Mechanical pipe insulation systems are commonly applied to cold piping surfaces in most industrial and commercial buildings in order to limit the heat losses and prevent water vapor condensation on the pipe exterior surfaces. Due to the fact that the surface temperature of these pipelines is normally below the ambient dew point temperature, water vapor diffuses inside the pipe insulation systems and often condenses when it reaches the pipe exterior surfaces. The water droplets accumulated in the pipe insulation system increase its overall thermal conductivity by thermal bridging the cells or the fibers of the insulation material. The moisture ingress into pipe insulation threatens the thermal performance and the overall efficiency of the building mechanical system. This phenomenon is also responsible for the mold growth inside occupied spaces and causes the pipelines to be more vulnerable to corrosion. Although a wide range of vapor barriers are used for preventing water vapor penetration into pipe insulation, common experience in the field shows that water vapor will inevitably ingress into the insulation materials from the end joints or from the cracks created during insulation installation. How to account for the moisture ingress on pipe insulation service life and thermal performance is still an open question. Thermal conductivity is one of the most important properties for evaluating the thermal performance of the pipe insulation systems. Using a new test apparatus, the thermal conductivity of pipe insulation systems below ambient temperature and in wet conditions with moisture ingress was measured. Fiberglass and phenolic pipe insulation were tested to investigate the moisture effects on the material thermal conductivity. The data showed that these two types of pipe insulation systems had quite different water absorption rates due to different characteristics of the material and its structure. A serious degradation of fiberglass pipe insulation thermal performance was observed and the thermal conductivity increased by as much as 3 times when the moisture content was about 12 percent in volume. Tested at a different condition, the thermal conductivity of phenolic pipe insulation increased to 1.6 times of the original value and the moisture content was 5% in volume. Considering the gravity effect, the moisture content on the top and bottom C-shells were separately measured and discussed in this paper.


Suburbanisation represents one of the most important contemporary problems facing large urban agglomerations. An analysis of the development of urban agglomerations in Central-Eastern Europe, and especially Poland, leads to the observation that this problem is not particularly advanced in any of them. The aim of this article has thus been to examine how relevant it might be to consider the suburbanisation stage in large Polish agglomerations, as a permanent feature of the Klaassen/Paelinck and van den Berg models. Specifically, the article focuses on Poland's seven largest agglomerations, though there is a particular emphasis on the Katowice conurbation. The essence of the study lay in the identification of differences in the population balance between these agglomerations, and above all, between their cores and outer zones. The study also included data on the structure characterising out-migrations. A consequence of the study was to draw attention to the apparent diversity of the Katowice conurbation, the only one in Poland to record a population decline in both the core area and the outer zone. This specificity was explained mainly by the drivers of polycentricity and post-industrialism. In other agglomerations, these elements were either absent altogether or were involved in separate shaping of urban regional space.


Software engineers working in large projects must navigate complex information landscapes. Change Impact Analysis (CIA) is a task that relies on engineers' successful information seeking in databases storing, e.g., source code, requirements, design descriptions, and test case specifications. Several previous approaches to support information seeking are task-specific, thus understanding engineers' seeking behavior in specific tasks is fundamental. We present an industrial case study on how engineers seek information in CIA, with a particular focus on traceability and development artifacts that are not source code. We show that engineers have different information seeking behavior, and that some do not consider traceability particularly useful when conducting CIA. Furthermore, we observe a tendency for engineers to prefer less rigid types of support rather than formal approaches, i.e., engineers value support that allows flexibility in how to practically conduct CIA. Finally, due to diverse information seeking behavior, we argue that future CIA support should embrace individual preferences to identify change impact by empowering several seeking alternatives, including searching, browsing, and tracing.


Preceeding work is analysing a highly problematic field of public international law, where in one actual state several principles of international law, humanitarian legal rules, international political interests and humanitarian conscience are coliding intensely. This is the case of civil wars where human rights of civilians are violated on a massive scale. Since they do not include a foreign element by the nature, possibilities of international protection are very lessened. Apathy of the international community and the failure to enforce international law are both permitting for human suffering of unimaginable extensions taking place in immediate vicinity of the 'developed world'.
Rules of conduct in the international community are being set by the international public law, which serves in interests of States. Until inclusion of international organisations with supranational authorities legal order was therefore designed only by their will. Later development has made it possible that rules were created by global consensus which suggested creation of norms with humanitarian nature. This leads to conclusion that there is no centralised legislator present in the international sphere and that obligatory norms are hard to find. Nevertheless humanitarian norms with cogent nature are still present, their uncovery is linked to the source from which they derive. Determining the source therefore leads to determination of those humanitarian rules that subjects need to respect in all circumstances. Such enforcement inside State's territorial integrity sadly still represents a meeting point for two contradictoring but hierarchally ecvivalent principles of international order, resulting in unsanctionising of mass breaches of international humanitarian rules. These two principles are the principle of State's sovereignty and the principle for respect of human rights and they result in such international policy which places the primal responsibilty for ensuring the respect of human rights in the hands of a State. Any external intervention is almost impossible.Consequences of such international understanding are vividly seen in civil or internal conflicts where protection of civilian population is in sole discretion of the warring parties.
Still, universally applicable international law which can not be violated even in the times of war exists. Determination of humanitarian rules which have to be performed on the field, is dependant on the qualification of the sources from which they derive. International treaties, by their nature being obligatory for their signatories, comprise the first group of sources. Second group is producing rules which are waiting for bestowment of this quality and their possible cogency is dependant on State practice and on the so-called common legal sense of obligation. Most important of them is international customary law which produces rules, essential for filling those legal holes, left behind by international treaties. Moreover they are obligatory for every Party involved, even though they have not expressed their commitment. Together with universal human rights, provided by international human rights law, they represent a cornerstone of international legal order for the field of internal armed conflicts. Their enforcement is in the most benefit of civilian population.


Last Planner System (LPS) has made significant improvements in project performance worldwide. It is assumed that LPS implementation improves communication among members of the organization. However, the way that LPS management practices and organization's social networks are related to project performance is still unknown. The purpose of this study is to analyse the relations between LPS implementation, social networks metrics and performance in construction projects. A correlation analysis was applied to implementation levels of LPS, social network metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in construction projects. The implementation levels of LPS practices were measured during LPS meetings. Social network data was collected by an on-site survey. The participant companies agreed to a KPIs report, encompassing nine projects over three months. This paper presents significant correlations tying project performance to social network metrics and to LPS implementation levels, in nine projects from two Chilean construction firms. Implementation level of LPS appears related to network average degree and density but that does not always mean better projects performance. The relations found are a tool that could be used to implement improvements in management practices and organizations. Identification of social networks' optimum metrics related to project performance still requires further research.


This paper explores the environmental impact of the super-linear growth trends for AI from a holistic perspective, spanning Data, Algorithms, and System Hardware. We characterize the carbon footprint of AI computing by examining the model development cycle across industry-scale machine learning use cases and, at the same time, considering the life cycle of system hardware. Taking a step further, we capture the operational and manufacturing carbon footprint of AI computing and present an end-to-end analysis for what and how hardware-software design and at-scale optimization can help reduce the overall carbon footprint of AI. Based on the industry experience and lessons learned, we share the key challenges and chart out important development directions across the many dimensions of AI. We hope the key messages and insights presented in this paper can inspire the community to advance the field of AI in an environmentally-responsible manner.


Shader programming is an
efficient way to render graphics yet can be complex to understand for
emerging computational artists who are new to the world of creative
programming. Since shaders are an important part of visual programming, making
them easier to use should be considered an important factor in teaching basic
to advanced concepts in the rendering pipeline of computer graphics. Though
some tools like shader editors and interactive graphical interfaces have been
designed to aid in the understanding of these concepts, they still fall behind
in some areas in meeting the requirements of emerging computational artists.

In this thesis we present
and explore the usability of a new Shader Mode tool developed for an
open-source software called Processing, widely used in education and production
for digital arts and design, and discuss how it can aid shader programming for emerging
computational artists. This tool was inspired by a project the author did for
Google Summer of Code in 2018. The tool was tested with Processing users who
have some familiarity with shader programming. The analysis of the tool was
done using a mixed method research technique: combination of quantitative and
qualitative analysis. Since we were unable to get enough users for the study, the results could not be generalized to all Processing shader users. However,
relevant user feedback is discussed.


Despite the wealth of literature on operational transconductance amplifier (OTA)-C filters, the synthesis of high-order filter characteristics is still an active topic. In this paper the realization of voltage transfer functions based on canonical current-mode follow-the-leader-feedback (FLF) OTA-C structures are investigated. Two new structures are presented, which use only single-ended-input OTAs and grounded capacitors. The first structure has a single voltage input and multiple voltage outputs taken from different nodes, which enables it to provide simultaneous outputs of different filter functions. The second structure has a single voltage output and single voltage input distributed to different circuit nodes for a universal realization. The authors not only propose such filter structures, but also show how analytical synthesis can be used to produce filter circuits that have less active elements than those recently reported voltage-mode structures which are based on differential-input OTAs. This represents another attractive feature from chip area, and power consumption point of view. Simulation results verifying the theoretical analysis of the proposed filter structure are included.


Escherichia coli are known as the most common cause of reproductive tract infection in mare. Due to the progressive process of antibiotics use and increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance, the aim of this study is evaluate the prevalence of subclinical endometritis and antibiotic resistance genes in Escherichia coli isolated. In this study, 60 mares were used with infertility background. Diagnosis of endometritis was performed using history and ultrasonography. Cytology, culture, Antibiogram were done of samples and PCR test was used to examine the gene virulence and antibiotic resistance. E-coli bacteria was isolated 48/33 % from sample culture. In PCR test 66/21 % of bacteria had virulence gene. It was determined, the lowest resistance to chloramphenicol about 38/15% and greatest resistance into ampicillin, tetracycline and streptomycin with 23/69 percent, respectively. 93% samples cytology had neutrophil more than two and the agent of 50% showed E. coli. The cause of half of subclinical endometritis in infertile maresis E-coli bacteria


Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders with strong adverse effects on personal and social functioning which can hamper the lives of individuals. The absence of any objective diagnostic aid for depression leads to a range of biases in the diagnosis and ongoing monitoring. This study throws light upon the contribution of gestures and facial points for depression analysis. This paper discusses a novel cumulative video analysis proposed by us based on action units and fictional points for analysis of facial moment. Experimental results are carried out using real world clinical data and interactive sessions with neuro experts. This smart framework developed by us is useful for detection of depression disorders through gesture recognition. The diagnosis is done and appropriate action is taken according to scale of the depression in the patient and the severity of it.


Reverberation mapping (RM) measurements of broad-line region (BLR) lags in z > 0.3 ?> quasars are important for directly measuring black hole masses in these distant objects, but so far there have been limited attempts and success given the practical difficulties of RM in this regime. Here we report preliminary results of 15 BLR lag measurements from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping (SDSS-RM) project, a dedicated RM program with multi-object spectroscopy designed for RM over a wide redshift range. The lags are based on the 2014 spectroscopic light curves alone (32 epochs over six months) and focus on the Hβ and Mg ii broad lines in the 100 lowest-redshift ( z < 0.8 ?> ) quasars included in SDSS-RM; they represent a small subset of the lags that SDSS-RM (including 849 quasars to z ∼ 4.5 ?> ) is expected to deliver. The reported preliminary lag measurements are for intermediate-luminosity quasars at 0.3 ≲ z < 0.8 ?> , including nine Hβ lags and six Mg ii lags, for the first time extending RM results to this redshift–luminosity regime and providing direct quasar black hole mass estimates over approximately half of cosmic time. The Mg ii lags also increase the number of known Mg ii lags by several fold and start to explore the utility of Mg ii for RM at high redshift. The location of these new lags at higher redshifts on the observed BLR size–luminosity relationship is statistically consistent with previous Hβ results at z < 0.3 ?> . However, an independent constraint on the relationship slope at z > 0.3 ?> is not yet possible owing to the limitations in our current sample. Our results demonstrate the general feasibility and potential of multi-object RM for z > 0.3 ?> quasars.


This thesis investigates methods for the rapid determination of suitable operating conditions for the primary recovery of antibody fragments from high cell density fermentation broths by two alternative processes: centrifugation and expanded bed adsorption. The methodologies applied involve the use of predictive tools, such as scale-down techniques and simulations, in order to ensure rapid prediction of large-scale process performance. This is followed by the visualisation of suitable processing conditions for recovery of the high cell density cultures investigated using Windows of Operation. Challenges related to protein recovery from high cell density expression systems were identified and addressed. Existing USD clarification approaches lead to an over-prediction of separation performance when tested with high cell density cultures of E. coli whole cells and periplasmically lysed E. coli cells. This was attributed to aggregation effects occurring in the low shear environment of a laboratory centrifuge, which would not be apparent in the settling region of a continuous-flow industrial centrifuge. A modified USD clarification methodology was developed, which resulted in accurate predictions of large-scale performance. This novel USD clarification method was applied to E. coli homogenates and P. pastoris cultures of varying solids concentrations. For these feedstocks, a laboratory-based protocol for the determination of centrifugal dewatering was developed and applied. Windows of Operation were generated, visualising the available operating conditions for a number of industrial centrifuges, when the process was constrained by pre-defined performance and operating criteria. The main challenge identified upon processing of E. coli homogenate by expanded bed adsorption relate to cell-cell and/or cell-adsorbent interactions. These interactions were more prominent in the 1.9 mm ID scale-down column than in the 25 mm ID column, probably as a result of the high particle to column diameter ratio in the scale-down bed. As a consequence, the behaviour of the beds differed in terms of level of expansion, breakthrough profiles, binding capacity and yield. Industrial-scale EBA process performance was investigated using the general rate model to predict the output. This formed the basis for the generation of a series of Windows of Operation, displaying the most suitable combinations of load volume and flow rate for the processing of E. coli homogenates of a range of solids concentrations by EBA. A comparative study was performed based on the identification of suitable operating conditions from the Windows of Operation generated for E. coli homogenate, and suggested that EBA provides higher yields, shorter processing times and greater throughput relative to a more conventional processing route, comprising centrifugation, filtration and packed bed chromatography.


Over the past two decades, Robert Herrick's relationship to Stuart culture has been steadily reassessed. Literary scholars have firmly refuted the notion that Herrick was a jolly naif who frolicked about Devon oblivious to the turmoil of the 1640s, and we now understand Hesperides as a deeply politicized work. Claude J. Summers has observed that ideologically charged epigrams, verses to the King and his family, and occasional poems on the Civil War express Herrick's "extreme royalist attitude."(1) Leah S. Marcus has demonstrated how Herrick's poems of rural festivity participated in a Laudian Anglican program of "cultural revival": communal holidays, constructed as "extensions of sacramental worship," were intended to affirm the authority of the Church within a hierarchical society governed by the `King.(2) Likewise, through his celebrations of childlike obedience, Anglican doctrine, and prohibited religious ceremonies, Herrick presents in Noble Numbers poems which are "resolutely and combatively Laudian."(3) This understanding of Herrick's political stance has been fruitfully complicated by Ann Baynes Coiro, who insists that the poet "goes beyond royalist propaganda" to engage in an "ironic questioning of Stuart ideals."(4) Thus we now regard Hesperides neither as a mindless "bale of butterflies,"(5) nor as a rote exercise in religiopolitical conservatism. Despite this new appreciation for the politics of Herrick's poetry, assessments of Herrick's representation of women remain surprisingly ahistorical. In his fine study of Herrick's classicism, Gordon Braden has paid subtle, detailed attention to the eroticism of Hesperides; some recent critics have taken Braden's work as a point of departure, either building upon his analysis of Herrick's "obstructed desire," or refuting his contention that Herrick exhibits a "prepubescent sexuality."(6) Other scholars have insisted that we recognize the gendered dynamics of power at work in Herrick's amatory verse. Moira P. Baker has argued that Herrick's fragmenting depictions of the female body participate in "the cultural repression of women," while Bronwen Price finds in Herrick's textual self-censorship, fetishism, and voyeurism "a sexual politics bound up within an emerging bourgeois economy and discourse of subjectivity."(7) Although implying historical process, these feminist readings place Herrick's portrayals of women in a realm abstracted from Stuart England: like the non-feminist analyses of Herrick's eroticism, neither Baker's monolithic patriarchy nor Price's Foucauldian subject seems to engage with the religiopolitical struggle that informs much of Herrick's poetry. We find the most satisfying attempt to historicize Herrick's depiction of women in Heather Dubrow's illuminating study of the seventeenth-century English epithalamium. Dubrow argues that the epithalamium was an especially significant genre during the social upheaval of the Stuart period: marriage was anxiously viewed as "a source and a symbol of an orderly and harmonious society,"(8) and the epithalamium allowed poets both to explore and allay contemporary fears of social instability. Herrick's epithalamia, Dubrow observes, are populated by reluctant brides, and she argues that this antipathy toward consummation "destabilizes" Herrick's marriage poems.'(9) Dubrow stops short, however, of assessing the ideological significance of this distinctive feature of Herrick's epithalamia. If Herrick poetically "destabilizes" a ceremony designed to reinforce his society's gender divisions, how should we characterize the politics of gender in Hesperides? …


Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a highly expressed transmembrane protein that acts as a light-driven proton pump converting light energy into a proton gradient. The extraordinary levels of expression achieved (15-30 mg per liter of culture) are a result of very efficient biogenesis that originates from molecular information encoded in the bacterio-opsin gene {bop) (1). DNA sequence analysis and predictive folding algorithms suggest that the first twenty-five bases of the bop gene mRNA can form a secondary structural element (a "stem-loop"). Using biophysical methods, the goal was to determine if the stem-loop structure exists in solution conditions that mimic the in vivo biological environment (42°C and 4M KCl) (2-4). The salt-dependent thermal stability of a DNA model of the stem-loop sequence was obtained using temperature-controlled UVabsorption and Circular Dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The combinatorial analysis indicates that an energetically favorable stem-loop structure forms in all solution conditions examined. The stem-loop structure is stabilized at very high salt concentrations, a requirement for a role in bop gene expressivity (AG= -1.13 kcal/mol, AH= -16.78 kcal/mol, AS= 49.67 cal/mol/K). While the Tm values evaluated by all three physical techniques were comparable, comparison of the calorimetrie and van't Hoff enthalpies indicate that the folding mechanism is not a two-state process. SVD analysis of the UV and CD spectral transitions confirm that formation of the stem-loop structure proceeds through a single significant folding intermediate. Similar analysis of the RNA sequence demonstrates that an RNA stemloop structure can form and is significantly more stable than that of the DNA structure at all salt concentrations evaluated.


The purpose of the article is to substantiate the necessity and to develop recommendations for modernizing the approach for usage of region's budget resources in the conditions of the information economy creation. The methodological provision of verification of the offered hypothesis includes the specially developed method for evaluating the effectiveness of usage of region's budget resources from the position of the information economy creation. For calculations, the article uses the information and analytical materials of the Russian specialized institutions that study the processes of development of the information economy: "Research Financial Institute", Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, and expert and ranking organizations - the State Management and CNews. It is proved that the traditional approach to usage of region's budget resources, which is applied in modern Russia, contradicts the general national course for development of the information economy, as it does not stimulate the formation of information society and development of information and technological spheres of the regional economy and does not allow for development of interaction and cooperation of all interests parties within the budget process, which confirms the offered hypothesis. To solve the determined problem, the authors develop the modern approach to the usage of region's budget resources in the conditions of the information economy creation and offer practical recommendations for modernizing the existing approach in modern Russia.


The goal of the project in this thesis is to explore the viability of an approach to user adaptation where the application context is significantly more constraining than in most cases seen in previous academic work. The project describes and implements a system for rolling out product features incrementally in an optimal way, based on feature adoption statistics within user segments. In other words, the described system should allow for simple personalization of the product. When analyzing the adoption rate of new features, we find that there are indeed clear differences between the identified user segments. However, limitations due to the lack of stable user identity make adaptation approaches based on these data unfeasable in practice.


The move towards corporatisation of Malaysian public universities and the establishment of a number of private institutions of higher learning were made to establish Malaysia as one of the regional educational hubs and a centre for providing educational excellence. However, the rapid expansion of private education institutions owned by profit-driven enterprises have posed a number of ethical problems and issues, such as the lack of a code of practice and the drive towards profit maximisation at the expense of a quality education.
Issues such as corporate integrity and accountability are being questioned, and professionals are now finding ways to promote and inculcate ethical culture to these organisations. A number of studies have shown that there is clearly a relationship between the corporate organisations and individuals who work in the organisation when it comes to morals or ethics. Corporations could only act as a result of the choices and actions of human individuals in the corporations. This clearly shows that ethical culture of corporations, like the private institutions of higher learning can be affected by the ethical behaviour of the individuals, especially the academic staff.
This study was conducted to determine the level of moral judgement competence of academic staff in the private institutions of higher learning, and its relationship with ethical work climate and ethics factors. The research design of this study was a correlational research using a cross-sectional survey approach. Four hundred and six (406) academic staff in Malaysia participated in this study by returning the self-administered questionnaire distributed to them. For computation and analysis of data collected, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows program was used.
The findings revealed more than 78.1% of the academic staff had a medium level of moral judgement competence. The findings also indicated the emergence of the instrumental and service dimensions as two dominant dimensions of ethical work climates in the private institutions of higher learning.
The relationship between moral judgement competence, ethical work climate, demographic factors, professional factors, and ethic factors were tested and the conclusions of the findings were mixed. However, seven hypotheses tested in this research confirmed that the ethical work climate dimensions and the selected ethics factors had positive and significant relationship with moral judgement competence.
The result suggests that consideration must be made with regards to demographic, professional and ethics factors when deciding on any human resource policies and development. The move towards institutionalising ethics through formulation of codes of ethics, formalising ethics training, factoring ethics in performance management and nurturing right ethical climate in the workplace can significantly accelerate the rate of moral development and moral judgement competence.


Many existing motion sensing applications in research, entertainment and exercise monitoring are based on the Microsoft Kinect and its skeleton tracking functionality. With the Kinect's development and production halted, researchers and system designers are in need of a suitable replacement. We investigated the interchangeability of the discontinued Kinect v2 and the all-in-one, image-based motion tracking system Orbbec Persee for the use in an exercise monitoring system prototype called ILSE. Nine functional training exercises were performed by six healthy subjects in front of both systems simultaneously. Comparing the systems' internal tracking states from 'not tracked' to 'tracked' showed that the Persee system is more confident during motion sequences, while the Kinect is more confident for hip and trunk joint positions. Assessing the skeleton tracking robustness, the Persee's tracking of body segment lengths was more consistent. Furthermore, we used both skeleton datasets as input for the ILSE exercise monitoring including posture recognition and repetition-counting. Persee data from exercises with lateral movement and in uncovered full-body frontal view provided the same results as Kinect data. The Persee further preferred tracking of quasi-static lower limb motions and tight-fitting clothes. With these limitations in mind, we find that the Orbbec Persee is a suitable replacement for the Microsoft Kinect for motion sensing within the ILSE exercise monitoring system.


The thesis investigates the partitioning and load balancing problem which has many applications in High Performance Computing (HPC). The application to be partitioned is described with a graph or hypergraph. The latter is of greater interest as hypergraphs, compared to graphs, have a more general structure and can be used to model more complex relationships between groups of objects such as non-symmetric dependencies. Optimal graph and hypergraph partitioning is known to be NP-Hard but good polynomial time heuristic algorithms have been proposed.

In this thesis, we propose two multi-level hypergraph partitioning algorithms. The algorithms are based on rough set clustering techniques. The first algorithm, which is a serial algorithm, obtains high quality partitionings and improves the partitioning cut by up to 71\% compared to the state-of-the-art serial hypergraph partitioning algorithms. Furthermore, the capacity of serial algorithms is limited due to the rapid growth of problem sizes of distributed applications. Consequently, we also propose a parallel hypergraph partitioning algorithm. Considering the generality of the hypergraph model, designing a parallel algorithm is difficult and the available parallel hypergraph algorithms offer less scalability compared to their graph counterparts. The issue is twofold: the parallel algorithm and the complexity of the hypergraph structure. Our parallel algorithm provides a trade-off between global and local vertex clustering decisions. By employing novel techniques and approaches, our algorithm achieves better scalability than the state-of-the-art parallel hypergraph partitioner in the Zoltan tool on a set of benchmarks, especially ones with irregular structure.

Furthermore, recent advances in cloud computing and the services they provide have led to a trend in moving HPC and large scale distributed applications into the cloud. Despite its advantages, some aspects of the cloud, such as limited network resources, present a challenge to running communication-intensive applications and make them non-scalable in the cloud. While hypergraph partitioning is proposed as a solution for decreasing the communication overhead within parallel distributed applications, it can also offer advantages for running these applications in the cloud. The partitioning is usually done as a pre-processing step before running the parallel application. As parallel hypergraph partitioning itself is a communication-intensive operation, running it in the cloud is hard and suffers from poor scalability. The thesis also investigates the scalability of parallel hypergraph partitioning algorithms in the cloud, the challenges they present, and proposes solutions to improve the cost/performance ratio for running the partitioning problem in the cloud.

Our algorithms are implemented as a new hypergraph partitioning package within Zoltan. It is an open source Linux-based toolkit for parallel partitioning, load balancing and data-management designed at Sandia National Labs. The algorithms are known as FEHG and PFEHG algorithms.


ABSTRACT Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) have received considerable interest as renewable-resource-based, biodegradable, and biocompatible plastics with a wide range of potential applications. We have engineered the synthesis of PHA polymers composed of monomers ranging from 4 to 14 carbon atoms in either the cytosol or the peroxisome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by harnessing intermediates of fatty acid metabolism. Cytosolic PHA production was supported by establishing in the cytosol critical β-oxidation chemistries which are found natively in peroxisomes. This platform was utilized to supply medium-chain (C6 to C14) PHA precursors from both fatty acid degradation and synthesis to a cytosolically expressed medium-chain-length (mcl) polymerase from Pseudomonas oleovorans. Synthesis of short-chain-length PHAs (scl-PHAs) was established in the peroxisome of a wild-type yeast strain by targeting the Ralstonia eutropha scl polymerase to the peroxisome. This strain, harboring a peroxisomally targeted scl-PHA synthase, accumulated PHA up to approximately 7% of its cell dry weight. These results indicate (i) that S. cerevisiae expressing a cytosolic mcl-PHA polymerase or a peroxisomal scl-PHA synthase can use the 3-hydroxyacyl coenzyme A intermediates from fatty acid metabolism to synthesize PHAs and (ii) that fatty acid degradation is also possible in the cytosol as β-oxidation might not be confined only to the peroxisomes. Polymers of even-numbered, odd-numbered, or a combination of even- and odd-numbered monomers can be controlled by feeding the appropriate substrates. This ability should permit the rational design and synthesis of polymers with desired material properties.


The aim of this article is to assess the impact of the tax… in the special economic zones on the state of finances of territorial council. The investigation was based on the example of first Polish special economic zone—the SSE Euro—Park Mielec. The period of functioning of the zone in Mielec was described from the point of its establishment in 1995. The analysis which was carried out showed that it is not essential for the local budget if the zone inventors have the tax exemption. What is more, it was noticed that there was a notable growth of budget's income from the income taxes and real estate taxes. It was the result of the dynamic development in enterprise in the region of collapsing industry. The inflowing investors to the zone of Mielec, who were encouraged by the given tax privileges, contributed the formation of next companies in the area. The SSE Euro—Park Mielec ended the monoculture of the industry through the diversification of the structure of industry. However its most important contribution was overcoming the crisis on the labour market—unemployment rate is nowadays less than the average for Poland and Podkarpackie province. The example of Mielec confirms the high effectiveness of the special economic zones as the stimulating instrument of economic development, particularly on the regional level. Preferential tax policy had consequences in the economic promotion of regions in Poland, not only in the country, but abroad as well.


ABSTRACT A quickly expanding literature has examined the link between physical disgust and morality. This article critically integrates the existing evidence and draws the following conclusions: First, there is considerable evidence that experimentally induced disgust and cleanliness influence moral judgment, but moderating variables and attributional processes need to be considered. Second, moral considerations have substantial effects on behavioural concomitants of disgust, such as facial expressions, economic games and food consumption. Third, while disgust involves a conservation concern, it can manifest itself in both liberal and conservative political attitudes. Overall, disgust can be considered to form part of a behavioural loss aversion system aimed at protecting valuable resources, including the integrity of one's body. Recommendations are offered to investigate the role of disgust more rigorously in order to fully capture its role in moral life.


Hog production in 2004 was characterized by wide variation in the types, sizes, and economic performance of operations. Operations specializing in a single production phase generated more than three times the product value, on average, of those using the traditional farrow-to-finish approach. Low-cost operations tended to be larger, located in the Heartland, and operated by farmers whose primary occupation was farming. Small and medium operations far outnumbered large and very large operations, but large and very large operations accounted for most of the production. Average production costs declined as the size of the hog operation increased, a result of reduced capital costs and more efficient input use. Hog production was highly concentrated in the Heartland, but the largest operations were specialized hog finishing units in the Southern Seaboard.


We continue our investigation of large field inflation models obtained from higher-dimensional gauge theories, initiated in our previous study [1]. We focus on Dante's Inferno model which was the most preferred model in our previous analysis. We point out the relevance of the IR obstruction to UV completion, which constrains the form of the potential of the massive vector field, under the current observational upper bound on the tensor to scalar ratio. We also show that in simple examples of the potential arising from DBI action of a D5-brane and that of an NS5-brane that the inflation takes place in the field range which is within the convergence radius of the Taylor expansion. This is in contrast to the well known examples of axion monodromy inflation where inflaton takes place outside the convergence radius of the Taylor expansion. This difference arises from the very essence of Dante's Inferno model that the effective inflaton potential is stretched in the inflaton field direction compared with the potential for the original field.


Mobility and manipulation are often considered separately, with independent degrees of freedom (DOF) for each. However, here we show that using the legs for both walking and grasping increases the versatility of both tasks. Our robot has four DOFs: drive and lift for left and right pairs of legs. The legs use a reduced actuation Klann mechanism. The lift DOF rotates the entire trajectory of the legs, which enables gait modulation, climbing, and grasping. This demonstrates the feasibility of a novel operational concept: a robot that can approach, climb onto and securely grasp an object that can then be lifted via a load-bearing tether. Specifically, we show the kinematics to enable small robots to climb onto rectangular objects up to 67% robot height and grasp objects between 43% to 72% of the robot length. With these kinematics, a robot can be scaled for specific terrains and object sizes, with potential application in construction, search and rescue, and object retrieval.


We present several laser sources dedicated to advanced microwave photonic applications. A quantum-dash mode-locked laser delivering a high-power, ultra-stable pulse train is first described. We measure a linewidth below 300 kHz at a 4.3 GHz repetition rate for an output power above 300 mW and a pulse duration of 1.1 ps after compression, making this source ideal for microwave signal sampling applications. A widely tunable (5–110 GHz), monolithic millimeter-wave transceiver based on the integration of two semiconductor distributed feedback lasers, four amplifiers, and two high-speed uni-traveling carrier photodiodes is then presented, together with its application to the wireless transmission of data at 200  Mb/s. A frequency-agile laser source dedicated to microwave signal processing is then described. It delivers arbitrary frequency sweeps over 20 GHz with high precision and high speed (above 400  GHz/ms). Finally, we report on a low-noise (below 1 kHz linewidth), solid-state, dual-frequency laser source. It allows independent tuning of the two frequencies in the perspective of the implementation of a tunable optoelectronic oscillator based on a high-Q optical resonator.


Disaster mitigation require to be supported by information and data regarding the condition of local society characteristic and area. The available of correct information and data, expected can maximize usage of local resource, including labour, organization and material. One of the partisipative data collecting method able to be used to dig catastrophic society perception and understanding of tsunami is Focus Group Discussion ( FGD). Participant one of the important element in FGD, so that participant composition can influence attainment result of FGD. This research aim to know society characteristic and condition to formulate FGD participant criterion and composition in tsunami disaster mitigation. This Research type is descriptive research with approach qualitative, while primary data collecting use partisipative observation technique where researcher follow to involve and at the same time perceive FGD simulation execution. Discussant which uppermost enough is them owning catastrophic understanding and knowledge of tsunami nature, where this matter is influenced life experience or relate to its work responsibility. Several things which need to be paid attention in chosening and determining discussant: 1) education and age vary to start from student age until the old man with mean 35 year, 2) do not predominate by age, certain work or education, 3) if education of [him/ it] lower to be expected to have experience which enough or which is its old age, 4) entangling woman participant owning catastrophic understanding and knowledge of tsunami, 5) having work or got mixed up with interconnected activity or relate to natural disaster handling.


Real-world networks, like social networks or the internet infrastructure, have structural properties such as large clustering coefficients that can best be described in terms of an underlying geometry. This is why the focus of the literature on theoretical models for real-world networks shifted from classic models without geometry, such as Chung-Lu random graphs, to modern geometry-based models, such as hyperbolic random graphs.
With this paper we contribute to the theoretical analysis of these modern, more realistic random graph models. Instead of studying directly hyperbolic random graphs, we use a generalization that we call geometric inhomogeneous random graphs (GIRGs). Since we ignore constant factors in the edge probabilities, GIRGs are technically simpler (specifically, we avoid hyperbolic cosines), while preserving the qualitative behaviour of hyperbolic random graphs, and we suggest to replace hyperbolic random graphs by this new model in future theoretical studies.
We prove the following fundamental structural and algorithmic results on GIRGs. (1) As our main contribution we provide a sampling algorithm that generates a random graph from our model in expected linear time, improving the best-known sampling algorithm for hyperbolic random graphs by a substantial factor O(n^0.5). (2) We establish that GIRGs have clustering coefficients in {\Omega}(1), (3) we prove that GIRGs have small separators, i.e., it suffices to delete a sublinear number of edges to break the giant component into two large pieces, and (4) we show how to compress GIRGs using an expected linear number of bits.


This study describes the results obtained in the synthesis of a biofuel that avoids the production of glycerol by applying supported KF as alkaline heterogeneous catalyst, to generate two moles of fatty acid methyl esters and one mole of monoglyceride from one mol of triglyceride. In this respect, the selective transesterification process of sunflower oil with methanol was carried out with KF (10 wt%) supported on three different solids, Al 2 O 3 , ZnO and MgO. The standard experimental conditions employed in the heterogeneous selective methanolysis reaction were: 12 mL of sunflower oil, 2.7 mL of methanol, 0.8 g of catalyst, at 65 °C temperature and one hour of reaction time. In all cases 100% conversion was obtained, with high selectivity values, greater than 90%, and quite suitable viscosity values, 4.5–8.5 cSt. In this way, the best catalytic behavior in the first use was obtained by using Al 2 O 3 as support. However, although in the five consecutive reuses all catalysts exhibited a continuous decrease in their catalytic activities; the lower one was for KF catalyst using MgO as support. In summary, these three KF supported catalysts are very suitable to obtain a new biofuel, similar to conventional biodiesel, applicable to diesel engines.


In 2020/21, IIED conducted an internal review to better understand whether and how dimensions of racism play out in the narratives that it writes and publishes. With this exercise, IIED focused on exploring how far its written content acknowledges or omits historic patterns of enslavement, colonial exploitation, present day racism, and coloniality. The exercise is relevant to the wider discourse on racism in the aid and sustainable development sectors, particularly for organisations considering how internal discourse and external communications influence strategy, values and culture. The authors worked alongside experienced anti-racist practitioners to design a two-step methodology: having reviewed relevant academic literature, they developed a framework to facilitate discussions with IIED colleagues around the narratives in four communications products, including the organisational strategy. The framework identifies six dimensions of racism and coloniality that are dominant in aid and development storytelling: colour blindness, White gaze, saviourism, eurocentrism, neutrality, and exclusion. This evaluation shares findings from those discussions, exploring which dimensions participants found most prevalent in the communications they analysed. The review succeeded in starting a valuable process of reflection; it also revealed that the narratives IIED uses to communicate its work do not sufficiently acknowledge how patterns of coloniality and racism impact on the sustainable development challenges that the organisation works on. This evaluation concludes with a roadmap for change that sets out the actions IIED will take based on the review.


Objective To compare Orchard Sports Injury Classification System (OSICS-10) sports medicine diagnoses assigned by a clinical and non-clinical coder. Design Assessment of intercoder agreement. Setting Community Australian football. Participants 1082 standardised injury surveillance records. Main outcome measurements Direct comparison of the four-character hierarchical OSICS-10 codes assigned by two independent coders (a sports physician and an epidemiologist). Adjudication by a third coder (biomechanist). Results The coders agreed on the first character 95% of the time and on the first two characters 86% of the time. They assigned the same four-digit OSICS-10 code for only 46% of the 1082 injuries. The majority of disagreements occurred for the third character; 85% were because one coder assigned a non-specific 'X' code. The sports physician code was deemed correct in 53% of cases and the epidemiologist in 44%. Reasons for disagreement included the physician not using all of the collected information and the epidemiologist lacking specific anatomical knowledge. Conclusions Sports injury research requires accurate identification and classification of specific injuries and this study found an overall high level of agreement in coding according to OSICS-10. The fact that the majority of the disagreements occurred for the third OSICS character highlights the fact that increasing complexity and diagnostic specificity in injury coding can result in a loss of reliability and demands a high level of anatomical knowledge. Injury report form details need to reflect this level of complexity and data management teams need to include a broad range of expertise.


The provision of public services in England has received large amounts of policy attention over the last three decades. During this time there have been numerous and far-reaching reforms to the public sector in England, which have resulted in less direct provision of public services by Local Authorities and an increased 'marketisation' of the public sector (Hall et al., 2012b; Simmons, 2008). This marketisation of public services has been led by a desire to create more cost-efficient services that are also responsive to service user's needs. This reform is being driven by central government, which is using funding reforms and legislation to create greater public choice in the services that they use and the providers that they 'buy' these services from. In doing so, the government have encouraged the transfer of Local Authority staff into new provider and employee-owned mutual organisations (also known as 'spin-outs'). 'Public service mutuals' have been defined as '…organisations which have left the public sector i.e. spun out, but continue to deliver public services and in which employee control plays a significant role in their operation' (LeGrand and Mutuals Taskforce, 2012:9). Prior research exploring the spin-out sector has identified that policy initiatives such as 'Right to Request', 'Right to Provide' and 'Mutual Pathfinders' are having an impact and increasing the number of spin-outs from the public sector (Miller et al., 2012a; Cabinet Office, 2011). Spin-outs are seen as enabling services to be made more efficient and responsive to user's needs, whilst at the same time reducing public expenditure (Addicott, 2011; Hall et al., 2012b; Alcock et al., 2012). However, much of the prior research on spin-outs is sector focused (i.e. exploring health and social care spin-outs only), whilst the spin-out sector in England is heterogeneous and includes leisure trusts, housing associations and employment services. There remains a limited amount of academic research that approaches the sector as a whole and that seeks to uncover common barriers to spinning-out and the challenges facing new and existing spin-outs. This research undertook a review of secondary literature in order to identify potential spin-outs and then invited the 210 organisations identified to participate in an online survey (of which 59 have responded to date). The online survey explored organisational demographics, the policy process adopted in spinning-out, the perceptions of future challenges and the 'fit' of commissioning frameworks. The results revealed that the spin-out sector is experiencing growth and that government policy initiatives are having partial success in promoting spin-outs. The research also revealed that the most significant challenge facing spin-outs in the future is related to access to finance and 'payment by results' contracting. Finally, the data also suggests that the greatest growth is experienced by those spin-outs that trade directly with consumers and that receive repayable investment


In the current study, thermoplasmonic characteristics of Meitnerium nanoparticles with spherical, core-shell and rod shapes are investigated. In order to investigate these characteristics, interaction of synchrotron radiation emission as a function of the beam energy and Meitnerium nanoparticles were simulated using 3D finite element method. Firstly, absorption and extinction cross sections were calculated. Then, increases in temperature due to synchrotron radiation emission as a function of the beam energy absorption were calculated in Meitnerium nanoparticles by solving heat equation. The obtained results show that Meitnerium nanorods are more appropriate option for using in optothermal human cancer cells, tissues and tumors treatment method.


© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012. All rights reserved. The practice of archaeology has many different facets: from academia, to government, tocultural resource management, to public media. Considering the place of archaeology in society means understanding the rolesthat archaeology has in the present day and a sense of the contributions thatit can make in each of these areas, both now and in the future. Archaeologistscome to the field to pursue a variety of interests: teaching, examininghistory, preserving the environment, or studying a specialized time period orinterest. The outside world has a number of other expectations of archaeology:preservation, tourism, and education, to name but a few. From a broad and varied background, the editors have compiled a rare group ofcontributors uniquely qualified to address questions about the current state ofarchaeology and its relevance in society. There is no single answer to thequestion of how the field of archaeology should develop, and what it can do forsociety. Instead,the authors in this volume lay out the many ways in which archaeology isrelevant to the present day - considering, for example, climate change, energyexploration, warfare, national identity, the importance of stories and how theyare told, and how and why opportunities to engage with the past throughmuseums, digs, television, classes, and the print media have the formsthey currently do - creating a state-of-the-art tool for archaeologists, policymakers and the public alike to understand the work of many in the fieldand address the challenges we all face.


Tuberculosis is one of the causes of anemia in chronic diseases in addition to rheumatoid arthritis, urserative colitis, Crohn's disease, ovarian malignancy and Hodgkin's lymphoma. Chronic disease anemia also known as anemia due to inflammation, occurs in patients with chronic infections. This anemia also occurs in some patients with malignancy. The causes of anemia are based on cell size, namely iron deficiency (often), anemia of chronic diseases (often), Thalassemia (often in certain ethnicities) causing the size of cells to become microsytic. Cells turn macrocytic due to liver disease, excess alcohol, megaloblastic anemia (vitamin B12 deficiency or folate or exposure to certain drugs), hemolysis, and aplastic anemia. Whereas the normal cell factors are blood loss, the initial phase of iron deficiency, anemia, chronic disease, and kidney failure. The aim of this study was to determine the type of anemia based on the morphological description of erythrocytes in the form, color, and size of erythrocytes seen in the smear blood supply of tuberculosis patients based on treatment duration of 0-6 months. The type of research used was a descriptive survey with a population of 15 people taken by accidental sampling. Data collection is done by examining the blood smear smears. Based on the examination of peripheral blood smear preparations in pulmonary tuberculosis patients, the morphology of erythrocytes in the form of Normocytic normochrome was 74% and microsocytic normochrome was 26%. Suggestions in the research for further research can be carried out with support other than the examination of peripheral blood smear.


The article focuses on the analysis of chambers of commerce and industry, non-governmental organizations, fully committed to stimulating economic initiative and increase business competitiveness. The objective of the paper is to highlight the instruments and means through which the chambers of commerce and industry provide support for the development and promotion of business and their ability to settle trade disputes. In the first part of the article are presented the characteristics and functions of chambers, organizations that support the development of international trade. Although the role of chambers of commerce and industry is essentially the same, they behave national and regional specific features. The second part advance the chamber means for promoting international trade through concrete examples based on analyzing actions of chambers of commerce and industry. The article ends with an assessment of the actual situation of the county chambers of commerce and industry in Romania, obtained after a personal research. The survey is structured around two major themes: chamber system in Romania and the Romanian business environment.


Convectively coupled Kelvin waves over the South American continent are examined through the use of temporal and spatial filtering of reanalysis, satellite, and gridded rainfall data. They are most prominent from November to April, the season analyzed herein. The following two types of events are isolated: those that result from preexisting Kelvin waves over the eastern Pacific Ocean propagating into the continent, and those that apparently originate over Amazonia, forced by disturbances propagating equatorward from central and southern South America. The events with precursors in the Pacific are mainly upper-level disturbances, with almost no signal at the surface. Those events with precursors over South America, on the other hand, originate as upper-level synoptic wave trains that pass over the continent and resemble the ''cold surges'' documented by Garreaud and Wallace. As the wave train propagates over the Andes, it induces a southerly low-level wind that advects cold air to the north. Precipitation associated with a cold front reaches the equator a few days later and subsequently propagates eastward with the characteristics of a Kelvin wave. The structures of those waves originating over the Pacific are quite similar to those originating over South America as they propagate to eastern South America and into the Atlantic. South America Kelvin waves that originate over neither the Pacific nor the midlatitudes of South America can also be identified. In a composite sense, these form over the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains, close to the equator. There are also cases of cold surges that reach the equator yet do not form Kelvin waves. The interannual variability of the Pacific-originating events is related to sea surface temperatures in the central–eastern Pacific Ocean. When equatorial oceanic conditions are warm, there tends to be an increase in the number of disturbances that reach South America from the Pacific.


In the medical field and in industry application, a novel type of micro biped robot with multi DOF that can swim smoothly in water or aqueous medium has urgently been demanded. The fish-like microrobot is one of the micro and miniature devices, which is installed with sensing and actuating elements. This paper describes the new structure and motion mechanism of a hybrid type of underwater microrobot using ICPF actuator, and discusses the swimming and floating possibility of the microrobot in water. Characteristic of the underwater microrobot is measured by changing the frequency and the amplitude of input voltage. The experimental results indicate that the swimming speed of proposed underwater microrobot can be controlled by changing the frequency of input voltage; the moving direction (upward or downward) can be controlled by changing the amplitude and the frequency of input voltage


Mercury is a highly toxic environmental pollutant that negatively affects human health. Thus, an in vivo method for noninvasive imaging of mercury(ii) and visualization of its accumulation within living systems would be advantageous. Herein, we describe a reaction-based bioluminescent probe for detection of mercury(ii) in vitro and accumulation in vivo. The application of this probe would help to shed light on the intricate contributions of mercury(ii) to various physiological and pathological processes.


Abstract Coase always expressed dissatisfaction with neo-classical economics and advocated for a new approach. Rather than using toy mathematical models built from unrealistic, idealized assumptions, Coase preferred to study real-world contexts, including actual legal cases. He demonstrated the utility of his approach in 'The Problem of Social Cost'. Yet almost all of Coase's contemporaries completely ignored, Coase's call for a new approach and his sustained use of legal cases to illustrate his arguments and to situate his analysis in reality. In this paper, we show that the profession interpreted Coase's seminal article exactly the opposite of what he had intended, and reduced his analytical contributions to a toy model of the exact sort he was criticizing. This ironic history of the most cited article both in law and in economics helps us understand the development of ideas within both fields and how disciplinary blinders shape intellectual progress.


Data obtained by GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) have been used to invert for the seismic source parameters of megathrust earthquakes under the assumption of either uniform slip over an entire fault or a point‐like seismic source. Herein, we further extend the inversion of GRACE long‐wavelength gravity changes to heterogeneous slip distributions during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake using three fault models: (I) a constant‐strike and constant‐dip fault, (II) a variable dip fault, and (III) a realistically varying strike fault. By removing the post‐seismic signal from the time series, and taking the effect of ocean water redistribution into account, we invert for slip models I, II, and III using co‐seismic gravity changes measured by GRACE, de‐striped by DDK3 decorrelation filter. The total seismic moments of our slip models, with respective values of 4.9×1022 Nm, 5.1×1022 Nm, and 5.0×1022 Nm, are smaller than those obtained by other studies relying on GRACE data. The resulting centroids are also located at greater depths (20 km, 19.8 km, and 17.4 km, respectively). By combining onshore GPS, GPS‐Acoustic, and GRACE data, we obtain a jointly inverted slip model with a seismic moment of 4.8×1022 Nm, which is larger than the seismic moment obtained using only the GPS displacements. We show that the slip inverted from low degree space‐borne gravimetric data, which contains information at the ocean region, is affected by the strike of the arcuate trench. The space‐borne gravimetric data help us constrain the source parameters of a megathrust earthquake within the frame of heterogeneous slip models.


As more and more countries seek to liberalise their foreign investment regimes to attract global flows of foreign direct investment (FDI), an essential question for policy-makers is no longer just what to reform but also how to reform. How is a reformist government to sell the idea of reform to the general public and to counter any opposition to reform? How are those who lose from reform in the short term to be compensated? Does sequencing of reforms matter? Korea offers a particularly interesting case study because its reforms beginning in the 1990s were both rapid and far-reaching. Based on the OECD FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index, Korea was the biggest reformer of its policies towards FDI between 1997 and 2010 among a sample of 40 developed and emerging countries. The objective of this study is to document the liberalisation of the FDI regime in Korea and to examine how and why it came about. What were the main obstacles and what were the main drivers? How did FDI liberalisation relate to other reforms (trade policy and regulatory reform, policies towards outward investment)? The paper does not ask what more Korea needs to do but rather what lessons can we draw from the Korean experience about how to achieve rapid and sustainable reforms? The insights from Korean liberalisation are useful for other countries, particularly non-OECD members in Asia and elsewhere, which still have high levels of statutory restrictions as measured by the FDI Index. Many of these countries are eager to attract more investment and recognise that they will need to reform their investment regime but are unsure how best to proceed. Each country?s reform path is unique, and this study will not provide a roadmap for other countries to follow, but it will nevertheless serve as a useful model for reformers in other countries and provide evidence that successful reform is accompanied by rising inflows of direct investment.


The number of product recalls has considerably increased during the last decade resulting in escalating costs for the public and companies likewise. Companies are confronted not only with severe consequences of their short-term performance (e.g. sales) but also of long-term marketing metrics such as consumer's brand image, brand attitude and perceived quality. Therefore, companies need to know how they should design their recall communication to minimize negative impact. Using data of 450 consumers' reactions to 16 different and major German product recalls, the authors investigate the impact of recall communication characteristics like transparency and social responsibility on customers' brand evaluation. They further measure how the particular degree of hazard and its probability of a product failure moderate the impact of the chosen communication strategy. The findings provide companies with recommendations how to design their recall messages depending on the context of the recall necessity.


This essay investigates the relationship between Ralph Waldo Emerson and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in the context of the common law. Holmes's Emersonian writings, in particular his dissents, fall within the theoretical framework of agonism, which Harold Bloom refers to as a revisionary and Emersonian "program." Agonism as a political and aesthetic theory maintains that sites of contestation can be productive rather than destructive; it suggests that confrontational relationships can be at once mutually offsetting and generative. Drawing from the Greek word for an athletic competition, agonism applied to rhetoric underscores the importance of mutuality to conflict: writers struggling against other writers understand and admire, yet seek creatively to outdo and overcome, their competition. The common-law system substantiates this theory insofar as every case answers an anterior case and creates a succession of precedents marked by strong judges and justices struggling against their predecessors. I submit that Emerson and Holmes were both pragmatic champions of descendent agonism, the former in the American literary tradition and the latter in the American common-law tradition that is distinct from its British precursor.


Introduction Born in Bradford is a large multi-ethnic birth cohort drawn from the North of England. We describe the risk factors associated with poor mental health in pregnancy for White and Pakistani-origin women. Methods We examined data from White (N=1901) and Pakistani (N=1360) women who completed the GHQ-28 in English. We used univariate and multivariate logistic regression to examine socio-demographic risk factors associated with scoring above the conventional threshold for poor mental health. We conducted a sensitivity analysis on the threshold method by comparing the highest and lowest scoring quintile within each ethnic group. Results 43% of White and 47% of Pakistani women scored above the threshold. For White women univariate risk factors were not living with a partner, self-reported financial worries and less education. For Pakistani women not being in a relationship and having financial worries were associated with poor mental health. Significant variables remaining in the multivariate models for both groups were financial worries (White OR 2.4, 95% CI 2.0 to 3.0; Pakistani 2.7, 2.1 to 3.5) and not being in a relationship (White 1.4, 1.0 to 2.1; Pakistani 2.6, 1.0 to 6.5). Sensitivity analyses indicated the same significant risk factors with the addition of cohabitation and younger age in the univariate analyses for White women. Pakistani women had worse within-quintile scores than White women (highest quintile difference 5.6 points, t=8.8, p<0.0001). Conclusion Prevalence and severity of poor mental health varies by ethnicity but consistency in the associated risk factors underline patterns of social disadvantage in both groups.


This paper presents the largest globally comparable panel database of education quality. The database includes 163 countries and regions over 1965-2015. The globally comparable achievement outcomes were constructed by linking standardized, psychometrically-robust international and regional achievement tests. The paper contributes to the literature in the following ways: (1) it is the largest and most current globally comparable data set, covering more than 90 percent of the global population; (2) the data set includes 100 developing areas and the most developing countries included in such a data set to date -- the countries that have the most to gain from the potential benefits of a high-quality education; (3) the data set contains credible measures of globally comparable achievement distributions as well as mean scores; (4) the data set uses multiple methods to link assessments, including mean and percentile linking methods, thus enhancing the robustness of the data set; (5) the data set includes the standard errors for the estimates, enabling explicit quantification of the degree of reliability of each estimate; and (6) the data set can be disaggregated across gender, socioeconomic status, rural/urban, language, and immigration status, thus enabling greater precision and equity analysis. A first analysis of the data set reveals a few important trends: learning outcomes in developing countries are often clustered at the bottom of the global scale; although variation in performance is high in developing countries, the top performers still often perform worse than the bottom performers in developed countries; gender gaps are relatively small, with high variation in the direction of the gap; and distributions reveal meaningfully different trends than mean scores, with less than 50 percent of students reaching the global minimum threshold of proficiency in developing countries relative to 86 percent in developed countries. The paper also finds a positive and significant association between educational achievement and economic growth. The data set can be used to benchmark global progress on education quality, as well as to uncover potential drivers of education quality, growth, and development.


The ability to jointly understand the geometry of objects and plan actions for manipulating them is crucial for intelligent agents. We refer to this ability as geometric planning. Recently, many interactive environments have been proposed to evaluate intelligent agents on various skills, however, none of them cater to the needs of geometric planning. We present PackIt, a virtual environment to evaluate and potentially learn the ability to do geometric planning, where an agent needs to take a sequence of actions to pack a set of objects into a box with limited space. We also construct a set of challenging packing tasks using an evolutionary algorithm. Further, we study various baselines for the task that include model-free learning-based and heuristic-based methods, as well as search-based optimization methods that assume access to the model of the environment. Code and data are available at this https URL.


Lyng's research on 'edgework' has proved to be particularly useful for exploring how individuals intentionally negotiate the boundaries that separate order from chaos. Lyng has provided a social-psychological framework for understanding the phenomenological sensations associated with activities that seek to test the limits of human endurance and criminologists have found the literature on edgework relevant for their research. This paper compares 'edgework' to Csikszentmihalyi's research on 'flow'. I aim to show why Csikszentmihalyi's research should also be seen as offering important insights in relation to the pleasures and sensations of voluntary risk-taking. In addition to this, I intend to show how Sartre's early philosophy of self-knowledge and consciousness has the potential to make an important contribution to this literature. Using the philosophy of Sartre to explore some of the unacknowledged similarities between 'edgework' and 'flow', my overall intention is to highlight the relevance of both perspectives and to widen the current focus of criminological debates concerning high-risk behaviour.


The aim of the study is to explore what is constructed as key knowledge, essential for an Upper Secondary school RE teacher, in Swedish RE teacher education and to analyze how this knowledge is constructed. This paper sets out to give an overview of the project and discuss some initial results from a pilot study based on one observation of a three-way meeting and interviews with the participants both before and after the trialogue.Swedish Upper Secondary school teacher education is conducted in what can be considered as two different social practices, one being the academic courses at university and the other the in-school training at the partner schools. Accordingly, the teacher students are educated in two educational contexts -the "theoretical" social practice of university and the "practical" social practice of school. The outline sketched above is why this research project sets out not to investigate the regular education in RE teacher education through lectures, seminars etc., the dialogue between teacher student and their teachers respectively, but instead the trialogue between RE teacher student, RE Upper Secondary school teacher and mentor, and the RE university professor. The three-way meeting described is beingundertaken when the teacher student carries out in-school training and the academic professor, the student and the mentor meet for a trialogue concerning the development of the teacher student. In conclusion, the main aim of this paper is to present my PhD student research project, with a focus on initial results from a pilot study.


Abstract The UvrA2 dimer finds lesions in DNA and initiates nucleotide excision repair. Each UvrA monomer contains two essential ATPase sites: proximal (P) and distal (D). The manner whereby their activities enable UvrA2 damage sensing and response remains to be clarified. We report three key findings from the first pre-steady state kinetic analysis of each site. Absent DNA, a P2ATP-D2ADP species accumulates when the low-affinity proximal sites bind ATP and enable rapid ATP hydrolysis and phosphate release by the high-affinity distal sites, and ADP release limits catalytic turnover. Native DNA stimulates ATP hydrolysis by all four sites, causing UvrA2 to transition through a different species, P2ADP-D2ADP. Lesion-containing DNA changes the mechanism again, suppressing ATP hydrolysis by the proximal sites while distal sites cycle through hydrolysis and ADP release, to populate proximal ATP-bound species, P2ATP-Dempty and P2ATP-D2ATP. Thus, damaged and native DNA trigger distinct ATPase site activities, which could explain why UvrA2 forms stable complexes with UvrB on damaged DNA compared with weaker, more dynamic complexes on native DNA. Such specific coupling between the DNA substrate and the ATPase mechanism of each site provides new insights into how UvrA2 utilizes ATP for lesion search, recognition and repair.


It is now known that circadian clocks are localized not only in the central pacemaker but also in peripheral organs. An example of a clock-dependent peripheral organ is the ovary of domestic poultry in which ovulation is induced by the positive feedback action of ovarian progesterone on the neuroendocrine system to generate a preovulatory release of LH during a daily 6-10 h "open period" of the ovulatory cycle. It has been assumed previously that the timing of ovulation in poultry is controlled solely by a clock-dependent mechanism within the neuroendocrine system. Here, we question this assumption by demonstrating the expression of the clock genes, Per2 (Period 2) and Per3, Clock, and Bmal1 (brain and muscle Arnt-like protein 1), in preovulatory follicles in laying quail. Diurnal changes in Per2 and Per3 expression were seen in the largest preovulatory follicle (F1) but not in smaller follicles. We next sought to identify clock-driven genes in preovulatory follicles focusing on those involved in the synthesis of progesterone. One such gene was identified, encoding steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), which showed 24-h changes in expression in the F1 follicle coinciding with those of Per2. Evidence that StAR gene expression is clock driven was obtained by showing that its 5' flanking region contains E-box enhancers that bind to CLOCK/BMAL1 heterodimers to activate gene transcription. We also showed that LH administration increased the promoter activity of chicken StAR. We therefore suggest that the timing of ovulation in poultry involves an LH-responsive F1 follicular clock that is involved in the timing of the preovulatory release of progesterone.


Do knowledge intense jobs exhibit lower gender gaps in wages? Here we use a linked employeremployee dataset of the entire Brazilian formal labor force to study the relationship between gender wage gaps and the knowledge intensity of industries and occupations. We find that employees in high-skilled occupations and industries experience lower gender wage gaps, and that the effect of knowledge intensity is stronger when the demand for skilled labor is high and the supply of skilled labor is low. We also find evidence that the gender wage gap of skilled workers, but not that of unskilled workers, decreases when knowledge intense industries grow. These effects are robust to controlling for individual, occupation, sector, and location characteristics. To address endogeneity concerns, we use a Bartik instrument based on labor demand shocks. Together, these findings suggest that competition for skilled labor in knowledge intense industries contributes to the reduction of gender wage gaps.


RF transmit signals are an inherent part of MRI that is crucial for spin excitation. Current developments in MRI are moving towards higher magnetic field strengths and more transmit coils leading to more inhomogeneous RF distributions. This increases the possibility of SAR hotspots, creating higher risks of local heating. In order to cope with these developments and still perform reliable safety assessments the MRI safety community is discussing to revise the guidelines on RF induced tissue heating. Instead of restricting the scanners on a derived measure, i.e. SAR, the scanners should be limited by the guidelines that are direct measures for tissue damage such as absolute temperature. In this debate the translation from SAR to temperature estimations is crucial. In order to make this translation thermal modeling is required.
In this thesis MR-based methods were developed in order to measure the influence of RF exposure in human subjects, both in temperature and perfusion. Those results could subsequently be used to test whether current thermal modeling was able to predict those effects for a given subject. In vivo temperature measurements in the calf resulted in precise representations of the heating that could be used as a reliable gold standard. Furthermore, perfusion increases over the complete leg due to this local temperature
increase could be observed. Although the simulations matched with the experiments in the EM regime, the accuracy of the estimated temperature distributions was not sufficient for a safety assessment. This showed that more work on thermal modeling is required before MRI scanners can be restricted on measures based on temperature. Therefore it would be unwise to immediately discard all SAR related restrictions. Local SAR still proved to be a very useful restrictive measure since it can be quickly determined by simulations and can more easily be verified. Correct thermal modeling proved to rely on inputs that are not easily measured such as subject specific thermoregulation. Although the first steps in this direction were made in this thesis, obtaining a proper estimate of thermal behavior over the whole human body is a highly challenging pursuit.


Abstract—Background: Software Process Improvement (SPI) maturity models have been developed to assist organizations to enhance software quality. Agile methodologies are used to ensure productivity and quality of a software product. Amongst others they are applied in Small and Medium – sized Enterprises (SMEs). However, little is known about the combination of Agile methodologies and SPI maturity models regarding SMEs and the results that could emerge, as all the current SPI models are addressed to larger organizations and all these improvement models are difficult to be used by Small and Medium – sized firms. Combinations of these methodologies could lead to improvement in the quality of the software products, better project management methodologies and organized software development framework. Objectives: The aim of this study is to identify the main Agile methodologies and SPI maturity models applied in SMEs, the combinations of these methodologies, and the results that could emerge. Through these combinations, new software development frameworks are proposed. What is more, the results of this study can be used as a guide with the appropriate combination for each SME, as a better project management methodology or as improvement in the current software engineering practices. Methods: A Systematic Literature Review was conducted, resulting in 71 selected relevant papers ranging from 2001 to 2013. Besides, a survey has been performed from June 2013 to October 2013, including 49 participants. Results: Seven Agile methodologies and six different SPI maturity models were identified and discussed. Furthermore, the combination of eight different Agile methodologies and Software Process Improvement maturity models is presented, and as well as their benefits and drawbacks that could emerge in Small and Medium – sized firms. Conclusion: The majority of the Agile methodologies and SPI maturity models are addressed to large or very large enterprises. Thus, little research has been conducted for SMEs. The combinations of the Agile methodologies and SPI maturity models are usually performed in experimental stages. However, it has been observed that such type of combination could present numerous benefits, which can also be applicable in SMEs as well. The combinations that are most common are the CMMI and XP, CMMI and Scrum, CMMI and Six Sigma, and the PRINCE2 and DSDM.


Abstract Myotis lucifigus and Myotis yumanensis are 2 species of bats subject to potentially high rates of misidentification because they are often difficult to differentiate in the hand under field conditions. We tested the utility of a suite of external morphological characteristics frequently cited in regional keys to differentiate the 2 species in the field. Forearm length, dorsal pelage sheen, ear color, and forehead slope were examined from 101 bats captured in central Oregon during 2002–2003. Post hoc genetic analysis was performed on tissue samples collected from the 101 bats to confirm identification. Forearm lengths overlapped considerably between species. Only 18% of M. yumanensis and 17% of M. lucifugus were correctly identified with probability ≥95% using forearm length alone. Pelage sheen, ear color, and forehead slope successfully identified 96%, 82%, and 77% of individual bats, respectively. When forearm length was considered together with other traits, identification rates ranged from 92% to 20%. Ability to correctly identify M. yumanensis was 2–6 times greater than for M. lucifugus. Pelage sheen was useful in our study; however, using this character required a subjective decision from the observer, and the result often contradicted other characters for species identification stated in regional keys. For these reasons, we recommend that morphological features be used judiciously and only as supportive criteria for field identification in combination with voucher echolocation calls and genetic confirmation.


Traditional multiparty audio conferencing uses a star-shaped topology where all the clients connect to a central MCU (multipoint control unit). The MCU mixes the signals from the speakers, encodes it, and sends back the encoded signal to each client. To prevent the speakers from hearing their own voices, the MCU has to produce and encode a different mixed signal for each speaker. As a result, the CPU load on the MCU increases proportionally to the number of speakers in the conference. In this paper, we introduce a new conferencing architecture, where the MCU produces a single encoded signal sum of all received signals and each client is responsible for removing its own signal if necessary. This architecture can substantially reduce CPU load on the MCU. The major challenge, however, is that the client's original speech is non-linearly distorted by the MCU encoding process. Simply subtracting the original speech from the mixed signal would produce an echo-like distortion. We solve that problem using a novel algorithm which completely removes the echo with minimal artifacts. Mean opinion score (MOS) results imply that the proposed algorithm works well, making the proposed multiparty audio conferencing architecture promising.


Genomic analysis provides a global catalog of phosphatases, a key component of cell signaling. Evolution of the diverse phosphatome Protein kinases and protein phosphatases are two sides of a major posttranslational mode of regulation, and dysfunction in either underlies many human diseases. Relative to kinases, protein phosphatases are more structurally and catalytically diverse. Using genomic data on protein phosphatases across eukaryotic animal kingdoms, Chen et al. created a human protein phosphatome and a map of its evolution. They also tabulated disease associations with various human phosphatases. The findings provide a rich resource for exploring the phosphatome in development, physiology, and human disease. Protein phosphatases are the essential opposite to protein kinases; together, these enzymes regulate all protein phosphorylation and most cellular processes. To better understand the global roles of protein phosphorylation, we cataloged the human protein phosphatome, composed of 189 known and predicted human protein phosphatase genes. We also identified 79 protein phosphatase pseudogenes or retrogenes, some of which may have residual function. We traced the origin and diversity of phosphatases by building protein phosphatomes for eight other eukaryotes, from the protist Dictyostelium to the sea urchin. We classified protein phosphatases from all nine species into a hierarchy of 10 protein folds, 21 families, and 178 subfamilies. We found that >80% of the 101 human subfamilies were conserved across the animal kingdom, but show substantial differences in evolution, including losses and expansions of individual subfamilies and changes in accessory domains. Protein phosphatases show similar evolutionary dynamics to those of kinases, with substantial losses in major model organisms. Sequence analysis predicts that 26 human protein phosphatase domains are catalytically disabled and that this disability is mostly conserved across orthologs. This genomic and evolutionary perspective on protein phosphatases provides a framework for global analysis of protein phosphorylation throughout the animal kingdom.


There has been an increase in the preventable communicable disease known as Pertussis as the result of waning immunity in adolescents and adults. Waning immunity is the loss of protective antibodies over a period of time. Despite the availability of a new immunization in 2005, adult immunization rates do not meet Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Healthy People 2020 goal. Adult immunizations remain a challenge. Preventive healthcare is the keystone to providing routine vaccination coverage. It is usually the point of entry into the health care system. The theoretical model used was the Precaution Adoption Model, which allowed the provider the opportunity to provide immediate information to the patient at the time of the visit. This provided the patient time to make an educated decision at the time of the office visit to receive or decline the Tdap immunization. The purpose of this project was to implement a process to increase the rate of pertussis immunity with the use of tetanus toxoid, diphtheria toxoid and pertussis immunization (Tdap) to the patients in our practice. All patients 19 years of age and over who had a scheduled office visits in our practice, with one of our three providers were provided the questionnaire to complete on immunization status. We offered the immunization to both genders 19 years of age and older. Those patients seen by a provider daily 19 to 64 years of age were identified as study participants. With the use of questionnaire, it was found that 21% to 40% of patients seen during the 8 weeks of project had received their Tdap immunization prior to their office visit. Once the provider offered and if indicated explained the importance of the Tdap immunization an additional 33% to 49% patients were provided the immunization. Though provided the Increasing the Rate of Pertussis 3 information and recommendation 25% to 35% of those patients seen during their office visit declined the immunization. The visits during the eight week of project increased the rate of Tdap immunizations from 61% to 77% which fell short of the CDC's goal of 90%, but was found to have a significant increase with the questionnaire. The questionnaire used was well received by providers, staff and patients and did not increase in time requirements for the patient intake process. There were two limitations to administer the Tdap immunization in our office. The first is insurance carriers. Medicaid does not allow us to administer any immunizations in the office, so those patients with that specific insurance were unable to receive, even they wanted it. Next is those patients who rely on Medicare for payment, Medicare will not cover the Tdap administration for prevention. The second limitation is those patients who have no insurance and are self-pay refused to take due to cost. At present there is no program in our company to assist patients with financial needs to receive a reduction in cost. This Capstone experience concluded that the primary care office and the patient's office visit is an effective site for implementing immunization administration of Tdap to increase the public health issue of declining immunity of pertussis and the indication for immunizations. Increasing the Rate of Pertussis 4 CONTENTS Abstract.......................................................................................................2 Table of


The digitisation of society has posed a challenge to news outlets. Seeking advertising revenues and facing competition for the attention of their readers, many news outlets entered the digital era with unrestricted access to their online content. More recently, news outlets have sought to restrict the amount of content available for free. We quantify the impact of introducing a paywall on the demand for news in Norway. The short-run average impact of a paywall is negative and between 3 and 4%, in the long run the effect increases to between 9 and 11%. We find heterogeneity in the response to paywalls. The largest news outlet within its market experiences larger effects than the other news outlets. After introducing a paywall, the largest news outlets face a long-run reduction in demand between 13 and 15%, as compared to the others who experience a decrease of between 8 and 11%. The timing of introducing a paywall does not seem to affect the demand response very much.


If you're enrolled in an executive education or MBA program, you've probably encountered a powerful learning tool: the business case. But if you're like many people, you may find interpreting and writing about cases mystifying, challenging, or downright frustrating. In "The Case Study Handbook", William Ellet presents a potent new approach for analyzing, discussing, and writing about cases. Early chapters show how to classify cases according to the analytical task they require (solving a problem, making a decision, or forming an evaluation) and quickly establish a base of knowledge about a case. Strategies and templates, in addition to several sample Harvard Business School cases, help you apply the author's framework. Later in the book, Ellet shows how to write persuasive case-analytical essays based on the process laid out earlier. Extensive examples of effective and ineffective writing further reinforce your learning. The book also includes a chapter on how to talk about cases more effectively in class. Any current or prospective MBA or executive education student needs to read this book.


In recent years, there has been a trend among digital and analog circuit designers towards three-dimensional integration. There has been some debate regarding the applicability of 3-D technology to general logic circuits, especially with regard to thermal issues. We examine process variations on the same layer, across layers, and cross-chip variations. We show how the performance of each layer of the 3-D chip varies with temperature, and demonstrate the effect of heat pipes on circuit performance.


At its 45th meeting in 2008, the Torres Strait Scientific Advisory Committee (TSSAC) set down for discussion the need for guiding protocols that researchers adopt when working in the Torres Strait (45.6.1). The Committee considered the current processes and procedures for fisheries research in the Torres Strait, and discussed approaches developed for other organisations. At the following meeting members agreed to commission a review of current approaches and the development of a single source web-based document that would provide guiding protocols for adoption by researchers when working in the Torres Strait. This book is the result of the commissioned work.


The biological interactions of graphene have been extensively investigated over the last 10 years. However, very little is known about graphene interactions with the cell surface and how the graphene internalization process is driven and mediated by specific recognition sites at the interface with the cell. In this work, we propose a methodology to investigate direct molecular correlations between the biomolecular corona of graphene and specific cell receptors, showing that key protein recognition motifs, presented on the nanomaterial surface, can engage selectively with specific cell receptors. We consider the case of apolipoprotein A-I, found to be very abundant in the graphene protein corona, and observe that the uptake of graphene nanoflakes is somewhat increased in cells with greatly elevated expression of scavenger receptors B1, suggesting a possible mechanism of endogenous interaction. The uptake results, obtained by flow cytometry, have been confirmed using Raman microspectroscopic mapping, exploiting the strong Raman signature of graphene.


World Cup 2002, 31 days that shook the world of football and had fans everywhere gasping for more. There has arguably never been a tournament like it, with an upset arising almost every day: Cup holders France return home without scoring a single goal; Portugal humbled by the USA; Italy eliminated by South Korea; and David Beckham defeating his, and England's, nemesis Argentina - a result witnessed during a very long nationwide lunch break. This was also a World Cup of firsts: the first of the new millennium; the first to be held in Asia; and the first to be co-hosted and hooligan-free. The passion of the Japanese and South Korean fans helped restore the ethic of the people's game to a contest that had been in danger of turning into a corporate bonanza. "Going Oriental" explores the substantial impact of World Cup 2002.