The underlying natural relationship between conductivity and alkalinity was used to identify surface water quality monitoring sites that are in a 'reference' or minimally disturbed condition. Data from over 40,500 freshwater samples from 1,230 sites were combined for the time period of 2005–2015 from various federal, provincial, and joint federal–provincial/territorial freshwater monitoring programs (e.g., Freshwater Quality Monitoring and Surveillance Program, Ontario's Provincial Water Quality Monitoring Network). Of the samples, 30,347 provided conductivity and alkalinity data. Surface water samples with a measured conductivity that deviated (by more than 41 μS/cm) from the predicted conductivity calculated from the sample's alkalinity were deemed to be non-representative of a reference condition, while samples within 41 μS/cm of the predicted value were deemed representative of a reference condition. The 41 μS/cm cutoff value was determined using signal detection theory. The conductivity–alkalinity model was validated through a comparison with land cover data by demonstrating that samples identified as 'reference' were typically from catchments that had minimal anthropogenic disturbances. The proposed approach provides a rapid means of evaluating the reference condition of a watercourse, and of identifying data that provide an estimate of reference condition.


From the Publisher:
ATM is regarded as the next high speed multimedia networking paradigm. Mobile computing, which is a confluence of mobile communications, computing and networks, is changing the way people work. Wireless ATM combines wireless and ATM technologies to provide mobility support and multimedia services to mobile users.

Wireless ATM and Ad-Hoc Networks: Protocols and Architectures, a consolidated reference work, presents the state of the art in wireless ATM technology. It encompasses the protocol and architectural aspects of Wireless ATM networks. The topics covered in this book include: mobile communications and computing, fundamentals of ATM and Wireless ATM, mobile routing and switch discovery, handover protocol design and implementation, mobile quality of service, unifying handover strategy for both unicast and multicast mobile connections, and roaming between Wireless ATM LANs.

A novel routing protocol for ad-hoc mobile networks (also known as Cambridge Ad-hoc) is also presented in this book along with information about ETSI HIPERLAN, the RACE Mobile Broadband System, and SUPERNET.

This timely book is a valuable reference source for researchers, scientists, consultants, engineers, professors and graduate students working in this new and exciting field.


We view security as a multidimensional concept. It is an area that requires a carefully considered and complex approach. Based on this position, Russia is firmly committed to expanding cooperation on global energy security within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Community. One of the priorities in this area is to develop cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Cooperation in this field opens up real new opportunities for all of us. Taking into consideration the agreements with the President of Kazakhstan, concrete plans are being drawn up for expanding cooperation between the nuclear energy sector enterprises in our countries. Uzbekistan's accession to the Eurasian Economic Community creates additional new opportunities for building a nuclear-fuel component that will serve as a reliable element in the energy supply policy for the long term. It is particularly important to develop our countries' full potential in this area today at a time when demand for quality energy supplies is growing constantly. Dwindling fossil fuel reserves and environmental issues have become questions of crucial importance on the international agenda. We need to create the prototype of a global infrastructure that will give all interested countries equal access to nuclear energy, while stressing reliable compliance with the requirements of the non-proliferation regime, of course. The creation of a system of international centres providing nuclear fuel cycle services, including enrichment, on a non-discriminatory basis and under the control of the IAEA, could become a key element in developing this new infrastructure. Russia has already made just such a proposal and is prepared to establish an international centre of this kind on its territory. Innovative new technologies will undoubtedly be required in this respect to create new generation reactors and their fuel cycles. These kinds of issues can be resolved only through broad-based international cooperation. This is the approach that we will present to the G8 countries during our presidency, and to all our partners in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.


This work aims to understand user requests when multiple users are interacting with each other and a spoken dialog system. More specifically, we explore the use of multi-human conversational context to improve domain detection in a human-computer interaction system. We investigate the different effects of human-directed context and computer-directed context, and compare the impact of using different context window sizes. Furthermore, we employ topic segmentation to chunk conversations for determining context boundaries. The experimental results show that the use of conversational context helps reduce domain detection error rate, especially in some specific domains. And though computer directed context is more reliable, the results show that the combination of both computer and human addressed utterances within a reasonable window size performs the best.


There has been a great deal of interest in understanding the behaviour of non-Newtonian fluids as they are used in various branches of science, engineering and technology: particularly in material processing, chemical industry, geophysics and bie-engineering. The study of non-Newtonian fluid flow is also of significant interest in oil reservoir engineering. Moreover, the non-Newtonian fluids such as mercury amalgams, liquid metals, biological fluids, plastic extrusions, paper coating, lubrication oils and greases have applications in many areas with or without magnetic field. Many magnetohydrodynamic problems of practical interest involving fluids as a working medium have attracted engineers, physicists and mathematicians alike. These problems are challenging because of non-linearity of the governing equations, field coupling, and complex boundary conditions. Further, using Newtonian fluid models to analyse, predict and simulate the behaviour of viscoelastic fluids has been widely adopted in industries. However, the flow characteristics of viscoelastic fluids are quite different from those of Newtonian fluids. This suggests that in practical applications the behaviour of viscoelastic fluids cannot be represented by that of Newtonian fluids. Hence, it is necessary to study the flow behaviour of viscoelastic fluids in order to obtain a thorough cognition and improve the utilization in various manufactures. Due to complexity of fluids in nature, non-Newtonian fluids are classified on the basis of their behaviour in shear. Amongst the many fluid models which have been used to describe the visco elastic behaviour exhibited by these fluids, the fluids of second and third grades have received a special attention. The major attraction of these fluid models is due to their popularity and the fact that they are derived from the first principle. Unlike many other phenomenological models, there are no curve-fittings or parameters to adjust for these models. Though, in both of these grade models, there are material properties that need to be measured. Also, the second grade fluid is a subclass of nonNewtonian fluids for which one can reasonably hope to obtain an analytical solution.

Another important aspect in fluid mechanics is the consideration of partial slip condition. One of the cornerstones on which the fluid mechanics is built is the no-slip condition. But, there are situations wherein this condition does not hold. In certain cases, partial slip between the fluid and the moving surface may occur. Mention may be made to the situations when the fluid is particulate such as emulsions, suspensions, foams and polymer solutions. However, literature for non-Newtonian fluids with wall slippage is scarce.

Keeping the above facts in mind, this thesis has been organized offering five chapters. Chapter zero is introductory. In chapter one, the basic equations and mathematical techniques are included for the succeeding chapters. The modeling of the general equation which govern the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of a third grade fluid is also given. Chapter two deals with the MHD flows due to non-coaxial rotations of a porous disk and a viscous fluid at infinity. Three types of unsteady flows namely, the flows induced by a constant accelerated disk with no-slip and partial slip and the flow due to variable accelerated disk with no-slip. Exact analytical solutions are constructed using Laplace transform technique. It is noted that in presence of partial slip, the reduced shearing force from the boundary causes the velocity to become flatter than that for no-slip case. Moreover, the velocity profiles in case of constant accelerated flow are greater than for the variable accelerated case for all values of time less than one. However, this situation is quite reverse for all times greater than one. Chapter three is devoted to the flows of a second grade fluid generated by a constant accelerated disk with no-slip and partial slip conditions. The influence of second grade parameters arises in the governing equation and the boundary conditions. Both analytical and numerical solutions are given and are compared for the no-slip case. But only the numerical solution is obtained for the partial slip case. It is worth noting that material parameter of the second grade fluid reduces the velocity profiles. In chapter four, the constant accelerated flows of a third grade fluid with no-slip and partial slip have been presented. The analysis of this chapter involves the solvability of a non-linear equation. Also, the boundary condition in partial slip situation is non-linear. Numerical solutions are given using the Crank-Nicolson scheme with modification. The objective of chapter five is to extend the contents of chapter four to the case of variable accelerated flows. The influence of acceleration against time in third grade fluid is found to be smaller than that of Newtonian fluid.


The design and implementation of real-time systems require that both the logical and the temporal behavior are correct. There exist several specialized languages and tools that use the notion of logical time, as well as industrial strength languages such as Ada and RTJS that incorporate direct handling of real time. Although these languages and tools have shown to be good alternatives for safety-critical systems, most commodity real-time and embedded systems are today implemented in the standard C programming language. Such systems are typically targeting proprietary bare-metal platforms, standard POSIX compliant platforms, or open-source operating systems. It is, however, error prone to develop large, reliable, and portable systems based on these APIs. In this paper, we present an extension to the C programming language, called Timed C, with a minimal set of language primitives, and show how a retargetable source-to-source compiler can be used to compile and execute simple, expressive, and portable programs. To evaluate our approach, we conduct a case study of a CubeSat satellite. We implement the core timing aspects in Timed C, and show portability by compiling on-board software to both flight hardware, and to low-cost experimental platforms.


The future Internet will require the transport of a wide range of services including high bandwidth one-to-many applications, with a dynamic interconnection of devices. WDM layer support realizes such services in a transparent, reliable and efficient way. Most of the recent studies have been focused on efficiently building and configuring light-paths for unicast or light-trees for multicast in isolation, and do not take existing traffic demands and configuration into consideration. In this paper we consider a dynamic design problem of integrated traffic in a realistic WDM mesh network. In such a network, new traffic demands of either multicast and/or unicast are supported dynamically in the presence of an existing mixture of traffic. The amount of bandwidth per wavelength is abundant, while the wavelengths and light splitting capabilities on WDM switches are limited. Using subwavelength sharing among traffic demands of unicast and multicast, we build a hybrid virtual topology that exploits both existing light-trees and light-paths. By optimizing WDM resources in addition to resource sharing with existing unicast and multicast demands, we truly maximize the WDM layer capability and efficiently support more traffic demands. We validate the efficiency of our approach with extensive simulations on various network topologies.


Abstract. Through long-range transport of dust, the North-African desert supplies essential minerals to the Amazon rain forest. Since North African dust reaches South America mostly during the Northern Hemisphere winter, the dust sources active during winter are the main contributors to the forest. Given that the Bodele depression area in southwestern Chad is the main winter dust source, a close link is expected between the Bodele emission patterns and volumes and the mineral supply flux to the Amazon. Until now, the particular link between the Bodele and the Amazon forest was based on sparse satellite measurements and modeling studies. In this study, we combine a detailed analysis of space-borne and ground data with reanalysis model data and surface measurements taken in the central Amazon during the Amazonian Aerosol Characterization Experiment (AMAZE-08) in order to explore the validity and the nature of the proposed link between the Bodele depression and the Amazon forest. This case study follows the dust events of 11–16 and 18–27 February 2008, from the emission in the Bodele over West Africa (most likely with contribution from other dust sources in the region) the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, to the observed effects above the Amazon canopy about 10 days after the emission. The dust was lifted by surface winds stronger than 14 m s−1, usually starting early in the morning. The lofted dust, mixed with biomass burning aerosols over Nigeria, was transported over the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived over the South American continent. The top of the aerosol layer reached above 3 km, and the bottom merged with the boundary layer. The arrival of the dusty air parcel over the Amazon forest increased the average concentration of aerosol crustal elements by an order of magnitude.


Dyscalculia is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects the ability of a child to learn arithmetic. Dyscalculia appears despite normal intelligence, proper schooling, adequate environment, socioeconomic status and motivation. The first aim of the present research protocol was to construct a battery of tests that can be delivered by computer in order to screen children's arithmetic skills. Our second aim was to develop a web application screener for dyscalculia that assesses children aged from 8–11 years old and that, to the best of our knowledge, does not exist. The hypothesis of the present study was that Greek students that are already diagnosed by paper-and-pencil tests as dyscalculic, will present lower performance and higher time latencies in the tasks of the aforementioned web application screener. A total of sixty, right handed children (30 male and 30 female, age range 8–11 years old) participated in this study. The students with disorders in mathematics (N=30, 15 male and 15 female) had a statement of dyscalculia issued after assessment at a Centre of Diagnosis, Assessment and Support, as required by Greek Law. The comparison group (N=30) was formed by pupils who attended the same classes with dyscalculics, presented typical academic performance according to their teachers' ratings and had been matched for age and gender with the children with disorder in mathematics. Three tasks were used for evaluating children's arithmetic ability: a calculation task, a task that evaluated their skills in understanding mathematical terminology, and an arithmetic problem solving task. Statistical analysis revealed that children with dyscalculia had statistically significant lower mean scores of correct answers and larger time latencies in all tasks compared to their average peers that participated in the comparison group. In conclusion, it must be highlighted that the web application screener for dyscalculia used in this study was found to be a feasible instrument for first-pass screening services and referral.


The Open Access Citation Advantage (OACA) has been a major topic of discussion in the literature over the past twenty years. In this paper, we propose a method to constitute a control group to isolate the OACA effect. Thus, we compared citation impact (MNCS) of 2,458,378 publications in fully OA journals to that (weighted MNCS) of a control group of non-OA publications (\#10,310,842). Similarly, we did the same exercise for OA publications in hybrid journals (\#1,024,430) and their control group (\#11,533,001), over the period 2010-2020. The results showed that there is no OACA for publications in fully OA journals, and that there is rather a disadvantage. Conversely, the OACA seems to be a reality in hybrid journals, suggesting that a better accessibility in this context tends to improve the visibility of publications. The lack of OACA for publications in fully OA journals is to be expected, as a great proportion of OA journals are newly created and less attractive to high-impact senior researchers.Another striking result of this paper is the fall of the OACA from 2016. The citation advantage fell from 70% to 9% between 2016 and 2020 (for publications in hybrid journals). We wonder if this fall is linked to the increase in the notoriety of pirate sites (eg Sci-Hub) from 2016. In other words, the democratization of pirate sites instantly cancels the positive effect of OA publication insofar as the question of access to scientific content no longer arises.


First deployed in the U.S. in 1957, Loran-C dominated radio-based navigation for many years. In 2000 the FAA began a significant recapitalization of Loran in the U.S.; the 2001 Volpe report on the vulnerability of the GPS reinforced the need for a revamped Loran. What emerged was an enhanced or evolved version, so called "eLoran," aiming to achieve, for example, 1020 meter absolute positioning accuracy, RNP 0.3 mile required navigation performance, and stratum 1 time. After 10 years of development, in 2010, this U.S. effort was halted and the U.S. transmitters were silenced; since that time, eLoran is still being developed in Europe and deployed in Asia. Earlier this year U.S. Government interest in eLoran has again stirred (evidenced by a U.S. Army request for information and a U.S. Dept. of Transportation request for public comment); the first of these initiated much conversation at the 2015 ION ITM. The prior U.S. (and continuing European) development of eLoran kept many of the 1950's system design choices so as to be compatible with legacy Loran receivers. These include the pulse shape, groups, chains, rates, phase codes, emission delays, etc. Chosen to suit 1950's technology, many of these restrictions are no longer necessary given the advances in transmitter and receiver technology (e.g. software defined radio) over the last half century. It is the opinion of these authors that as Loran, per se, no longer exists in the U.S., any re-emergence of a low frequency radio navigation system need not be held to these performance limiting constraints. In prior work these authors have promoted more significant changes to eLoran to improve system performance; specifically, single-rating all stations, reconfiguring the chain/rate structure within the continental U.S., and changing the phase codes. The current paper expands on these prior efforts. Specifically, we propose putting all of the eLoran transmitters on the same repetition period and employing unique phase codes for each transmitter. To effectively choose new phase codes for eLoran, and assess their performance, we rely on the autoand cross-correlation metrics. These metrics describe how well a receiver can both acquire and track a specific signal when contaminated by multipath interference, the existence of other signals, and noise. While a "perfect" auto-correlation function, large at zero lag corresponding to the actual arrival of the signal and zero elsewhere, and a "perfect" crosscorrelation function, zero for all lags, are preferred, it is impossible to find such codes. However, limiting the size of the window for which we require perfect autoand cross-correlations, such codes can be found. To create such codes for eLoran we adapt results from the CDMA literature on complementary sequences and Large Area Synchronized (LAS) codes. This paper begins with a brief review of the relevant characteristics of Loran-C, including a discussion of the effects of sky wave and cross rate interference. This is followed by a survey of previously published ideas/concepts on how elements of the system could be changed so as to improve performance. Finally, details on the proposed rate/chain/phase code structure are presented. The reader should recognize that these ideas and results are not intended to define what the best eLoran system would be; rather, if eLoran soars again in the U.S., we hope to initiate a dialogue that looks beyond the decisions made in the 1950's. Proc. ION GNSS+ 2015, Tampa FL, Sept. 2015


Early Caledonian deformation in an outboard terrane (Storfjället) in the central Scandinavian Caledonides is constrained to the time-period Arenig to Caradoc on thebasis of U-Pb zircon age determinations. A trondhjemite clast in a conglomerate belonging to a supracrustal sequence that was affected by the early deformational event yields an age of 489+10–5Ma. A granite intruded after this event defines an age of 445+24–6 Ma. The clast is similar in age to a trondhjemite intrusion in a contiguous terrane (Gjersvik) dated at 483+5–3 Ma and the granite age is in agreement with a Rb–Sr whole-rock isochron of 438 ± 6 Ma determined in a previous study. The three new ages provide further evidence for the separation of igneous events in outboard terranes in the Scandinavian Caledonides into older (Tremadoc to Arenig) and younger (Late Ordovician to Early Silurian) episodes. More critically, they argue against simple correlation of early Caledonian deformational events in outboard terranes with the Late Cambrian to Early Ordovician tectonometamorphic history along the margin of the continent Baltica (the so-called Finnmarkian orogenic phase). This age disparity provides support for significant spatial separation of the Storfjället terrane from Baltica during the early–mid Ordovician and an influence of the Taconic orogenic event on this outboard terrane is proposed.


Ignoring patent law can have serious consequences for civil engineers. They may sacrifice valuable patent rights or they may risk exposing themselves to a patent infringement lawsuit. A patent is an agreement between the government and a person who has invented something new and useful. A patent is valuable because its owner can use the law to prevent anyone from practicing the patented invention without permission, and to obtain compensation if someone else does. Obtaining a patent is simple in theory, but almost always necessitates the involvement of a registered patent attorney or patent agent. Asking the right questions can help determine whether one has invented something patentable. Civil engineers can take several practical steps to preserve and use patent rights and to protect themselves from others' assertions of rights, including maintaining good records, avoiding actions that could jeopardize a patent, spelling out patent rights and obligations in advance and in writing, and considering risk sharing and shifting.


This paper focuses on the relationship between Roman Catholicism and the global religious system. The study revolves around two main questions. First, if something like an institutionalisation of a religious (sub)system of the globalised society is happening. The Luhmannian theoretical perspective has been chosen to deal with this problem. Second, if Roman Catholicism is playing any role, and specifically, a first rank role within this process. The second part of the paper is devoted to the demonstration and discussion of some of the evidence on the guide-role played by the Papacy in and for the religious globalisation process. I will derive my analysis of this point of view from the two Assisi meetings of prayer (1986, 2002). Those circumstances seem to reveal a kind of special mandate given to the Rome Catholic Pope by other world religious leaders.


If not for a horse, would Alexander have been the Great? William, the Conqueror? Richard, the Lionhearted? If not for their awesome mounts, would the Spaniards have had their way with the New World? Would Paul Revere have spread the word? Would the West have been won? It is hard to comprehend how far horse power has carried us, difficult to imagine, in our era of mechanical wizardry and speed, what role the horse has played in shaping human history. This is the challenge Juliet Clutton-Brock takes up in her book, a splendid blend of natural and social history that recounts the horse's story as it has figured in - and transfigured - our own. By drawing on biological, archaeological, and historical evidence, Clutton-Brock describes the wild horse and the wild ass, from their widespread distribution at the end of the last Ice Age to their near extinction today. She shows how these beasts, once hunted for meat, were drafted for work and domesticated as humans began to grasp the possibilities of riding horseback. This discovery, with the speed, distance, and power it offered, transformed the course of history. This elegant tale of the horse and donkey, wonderfully written and handsomely illustrated, revives the true meaning of "horse power." Juliet Clutton-Brock, senior scientist in the Department of Zoology at The Natural History Museum, London, and author of several fine books on domesticated animals, provocatively shows us what a force the horse has been in determining how we live.


This study aims to assess the industrial and welfare implications of FinTech as documented in the literature, by focusing on its four subsectors - online capital-raising platforms, alternative payment systems, AI and robot based investment consultancy, and alternative regulatory compliance service. Key findings obtained include: thanks to the advancement in the technologies of relevancy since the 1990s, the FinTech service providers have greatly enhanced both efficiency of financial intermediation and extent of financial inclusion in the developed as well as developing countries; these alternative financial service providers tend to narrow credit gap caused by information asymmetry between borrower and lender by collecting and utilizing soft data for ex ante credit evaluation; however, some concerns are also raised as to the likelihood of over-leverage by certain segments of P2P platform borrowers, the lack of appropriate skin-in-the-game arrangement in sharing ex post credit losses, and the inadequate consumer protection measures in the face of the heightened cyber-security risk. Based on these findings, an assessment is made as to whether or not the sector is capable of instituting a fullblown risk-based, or marginal-cost, pricing for embedded credit risk. In addition, one particular segment of the FinTech service providers, those affiliated with BigTech companies, is examined in terms of its potential contribution to social welfare not only through posing a heightened competition and contestability to existing financial institutions but also through innovation- and information-sharing among firms within their ecosystems. Included as the main contents in the study are trends and institutional characteristics of the four FinTech sub-sectors, financial theories of relevancy, the FinTech's welfare implications, and the regulatory issues to be considered for the sector.


Precipitation of calcium phosphate scale on RO membranes continues to be a major challenge for wastewater recycling facilities. In most cases, antiscalant is dosed in combination with sulfuric acid because calcium phosphate solubility improves at lower pH. Several waste water RO plants in California that have attempted to reduce the costly acid dosing have experienced fast scale formation that has offset any savings with downtime and expensive cleaning chemicals. On-line cleanings were attempted by reducing pH to 6 for one week in order to reduce downtime, however, they did not fully restore flux in the tail elements and performance progressively declined over time. When these membranes were autopsied, silica was surprisingly the predominant deposit on the membrane surface even though brine silica concentrations were only in the range of 130 – 160 ppm. An extensive study was conducted to simulate these conditions in a laboratory setting. Tests were conducted using various antiscalants available on the market and compared against a control that used no antiscalant. For all cases where calcium phosphate scale formed, even when specialty silica antiscalants were used, EDS analysis indicated the presence of silica. Quantification revealed that silicon made up at least 30% of scales. When elemental mapping was performed, it was found that the silicon was present and evenly distributed in all areas where calcium and phosphorus had deposited. On the other hand, in areas where calcium phosphate had not deposited, no silicon was present. The performance of successful calcium phosphate inhibiting antiscalants was completely diminished when ferric ions were introduced into the water, even when ferric was only present in trace quantities. Since ferric chloride is used as part of the wastewater treatment process, preventing ferric ion carryover can be a challenge. This paper attempts to identify the cause of silica polymerization during formation of calcium phosphate scales at elevated pH, and investigates methods to inhibit this co-precipitation even when ferric ions are present in the feedwater of wastewater RO systems.


Within the much-disputed borders of Israel lies the Sacred Esplanade of Jerusalem (SEJ). Home of the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary, the SEJ is a place long considered holy by Jews, Muslims, and Christians. It is a disputed swath of land, in a city center, layered with ancient religious, historical, and archeological significance. For more than two millennia, people have lived, conquered, and made pilgrimages to this land to give voice to their prayers and faith. Control of the SEJ affects the identity, security, and spiritual longings of great numbers of people. It is a core issue of the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab conflicts, which contribute to regional and global destabilization. To date, negotiators and would be peacemakers have failed to acknowledge the SEJ component of the conflict as a dispute over sacred land.A conflict assessment of the SEJ must be undertaken to shed light on the possibilities and barriers for peacemaking in Jerusalem. The assessment would include the perspectives of political leaders, religious leaders, the adherent public, and secular members of the community. By illuminating the core tangible and intangible issues, an SEJ conflict assessment would provide insights and recommendations for policymakers, and, most importantly, provide a foundation for future negotiations.


Aeolian and fluvial processes play a fundamental role in dryland regions of the world and have important environmental and ecological consequences from local to global scales. Although both processes operate over similar spatial and temporal scales and are likely strongly coupled in many dryland systems, aeolian and fluvial processes have traditionally been studied separately, making it difficult to assess their relative importance in drylands, as well as their potential for synergistic interaction. Land degradation by accelerated wind and water erosion is a major problem throughout the world's drylands, and although recent studies suggest that these processes likely interact across broad spatial and temporal scales to amplify the transport of soil resources from and within drylands, many researchers and land managers continue to view them as separate and unrelated processes. Here, we illustrate how aeolian and fluvial sediment transport is coupled at multiple spatial and temporal scales and highlight the need for these interrelated processes to be studied from a more integrated perspective that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. Special attention is given to how the growing threat of climate change and land‐use disturbance will influence linkages between aeolian and fluvial processes in the future. We also present emerging directions for interdisciplinary needs within the aeolian and fluvial research communities that call for better integration across a broad range of traditional disciplines such as ecology, biogeochemistry, agronomy, and soil conservation. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Published in 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This paper presents a novel framework for designing and simulating the decentralized control of Building Management Systems (BMSs) based on the concept of virtual smart meters. The proposed approach uses simulation in real-time to allow building managers and users to have a thorough perception of the power consumption, which establishes the basis of Demand Side Management for energy-efficient buildings. It will be demonstrated that predefined power usage scenarios can be simulated in the closed-loop model and the results can be intuitively analyzed. More importantly, the decentralized control logics of the BMS subsystems can be developed independently from the deployment configurations.


Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels are one of the most extensively utilized biomaterials systems due to their established biocompatibility and highly tunable properties. It is widely acknowledged that traditional acrylate-derivatized PEG (PEGDA) hydrogels are susceptible to slow degradation in vivo and are therefore unsuitable for long-term implantable applications. However, there is speculation whether the observed degradation is due to hydrolysis of endgroup acrylate esters or oxidation of the ether backbone, both of which are possible in the foreign body response to implanted devices. PEG diacrylamide (PEGDAA) is a polyether-based hydrogel system with similar properties to PEGDA but with amide linkages in place of the acrylate esters. This provides a hydrolytically-stable control that can be used to isolate the relative contributions of hydrolysis and oxidation to the in vivo degradation of PEGDA. Here we show that PEGDAA hydrogels remained stable over 12 weeks of subcutaneous implantation in a rat model while PEGDA hydrogels underwent significant degradation as indicated by both increased swelling ratio and decreased modulus. As PEGDA and PEGDAA have similar susceptibility to oxidation, these results demonstrate for the first time that the primary in vivo degradation mechanism of PEGDA is hydrolysis of the endgroup acrylate esters. Additionally, the maintenance of PEGDAA hydrogel properties in vivo indicates their suitability for long-term implants. These studies serve to elucidate key information about a widely used biomaterial system to allow for better implantable device design and to provide a biostable replacement option for PEGDA in applications that require long-term stability.


Within military couples military personnel and their civilian spouses experience both common and unique complexities due to their connection to the military; however the literature to date has only scratched the surface in investigating how the health of both members of the couple is influenced by this experience. The purpose of the present study was to extend what is currently known about the interface between biological psychological and relational health for military couples. Trends within the literature reveal that civilian spouses often face significant challenges as a result of their connection to the military at a comparable level to their military husbands. The present study found that distress depression and physiological stress were significant predictors of wives' relational health factors (i.e. marital quality and marital satisfaction) but did not predict husbands' relational health. It is recommended that systemic assessments be developed to fully capture how each spouse's individual experiences inform the couple's relational health. In addition general mental health assessments including distress screenings should be implemented regularly for civilian spouses seeking services at military medical facilities. Lastly primary care military medical clinics should adopt an integrated care model to consider and treat medical and mental health concerns concurrently.


Social networks are sets of links that organize people, groups, and institutions in an equal and democratic way, and around a common purpose [4]. During the formation of such networks, problems can arise, such as elements that concentrate many relationships, very isolated individuals or peripheral members of a network, people who are the only link between two distinct groups, agglomerations of people in isolated points. This can cause a series of communications problems, which ultimately will cause losses to the most important element that flows through social networks: knowledge. Thus it is necessary a series of analysis on social networks so we can monitor possible collaborations and assist in the formation of work teams, this can be done through the concept of balancing social networks developed by us [20], whose main focus is to maintain the social network as cohesive as possible in order to maximize the flow of knowledge. A practical application of these analysis occurred in the project BRINCA (Analysis and Balancing of Scientific Social Networks in Cancer Control). BRINCA's goals are to analyze how members of the Cancer INCT (National Institute of Science and Technology) collaborate and how the scientific knowledge flows amongst the different researchers and institutions. With this project we could perform contextualized analysis (i.e. by relationship type, subject, institution, geographic location, time) and use the metrics of social network analysis to understand and verify how collaboration occurs in a multi-disciplinary, multi-team project. Moreover, we used the criteria of social network analysis to perform the balancing. In addition, some of the analysis made on the scenery of cancer are shown.


Throughout at least the past several centuries, El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has played a significant role in human response to climate. Over time, increased attention on ENSO has led to a better understanding of both the physical mechanisms, and the environmental and societal consequences of the phenomenon. The prospects for seasonal climate forecasting emerged from ENSO studies, and were first pursued in ENSO studies. In this paper, we review ENSO's impact on society, specifically with regard to agriculture, water, and health; we also explore the extent to which ENSO‐related forecasts are used to inform decision making in these sectors. We find that there are significant differences in the uptake of forecasts across sectors, with the highest use in agriculture, intermediate use in water resources management, and the lowest in health. Forecast use is low in areas where ENSO linkages to climate are weak, but the strength of this linkage alone does not guarantee use. Moreover, the differential use of ENSO forecasts by sector shows the critical role of institutions that work at the boundary between science and society. In a long‐term iterative process requiring continual maintenance, these organizations serve to enhance the salience, credibility, and legitimacy of forecasts and related climate services. WIREs Clim Change 2015, 6:17–34. doi: 10.1002/wcc.294


ABSTRACT The cement volume in ooze, chalk and limestone drilled at Deep Sea Drilling Project Sites 504 and 505 (Pacific Ocean) was quantified by measuring porosity and consolidation characteristics. Heat flow clearly affects the lithification of pelagic ooze/chalk: the higher the temperature in the deposits, the more cemented is the sediment. When the temperature is four times higher, the cement content almost doubles. This study distinguishes between two processes which reduce the pore volume of carbonate sediments: mechanical compaction and carbonate dissolution at grain contacts. Mechanical compaction was quantified by compression tests in the laboratory. The effect of carbonate dissolution at grain contacts was then determined from the difference between the pore volume in the field and that determined for mechanical compaction. The cement volume at both sites was calculated based on laboratory and field data. Physical parameters such as compressibility and degree of induration are clearly related to the cement volume. The ratios between physical sediment parameters, determined at both sites for compressibility, degree of induration, and cement volume, are nearly parallel to the temperature ratio. This pattern very probably indicates the influence of temperature on chalk diagenesis. Increasing sediment temperature influences diagenesis by (1) lowering the density and viscosity of pore water and, hence, enhancing the dewatering of sediment, and (2) accelerating chemical reactions leading to increased cementation. The latter process is the most important.


"This dissertation attempts to describe a new form of education called Critical Aesthetic Pedagogy. The object of this pedagogical method is to infuse aesthetic experience into critical educational practices in order to enhance capacities in students that are indispensable for social empowerment. By exposing students to participatory encounters with artworks that possess certain qualities that encourage the sharing of experiences and the recognition of common sources of oppression, educators can create a sense of empowerment that will prepare students to enable social justice. As illustration of this process, the Lincoln Center Institute's Aesthetic Education Program is described. This program provided a practical framework for incorporating aesthetics into critical pedagogical practices, which contributed to the development of the aforementioned pedagogy. The tool used to measure the ultimate success of this critical aesthetic process was a narrative paper in which a group of 46 teacher education students enrolled in a foundations of education course were asked to write reflecting on the entire semester's assigned readings and related class discussions in the light of their own personal experiences and using the LCI Aesthetic Education experience as a backdrop. A narrative analysis of students' reflective papers was conducted looking for recurring themes that indicated an enhanced critical awareness and empowerment to pursue social change."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.


Become an expert at managing enterprise identity infrastructure by leveraging Active Directory
Key Features
Explore the new features in Active Directory Domain Service

Manage your Active Directory services for Windows Server 2016 effectively

Automate administrative tasks in Active Directory using PowerShell Core 6.x

Book Description
Active Directory (AD) is a centralized and standardized system that automates networked management of user data, security, and distributed resources and enables inter-operation with other directories.

This book will first help you brush up on the AD architecture and fundamentals, before guiding you through core components, such as sites, trust relationships, objects, and attributes. You will then explore AD schemas, LDAP, RMS, and security best practices to understand objects and components and how they can be used effectively. Next, the book will provide extensive coverage of AD Domain Services and Federation Services for Windows Server 2016, and help you explore their new features. Furthermore, you will learn to manage your identity infrastructure for a hybrid cloud setup. All this will help you design, plan, deploy, manage operations, and troubleshoot your enterprise identity infrastructure in a secure and effective manner. You'll later discover Azure AD Module, and learn to automate administrative tasks using PowerShell cmdlets. All along, this updated second edition will cover content based on the latest version of Active Directory, PowerShell 5.1 and LDAP.

By the end of this book, you'll be well versed with best practices and troubleshooting techniques for improving security and performance in identity infrastructures.

What you will learn
Design your Hybrid AD environment by evaluating business and technology requirements

Protect sensitive data in a hybrid environment using Azure Information Protection

Explore advanced functionalities of the schema

Learn about Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) roles and their placement

Install and migrate Active Directory from older versions to Active Directory 2016

Control users, groups, and devices effectively

Design your OU structure in the most effective way

Integrate Azure AD with Active Directory Domain Services for a hybrid setup
Who this book is for
If you are an Active Directory administrator, system administrator, or network professional who has basic knowledge of Active Directory and is looking to become an expert in this topic, this book is for you.


This co-edited book focuses on core theories and research on technologies, from the first audio guides to contemporary and future mobile digital devices, which inform practical design considerations. It is framed in case studies and focuses generally on informal learning by museum and gallery visitors. The book fills a significant gap in the literature on museum practice with regard to uses of digital technologies, which are not generally grounded in rigorous research, and is intended to retain its relevance as technologies evolve and emerge.

The book includes chapters by invited authors from the USA, UK and Europe who contribute expertise in a number of areas of museum research and practice. The research resulted in invited keynote speeches in France ('Technologie de l'apprentissage humain dans les musees' seminar at Laboratoire d'Informatique de Grenoble on 5 March 2009), Iceland (keynote at 'NODEM Network of Design and Digital Heritage' conference on 3 December 2008) and London (Keynote at 'Mobile Learning Conference' on 26 January 2009). The book was given the highest recommendation ('Essential') by the American Library Association, and was reviewed in MedieKultur (2011, 50, 185–92).

Walker's chapter includes some of the initial findings from his PhD research on visitor-constructed trails in museums, which shifts focus from the design of technologies to the design of activities intended to structure the use of technologies, and constitutes some of the first published research on visitor-generated trails using mobile technologies. Structures such as trails are shown to act as effective mental models for museum visitors, especially structures with a narrow subject focus and manageable amount of data capture; those created as a narrative or a conversation; and those that emphasise construction, rather than data capture. Walker also selected most of the other chapter authors, suggested their topics and led the editing of the publication.


How Copper Clicks The copper-catalyzed coupling of azides and alkynes has been termed a "click" reaction on account of its efficiency and versatility, but despite its widespread use, the mechanism remains somewhat unclear. Through a series of kinetic and isotopic labeling studies, Worrell et al. (p. 457, published online 4 April) show that, in the case of terminal alkynes (capped at one end by an H atom), two equivalents of copper participate in activating each molecule's reactivity toward azide. Surprisingly, the reaction also appears to proceed through an intermediate in which the two copper centers become equivalent and functionally exchangeable, despite initially coordinating to distinct sites on the alkyne. The mechanism of a common and highly versatile molecular coupling reaction is elucidated. Copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition has become a commonly employed method for the synthesis of complex molecular architectures under challenging conditions. Despite the widespread use of copper-catalyzed cycloaddition reactions, the mechanism of these processes has remained difficult to establish due to the involvement of multiple equilibria between several reactive intermediates. Real-time monitoring of a representative cycloaddition process via heat-flow reaction calorimetry revealed that monomeric copper acetylide complexes are not reactive toward organic azides unless an exogenous copper catalyst is added. Furthermore, crossover experiments with an isotopically enriched exogenous copper source illustrated the stepwise nature of the carbon–nitrogen bond-forming events and the equivalence of the two copper atoms within the cycloaddition steps.


Multiple drug resistance (MDR) in Acinetobacter baumannii strains is a rapidly rising phenomenon worldwide. Different mechanisms are responsible for this resistance and efflux pumps are among them. In A. baumannii resistance resulted from efflux pumps are mainly in Major facilitator super family (MFS) and Resistance nodulation cell division (RND) families. Therefore, this study has been conducted to study in vitro evaluation of MFS efflux pumps among multidrug resistant A. baumannii isolated from patients hospitalized in intensive care unit (ICU). In this cross-sectional study, 100 MDR isolates were selected from a total of 200 clinical A. baumannii isolated from ICU; Multiplex- RT- PCR methods was used to in vitro evaluation of MFS efflux pumps among multidrug resistant A. baumannii isolated from patients hospitalized in ICU. According to the susceptibility test, among 200 A. baumannii isolates, the prevalence rate of MDR, non MDR and extremely drug resistance (XDR) were 56%, 34% and 10% respectively. Abaye 0369 gene expression was observed in MDR and non-MDR isolates in presence of tetracycline which is an indication of its role in antibiotic resistance against tetracycline. In confirming the role of MFS transporters such as abaye 0369 in tetracycline resistance, functional studies should be designed. For assessing the effect of the expression of other studied MFS transporters in tetracycline resistance, their expression rate should be determined using Real Time PCR.


The aim of this paper is to describe how the combina-tion of speaker veri(cid:12)cation algorithms with a priori decision thresholds can improve the overall robustness of a real application. The evaluation is performed in the context of a (cid:12)eld application where each client is veri(cid:12)ed from a 7 digit pin code. This paper demonstrate that it is possible to in-crease the global performances of the system on combining the result of several algorithms.


The Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984 provides pharmaceutical manufacturers with an incentive to introduce reformulations of existing products that are about to lose patent protection, to extend marketing exclusivity and maintain high prices. Antidepressant reformulations are particularly common. To determine whether the use of reformulations confers benefits, we examined who uses them and whether they affect the duration of medication use. We found some evidence of benefit for subgroups of antidepressant users, although benefits varied across reformulations.


Lethal and sublethal fishing gear entanglement is pervasive in North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis). Entanglement can lead to direct injury and is likely to incur substantial energetic costs. This study (1) evaluates drag characteristics of entangled right whales, (2) contextualizes gear drag measurements for individual whales, and (3) quantifies the benefits of partial disentanglement. A load cell measured drag forces on 15 sets of fishing gear removed from entangled right whales, a towed satellite telemetry buoy, and 200 m of polypropylene line as it was shortened to 25 m, as they were towed behind a vessel at ~0.77, 1.3, and 2.1 m/s (~1.5, 2.5, and 4 knots) and ~0, 3, and 6 m depth. Mean drag ranges from 8.5 N to 315 N, and can be predicted from the dry weight or length of the gear. Combining gear drag measurements with theoretical estimates of drag on whales' bodies suggests that on average, entanglement increases drag and propulsive power by 1.47 fold. Reducing trailing line length by 75% can reduce parasitic gear drag by 85%, reinforcing current disentanglement response practices. These drag measurements can be incorporated into disentanglement response, serious injury determination, and evaluation of sublethal effects on population dynamics.


Plant pathogens are constantly emerging and spreading into new areas and there are often limited postdiagnosis treatment options for infection, making surveillance key to their control. Here we present results from a study testing the efficacy of a portable nanopore-based massively parallel sequencing (MPS) technology for use in the detection of diverse plant pathogens in selected samples. The Oxford MinION device was coupled with whole transcriptome amplification (WTA) to sequence the metatranscriptome of plant and insect tissues infected with either Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus or plum pox virus. Results showed that this methodology is useful for detecting unsuspected viral and bacterial pathogens in plant and insect tissues. The percentage of generated reads assigned to plum pox virus was 95% from infected tissue and 3% from the viruliferous insect, Myzus persicae. Diaphorina citri sequencing led to 22% of the reads mapping as Ca. L. asiaticus. Plum pox virus and Ca. L. asiaticus were detected in both tissue and insect samples near the beginning of each sequencing run, demonstrating the capability of this methodology to obtain results rapidly. This approach also proved the capability of this system to determine the major components of the insect vector's microbiome and the specific strain of small-genome, high-titer pathogens.


We study the formation of government policy in democracies when turnout depends on party activists and campaign spending ‐ parties' 'political capital'. The functional importance of political capital determines equilibrium rent-seeking in government. Often the more potent political capital is the greater the extent of rent-seeking. Limiting the level of political capital is distinct from reducing its potency, and whereas we find a strong case for reducing potency we find that placing limits on campaign spending are rarely optimal, and in particular that weak limits are never optimal. A limit on total campaign spending can increase government quality under certain conditions and if so then strong limits are always better than weak limits. However, finite limits on either national or local campaign spending alone, as often seen in practice, are never optimal.


In this article, we argue that although mathematics educators are concerned about social issues, minimal attention has been paid to student–student interactions outside the classroom. We discuss social network analysis as a methodology for studying such interactions in the context of an undergraduate course. We present results on the questions: Who studies with whom? What are students' study habits, and are these systematically related to the habits of those with whom they interact? Do individual and collaborative study habits predict attainment? We discuss the implications of these findings for research on undergraduate learning and on social issues in mathematics education, suggesting that social network analysis may provide a bridge between mathematics education researchers who focus on cognitive and on social issues.


In this paper, we facilitate the reasoning about impure programming languages, by annotating terms with "decorations" that describe what computational (side) effect evaluation of a term may involve. In a point-free categorical language,called the "decorated logic", we formalize the mutable state and the exception effects first separately, exploiting anice duality between them, and then combined. The combined decorated logic is used as the target language forthe denotational semantics of the IMP+Exc imperative programming language, and allows us to prove equivalencesbetween programs written in IMP+Exc. The combined logic is encoded in Coq, and this encoding is used to certifysome program equivalence proofs.


The paper describes a clinical research study of therapeutic observation of an infant in foster care. Infants and children under five represent more than half of all children entering care in the UK. The emotional needs of this population tend to be overlooked. This study aimed to find out about the experience of an infant or young child in care, to learn about possible reasons for the under-detection of mental health and emotional difficulties in a group of particularly vulnerable children, and to inform training and support for professionals. Therapeutic observation has been reported to be a cost-effective, home-based component in multidisciplinary treatments for infants and young children with a range of difficulties. The study found that the model was acceptable to foster carers and provided a child-centred perspective to the professional network. Grounded theory analysis of the observational data produced a description of dynamics around the infant in foster care, varying from experiences of emotional connectedness and containment (Matrix) to those of confusion, pressure and fragmentation (Tornado), dissociation (Machine), and drift or provisionality (Limbo). Observational data suggested that when 'Tornado', 'Machine' and Limbo dominate, organisation is driven by trauma rather than by development. This increases the risk of losing contact with the emotional reality of children's experiences. Dilemmas are also explored in relation to the transition from foster care to adoption. The study highlights the role of specialist training to support emotionally responsive caregiving for infants and young children in care. Further research is suggested to investigate the application of this model with infants and young children in a range of care contexts.


Book synopsis: A wide range of academics present essays that build upon Stuart Hall's contributions to scholarship.
Stuart Hall's retirement from the Open University in 1997 provided a unique opportunity to reflect on an academic career which has had the most profound impact on scholarship and teaching in many parts of the world.
From his early work on the media, through his influential re-working of Gramsci for the analysis of Britain in the late 1970s, through his considered debates on Thatcherism and more recently on "race" and new ethnicities, Hall has been an inspirational figure for generations of academics. He has helped to make universities places where ideas and social commitment can exist alongside each other.

This collection invites a wide range of academics who have been influenced by Stuart Hall's writing to contribute not a memoir or a eulogy but an engaged piece of social, cultural or historical analysis which continues and develops the field of thinking opened up by Hall. The topics covered include identity and hybridity, history and post-colonialism, pedagogy and cultural politics, space and place, globalization and economy, modernity and difference.


Human cytomegalovirus uses a host-encoded antiviral protein to its own advantage. One of the hallmarks of the host's response to viral infection is the production of interferon cytokines, which trigger the induction of a broad array of antiviral genes. Viperin is an interferon-inducible gene whose expression is induced in response to infection with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). Seo et al. now show that HCMV co-opts viperin to its advantage. vMIA, a virus-encoded protein, interacted with viperin and induced viperin relocalization from the endoplasmic reticulum to the mitochondria in response to infection. Mitochondria-localized viperin inhibited ATP generation in the mitochondria, which resulted in disruption of the actin cytoskeleton and enhanced viral replication. J.-Y. Seo, R. Yaneva, E. R. Hinson, P. Cresswell, Human cytomegalovirus directly induces the antiviral protein viperin to enhance infectivity. Science 332, 1093–1097 (2011). [Abstract] [Full Text]


AIMS AND METHOD

National guidelines for the assessment and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and body dysmorphic disorder were published in 2005 by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Local services are unable to treat a small but significant number of the most severely ill patients successfully, and the guidelines recommend that such patients should have access to highly specialised care. From 1 April 2007, the Department of Health decided to centrally fund treatment services for severe, chronic, refractory OCD and BDD. We describe a new National Service for Refractory OCD; its rationale, treatments offered, referral criteria and expected clinical outcomes.

RESULTS

Initial results from one centre show an average 42% reduction in OCD symptoms at the end of treatment.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

The operational challenges and potential generalisability of this model of healthcare delivery are discussed. We present a summary of the progress made so far in establishing a new, coherent National Service for Refractory OCD, 18 months after the NICE guideline was published. The aim of the paper is to educate clinicians about the service and describe its rationale, treatments offered, referral criteria and expected clinical outcomes.


The epidemic of Novel COVID-19 was reported in India in January 2020 and increased day by
day due to the movement of people from abroad to India and then to the
different parts of the country. The COVID-19 has been declared as pandemic
because of its high transmission rate and coved more than 2010 countries of the
world. Under this scenario when there is no medicine for its treatment, the
only solution to this problem is to break the chain of transmission and
restrict the count of infected people. To contain a coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak,
the Government of India announced the nationwide lockdown with effect from the midnight
of 24th March 2020 followed by the extension of the lockdown periods
and presently it is in its 4th phase. The various provisions were
made under lockdown for closing the industries, transportation, etc. except the
essential services. It has been very interesting to note that the behavioural
changes in nature are highly positive and atmosphere, hydrosphere, and
biosphere are rejuvenating and it gives an appearance that the earth is under
lockdown for its repairing work. Under this natural recovery, we tried to look
at the improvement in the water quality of the Yamuna River in Delhi, which has
been one of the burst polluted rivers. To study this river, the concentrations of pH, EC, DO, BOD,
and COD have been measured which showed a reduction by 1-10%, 33-66%, 51%,
45-90%, and 33-82% respectively during the lockdown phase in comparison to the
pre-lockdown phase. The Nizamuddin Bridge, Okhla U/s, Najafgarh Drain and
Shahdara Drain were the major hotspots responsible for the deterioration of the
water quality of Yamuna River while passing by Delhi region. Five major locations
of Yamuna River have been analysed in this paper that showed a very impressive recovery of the water quality during the lockdown phase as compared to the pre-lockdown
status of water quality.


Background and objective : Planting method plays an important role in the placement of seed at proper depth and distance thereby affecting the germination and plant population dynamics. As a result, it ultimately affects crop growth and yield performance through the influence it has on the competition among plants for limited amount of nutrients in the soil. A study was conducted in 2016 cropping season at experimental site of College of Agriculture, Hawassa University to investigate the effect of planting method on growth performance and grain yield of wheat. Materials and Methods: The treatment studied includes two planting methods (i) conventional-broadcasting and ii) drill planting by using 15cm and 20cm row spacing. The treatments arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The treatment means were compared through least significant different test at 5%probability level. Results :Analysis of the results revealed that planting method have a significant effect on plant height, number of tiller, fresh weight, dry weight, and grain yield. However, marked difference was not detected on number of spikelet per spike due to planting methods. A row spacing of 20 cm showed higher effective tiller number (8.33), number of spikelet per spike (16.66), dry weight (2.46) and grain yield (3.24) compared with the remaining treatments. Conclusion :Based on the results of the current experiment, it can be concluded that using 20 cm spaced row planting is advantageous for wheat crop production for the study area, provided that all the agronomic practices are kept optimal. Keywords : Agronomic performance, Grain yield, Growth, Row spacing


We address instance-based learning from a perceptual organization standpoint and present methods for dimensionality estimation, manifold learning and function approximation. Under our approach, manifolds in high-dimensional spaces are inferred by estimating geometric relationships among the input instances. Unlike conventional manifold learning, we do not perform dimensionality reduction, but instead perform all operations in the original input space. For this purpose we employ a novel formulation of tensor voting, which allows an N-D implementation. Tensor voting is a perceptual organization framework that has mostly been applied to computer vision problems. Analyzing the estimated local structure at the inputs, we are able to obtain reliable dimensionality estimates at each instance, instead of a global estimate for the entire data set. Moreover, these local dimensionality and structure estimates enable us to measure geodesic distances and perform nonlinear interpolation for data sets with varying density, outliers, perturbation and intersections, that cannot be handled by state-of-the-art methods. Quantitative results on the estimation of local manifold structure using ground truth data are presented. In addition, we compare our approach with several leading methods for manifold learning at the task of measuring geodesic distances. Finally, we show competitive function approximation results on real data.


Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of cooking top sirloin steaks from four quality grades to multiple degrees of doneness (rare, medium, well-done) on beef palatability traits. Study Description: Beef top sirloin butts (n = 60; 15/quality grade) from four U.S. Department of Agriculture quality grades [Prime, Top Choice (Modest and Moderate marbling), Low Choice, and Select] were selected from a Midwest beef processor. Top butts were transported to the Kansas State University Meat Laboratory, fabricated into 1-in steaks, vacuum packaged, and aged for 28 days at 39.2°F. Following aging, steaks were frozen until cooked for consumer sensory analysis and Warner-Bratzler shear force. The Bottom Line: These results indicate that quality grade has no effect on the eating quality of top sirloin steaks. Therefore, it is unnecessary for consumers, retailers, and foodservices to pay premium prices for higher quality top sirloin steaks, regardless of the degree of doneness they will be cooked to.


The estimation of resonant frequency bandwidths is a fundamental issue related to the quality of spoken vowels and vocal-tract acoustics. In this article, we discuss our analysis of bandwidths using clustered line-spectrum modeling (CLSM) of the pressure waveforms of vowels on a cycle-by-cycle basis with reference to Lx waveforms from an electrolaryngograph recorded at the same time as the speech signal. We used CLSM to decompose the waveforms into three dominant resonant (modal) oscillations with almost exponentially decaying envelopes. The modal (so-called formant) frequencies were observed in a wide frequency range from 100 (Hz) to over 4 (kHz). The modal bandwidths were estimated from the decaying constants of the modal oscillations and were wider than those reported in the literature under the closed glottis condition. The bandwidths increased for both male and female speakers as the formant frequencies became higher. The bandwidths for females, however, were wider with greater variances than those for males. We could effectively represent a cycle of a vowel record shorter than 10 (ms) by CLSM based on the least squares error criterion in the frequency domain. We thus confirmed that cycle-by-cycle analysis using CLSM is a practical approach to characterizing vowel sounds in terms of dominant frequencies using their modal bandwidths


Variable quartz cementation and porosity distribution in the Upper Jurassic Brae Formation deep-water sandstone reservoir of the Miller Field (UK, North Sea) is mainly controlled by the amount of coatings on the quartz grains. Oil was possibly present in the pore space for the last 40 Ma, but had no significant effect on preserving porosity in the oil leg relative to the water leg. Samples with anomalously high porosities, which commonly occur in the shallowest sandstone intervals, are microquartz coated, and it is a misinterpretation to explain these high porosities as due to hydrocarbons inhibiting quartz cementation. Porosity preservation due to microquartz coating is quite common in Upper Jurassic sandstones in the North Sea. Kinetic modelling of quartz cementation with the Exemplar program correctly predicts observed quartz cement volumes in the Brae Formation outside the microquartz-coated zones, when high quality petrographic data, including abundance of clay coatings, are provided as input. Significant overprediction of quartz cement volumes occurs only for samples where scanning electron microscope analysis shows microquartz coatings to be present. Failure to recognize grain coating as one of the major parameters controlling quartz cementation may lead to incorrect geological models of reservoir quality and selection of inappropriate exploration or production strategies.


Objective-The purpose of the present study is to compare the efficacy of three commercially available mouth rinses containing chlorhexidiene and sodium fluoride-triclosan- xylitol respectively against salivary bacteria, streptococcus mutans.
Materials and Methods: A sample of 72 subjects was selected from the single school and was randomly equally divided into 3 groups. The subjects were instructed to rinse the mouthwash 10 ml of mouthwash for one minute twice daily for fifteen days. Number of colony of Streptococcus mutans were counted by using Mitis Salivarius agar plate, at the beginning and at the end of the study period. Inter group and intra group comparisons were done. Intra group comparisison was assessed usingWilcoxon
signed rank test (non-parametric equivalent to paired't' test) whereas the difference between three groups was assessed using Kruskal-Wallis Annova.
Results: In the present study, no statistically significant difference was found between the mouthwashes with regard to their efficacy in reducing S mutans.
Conclusion: All the commercial available mouthwashes are equally potent in reducing s mutans counts effectively.

Keywords: Chlorhexidine.


It is complicated and time consuming to use traditionalground survey methods to study the physicalproperties of snow over vast and inaccessible areas.However, the emergence of Hyperspectral remote sensingprovides a convenient and powerful tool for studyingthe physical properties of snow. This study demonstratesthe potential of EO-1 Hyperion imagery for theestimation and mapping of one of snow physical parameters(i.e. snow grain size) in the Himalayan region,India. The analysis process consists of Fast Line-of-sightAtmospheric Analysis of SpectralHypercubes (FLAASH)to retrieve surface reflectance. The spectral reflectanceof different types of snow grain size, debris cover andbarren/rocky has been collected using image derivedspectra. Snow grain size has been estimated using spectralangle mapper (SAM) algorithm. This study revealsthe relatively high accuracy of the estimation and mappingof snow grain size classes i.e. fine, medium andcoarse using SAM theory based on the Hyperion imagery.


understood to be a battle for the courts. When George W. Bush finally won, following the Supreme Court's split decision in Bush v. Gore, many Democratic activists simply dug in their heels, vowing to frustrate Bush's efforts to fill vacancies on the federal courts. After Democrats took control of the Senate in May of 2001, they began calling explicitly for ideological litmus tests for judicial nominees. And they started a confirmation stall, especially for circuit court nominees, that continues to this day. Thus, 8 of Bush's first 11 circuit court nominees went for over a year without even a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and most have still not come before the committee. As the backlog of nominees grows, Democrats are quite explicit about the politics of the matter: their aim is to keep "highly credentialed, conservative ideologues" from the bench. The rationales they offer contend that judges today are, and perhaps should be, "setting national policy." One such "policy" they abhor is "the Supreme Court's recent 5–4 decisions that constrain congressional power." Thus the importance, they say, of placing "sympathetic judges" on the bench, judges who share "the core values held by most of our country's citizens." In a word, everything is politics, nothing is law. The battle between politics and law takes place at many points in the American system of government, but in recent years it has become especially intense over judicial nominations. That is because judges today set national policy far more than they used to—and far more than the Constitution contemplates. Because the original constitutional design has been corrupted, especially as it relates to the constraints the Constitution places on politics, we have come to ideological litmus tests for judges. The New Deal Court, following President Roosevelt's notorious Court-packing threat, politicized the Constitution, laying the foundation for several forms of judicial activism. After that it was only a matter of time until the judiciary itself had to be politicized. We are reaping the fruit of that constitutional corruption. That will not change until we come to grips with the first principles of the matter—with the true foundations of our constitutional system. Yet neither party today seems willing to do that. Democrats have an activist agenda that a politicized Constitution well serves. Republicans have their own agenda and their own reasons for avoiding the basic issues. Thus, it may fall to the nominees themselves to take a stand for law over politics, the better to restore the Constitution and the rule of law it was meant to secure. How Constitutional Corruption Has Led to Ideological Litmus Tests for Judicial Nominees


In this study we cross‐correlate many IUE echellograms of a variety of well‐observed stars to evaluate systematic error sources in the wavelength zero points (velocities) of all three cameras. We first evaluate differences between the final archived ("NEWSIPS") and the originally processed ("IUESIPS") echellograms. These show a marked time dependence in zero point for the SWP camera resulting from several revisions of wavelength calibration coefficients used for IUESIPS. Smaller offsets are present for the LWR camera between the two processings. We also evaluated small‐amplitude fluctuations in the zero points of the NEWSIPS wavelength calibration spectra themselves. In the case of the SWP camera, these variations are too complicated to have been completely removed in the NEWSIPS wavelength calibration. We also examine wavelength zero‐point disparities between data obtained both through the small and large entrance apertures as well as for observations made by different target acquisitions of faint and bright stars. We also find that statistical differences between these alternative observing modes are virtually nil. For large‐aperture observations, the dominant error source is the placement of the target in the aperture. These give rise to non‐Gaussian, extended "tails" in apparent velocity. We also searched for spurious trends. Except for a possible trend for faint objects with SWP camera data, we cannot detect significant dependences with time. Additionally, we discovered a trend with telescope focus for data sets derived from intensive monitoring campaigns of bright stars. These exhibit a repeatable, 1 day "radial velocity variation" with a semiamplitude of nearly 3 km s−1. This pattern appears to be a by‐product of fluctuations in telescope focus caused by operational procedures to maintain the ambient instrument temperature. In the second part of the paper, we measure the mean zero‐point errors of NEWSIPS echellogram data with respect to laboratory results by using the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) spectral atlas of the O9 V spectral standard 10 Lacertae as an intermediary reference. We find that the derived apparent velocity difference for this star is essentially zero: −1 ± 3.5 km s−1. Several less precise comparisons lead to similar results, including cross‐correlations of (1) spectra of 10 Lac and two stars with similar spectra, HD 93521 and HD 60753; (2) lines in common with the SWP camera and GHRS and STIS atlases of Arcturus and Procyon; and (3) interstellar lines in the GHRS spectrum of the white dwarf G191‐B2B. The zero points of the NEWSIPS‐processed long‐wavelength cameras are evaluated and are also found to be nearly zero (±5 km s−1) relative to the Arcturus and Procyon atlas calibrations and relative to one another. In general, these results do not support the suggestion by González‐Riestra and coworkers that corrections should be introduced to the wavelength scales of various NEWSIPS high‐dispersion data products. Despite our optimistic results, it is obvious that using small IUE data sets from large‐aperture observations of arbitrarily chosen stars can contain velocity errors of at least a few km s−1.


Abstract. The western Mongolia is a seismically active intracontinental region, with ongoing tectonic deformation and widespread seismicity related to the far-field effects of India-Eurasia collision. During the 20th century, four earthquakes with the magnitude larger than 8 occurred in the western Mongolia and its surrounding regions, providing a unique opportunity to study the geodynamics of intracontinental tectonic deformations. The 1957 magnitude 8.3 Gobi-Altai earthquake is one of the largest seismic events. The deformation pattern of rupture zone associated with this earthquake is complex, involving left-lateral strike-slip and reverse dip-slip faulting on several distinct geological structures in a 264 × 40 km wide zone. To understand the relationship between the observed postseismic surface deformation and the rheological structure of the upper lithosphere, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data are used to study the 1957 earthquake. Then we developed a postseismic model in a spherical, radially layered elastic-viscoelastic Earth based on InSAR results, and further analysed the dominant contribution to the surface deformation. This work is important for understanding not only the regional tectonics, but also the structure and dynamics of the lithosphere. SAR data were acquired from the ERS1/2 and Envisat from 1996 to 2010. Using the Repeat Orbit Interferometry Package (ROI_PAC), 124 postseismic interferograms are produced on four adjacent tracks. By stacking these interferograms, the maximum InSAR line-of-sight deformation rate along the Gobi-Altai fault zone is obtained. The main results are as follows: (1) The maximum InSAR line-of-sight deformation velocity along this large fault zone is about 6 mm/yr; (2) The modelled surface deformation suggests that the viscoelastic relaxation is the most reasonable mechanism to explain the observed surface motion; (3) The optimal model cover the Gobi-Altai seismogenic thickness is 10 km; (4) The lower bound of Maxwell viscosity of lower crust and upper mantle is approximately 9 × 1019 Pa s, and the Maxwell relaxation time corresponding to this viscosity is 95.13 years.


Background: Kushmanda Avaleha (KA, confection) has been described in Sharangdhar Samhita as a drug of choice in Raktapitta Chikitsa (hemorrhage). Ayurveda mentioned Five Basic Kalpanas, which are called Panchvidha Kashya Kalpana. Panchvidha Kashya Kalpana has several drawbacks, such as less palatability, shorter shelf life, etc. Hence, to overcome these drawbacks, secondary formulations were developed. Avaleha Kalpana was a secondary formulation developed by using primary formulations, such as Swaras (juice), Kwatha (decoctions), etc. Avaleha formulation was prepared by using herbal medicinal drugs and food articles such as sugar, ghee (clarified butter), honey etc. Administering proper dose of Avaleha is difficult in new era than Avaleha convert into granules form because, considering the changing scenario of the society, converting traditional dosage forms into more palatable, easily absorbable forms without changing desired therapeutic effects becomes need of the hour. In the current study, an attempt has been made to convert KA into granules form, which is the first step toward research on the formulation; hence, the current work was planned. Aim: Analytical study of KA and its modified dosage form as Kushmanda granules (KG)Materials and Methods: Three batches of KA were prepared as per the reference of Sharangdhar Samhita (8/22–28), and the same is converted into granules by adopting standard operative procedures. Result and Conclusion: Loss on drying at 105°C, total ash, acid-insoluble ash, alcohol-soluble extractives, water-soluble extractives, pH, total sugar, reducing sugar, nonreducing sugar, and total fat and moisture content in the range of Avaleha is 2.3%, 0.7%, 0.103%, 71.22%, 77.12%, 4.2%, 78.15%, 68.21%, 5.6%, and 2.92%. The range of granules is 3.1%, 1.2%, 0.36%, 38.09%, 41.2%, 3.53, 80.17, 78.12, 4.5, 0.92, and 3.12, respectively.


ABSTRACT For almost 50 years field experiments have been used to study ethnic and racial discrimination in hiring decisions, consistently reporting high rates of discrimination against minority applicants – including immigrants – irrespective of time, location, or minority groups tested. While Peter A. Riach and Judith Rich [2002. "Field Experiments of Discrimination in the Market Place." The Economic Journal 112 (483): F480–F518] and Judith Rich [2014. "What Do Field Experiments of Discrimination in Markets Tell Us? A Meta Analysis of Studies Conducted since 2000." In Discussion Paper Series. Bonn: IZA] provide systematic reviews of existing field experiments, no study has undertaken a meta-analysis to examine the findings in the studies reported. In this article, we present a meta-analysis of 738 correspondence tests in 43 separate studies conducted in OECD countries between 1990 and 2015. In addition to summarising research findings, we focus on groups of specific tests to ascertain the robustness of findings, emphasising differences across countries, gender, and economic contexts. Moreover we examine patterns of discrimination, by drawing on the fact that the groups considered in correspondence tests and the contexts of testing vary to some extent. We focus on first- and second-generation immigrants, differences between specific minority groups, the implementation of EU directives, and the length of job application packs.


This book summarises the latest achievements of researchers involved in the application of game theory to the analysis of environmental matters. It provides an overview of different methods and applications, and gives the reader new insights on the solutions to complex environmental problems. The authors investigate various game theoretic approaches, including cooperative and non-cooperative game theory, and analyse both dynamic and static games. They illustrate the application of these approaches to global and local environmental problems, and present novel but effective tools to support environmental policy making. In particular, they focus on three important issues; climate negotiations and policy, the sharing of environmental costs, and environmental management and pollution control.


The observation of emission spectrum broadening of Nd:YVO(4) by femtosecond laser pulse processing is reported. This result opens the possible way of sub-ps pulse generation from Nd ion doped crystals with better physical qualities than that of glass based laser gain materials.


Operating heavy construction equipment is often associated with elevated rates of low back discomfort (LBD). However, there have been few formal studies that dealt with evaluating controls that can reduce the LBD among these workers. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of using a continuous passive lumbar motion system (CPLMS) in reducing low back discomfort among operators of heavy earthmoving equipment. The CPLMS is an additional seat support that has a lumbar support bladder and a pump to provide cyclic inflation and deflation. Two groups of operators were identified as potential subjects for this intervention study, the intervention group with a mean age of 41.2 years and experience of 9.7 years used the CPLMS, and the control group with a mean age of 37.5 years and experience of 7.6 years did not use the CPLMS. Body part discomfort surveys were collected from both groups. In addition, the intervention group completed a CPLMS preference survey. The body part discomfort survey was collected up to eight days at three different times of the day. Results from the body part discomfort survey showed a decreasing trend the longer the CPLMS was used, for both the upper and low back region. A decreasing trend for the low back was also found comparing morning to evening discomfort scores across the days when using the CPLMS. When compared to their regular seat, 54% of the operators felt very comfortable in using the CPLMS, 36% of them wanted one for their equipment, and 54% showed interest in experimenting with the CPLMS for a longer time period. Results from this study indicate that the use of a CPLMS can effectively reduce the low back discomfort experienced by operators of heavy construction equipment.


Vol. 30, No. 1, Winter/Spring 2019 (Besides "conferences," "items of interest," and "citations received," this EAP issue includes the following entries: an "in memoriam" for geographer David Lowenthal, an early figure in environmental phenomenology, who died in London in September; a "book note" on architect and architectural theorist Hendrik Auret's Christian Norberg-Schulz's Interpretation of Heidegger's Philosophy (Routledge, 2018); a "book note" on philosopher Edward Casey's The World on Edge (Indiana University Press, 2017); the second part of the late philosopher Henri Bortoft's 1999 conference presentation on Goethean science; Anthropologist Jenny Quillien's reflections upon her recent experiences of living in Amsterdam as they point toward the significance of language in contributing to places and lifeworlds; Colorado speedskater David Feric's account of his firsthand experience of the sport as a starting point for a phenomenology of speedskating; Artist and art educator Doris Rohr's consideration of the work of British artist and art critic John Ruskin as a conceptual and methodological means to facilitate a style of seeing and drawing that maintains sympathetic contact with the thing looked at and represented.


In this chapter, the concept of sustainable careers is positioned within a broader framework of sustainable HRM. It broadens the scope from a single career-perspective to a more integrated HRM and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) perspective. 'Respect', 'Openness' and 'Continuity' are introduced as the three building blocks of sustainable HRM. Although interest in these blocks is not new in itself, our contribution lies in the critical reflection upon and redirection of existing HRM practices, systems and themes towards the ROC model. As such, sustainable HRM should be seen as a complementary perspective. Its aim is not to substitute the strategic HRM perspective, but to offer a correction given the concretization of the latter from a unilateral business management point of view. Sustainable career management, as a specific domain of HRM, brings respect, openness and continuity into the management of employees' careers by balancing short-term and long-term needs, focusing on employability and work ability, following an inclusive approach, tailoring to individuals' needs and providing career support.


This study addresses and attempts to mitigate per- sistent uncertainty and scatter among existing approaches for determining the rate of sea spray aerosol production by breaking waves in the open ocean. The new approach proposed here utilizes passive microwave emissions from the ocean surface, which are known to be sensitive to sur- face roughness and foam. Direct, simultaneous, and col- located measurements of the aerosol production and mi- crowave emissions were collected aboard the FLoating In- strument Platform (FLIP) in deep water 150 km off the coast of California over a period of 4 days. Vertical pro- files of coarse-mode aerosol (0.25-23.5 µm) concentrations were measured with a forward-scattering spectrometer and converted to surface flux using dry deposition and vertical gradient methods. Back-trajectory analysis of eastern North Pacific meteorology verified the clean marine origin of the sampled air mass over at least 5 days prior to measure- ments. Vertical and horizontal polarization surface brightness temperature were measured with a microwave radiometer at 10.7 GHz frequency. Data analysis revealed a strong sensi- tivity of the brightness temperature polarization difference to the rate of aerosol production. An existing model of mi- crowave emission from the ocean surface was used to deter- mine the empirical relationship and to attribute its underlying physical basis to microwave emissions from surface rough- ness and foam within active and passive phases of breaking waves. A possibility of and initial steps towards satellite re- trievals of the sea spray aerosol production are briefly dis- cussed in concluding remarks.


Hispanics are now the largest minority ethnic group in the United States. Many
Hispanics come to this country seeking migrant employment, moving from place to place, job to
job. Unfortunately, children of Hispanic migrants often encounter great difficulties in our
educational settings. Likewise, American educators generally experience problems in offering
quality education to Hispanic migrant students. Research has outlined the factors that are the
greatest barriers to educating Hispanic migrant students. The broad categories of obstacles as
defined by literature are language, culture, lack of parental involvement, and mobility.
Educators of these students are better prepared to instruct them when these obstacles are taken
into consideration and addressed with a number of changes in both policies and instructional
practices.
This study focused on schools within two school systems in rural southeastern North
Carolina. This research revealed the extent to which teachers recognized and experienced
obstacles to their instruction of Hispanic migrant students. The study also identified the current
practices teachers found to be effective as well as their recommendations for changes for
improvement. Results here support the conclusions that there are several factors that contribute
toward migrant educational difficulties, the most overwhelming of which is the language barrier.
While many practices that literature recommends to combat the obstacles of Hispanic migrant
education were found to be in place and effective, other suggestions for improvement have not
been implemented.
Specific recommendations for change have been made based on the findings of both the
current literature and the research conducted.


The dominant trans-acting major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-linked class I modifier (cim) locus, previously recognized through its ability to determine altered alloantigenicity of a rat class I molecule, RT1.A3, is shown here to influence class I intracellular transport. The MHC recombinant laboratory rat strains PVG.R1 and PVG.R8 display unusually long retention of RT1.Aa within the endoplasmic reticulum or cis-Golgi. In appropriate F1 hybrid cells heterozygous for RT1.Aa and another class I MHC allele, RT1.Ac, only the RT1.Aa protein is subject to slow transport. The cim gene product therefore shows class I allele specificity in its action, cim appears to be a polymorphic locus whose product is directly involved in the processes of class I MHC assembly and/or intracellular transport.


The development and validation of fault-tolerant computers for critical real-time applications are currently both costly and time consuming. Often, the underlying technology is out-of-date by the time the computers are ready for deployment. Obsolescence can become a chronic problem when the systems in which they are embedded have lifetimes of several decades. This paper gives an overview of the work carried out in a project that is tackling the issues of cost and rapid obsolescence by defining a generic fault-tolerant computer architecture based essentially on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components (both processor hardware boards and real-time operating systems). The architecture uses a limited number of specific, but generic, hardware and software components to implement an architecture that can be configured along three dimensions: redundant channels, redundant lanes, and integrity levels. The two dimensions of physical redundancy allow the definition of a wide variety of instances with different fault tolerance strategies. The integrity level dimension allows application components of different levels of criticality to coexist in the same instance. The paper describes the main concepts of the architecture, the supporting environments for development and validation, and the prototypes currently being implemented.


Spectral characterization and antimicrobial screening of new 6-aryl-4-(1,1'-biphenyl-4-yl)-N-Methyl-6H-1,3-thiazin-2-amines synthesized from 1-(1,1'-biphenyl-4-yl)-3-arylprop-2-en-1-ones using N-methyl thiourea have been described. The isolated crude products were subjected to column chromatography and used for further analysis. The in vitro antimicrobial study of all synthesized compounds exhibited bacterial activity equal or moderate to the commercial antibiotic moxifloxacin but they were moderate to less active against standard fungi amphotericin B.


Myasthenia gravis is one of the most satisfying neurological disorders to treat. There are few other conditions in which therapeutic intervention can take a patient from being bed-bound and ventilated to normality. Most patients present with less severe symptoms, but even mild extraocular muscle weakness can be profoundly disabling. The standard therapeutic approach is successful for most patients, which can make the non-specialist neurologist somewhat blasé about its management. However, panic can set in when the standard approach fails. Failure is often the result of incorrect diagnosis, or inappropriate use of first-line treatments. This article outlines the main reasons for failure and gives advice on alternative therapeutic strategies.


Increased serum norepinephrine level is one of pathological processes relating to heart disease (HD). Estrogens
are considered as potential therapeutics for the treatment of HD; however, estrogen supplementation
shows some side-effects, such as increasing the risk of developing breast, endometrial and ovarian cancers.
This study investigated the cardio-protective effects of daidzein (Dai), a selective estrogen receptor
modulator (SERM) from soy bean extract, in H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells treated with isoproterenol (ISO),
a norepinephrine analog. In this in vitro model, H9c2 cells treated with Dai at different concentrations
showed no statistical difference in cell viability. TdT-mediated digoxigenin-dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) data and western blotting results indicated
that Dai treated-H9c2 cells recovered from the damage induced by ISO. The recovery effects of Dai
on ISO-induced damage were blocked by inhibition of Akt activation through adding Akt inhibitor.
On the other hand, the fold changes of phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt)/Akt normalized with the control for con, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 3
and 24 h of treatment were 1, 2, 5, 13, 11 and 10, respectively. In conclusion, Dai ameliorates apoptosis
of cardiomyoblasts induced by ISO through Akt signaling pathway.


In practice, some attributes meet a unique constraint: each entity has a unique value for the attribute. A deep web entity identification method was presented to solve problems of data error correction, uniqueness constraint enforcement, and local data fusion in deep web data integration. The method transformed the entity identification phrase to a k-partite graph clustering problem, considering both similarity and association of attribute values. Moreover, it performed global record linkage and data fusion simultaneously and could identify incorrect values and differentiate them from correct ones at the beginning. Experimental results demonstrate the high precision and scalability of our method.