The collapse of turbulence in the nocturnal boundary layer is studied by means of a simple bulk model that describes the basic physical interactions in the surface energy balance. It is shown that for a given mechanical forcing, the amount of turbulent heat that can be transported downward is limited to a certain maximum. In the case of weak winds and clear skies, this maximum can be significantly smaller than the net radiative loss minus soil heat transport. In the case when the surface has low heat capacity, this imbalance generates rapid surface cooling that further suppresses the turbulent heat transport, so that eventually turbulence largely ceases (positive feedback mechanism). The model predicts the minimum wind speed for sustainable turbulence for the so-called crossing level. At this level, some decameters above the surface, the wind is relatively stationary compared to lower and higher levels. The critical speed is predicted in the range of about 5–7 m s21, depending on radiative forcing and surface properties, and is in agreement with observations at Cabauw. The critical value appears not very sensitive to model details or to the exact values of the input parameters. Finally, results are interpreted in terms of external forcings, such as geostrophic wind. As it is generally larger than the speed at crossing height, a 5 m s21 geostrophic wind may be considered as the typical limit below which sustainable, continuous turbulence under clear-sky conditions is unlikely to exist. Below this threshold emergence of the very stable nocturnal boundary layer is anticipated.


Abstract The approaches that researchers use to generate knowledge typically vary with the state of knowledge within a discipline: description of phenomena during early phases, documentation of patterns and explanatory proposals during intermediate stages, and tests of causal hypotheses and theory building during mature stages. Ideally, the approaches used will result in the most efficient maturation of knowledge given the current state of knowledge. However, this idea has seldom been examined for freshwater benthic science, a habitat-based discipline. We evaluated the research approaches used by recent authors of papers published in the Journal of the North American Benthological Society (J-NABS) to assess the state of freshwater benthic science as perceived by freshwater benthic scientists and members of the North American Benthological Society (NABS). To do so, we categorized articles published during 2000 to 2005 in J-NABS with respect to the general research approach (taxonomic descriptions, case studies, descriptions of empirical relationships for predictive purposes, description of patterns sometimes resulting in hypothesis generation, hypothesis testing, and synthesis), how clearly authors addressed knowledge gaps, and more specific research methods used in a study. The following types of descriptive studies were most common: case studies (20%), pattern detection (21%), and quantification of empirical relationships (25%). Tests of hypotheses (25%) or syntheses (6%) were used less often than descriptive methods. Freshwater benthic science papers published in the journal Ecology were much more likely to involve hypothesis testing (54%) than were papers published in J-NABS. The papers published in J-NABS do not seem to be indicative of the true state of knowledge in freshwater benthic science in that authors often seemed to have sufficient information to justify more rigorous research approaches designed to test meaningful hypotheses. Furthermore, only 45% of authors clearly linked predictions or hypotheses to knowledge gaps, although such gaps were clearly defined in 72% of studies. Hypothesis statements clearly were not appropriate in 24% of studies, but their use in the other 76% of studies was highly variable. Hypotheses were explicitly stated in only 24% of studies, implied but not thoroughly developed in 28% of studies, and could have been developed in an additional 24% of studies. Many patterns in freshwater benthic science are now documented, and these documented patterns should provide solid foundations for proposing causal hypotheses, testing those hypotheses, and developing theory. Periodic analyses of the type we present here provide a means by which professional societies such as NABS can assess whether their journals are contributing to the growth of scientific knowledge in a manner consistent with their goals. Such empirical assessments should foster discussion of when and how editorial policies should be adjusted to promote efficient growth of knowledge.


This correspondence analyzes the behavior of code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems with correlated spatial diversity. The users transmit to one or more antenna arrays. The centralized receiver employs a linear multiuser detector. We derive the performance of a large system with random spreading sequences and weak assumptions on the flat-fading channel gains-the fading may be correlated and contain line-of-sight components. We show that, as the number of users and the spreading factor grow large with fixed ratio, the performance of the system is fully characterized by a square matrix with size equal to the number of receiving antennas and multiuser efficiencies are not identical for all users. Our general result includes the analysis of CDMA systems with spatial diversity discussed by Hanly and Tse ('01) for independent channel gains in case of both micro-diversity and macro-diversity and provides a rigorous proof for the macro-diversity case missing in their work. We also show that to any scenario with correlated Rayleigh fading, there exists a macro-diversity scenario with independent Rayleigh fading which is characterized by the same signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR). Furthermore, sufficient conditions are given which force the multiuser efficiencies of all users to become identical also in case of statistically dependent channel gains


Implantation in all mammals involves shedding of the zona pellucida, followed by orientation, apposition, attachment and adhesion of the blastocyst to the endometrium. Endometrial invasion does not occur in domestic ruminants; thus, definitive implantation is achieved by adhesion of the mononuclear trophoblast cells to the endometrial lumenal epithelium (LE) and formation of syncytia by the fusion of trophoblast binucleate cells with the LE. This review highlights new information on mechanisms regulating the implantation cascade in sheep. The embryo enters the uterus on day 4 at the morula stage of development and then develops into a blastocyst by day 6. The blastocyst sheds the zona pellucida (day 8), elongates to a filamentous form (days 11-16), and adheres to the endometrial LE (day 16). Between days 14 and 16, the binucleate cells begin to differentiate in the trophoblast and subsequently migrate and fuse with the endometrial LE to form syncytia. Continuous exposure of the endometrium to progesterone in early pregnancy downregulates the progesterone receptors in the epithelia, a process which is associated with loss of the cell-surface mucin MUC1 and induction of several secreted adhesion proteins. Recurrent early pregnancy loss in the uterine gland knockout ewe model indicates that secretions of the endometrial epithelia have a physiologic role in blastocyst elongation and implantation. A number of endometrial proteins have been identified as potential regulators of blastocyst development and implantation in sheep, including glycosylated cell adhesion molecule 1 (GlyCAM-1), galectin-15, integrins and osteopontin. The epithelial derived secreted adhesion proteins (GlyCAM-1, galectin-15 and osteopontin) are expressed in a dynamic temporal and spatial manner and regulated by progesterone and/or interferon tau, which is the pregnancy recognition signal produced by the trophoblast during blastocyst elongation. The noninvasive and protracted nature of implantation in domestic animals provides valuable opportunities to investigate fundamental processes of implantation that are shared among all mammals. Understanding of the cellular and molecular signals that regulate uterine receptivity and implantation can be used to diagnose and identify causes of recurrent pregnancy loss and to improve pregnancy outcome in domestic animals and humans.


This thesis investigates the relation between ownership structure and firm performance using a sample of 2,120 publicly traded European companies. The question of whether this relation should be positive or negative has been the subject of a wide-ranging discussion and was addressed by many researchers. Of particular interest have been management, family, and employee owners. Nevertheless, there is no consensus in the literature, and empirical studies on European companies are scarce. Utilising data from the European Federation of Employee Share Ownership (EFES) and the Bureau Van Dijk Orbis database, this relation is analysed using multiple linear regression with continuous and categorical predictors. The results show that firms having a management owner concentration up to strategic levels report a significantly higher Tobin's Q than firms having a no or no significant management concentration. The same effect holds true for family owners and employee owners. Measuring the ownership structure as the fraction of shares of the largest shareholder does not yield a significant effect and highlights the value of management, family, and employee owners.
Keywords: Ownership concentration; family ownership; management ownership; employee ownership; firm performance.


This study assesses the effects of two text-messaging programs for parents that aim to support the development of math skills in prekindergarten students. One program focuses purely on math, while the other takes an identical approach but focuses on a combination of math, literacy, and social-emotional skills. We find no evidence that the math-only program benefits children ' s development. However, the combination program shows greater promise, particularly for girls. Quantile regressions indicate that the effects are concentrated in the lower half of the outcome distribution. Results imply that girls may have started the year behind boys in math and caught up to and even surpassed boys when their parents have access to the program that combines topics. Our results also provide evidence that the structure of behavioral interventions can affect who benefits from the program, sometimes in unexpected ways, to produce meaningful differences in outcomes. We discuss and provide evidence for various hypotheses that could explain these differences. Abstract: This study assesses the effects of two text-messaging programs for parents that aim to support the development of math skills in prekindergarten students. One program focuses purely on math, while the other takes an identical approach but focuses on a combination of math, literacy, and social-emotional skills. We find no evidence that the math-only program benefits children's development. However, the combination program shows greater promise, particularly for girls. Quantile regressions indicate that the effects are concentrated in the lower half of the outcome distribution. Results imply that girls may have started the year behind boys in math and caught up to and even surpassed boys when their parents have access to the program that combines topics. Our results also provide evidence that the structure of behavioral interventions can affect who benefits from the program, sometimes in unexpected ways, to produce meaningful differences in outcomes. We discuss and provide evidence for various hypotheses that could explain these differences.


External beam radiotherapy (RT) is the primary treatment modality for patients with inoperable lung tumours. Respiration-induced motion and related intra-/interfractional variations present a series of limitations to the success of existing conventional treatment modalities for lung cancer. Subsequently, to minimise the effects of respiration different management techniques have been proposed and are available. Respiratory gated radiotherapy (RGRT) holds promise to improve dose conformity, reduce the normal tissue control probability while increasing the tumour control probability. Its effectiveness depends on precise tumour localisation and targeting during dose delivery. In this thesis, the suitability of RGRT for the compensation of breathing induced motion was investigated by means of phantom studies and film dosimetry. Both regular and irregular trajectories were simulated during gated dose delivery and their effects on dose distributions analysed. Respiration-induced motion led to dose blurring and hence to less conformal dose distributions, which resulted overall in underdose of the treatment planning volume and an overdose of healthy surrounding tissue. Compared to non-gated dose delivery, RGRT improved dose conformity by enabling steeper dose gradients, resulting in an increased sparing of healthy tissue, at the expenses of increased delivery times. In the presence of irregular motion paths the dosimetric advantages of RGRT were observed to decrease. In the absence of a clinical tool for treatment verification such irregularities may pass unnoticeable and may lead to poor treatment outcomes. Investigations of the suitability of a software tool for tracking lung tumours in portal images during RGRT demonstrated that it is possible to determine and track tumour motion during gated treatment. Both the residual tumour motion inside the gating window as well as the probability density function were used as measures to quantify tumour position and variability. Tracking information was sufficient to quantify residual motion and variability. Baseline drifts as well as sudden fluctuations in tumour positions were detected and quantified, which led to considerable variations in residual motion which in turn may result in marginal miss. Although this was a retrospective analysis of motion data, the tool showed a great potential for verification of the tumour position during RGRT and may possibly be useful for adaptation of the gating window.


Over the last three decades, growing international recognition of the right of students with a disability to attend their local school has prompted change in the formation of education policies, schooling structures and pedagogical practice. Inclusion, as the movement has become known, has since been taken up and developed to different degrees in different regions and to differing degrees of success. Yet, despite sincere attempts to better include students with physical, sensory and intellectual disabilities, new and different forms of exclusion have arisen since the late 1990s; particularly for students with social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. In this lecture, Dr Linda Graham reports on findings from a three year ARC Discovery project to consider the impact of inclusion on the New South Wales government schooling sector, Australia's largest education system.


PURPOSE
This study aimed to assess the use of neuropsychologic tests as a tool to differentiate, or not, between a nonresponding chronic pain condition of nonmuscular origin, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) (n = 20), versus 2 pain conditions of muscular origin, responding (n = 36) and nonresponding (n = 24) temporomandibular disorders.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The neuropsychologic tests used were the simple and multiple-choice reaction-time tests, California Verbal Learning Tests, the Brown-Peterson Consonant Trigram Auditory Memory Test, Sleep Assessment Questionnaire, and Beck Depression Inventory, as well as fatigue and energy level assessments (100-mm visual analog scale).

RESULTS
Most of the tests used were capable of significantly differentiating between responding TMD versus IBS patients. Conversely, no statistically significant difference was found between nonresponding TMD versus IBS patients. Overall, the nonresponding TMD and IBS groups did worse in the neuropsychologic assessment than the responding TMD group, with higher memory deficits, levels of depression and fatigue, more sleep disturbances, and lower energy levels.

CONCLUSIONS
These data suggested that 2 nonresponding chronic pain conditions of different origins may share similar neuropsychologic test results compared to a responding condition. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that nonresponding chronic pain disorders, irrespective of peripheral location, may be regulated centrally and have similar neuropsychologic impacts.


Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are traditionally seen at regular intervals initiated by the rheumatologist. This has resulted in a high volume of costly out-patient reviews creating difficulty for out-patient services to respond to patients in times of need. Research has shown that patients prefer to initiate their own follow-up which has reduced unnecessary out-patient appointments while maintaining patients' physical and psychological status. Aims and objectives: The aims of the study were to evaluate whether there were any differences in standardised outcome measures for rheumatoid arthritis patients participating in a patient-initiated system of follow-up compared to a conventional, rheumatologist-initiated system and secondly to explore the perspectives of these patients. Functional, psychological and satisfaction outcomes were assessed and patients' experiences and views investigated. Methods: Comparative pragmatic study in which mixed methods were used to collect data in two phases. Eighty-eight participants completed the following questionnaires: Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales-2 Short Form, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and a visual analogue scale to measure satisfaction and confidence, and twelve patients then participated in semi-structured interviews. Results: No statistically significant differences between groups for functional, psychological and satisfaction status were found, however those who initiated their own follow-up used fewer resources, felt their appointments were less rushed and were more satisfied with the continuity of their care. Conclusion: Rheumatology services need to face the challenge of overcrowded out-patient departments by empowering patients to initiate their own follow-up care.


Background: Missed appointments are an avoidable cost and a resource inefficiency that impact on the health of the patient and treatment outcomes. Health-care services are increasingly utilising reminder systems to counter these negative effects. Objectives: This project explores the differential effect of reminder systems for different segments of the population for improving attendance, cancellation and rescheduling of appointments. Design: Three inter-related reviews of quantitative and qualitative evidence relating to theoretical explanations for appointment behaviour (review 1), the effectiveness of different approaches to reminding patients to attend health service appointments (review 2) and factors likely to influence non-attendance (review 3). Data sources: Database searches were conducted on Allied and Complementary Medicine, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature Plus with Full Text, The Cochrane Library, EMBASE (via NHS Evidence from 1 January 2000 to January/February 2012), Health Management Information Consortium database, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Xplore, The King's Fund Library Catalogue, Maternity and Infant Care, MEDLINE, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus and Web of Science from 1 January 2000 to January/February 2012. Supplementary screening of references of included studies was conducted to identify additional potentially relevant studies. Conceptual papers were identified for review 1, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and systematic reviews for review 2 and a range of quantitative and qualitative research designs for review 3. Methods: We conducted three inter-related reviews of quantitative and qualitative evidence, involving a review of conceptual frameworks of reminder systems and adherence behaviours, a review of the reminder effectiveness literature and a review informed by realist principles to explain the contexts and mechanisms that explain reminder effectiveness. A preliminary conceptual framework was developed to show how reminder systems work, for whom they work and in which circumstances. Six themes emerged that potentially influence the effectiveness of the reminder or whether or not patients would attend their appointment, namely the reminder–patient interaction, reminder accessibility, health-care settings, wider social issues, cancellation and rebookings, and distal/proxy attributes. Standardised review methods were used to investigate the effectiveness of reminders to promote attendance, cancellation or rebooking across all outpatient settings. Finally, a review informed by realist principles was undertaken, using the conceptualframework to explain the context and mechanisms that influence how reminders support attendance, cancellation and rebooking. Results: A total of 466 papers relating to 463 studies were identified for reviews 2 and 3. Findings from 31 RCTs and 11 separate systematic reviews (review 2 only) revealed that reminder systems are consistently effective at reducing non-attendance at appointments, regardless of health-care setting or patient subgroups. Simple reminders that provide details of timing and location of appointments are effective for increasing attendance at appointments. Reminders that provide additional information over and above the date, time and location of the appointment ('reminder plus') may be more effective than simple reminders at reducing non-attendance and may be particularly useful for first appointments and screening appointments; simple reminders may be appropriate thereafter for most patients the majority of the time. There was strong evidence that the timing of reminders, between 1 and 7 days prior to the appointment, has no effect on attendance; substantial numbers of patients do not receive their reminder; reminders promote cancellation of appointments; inadequate structural factors prevent patients from cancelling appointments; and few studies investigated factors that influence the effectiveness of reminder systems for population subgroups. Limitations: Generally speaking, the systematic review method seeks to provide a precise answer to a tightly focused question, for which there is a high degree of homogeneity within the studies. A wide range of population types, intervention, comparison and outcomes is included within the RCTs we identified. However, use of this wider approach offers greater analytical capability in terms of understanding contextual and mechanistic factors that would not have been evident in a more narrowly focused review and increases confidence that the findings will have relevance in a wide range of service settings. Conclusions: Simple reminders or 'reminder plus' should be sent to all patients in the absence of any clear contraindication. Other reminder alternatives may be relevant for key groups of patients: those from a deprived background, ethnic minorities, substance abusers and those with comorbidities and/or illnesses. We are developing a practice guideline that may help managers to further tailor their reminder systems for their service and client groups. We recommend future research activities in three main areas. First, more studies should routinely consider the potential for differential effects of reminder systems between patient groups in order to identify any inequalities and remedies. Second, 'reminder plus' systems appear promising, but there is a need for further research to understand how they influence attendance behaviour. Third, further research is required to identify strategies to 'optimise' reminder systems and compare performance with current approaches.


Arms control and the designing of global and regional security regimes is important issues in the field of strategic studies. This article proposes that strategic stability and systemic equilibrium are causally related to the formation of security regimes in international politics and Middle East studies. In respect to barriers to the formation of such regime, the author argues that systemic equilibrium and strategic stability are necessary preconditions in order to creation arms control regime in the Middle East . Thus, in light of these arguments, the research concludes that the main obstacles to the formation and sustainability of arms control regimes consist of: structural disequilibrium, imbalance of power, interventions of intrusive powers, global cycles of power and its linkage to this region, as well as strategic instability caused by these variables.


Permafrost thaw is typically measured with active layer thickness, or the maximum seasonal thaw measured from the ground surface. However, previous work has shown that this measurement alone fails to account for ground subsidence and therefore underestimates permafrost thaw. To determine the impact of subsidence on observed permafrost thaw and thawed soil carbon stocks, we quantified subsidence using high‐accuracy GPS and identified its environmental drivers in a permafrost warming experiment near the southern limit of permafrost in Alaska. With permafrost temperatures near 0°C, 10.8 cm of subsidence was observed in control plots over 9 years. Experimental air and soil warming increased subsidence by five times and created inundated microsites. Across treatments, ice and soil loss drove 85–91% and 9–15% of subsidence, respectively. Accounting for subsidence, permafrost thawed between 19% (control) and 49% (warming) deeper than active layer thickness indicated, and the amount of newly thawed carbon within the active layer was between 37% (control) and 113% (warming) greater. As additional carbon thaws as the active layer deepens, carbon fluxes to the atmosphere and lateral transport of carbon in groundwater could increase. The magnitude of this impact is uncertain at the landscape scale, though, due to limited subsidence measurements. Therefore, to determine the full extent of permafrost thaw across the circumpolar region and its feedback on the carbon cycle, it is necessary to quantify subsidence more broadly across the circumpolar region.


The goal of this paper is to investigate and estimate long-run relationships among M1, prices, output and interest rates, with a view to determining if there is a stable relationship that can be interpreted as long-run money demand. The paper uses a maximum-likelihood multiple- equation cointegration technique, developed by Johansen, to fit a system of equations to the data. One finding is that long-run, but not short-run, unitary price elasticity is easily accepted, while the income elasticity is close to one-half. The coefficients on the deviation of money from its long-run equilibrium in the vector error-correction model imply that when M1 is above its long-run demand, money will decrease and prices increase to restore long-run equilibrium. The effects of the deviation on output and interest rates are insignificant, pointing to the weak exogeneity of these variables. The implication of the results is that all the adjustment to return the economy to monetary equilibrium comes from fluctuations in money and prices. However, this does not preclude the possibility that changes in the stock of money may have short-run real effects. Indeed, the results suggest that changes in M1 lead short-term changes in output.


A global radiative transfer model is used to calculate the vertical profile of shortwave radiative forcing from a prescribed amount of aerosols. We study black carbon (BC), sulphate (SO4) and a black and organic carbon mixture typical of biomass burning (BIO), by prescribing aerosol burdens in layers between 1000 hPa and 20 hPa and calculating the resulting direct radiative forcing divided by the burden (NDRF). We find a strong sensitivity in the NDRF for BC with altitude, with a tenfold increase between BC close to the surface and the lower part of the stratosphere. Clouds are a major contributor to this dependence with altitude, but other factors also contribute. We break down and explain the different physical contributors to this strong sensitivity. The results show a modest regional dependence of the altitudinal dependence of BC NDRF between industrial regions, while for regions with properties deviating from the global mean NDRF variability is significant. Variations due to seasons and interannual changes in cloud conditions are found to be small. We explore the effect that large altitudinal variation in NDRF may have on model estimates of BC radiative forcing when vertical aerosol distributions are insufficiently constrained, and discuss possible applications of the present results for reducing inter‐model differences.


This exposition combines a practice-led research project titled 'Tullah and Tom: A Drawing Affair' with a reflective analysis of 'performance drawing'—a tag deployed with increasing frequency in drawing research. Drawing has always been hybridised and concocted with other disciplines and research frameworks, but its contemporary associations with performance art, expanded theatre and the performing arts are under-examined. The co-option of drawing by performance lacks extensive critical engagement, as do significant aspects of the performance drawing process. The subject of this exposition is two of these unexamined aspects—rehearsal and the curtain call. Although there are analogies to be drawn with theatre, this research resists analogy and focuses on these phenomena within the context of drawing practice. Drawing rehearsals and curtain calls are peculiar and specific activities within the performance/drawing nexus, and their examination has yielded significant insight. One private and one public, these ancillary and parasitical processes bracket the performance drawing and fulfil pivotal roles in enacting, re-enacting, and disenthralling the drawing from its performance matrix.


Local governments across Australia are often placed in the invidious position of acknowledging the long term value to the community of a property or place by including it in a heritage register whilst alienating some current, often vocal, sectors of that community who raise concerns over an actual or perceived loss of individual, usually proprietary, rights. Whilst such conflicts of interest are inevitable, the necessity to manage such situations sensitively and effectively remains the lot of the local authority. In order to assist with the appropriate management of such situations, a study has been undertaken into the effects of heritage listing on property value in the context of the management of Queensland's cultural heritage. This has been achieved through a review of key domestic and international studies and seven themes n impacting upon a range of stakeholders across the community - have been elicited from the research and are reported in this paper. Despite the diversity of the material reviewed, a number of defining variables were nominated by the studies as providing useful bench marks n such as geographical context, building type and other variables, and a range of methodologies. A matrix has been generated which is one original contribution of this research and which it is anticipated will be developed from the subsequent field research. The methodologies identified in the literature fell into three main groups n macro, micro and attitudinal n and it is proposed that this broad structure will be used as the basis of the second stage of this study.


We examine the sensitivity of a large scale two-phase liquid argon detector to the directionality of the dark matter signal. This study was performed under the assumption that, above 50 keV of recoil energy, one can determine (with some resolution) the direction of the recoil nucleus without head-tail discrimination, as suggested by past studies that proposed to exploit the dependence of columnar recombination on the angle between the recoil nucleus direction and the electric field. In this paper we study the differential interaction recoil rate as a function of the recoil direction angle with respect to the zenith for a detector located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and we determine its diurnal and seasonal modulation. Using a likelihood-ratio based approach we show that, with the angular information alone, 100 (250) events are enough to reject the isotropic hypothesis at three standard deviation level, for a perfect (400 mrad) angular resolution. For an exposure of 100 tonne years this would correspond to a spin independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of about 10−46 cm2 at 200 GeV WIMP mass. The results presented in this paper provide strong motivation for the experimental determination of directional recoil effects in two-phase liquid argon detectors.


This paper considers the problem of tuning natural frequencies of a linear system by a memoryless controller. Using algebro-geometric methods it is shown how it is possible to improve current sufficiency conditions.The main result is an exact combinatorial characterization of the nilpotency index of the $\bmod 2$ cohomology ring of the real Grassmannian. Using this characterization, new sufficiency results for generic pole assignment for the linear system with m-inputs, p-outputs, and McMillan degree n are given. Among other results it is shown that \[2.25 \cdot \max (m,p) + \min (m,p) - 3 \geq n\] is a sufficient condition for generic real pole placement, provided $\min (m,p) \geq 4$.


The largest and most important fluid system in an aircraft is the fuel system. Obviously, future aircraft projects involve the design of fuel system to some degree. In this project design methodologies for aircraft fuel systems are studied, with the aim to shortening the system development time. This is done by means of illustrative examples of how optimization and the use of matrix methods, such as the morphological matrix, house of quality and the design structure matrix, have been developed and implemented at Saab Aerospace in the conceptual design of aircraft fuel systems. The methods introduce automation early in the development process and increase understanding of how top requirements regarding the aircraft level impact low-level engineering parameters such as pipe diameter, pump size, etc. The morphological matrix and the house of quality matrix are quantified, which opens up for use of design optimization and probabilistic design. The thesis also discusses a systematic approach when building a large simulation model of a fluid system where the objective is to minimize the development time by applying a strategy that enables parallel development and collaborative engineering, and also by building the model to the correct level of detail. By correct level of detail is meant the level that yields a simulation outcome that meets the stakeholders' expectations. The experienced gained at Saab in building a simulation model, mainly from the Gripen fuel system, but also the accumulated experience from other system models, is condensed and fitted into an overall process.


Abstract TREC-COVID is an information retrieval (IR) shared task initiated to support clinicians and clinical research during the COVID-19 pandemic. IR for pandemics breaks many normal assumptions, which can be seen by examining 9 important basic IR research questions related to pandemic situations. TREC-COVID differs from traditional IR shared task evaluations with special considerations for the expected users, IR modality considerations, topic development, participant requirements, assessment process, relevance criteria, evaluation metrics, iteration process, projected timeline, and the implications of data use as a post-task test collection. This article describes how all these were addressed for the particular requirements of developing IR systems under a pandemic situation. Finally, initial participation numbers are also provided, which demonstrate the tremendous interest the IR community has in this effort.


How did a time-keeping device affect the growth of crafts guilds and the scientific research that led to the Industrial Revolution? Clocks and Culture is a brief history of the changes wrought by and on Europe over four hundred years due to technological advances in timekeeping and the rise of a time-aware culture. In his introduction, Anthony Grafton, Henry Putnam University Professor of History at Princeton University, puts this classic book in perspective.


A method of fabricating stainless steel pellets with open‐cell porosity is presented in the context of producing metallic analogs of biological materials. Powder metallurgy approach is employed by mixing powders of food grade AISI 316L stainless steel and silica. After sintering, the spacer is removed by alkaline leaching. The resulting metal framework has interconnected porosity, low apparent density (≈1.91 g cm−3) and yield strength from 4.2 to 220 MPa. The effects of initial silica content (between 20 and 60 vol%) and silica particle size (small 0.–10 µm, medium 110 µm, and large 170–630 µm) on the resulting structural and mechanical properties are studied.


This paper presents the results of a pilot undertaken at the University of Brighton which explores new methods of including students in assessment and feedback design. A team from the Centre for Learning and Teaching worked with staff and students from an undergraduate BSc course to expand the TESTA method (Jessop, el-Hakim, Gibbs 2011) to incorporate three extra activities. These were the identification of a group of key assessment and feedback events, a card organisation activity that was used with students in focus groups, and a multiple choice questionnaire presented to a whole year cohort. These activities generated a rich set of data around student involvement in feedback design and the role of emotion in assessment and feedback. The paper explores these methods, discusses their strengths and weaknesses as an extension to TESTA, and makes suggestions for how the different aspects of the project can contribute to institutional course development.


Contradictory and provocative pathways crisscross the terrain of gender among contemporary psychologists and psychoanalysts. Clearing a path through this terrain, Polly Young-Eisendrath describes and illustrates issues of gender and desire among women and men. Young-Eisendrath introduces three world views: premodern, modern, and postmodern. Then, she calls our attention to how we shape reality and clearly explains how a lived postmodern philosophy is essential for us to understand ourselves and how we can change. Next, she discusses gender and sex differences in terms of how the former are flexible and the latter are not. The division of the human community into the two exclusive groups of male and female has important psychological implications on both conscious and unconsious levels. Most depth psychological theories of gender and sex have been androncentric, taking males as the norm for health, and have failed to develop a full understanding of desire, opposition, and idealization between the sexes. One major theme in a depth psychology of gender is that of Woman as the object of desire. The Greek myth of Pandora deftly illustrates the problem of female beauty: as the "desire-awakening maiden" Pandora is powerful but empty. The link between female beauty, power, and evil teaches us about the consequences of female appearance as a commodity to be used among men. Zeus placed the curse of Pandora on humankind, as a punishment for the theft of fire from the gods, and we are still living with the effects of this patriarchal curse. The double bind of female beauty (damned if you engage it and damned if you don't) must be lifted from the male-female relationships in this time of growingequality and reciprocity between the sexes. For women and men to reach their full potential of development as individuals and in relationships, they must break Pandora's curse and free themselves from the myth of the power of female beauty. In working to liberate us from the curse o


In 2007 and 2008 Professor Elizabeth Warren proposed a new federal consumer financial protection agency. The aim was to ensure the financial products consumers purchase meet minimum safety standards. That proposal has become part of the Dodd – Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This article explores whether the Act will usher in a new era of robust consumer protection. The focus of this article is on consumer protection in the mortgage markets. Its study of the mortgage markets occurs in an environment in which two public policy approaches were embraced and tested in the last three decades: a principle – based approach to regulation and a net societal benefits standard as the threshold for regulatory intervention. Part One of this article explores market outcomes in the 1982 to 2009 era of principles- based regulation. Contrary to the predicted benefit of congruence with the legislative purposes of safe and sound mortgage lending and fairness in lending transactions, this regulatory approach led to a significant increase in offerings of unsafe and unsound lending products, as well as unfair products. The Dodd – Frank Act alters the regulatory structure through the re-embrace of a rules-based standard for mortgage market operations, in the form of mandatory underwriting standards and specified, prescribed conduct. However, experience has demonstrated that a change in regulatory approach can more effectively lead to legislative congruence only if combined with enforcement measures that convince industry members that compliance is wise from a cost-benefit perspective. Industry cost-benefit evaluations, before and after the Dodd-Frank Act, are explored in Part three of this article.Part Two of the article examines outcomes in a regulatory regime that has embraced a net societal benefits threshold for regulatory intervention. The mortgage market experience in the post-1994 period is explored. It reveals that a net societal benefits threshold for regulatory intervention can easily lead to inaction on the part of regulatory agencies. In the long-term, the mortgage markets witnessed the evaporation of the net societal benefits that had led to regulatory inaction in the period prior to 2009. The Dodd – Frank Act reaffirms the legislative goal of fairness in credit market transactions but then, for the first time, expressly embraces a net societal benefits threshold for future regulatory interventions. This calls into question the likelihood that the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency will adequately protect consumers against future abusive lending practices.


Abstract Mineral replacement reactions take place primarily by dissolution-reprecipitation processes. Processes such as cation exchange, chemical weathering, deuteric alteration, leaching, pseudomorphism, metasomatism, diagenesis and metamorphism are all linked by common features in which one mineral or mineral assemblage is replaced by a more stable assemblage. The aim of this paper is to review some of these aspects of mineral replacement and to demonstrate the textural features they have in common, in order to emphasize the similarities in the underlying microscopic mechanisms. The role of volume change and evolution of porosity is explored both from natural microtextures and new experiments on model replacement reactions in simple salts. It is shown that the development of porosity is often a consequence of mineral replacement processes, irrespective of the relative molar volumes of parent and product solid phases. The key issue is the relative solubility of the phases in the fluid phase. Concepts such as coupled dissolution-precipitation, and autocatalysis are important in understanding these processes. Some consequences of porosity generation for metamorphic fluid flow as well as subsequent crystal growth are also discussed.


The Ottoman Empire began in 1300 under the almost legendary Osman I, reached its apogee in the sixteenth century under Suleiman the Magnificent, whose forces threatened the gates of Vienna, and gradually diminished thereafter until Mehmed VI was sent into exile by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk). In this definitive history of the Ottoman Empire, Lord Kinross, painstaking historian and superb writer, never loses sight of the larger issues, economic, political, and social. At the same time he delineates his characters with obvious zest, displaying them in all their extravagance, audacity and, sometimes, ruthlessness.


The performance of a school system can be evaluated through the learning levels of the pupils, usually summarized by school mean scores. The variability of the mean scores among schools is rarely studied in detail, though it is a crucial issue especially in primary schools: in fact, a high variability among schools raises doubts on the capacity of the system to guarantee equal educational opportunities. To investigate the patterns of variability in Italy, we analyse data from INVALSI, the Italian national institute for the evaluation of the school system, which regularly carries out standardized tests to assess the learning levels of the pupils at various grades. We consider the mathematics test administered to fifth-grade pupils at the end of the 2008/2009 year, along with a pupil's questionnaire for measuring socio-economic factors. The analysis is performed using a random intercept linear model on the Rasch score of the mathematics test, with pupil-level errors depending on gender and school-level errors depending on the geographical area. The model includes several demographic and socioeconomic explanatory variables and some compositional variables obtained as school means of pupil variables. The results show a considerable increase in the residual variance among schools when going from North to South, pointing out a serious issue of fairness in Southern Italy. The situation is mitigated by the finding that a substantial part of the residual variance among schools is due to a few schools with exceptionally positive results.


Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is a well-known plant including different cultivars and clones. In spite of the extensive works at the cultivar level, identification and determination of clonal genetic variation has remained as a challenge. To assess the genetic variation between clones of grapevine cv. 'Bidaneh Ghermez', 20 selected clones were analyzed for cluster weight (CW), cluster length (CL), cluster width (CWI), berry weight (BW), berry length (BL), berry width (BWI) and total soluble solids (TSS) in randomized complete block design with three replications. Analysis of variance revealed considerable genetic variation for all measured traits (except cluster width) among clones. Cluster analysis, discriminant function analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) showed same results and all clones assigned in 2 groups. First group was including 9 clones and second group was including 11 clones. Overall, our results indicated C7, C10, C12 and C14 clones were best clones and have potential to introduce promising clones for stablishing new vineyard with high yield.


Although the development of science and technology in the present era has increased human satisfaction from life, it has caused the problems such as environmental pollution and increased demand for energy carriers, especially fossil fuels. Considering that fossil fuels can be exhausted, the most suitable solutions to address the consequences are the use of renewable energy sources to generate electricity. In this paper, using the Particle Cumulative Optimization (PSO) algorithm, we have tried to design an optimal photovoltaic and winding model to supply the power of an area in such a way that the electrical charge generated by this system has the reliable capability and economically viable.


Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms have become powerful tools for Bayesian inference. However, they do not scale well to large-data problems. Divide-and-conquer strategies, which split the data into batches and, for each batch, run independent MCMC algorithms targeting the corresponding subposterior, can spread the computational burden across a number of separate workers. The challenge with such strategies is in recombining the subposteriors to approximate the full posterior. By creating a Gaussian-process approximation for each log-subposterior density we create a tractable approximation for the full posterior. This approximation is exploited through three methodologies: firstly a Hamiltonian Monte Carlo algorithm targeting the expectation of the posterior density provides a sample from an approximation to the posterior; secondly, evaluating the true posterior at the sampled points leads to an importance sampler that, asymptotically, targets the true posterior expectations; finally, an alternative importance sampler uses the full Gaussian-process distribution of the approximation to the log-posterior density to re-weight any initial sample and provide both an estimate of the posterior expectation and a measure of the uncertainty in it.


Since the 1990s, internationalisation has become key for institutions wishing to secure funding for higher education and research. For the academic community, this strategic shift has had many consequences. Priorities have changed and been influenced by new ways of thinking about universities, and of measuring their impact in relation to each other and to their social goals. Debates are ongoing and hotly contested. In this collection, a mix of renowned academics and newer voices reflect on some of the realities of international research partnerships. They both question and highlight the agency of academics, donors and research institutions in the geopolitics of knowledge and power. The contributors offer fresh insights on institutional transformation, the setting of research agendas, and access to research funding, while highlighting the dilemmas researchers face when their institutions are vulnerable to state and donor influence. Offering a range of perspectives on why academics should collaborate and what for, this book will be useful to anyone interested in how scholars are adapting to the realities of international networking and how research institutions are finding innovative ways to make North?South partnerships and collaborations increasingly fair, sustainable and mutually beneficial.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the attitudes of Hong Kong Chinese elders with chronic disease with regard to advance directives and life-sustaining treatment.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

SETTING
Medical unit of a regional teaching hospital in Hong Kong.

PARTICIPANTS
In-patients aged 60 years or above with chronic disease.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Demographic profiles and attitudes towards advance directives and life-sustaining treatment.

RESULTS
A total of 219 elderly patients completed the questionnaire. Their mean age was 73 (standard deviation, 8) years; 133 (61%) were female. The majority had neither heard about advance directives (81%), nor discussed the issue with others (73%) before participating in this study. After they were informed of the concept of advance directives, about half (49%) said they would consider using it if it is legislated in Hong Kong. The respondents generally supported the withholding or withdrawing of life-sustaining treatment in medically futile situations. In all, 55% of them believed that the patient alone should make the decision on withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, if competent to do so. If the patient became not competent, 44% believed that the individual's family alone should make such a decision.

CONCLUSION
The fact that most of the respondents had never heard about advance directives or discussed the concept with others points to a lack of knowledge and to the necessity to step up public education about such issues.


While N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have proven
highly effective in various polymerization reactions, the drawback is their
high sensitivity towards air and water, which necessitates handling under
rigorously anhydrous conditions. In this report, an air-stable two-component
NHC photogenerator ─ 2-isopropylthioxanthone (ITX) as photosensitive species
and 1,3-bis(mesityl)imidazolium tetraphenylborate
(IMesH+ BPh4-) acting as NHC protected precursor
─ has been utilized to organocatalyze thiol-Michael reaction for small molecule
and polymer synthesis. The feasibility of photoNHC catalysis in addition
reactions involving thiol and ene molecules was investigated using 1H
NMR spectroscopy. The synthesis of cross-linked polythioether polymer via a
step-growth polymerization was then studied using FTIR spectroscopy, optical
pyrometry and gel content measurements.


Khirbet et-Tireh was inhabited during the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods, and was later used as agricultural land throughout the Ottoman-Turkish period and down to modern times. The ancient settlement has been determined to cover a total area of approximately 30,000 square meters. However, 75 percent of its historic fortified space has been destroyed over the past few decades by the construction of roads, a school, a gas station and several residential structures on its northern part. The surviving architectural remains at the Khirbet include a system of fortifications, a Byzantine monastery, two Byzantine-era churches, a rock-cut reservoir, a cistern, water channels, a rock-cut olive press, several burial caves, a street (or a wide pathway corridor), and several dry-stone terrace walls. The unearthed part of the eastern church complex measures 28.8 m long along its east-west axis and a maximum of 25.5 m wide in its north-south dimension. It follows a basilical plan and consists of five main parts: four south side rooms, an atrium, a narthex, a main hall, and three northeast side rooms. The entire area of the church was once paved with mosaic carpets consisting of geometric and figurative designs, with the richly colored tesserae encompassing various shades of white, black, grey, yellow, orange, pink, wine red, green and blue. Furthermore, remains of two plaster layers were uncovered on the interior faces of the majority of the walls of the church complex. After the final consolidation and conservation of the mosaic pavements of the church, as a protective measure we are covering the mosaics with a permeable, plastic-mesh geotextile, topped by a layer of sieved soil 0.25 m thick.


Monodisperse precipitates of silver bromide were made which had average grain sizes in the range of 0.1 to 1.0 μ. The optical transmittance of dilute turbid suspensions of the grains was measured over the wavelength range from 300 to 700 mμ. Suspensions in water and in gelatin coatings were measured and the results compared with the single, independent scattering theories of Rayleigh and of Mie. Satisfactory-agreement between theory and experiment was found in most cases, but some effects of multiple scattering were found in coatings where the centers of grains were separated by less than two grain diameters.


Major defence projects have a reputation of cost increases, time delays and in some cases not meeting user requirements. The aim of this study was to discover the factors which create the difficulties in UK defence acquisition projects. The dataset used in this research are seventeen, National Audit Office: Value for Money reports of major defence projects. Qualitative Software NVivo 8 was used to organise passages from the reports into categories of factors representing the defence acquisition process. A content analysis method was applied to the categories in order to highlight their quantitative and qualitative significance. A Transaction Cost Economics approach was taken to formulate the research propositions, which were tested using the qualitative content analysis.The fundamental transformation in defence procurement leads to post-contract asset specificity. There is a lack of substitute suppliers in defence procurement due to the high switching costs. There are three reasons given for this development in defence: (1) a legacy of the privatisation policy in the defence industry; (2) ownership transfers of specialised assets under the prime contracting approach and; (3) the transaction-specific investments by the MoD. The prime is able to take advantage of transaction-specific and relation-specific investments in the transaction for future contract tenders, due to the pre-contract asset specificity which results. This sequence of events is identified as the cause of the bilateral dependency condition in defence acquisition.Uncertainty and asset specificity, to a lesser extent, were identified as the major causes of transaction-costs in defence acquisition. These transaction-costs were given as the causes of failures in meeting the value for money criteria of defence projects. The MoD has responded, in recent time, to project failure through a governance trade-off from a traditional market-based transaction towards a bilateral governance approach. A focus of this bilateral governance approach is the application of Smart Acquisition principles and the IPT mechanism (joint MoD-Industry teams). In order to strengthen and support the IPT mechanism it is argued that a relational contracting approach should be taken. Traditional contracting approaches weaken the joint team working, whereas relational contracting applies partnership principles of better communication, cooperation and collaboration.


Computer-based models and analytical techniques are powerful components of infrastructure management systems. However, the availability of data sets significantly affects the usefulness of such systems. The primary objective of this paper is to discuss the development of Geographic Information System (GIS) based data bases that would support management systems for rail infrastructure. It also discusses applications of such systems for risk and routing analyses including hazardous materials shipments. Specifically, the paper addresses the development of a GIS-based system for rail infrastructure with respect to several key elements and characteristics of a typical mainline railroad track. Examples of these elements include geographic alignment, longitudinal gradient and elevation, sidings, bridges and culverts, and at-grade rail/highway crossings.


Open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) still represent
a significant proportion of the maize (Zea mays
L.) seed system in many countries of sub-
Saharan Africa. The International Maize and
Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) has
been breeding improved maize varieties for the
stress-prone environments experienced by most
smallholder farmers in eastern and southern
Africa for over 30 yr. Hybrid breeding is now the
major focus of the CIMMYT breeding pipeline.
However, OPVs are generated within the hybrid
pipeline. This is the first study to document
genetic gain for maize grain yield under both
optimal and stress (random and managed
drought, low nitrogen [N], and maize streak virus
[MSV]) conditions within the CIMMYT eastern
and southern African OPV breeding pipeline.
Genetic gain was estimated using the slope of
the regression on the year of OPV release in
regional trials over a 12-yr period (1999–2011).
Open-pollinated varieties were separated into
two maturity groups, early (<70 d to anthesis)
and intermediate-late (>70 d to anthesis).
Genetic gain in the early maturity group under
optimal conditions, random drought, low N, and
MSV was 109.9, 29.2, 84.8, and 192.9 kg ha−1
yr−1. In the intermediate-late maturity group,
genetic gain under optimal conditions, random
drought, low N, and MSV was 79.1, 42.3, 53.0
and 108.7 kg ha−1 yr−1. No significant yield gains
were made under managed drought stress
for both maturity groups. Our results show
continued improvement in OPVs for both yield
potential and stress tolerance.


Official data, administered by National Statistic Institutes (NSIs), play crucial role for being a major element of the governmental economic and social decision‐making process. This strategic role raises a significant necessity for statistical authorities to adopt new data tools to shift the statistical quality of the published data to a higher level. Data mining (DM) techniques and algorithms are promising tools to provide new ways to mine the crucial, complex, and voluminous official data to complement or substitute the traditional and lagged‐behind tools that NSIs have been using. This study addresses this potential utilization of DM tools on official data with a specific problem in an important survey for official statistics: Household Budget Survey. Through this study, clustering techniques are employed to characterize the household types and association rule mining technique is used to mine consumption patterns for each differentiated type. It is aimed to integrate the proposed model into data preprocessing procedure of the NSI to be able to engage in the real time analyses and to contribute exactness and timeliness of the data. WIREs Data Mining Knowl Discov 2018, 8:e1227. doi: 10.1002/widm.1227


This thesis is concerned with attempts to establish solid-state NMR as a complementary technique to X-ray crystallography for providing information on crystal structure, i.e. information regarding conformation, packing and inter- or intra-molecular interactions. Methods of assigning the solid-state NMR spectrum have been used which rely upon (^1)H-(^13)C dipolar interactions and upon the shielding anisotropy experienced by the nuclei. Single pulse experiments have also been used to identify solvate molecules. Of particular importance, the anisotropy and asymmetry have been found for a number of steroids, and the values used to assign the high frequency region of the spectrum. This has enabled chemical shifts to be linked to the hydrogen bonds that are present. Thus, the mode of hydrogen bonding can be predicted in forms of cortisone acetate for which the crystal structure is not available. Chemical shifts have also been linked with the conformation of the D ring. In this way, important crystallographic information has been gleaned from the solid-state NMR spectrum. The effect of the formation of hydrogen bonds upon the shielding tensor components of carbonyl and ester carbons has been studied, and found to cause a high frequency shift in δ22, which is probably oriented along the C=0 bonds. This leads to a high frequency shift in the isotropic chemical shift. The effect of the spinning speed upon the centreband intensity of a peak as the anisotropy and asymmetry are varied has been investigated. It has been found that at low spiiming speeds, the centreband intensity does not vary in a simple fashion. Thus it is recommended that full shielding tensor analysis is performed. The effect of the spinning speed on the sample temperature has also been studied. Results show that at low spinning speeds (up to 2 kHz) there is sample cooling as the spinning speed increases (attributed to the Joule -Thompson effect). But at higher spinning speeds (above 2 kHz) then there is sample heating as the spinning speed increases. The importance of this result is discussed. The effect of quadrupolar nuclei (35C1 and (^14)N) upon the spectrum of a spin-(^1)(_2) nucleus ((^13)C) has been studied. In favourable cases, the anisotropy in the spin-spin coupling constant has been found, whilst in other cases, the sign and magnitude of the quadrupolar coupling constant have been obtained. The broadening of resonances of carbon atoms adjacent to quadrupolar nuclei has been valuable in assigning the solid-state NMR spectra. The broadening effect has also been observed at more distant sites. It has not been possible to distinguish the effects of (^37)C1 and (^35)C1 on the carbon spectra of chlorine containing steroids.


Internet routers and Ethernet switches contain packet buffers to hold packets during times of congestion. Packet buffers are at the heart of every packet switch and router, which have a combined annual market of tens of billions of dollars, and equipment vendors spend hundreds of millions of dollars on memory each year. Designing packet buffers used to be easy: DRAM was cheap, low power and widely used. But something happened at 10 Gb/s when packets started to arrive and depart faster than the access time of a DRAM. Alternative memories were needed, but SRAM is too expensive and power-hungry. A caching solution is appealing, with a hierarchy of SRAM and DRAM, as used by the computer industry. However, in switches and routers it is not acceptable to have a ldquomiss-raterdquo as it reduces throughput and breaks pipelines. In this paper we describe how to build caches with 100% hit-rate under all conditions, by exploiting the fact that switches and routers always store data in FIFO queues. We describe a number of different ways to do it, with and without pipelining, with static or dynamic allocation of memory. In each case, we prove a lower bound on how big the cache needs to be, and propose an algorithm that meets, or comes close, to the lower bound. These techniques are practical and have been implemented in fast silicon; as a result, we expect the techniques to fundamentally change the way switches and routers use external memory.


"Want to Play?" is the electrifying debut crime novel from PJ Tracy. In this electrifying debut, the slaying of an old couple in small town America looks like one-off act of brutal retribution. But at the same time, in Minneapolis, teams of detectives scramble to stop a sickeningly inventive serial killer striking again in a city paralysed by fear. When the two separate investigations converge on an isolated catholic boarding school, decades old secrets begin to fall away. It seems an old killer has resurfaced. Yet still the killer's real identity remains dangerously out of reach..."Want to Play?" introduces PJ Tracy's cult thriller characters Grace MacBride and Detectives Gino and Magozzi. Follow their journeys in subsequent works including "Play to Kill" and "Dead Run". Praise for PJ Tracy: "The thriller debut of the year". (Harlan Coben). "Fast paced ...a gripping read". ("Guardian"). PJ Tracy is a pseudonym for the mother and daughter writing team of P.J. and Traci Lambrecht. They are the authors of bestselling thrillers "Want to Play?", "Live Bait", "Dead Run" and "Snow Blind".


Babor, T., & Robaina, K. (2016). The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): A review of graded severity algorithms and national adaptations. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 5(2), 17-24. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v5i2.222Aims: Since it was first released in 1989, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) has generated a large amount of research to evaluate its psychometric properties. The purpose of this review is to critically evaluate the literature relevant to applications of the AUDIT in screening, brief intervention, and treatment referral programs, and identify national adaptations of the AUDIT to country-specific health, education, and reimbursement needs.Methods: Methods comprised a search of the world literature published since 2004, combined with review articles published since 1997.Findings: We identified 431 studies of the AUDIT, including 386 articles, 26 review papers, and 11 book chapters since 2004, with a six-fold increase in the last decade. The factor structure of the AUDIT items remains unclear, but the weight of evidence supports a two-factor model. Despite the translation of the AUDIT into numerous languages, the alcohol consumption questions were rarely adapted to suit cultural or national conditions. Although numerous studies have supported the recommended cutoff thresholds for a possible alcohol use disorder, only three studies evaluated the classification accuracy of the AUDIT's graded severity system.Conclusions: Further development of the AUDIT score's severity zones is needed to guide intervention selection in clinical settings.


Rhododendron arboreum Sm., placed under the genus Rhododendron L. in the family Ericaceae Juss. consists of c. 1000 species, of these c. 102 species occur in India. R. arboreum Sm. is restricted to a few South Eastern Asian countries. In India, the species is distributed in the Himalayas, North Eastern India and hill tops of South Western Ghats. Detailed investigations of the genus were studied by several workers but nobody studied variation in R. arboreum complex. A few workers described pollen morphology of Ericaceae including Rhododendron, but they did not study different subspecies of R. arboreum. No detailed investigation on leaf anatomy was also reported. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the contribution of leaf anatomy and pollen morphology along with herbarium and field based exomorphological data to delimit infraspecific variations in R. arboreum complex.


1. A comparison has been made of surgical and medical treatment in patients with arteriosclerotic renal artery stenosis and hypertension. 2. Immediate post-operative blood pressure was often normal, but frequently rose again later. After the sixth year only about 25% of surgical patients were normotensive without drug treatment. 3. Nephrectomy and vascular reconstruction gave similar results. 4. We presently believe that post-operative anticoagulant therapy is indicated in patients undergoing surgery for arteriosclerotic renal artery stenosis.


Since the first edition of The Psychology of Risk there have been enormous macro-economic and socio-political changes globally - the chaos in the world banking system and the financial crisis and recessions that it presaged; the Arab Spring and the revolutionary shifts in power in the Middle East with rippled consequences around the world; the development of ever-more sophisticated cyber-terrorism that can strike the private individual or the nation state with equal ease. Amidst these changes in the face of hazard, do the psychological models built to explain human reactions to risk still apply? Has the research over the last few years resulted in an improvement in our understanding of how people perceive and act in relation to risk? In this second edition Professor Dame Breakwell uses illustrations and current examples to address these questions and provide a totally up-to-the minute review of what is known about the psychology of risk.


Boron (B) termination plays an important role in determining the surface properties of the diamond (100) surface. A recent study [J. Mater. Chem. C, 2019, 7, 9756] reported a stable surface structure with one B atom per carbon atom based on high-symmetry adsorption sites having a negative electron affinity (EA) property. In this work, using the global structure prediction method and first-principle calculations, four kinds of B-diamond (100) surfaces with 0.5 monolayers (0.5 ML, one B atom per two carbon atoms), and 1 ML-α, 1 ML-β, and 1 ML-γ (one B atom per carbon atom with three types of configurations known as α, β, and γ) coverages obtained are dynamically and thermally stable. The calculations reveal that B termination effectively modulates the EA of the diamond (100) surface. The 0.5 ML coverage has a small positive EA of 0.24 eV, while the latter three 1 ML coverages with different configurations possess the negative EA of -1.27, -1.25, and -0.76 eV, respectively, due to the difference in charge accumulation and surface dipole moment. Moreover, the B-related surface states are introduced into the bandgap of the bulk diamond, and the band dispersions of the surface states are small (large) in 0.5 ML and 1 ML-γ (1 ML-α and 1 ML-β) as a consequence of the different arrangements of B atoms and the bond lengths between B atoms on the surface. Our finding provides theoretical guidance for the design and fabrication of B-diamond-based electronic devices.


The church in Texas, where a few are fabulously rich and many are dirt poor, affords some splendid illustrations of the influence of economics on spirituality. A notable example is how the Episcopal diocese of Texas began to change in the wake of the oil strike at Spinclletop in 1901, the pivotal event of state history. In 1900 this had been a world of landless tenant farmers facing falling cotton prices, mounting debt, and boll weevils, with the Austin floods and the Galveston hurricane thrown in. The appropriate diocesan theology was high-church of the South Carolina type (Lawrence L. Brown, The Episcopal Church in Texas, vol. 2, Austin, 1985): preachers exhorted the faithful to set their sights on treasures which neither moth nor rust could consume, to be thankful for their daily bread, and to recognize God's will in adversity. Within a year of Spindletop, many had pocketed huge wealth, and 500 new companies were operating in Beaumont, including those from which Texaco, Sun oil, Gulf oil, and Exxon have descended. The bishop of Texas, George Herbert Kinsolving, visited the town in 1902, and one can almost see his theology yawing. At first he was disgusted with the displays of "that most loathsome of all diseases, the itch for gain." Then, more hopefully, he reflected that some of these rapacious speculators might be Episcopalians, and once settled in their new prosperity they might "awaken to a sense of responsibility to the Church of God and manifest their gratitude by generous offerings." One day soon, Texas Episcopalians would make complete theological peace with "the itch for gain." No city benefited more from the oil boom than Houston. Once the mosquitoes were sprayed and the Buffalo Bayou was dredged from the Gulf of Mexico, Houston became one of the world's busiest deep-water ports. And it determined to be friendly to business. The "free-enterprise city" boasts weak unions, low taxes, poor city services, a high tolerance for environmental toxicity, and no zoning regulations whatever. It has become the fourth largest city in the United States. Growth has been proportional in the diocese of Texas, a territory of about 50,000 square miles in the southeast quadrant of the state. In 1900 it had 23 thinly attended congregations; today it is the second largest diocese in the Episcopal Church, with 86,000 members (according to parochial reports for 2002) and 160 congregations. Affluence and a free-enterprise climate are particularly on display in uptown Houston, just west of the Interstate 610 loop. This belongs to the seventh congressional district, where in 2002 the Republican candidate won re-election with 89 percent of the vote. Its most famous landmark is the Galleria, where the well-heeled shop their way through Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Gucci, Tiffany, and 375 other stores. A mile and a half north of the Galleria stands a newer landmark, equally testifying to local wealth. Opened only in 2004, it is a huge limestone and brick church in German early gothic style, with two spires reaching 188 feet. This marks St. Martin Church, whose membership of over 7400 makes it the largest Episcopal congregation in the United States. A visitor decides to see whether there may be signs that wealth and Republicanism have influenced Anglican life and liturgy in this privileged place. St. Martin stands in a subdivision called Tanglewood, which was named after Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales by its developer, an Episcopalian named William Giddings Farrington (1901-1967). The 750acre subdivision opened in 1949, and its large lots (the median size is 0.4 acre), rambling ranch-style homes with air conditioning, gently curved wooded streets, hiking trails, and good drainage attracted the first buyers. Most of the original houses have been replaced by elegant twostory executive homes, typically of Palladian or Spanish inspiration. Today there are about 1050 homes in Tanglewood, and the median family income is over $200,000. …


This Article focuses on the role of the lawyers using the framework described by Professor Richard J. Lazarus in his 2008 article, Advocacy Matters Before and Within the Supreme Court: Transforming the Court by Transforming the Bar. Lazarus argues the modern Supreme Court bar has come to be dominated by a small number of Supreme Court specialists. Because of their experience and superior knowledge of the Justices and Supreme Court practice, Supreme Court specialists are more likely to obtain outcomes desired by their clients, which are typically large corporations or industry trade associations. Consistent with Lazarus's finding, this Article shows the video game industry's representation by a Supreme Court specialist in Brown gave it advantages over California that likely affected the outcome of the case.
Part II analyzes whether the counsel in Brown fit within Lazarus's definition of a Supreme Court specialist. Part III provides background on the Brown case and the cases that came before it. Part IV compares the expert and non-expert representation in Brown by examining the parties' briefs, the amicus briefs, and the oral argument. Finally, Part V explores whether the case might have come out differently if both sides had been represented by Supreme Court specialists. It concludes that with expert representation, California could have captured the five votes necessary to win, or at least obtained a narrower decision that would have allowed the legislature to try again to craft a law that could survive a constitutional challenge.


Abstract As datafication progressively invades all spheres of contemporary society, citizens grow increasingly aware of the critical role of information as the new fabric of social life. This awareness triggers new forms of civic engagement and political action that we term "data activism". Data activism indicates the range of sociotechnical practices that interrogate the fundamental paradigm shift brought about by datafication. Combining Science and Technology Studies with Social Movement Studies, this theoretical article offers a foretaste of a research agenda on data activism. It foregrounds democratic agency vis-à-vis datafication, and unites under the same label ways of affirmative engagement with data ("proactive data activism", e. g. databased advocacy) and tactics of resistance to massive data collection ("reactive data activism", e. g. encryption practices), understood as a continuum along which activists position and reposition themselves and their tactics. The article argues that data activism supports the emergence of novel epistemic cultures within the realm of civil society, making sense of data as a way of knowing the world and turning it into a point of intervention and generation of data countercultures. It offers the notion of data activism as a heuristic tool for the study of new forms of political participation and civil engagement in the age of datafication, and explores data activism as an evolving theoretical construct susceptible to contestation and revision.


The evolution of acute delusive psychosis towards schizophrenia is far from prevalent, and in fact represents a minority of cases. However, it is indispensable that the care and treatment of every acute delusive episode continue for a period of one or two years after the symptoms have subsided. Specialized follow-up care allows for ongoing observation and evaluation of the patient, and enables us to give a more precise diagnosis, which may be that of mood disorder.


Third party litigation funding, or litigation finance, is a new industry composed of institutional investors who invest in litigation by providing finance in return for an ownership stake in a legal claim and a contingency in the recovery. Its emergence has been recognized as one of the most significant developments in civil litigation today. It will transform access to justice, and affect numerous areas of the law including corporate law, torts, intellectual property, environmental law, employment law and international law. Hailing from the U.K. and Australia, the practice is de facto prohibited in the U.S., largely through ethical rules disallowing champerty and fee-sharing among lawyers and non-lawyers. But market forces, including pressure exerted on U.S. law firms by overseas competitors with access to funding, are propelling the penetration of the industry into the U.S. The article addresses litigation finance by institutional investors in the U.S. It describes the empirical reality of the industry; addresses the emergence of a secondary market in legal claims and the prospect of securitization of legal claims; discusses third party funding of international arbitration and; applies a bargaining analysis to understanding the systemic effects of the practice. Specifically, the article asks what happens when, through litigation funding, litigation ceases to be expensive and uncertain and when parties "bargain in the shadow of financing." Using bargaining theory the article offers a three-step argument for a move away from a prohibition of litigation funding towards nuanced regulation of the industry. First, it argues that the desirability of litigation funding cannot be assessed if viewed monolithically. Therefore, a taxonomy of funded litigations is offered. Second, applying a bargaining analysis to each type of funded litigation, the article argues that the practice could radically alter the social function of courts by systemically equalizing the ability of society's "have-nots" to use the courts to affect rule change via litigation. This is in contrast to the court system serving (unwittingly, perhaps) as the guardian of the status quo in favor of society's "haves." Third, the bargaining analysis reveals the agency problems that may arise due to the development of secondary markets in legal claims as well as other features of litigation finance and which should be addressed through regulation. The article concludes with a five-pronged framework for the suggested regulatory regime that regulators, legislators and the Bench can devise and contract design features parties seeking litigation funding and their lawyers can employ.


The study was designed to understand the experiences and needs of returning refugees to Kigali, Rwanda and the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in their repatriation. The study adopted a qualitative research method where in-depth interviews were conducted with 23 returnees and 4 key informants; 2 from the UNHCR and 2 from the GoR. Many African countries especially in the Great Lakes region have been variously hit by military and ethnic conflicts that are responsible for the refugee plight. While the UNHCR and its partners have tried its level best to deal with refugees' problems in the region, many challenges remain in repatriation and reintegration of Rwandese returnees. This is due to institutional weaknesses, lack of multidisciplinary approaches to solving the returnees' problems, poor governance and failure to monitor the sustainability of development projects and plans that are in line with the returnees/refugees needs. The capacity to design and implement successful refugee policy programmes in Africa is weak from the global to the community level. Even the external assistance for the returnees to Rwanda is failing because of lack of 'in-country' experience needed to understand returnees' needs and to find appropriate durable solutions. African governments must make efforts to operationalise refugee laws and polices and draw on locally conceived ideas for addressing refugees/returnees problems on the continent. In this study the findings in Chapter five indicate that virtually all returnees experienced violence, victimization, psychological distress and extremely traumatic genocide experiences. The returnees' recovery from trauma and loss of their relatives during the genocide, especially among the new caseload returnees, appeared to be complicated by overwhelming blame and guilt associated with the outcome of the Gacacca court investigations and the various unmet needs for social intervention after retuning to Rwanda. Many participants experienced difficulty in coping with life in Rwanda, yet little is known by the GoR about the coping patterns of such returnees . The study highlights possible recommendations for averting the refugee phenomenon and recommends a variety of counselling, financial and other service interventions to meet returnees ' needs.


From Artisan to Worker examines the largely overlooked debate over the potential reestablishment of guilds that occurred from 1776 to 1821. The abolition of guilds in 1791 overturned an organization of labor that had been in place for centuries. The disorder that ensued - from concerns about the safety of the food supply to a general decline in the quality of goods - raised strong doubts about their abolition and sparked a debate both inside and outside of government that went on for decades. The issue of the reestablishment of guilds, however, subsequently became intertwined with the growing mechanization of production. Under the Napoleonic regime, the government considered several projects to restore guilds in a large-scale fashion, but the counterargument that guilds could impede mechanization prevailed. After Bonaparte's fall, the restored Bourbon dynasty was expected to reorganize guilds, but its sponsorship of an industrial exhibition in 1819 signaled its endorsement of mechanization, and after 1821 there were no further efforts to restore guilds during the Restoration.


This paper presents a simplified kinematics propulsive model for carangiform propulsion. The carangiform motion is modeled as a serial $N$-joint oscillating mechanism that is composed of two basic components: the streamlined fish body represented by a planar spline curve and its lunate caudal tail by an oscillating foil. The speed of fish's straight swimming is adjusted by modulating the joint's oscillatory frequency, and its orientation is tuned by different joint's deflections. The experimental results showed that the proposed simplified propulsive model could be a viable candidate for application in aquatic swimming vehicles.


Abstract. The atmosphere background wind field controls the propagation of gravity waves from the troposphere through the stratosphere into the mesosphere. During January 2003 the MaCWAVE campaign took place at Esrange, with the purpose of observing vertically ascending waves induced by orography. Temperature data from the U. Bonn lidar at Esrange (68° N/21° E) and the ALOMAR RMR lidar (69° N/16° E), wind data from Esrange MST radar ESRAD, as well as wind data from the ECMWF T106 model, are used to analyse the atmospheric background situation and its effect on mountain wave propagation during January/February 2003. Critical levels lead to dissipation of vertically ascending waves, thus mountain waves are not observable above those levels. In the first half of January a minor as well as a major stratospheric warming dominated the meteorological background situation. These warmings led to a wind reversal, thus to critical level filtering and consequently prevented gravity waves from propagating to high altitudes. While the troposphere was not transparent for stationary gravity waves most of the time, there was a period of eight days following the major warming with a transparent stratosphere, with conditions allowing gravity waves generated in the lower troposphere to penetrate the stratosphere up to the stratopause and sometimes even into the lower mesosphere. In the middle of February a minor stratospheric warming occurred, which again led to critical levels such that gravity waves were not able to ascend above the middle stratosphere. Due to the unfavourable troposphere and lower stratosphere conditions for gravity wave excitation and propagation, the source of the observed waves in the middle atmosphere is probably different from orography.


Abstract A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials was undertaken to determine the effects of almond consumption on blood lipid levels, namely total cholesterol (TC), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), TAG and the ratios of TC:HDL-C and LDL-C:HDL-C. Following a comprehensive search of the scientific literature, a total of eighteen relevant publications and twenty-seven almond-control datasets were identified. Across the studies, the mean differences in the effect for each blood lipid parameter (i.e. the control-adjusted values) were pooled in a meta-analysis using a random-effects model. It was determined that TC, LDL-C and TAG were significantly reduced by −0·153 mmol/l (P < 0·001), −0·124 mmol/l (P = 0·001) and −0·067 mmol/l (P = 0·042), respectively, and that HDL-C was not affected (−0·017 mmol/l; P = 0·207). These results are aligned with data from prospective observational studies and a recent large-scale intervention study in which it was demonstrated that the consumption of nuts reduces the risk of heart disease. The consumption of nuts as part of a healthy diet should be encouraged to help in the maintenance of healthy blood lipid levels and to reduce the risk of heart disease.


The fact that many civil wars involve several warring parties is often highlighted as an obstacle to conflict resolution. However, this issue has so far attracted little attention in previous research. This article aims to contribute to filling this gap. It is argued that whereas only very strong rebel groups should be able to force concessions, a multiparty context can turn the tables and increase the chances for weak rebel groups to reach a deal. The empirical analysis is based on dyadic data covering the government and each rebel group in all internal armed conflicts, 1989—2003. In accordance with the theory, it is found that the likelihood that the government and a weak rebel group will reach a negotiated settlement increases with the number of warring parties in the conflict.


Current resource policies for mobile phone apps are based on permissions that unconditionally grant or deny access to a resource like private data, sensors and services. In reality, the legitimacy of an access may be context-dependent for example, depending on how often a resource is accessed and in which situation. This thesis presents research into providing bounds on the access of JavaScript apps to security and privacyrelevant resources on mobile devices. The investigated bounds are quantitative and interaction-dependent: for example, permitting one access each time the user presses a specified button. Two novel systems are presented with different approaches to providing these bounds. The system PhoneWrap injects a quantitative policy into an app and enforces the bound dynamically during runtime by monitoring the resource consumption and the user interaction. If the injected bound is exceeded, the resource request is replaced by a deny action. This way, PhoneWrap restricts the unwanted behaviour while the expected functionality can be performed. Policies for this system describe the UI elements which trigger the expected resource consumption and the number of resource units consumed for each interaction. The enforcement of the policies is achieved via wrapping the critical APIs using JavaScript internal features. The injection of a policy can be performed automatically. PhoneWrap is the first system using the lightweight wrapping method to inject policies directly into mobile apps and the first to combine quantitative policies with interaction-dependencies. The second system AmorJiSe statically analyses the resource consumption of a given JavaScript program. This system automatically infers amortised annotations on top of given JavaScript data types. The amortised annotations symbolise reserved resource units stored in the data structures. This way the amount of resource units available to the app is expressed dependent on the size of the data structures. The resulting function types of the UI handlers can be used to extract interaction-dependent bounds. The correctness of these bounds is proven in relation to a resource-aware operational semantics. AmorJiSe extends the known amortised type paradigm to JavaScript with its dynamic object structures and applies this paradigm to the novel domain of mobile resources. Although, the two systems are based on similar resource models and produce similar resource bounds, they use different methods with different properties which are presented in this dissertation.


PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term outcomes of laparoscopic total mesorectal excision in the treatment of advanced rectal cancer in a randomised population.

METHODS
Between 2001 and 2005, 125 patients (70 males, 55 females, mean age 55.5 (standard deviation (SD) 11) years, range 25 - 81 years) with rectal cancer were evaluated and prospectively followed up in our hospital (mean follow-up 42 (SD 23 months, range 5 - 113 months). The 5-year overall survival rate, 5-year disease-free survival rate and recurrence rate were analysed.

RESULTS
There were 54 cases of cancer defined as UICC stage II and 68 cases defined as stage III. Of these cases, 22 were localised to the upper rectum, 50 to the middle rectum and 53 to the lower rectum. The 5-year overall survival rates were 71.3% and 51% among the stage II and the stage III patients, respectively. The 5-year disease-free survival rates were 59.2% and 45.4% among the stage II and the stage III cancer patients, respectively. The overall recurrence rate was 16.8% (local recurrence rate 11.25%, distant recurrence rate 8%). Multivariate analysis showed that age and size were independent predictors of overall survival (p=0.006 and p<0.001 for stage II and stage III patients, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest good long-term outcomes of laparoscopic surgery in the treatment of rectal cancer. However, this technique should be used with caution in older patients and patients with larger tumours.


OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to determine the effects of 96 hour exposure to selected solvents on the embryonic stages of zebrafish (Danio rerio). We investigated mortality and various types of changes which appeared (oedema, tail and eye defects, weak pigmentation, and deformation of the body). Based on the results, values of NOEC and LOEC for embryos of D. rerio were determined.

METHODS
Embryonal toxicity tests were conducted according to OECD guideline 212. Ethanol and methanol were tested at concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2%; acetone at concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 1.25, 1.5%; and dimethylsulfoxide at concentrations of 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3%.

RESULTS
The LOEC values of ethanol and methanol were detected in the 1% concentration. Statistically significant changes (oedema) were reported in 1% ethanol, and oedema, weak pigmentation and deformation of the body were observed in 1% methanol. After exposure to acetone, the most common occurrence of oedema was in the 0.5% concentration (LOEC = 0.5%). The solvent dimethylsulfoxide caused oedema and body deformation at the 2% concentration (LOEC = 2%).

CONCLUSIONS
The NOEC concentrations of the individual solvents were as follows: ethanol and methanol, 0.5%; acetone, 0.1%; and dimethylsulfoxide, 1.5%. These concentrations of individual solvents were higher than the maximum recommended concentration for toxicity tests on fish. For this reason, it can be assumed that the concentration of solvent allowed by the norm does not affect the procedure or results of such tests.


Social network analysis has been an essential topicwith broad content sharing from social media. Defining thedirected links in social media determine the flow of information and indicates the user's influence. Due to the enormous data and unstructured nature of sharing information, there are several challenges caused while handling data. Graph Analytics proves to be an essential tool for addressing problems such as building networks from unstructured data, inferring information from the system, and analyzing the community structure of a network. The proposed approach aims to determine the influencers on Twitter data, based on the follower's count as well as the retweet count. Several graph-based algorithms are implemented on the data collected to find the influencer as well as communities in the network.