does possess more than 200 reservoirs, but there is still
very little know about the sedimentation rates affecting them. To improve the reservoir and
irrigation management it is important to make estimations about the reservoir life expectancy.
A good method to estimate the sedimentation of a reservoir is by performing a bathymetric survey.
But, these surveys can be expensive and time consuming. Therefore it will not always be possible to
perform them on a regular basis. A supplementary method is demanded to predict sedimentation in
an easy and cheap way and to help interpreting the bathymetric survey's results. This may be
possible by modelling the catchment area of a reservoir. By using the InVEST model, based on the
Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and a method to predict the trap efficiency of the reservoir, it is
possible to make predictions about the accumulated sediment in the reservoir. This prediction can be
compared to the results of a bathymetric survey to see if they show agreement. The goal of this
research is too see if the combination of InVEST and trap efficiency has potential to be used in
Myanmar as a reliable method to estimate the capacity loss of reservoirs.
The area of study in this research is the 'Nga Moe Yeik' reservoir and its catchment area. 'Nga Moe
Yeik' is situated 100 kilometres to the north of Yangon City. The reservoir also fulfils an important
function within the water supply of Yangon City. The catchment area is 414 square kilometres, it has
a capacity of 222 million cubic meters and the dam was finished in 1995. The dam has two
supplementary dams: 'Paung Lin' and 'Ma Hu Yar'. Those dams lie upstream of the 'Nga Moe Yeik'
dam and are constructed in 2003. The research is conducted at the Irrigation Technology Centre
(ITC), Bago. There has been an intensive cooperation with the staff of the ITC to make this research
into a success. Several field survey trips from ITC, Bago, have been performed to execute a
bathymetric survey and to study the reservoirs and their catchment area.
Three research questions were stated to achieve the research goal. Every research question has its
own section within the research methodology and results. Firstly, the spatially explicit InVEST model
is used to make average annual predictions for the watersheds sediment yield. Sediment yield is the
total amount of sediment that will flow into the reservoir after erosion and deposition within the
watershed. Rainfall, land cover and soil characteristics are very important parameters influencing the
sediment yield and is therefore demanded input for this InVEST model. The total sediment yield
accumulation for the 'Nga Moe Yeik' catchment during the past 21 years is estimated to be between
44,5 *106 m3 and 64,4 *106 m3. Annual erosion rates are estimated to be between 14,5 *103 ton/km2
and 42,3 ton/km2, which are very high compared to results within the literature.
Secondly, when the eroded material enters the reservoir, some of it will deposit and some of it will
flow out. The ratio of sediment inflow and outflow is called the trap efficiency and is determined by
multiple factors. The trap efficiency of a reservoir can be estimated by using empirical equations. By
using data about daily inflow and stored volume, it is possible to estimate the trap efficiency on basis
of the residence time of water within the reservoir. The longer water stays in the reservoir, the more
sediment will deposit and that will increase the trap efficiency. The average trap efficiency for the
'Nga Moe Yeik' reservoir is 97,65%.
Thirdly, a bathymetric survey has been performed to assess the capacity loss of the reservoir. The
measurements of the bathymetric survey were used to build a digital elevation model (DEM) of the
reservoir bed using ArcGIS. An old map of the 'Nga Moe Yeik' area from 1995 was present to model the before dam situation, also with the use of ArcGIS. The differences between the two DEM's
resulted in a capacity loss that represent the real capacity loss during the last 21 years. An error
assessment has been performed to estimate the error propagation of the used measurement and
model techniques, namely the georeferencing, the interpolation, the gab filling with Landsat and the
measuring setup. The sediment accumulation is between 14,74 * 106 m3 and 27,66 *106 m3. Resulting
in a capacity loss between 11,94 and 6,36%.
Comparing the InVEST predictions and the trap efficiency with the results of the bathymetric survey,
show that there is some agreement between them. However, they differ with a ratio between 2 and
3. This difference is too vast for making proper predictions about reservoir sedimentation. As
explained in the conclusion, improvements on the parameterization of the InVEST model will have to
be made to develop this model into a proper tool to estimate reservoir sedimentation. In the future,
this method may have the potential to develop into an easy and low costing tool to better
understand the erosion processes and the impact of individual parameters on the sediment yield.


ROLIS (Rosetta Lander Imaging System) is one of the two imaging
systems carried by the Rosetta's Lander Philae. Consisting of a miniaturized CCD
camera, ROLIS will operate as a descent imager, acquiring imagery of the landing
site on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with increasing spatial resolution.
After touchdown ROLIS will focus at an object distance of 30 cm, taking pictures
of the comet's surface below the Lander. Multispectral imaging is achieved through
an illumination device consisting of four arrays of monochromatic light emitting
diodes working in the 470-, 530-, 640-, and 870-nm spectral bands. The drill sample
sites, as well as the Alpha X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) target locations, will be
imaged to provide context for the measurements performed by the in situ analyzers.
After the drilling operation, the borehole will be inspected to study its morphology
and to search for signs of stratification. Taking advantage of the Lander's rotation
capability, stereo image pairs will be acquired, which will facilitate the mapping
and identification of surface structures.


A simple method is outlined for the calculation of the refractive-index profiles of both multimode and monomode planar optical waveguides. The method is an extension of the well-established IWKB method. The parameters required are the dispersion relation of the surface index changes and the effective indices at different wavelengths. As an example, the refractive-index profile of a monomode z-cut KTiOPO(4) planar waveguide fabricated by Rb(+):K(+) exchange is computed. Close agreement is obtained, indicating the practicality of this method. The method is also applicable to optical waveguides in other materials, such as LiNbO(3), LiTaO(3), and glass.


Network intrusion detection sensors are usually built around low level models of network traffic. This means that their output is of a similarly low level and as a consequence, is difficult to analyze. Intrusion alert correlation is the task of automating some of this analysis by grouping related alerts together. Attack graphs provide an intuitive model for such analysis. Unfortunately alert flooding attacks can still cause a loss of service on sensors, and when performing attack graph correlation, there can be a large number of extraneous alerts included in the output graph. This obscures the fine structure of genuine attacks and makes them more difficult for human operators to discern. This paper explores modified correlation algorithms which attempt to minimize the impact of this attack.


A novel buried photomixer for integrated photonic terahertz devices is proposed. The active region of the mesa-structure InGaAs photomixer is buried in an InP layer grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) to improve heat dissipation, which is an important problem for terahertz photomixers. The proposed photomixer shows good thermal properties compared to a conventional planar-type photomixer. The MOCVD regrowth process indicates the possibility for THz photomixers to be integrated monolithically with conventional photonic devices.


There have been calls for more holistic support of athletes (Gilbourne & Richardson, 2006; Henriksen, Stambulova, & Roessler, 2010; Nesti 2006; 2010) and a growing presence of athlete lifestyle programmes (Stambulova & Ryba, 2014) within elite and youth sport settings. However, there remains a need to better understand the concerns for which elite youth athletes seek lifestyle practitioner support, and to better understand the provision of this support within applied contexts (Devaney et al. 2017). The overarching aim of this PhD project was to examine how practitioner support can meet the support needs of elite youth cricketers. This aim was driven by three research questions, (A) What is the nature of and personal meaning ascribed to elite youth cricketers lifestyle concerns; (B) What demand does the nature of concerns place on a practitioner with regard to skills, philosophy of practice and organisational integration; and (C) How does the broader socio-cultural context influence the provision of support? The study was a uniquely applied, three-year practitioner-researcher ethnographic case study. As practitioner-researcher, I was fully embedded as an athlete lifestyle practitioner within a National Cricket talent development programme for three years. This included, but was not limited to, planning and strategic meetings, training camps, school and county visits, international and domestic tours and matches. The depth of embeddedness provided rich insight of the lives and experiences of the staff, and the players who were aged between 15 and 19. This insight was supplemented by retrospective interviews of players who had previously progressed through the programme. Underpinned by an existential theoretical approach, the project adopted a qualitative research design. Data was collected through observations, field notes, interviews (formal and informal), case notes and practitioner-researcher reflections. Data was thematically analysed (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and drawing on narrative forms of representation, facilitated the creation of 3 creative non-fiction stories of players (composite characters) journey through the programme, anchored by the critical moments (Nesti & Littlewood, 2010) in their journeys. These (evocative) stories, provide insight with a view to answering the three research questions. The stories highlighted the individual, deeply personal and psychological nature of player concerns that ought to be viewed within the context of each individuals background, life circumstances and adolescent stage of development. The concerns were less about performance or wellbeing, and more about players as people trying to perform, suggesting that the idea of 1 separating performance and non-performance was a false dichotomy. The nature of support that players sought suggests that the training and personal development of practitioners should be grounded in psychology, inclusive of humanistic/person-centred and existential perspectives. The results also highlighted the importance of self-care and supervision for practitioners due to the personal cost and professional challenges associated with providing care and support. It was evident that effective player support required a high level of contextual awareness that can only be achieved through being embedded in the performance environment. However, this access was not always afforded to me as a practitioner. The reduced access to players reflected the information-dominant expectations of lifestyle support held by significant stakeholders which often under-estimated the relational elements of player support. It is argued that this poses a risk to the recruitment of practitioners and to the enabling of effective player (and staff) support. Similarly, the significant staff turnover restricted the development of positive player-coach relationships which coaches believed was necessary to enable positive player development. Finally, it was argued that dividing wellbeing and performance between support roles reflects and reinforces the false dichotomy of performance and non-performance that acts as a barrier to viewing athlete development as a genuinely holistic entity. The findings led to a number of applied recommendations. It is argued that athlete lifestyle practitioners have a responsibility to ensure that their work is underpinned by a philosophy of practice that is grounded in psychological theory, and that this should be a driving force behind practitioner's training and on-going personal development. Practitioners are encouraged to engage in self-care and supervision due to the personal and professional challenges associated with providing care and support. It is suggested that programme managers and stakeholders attribute greater value to the relational elements of lifestyle (and other staff's) support and ensure lifestyle practitioner's full embeddedness within the performance context. Finally, it is argued as important for organisations to recognise the false dichotomy between wellbeing and performance and choose to build a support infrastructure that recognises the holistic nature of the athlete's experiences.


Abstract We demonstrate accurate prediction of geological surfaces by imposing consistent physical and stochastic relationships between surfaces. The accuracy is improved by using all relevant information collected in wells: well points, zonation in horizontal sections, and gas/fluid content along wells. The conditioned surfaces are used to provide estimates of gross rock volumes of oil and gas reservoirs. In particular, it is shown how knowledge of spill point and zonation along well paths affect trapped volumes. A plain rejection sampling technique is used to deal with the highly non-linear relationships between a surface and its spill point. For well path conditioning, an extension of kriging to treat inequality constraints is proposed. It is based on efficient rejection sampling from a high dimensional truncated multivariate Gaussian distribution. The impact on gross rock volume distributions from different assumptions and data types is demonstrated by examples and the uncertainties in all the involved data types are consistently handled and quantified.


Theoretical and simulation studies predict that the order of species loss from mutualist networks with respect to how linked species are to other species within the network will determine the rate at which networks collapse. However, the empirical order of species loss with respect to linkage has rarely been investigated. Furthermore, a species' linkage is a composite of its diet breadth and its abundance, yet the relative importance of these two factors in determining species loss order is poorly known. Here we explore the order of pollinator species loss in two contrasting study systems undergoing land-use intensification, using >20,000 pollinator specimens. We found that a pollinator species' linkage, as measured independently within plant-pollinator networks, positively predicted its persistence at human-disturbed sites in three of four analyses. The strongest predictor of persistence in all analyses was pollinator species abundance. In contrast, diet breadth poorly predicted persistence. Overall, our results suggest that community disassembly order buffers plant-pollinator networks against environmental change by retaining the highly linked species that make a disproportionate contribution to network robustness. Furthermore, these highly linked species likely persist because they are also the most common species, not because they are dietary generalists.


In this article I take as my starting point the economist, Jeremy Rifkin's, claims about the rise of what he calls the 'collaborative commons'. For Rifkin, this is nothing less than the emergence of a new economic paradigm where traditional consumers exploit the possibilities of technology, and position themselves as 'pro-sumers'. This emphasises their role in production rather than consumption alone, and shows how they aim to bypass a range of capitalist markets, from publishing to the music industry. In asking how education is situated in relation to the collaborative commons, I consider the growth in technology-driven, cost-negative services as a response to the current market in higher education. This raises the issue of what we mean by 'collaboration' in the university, and how this might be different from, for example, cooperation or teamwork. In seeking to provide a richer conception of collaboration in higher education, I look to Martin Buber's concept of the relational act and the life of dialogue, and to some of the seminal work of Ronald Barnett on the philosophy and economics of higher education. The article suggests that these concepts afford a new perspective on collaboration that amount to a new economics for education. Such economics require a radical shift in how we perceive the role of responsibility, reciprocity and the educative possibilities of conversation.


Despite much progress, developing a pervasive computing application remains a challenge because of a lack of conceptual frameworks and supporting tools. This challenge involves coping with heterogeneous devices, overcoming the intricacies of distributed systems technologies, working out an architecture for the application, encoding it in a program, writing specific code to test the application, and finally deploying it. This paper presents a design language and a tool suite covering the development life-cycle of a pervasive computing application. The design language allows us to define a taxonomy of area-specific building-blocks, abstracting over their heterogeneity. This language also includes a layer to define the architecture of an application, following an architectural pattern commonly used in the pervasive computing domain. Our underlying methodology assigns roles to the stakeholders, providing separation of concerns. Our tool suite includes a compiler that takes design artifacts written in our language as input and generates a programming framework that supports the subsequent development stages, namely, implementation, testing, and deployment. Our methodology has been applied on a wide spectrum of areas. Based on these experiments, we assess our approach through three criteria: expressiveness, usability, and productivity.


The Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory, or BIOT) has 55 islands totalling approximately 5,000 ha spread over approximately 50,000 km 2 of the central Indian Ocean. From the first human settlements, which occurred in the late 1700s, and for the following century, all of the larger islands were converted into coconut plantations. During this period the disturbance to and elimination of the native flora and fauna in Chagos atolls was especially profound because these islands were used solely for the production of coconut and its products. Regarding vegetation, many times more species were introduced than were native, and several introduced species subsequently became invasive. The bird colonies, turtles and the land crabs were hugely reduced due to human consumption, land disturbance and the introduction of rats and other inappropriate and often free-ranging animals, such as pigs. The condition of the reefs, however, remains excellent, such that the area was declared a no-take marine reserve in 2010. For some years, BIOT was the world's largest marine no-take conservation area. This status was achieved mainly because of its reefs; the islands are still heavily dominated by increasingly derelict, rat-infested coconut plantations and lack birds on most previously planted islands. However, on the smallest islands, many no larger than a few ha in size, there are both native plant communities and huge numbers of breeding seabirds. These relatively undisturbed fragments are acting as the core of current conservation efforts to restore some of the larger islands to their pre-plantation condition. This paper documents, as far as is possible from the relatively sparse archival documents, the course of events and extent of the terrestrial changes that took place in this archipelago before modern concepts of conservation emerged and remarks on the present, planned and funded restoration efforts that can be based on such knowledge.


One of the major prognostic factors in rectal cancer is lymph node metastasis. The formation of lymph node metastases is dependent on the existence of a premetastatic niche. An important factor preceding metastasis are lymph vessels which are located in the lymph node. Accordingly, the occurrence of intranodal lymphangiogenesis is thought to indicate distant metastasis and worse prognosis. To evaluate the significance of lymph node lymphangiogenesis, we studied formalin fixed, paraffin embedded adenocarcinomas and regional lymph nodes of 203 rectal cancer patients who were treated with neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy and consecutive curative surgery with cancer free surgical margins (R0). Regional lymph node lymph vessels were detected by immunohistochemistry for podoplanin (D2-40). Our results show that the presence of lymphatic vessels in regional lymph nodes significantly affects the disease-free survival in univariate and multivariate analyses. In contrast, there was no correlation between peritumoral or intratumoral lymph vessel density and prognosis. Indeed, our study demonstrates the importance of lymphangiogenesis in regional lymph nodes after neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy and consecutive surgery as an independent prognostic marker. Staining for intranodal lymphangiogenesis and methods of intravital imaging of lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic flow may be a useful strategy to predict long-term outcome in rectal cancer patients. Furthermore, addition of VEGF-blocking agents to standardized neoadjuvant treatment schemes might be indicated in advanced rectal cancer.


H. Friedman obtained remarkable results about the longest finite sequence $x$ over a finite alphabet such that for all $i \ne j$ the word $x[i..2i]$ is not a subsequence of $x[j..2j]$. In this note we consider what happens when "subsequence" is replaced by "subword"; we call such a sequence a "weakly self-avoiding word". We prove that over an alphabet of size $1$ or $2$, there is an upper bound on the length of weakly self-avoiding words, while if the alphabet is of size $3$ or more, there exists an infinite weakly self-avoiding word.


Continuing advances in hardware miniaturisation and networking technologies have contributed to the widespread deployment of a range of mobile computing devices. Ad hoc communication between mobile devices enables the deployment of networks anywhere, without the need for pre-installed infrastructure. In contrast to the traditional stationary, desktopbound model of computing, mobile computing applications experience frequent changes in location and execution environment, i.e., their context. At the same time, advances in miniaturization, and cost-effective fabrication of sensor technology, have led to the emergence of small, low-cost sensors, enabling applications to measure a host of environmental parameters. These advances have led to the emergence of a new class of application which may dynamically alter their behaviour based on the execution environment, as perceived through sensor input, in a computing paradigm known as context-aware computing. In addition to the complexity introduced by the dynamic nature of ad hoc networks, context-awareness raises a further set of challenges related to the acquisition and fusion of sensor data and the inference of appropriate behaviours. Existing mobile context-aware applications tend be built in an application-specific manner and there is a lack of a generic, and commonly-accepted, programming model that may be applied across the domain. As a result, such applications remain difficult to build and deploy, with developers often having to deal with low-level issues not directly related to application development. Whilst a small number of approaches to supporting the development of such applications deal with the abstraction of low-level sensor data, there remains no generic programming model providing systematic support to the developer for the capture, representation, and use of context data.


Background Antimicrobial resistance is a major issue in the Shigellae, particularly as a specific multidrug resistant (MDR) lineage of Shigella sonnei (lineage III) is becoming globally dominant. Ciprofloxacin is a recommended treatment for Shigella infections. However, ciprofloxacin resistant S. sonnei are being increasingly isolated in Asia, and sporadically reported on other continents. Methods and Findings Hypothesising that Asia is the hub for the recent international spread of ciprofloxacin resistant S. sonnei, we performed whole genome sequencing on a collection of contemporaneous ciprofloxacin resistant S. sonnei isolated in six countries from within and outside of Asia. We reconstructed the recent evolutionary history of these organisms and combined these data with their geographical location of isolation. Placing these sequences into a global phylogeny we found that all ciprofloxacin resistant S. sonnei formed a single clade within a Central Asian expansion of Lineage III. Further, our data show that resistance to ciprofloxacin within S. sonnei can be globally attributed to a single clonal emergence event, encompassing sequential gyrA-S83L, parC-S80I and gyrA-D87G mutations. Geographical data predict that South Asia is the likely primary source of these organisms, which are being regularly exported across Asia and intercontinentally into Australia, the USA and Europe. Conclusions This study shows that a single clone, which is widespread in South Asia, is driving the current intercontinental surge of ciprofloxacin resistant S. sonnei and is capable of establishing endemic transmission in new locations. Despite being limited in geographical scope, our work has major implications for understanding the international transfer of antimicrobial resistant S. sonnei, and provides a tractable model for studying how antimicrobial resistant Gram-negative community acquired pathogens spread globally.


PURPOSE
Kidney stones are a source of significant morbidity which have been shown to negatively impact health related quality of life. We sought to understand the association between health related quality of life, socioeconomic status and race among patients with kidney stones.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Patients with stones at a total of 11 stone centers across the United States completed the WISQOL (Wisconsin Stone Quality of Life questionnaire). The patient ZIP Code™ was used to estimate household income. A mixed effects regression model was constructed for analysis with ZIP Code as the random intercept.

RESULTS
A total of 2,057 stone formers completed the WISQOL. Lower income was independently associated with significantly lower health related quality of life (β = 0.372, p = 0.014), as were nonwhite race (β = -0.299, p = 0.001), unemployed work status (β = -0.291, p = 0.008), female gender (β = -0.204, p <0.001), body mass index greater than 40 kg/m2 (β = -0.380, p <0.001), 5 or more medical comorbidities (β = -0.354, p = 0.001), severe recurrent stone formation (β = -0.146, p = 0.045), enrollment at an acute care visit, or a preoperative or postoperative appointment (β = -0.548, p <0.001) and recent stone symptoms (β = -0.892, p <0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Lower income, nonwhite race and unemployed work status were independently associated with lower health related quality of life among patients with kidney stones. While clinical characteristics such as body mass and stone disease severity were also associated with health related quality of life, this study shows that socioeconomic factors are similarly important. Further research to understand the specific mechanisms by which socioeconomic status and race impact health may lend insight into methods to optimize clinical treatment of stone formers and patients with other chronic diseases.


A styrene polymerization in a lab-scale CSTR equipped with a pitched blade turbine impeller was simulated using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. The impeller motion was integrated in the geometry using the multiple reference frame (MRF) technique. The presence of non-linear source term and the highly coupled nature of transport equations of the polymerization, made the convergence difficult to achieve. The effects of the impeller speed, the input-output locations and the residence time on the polymerization in the CSTR were investigated. The CFD simulation shows that good mixing remained limited to the impeller region. Regions far from the impeller remained unmixed due to high viscosity of the polymer mass. The path lines of the particles, released at the inlet, were also generated to analyze the reaction progress as the chemicals travel throughout the reactor. The monomer conversion computed using the CFD model was compared to data reported in the literature. Conversion predicted using the CFD model is in good agreement with that obtained from the CSTR model at low residence time. However, the CFD predicted coversions were higher than those calculated from the CSTR model, at high residence time. It was found that the input-output locations had significant effect on the conversion and the homogeneity in the CSTR.


(ABSTRACT) This study was designed to investigate a phenomenon, persistence of undergraduate women in their engineering majors, from a qualitative paradigm. Guided by the tenets of feminist and inclusive research, the assumption was made that all women, whether they persist or not in their engineering majors, have strengths and insights into their own personal experiences. The experiences of African American women, Asian women, Caucasian women, Hispanic women, women from rural geographical areas, and non-persisters were investigated. A developmental lifespan and social learning perspective called for an examination of factors relevant to engineering major choice and persistence from early childhood to the present time, including family background and individual factors, environmental factors and experiences with the engineering culture, and social factors relevant to major choice and persistence. Twenty-eight (28) persisters and 8 non-persisters participated in the study which was conducted at a large land-grant university in the southeastern United States in the fall of 1996. The following questions guided the study: (1) What experiences have been influential in undergraduate women's selection of engineering as a major? (2) How does the culture and climate of engineering education influence the experiences of these undergraduate women? (3) How do individual, educational, social, and environmental characteristics and strategies contribute to undergraduate women's persistence in their engineering majors? (4) Which of these characteristics and strategies differentiate between female persisters and non-persisters, in other words, what are the differences between academically successful undergraduate women who leave their engineering majors and those who remain in them? (5) How do characteristics and strategies of persistence and non-persistence compare for special populations? Qualitative interviewing through in-depth individual interviews and small group interviews was the method of data collection; participants were recruited through a purposive sampling frame as well as through volunteering and snowball sampling. Criteria for inclusion in the persisters group were junior or senior level academic standing and academic eligibility. Grounded theory methodology was the primary tool of analysis. The findings clearly demonstrated two major groups of persisters and non-persisters. One group of persisters made early decisions and stayed the course through academic preparation and hands-on experiences. A second group of persisters made later decisions based on encouragement and the structure of opportunity for women and minorities in engineering. One group of non-persisters left engineering for majors that provided a better person-environment fit. A second group of non-persisters, many of whom were pressured to major in engineering although they …


They say that good things come in small packages, and it's certainly true for this edition of CSS Pocket Reference. Completely revised and updated to reflect the latest Cascading Style Sheet specifications in CSS 2.1, this indispensable little book covers the most essential information that web designers and developers need to implement CSS effectively across all browsers. Inside, you'll find: A short introduction to the key concepts of CSS A complete alphabetical reference to all CSS 2.1 selectors and properties A chart displaying detailed information about CSS support for every style element and its cross-browser compatibility This reference neatly condenses the details of its top-selling companion volume, Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide into one easy-to-use cheat-sheet that delivers all the CSS details you need to complete the task at hand. Whenever you're stuck and need an answer quickly -- or if you just want to be sure you're applying CSS correctly -- this edition of the CSS Pocket Reference is the book you'll want by your keyboard or, conveniently, in your back pocket.


Protease-activated receptor 2 (PAR2) is a G-protein-coupled receptor that is activated by proteolytic cleavage of its N-terminus. The unmasked N-terminal peptide then binds to the transmembrane bundle, leading to activation of intracellular signaling pathways associated with inflammation and cancer. Recently determined crystal structures have revealed binding sites of PAR2 antagonists, but the binding mode of the peptide agonist remains unknown. In order to generate a model of PAR2 in complex with peptide SLIGKV, corresponding to the trypsin-exposed tethered ligand, the orthosteric binding site was probed by iterative combinations of receptor mutagenesis, agonist ligand modifications, and data-driven structural modeling. Flexible-receptor docking identified a conserved binding mode for agonists related to the endogenous ligand that was consistent with the experimental data and allowed synthesis of a novel peptide (1-benzyl-1H[1,2,3]triazole-4-yl-LIGKV) with functional potency higher than that of SLIGKV. The final model may be used to understand the structural basis of PAR2 activation and in virtual screens to identify novel agonists and competitive antagonists. The combined experimental and computational approach to characterize agonist binding to PAR2 can be extended to study the many other G protein-coupled receptors that recognize peptides or proteins.


While there have been many proposals on making AI algorithms explainable, few have attempted to evaluate the impact of AI-generated explanations on human performance in conducting human-AI collaborative tasks. To bridge the gap, we propose a Twenty-Questions style collaborative image retrieval game, Explanation-assisted Guess Which (ExAG), as a method of evaluating the efficacy of explanations (visual evidence or textual justification) in the context of Visual Question Answering (VQA). In our proposed ExAG, a human user needs to guess a secret image picked by the VQA agent by asking natural language questions to it. We show that overall, when AI explains its answers, users succeed more often in guessing the secret image correctly. Notably, a few correct explanations can readily improve human performance when VQA answers are mostly incorrect as compared to no-explanation games. Furthermore, we also show that while explanations rated as "helpful" significantly improve human performance, "incorrect" and "unhelpful" explanations can degrade performance as compared to no-explanation games. Our experiments, therefore, demonstrate that ExAG is an effective means to evaluate the efficacy of AI-generated explanation on a human-AI collaborative task.


This paper presents a Monte Carlo simulation scheme to study the phonon transport and the thermal conductivity of nanocomposites. Special attention has been paid to the implementation of periodic boundary condition in Monte Carlo simulation. The scheme is applied to study the thermal conductivity of silicon germanium (Si-Ge) nanocomposites, which are of great interest for high-efficiency thermoelectric material development. The Monte Carlo simulation was first validated by successfully reproducing the results of (two-dimensional) nanowire composites using the deterministic solution of the phonon Boltzmann transport equation reported earlier and the experimental thermal conductivity of bulk germanium, and then the validated simulation method was used to study (three-dimensional) nanoparticle composites, where Si nanoparticles are embedded in Ge host. The size effects of phonon transport in nanoparticle composites were studied, and the results show that the thermal conductivity of nanoparticle composites can be lower than that of the minimum alloy value, which is of great interest to thermoelectric energy conversion. It was also found that randomly distributed nanopaticles in nanocomposites rendered the thermal conductivity values close to that of periodic aligned patterns. We show that interfacial area per unit volume is a useful parameter to correlate the size effect of thermal conductivity in nanocomposites. The key for the thermal conductivity reduction is to have a high interface density where nanoparticle composites can have a much higher interface density than the simple ID stacks, such as superlattices. Thus, nanocomposites further benefit the enhancement of thermoelectric performance in terms of thermal conductivity reduction. The thermal conductivity values calculated by this work qualitatively agrees with a recent experimental measurement of Si-Ge nanocomposites.


Praise for the Fourth Edition "As with previous editions, the authors have produced a leading textbook on regression." -- Journal of the American Statistical Association A comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the fundamentals of regression analysis Introduction to Linear Regression Analysis, Fifth Edition continues to present both the conventional and less common uses of linear regression in today's cutting-edge scientific research. The authors blend both theory and application to equip readers with an understanding of the basic principles needed to apply regression model-building techniques in various fields of study, including engineering, management, and the health sciences. Following a general introduction to regression modeling, including typical applications, a host of technical tools are outlined such as basic inference procedures, introductory aspects of model adequacy checking, and polynomial regression models and their variations. The book then discusses how transformations and weighted least squares can be used to resolve problems of model inadequacy and also how to deal with influential observations. The Fifth Edition features numerous newly added topics, including: A chapter on regression analysis of time series data that presents the Durbin-Watson test and other techniques for detecting autocorrelation as well as parameter estimation in time series regression models Regression models with random effects in addition to a discussion on subsampling and the importance of the mixed model Tests on individual regression coefficients and subsets of coefficients Examples of current uses of simple linear regression models and the use of multiple regression models for understanding patient satisfaction data. In addition to Minitab, SAS, and S-PLUS, the authors have incorporated JMP and the freely available R software to illustrate the discussed techniques and procedures in this new edition. Numerous exercises have been added throughout, allowing readers to test their understanding of the material, and a related FTP site features the presented data sets, extensive problem solutions, software hints, and PowerPoint slides to facilitate instructional use of the book. Introduction to Linear Regression Analysis, Fifth Edition is an excellent book for statistics and engineering courses on regression at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. The book also serves as a valuable, robust resource for professionals in the fields of engineering, life and biological sciences, and the social sciences.


The dielectric property of the anisotropic optical medium is ascertained by considering the polarized photon as a two-component spinor of spherical harmonics. The geometric phase of a single-polarized photon has been evaluated in two ways: the phase two-form of the dielectric matrix through a twist and the Pancharatnam phase by changing the angular momentum of the incident polarized photon over a closed triangular path on the extended Poincare sphere. The helicity in connection with the spin angular momentum of the chiral photon plays the key role in developing these phase holonomies.


We present a method to measure the high-order optical orbital angular momentum (OAM) with a variable cylindrical lens pair. The optical system consists of two cylindrical lenses with the opposite focal length. It produces a rotating position—spatial frequency transformation of phase modulation by changing the angle between the two cylindrical lenses. With this feature, the method can flexibly measure the OAM states of the vortex beams with different beam waists. The OAM states are determined by the number and direction of dark stripes of the diffraction pattern. The measurements of the topological charge and the radial index of Laguerre–Gaussian mode are demonstrated. As a compact high-order OAM measuring device, the variable cylindrical lens pair may find potential applications in optical communication.


STUDY QUESTION
What are the underlying mechanisms of the decline in the fertilization ability of post-ovulatory aged oocytes?

SUMMARY ANSWER
Melatonin improves the fertilization ability of post-ovulatory aged oocytes by reducing aging-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and inhibiting apoptosis and by maintaining the levels and localization of the fertilization proteins, ovastacin and Juno.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
Following ovulation, the quality of mammalian metaphase II oocytes irreversibly deteriorates over time with a concomitant loss of fertilization ability. Melatonin has been found to prevent post-ovulatory oocyte aging and extend the window for optimal fertilization in mice.

STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
Mouse oocytes were randomly assigned to three groups and aged in vitro for 0, 6, 12 and 24 h, respectively. Increasing concentrations of melatonin (10-9 M, 10-7 M, 10-5 M and 10-3 M) were added to the 24 h aging group.

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
Sperm binding assays, in-vitro fertilization, immunofluorescent staining and western blotting were performed to investigate key regulators and events during fertilization of post-ovulatory aged mouse oocytes.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
We found that the actin cap which promotes a cortical granule (CG) free domain is disrupted with a re-distribution of CGs in the subcortex of aged oocytes. Ovastacin, a CG metalloendoprotease, is mis-located and prematurely exocytosed in aged oocytes with subsequent cleavage of the zona pellucida protein ZP2. This disrupts the sperm recognition domain and dramatically reduces the number of sperm binding to the zona pellucida. The abundance of Juno, the sperm receptor on the oocyte membrane, also is reduced in aged oocytes. Exposure of aged oocytes to melatonin significantly elevates in-vitro fertilization rates potentially by rescuing the above age-associated defects of fertilization, and reducing ROS and inhibiting apoptosis.

LARGE SCALE DATA
N/A.

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
We explored the mechanisms of the decline in fertilization ability decline in aged mouse oocytes, in vitro but not in vivo.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
Our findings may contribute to the development a more efficient method, involving melatonin, for improving IVF success rates.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (31571545) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20150677). The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.


Structural adhesive bonding is becoming a popular alternative to the more traditional joining methods, such as spot and laser welding, for joining metallic substrates intended for structural applications. Structural adhesive bonding offers many advantages, for example enhancing fatigue resistance, the ability to join dissimilar materials and providing cost effective joining solutions. The work presented in this thesis studies the effectiveness of bonding austenitic stainless steel using a two-part structural epoxy adhesive.A comprehensive review of literature has been carried out covering the mechanisms of adhesion, the importance of surface pre-treatments and surface analytical techniques used to evaluate the chemical and physical attributes of substrates prior to bonding and the failure analysis of fracture surfaces. In addition techniques used to study the environmental durability and fatigue performance of adhesive joints has being appraised. The first experimental phase evaluated the effect of commercially available stainless steel finishes on adhesive joint durability using the standard overlap specimen. Environmental exposure included natural outdoor weathering and a high humidity environment coupled with the application of an applied load. It was noted that to further appraise more durable pre-treatments used prior to bonding different testing configurations was required. Perforated single overlap joints and wedge test specimens were used to assess eleven different pre-treatments, ranging from relatively simply to more complex electro-chemical techniques. All pre-treatments included in the research were physically and chemically characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), surface profilometry and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The complementary data from the perforated lap shear and wedge crack extension testing ranked the pre-treatment used in a similar fashion. The two most durable treatment were the Accomet C proprietary coating and the sulphuric acid sodium dichromate anodisation process. A pattern emerged revealing the more durable pre-treatments produced higher Cr:Fe ratios on the surface. Post failure analysis of fractured specimens was carried out using SEM and XPS. It was shown that after the environmental exposure of specimens to a high humidity hydro-thermal stress regime the most durable pre-treatments initially failed cohesively within the adhesive and then interfacially between the adhesive and associated oxide layer.The second stage of the experimental work evaluated the fatigue performance of single overlap joints. The fatigue performance of joints was increased using cost-effective surface conditioning techniques. It was also shown the fatigue response of the adhesive joints is dependant upon test frequency, the effect of which being more prominent at low frequencies. The effect of mean load has also been evaluated, and revealed a reduction in load amplitude seriously diminishes the fatigue lifetime of specimens. The effects of aqueous ageing in distilled water at ambient temperatures was assessed. It was shown that continuous immersion for up to 72 weeks caused total delamination of the adhesive from the substrate. It was postulated that moisture ingression into the interfacial region fills air voids and caused the adhesive to displace from the adherend.An elastic model based on beam theory has being developed to determine the elastic rotation of the overlap region of single lap joints under the application of a tensile load. The model was validated by experimental results, and evaluated the effects of adherend thickness and overlap length. The model has the potential to aid engineers when designing structures using adhesive bonding, especially concerning thin gauge applications where plastic deformation can occur under comparatively small loads.


Bayesian experimental design involves the optimal allocation of resources in an experiment, with the aim of optimising cost and performance. For implicit models, where the likelihood is intractable but sampling from the model is possible, this task is particularly difficult and therefore largely unexplored. This is mainly due to technical difficulties associated with approximating posterior distributions and utility functions. We devise a novel experimental design framework for implicit models that improves upon previous work in two ways. First, we use the mutual information between parameters and data as the utility function, which has previously not been feasible. We achieve this by utilising Likelihood-Free Inference by Ratio Estimation (LFIRE) to approximate posterior distributions, instead of the traditional approximate Bayesian computation or synthetic likelihood methods. Secondly, we use Bayesian optimisation in order to solve the optimal design problem, as opposed to the typically used grid search or sampling-based methods. We find that this increases efficiency and allows us to consider higher design dimensions.


Since the start of the transformation in Eastern Europe in late 1989, there has been a marked increase in training programmes and activities designed to modernize human capital in the region. Many of the initiatives are financed by the EU or other western sources and led by western training providers. This article deals with classroom training activities as a particular mechanism for developmental activity for post-socialist managers. Its empirical basis is a four-year training project that took place in Bulgaria from 1992 to 1996. The educators and trainers were from various EU countries while the trainees were Bulgarian middle and top-level managers from private and state-owned organizations. The article commences by considering why the western commitment to experiential learning appears to be compromised when trainers travel East, and relates this to broader issues of knowledge creation, ownership and transfer. As a prelude to describing the training programme itself we provide a brief insight into Bulgarian culture and then reveal trainee perceptions as to the value of the training initiative. We conclude by suggesting that if such training is to be meaningful to audiences in the post-command economies the principles of experiential learning need to be both reasserted and modified.


Franchising has been an extremely popular means in the developed world expanding the geographical coverage of successful businesses, often in the retail sector. This article identifies the factors that make franchising a potentially useful tool for small business promotion in developing countries, including the existence of large numbers of unemployed people with training but not necessarily entrepreneurial experience. It describes some indigenous franchises that have been a success, and suggests ways in which governments could promote franchising.


Biological durability is an important feature for wood-plastic composites (WPC) intended for outdoor applications. One route to achieving WPC products with increased biological durability is to use wood preservative agents in the formulation of the WPC. Another option could be to use a chemically modified wood component that already exhibits increased resistance to biological degradation. There is also a need to use biobased thermoplastics made from renewable resources, which would decrease the dependency on petrochemically-produced thermoplastics in the future. The objective of this study was to examine moisture sorption properties, biological durability, and mechanical performance of injection-molded WPC samples based on acetylated or thermally modified wood components and a polylactate matrix. The biological durability was evaluated in a terrestrial microcosm (TMC) test according to ENV 807, followed by mechanical evaluation in a center point bending test. The moisture sorption properties were investigated via both water soaking and exposure in a high-humidity climate. Low or negligible mass losses were observed in the TMC test for all WPC samples. However, the mechanical evaluation after exposure in the TMC test showed 35-40% losses in both strength and stiffness for the WPC containing an unmodified wood component.


ABSTRACT This paper explores the extent bilateral adoption of Aid for Trade (AfT) norms in Europe is the result of a Europeanisation process. Using three case study countries (Germany, Ireland, Czech Republic) we examine the level of Europeanisation across policies, polities and politics. We highlight the roles played by socialisation and capacity within this field, which forms an important test case for the Europeanisation of development policies as it blurs the distinction between the European Union (EU)-member state shared competences of development with the EU single competence of trade. We find significant variation in both the depth and speed in adapting the EU AfT norms. Our investigation into the AfT Europeanisation process in Germany, Ireland and the Czech Republic found this variation to be a function of both capacity and socialisation with the caveat that capacity appears as a more influential explanatory factor in the depth of Europeanisation while socialisation may promote a speedier process.


Software-based or instruction-based self-testing has recently emerged as an effective alternative for the manufacturing and online testing of microprocessors, and is progressively adopted by major microprocessor manufacturers mainly as a supplement to other mature and well-established testing approaches to reach higher test quality. Thus far, software-based self-test approaches presented in the literature have focused almost exclusively on uniprocessors. With the continuing prevalence of multiprocessors, the focus of such research approaches moves from the uniprocessor to the multiprocessor case. In this paper, we study the application of software-based self-testing on symmetric shared-memory multiprocessors (SMP) considering the most common interconnection architectures, shared bus and crossbar switch. We focus on the impact of the shared-memory system architecture, the cache coherence mechanisms, and the interconnection architecture on the execution time of self-test programs running on each separate core and exploit the SMP's parallelism during testing to reduce the test execution time. We propose a generic methodology that allocates the test programs and test responses into the shared on-chip memory and schedules the test routines among the cores aiming at the reduction of the total test application time, and thus, test cost, for the SMP, by increasing the execution parallelism and reducing both bus contentions and data cache invalidations. We demonstrate the proposed solutions with detailed experiments on several two-core, four-core, and eight-core SMP benchmarks based on a popular RISC benchmark processor using both the shared bus and the crossbar switch interconnection architectures.