Ajax has revolutionized the way users interact with web pages today. Gone are frustrating page refreshes, lost scroll positions and intermittent interaction with a web site. Instead, we have a new generation of fast, rich, and more intuitive web applications. The ASP.NET AJAX framework puts the power of Ajax into the hands of web developers. ASP.NET AJAX, formerly called Atlas, is a new free framework from Microsoft designed to easily add Ajax features to ASP.NET applications. With this technology, ASP.NET developers can easily build more interactive and highly-personalized web applications that work across all most popular browsers. ASP.NET AJAX in Action is a fast-paced, example-rich tutorial designed for ASP.NET web developers and written by ASP.NET AJAX experts Alessandro "Garbin" Gallo, David Barkol, and Rama Krishna Vavilala. This book introduces you to Ajax applications and to the ASP.NET AJAX technology. Beginners will appreciate the clear explanations of key ideas and terminology. Intermediate and advanced ASP.NET developers will find a no-nonsense learning source and well-organized reference.ASP.NET AJAX in Action offers a rich set of examples and meticulous explanations. The extensive code samples are accompanied by accurate and rigorous explanations of the concepts behind development with ASP.NET AJAX. In this book, you will discover how to use Microsoft Ajax Library Partial rendering with UpdatePanels Advanced client and server techniques Ajax Control Toolkit If you are a web developer looking to bring your web pages to life and to enhance the user experience, this book is for you.ASP.NET AJAX in Action will give you with the knowledge and tools you need to more easily craft the next generation of Ajax applications. With the help of the Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX framework, Ajax development has never been easier and more instinctive for both client-script developers and ASP.NET developers alike.


There is a widespread scientific consensus that global climate change is caused by the increased levels of anthropogenic greenhouse gasses (GHG). Biomass use is seen as an important GHG mitigation option. However, the use of biomass will not by default generate a significant and timely GHG emission reduction compared to the fossil reference. The GHG emission reduction potential has recently been questioned with the inclusion of carbon stock change and land-use change emissions in the total GHG balance. For large-scale utilization of biomass the economic performance is an important driver. Namely, the production of biobased electricity, fuels and chemicals should be able to compete economically with fossil equivalents. In short, important topics for research are: 1) The methods used for the quantification of the economic performance and GHG emission reduction potential of biomass use, 2) Regional specific case studies for the economic performance and GHG emissions of large-scale production of electricity, fuels and chemicals. In this thesis the case-studies are executed for the wood pellet production in the Southeastern USA, mainly for overseas electricity production, and the sugarcane - ethanol production in Brazil. These regions have the potential to significantly expand their production in the coming decades, by the expansion of the cultivation area, improvements in agricultural or industrial yield and the introduction of new industrial processing pathways and value chains. The main results of this research highlight four main messages: First, the carbon debt payback times and offset parity points can be shortened by choosing smart management strategies and maximizing carbon displacement effects of harvested wood. The carbon displacement due to wood use for wood products or bioenergy is an important carbon pool, especially for longer model periods. Important to note that, the total wood volume yield is not per se the best criterion for the selection of the best plantation management strategies to accumulate carbon in- and outside forestry plantations. The second message is that the ethanol production costs in Brazil can be reduced considerably in the coming decades. Overall, total cost reduction found in this study are 48%, 41%, and 53% for first generation, integrated first-and-second generation and second generation industrial processing. These cost reduction arise from (combined) use of improved biomass yield, increase in sugar content, use of optimized technology, collection and use of trash, increase in industrial efficiency and upscaling of the industrial facility. Another key message is that the direct land use change GHG emissions can affect the GHG emission intensity of ethanol production both positively and negatively. Therefore, the location of land use changes for biomass cultivation highly affects the GHG performance of biomass supply chains. Biobased chemical production can be profitable and can achieve significant GHG emission reduction – but picking winners is complex. This is due to the fact that a) the best-performing product strongly depends on the chosen metric, and b) the ranges found in the production costs and GHG emissions are very large, especially for PDO and succinic acid, independent of the chosen metric.


Despite the recent success of welfare reform in moving people off public assistance and into jobs, most of America's working poor are still unable to accumulate even the most minimal of assets. Even when they are getting by, they lack many of the resources utangible and intangible uthat provide middle-class Americans with a sense of security, stability, and a stake in the future. In Owning Up , Michelle Miller-Adams demonstrates how asset-building programs, used in combination with traditional income-based support, can be an effective means for helping millions of American out of poverty. Miller-Adams expands the traditional concept of assets to encompass a range of tools, experiences, resources, and support systems that are necessary if asset building is to serve as an effective anti-poverty strategy. She identifies four types of assets that can represent sources of wealth for low-income individuals and communities: economic human social, and natural assets. Economic assets include equity, retirement savings, and other financial holdings. Human assets include education, knowledge, skills, and talents. Included among social assets are the networks of trust and reciprocity that bind communities together. Natural assets include the land, water, air and other natural resources we depend on for survival. Owning Up also examines five organizations at the forefront of building assets for the poor. Their stories are told through the eyes of individuals whose lives they have helped transform. These organizations have all developed effective strategies for building assets, and Miller-Adams identifies them as models to be emulated elsewhere. The profiled organizations include: Neighborhoods Incorporated of Battle Creek, Michigan . Its innovative strategies seek to increase home ownership and promote neighborhood revitalization in poor communities. The Watershed Research and Training Center . This local organization strengthens the natural resource-based economy by retraining workers and strengthening social ties. The Private Industry Partnership of Wildcat Service Corporation . Based in New York City, PIP trains former welfare recipients in New York City for entry-level white collar jobs. Iowa's Institute for Social and Economic Development . This microenterprise development organization is one of the largest U.S. based organizations training low-income entrepreneurs. The Corporation for Enterprise Development . CFED, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that has been instrumental in showing that poor people can and will save if given the opportunities and incentives for doing so. They have helped put Individual Development Accounts on the national agenda.


A method of monitoring the cylinder wall wear using ultrasonic phase comparison techniques is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of introducing ultrasonic waves in a cylinder wall so that the waves travel through the cylinder wall. A change in the traveling time of the ultrasonic waves traveling through the cylinder wall due to cylinder wall wear is determined. The amount of wear of the cylinder wall is calculated by multiplying the velocity of the ultrasonic waves in the cylinder wall by the traveling time change due to cylinder wall wear. The traveling time change due to cylinder wall wear is obtained by determining the actual change in travel time by a phase comparison of the traveling ultrasonic waves and adjusting the actual change in travel time to compensate for any change due to temperature variation of the cylinder wall. With this method, small changes in traveling time on the order of 10-11 second can be determined so that thickness changes due to wear on the order of 5×10-4 mm are possible.


A family of plane curves is developed which can diffract incident parallel rays to a point focus. These curves, termed diffractoidal curves, are rotated around an axis to produce surfaces of revolution correspondingly termed diffractoids, whose imaging properties for sources at infinity are studied by ray tracing in a few examples. The paraboloid emerges as a limiting case of the diffractoid. A comparison is made between the stigmatic focusing properties of the diffractoid and the toroidal grating.


The Republic of Liberia, which covers an area of 38 000 square miles (98,400 squ. km,), is situated on the west coast of Africa. The country is part of the tropical rain forest of West Africa, but large parts have lost their original forest due to slash and burn agriculture and are now covered with secondary forest. Only in the north-west does one find small areas of savannah and park forest. Most of the country is rolling with hills varying from 400-600 feet (125-185 metres) in height near the coast to over 1000 feet (300 metres) along the northern boundary. The climate is warm and humid. Near the coast, rainfall is about 150-180 inches (3,800-4,600 millimetres) per year and decreases to about 70 inches (1,800 millimetres) in the interior. Most of the rainfall occurs between April and November. As is usually the case in humid tropics, laterization has been the predominant soil forming process. The soils are adequate for the cultivation of permanent crops, but less suitable for arable crops because of the rapid soil degradation and high risk of erosion. The consequence for agricultural development is that the natural conditions favour permanent crops like tree crops, while arable crops and pastures require special and expensive efforts to maintain soil fertility.


The fast pace of today's world has presented several challenges in the area of healthcare. Depression, hypertension, diabetes, cancers and several infectious diseases are just some of the common outcomes associated with the high speed stress-filled lifestyle. Early diagnosis has been the goal for prompt arrest and management of these health conditions. This has been a challenge in recent times. However, great scientific advancement with improved potential in medical diagnosis has equally been a giant stride in times like these. Early disease detection even before symptoms' presentation, improved imaging of internal body structure, as well as ease of diagnostic procedures, have been developed with the help of a new branch of laboratory medicine termed nanodiagnostics. Use of microchips, biosensors, nanorobots, nano identification of single celled structures, and microelectromechanical systems are current techniques being developed for use in nanodiagnostics. This piece of write up takes a panoramic view of available nanotechnological advances in current use for medical diagnosis and projecting into future possibilities and potentials for an improved health care delivery.


Abstract : In 1995 Finland joined the European Union (EU). This action culminated several years of a fundamental reorientation of Finnish security policy as Finland moved from the neutrality imposed on it by the Soviet Union to a policy with a priority on European integration through the European Union. Finland, in joining the EU, has retained its independent defense and security posture, even as it seeks to strengthen its standing abroad and gain added leverage, through the EU, for dealing with Russia. Finland's odyssey indicates much about two fundamental issues in European security: coping with Russia's crises, and the interrelationship between the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as providers of security for small states in Europe. Furthermore, Finland's proximity to Russia and the difficult history of Fenno-Russian relations have imposed on Finnish policymakers the need for penetrating and sober analysis of Finland's and Europe's security situation. Therefore, Finland's evolution from an imposed neutrality to overt participation in European integration merits our careful scrutiny and attention.


We examine how accurately the belief system or cultural concepts of Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, is reconstruct ed in the virtual world of the Internet. Nine Maori web sites were searched using a list of 44 key concepts in Maori culture. We registered how m any pages within a particular web site contain each of the key concepts. These numbers were set up in a data matrix for further statistical analysis. The Multidimen- sional Scaling method was used to construct a spatial representation of Maori web sites in the space generated by the key concepts in Maori culture. Using the correlation coefficients between derived dimensions and the key concepts we interpreted three dimensions as General Cultural, Intra-tribe Dynamics and Educational. The position of each Maori web site in this space has been located and described.


Resistive interchange modes can be driven unstable by large pressure gradients in the negative central magnetic shear (NCS) region of advanced tokamaks. Localized stability analysis reveals that the resistive interchange stability criterion (D-R less than or equal to 0) is violated in this region, and unstable n = 1 localized resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes are computed using the resistive MHD code MARS. In DIII-D NCS plasmas, these instabilities appear as bursting MHD activities, constituting the first identification of resistive interchange in a high temperature tokamak experiment. These bursts also appear to play a role in triggering disruptions.


"The 1980s were the PC years, the 1990s the Internet years. The first decade of 2000 will belong to the robot." These were the words of a Sony spokesperson visiting Paris to launch the robot dog, Aibo. Science fiction writers first heralded the trend. They were relayed by film-makers and video game creators who put robots into the mainstream consciousness. From smart toys for toddlers to the first autonomous vacuum cleaners, robots have gradually been taking their place in the home. At the same time industry and medicine have been making growing use of them - be they androids or just articulated limbs. On Mars and the Moon, robots have undertaken missions denied to their human creator. They have blazed trails into interplanetary worlds that would otherwise have remained uncharted territory. Back home on Earth, robotics enthusiasts' clubs and societies are mushrooming - the first signs of a creative bubbling-under that is reminiscent of the rise of computer technology. The Bill Gates of tomorrow could well emerge in the robotics industry. A sign of the times is that artists are beginning to introduce electronic beings into their work, using them as a way of examining what it means to be a human being. We have sought to describe this incredible crucible of creativity and take a panoramic view of the thousand facets of robotics. Robots intrigue, amaze, worry and disconcert. Clearly, we must now come to terms with the fact that they are among us. This book seeks to be the first "written and photo reportage" on a development that affects every branch of society. Each chapter depicts robots in a given environment and adumbrates the underlying message. Features of the book include an anthology of films featuring robots, from Metropolis to I Robot; a survey of robots in space, including Mars rovers; robotic household appliances; robotic toys, including Aibo and Poochie and Lego Mindstorm; and robots in contemporary art.


Racial disparities in health are well-documented and represent a significant public health concern in the US. Racism-related factors contribute to poorer health and higher mortality rates among Blacks compared to other racial groups. However, methods to measure racism and monitor its associations with health at the population-level have remained elusive. In this study, we investigated the utility of a previously developed Internet search-based proxy of area racism as a predictor of Black mortality rates. Area racism was the proportion of Google searches containing the "N-word" in 196 designated market areas (DMAs). Negative binomial regression models were specified taking into account individual age, sex, year of death, and Census region and adjusted to the 2000 US standard population to examine the association between area racism and Black mortality rates, which were derived from death certificates and mid-year population counts collated by the National Center for Health Statistics (2004–2009). DMAs characterized by a one standard deviation greater level of area racism were associated with an 8.2% increase in the all-cause Black mortality rate, equivalent to over 30,000 deaths annually. The magnitude of this effect was attenuated to 5.7% after adjustment for DMA-level demographic and Black socioeconomic covariates. A model controlling for the White mortality rate was used to further adjust for unmeasured confounders that influence mortality overall in a geographic area, and to examine Black-White disparities in the mortality rate. Area racism remained significantly associated with the all-cause Black mortality rate (mortality rate ratio = 1.036; 95% confidence interval = 1.015, 1.057; p = 0.001). Models further examining cause-specific Black mortality rates revealed significant associations with heart disease, cancer, and stroke. These findings are congruent with studies documenting the deleterious impact of racism on health among Blacks. Our study contributes to evidence that racism shapes patterns in mortality and generates racial disparities in health.


Parking pricing has taken on a role beyond recouping infrastructure investment costs and is now also being utilized as a public policy tool for travel demand management. Recently developed tools for travel demand management include innovative parking pricing strategies that incentivize alternative mode choice. The principal goal of this research is to examine the effects on commuter mode choice of introducing flexibility and incentives into monthly parking contracts. The demonstration consisted of running four different test modules over the course of three four-month periods. The four test modules include a discounted transit pass option (Buying Flexibility), two forms of rebate programs (Marginal Rebate and PayGo), and a free transit pass option (Disincentive Removal). The first rebate program, Marginal Rebate, offered a rebate for the difference between the marginal parking cost and transit fare on days when transit was used. The second rebate program, PayGo, offered the same transit rebate in addition to a rebate for the full marginal parking cost on days when a mode other than parking or transit was used. Analysis of the commuting behavior among participants in this study demonstrated that the level of incentive positively correlates to the propensity for mode shift to occur, with significant and increasing mode shift in the two programs that offered the greatest flexibility and incentive. However, the data collected also indicates that a discounted or free transit pass is not enough to entice mode change. Potential to deploy parking contract models that include flexibility and incentives are also briefly explored.


This paper studies the effects of financial constraints on firm growth by investigating if large depreciations differentially impact multinational affiliates and local firms in emerging markets. U.S. multinational affiliates increase sales, assets and investment significantly more than local firms during, and subsequent to, currency crises. The enhanced relative performance of multinationals is traced to their ability to use internal capital markets to capitalize on the competitiveness benefits of large depreciations. Investment specifications indicate that increases in leverage resulting from sharp depreciations constrain local firms from capitalizing on these investment opportunities, but do not constrain multinational affiliates. Multinational parents also infuse new capital in their affiliates after currency crises. These results indicate another role for foreign direct investment in emerging markets multinational affiliates expand economic activity during currency crises when local firms are most constrained.


Increasing costs for wheat imports due to higher demand for wheat-based food products in many tropical developing countries such as Ghana has led to an interest in cassava flour as partial substitute for wheat flour in bakery products. The aim of this study was to characterize physico-chemical properties of cassava flour compared to wheat flour and determine its maximum acceptable substitution level in composite wheat/cassava bread and cakes in terms of baking and organoleptical characteristics. Flours from three different local varieties of cassava (Afisiafi, Bankye hemmaa and Doku Duade) were compared. Cassava roots were processed into flour by grating, sun-drying and milling. Quality parameters such as moisture and starch content and acidity as well as functional properties in water such as pasting characteristics, swelling power and water-binding capacity were determined. Breads and cakes including 10, 20 and 30 % cassava flour were baked and evaluated for specific volume, density and hardness. The products were submitted to a semi-trained panel of Ghanaian urban consumers for sensory analysis. Flour yield from processing of three varieties of cassava roots into flour ranged from 18 to 19.9 %. Swelling power ranged from 10.5 to 12, swelling volume from 8.6 ml to 11 ml, solubility from 11 % to 20.8 % and water-binding capacity from 152 % to 166.9 %, higher values than for wheat flour. This could be explained by a higher starch content in cassava flour that ranged from 87.8 to 89.2% on dry matter basis. Cassava flours were characterized by an early gelatinization (pasting temperature between 70 and 71°C), high peak viscosity, large paste breakdown and low retrogradation tendency compared to wheat flour. As the substitution level increased in wheat/cassava bread, loaf specific volume decreased and density and hardness increased. Breads baked with 10% and 20% cassava flour were accepted by the sensory panel in terms of appearance, taste and texture and up to 30% was accepted in cakes. These results showed that High Quality Cassava Flour has potential to replace part of the wheat flour in bakery products since there is a wide acceptance among consumers.


As a substantial body of research has made clear, speech and writing differ in many important respects, such as lexical density, specificity and redundancy. The present study proposes a contrastive analysis of demonstrative expressions in an oral corpus of conference presentations and a written corpus of the corresponding Proceedings articles in linguistics in order to determine if oral research genres tend to select less specific and more redundant demonstrative expressions than written genres. The categories considered are (i) the deictic function performed by these expressions (exophoric, text-deictic or discourse deictic); (ii) the type of expression selected (prenominal or pronominal demonstratives); and (iii) the lexical relationship between demonstrative noun phrases and their antecedent (faithful or unfaithful). Results show that the behaviour of demonstratives does not differ substantially in research speech and writing genres: text deixis is the prevalent function; prenominal (more specific) demonstratives are more frequent than pronominal ones in almost all oral and written uses; and unfaithful demonstrative noun phrases (less redundant) prevail in both modes. Therefore, the use of demonstratives tends to the prototypical written modality in both genres. The analysis also reveals the existence of more significant differences between text and discourse deictic uses of demonstratives than between oral and written modes.


In this paper, I investigate the scope of a model with exogenous habit formation - or `catching up with the Joneses`, see Abel (1990) - to generate the observed equity premium as well as other key macroeconomic facts. Along the way, I derive restrictions for four out of eight parameters for a rather general preference specification of habit formation by imposing consistency with long-run growth, the leisure share, the aggregate Frisch elasticity of labor supply, the observed risk-free rate, and the observed Sharpe ratio. I show that a DSGE model with (exogenous and lagged) habits in both leisure and consumption, but not necessarily with additional persistence, is well capable of matching the observed asset market facts as well as macro facts, provided one allows for moderate real wage stickiness and provided one allows for sufficient curvature on preferences, as dictated by the asset market observations. Without wage stickiness, delivery on both the asset pricing implications as well as the macroeconomic implications seems to be much harder.


Solid electrolyte separators within fuel cells enable efficient charge transport and prevent a mass bypass between the two half cells. Hydrated systems, like Nafion, reach unprecedented proton conductivities at ambient temperatures, but the demanding humidity management prevents their use beyond 80 °C, hence limiting the efficiency of current polymer-based systems. As such, water free and chemically inert, solid materials with excellent conductivities between 100 °C and 200 °C, are of high interest. A promising approach is the incorporation of heavier amphoteric molecules into micro- and mesoporous frameworks. Stronger host–guest interactions allow for higher temperatures, while still maintaining sufficient mobility and efficient transport pathways. Here, we present a systematic study investigating the influence of porosity, framework topology and dimensionality as well as framework functionality and charge carrier uptake on the proton conductivity for six porous organic networks (PONs) loaded with imidazole via gas phase adsorption. The resulting materials were thoroughly characterized by multinuclear NMR and IR spectroscopy and physisorption as well as powder X-ray diffraction and DSC experiments, revealing homogeneous distribution of the amphoteric guests within the pore structure. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy up to 130 °C revealed remarkable conductivities of up to 10−3 S cm−1 under anhydrous conditions. We found 3D networks to favour high imidazole loading leading to high proton conductivities based on the Grotthuss mechanism. In contrast, 2D networks showed a lower guest molecule uptake and thus lower proton conductivities, which were governed by vehicle transport. Additional acid/base functionalities within the frameworks seem to have a negative effect on the proton conduction.


For the first time in the history of social psychology, we have a handbook on the history of social psychology. In it, leading luminaries in the field present their take on how research in their own domains has unfolded, on the scientists whose impact shaped the research agendas in the different areas of social psychology, and on events, institutions and publications that were pivotal in determining the field's history.

Social psychology's numerous subfields now boast a rich historical heritage of their own, which demands special attention. The Handbook recounts the intriguing and often surprising lessons that the tale of social psychology's remarkable ascendance has to offer. The historical diversity is the hallmark of the present handbook reflecting each of this field's domains unique evolution.

Collectively, the contributions put a conceptual mirror to our field and weave the intricate tapestry of people, dynamics and events whose workings combined to produce what the vibrant discipline of social psychology is today. They allow the contemporary student, scholar and instructor to explore the historical development of this important field, provide insight into its enduring aims and allow them to transcend the vicissitudes of the zeitgeist and fads of the moment.

The Handbook of the History of Social Psychology provides an essential resource for any social psychologist's collection.


A new approach by Bachmann et al. describes the wetting behavior of soil with reduced wettability with a macroscopic dynamic contact angle concept. The contact angle (CA) is hysteretic and depends on both time and water content. A maximum CA is reached at the permanent wilting point and decreases during rewetting until achieving the minimum CA at a water content close to field capacity. To simulate water flow in a soil with dynamic wettability, we expand the van Genuchten parameterization of hydraulic properties to include the macroscopic CA. Both pore and pore‐surface properties can vary in space. We tested the new parameterization approach by simulating one drying–rewetting cycle in a forest soil profile. Our drying–rewetting cycle is a simplified scenario for a seasonal climate where a prolonged dry period is followed by a wet period. We could qualitatively reproduce many observations of water dynamics typically attributed to water‐repellent soils. The infiltration of water into hydrophobic soil created a distribution, fingering, and redistribution zone. With rewetting, the fingers slowly widened and finally dissipated. We further analyzed the sensitivity of the simulated water flow processes to the different wettability parameters. Fingers form where the average maximum CA is large (≥90°) but not in case of subcritical water repellency (average maximum CA <90°). The magnitude of the critical water content and the degree of pore heterogeneity also influence the initiation and stability of fingers. The infiltration into the root zone and the drainage out of the soil profile are highly sensitive to the degree and persistence of water repellency.


The objectives of the Tweed River Entrance Sand Bypassing Project on Australia's east coast are to establish and maintain a navigable entrance to the Tweed River and to enhance and maintain the southern Gold Coast beaches, with the objectives to be achieved in perpetuity. The joint project of the New South Wales and Queensland State Governments with the support of the Gold Coast City Council offers the opportunity to achieve this co-operatively in partnership. Agreements have been established. The environmental impact assessment of the first stage (initial dredging and nourishment) has been completed, and the first component of these works involving over 2.2Mm of sand was successfully completed in August 1996. Environmental impact assessment and design studies for the second stage (the permanent bypassing system) are in progress. The paper describes the overall project and its key features, the investigations and analyses undertaken to date, the identified impacts, the initial dredging and nourishment works, and the issues being investigated for the permanent system.


The study presented in this thesis was motivated by the large uncertainty on the concentration of atmospheric electrical discharges to the global nitrogen budget. This uncertainty is partly due to the fact that information concerning the NOx production efficiency of electrical discharges having current signatures similar to those of lightning flashes is not available in the literature. Another reason for this uncertainty is the fact that energy is used as a figure of merit in evaluating NOx production from lightning flashes even though insufficient knowledge is available concerning the energy dissipation in lightning flashes. The third reason for this uncertainty is the lack of knowledge concerning the contribution of discharge processes other than return strokes to the NOx production in the atmosphere. Lightning is not the only process in the atmosphere that causes ionisation and dissociation of atmospheric air. Cosmic rays continuously bombard the Earth with high energetic particles and radiation causing ionization and dissociation of air leading to the production of NOx in the atmosphere. The work carried out in this thesis is an attempt to improve the current knowledge on the way in which these processes contribute to the global NOx production. Experiments have been conducted in this thesis to estimate the NOx production efficiency of streamer discharges, laser-induced plasma, laboratory sparks having current signatures similar to those of lightning flashes, alpha particle impact in air and finally with the lightning flash itself. The results obtained from laboratory electrical discharges show the following: (a) The NOx production efficiency, in terms of energy, of positive streamer discharges is more or less similar to those of hot discharges. (b) The NOx production efficiency of an electrical discharge depends not only on the energy but also on the peak and the shape of the current waveform. (c) The current signature is a better figure of merit in evaluating the NOx yield of electrical discharges. As a part of this thesis work a direct measurement of NOx generated by lightning flashes was conducted and the results show that slow discharge processes such as continuing currents could be the main source of NOx in lightning flashes. Concerning NOx production by other ionisation processes such as alpha particle impacts in the atmosphere, the data gathered in this thesis show that each ionising event in air leads to the creation of one NOx molecule. In terms of energy the NOx production efficiency of alpha particles is similar to that of electrical discharges. The theoretical studies conducted within this thesis indicate that M-components contribute more than the return strokes to the NOx production. The calculations also show that the contribution to the global NOx budget by return stroke is not as high as that assumed in the current literature.


Transfer of silicon and manganese as an iron drop falls through a slag layer has been investigated by an experimental study. Carbon-saturated liquid iron drops containing different amounts of silicon were allowed to fall for I sec through CaO-SiO.-A].O,-MnO slag at 1 773 K. The rate of mass transfer of siiicon to the iron drop from the slag was found to be two to three orders of magnitude faster than that previous[y reported in static equilibration laboratory studies. The rate of manganese transfer was dependent on the silicon transfer: when the silicon transfer is fast, the manganese transfer is also fast and vice versa. The iron drops broke up while falling through the slag. The results of the present study indicate that for reactions involving solute transfer across liquid-liquid interfaces, significant changes in reaction rate and mechanism occur in dynamic contact conditions, Several possible reasons for these changes are discussed. It was tentatively concluded that the emulsification of the interface plays the major role in enhancing the transfer rates,


Current large-scale auto-regressive language models (Radford et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2018; Graves, 2013) display impressive fluency and can generate convincing text. In this work we start by asking the question: Can the generations of these models be reliably distinguished from real text by statistical discriminators? We find experimentally that the answer is affirmative when we have access to the training data for the model, and guardedly affirmative even if we do not. This suggests that the auto-regressive models can be improved by incorporating the (globally normalized) discriminators into the generative process. We give a formalism for this using the Energy-Based Model framework, and show that it indeed improves the results of the generative models, measured both in terms of perplexity and in terms of human evaluation.


Abstract This study tested a path model of Latino college student outcomes (n=179). Four constructs were integrated into the model which predicted persistence intentions and health: self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986), stress, family support, and social integration (Tinto, 1987). As hypothesized, college self-efficacy was associated directly with stronger persistence intentions and associated indirectly with better health. Contrary to expectations, self-efficacy associated directly with social and faculty integration, but social and faculty integration were not associated directly with persistence intentions. In addition, students who reported stronger availability of family support reported stronger self-efficacy. Implications for designing culturally responsive intervention programming are described.


This paper studies the endogenous determination of pricing to market, in a model with time dependent transportation costs, where the future terms of trade are random. Allowing time dependent transportation costs adds a dimension of investment to the pre-buying of imports, implying that financial considerations determine the frequency of pricing to market, and the deviations from relative PPP. If the expected discounted cost of last minute delivery is higher than pre-buying, one exercises the option of spot market imports if the realized terms of trade are favorable enough. Pricing to market is observed in countries characterized by low terms of trade volatility and low financing costs. In these circumstances, imports are pre-bought, and the spot market for imports is inactive. In countries where the financing costs and the terms of trade volatility are high, few imports are pre-bought, the price of imports is determined by the realized real exchange rate, and a version of relative PPP holds. With an intermediate level of terms of trade volatility and of financing costs, a mixed regime is observed, and some imports are pre-bought. If the realized real exchange rate is favorable enough more imports are purchased in the spot market, the price of imports is determined by the realized real exchange rate, and the relative PPP holds. If the realized real exchange rate is weak, pricing to market would prevail, increasing consumers' welfare by shielding them from the adverse purchasing power consequences of weak terms of trade. Higher financing costs increase the cost of pre-buying imports, reducing thereby the frequency of pricing to market, increasing the expected relative price of imports, reducing the expected deviations from relative PPP, and reducing welfare.


It is difficult to overestimate Paul Meehl's influence on judgment and decision-making research. His 'disturbing little book' (Meehl, 1986, p. 370) Clinical versus Statistical Prediction: A Theoretical Analysis and a Review of the Evidence (1954) is known as an attack on human judgment and a call for replacing clinicians with actuarial methods. More than 40 years later, fast and frugal heuristics - proposed as models of human judgment - were formalized, tested, and found to be surprisingly accurate, often more so than the actuarial models that Meehl advocated. We ask three questions: Do the findings of the two programs contradict each other? More generally, how are the programs conceptually connected? Is there anything they can learn from each other? After demonstrating that there need not be a contradiction, we show that both programs converge in their concern to develop (a) domain-specific models of judgment and (b) nonlinear process models that arise from the bounded nature of judgment. We then elaborate the differences between the programs and discuss how these differences can be viewed as mutually instructive: First, we show that the fast and frugal heuristic models can help bridge the clinical - actuarial divide, that is, they can be developed into actuarial methods that are both accurate and easy to implement by the unaided clinical judge. We then argue that Meehl's insistence on improving judgment makes clear the importance of examining the degree to which heuristics are used in the clinical domain and how acceptable they would be as actuarial tools.


This up-to-date book examines pharmaceutical development, access to medicines, and the protection of public health in the context of two fundamental changes that the global political economy has undergone since the 1970s, the globalization of trade and production and the increased harmonization of national regulations on intellectual property rights.


One thing all mainstream economists agree upon is that money has nothing whatsoever to do with desire. This strange blindness of the profession to what is otherwise considered to be a basic feature of economic life serves as the starting point for this provocative new theory of money. Through the works of Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and Max Weber, What Money Wants argues that money is first and foremost an object of desire. In contrast to the common notion that money is but an ordinary object that people believe to be money, this book explores the theoretical consequences of the possibility that an ordinary object fulfills money's function insofar as it is desired as money. Rather than conceiving of the desire for money as pathological, Noam Yuran shows how it permeates economic reality, from finance to its spectacular double in our consumer economy of addictive shopping. Rich in colorful and accessible examples, from the work of Charles Dickens to Reality TV and commercials, this book convinces us that we must return to Marx and Veblen if we are to understand how brand names, broadcast television, and celebrity culture work. Analyzing both classical and contemporary economic theory, it reveals the philosophical dimensions of the controversy between orthodox and heterodox economics.


We consider regression models where the underlying functional relationship between the response and the explanatory variable is modeled as independent linear regressions on disjoint segments. We present an algorithm for perfect simulation from the posterior distribution of such a model, even allowing for an unknown number of segments and an unknown model order for the linear regressions within each segment. The algorithm is simple, can scale well to large data sets, and avoids the problem of diagnosing convergence that is present with Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) approaches to this problem. We demonstrate our algorithm on standard denoising problems, on a piecewise constant AR model, and on a speech segmentation problem.


Haemophilus influenzae colonizes the human respiratory tract, and is a major source of disease. Antibody and complement contribute to the limitation of H. influenzae colonization. This work explores bacterial factors that aid in the evasion of antibody recognition and subsequent complement-mediated lysis. Antibody recognition of H. influenzae is affected by the phase variation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) structures. Phase variation refers to the stochastic, high frequency on/off switching in gene expression. One phase variable gene, lic1A, controls the attachment of the small molecule phosphorylcholine (ChoP) to the LPS. We found that ChoP-expressing bacteria had reduced antibody binding and increased survival in the presence of complement. Also, ChoP attachment to the LPS increased the stability of the outer membrane, reducing accessibility to host molecules including antibodies. Next, we conducted a screen of genes required for complement resistance in H. influenzae. We found that several LPS phase variable biosynthesis genes are critical for survival in the presence of human antibody and complement. In addition to these, we identified vacJ and the associated yrb genes, which encode an ABC transporter that increases membrane stability and reduces antibody binding. These findings present two different examples of how alterations in outer membrane stability can affect antibody binding to bacterial surface structures. Finally, we examined the dynamics of the contributions of multiple phase variable LPS biosynthesis genes to bacterial survival. We found that exposure to antibody and complement drives selection for phase variants expressing ChoP, digalactoside (galα1-4gal), and an alternative glucose structure. Each of these LPS structures, in addition to the phase variable molecule sialic acid, had an independent effect on bacterial survival, and these effects were additive in combination. Bacteria with the maximum number of LPS modifications had the greatest survival, and this correlated with reduced recognition of conserved inner core LPS structures. In summary, LPS phase variation in H. influenzae contributes to bacterial evasion of antibody binding and complement-mediated killing. The expression of several LPS phase variable modifications shields conserved surface structures on H. influenzae from host recognition to contribute to the successful colonization of this extracellular pathogen. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Cell & Molecular Biology First Advisor Jeffrey N. Weiser


The purpose of this study is to examine how genders are made within the gender neutral discourse in the preschools equality treatment area. The study is based on critcal literature studies influed by discourse analysis and hermeneuitcs. It also relies on intervjues with two preschool teachers. The study will examine and answer the following questions:How are genders made within the gender neutral discourse?How is the feminine and masculine problematized in preschool and how is the discourse within gender neutrality linked to norms, power and gender?The theoretical starting point of this study is gender. This starting point also includes norms, power and masculinity, to get a complete understanding of the problem area. The result of the study shows that the ambition to develope a gender natural policy in pre school is a problematic issue because the understanding of the concept neutrality excludes the feminine. Finally with critical eyes against the gender neutral concept my interpretation is that we need to concider the norms to be able to reach equal treatment and gender equality. These unwritten laws that norms produce creates unbalance, power structure and exclusion between genders and individuals. Keywords: Gender, Norm criticism, equal treatment, gender equality, gender neutrality.Nyckelord: Genus, normkritik, likabehandling, jamstalldhetsarbete och konsneutralitet.


Developed and developing countries need electricity, and this usage is increasing everyday. This constant increase cannot be satisfied with the current ways of electricity generation that have shown themselves to be out of phase with environmental concerns. Oceans yield great amount of energy that could be converted into electricity and the current research deals with one portion of ocean energy, wave energy. The wave energy converter studied in this thesis is a bottom-mounted, liquid-filled rectangular duct, covered with a rubber membrane and aligned head to the waves propagation direction. Two types of membrane were tested. The behaviour of this device beneath waves was investigated with two configurations: one with both its ends closed, the other one with a power take-off connected at its stern. The pressure at both ends was characterised by means of pressure transducers and the pressure inside the duct by means of laser sensors measuring the membrane displacement. Results from experiments carried out on the closed version of the duct pointed out a resonant behaviour of the system for wave frequencies at which bulges, propagating in the rubber membrane, could travel an integer number of times along the duct's length. This resonance was characterised by pressure magnitudes at the stern up to 2.8 times that acting on the membrane from the incident wave. Moreover, the membrane displacement was for the first time mapped and the profile obtained showed characteristic nodes and antinodes. The performance of this device in harnessing wave power was evaluated by connecting a linear dashpot at its stern. Capture widths of up to 2.2 times the device width were obtained and the bandwidth of maximum power capture not limited to a single frequency. The pressure behaviour in both configurations was explained with a one dimensional theory of bulges propagating in distensible tubes with good agreement for the thicker tested membrane. On the contrary, this was not the case for the thinner membrane, suggesting that this model could not be used for configurations where bulge wavelengths are much shorter than that of the incoming wave.


Indian system of medicine is an indigenous form of medicine native to the Indian subcontinent. The system is a blend of six different forms of medicine currently designated with an acronym called AYUSH which stands for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy. After independence, with the initiation of long-term planning, Five-year Plan took its birth and in that all social and technology sector planning started appearing. Since then, health and family welfare planning became imperative as a social sector planning. Health has always been given due importance in the planning process owing to its very complex nature of affiliation with other sectors of development known as the social determinants of health. Indian System of Medicine, which is India's own bequest, became a part of health and family welfare planning since then. At the very outset of planning, the system struggled with great degree of uncertainty (as described in 1st Five-year Plan) and progressed ahead with a vision to be a globally accepted system (as envisaged in 11th Five-year Plan). Recently, in 2014, a separate ministry was created under the Union Government of India to devote increased focus for the healthy development of this system. Despite its regular appearance in the planning documents, the system got a distinct categorical visibility after the 7th Five-year-Plan. It was in the 11th 5 years plan a new concept called "Mainstreaming of AYUSH and revitalization of local health traditions" was brought into action, although envisioned in 9th Five-year Plan. With this background, a review was carried out to assess the AYUSH health system based on Five-year Plans.


Abstract The percolation of water through waste landfills produces leachates with high concentrations of NH4+ which can generate NH4+-exchanged clays within geochemical barriers. These leachates also contain several volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which can interact with the clay barrier. The aim of the present study was to characterize the sorption of eight short-chain VOCs (acetonitrile, methyl tert-butyl ether, dichloromethane, benzene, phenol, ethanol, acetone and aniline) on NH4+-smectite, and to identify their sorption mechanisms. The samples treated were characterized by carbon and nitrogen elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis. For acetonitrile, methyl tert-butyl ether, dichloromethane and benzene, no sorption was detected. Phenol, ethanol and acetone were sorbed very weakly, through Van derWaals interactions. Aniline molecules were sorbed strongly on NH4+-smectite mainly with hydrogen bonds between aniline and interlayer water molecules. However, aniline sorption decreased the hydrophilic character of the NH4+-smectite, which may increase the permeability of the clay barrier.


Most explanations of burnout among young athletes identify chronic, excessive stress as the cause. Strategies for preventing burnout emphasize techniques that help athletes control stress and adjust to the conditions of sport participation. However, informal interviews with 15 adolescent athletes identified as cases of burnout suggest that the roots of burnout are grounded in the social organization of high performance sport; these roots are tied to identity and control issues. The model developed in this paper conceptualizes burnout as a social problem grounded in forms of social organization that constrain identity development during adolescence and prevent young athletes from having meaningful control over their lives. This model is intended as an alternative to more widely used stress-based models of burnout. Recommendations for preventing burnout call for changes in the social organization of high performance sport, changes in the way sport experiences are integrated into the lives of young athletes,...


Diagnosing and mitigating changes in model fairness under distribution shift is an important component of the safe deployment of machine learning in healthcare settings. Importantly, the success of any mitigation strategy strongly depends on the structure of the shift. Despite this, there has been little discussion of how to empirically assess the structure of a distribution shift that one is encountering in practice. In this work, we adopt a causal framing to motivate conditional independence tests as a key tool for characterizing distribution shifts. Using our approach in two medical applications, we show that this knowledge can help diagnose failures of fairness transfer, including cases where real-world shifts are more complex than is often assumed in the literature. Based on these results, we discuss potential remedies at each step of the machine learning pipeline.


Warsaw Boy is the remarkable true story of a sixteen-year old boy soldier in war-torn Poland. "The best-ever account of what is was like to be young and fighting in the Warsaw Rising." (Neal Ascherson, Sunday Herald, Books of the Year). Poland suffered terribly under the Nazis. By the end of the war six million had been killed: some were innocent civilians - half of them were Jews - but the rest died as a result of a ferocious guerrilla war the Poles had waged. On 1 August 1944 Andrew Borowiec, a fifteen-year-old volunteer in the Resistance, lobbed a grenade through the shattered window of a Warsaw apartment block onto some German soldiers running below. 'I felt I had come of age. I was a soldier and I'd just tried to kill some of our enemies'. The Warsaw Uprising lasted for 63 days: Himmler described it as 'the worst street fighting since Stalingrad'. Yet for the most part the insurgents were poorly equipped local men and teenagers - some of them were even younger than Andrew. Over that summer Andrew faced danger at every moment, both above and below ground as the Poles took to the city's sewers to creep beneath the German lines during lulls in the fierce counterattacks. Wounded in a fire fight the day after his sixteenth birthday and unable to face another visit to the sewers, he was captured as he lay in a makeshift cellar hospital wondering whether he was about to be shot or saved. Here he learned a lesson: there were decent Germans as well as bad. From one of the most harrowing episodes of the Second World War, this is an extraordinary tale of survival and defiance recounted by one of the few remaining veterans of Poland's bravest summer. Andrew Borowiec dedicates this book to all the Warsaw boys, 'especially those who never grew up'. "A subtle, well observered autobiography. Beautifully paced." (The Times). "A timely, angry, terribly moving and drily amusing account of an especially dark period in Poland's often tragic history." (Telegraph). "Excellent, hugely engaging. For all the horrors that Borowiec describes, his is an affectionate, wryly amusing account puntuated by episodes of warmth and humanity." (Financial Times). Andrew Borowiec was born at Lodz in Poland in 1928. At fifteen he joined the Home Army, the main Polish resistance during the Second World War, and fought in the ill-fated Warsaw Uprising. After the war he left Poland and attended Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. He lives in Cyprus with his English wife Juliet.


A loop-synchronous polarization-scrambling technique has been proposed for the purpose of simulating polarization effects in straight-line systems using recirculating loops. This technique uses a fast polarization controller within a fiber loop. The polarization controller changes its transmission matrix after each round trip of the optical signal circulating through the loop; thus, the periodic polarization transform of the loop is avoided. Moreover, the polarization controller generates a series of random uncorrelated transmission matrixes. Therefore, the mean-square value of differential group delay (DGD) or polarization-dependent loss (PDL) increases linearly with the number of circulations. The matrix expression for a random polarization transform that scatters the state of polarization (SOP) uniformly on the Poincare sphere for any input SOP was also found. Experiments were performed for a 94-km fiber loop that contains a fixed DGD or PDL element. The histograms of polarisation mode dispersion (PMD) induced power penalties at 10/sup -9/ bit error rate (BER) were measured. There is a good agreement between experimental and theoretical results. Using loop-synchronous polarization scrambling, accurate reproduction of the Maxwellian distribution of DGD can be realized when the background PMD of transmission fiber is much smaller than the PMD intentionally introduced into the loop.


The social and labor market integration of ethnic minorities in the EU is still a major political, societal and economic challenge. Based on evidence presented in Kahanec and Zimmermann (2011), this policy paper proposes an agenda for diversity and minority integration in the European labor markets. Policies to foster the labor market and social integration of ethnic majorities can work. But they need to involve all stakeholders, including all levels of government, public and private sectors, as well as civil society organizations, combine general and targeted action in a balanced, complementary and reinforcing way, respond to the needs of the affected groups and provide open access to people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, and be persistent and allow for time to become effective. Identification and transfer of good practices is essential.


In the 1980s and 1990s, in places where no one thought it possible, scientists found organisms they called extremophiles: lovers of extremes. There were bacteria in volcanic hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, single-celled algae in Antarctic ice floes, and fungi in the cooling pools of nuclear reactors. But might there be life stranger than the most extreme extremophile? Might there be, somewhere, another kind of life entirely? In fact, scientists have hypothesized life that uses ammonia instead of water, life based not in carbon but in silicon, life driven by nuclear chemistry, and life whose very atoms are unlike those in life we know. In recent years some scientists have begun to look for the tamer versions of such life on rock surfaces in the American Southwest, in a "shadow biosphere" that might impinge on the known biosphere, and even deep within human tissue. They have also hypothesized more radical versions that might survive in Martian permafrost, in the cold ethylene lakes on Saturn's moon Titan, and in the hydrogen-rich atmospheres of giant planets in other solar systems. And they have imagined it in places off those worlds: the exotic ices in comets, the vast spaces between the stars, and-strangest of all-parallel universes. Distilling complex science in clear and lively prose, David Toomey illuminates the research of the biological avant-garde and describes the workings of weird organisms in riveting detail. His chapters feature an unforgettable cast of brilliant scientists and cover everything from problems with our definitions of life to the possibility of intelligent weird life. With wit and understanding that will delight scientists and lay readers alike, Toomey reveals how our current knowledge of life forms may account for only a tiny fraction of what's really out there.


The goal of multi-objective query optimization (MOQO) is to find query plans that realize a good compromise between conflicting objectives such as minimizing execution time and minimizing monetary fees in a Cloud scenario. A previously proposed exhaustive MOQO algorithm needs hours to optimize even simple TPC-H queries. This is why we propose several approximation schemes for MOQO that generate guaranteed near-optimal plans in seconds where exhaustive optimization takes hours. We integrated all MOQO algorithms into the Postgres optimizer and present experimental results for TPC-H queries; we extended the Postgres cost model and optimize for up to nine conflicting objectives in our experiments. The proposed algorithms are based on a formal analysis of typical cost functions that occur in the context of MOQO. We identify properties that hold for a broad range of objectives and can be exploited for the design of future MOQO algorithms.


In multiethnic communities, food pathways can bring diverse residents into contact in restaurants and in the aisles of grocery stores—though the communication that ensues does not always lead to greater understanding. Drawing from communication infrastructure theory, as well as intergroup contact and racial formation concepts, this article explores the relationship between food practices and how residents perceive their demographically changing communities. The article synthesizes a survey, field observations, and interviews with Asian, Latino, and White residents in a majority-minority city in Los Angeles County. Findings suggest that, although discursive networks within commercial food spaces are often ethnically bounded, communication in and about food spaces can act as a barometer of attitudes toward community change and intergroup relations.


Abstract Context. Translocation is widely used to help avoid extinction of species from threatening processes. A fundamental objective of translocation is to establish self-sustaining populations; estimating demographic parameters is critical to assessing success of these programs and can also be used to support future management actions. Aims. We estimated demographic parameters to evaluate the success of translocating the northern quoll Dasyurus hallucatus to two islands (Astell and Pobassoo), in response to the threat posed by the introduced cane toad Rhinella marina on the Australian mainland. Methods. We used capture–mark–recapture methods to monitor both populations at regular intervals from initial release in 2003 until 2009 and a one-off survey in 2014. Key results. Relative abundance (trap success) increased exponentially in the first 4 years, declined, and then stabilised in subsequent years. The population of female northern quolls on Astell Island peaked in 2006 with an estimate of 3640 (95% CI 3022–4257), and on Pobassoo Island the peak was 2007 with 617 (95% CI 531–703) females. In 2014 the population had decreased to 2193 (95% CI 1920–2467) on Astell and 451 (95% CI 359–543) on Pobassoo. Apparent survival and body condition decreased significantly following the population peak, possibly related to density dependence. Conclusion. Both populations of northern quolls reached their regulation phase after going through establishment and growth phases, which included exceeding carrying capacity. The pattern was similar between the populations. Implications. Increased survival and recruitment at threat-free translocation sites contributes to successful establishment of self-sustaining populations.


From the Publisher:
With a new name and a new focus on CORBA, database drivers and Microsoft Back Office applications Inprise/Borland Delphi is enjoying a resurgence with a growing user base of programmers who use Delphi for rapid development of enterprise computing applications. Not to rest on success, the latest version of Delphi, version 5 includes further expansion and refinement of the 3-tier application framework introduced in Delphi 4 and has resulted in a prize-wining product.
Delphi in a Nutshell is the first concise reference to Borland/Inprise' Delphi available. Succinctly collects all the information you need in one easy to use, complete and accurate volume, and goes beyond the product documentation itself.
Delphi in a Nutshell starts with the Delphi object model, and how to use RTTI (Run Time Type Information) for efficient programming. The rest of the book is the most complete Delphi Pascal language reference available in print, with every language element detailed with complete syntax, examples and methods for use. The book concludes with a look at the compiler, and compiler directives discussed in depth.


Vanadium-based porous coordination polymers (or metal–organic frameworks) possess both porous and electronic properties, which make these new materials appealing for applications in molecular separation, sensing and heterogeneous catalysis. Their integration into systems that fully exploit their intrinsic properties requires versatile methods allowing assembly of the PCP crystals into well-defined films, patterns, fibers or the formation of heterostructures. In this contribution, polycrystalline macrostructures and heterostructures made of [V(OH)ndc]n (ndc = 1,4-naphthalenedicarboxylate) PCP crystals were synthesized through a dissolution–recrystallization process, so-called coordination replication, where a pre-shaped V2O5 sacrificial phase was replaced by well-intergrown PCP crystals in the presence of H2ndc as an organic linker and under a reductive environment. In this process, V2O5 acts both as the metal source and as the template that provides the shape to the resulting mesoscopic polycrystalline architecture. Ascorbic acid, acting as the reducing agent, both promotes the dissolution of the sacrificial V2O5 phase and provides the VIII species required for the construction of the [V(OH)ndc]n framework. Two-dimensional patterns were successfully synthesized by applying this procedure.


Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) U‐Pb ages of Ca‐phosphates from four texturally distinct breccia samples (72255, 76055, 76015, 76215) collected at the Apollo 17 landing site were obtained in an attempt to identify whether they represent a single or several impact event(s). The determined ages, combined with inferences from petrologic relationships, may indicate two or possibly three different impact events at 3920 ± 3 Ma, 3922 ± 5 Ma, and 3930 ± 5 Ma (all errors 2σ). Searching for possible sources of the breccias by calculating the continuous ejecta radii of impact basins and large craters as well as their expected ejecta thicknesses, we conclude that Nectaris, Crisium, Serenitatis, and Imbrium are likely candidates. If the previous interpretation that the micropoikilitic breccias collected at the North Massif represent Serenitatis ejecta is correct, then the average 207Pb/206Pb age of 3930 ± 5 Ma (2σ) dates the formation of the Serenitatis basin. The occurrence of zircon in the breccias sampled at the South Massif, which contain Ca‐phosphates yielding an age of 3922 ± 5 Ma (2σ), may indicate that the breccia originated from within the Procellarum KREEP terrane (PKT) and the Imbrium basin appears to be the only basin that could have sourced them. However, this interpretation implies that all basins suggested to fall stratigraphically between Serenitatis and Imbrium formed within a short (<11 Ma) time interval, highlighting serious contradictions between global stratigraphic constraints, sample interpretation, and chronological data. Alternatively, the slightly older age of the two micropoikilitic breccias may be a result of incomplete resetting of the U‐Pb system preserved in some phosphate grains. Based on the currently available data set this possibility cannot be excluded.


Context. Due to the uniqueness of software projects there is no single Agile development approach that ideally fits all project contexts. Each software project is unique, whether in its subject area, development team, or project size. Because of this, adapting Agile practices according to project circumstances is a must. There has been a number of literature published discussing Agile practices adaptation topic. However, it is still unclear how to adapt Agile practices. Therefore, researchers as well as practitioners need to find out the knowledge of how the Agile practices adaptation should be applied in software development project. Objectives. In this study we investigate how companies adapt their software development practices when they claim they use Agile software development. Knowledge about this can assist Agile software practitioners to apply Agile practices adaptation in their own context and obtain the most benefit out of Agile software development. Methods. We used systematic literature review using guidelines from Kitchenham and survey in this research study. In the systematic review, a number of relevant article sources were used including peer-reviewed papers and grey literature. Peer-reviewed papers were searched from several electronic databases. Grey literature was also included, which covered books, theses and dissertations, white papers and website/blog articles. The survey was executed using a web based survey tool which invited Agile practitioners from a broad range of industries. In total there are 79 selected literature reviewed in the systematic review comprising 63 peer-reviewed papers and 16 grey literature. Data extraction results were categorized into used and unused Agile practices, adapted practices, additional practices, importance of practices, adaptation challenges and solutions recommended by Agile practitioners. Furthermore, an online survey was conducted with a total of 700 respondents of which 468 responses completed the survey. Only the completed and valid responses were considered in the results analysis. We classify the survey results into several categories: Agile practices usage scale, importance of practices, details of adaptation, Agile practices instruction/guidelines, and Agile practitioners" adherence to the instruction/guidelines. Results. Our systematic review shows that some companies used Agile practices in literature with various degrees of adaptation. Several companies creatively used a hybrid of Agile practices from various Agile approaches. In addition, we found that most of the Agile practices, especially in the XP approach, have to be adapted appropriately according to company software development context. On the other hand, survey results show that most of the Scrum practitioners apply Scrum practices without adaptation. Regarding importance of practices, unit testing/Test-Driven Development and continuous integration are identified by XP practitioners as the most important practices. For Scrum practitioners, the most important practices are product/feature backlog and Sprint. Conclusions. Many reasons are discovered why adaptation of Agile practice is necessary e.g. to suit with software development context or for effectiveness reason. Therefore, better support from management and developers is needed to facilitate Agile practices adaptation. Different degrees of adaptation also depend on the type of implemented Agile approach. XP as a technical approach requires more adaptation when compared to project management approach such as Scrum. Findings regarding respondents" adherence to the Agile instruction/guidelines indicate the need to improve quality of Agile instructions/guidelines and Agile leadership and enforce the implementation of instructions/guidelines as well.


Recently the world wide popularity and utilization of Peer-to-peer (P2P) appli- cations, such as BitTorrent, have experienced a tremendous growth. In addition, studies show that its related traffic accounts for a significant portion of the overall Internet traffic volume. Moreover, the inherently distributed design of P2P net- works in combination with arbitrary peer selection have been shown to introduce traffic control problems for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as well as causing sig- nificant increases in costly inter-ISP traffic. In order to solve the P2P challenges, a variety of location-aware P2P mechanisms have been published and implemented with varying degrees of success. Although the technical aspects of these mechanisms have been studied quite thoroughly, their adaption and success can arguably only be determined by the entities in power, namely ISPs and its P2P traffic generating customers. In this thesis a game-theoretic approach is pursued in order to capture the economical interactions of both ISPs and its users when presented with a decision of adapting location-aware P2P mechanisms. Specifically, a game-theoretic model is developed, encompassing the variety of ISP and consumer aspects from traffic do- main related costs and P2P performance to Internet access pricing. The model perspective is limited to the decision making between one ISP and its users and it is studied in two steps. First an analytical equilibrium analysis is performed in order to develop general expressions regarding incentivizing actions between the ISP and its users. Finally a numerical analysis is performed, using relevant data found in literature and estimates, in order to identify which strategies that could provide incentives for both ISPs and its users to adapt location-aware P2P mechanisms.


A double potential pulse scheme is reported for observation of cholesterol efflux from the plasma membrane of a single neuron cell. Capillary Pt disk microelectrodes having a thin glass insulator allow the 10 μm diameter electrode and cell to be viewed under optical magnification. The electrode, covalently functionalized with cholesterol oxidase, is positioned in contact with the cell surface resulting in enzyme catalyzed cholesterol oxidation and efflux of cholesterol from the plasma membrane at the electrode contact site. Enzymatically generated hydrogen peroxide accumulates at the electrode/cell interface during a 5 s hold-time and is oxidized during application of a potential pulse. A second, replicate potential pulse is applied 0.5 s after the first potential pulse to gauge background charge prior to significant accumulation of hydrogen peroxide. The difference in charge passed between the first and second potential pulse provides a measure of hydrogen peroxide generated by the enzyme and is an indication of the cholesterol efflux. Control experiments for bare Pt microelectrodes in contact with the cell plasma membrane show difference charge signals in the range of about 7-10 pC. Enzyme-modified electrodes in contact with the plasma membrane show signals in the range of 16-26 pC.


Throughout our nation's history, people who were older, mentally ill and developmentally disabled have been cared for in various types of settings. The nature and intensity of care has steadily evolved, from the almshouses of the eighteenth century to the poorhouses and county homes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and finally,
to modern assisted living communities of the present day. In the late 1950s, my family entered the system of congregate care when my parents became the superintendents of the county home in Asheboro, North Carolina. All through my childhood I was entrenched in a world where we lived in the county home with the individuals who, for various reasons, had no other place to call home. While we did not realize it at the time, we were establishing an environment where abnormal did not exist, one in which people could live without the fear of being judged for being
"different." In addition to conveying the history of poorhouses and county homes, this study
explores and puts into words the relationships I had with specific individuals while growing up in the county home.


Recent scientific evidence for fish sentience has stressed the need for novel sentience-based detection tools of fish welfare impairment in commercial farms. In order to mimic a well-characterised stress situation, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were exposed to poor water quality (hypoxia combined with high ammonia level) for three weeks (stressed group, S) and compared to a non-stressed control group (NS). After a return to water quality standard, emotional responses were assessed in fish subjected to two potentially threatening situations: (i) social isolation in a novel environment and (ii) human presence. In addition, we used an appetitive-conditioning paradigm to determine whether previous chronic deterioration of water quality disturbs cognitive abilities in fish. Spontaneous behaviour in the tanks was also recorded during the environmental challenge as a reference for fish activity. We observed that in S fish, plasma cortisol levels were increased before and after social isolation in a novel environment compared to the plasma cortisol levels in the NS group, despite the absence of a behavioural difference between the two groups. Under deteriorated water quality, fish locomotor activity was globally reduced and this reduction was correlated to increased shoaling behaviour. Farmers can use these first behavioural modifications as a sentinel detector for fish welfare impairment. More importantly, we demonstrated that reactivity to a human presence in a home-environment and food-anticipatory behaviour were both inhibited in the S group. We consider that these two sentience-based tests are highly relevant for fish welfare assessment at the group level and are easy to use in the aquaculture industry.


Unlike nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), morphological responses of root systems of crop plants to potassium (K) dynamics in soils or growth media are only gaining currency. This is due to the realization of the instrumental role of K in several cellular and tissue level processes crucial for the growth, stress tolerance, metabolic functions, and yield of crop plants, and ultimately, food security and sustainable agriculture. This chapter used meta-analysis to synthesize the pooled evidence for modifications in several root system traits of different crop plants under conditions of K starvation in different growth media. In all, 37 studies that passed inclusion/exclusion criteria, from 1969 to 2019, were analyzed in aggregate and then disaggregated for root biomass, root length, and the number of roots. Three moderators were analyzed: type of soil or growth medium, crop, and K fertilizer applied in the included studies. The aggregated results show that the cumulative effect of K deprivation was a significant and large reduction (about 25.5 ± 15.0%) in the bulk of root system traits considered, which was slightly lower than the reduction in shoot- or yield-related traits. Reductions of approximately 38 ± 38.0% in root biomass and 23.2 ± 18.6% in root length were observed, and the magnitudes of reduction were comparable to those observed from the disaggregated data. Though reductions in root system traits due to K starvation occurred under both greenhouse/lab and field conditions, the cumulative reduction in the former was significantly larger than that of the latter. Among the moderators, the effect of type of soil (or growth media) and crop on the scale of modification of root system traits to K deprivation are stronger compared to the effect of type of K fertilizer applied. It is concluded that, overall, K deprivation leads to significant reductions in root system traits, especially root biomass and length in soils and perlite regardless of the type of K fertilizer applied. Attention should be given to K management in cropping systems to avoid K starvation, especially at the early and vegetative stages, and to improve K reserves in soils. Further attention should be given to the responses of root system traits to K supply when matching crops to soils.


ARTISTE is a European Commission-funded collaboration, investigating the use of integrated content and metadata-based image retrieval across disparate databases in several major art galleries across Europe. Collaborating galleries include the Louvre in Paris, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the National Gallery in London. Museums and galleries often have several digital collections ranging from public access images to specialised scientific images used for conservation purposes. Direct access from one gallery to another is currently uncommon for textual data and almost unheard of in terms of image-based search and retrieval. Cross-collection access is recognised as important, however, for example to compare the treatments and conditions of Europe's paintings, which form a core part of our cultural heritage. A key aim of ARTISTE is to provide an image retrieval system that can provide integrated cross-collection searching. Whilst ARTISTE is primarily designed for inter-museum searching and as a building block for public access systems, it could equally be applied to museum intranets. An article on ARTISTE in the first issue of Cultivate presented the project objectives and technical approach. Now that ARTISTE is nearing completion, this article looks at how those objectives have been fulfilled and discusses future work to continue and build upon the achievements of the project.


Introduction and objectives There is a sound evidence base which highlights that pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is an effective management strategy for patients with respiratory disease, in particular COPD. The National PR audit (2015) highlighted a lack of referrals to the programme suggesting that healthcare professionals may not be 'selling' PR to patients. However, no evidence exists to fully substantiate this claim; a missing piece of the jigsaw. The objectives of the study therefore were: To explore healthcare professionals' perceptions regarding referral of COPD patients to PR in primary and secondary care settings. To establish healthcare professionals' understanding of PR. To explore barriers and facilitators to referral. Methods Using a phenomenological approach healthcare professionals' perceptions of PR were explored in relation to understanding and referral. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted via purposeful recruitment of general practitioners and practice nurses, and doctors and nurses working on general medical wards. In total 27 healthcare professionals participated; interviews were recorded with the participants consent and transcribed verbatim. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was adopted to determine super-ordinate and sub-ordinate themes regarding participants experiences and perceptions. Results Three super-ordinate themes emerged from the data: COPD Illness Perceptions, Pulmonary Rehabilitation Beliefs, and Organisational and Referral Pathway Perceptions. A lack of knowledge of PR and the referral process was evident amongst the majority of healthcare professionals interviewed; indeed a number of participants in secondary care had never heard of the programme. It was surprising how many held stigmatising beliefs in relation to COPD, which consequently impacted upon referral practice. Conclusion Referral to PR is as certain as spinning a wheel of fortune. Chance of referral appeared dependent upon individual healthcare professionals, their perceptions of the programme, views of how COPD affects patients, and opinions of the programme and referral process. All of these aspects, pieced together, could act as a predictor of referral practice.


IPsec is the current security standard for the Internet Protocol IP. According to this standard, a selected computer pair (p, q) in the Internet can be designated a " security association ". This designation guarantees that all sent IP messages whose original source is computer p and whose ultimate destination is computer q cannot be replayed in the future (by an adversary between p and q) and still be received by computer q as fresh messages from p. This guarantee is provided by adding increasing sequence numbers to all IP messages sent from p to q. Thus, p needs to always remember the sequence number of the last sent message, and q needs to always remember the sequence number of the last received message. Unfortunately, when computer p or q is reset these sequence numbers can be forgotten, and this leads to two bad possibilities: unbounded number of fresh messages from p can be discarded by q, and unbounded number of replayed messages can be accepted by q. In this paper, we propose two operations, " SAVE " and " FETCH " , to prevent these possibilities. The SAVE operation can be used to store the last sent sequence number in persistent memory of p once every Kp sent messages, and can be used to store the last received sequence number in persistent memory of q once every Kq received messages. The FETCH operation can be used to fetch the last stored sequence number for a computer when that computer wakes up after a reset. We show that the following three conditions hold when SAVE and FETCH are adopted in both p and q. First, when p is reset, at most 2Kp sequence numbers will be lost but no fresh message sent from p to q will be discarded if no message reorder occurs. Second, when q is reset, the number of discarded fresh messages is bounded by 2Kq. In either case, no replayed message will be accepted by q.


Bioenergy from logging residues is an important contributor to Swedish energy supplies. Logging residues where long defined and regarded as the unmerchantable aboveground biomass left behind in the clear-felled area, consisting of branches, tops and small trees that are gathered after the round wood harvest, but logging residues are nowadays regarded as a third assortment next to timber and pulpwood with high economic value. However long-term experiments on removal of logging residues from Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.)Karst) stands have shown both growth reductions and growth increase in the next generation, because of decreasing amounts of nutrients. So an increased removal of logging residues requires some sort of compensation of nutrients. Therefore it is of importance to investigate how much nutrients that is removed from the stand after whole-tree harvesting.In this study the removal of the nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg) have been investigated by laboratory analysis of the nutrients together with the actual removal of stemwood, bark and logging residues. The study has also investigated the distribution of nutrients at the clear-felled area.The results show that approximately half of the total nutrient removed in whole tree harvesting is done with the removal of stemwood and bark. The results also show that approximately 30% of the total amount of nutrients is left at the clear-felled area.


Contribution to the Metropolitan Study: 16 -- The Metropolitan Development Project was initiated in 1983 as a collaborative study. In 1984 efforts have been concentrated on creating a methodological basis for a more focused research phase starting in 1985. One of the priorities is to analyze the contact and accessibility problems of metropolitan regions.

This paper contains an empirical study of differences in airline contact potentials of a large number of European metropolitan regions. The calculations show that accessibility as defined is very high in Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Zurich, and West Berlin, while being remarkably inferior to Vienna, Rome, Madrid and Stockholm. With the exception of East Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow, Eastern Europe has lower European accessibility than Greece and Portugal. Analyses of metropolitan development possibilities will profit from the use of these measurements.


This paper describes a method for estimating larval supply of a temperate reef fish, the kelp bass Paralabrax clathratus, that is simple, inexpensive, requires relatively low effort, and inte- grates larval supply over time. Using this method, we sampled larval supply concurrently at 4 sites spread over about 35 km for nearly an entire settlement season. With these data and visual estimates of recruitment (the density of young-of-the-year after the end of the settlement season), we tested the hypothesis that spatial patterns in recruitment were set by larval supply. This hypothesis was rejected: kelp bass recruitment to the 4 sites was not related to patterns of larval supply. Furthermore, in contrast to the findings of an earlier study, recruitment was not related to the density of the macroalga Macrocystis pyrifera. Recruitment was, however, strongly correlated with the density of 1 yr old kelp bass, suggesting that spatial patterns of recruitment were consistent between the 2 cohorts. Recruitment, however, was not correlated with the density of bass 2+ yr old. We also mea- sured larval supply in a second year and found that spatial patterns of supply were strongly corre- lated between years at a relatively small scale of 10s to 100s m, but not at a larger scale of several km. This finding suggests that some deterministic process (or set of processes) sets spatial patterns of larval supply at small, but not large scales. At large scales, consistent patterns of recruitment between 2 cohorts in the face of variable larval supply suggest that deterministic, postsettlement pro- cesses may generate predictable patterns of recruitment even when the supply of larvae is variable. In addition to demonstrating that spatial patterns in the abundance of demersal fish are not always well predicted by larval supply, this study introduces a technique that may facilitate more thorough exploration of the role of larval supply in determining the dynamics of populations of reef fishes.


Many advances have occurred in the management of road traffic during recent years that present fresh challenges and opportunities that require innovative solutions. This provides an evolving context that presents new constraints, within which new problems occur, and new opportunities for development and improvement arise. It can be seen that traffic management has become more integrated with the users' needs of the mobility system, in which road users are the 'actors' in the system and in which multiple criteria and constraints have to be taken into account. Concurrently, rapid advances in technology have made many new methods available for bi-directional communication and management between different road users, and between road users and management systems. Together with these technical advances, methodologies have also improved in measurement techniques that have made high quality traffic data available, which in turn has made it possible to improve the calibration and validation of traffic models and to extend traffic analysis, modelling and optimisation, these being supported expanding computational capabilities. Those improvements have made it possible to decrease the "granularity" for traffic optimisation and so to take a better and better account of each vehicle or platoon. These developments have resulted in many system experiments and implementations, mostly on a local basis, involving multiple technologies and concepts. This has made it possible to test a wide range of methodologies and techniques, but leaving open a wide area for research and development to take full advantage of the opportunities for improvements that can be achieved through these diverse and individual activities. There is a continuing need for cost-effective, efficient transport providing a wide range of attractive choices to all members of society. Four major issues have been identified: safety, environment, reducing greenhouse gases, and mobility. Each one of these has been addressed to different degrees by large research programs on technological aspects, involving researchers and industry working together. It is now clear that improvements cannot be based only on technological components but must integrate those technological breakthroughs into a more global vision for the optimisation of the traffic system. The NEARCTIS consortium addresses the potential for benefit to travellers and to society as a whole that can be achieved by exploring and developing the potential in these dimensions of improvements to operation of the transport system based upon cooperative intelligent transport systems (ITS). This work package (WP1) has the aim to establish a clear statement of the current state of knowledge and capability in the field. Alongside this knowledge comes an awareness of the gaps in knowledge that correspond to identifiable limitations of current capabilities. These will, ultimately, form the focus of a future integrated multidisciplinary research programme on traffic management and integration of cooperative systems that will be developed and specified, in due course, as part of the work of this consortium. The purpose of the present deliverable D6 of NEARCTIS is to contribute to the basis of this programme definition. The specific objectives are: Elaboration of a common vision of the state of the art Identification of knowledge, and of gaps in knowledge Provision of the knowledge basis to support the specification of a harmonised programme of appropriate research activities. NEARCTIS Deliverable 6 Review of the state of knowledge and capability 15 December 2010 10 This provides a review of the state of knowledge and capability in relevant technologies within members of the NEARCTIS consortium, and through this represents the collective view of teams of researchers in the scientific fields concerned in traffic modelling, traffic control, communication and location technologies. On the basis of this document, the consortium will identify opportunities for technological advance in cooperative traffic management, and through this will specify a harmonised programme of research activities that will be required to support their development. The work package WP1 consists of five tasks. The first four correspond to major research fields, whilst the fifth is cross-cutting, evaluating and identifying the benefits that will arise of the final research programme: 1. Traffic modelling for cooperative systems integration 2. Optimisation and control 3. Positioning, tracking and communication 4. Impact assessment, deployment and implementation issues 5. Evaluation This document (Deliverable D6) reports on the results of the knowledge gathering and review exercise undertaken in the area of cooperative traffic management research. The structure of the present report is based around considering in turn each of the following topics. Domain definition Common view Identification of knowledge Gaps in knowledge This review leads us to develop a view of the needs and prospects for further research in order to realise the opportunities presented by cooperative ICT in traffic management.


An important issue in many antitrust lawsuits involving professional sports leagues and their member teams is the extent to which franchises within the same, and across different, professional sports leagues compete with one another for fans and advertisers. Complicating the issue is the fact that some sports franchises also cooperate with other franchises in the same or different leagues by, for example, participating in a joint venture to build and operate the stadium in which they will play their games or a regional sports network joint venture to televise their games. An extreme form of cooperation is common ownership: some franchises in different sports leagues have common ownership. This study investigates the impact of competition and cooperation among the franchises of the four major professional sports leagues (i.e., the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball) on ticket prices for the 2008 season. The regression results suggest that the existence of one or more rival sports franchises in the same metropolitan area does not have a statistically significant impact on ticket prices. On the other hand, there is at best weak evidence that cooperation between sports franchises impacts ticket prices. These findings are consistent with a number of alternative hypotheses.


The form of fluvial landscapes is known to attain stationary network configurations that settle in dynamically accessible minima of total energy dissipation by landscape‐forming discharges. Recent studies have highlighted the role of the dendritic structure of river networks in controlling population dynamics of the species they host and large‐scale biodiversity patterns. Here, we systematically investigate the relation between energy dissipation, the physical driver for the evolution of river networks, and the ecological dynamics of their embedded biota. To that end, we use the concept of metapopulation capacity, a measure to link landscape structures with the population dynamics they host. Technically, metapopulation capacity is the leading eigenvalue λM of an appropriate "landscape" matrix subsuming whether a given species is predicted to persist in the long run. λM can conveniently be used to rank different landscapes in terms of their capacity to support viable metapopulations. We study how λM changes in response to the evolving network configurations of spanning trees. Such sequence of configurations is theoretically known to relate network selection to general landscape evolution equations through imperfect searches for dynamically accessible states frustrated by the vagaries of Nature. Results show that the process shaping the metric and the topological properties of river networks, prescribed by physical constraints, leads to a progressive increase in the corresponding metapopulation capacity and therefore on the landscape capacity to support metapopulations—with implications on biodiversity in fluvial ecosystems.


Sugar trade in the European Economic Community has given rise to an abundance of literature pertaining mainly to the economic and political nature of the market. The overall conclusion of most commentators is that the operation of the sugar regulations in the community and on the world market has not been a resounding success. This is no doubt due to many and varied factors. In this paper the structure and operation of the sugar policy are reviewed with the aim of exploring the role of inbuilt policy conflicts and contradictions to the unpopularity of the regime. It is contended that when the long-awaited review of the sugar regulations takes place there should be an effort to isolate and reduce possible areas of conflict if any new rules are to have any measure of success.