A better understanding of the differences between the levels of nutrients, depending on the type of pruning used in the cultivation of the guava tree, may allow a more adequate understanding of the physiological processes of this fruit. The analysis of flowers is a tool that can be used to assist in assessing the nutritional status of crops, especially perennials. We evaluated the effects of different types of pruning on nutrient concentrations in flowers and fruit, at different developmental stages and in different parts of the fruit. The study was carried out in Vista Alegre do Alto, in orchards of guava variety Paluma. Flowers and fruit were collected in orchards, one under heavy pruning and the other with continuous pruning. The fruit were collected in two stages (two millimeters length and mature) and divided into basal part and apex, with the top toward the stalk. Flowers were collected in the same orchards as the fruits, sampling the basal part and apex of the flowers. F tests were performed and, when necessary, the Scott-Knott test at a = 5%. Overall, there were nutritional differences among flowers and fruits in relation to the type of pruning employed; drastic pruning provided higher levels of nutrients compared with continuous pruning. In relation to the portion of the samples, especially for fruit, there were differences between the apex and base, as well as between different stages of fruit collection.


Cryptographic hash functions compute a small fixed-size hash value for any given message. A main application is in digital signatures which require that it must be hard to find collisions, i.e., two different messages that map to the same hash value. In this thesis we provide an analysis of the security of the cryptographic hash function standards MD5 and SHA-1 that have been broken since 2004 due to so called identical-prefix collision attacks. In particular, we present more efficient identical-prefix collision attacks on both MD5 and SHA-1 that improve upon the literature. Furthermore, we introduce a new more flexible attack on MD5 and SHA-1 called the chosen-prefix collision attack that allows significantly more control over the two colliding messages. Moreover, we have proven that our new attack on MD5 poses a realistic threat to the security of everyday applications with our construction of a rogue Certificat ion Authority (CA). Our rogue CA could have enabled the total subversion of secure communications with any website -- if we had not purposely crippled it. Our research has promoted the migration away from these weak hash functions towards more secure hash functions.


This study is aimed at investigating the factors affecting the sustainability of organizational learning in Civil Registration Organization of Markazi Province. This study is applicable in terms of purpose and is a causal research. In order to study the proposed hypotheses and analyzing statistically field method has been conducted and to collect the data, questionnaire has been used. The statistical population of this study includes the employees of Civil Registration Organization of Markazi Province. Sampling has been implemented by means of available sampling method. However, due to the non-responsibility of some of the respondents and incompleteness of some of the questionnaires, 226 questionnaires have been completed. To test the hypotheses, the structural equations method and LISREL Software have been used. According to the data analysis, the results indicated that the individual's motive for learning, team dynamics, and organizational performance have a positive effect on the sustainability of organizational learning.


There has been comparatively little exploration of the importance of local government in addressing large-scale environmental harms, in spite of much activity at the local level dealing with climate change. This Article posits that local governments can affect large-scale environmental harms because they can influence the private sector through targeted social norm creation that cannot be accomplished easily at other levels of government. The Article notes that efforts to induce the private sector to take actions without enforcement capability have been problematic, but that connections to private sector decisionmakers and influencing of their internal norms—which can occur more easily at the local level— can create action not just locally, but wherever corporations operate.


The study examined the concentration of heavy metals in water, soil and vegetables growing wildly on cement-polluted soil of Rewa city, India. Accumulation of HMs in vegetables occurs by various sources but soil is considered the major one. In this study, soil to vegetable transfer factor (TF) for various HMs were also calculated and data showed that TF values differed significantly between soil and vegetable, the difference in TF values among different vegetables may be attributed to differences in element uptake by different vegetables. However TF values obtained for all vegetables were below (1) at all sites. TF were computed to quantify relative differences in bioavailability of metals to vegetables to identify the efficiency of a vegetables species to accumulate a HM(s). These factors were based on roots uptake of metals and discount the foliar absorption of atmospheric metal deposits. However TF does not present the risk associated with the metal in any form.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Objectives: To determine risk factors and outcomes associated with delirium in PICU patients. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Thirty-two–bed PICU within a tertiary care academic children's hospital. Patients: All children admitted to the PICU March 1, 2014, to October 1, 2016, with at least one Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium score (n = 2,446). Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium score was performed twice daily as standard of care. We characterized delirium as: 1) presence of greater than or equal to 1 positive score (Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium ≥ 9) and 2) number of days with a positive score. We built multivariable logistic and linear regression models using electronic medical records data. Many patients (n = 1,538; 63%) had a short length of stay (< 48 hr). Compared with patients with length of stay greater than or equal to 48 hours, fewer experienced delirium (30% vs 69%; p < 0.0001). Among 908 patients with length of stay greater than or equal to 48 hours, presence of delirium was independently associated with age less than 2 years old, baseline cognitive dysfunction, primary diagnosis, and duration of mechanical ventilation. Benzodiazepines demonstrated a dose-response effect (odds ratio for presence of delirium, 1.8 [p = 0.03], 3.4 [p < 0.001], and 9.7 [p = 0.005] for < 25th percentile, 25–75th percentile, and > 75th percentile of total dose, vs no exposure). In terms of outcomes, presence of delirium was independently associated with increased ICU length of stay (p < 0.001), whereas days of delirium were independently associated with decline in cognitive function from ICU admission to discharge (odds ratio, 1.06; p < 0.001), increased ICU (p < 0.001), and hospital length of stay (p < 0.001). Neither delirium presence nor total days were independently associated with mortality. Conclusions: Delirium is common in the PICU, particularly among patients with length of stay greater than or equal to 48 hours. It is independently associated with patient characteristics and PICU exposures, including benzodiazepines. The role of delirium as an independent causal factor in patient outcome requires further investigation.


Field trials were
 conducted in Abbotabad-Balakot tract (Pakistan), during April 2004
 to January 2007 to select cheap, locally available and suitable bait
 formulations for Indian crested porcupine (Hystrix indica) and
 tested these for their potentials to carry lethal quantities of
 rodenticides. Results of no-choice, multiple-choice and
 paired-choice tests revealed that groundnut was preferred, both in
 the whole and cracked forms, over maize, wheat, millet, rice, gram
 and oats. All the food items were consumed in significantly higher
 quantities than in their whole form, except for rice. Consumption of
 all the food grains significantly increased with increasing length
 of its exposure to the novel food, indicating a careful nature of
 the species in selecting new food. No-choice tests revealed that
 groundnut - maize 1:1 mixture can be cost effective bait base and
 its consumption was not signiifcantly different from that of pure
 groundnut. Saccharin (5%) supplemented groundnut maize (1:1) bait
 was consumed in significantly higher quantities, while all other
 aditives (common salt, egg yolk, egg shell powder, fish meal, peanut
 butter, mineral oil, bone meal, coconut oil and yeast powder) at
 both 2% and 5% concentrations and saccharin at 2% concentration did
 not significantly increase the intake of groundnut maize (1:1)
 bait. Consumption of bait, offered after 3 days of pre-baiting,
 significantly declined when poisoned with 3% zinc phophide and such
 effects were delayed with 2% and 1% zinc phosphide. Groundnut
 maize (1:1) poisoned with 2% zinc phosphide resulted in maximum
 decrease (55%) in porcupine burrow activity. Strychnine alkaloid
 (2%) added groundnut maize (1:1) bait was seriously shuned by
 porcupine and caused minimum reduction (25%) in burrow activity.
 Coumatetralyl (0.0375%) added bait caused the highest reduction
 (80%) in burrow activity. Saccharin (5%) supplemented poison baits
 were more acceptable and caused some 10% higher reduction in burrow
 activity using allpoison cereal bait formulations.
 Field trials on fresh food items suggested that guava was preferred
 over potato, carrot and sweet potato. Peanut butter did not
 significantly increase consumption of guava. Consumption of zinc
 phosphide impregnated guava, offered after 3 days of prebaiting,
 exhibited a decline and no bait was consumed on 3rd day of poison
 baiting. Decline was the most rapid with 3% zinc phosphide and
 minimum with 1% zinc
 phosphide. Maximum reduction in burrow activity (55%) was recorded
 with 2% zinc phosphide, followed by 1% (35%) and 3% (25%).
 Fumigation of porcupine burrows with aluminium phosphide tablets
 produced 100% reduction in burrow activity, by applying 8 tablets
 per burrow, 85%, by 6 tablets and 75% by 4 tablets per burrow. A
 100% reduction in burrow activity was recorded by applying 4 tablets
 of aluminum phosphide per burrow in small, 6 tablets in medium and 8
 tablets in large burrows.
 The present study suggested that initial control of the porcupine
 can be achieved by applying 2% zinc phosphide using guava or 1:1
 groundnut maize mixture supplemented with 5% saccharin.
 Coumatetralyl (0.0375%) poisoned bait can give a higher control of
 porcupine, yet involves a higher labour cost and can used as a
 second line of action. Fumigation of burrows with aluminum phosphide
 is though cost effective and can be used in the porcupine management
 programme, yet is nonspecific in its action and hence can be pressed
 into action under emergent conditions only.


Observing eddies and other oceanographic patterns in the subtropical and tropical oceans during summer time can be problematic, because sea surface temperature often lacks spatial contrast and satellite altimetry provides coarse resolution data with some time lag. MODIS ocean color observations are supposed to provide timely information, but they suffer from sun glint contamination when the glint reflectance, Lg, is > 0.01 sr-1. Here, an empirical approach is demonstrated to remove sun glint and clouds using MODIS Rayleigh-corrected reflectance (Rrc) at 469, 555, 645, 859, and 1240-nm. A color index (CI) is derived from the 469-555-645 bands using a baseline subtraction. The CI color patterns appear consistent from adjacent days when different glint and aerosol patterns are present, suggesting the validity of the approach. Applications of the approach over the Gulf of Mexico and other tropical and subtropical regions further validate the approach's general applicability. The new products at 1-km and 500-m resolutions make it possible to observe ocean eddies at both large and small scales. The simple design of the approach also makes it straightforward to implement for other regions when a qualitative MODIS CI is desired to infer circulation patterns and to detect eddies under severe sun glint.


This thesis compares the file organization techniques that are implemented on two different types of computer systems, the large-scale and the small-scale. File organizations from representative computers in each class are examined in detail: the IBM System/370 (OS/370) and the Harris 1600 Distributed Processing System with the Extended Communications Operating System (ECOS). In order to establish the basic framework for comparison, an introduction to file organizations is presented. Additionally, the functional requirements for file organizations are described by their characteristics and user demands. Concluding remarks compare file organization techniques and discuss likely future developments of file systems.


"The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole" - a delightful novel starring John Mortimer's iconic character. "One of the great comic creations of modern times". ("Evening Standard"). ASBOs may be the pride and joy of New Labour, but they don't cut much ice with Horace Rumpole - he takes the old-fashioned view that if anyone is going to be threatened with a restriction of their liberty then some form of legal proceeding ought to be gone through first. Not that Hilda agrees, of course, but she's too busy completing her memoirs to dissuade him from taking an interest when one of the Timson children is given an ASBO for playing football in the street. And pretty soon he realizes something fishy is going on. Why are the residents pursuing their vendetta against the Timson boy quite so strongly? Could they have a sinister reason for not wanting him on their street? John Mortimer's hilarious Rumpole novel, which fans of Sherlock Holmes and P.G. Wodehouse will love, sees the magician of the Old Bailey at his unpredictable and brilliant best. Sir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional trilogy about the inexorable rise of an ambitious Tory MP in the Thatcher years ("Paradise Postponed", "Titmuss Regained" and "The Sound of Trumpets") has recently been republished in "Penguin Classics", together with his autobiography "Clinging to the Wreckage" and his play "A Voyage round My Father". His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in "Penguin" include: "The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole"; "The Collected Stories of Rumpole"; "The First Rumpole Omnibus"; "Rumpole and the Angel of Death"; "Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders"; "Rumpole and the Primrose Path"; "Rumpole and the Reign of Terror"; "Rumpole and the Younger Generation"; "Rumpole at Christmas"; "Rumpole Rests His Case"; "The Second Rumpole Omnibus"; "Forever Rumpole"; "In Other Words"; "Quite Honestly" and "Summer's Lease".


Carl Bjerre has written an interesting analysis of some overlapping legal issues in project finance and securitization transactions. However, some of his reasoning and conclusions do not reflect the broader environment in which these transactions are carried out. Project finance generally results in the creation of a new cash-flow producing asset. Because this asset is created not in the originator but in the special purpose vehicle (SPV), no true sale is required. Consequently, project financings are safer from interference in the case of an originator bankruptcy and are less sensitive to originator recourse. Indeed, project financings are typically non-recourse to the originator. Further, in a project finance transaction there is no risk of the financing being recategorized as a secured loan on the balance sheet of the originator, which would result in increased leverage on its balance sheet. Although project finance has structural aspects that provide definite advantages over traditional structured finance, these differences pose problems of their own. Specifically, the opportunities for a project finance SPV bankruptcy are substantially greater than the typically passive SPV designed for structured finance transactions. When an SPV is operating an asset, and the asset is a dangerous or controversial one, there is an increased chance of adverse financial consequences. Project finance receivables generally (but not always) flow from a small number of obligors. These factors introduce greater credit risk than is normally found in structured finance securitizations, which typically consist of receivables from a statistically predictable large pool. Professor Bjerre's comparison and contrast of project financing and securitization is somewhat effective, but he abruptly moves into a wholly unrelated discussion of consensuality with respect to the adverse impact that project financed transactions may have on third parties. (1) Since project finance mechanisms typically result in the creation of a new asset such as a large infrastructure project, there are frequently broad social and political ramifications that are absent from most structured financings. Third parties are affected by the project operations. This leads Professor Bjerre to his main argument: that consensuality is only present in varying degrees in project finance transactions. (2) In other words, many third parties do not consent to the project, but are greatly impacted by it nonetheless. Structured finance also struggles with this issue, but on the level of unsecured creditors of the originator wanting fair compensation for the transfer of receivables. Professor Bjerre's article would be more effective by comparing and contrasting basic structuring issues in securitization and project finance. It is debatable whether a law review article in a symposium issue on securitization should ruminate about erecting "a philosophical framework within which to judge the acceptability" of the tradeoffs between economic benefits and social costs involved in large projects. (3) Professor Bjerre wants to connect the "discourses" of human rights law, sociology, and developmental economics with project finance. This is a fine thought in the abstract, but he misses the mark. The developmental concerns Professor Bjerre raises are important ones. However, I fail to see the relevance to other parts of the article. Professor Bjerre seems to conflate issues of project financing techniques with the societal effects of project finance. Professor Bjerre should critique not the social and political aspects of project finance, but rather the regulatory structure governing large-scale investments in general. There is nothing unique to project finance in this regard. The same power plant can be financed through project financing techniques, through direct foreign equity investments, or by local governments from tax revenues. Project finance is only one of several financial means to accomplish the same result. …


Epilepsy is the commonest serious neurological condition affecting pregnancy. It is associated with a maternal mortality rate of 0.61 per 100 000 maternities. Deaths from epilepsy have been a recurrent theme in the Confidential Enquires into Maternal Deaths Reports. Most women died when they were pregnant and the majority of cases were not referred for review by a neurologist despite a known history of epilepsy. This retrospective audit looks at the preconception, antenatal, intra-partum and postnatal care given to a multi-ethnic cohort of 14 women booked at the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust between March 2011and March 2013. Our data shows that, standard care was given to approximately 71% of these women pre-conceptually and to more than 90% in the antenatal period. However, the guidelines were followed in less than 50% of them postnatally. It is important to note that just before our audit a maternal death occurred due to epilepsy in a patient not yet seen by the obstetric team. She belonged to a minority ethnic group, with limited English language skills and had stopped her anti-epileptic drugs (AED). These circumstances are almost identical to those mentioned in CMACE Reports. Despite repeated guidance given in these reports, high risk maternal deaths still continue to occur. We therefore, want to stress the importance of communication, use of interpreters and urgent referrals for women with epilepsy. Discontinuation of AED should be discouraged and women counselled that the benefits of the medications outweigh the risks.


The work of software cost forecasting falls into two parts. First we make what we call structural forecasts, and then we calculate the absolute dollar-volume forecasts. Structural forecasts describe the technology and function of a software project, but not its size. We allocate resources (costs) over the project's life cycle from the structural forecasts. Judgment, technical knowledge, and econometric research should combine in making the structural forecasts. A methodology based on a 25 X 7 structural forecast matrix that has been used by TRW with good results over the past few years is presented in this paper. With the structural forecast in hand, we go on to calculate the absolute dollar-volume forecasts. The general logic followed in "absolute" cost estimating can be based on either a mental process or an explicit algorithm. A cost estimating algorithm is presented and five tradition methods of software cost forecasting are described: top-down estimating, similarities and differences estimating, ratio estimating, standards estimating, and bottom-up estimating. All forecasting methods suffer from the need for a valid cost data base for many estimating situations. Software information elements that experience has shown to be useful in establishing such a data base are given in the body of the paper. Major pricing pitfalls are identified. Two case studies are presented that illustrate the software cost forecasting methodology and historical results. Topics for further work and study are suggested.


Symbolic algebraic analysis techniques are applied to the landing gear subsystem in the Swedish fighter aircraft, JAS 39 Gripen. Our methods are based on polynomials over finite fields (with Boolean algebra and propositional logic as special cases). Polynomials are used to represent the basic dynamic equations for the processes (controller and plant) as well as static properties of these. Temporal algebra (or temporal logic) is used to represent specifications of system behaviour. These specifications are verified both on a model of the landing gear controller, and a model of the closed loop behaviour of the landing gear controller connected to a plant. The model of the landing gear controller is made from the actual implementation in Pascal. The tools used are developed by the authors in Mathematica and uses an efficient implementation of binary decision diagrams.


What do a much loved but potentially over-consumed sweetener, an algae and a citric acid cycle intermediary have in common? It is not often that they might be found on the same menu, other than our alphabet soup of supplements. This issue deals with the use of sucrose in sports product, an interest in spirulina beyond its general health claims and a product which might enhance the function of a key pathway in exercise metabolism. It should be noted that we have not overlooked sodium bicarbonate; this topic was dealt with under 'Buffers', which appeared in a previous issue of the journal.1

### AJ Zemski

Spirulina constitutes microalgae belonging to the cyanobacteria class, with nutritional supplements (tablets, flakes and powders) typically being produced from the cultivation of two species Arthrospira platensis and Arthrospira maxima . It is also used as a feed supplement in the aquaculture, aquarium and poultry industries. Spirulina was primarily recognised as being rich in proteins and essential fatty acids, but recently has attracted attention due to its content of phytochemicals with antioxidant and hypolipidemic properties.2 Claims for general health benefits from spirulina intake are centuries old.2 Claimed ergogenic benefits relate to antioxidant defence and favourable changes in substrate utilisation during exercise. Indeed, moderately trained runners who received spirulina supplementation for 4 weeks (6 g/day) showed increased fat utilisation, reductions in markers of antioxidant stress and increased endurance at high intensity exercise (95% VO2 …


Background and Problem Discussion: Correct usage of a firm's resources are crucial for the firm's survival. Companies usually have formalized procedures for calculations of the profitability of investment projects. On the other hand is the corporate strategy, directing the company activities, determining how company resources should be used. The financial calculations and the corporate strategy should work together to ensure the best possible allocation of company resources. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate if contradictions between strategy and individual investment decisions exists in companies today, if these are acknowledged, and what is done about it. Method: Phenomenological research, using three exemplars. The first exemplar is based on primary data (a case study) and the others on secondary data (taken from published work). Theory: My starting point is the importance of aligning the investment process with the strategy process. The analysis is supported by theoretical notions of the strategy and the investment processes. These are usually treated as independent processes, although the importance of aligning is extensively acknowledged. Analysis: The analysis proceeded in the following manner: The empirical data was condensed into key descriptions, which relied on identification on Northcott's (1995) model of the standard investment process. The key descriptions from each case were compared to find similarities and differences. These were put into perspectives offered by literature. Conclusion: The study showed that the importance of aligning individual investment decisions with strategy is primarily acknowledged by the companies studied through requiring strategy motivations in the investment proposals. More important for the actual decision-making, however, seems to be the "structural context" in which the investment are proposed, built up through formal and informal communications within the corporation. This "structural context" affects the decisions through the gut feeling (tacit knowledge) of the decision-makers.


This Article analyzes the rights claims and theoretical frameworks deployed by Christian Right and gay rights cause lawyers in the context of gay-inclusive school programming to show how two movements with conflicting normative positions are using similar representational and rhetorical strategies. Lawyers from both movements cast constituents as vulnerable minorities in a pluralistic society, yet they do so to harness the homogenizing power of curriculum and thereby entrench a particular normative view. Exploring how both sets of lawyers construct distinct and often incompatible models of pluralism as they attempt to influence schools' state-sponsored messages, this Article exposes the strengths as well as the limitations of both movements' strategies. Christian Right lawyers' free speech strategy - articulating religious freedom claims through the secular language of free speech doctrine - operates within an inclusion model of pluralism. This model stresses public participation and engagement with difference. After making significant advances over the past several years, lawyers have begun to employ the inclusion model with some success in the school programming domain, despite significant doctrinal and remedial limitations. At the same time, Christian Right lawyers assert parental rights and free exercise claims in curricular challenges. Such claims rely on an accommodation model of pluralism that permits selective withdrawal based on religious beliefs and thereby resists active engagement with difference. This strategy struggles in the face of a well-accepted view of civic education that values exposure to diversity - a view bound up with the success of the Christian Right's inclusion model of pluralism. Gay rights lawyers respond to Christian Right claims by drawing on a left multicultural model of pluralism. This model constitutes lesbians and gay men as identity holders (rather than sex actors), and in doing so succeeds in justifying the inclusion of sexual orientation in programming that prioritizes diversity. The left multicultural claim stalls, however, when it demands the state's affirmative cultivation of respect by asserting students' rights to gay-inclusive instruction. In the end, both the Christian Right and gay rights movements make important advances yet face significant tensions as they craft doctrinal claims that operate within competing models of pluralism.


OBJECTIVE
To develop preliminary criteria for inactive disease and clinical remission for select categories of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), and to decide what such clinical states should predict in terms of probability of disease recurrence.

METHODS
A Delphi serial questionnaire consensus-formation approach was used initially to gather criteria in use by pediatric rheumatologists (PR) for defining clinical remission in oligoarticular (persistent and extended), rheumatoid factor (RF) positive and negative polyarticular, and systemic JIA. Results from sequential questionnaires provided an agenda for a nominal group technique (NGT) conference to reach consensus on unresolved questions.

RESULTS
One hundred and thirty PR from 34 countries responded to the questionnaires and 20 PR from 9 countries attended the conference. Draft criteria for inactive disease include the following: no active arthritis; no fever, rash, serositis, splenomegaly, or generalized lymphadenopathy attributable to JIA; no active uveitis; normal erythrocyte sedimentation rate or C-reactive protein; and a physician's global assessment of disease activity rated at the best score possible for the instrument used. According to consensus vote, 6 continuous months of inactive disease on medication defines clinical remission on medication, while 12 months of inactive disease off all anti-arthritis (and anti-uveitis) medications defines clinical remission off medication. The finalized criteria for remission off medication ideally should predict that a patient has </= 20% probability of disease recurrence within the next 5 years.

CONCLUSION
Using consensus formation techniques, we formulated preliminary criteria for inactive disease and clinical remission on and off medication for use in select categories of JIA. Retrospective validation is in progress; prospective validation will follow. Future efforts will include other categories of JIA.


The dairy industry is in need of a cost-effective, highly reliable, very accurate, and fast measurement system to monitor the quality of dairy products. This paper describes the design and fabrication works undertaken to develop such a system. The techniques used center around planar electromagnetic sensors operating with radio frequency excitation. Computer-aided computation, being fast, facilitates on-line monitoring of the quality. The sensor technology proposed has the ability to perform volumetric penetrative measurements to measure properties throughout the bulk of the product.


In our current work we have designed and implemented an artificial pet with two embodiments. In both embodiments behavior is driven by needs that are used to maintain coherence and motivate user interaction. These needs are transferred between embodiments, with only one embodiment being active at a time. We performed an evaluation with 10- year old children participants. The retrieved data indicated that many children understood the concept of an artificial pet with two bodies, even without being given clues. Nevertheless, children did perceive differences between the two embodiments, which contributed for many stating that they interacted with two pets. Among other aspects, the physical version was perceived as less obedient due to problems concerning action recognition. Although caused by technical issues, this result raises the question if virtual embodiments should simulate action recognition problems that their physical counterparts have.


Abstract. Aerosols and clouds affect atmospheric radiative processes and climate in many complex ways and still pose the largest uncertainty in current estimates of the Earth's changing energy budget. Airborne in situ sensors such as the Cloud, Aerosol, and Precipitation Spectrometer (CAPS) or other optical spectrometers and optical array probes provide detailed information about the horizontal and vertical distribution of aerosol and cloud properties. However, flow distortions occurring at the location where these instruments are mounted on the outside of an aircraft may directly produce artifacts in detected particle number concentration and also cause droplet deformation and/or breakup during the measurement process. Several studies have investigated flow-induced errors assuming that air is incompressible. However, for fast-flying aircraft, the impact of air compressibility is no longer negligible. In this study, we combine airborne data with numerical simulations to investigate the flow around wing-mounted instruments and the induced errors for different realistic flight conditions. A correction scheme for deriving particle number concentrations from in situ aerosol and cloud probes is proposed, and a new formula is provided for deriving the droplet volume from images taken by optical array probes. Shape distortions of liquid droplets can either be caused by errors in the speed with which the images are recorded or by aerodynamic forces acting at the droplet surface caused by changes of the airflow when it approaches the instrument. These forces can lead to the dynamic breakup of droplets causing artifacts in particle number concentration and size. An estimation of the critical breakup diameter as a function of flight conditions is provided. Experimental data show that the flow speed at the instrument location is smaller than the ambient flow speed. Our simulations confirm the observed difference and reveal a size-dependent impact on particle speed and concentration.
This leads, on average, to a 25 % overestimation of the number concentration of particles with diameters larger than 10  µm diameter and causes distorted images of droplets and ice crystals if the flow values recorded at the instrument are used.
With the proposed corrections, errors of particle number concentration and droplet volume, as well as image distortions, are significantly reduced by up to 1 order of magnitude. Although the presented correction scheme is derived for the DLR Falcon research aircraft (Saharan Aerosol Long-range Transport and Aerosol-Cloud-Interaction Experiment (SALTRACE) campaign) and validated for the DLR Falcon (Absorbing aerosol layers in a changing climate: aging, lifetime and dynamics mission conducted in 2017 (A-LIFE) campaign) and the NASA DC-8 (Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) campaigns), the general conclusions hold for any fast-flying research aircraft.


Cancer causes pain as it invades bone, compresses nerves, produces obstructive symptoms in the pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary systems, and distends involved visceral organs. This manuscript reviews progress in cancer pain management during the past 2 decades. Since the 1980s, we have seen (1) genuine advances in research on the biology of pain, (2) new approaches to the treatment of cancer pain, and (3) important changes in the health-care system to ensure that pain is appropriately assessed and managed. Currently, clinicians have the appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic tools to ensure that the vast majority of patients with cancer pain can be comfortable during their illness. Nevertheless, too many patients with terminal malignancies continue to die in pain in nations around the globe. An effective strategy to make alleviating pain a major health-care priority remains the primary challenge to effectively palliating patients with cancer pain.


With current Internet protocols, users may ex- perience low and unpredictable forwarding quality at wireless links. This is due to varying link properties caused by chang- ing radio conditions. Decreased forwarding quality can cause severe degradation in utilization. This is undesirable since for- warding capacity often is expensive at wireless links because of limited radio spectrum. Allowing the application and transport layers to communicate with wireless link layers can improve forwarding quality and utilization. We propose to enable inter-layer communication by adding hints and notifications (HAN) to the Internet architecture. Hints can be introduced and used without notifications, while notifications need hints or a similar mechanism to operate. By using IP options and ICMP messages to implement HAN, a backward-compatible partial deployment is possible. With HAN, the network layer becomes truly wireless friendly and radio spectrum can be used efficiently while supporting both real-time and traditional data applications.


Pocket gophers (Geomyidae) are major agents of disturbance in North American grasslands. Gopher mounds bury existing plants and influence community structure through various mechanisms. However, in mountain meadows that experi- ence winter snowpack, gophers also create winter castings, smaller tube-shaped deposits, previously ignored in studies of plant-gopher disturbance relationships. We studied the influences of the Mazama pocket gopher (Thomomys mazama Merriam, 1897) in montane meadows of the Oregon Cascades, quantifying community patterns at larger spatial scales than previously studied in this system and considering, for the first time, effects of both mounds and castings. We measured cover of disturbance and individual plant species along twenty 5 m transects in each of four plots with differing species composition. Total plant cover was negatively correlated with mounds and castings. However, only mounds influenced growth-form dominance, reducing graminoid cover and increasing the forb-graminoid ratio — effects attributable to the greater volume and longevity of mounds. Forb-disturbance relationships were variable among plots, likely due to differences in species' tolerance of burial. Transect-scale richness and heterogeneity (variation in composition within transects) increased with disturbance. We conclude that frequent, small-scale disturbances create a shifting mosaic of vegetation states, reducing graminoid dominance and enhancing species richness and heterogeneity at larger spatial scales.


Psychology as taught in Ghanaian universities is largely Eurocentric and imported. Calls have been made to indigenize psychology in Ghana. In response to this call, this paper attempts to construct a history of psychology in Ghana so as to provide a background for the study of the content and process of what psychology would and/or ought to become in Ghana. It does so by going as far back as the University of Sankore, Timbuktu established in 989AD where intellectual development flourished in the ancient Empire of Mali through to the 1700s and 1800s when Black Muslim scholars established Koranic schools, paying particular attention to scholarly works in medicine, theology and philosophy. Attention is then drawn to Anton Wilhelm Amo's dissertation, De Humanae Mentis "Apatheia" and Disputatio Philosophica Continens Ideam Distinctam (both written in 1734) as well as some 18th and 19th century Ghanaian scholars. Special mention is also made about the contributions by the Department of Psychology at the University of Ghana (established in May 1967) in postcolonial Ghana as one of the first departments of psychology in Anglophone West Africa. The paper also discusses the challenges associated with the application of psychological knowledge in its current form in Ghana and ends by attempting to formulate the form an indigenous Ghanaian psychology could to take.


Measurement error can impact estimator precision, obscure estimated relationships between variables, and distort the estimated inter-temporal behaviour of important economic characteristics. A model for measurement error is presented, based on the common assumption that measured income is the product of true income and multiplicative measurement error which is distributed independently of the level of true income. Flexible parametric forms are utilized to model the distributions of true income (generalized gamma) and measurement error (inversed generalized gamma). The corresponding probability density of measures income is shown to be a generalized beta of the second kind (GB2) which can be estimated using MLE. An identification problem is solved with additional information as to the average function of true income reported. The procedure is applied to income data from several Latin American economies. It is found, in some cases, that true and measured income inequality move in opposite directions over time. This finding has important implications for the evaluation of policies designed to affect relative equality in the distribution of income and underscores the importance of obtaining accurate data.


Children's participation rights are reflected on by a Belgian interdisciplinary research network on children's rights. The first part of the book contains an extensive legal analysis of Article 12 of the UNB Chrildren's Rights Convention and a number of reflections on the concept of participation. In the second part of the book, children's participation rights are analysed in several fields: the international criminal system, refugee protection, juvenile justice, protection from drug abuse, youth protection, child mental health care, adoption, school, and human rights education. 'Participation Richts of Children' is meant for academics from various disciplines as well as other actors in the field of children's rights. The book is sponsored by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office.


Electronic resources are becoming an integral part of the modern education system, especially in higher education settings. Due to the need of medical professionals for high quality, authoritative, relevant, accurate and timely information, students studying in healthcare institutions need to know the various e-resources and the best suitable way to track and access them in order to support their learning and evidence-based medical practice. The present study has tried to assess and compare the awareness and usability level of medical students of two different colleges at Al-Jouf University in using the subscribed electronic resources. The main purpose was to determine students' knowledge and use of e-databases, and to identify the areas in which further training and research needed. A questionnaire, supplemented by an unstructured interview was used to collect data from 300 randomly selected undergraduate medical students. The study found that the awareness and utilization level of students related to available e-databases varied significantly especially when comparing individual colleges and databases. The overall knowledge and use of e-databases by medical students was much higher than the dental students and those who were aware of the existence of e-resources found using e-books' databases more than those containing journal publications and EBM. The overall low response from dental students and lack of e-resources useful to them, are very much evident from the study. The study also found that those dissatisfied with the subscribed e-resources tend to use general search engines and databases of other university in order to meet their information needs. The paper concludes that the medical students lack the necessary information literacy skills needed to meet their academic and research requirements. It is recommended that the medical librarians and faculty should come together and intensify their efforts through proper information literacy programs in order to educate students how to use these resources effectively.


The mouse insulin-like growth factor 2 (Igf2) locus is a complex genomic region that produces multiple transcripts from alternative promoters. Expression at this locus is regulated by parental imprinting. However, despite the existence of putative imprinting control elements in the Igf2 upstream region, imprinted transcriptional repression is abolished by null mutations at the linked H19 locus. To clarify the extent to which the Igf2 upstream region contains autonomous imprinting control elements we have performed functional and comparative analyses of the region in the mouse and human. Here we report the existence of multiple, overlapping imprinted (maternally repressed) sense and antisense transcripts that are associated with a tandem repeat in the mouse Igf2 upstream region. Regions flanking the repeat exhibit tissue-specific parental allelic methylation patterns, suggesting the existence of tissue-specific control elements in the upstream region. Studies in H19 null mice indicate that both parental allelic methylation and monoallelic expression of the upstream transcripts depends on an intact H19 gene acting in cis. The homologous region in human IGF2 is structurally conserved, with the significant exception that it does not contain a tandem repeat. Our results support the proposal that tandem repeats act to target methylation to imprinted genetic loci.


Two dwarf irregular galaxies, DDO 187 and NGC 3738, exhibit a striking pattern of star formation: intense star formation is taking place in a large region occupying roughly half of the inner part of the optical galaxy. We use data on the H i distribution and kinematics and stellar images and colors to examine the properties of the environment in the high star formation rate (HSF) halves of the galaxies in comparison with the low star formation rate halves. We find that the pressure and gas density are higher on the HSF sides by 30%–70%. In addition we find in both galaxies that the H i velocity fields exhibit significant deviations from ordered rotation and there are large regions of high-velocity dispersion and multiple velocity components in the gas beyond the inner regions of the galaxies. The conditions in the HSF regions are likely the result of large-scale external processes affecting the internal environment of the galaxies and enabling the current star formation there.


PURPOSE
Women with BRCA1/2 mutations inherit high risks of breast and ovarian cancer; options to reduce cancer mortality include prophylactic surgery or breast screening, but their efficacy has never been empirically compared. We used decision analysis to simulate risk-reducing strategies in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and to compare resulting survival probability and causes of death.

METHODS
We developed a Monte Carlo model of breast screening with annual mammography plus magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from ages 25 to 69 years, prophylactic mastectomy (PM) at various ages, and/or prophylactic oophorectomy (PO) at ages 40 or 50 years in 25-year-old BRCA1/2 mutation carriers.

RESULTS
With no intervention, survival probability by age 70 is 53% for BRCA1 and 71% for BRCA2 mutation carriers. The most effective single intervention for BRCA1 mutation carriers is PO at age 40, yielding a 15% absolute survival gain; for BRCA2 mutation carriers, the most effective single intervention is PM, yielding a 7% survival gain if performed at age 40 years. The combination of PM and PO at age 40 improves survival more than any single intervention, yielding 24% survival gain for BRCA1 and 11% for BRCA2 mutation carriers. PM at age 25 instead of age 40 offers minimal incremental benefit (1% to 2%); substituting screening for PM yields a similarly minimal decrement in survival (2% to 3%).

CONCLUSION
Although PM at age 25 plus PO at age 40 years maximizes survival probability, substituting mammography plus MRI screening for PM seems to offer comparable survival. These results may guide women with BRCA1/2 mutations in their choices between prophylactic surgery and breast screening.


For more than two decades economic geographers and others have been examining the reasons why some places are more innovative than others. Policy makers have also been actively involved, as they try to develop their countries and regions through innovation and knowledge. In this paper I will address three criticisms that have been made to this literature and suggest avenues of research that could help address them. These criticisms are: the neglect of power asymmetries at the international and intra-regional levels between economic and other relevant agents, and their impact on the evolution of regional economies; the excessive focus on the region and the neglect of the multi-scalar nature of innovation; the emphasis on networks and systems which masks heterogeneity and fragmentation at the local level. Finally I will also discuss some of the more recent guidelines for place-based policy making in this field. Overall my objective is to contribute to the literature on territorial innovation systems by suggesting how these concepts can be improved.


For this paper we developed the concept and implemented a fully working prototype of a snowboarder community platform based on Near Field Communication. All-I-Touch is a service which provides product information at the point of sale and additionally connects the user with his social community in Facebook. Through this combination it is possible to increase incentives for the end user to use the service as well as the snowboard manufacturer to equip his products with NFC tags. The end user benefits from meaningful product information which is enriched with comments from his friends or arbitrary users through the connection to Facebook. This information is more likely to represent an independent impression of the product than the manufacturer's description and thus it is more valuable. On the other hand, manufacturers profit from All-I-Touch as a tool for Viral Marketing and benefit from a highly relevant target group. To enhance the attractiveness of the Face book application we extended All-I-Touch to include Pieces, Places and People. Thus, the user can update his Facebook profile page instantly with information like where he has been and whom he met - and all that just by holding a mobile phone over a tag!


Due to the increasing demand for utilization and improvement of energy efficient materials, especially concerning requirements in lightweight construction and design, polyolefin materials are used extensively and in an increasingly broad range of applications.
Although loaded with stresses under yield stress, preformed voids, inhomogeneities or notches can possibly lead to damage and unexpected failure induced by liquid media in polyolefin materials. For PE-HD, slow crack growth (SCG) as well as environmental stress cracking (ESC) are relevant damage mechanisms. SCG appears without influence of a surrounding medium or in "inert" media whereas ESC occurs in "active" media, which have decisive influence on damage mechanism and time to failure. To characterize the inherent resistance of the material against those damage mechanisms, the Full-Notch Creep Test (FNCT) is widely used. Therefore, the FNCT is of paramount importance particularly for the assessment of pipe and blow molding types of PE-HD – especially in the field of polymer development and improvement for high-performance applications.
In this study, the FNCT – usually applied as a standardized testing method (ISO 16770) using a few universal model liquid media – is extended by investigation of selected relevant PE-HD materials with a variety of properties also in real media. Mainly topical fuels, customary in the market such as diesel and biodiesel are examined. Especially the influence of temperature, and the ESC behavior of PE-HD in media that are sorbed to a significant extent, are addressed.
The investigations were performed using a novel FNCT-device with 12 individual sub-stations, each equipped with individual electronic stress and temperature control and continuous online monitoring of the specimen elongation.
Additional to acquired results concerning time to failure and elongation behavior, imaging techniques, such as light microscopy (LM), laser scanning microscopy (LSM) and X-ray computed tomography (CT scan) were utilized to obtain data concerning crack propagation and media migration. Correlations of elongation behavior and data derived from imaging analysis were obtained.


Although gas-lubricated herringbone grooved journal bearings (HGJB) are known for high rotordynamic stability thresholds, small clearance to diameter ratios are required for stable rotor operation. Tight clearances not only increase bearing losses but also yield challenging manufacturing and assembly tolerances, which ultimately translate into cost. Traditionally, the grooves of HGJB are of helical nature with constant cross section and pitch. The current paper aims at increasing the clearance to diameter ratio and the stability threshold of grooved bearings by introducing enhanced groove geometries. The axial evolution of groove width, depth, and local pitch are described by individual third order polynomials with four interpolation points. The expression for the smooth pressure distribution resulting from the narrow groove theory is modified to enable the calculation of bearing properties with modified groove patterns. The reduced order bearing model is coupled to a linear rigid body rotordynamic model for predicting the whirl speed map and the corresponding stability. By introducing a critical mass parameter as a measure for stability, a criterion for the instability onset is proposed. The optimum groove geometry is found by coupling the gas bearing supported rotor model with a multiobjective optimizer. By maximizing both the clearance to diameter ratio and the rotordynamic stability it is shown that with optimal groove geometry, which deviates from helicoids with constant pitch and cross section, the critical mass parameter can be improved by more than one order of magnitude compared to traditional HGJB geometries. The clearance to diameter ratio can be increased by up to 80% while keeping the same stability margin, thus reducing both losses and manufacturing constraints. The optimum groove pattern distributions (width ratio, angle, and depth) are summarized for a variety of L/D ratios and for different compressibility numbers in a first attempt to set up general design guidelines for enhanced gas-lubricated HGJB.


In this study we describe the use of clickers in a second year data structures and algorithms module. In recent years instructors in higher education have begun introducing classroom technology that allows students to respond to questions during lectures. Studies have shown considerable benefits in terms of attendance, classroom engagement and allowing instructors to gain instant feedback (Caldwell, 2007; Kay & LeSage, 2009). In this study students were assigned to self-selected groups of three. 20% of the final module grade was earned by answering questions during lectures in competition with other teams. We found that the use of clickers had a dramatic effect on both attendance and engagement in the class. Students were far more likely to ask questions and defend their points of view, both before and after lectures. At the end of the semester the majority of students rated the clickers positively. However, the final module grade was lower than previous years. An anonymous survey suggested that although students enjoyed working in groups, they were less likely to take personal responsibility for their own learning when there were others on the team that could do the work. In light of this, we recommend allowing students to discuss questions together during lectures, but awarding marks individually.


Introduction Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency is a common finding in patients requiring pancreatic surgery, and for those without evidence of preoperative exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, it frequently manifests during the postoperative period. Surgeons' practices of assessing and treating exocrine pancreatic insufficiency are variable. We aim to define surgeons' perception of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and evaluate their use of pancreas enzyme replacement therapy prior to and following resection. Methods An cross sectional survey was designed and conducted to determine the surgeons role in the diagnosis and management of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency using the online tool SurveyMonkey.com. It was disseminated anonymously to members of The Pancreas Club by its website administrator. The answers were analyzed and described. Results Approximately half of the respondents (52.5%) reported assessing their patients for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency preoperatively. While 48.5% did that routinely, the rest relied on the presence of symptoms to initiate evaluation. The preferred method of assessing for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency was fecal elastase test (48%). A third of surgeons did not objectively test for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Half of the respondees reported prescribing pancreas enzyme replacement therapy preoperatively but only one third did so routinely. Among the other half who had never prescribed pancreas enzyme replacement therapy preoperatively, 92.6% considered prescribing it postoperatively yet only 40% did so routinely. Creon was more frequently prescribed (85.2%) over the other available formulae. We did not find a consensus on the quantity of lipase replacement units for main meals (24,000 to 108,000 units) nor for snacks (10,000 to 40,000 units). Conclusion Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency is a manageable condition that is overlooked by healthcare providers who care for pancreatic disease. A high index of suspicion should guide surgeons to start pancreas enzyme replacement therapy empirically preoperatively as part of patient optimization for surgery, and treatment should be resumed postoperatively when patients resale a solid diet.


In adolescent bone sarcoma patients, bone mass acquisition is potentially compromised at a time in which it should be at a maximum. To evaluate the problem we measured bone mineral density (BMD) and serum markers of bone formation and resorption in a series of pediatric patients with bone tumors. BMD was measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, at clinical remission, for lumbar spine and the neck of the femur in 38 osteosarcoma and 25 Ewing's sarcoma patients. Mean age was 20.65 and 19.13 y respectively. Serum markers of bone metabolism were: OC, PICP, ICTP, 25-OH vit D and 1,25-(OH)2 vit D, IGF-I, IGFBP-3 and intact PTH. Serum was sampled throughout anti-tumoral treatments and follow-up. We analyzed 85 samples from 59 osteosarcoma patients and 54 samples from 36 Ewing's sarcoma patients. Patients had decreased lumbar and femoral BMD. The decrease was more pronounced in pubertal patients compared with those who had completed pubertal development at the time of disease diagnosis. Multivariate analysis indicated that sex, age, weight and BMI were significant in lumbar BMD depletion. Weight and BMI were significant in femoral BMD depletion. Serum markers of bone formation (PICP and OC) and resorption (ICTP) were, throughout, lower than reference values. Significant alterations in other markers were also observed. Up to a third of osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma patients in clinical remission had some degree of BMD deficit. The corresponding increased risk of pathologic bone fractures constitutes a reduction in future quality of life.


In attempts to strengthen her cultural exchange, cooperation and diplomatic relations, China has created opportunities for international students and this helps in enhancing diplomatic relations and cultural exchange. The purpose of this study was to examine problems of international students in China and to know the views of cultural/educational attaches of developing countries for Higher Education in China. This study highlights problems and perceptions of international students and experiences such as adapting to a new culture, language problems, financial problems, health services, living and dining and other social and academic problems. The methodology used in this study was quantitative and qualitative to show issues of international students in academics, culture and social environment in China and views of cultural/educational attaches of some developing countries of Asia and Africa. The findings of this paper proved that the extent of problems of international students studying in China and need of more improvement in foreign affairs of China in higher education sector are the need of time. Recommendations for policy implication are integrated to cope up with upcoming challenges for China as destination of international students. The policy recommendations were made on the basis of results to improve foreign affairs of China in Higher Education and in spreading cultural exchanges around the world.


The cost behavior is one of the most important aspect of the analysis of businesses profitability. The traditional model of study of its behavior requires strict proportion with the level of activity, something that is not shared by modern studies. To understand better the behavior of asymmetric cost, our work examines the behavior of the Greek retail food, beverages and tobacco companies. We studied 438 limited companies for a period of 12 years, and noticed that a 1% increase in sales, leads to an increase of 1.011% of the cost, while the corresponding reduction lowers the cost of sales by 0,905%. The industry addressed by our study, has a direct relation to all households. So, it is important the industry to be studied further, in order to give more opportunities and benefits for consumers and state. Last,, future studies can use our study in an attempt to understand better the behavior of asymmetric costs.


Objective: To study whether melatonin treatment can increase clinical pregnancy rate and live birth rate in assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycles. Methods: Literature searches were conducted to retrieve randomized trials that reported the effect of melatonin treatment on ART outcomes. Databases searched included PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Results: Ten studies matched the inclusion criteria. Clinical pregnancy was reported in all of the included studies and live birth was reported in three studies. Melatonin treatment significantly increased the clinical pregnancy rate [OR = 1.43 (1.11, 1.86), power = 0.98, 10 RCTs, low-quality evidence] but not the live birth rate [OR = 1.38 (0.78, 2.46), power = 0.34, 3 RCTs, low-quality evidence]. Melatonin treatment increased the number of oocyte collected [SMD = 0.34 (0.01, 0.67), 7 RCTs, low-quality evidence], the number of maturated oocyte [SMD = 0.56 (0.27, 0.85), 7 RCTs, low-quality evidence], and the number of good quality embryo [MD = 0.36 (0.18, 0.55), 3 RCTs, low-quality evidence]. Melatonin treatment significantly increased the biochemical pregnancy rate [OR = 1.65 (1.14, 2.38), 6 RCTs, low-quality evidence] and had no significant effect on the miscarriage rate [OR = 1.28 (0.65, 2.51), 5 RCTs, low-quality evidence]. Conclusion: Melatonin treatment significantly increases the clinical pregnancy rate but not live birth rate in ART cycles. Melatonin treatment also increases the number of oocyte collected, maturated oocyte, and good quality embryo. No clear evidence suggested that melatonin treatment increased the adverse events in ART cycles. The actual findings may be compromised due to the wide heterogeneity of the included IVF patients, from PCOS to low ovarian reserve.


This thesis examines the problem of variational image decomposition, as first introduced and developed by Meyer in [1], and its applications to textured image discrimination and textured image denoising. Image decomposition generally refers to the splitting of an image f into the sum of two or more components, e.g. u, a cartoon component, and v, a texture component. After a brief overview of the use of partial differential equations in image processing, which has become very widespread in recent years, a novel image decomposition model called Improved Edge Segregation, based on the pioneering work of Vese and Osher [2], is put forward, which gives better decomposition results, as it better separates cartoon and texture edges into their proper components. Decomposition with Improved Edge Segregation is generally performed in less time than that from Vese and Osher's model, and gives superior (better quality and faster) texture discrimination results when used in conjunction with Active Contours without Edges [3]. Then a new model, called the Simultaneous Decomposition/Discrimination model, which simultaneously decomposes and segments a textured image is described, also improving decomposition and discrimination quality. Extensions to the image decomposition model of Osher, Sole and Vese [4], which is itself based on the H-1- norm, are subsequently put forward. One such extension decorrelates the cartoon and texture components by using an energy term based on the correlation coefficient between them in local windows, giving better decomposition results. The other combines the decomposition and nonlinear diffusion frameworks, for the purposes of ameliorating denoising performance. First, Perona and Malik [5] nonlinear diffusion is incorporated into decomposition, and subsequently the framework of image denoising with Oriented Laplacians is incorporated. Finally, two models where texture is represented by one subcomponent are presented, one which requires precomputation of image orientations, Orientation-Adaptive Decomposition, and another, Eikonal Orientation-Adaptive Decomposition, which does not. Orientation-Adaptive Decomposition is applied to both the decomposition and the denoising of oriented textures, and some theoretical discussion of Eikonal Orientation-Adaptive Decomposition included. Finally some conclusions and suggestions for future work are given based on the research presented in the thesis.


The occurrence of discontinuity in conversational speech raises a variety of theoretical problems for the study of verbal communication. According to the dominant explanatory models of language, discontinuities in the form of pauses, self-corrections, repeats, false starts, and the like are errors'of language performance. Consequently, when, in - conversational speech, discontinuities do occur, it is natural that questions should arise regarding (a) why they occur and (b) given that they do occur, how speakers and hearers are able to deal with them. It is argued that no coherent answers may be offered to these questions under the prevalent conceptualization of discontinuity. As a feature of verbal performance, discontinuity has been studied primarily by researchers from the related disciplines of psychology, sociology, ethnomethodology, and discourse analysis. Although the explanatory approaches differ greatly, there is an underlying presuppositional unity to them. Whether discontinuity is studied as an indication of the speaker's cognitive processing, as a feature of social differentiation, or as an essential aspect of the speaker and hearer's management of conversational interaction, it is always assumed that discontinuities occur as the result of speaker error. This assumption, in turn, is shown to be derived from an unrecognised written-language (or 'scriptist') bias in the study of verbal communication. This conceptual bias, it is argued, is a shared weakness in the otherwise differing theoretical approaches to the explanation of discontinuity in conversational speech. The theoretical discussion of the thesis is supplemented by an appendix containing a selection of transcribed examples of discontinuities compiled with the aid of a computer concordance program. These examples are used as comparative evidence throughout the central chapters of the thesis.


Experimental and descriptive evidence from the Romance languages suggests that velar and dental stop consonant softening, i.e., the process by which stops of these places of articulation turn mostly into palatoalveolar or alveolar affricates or fricatives, has proceeded gradually through intermediate (alveolo)palatal stop realizations. Several arguments are adduced in support of this interpretation: the presence of (alveolo)palatal stops and of (alveolo)palatal consonants of other manners of articulation in Romance languages and dialects, whether through gestural blending, gestural strengthening or other production strategies; alternations between (alveolo)palatal stops and affricates in several dialectal areas; variability in closure location for (alveolo)palatal stops in general, which accounts for their confusion with dental or velar stops; experimental evidence from speech production and perception studies. Moreover, there appears to be a plausible relationship between (alveolo)palatal stop realizations differing in closure fronting, and differences in fronting in the affricate and fricative outcomes of original Latin dental and velar stops. Historically, those differences depend mainly on place of articulation and voicing for the original stop as well as on the contextual and position conditions in which the stop occurred. The present investigation reveals that fine articulatory detail needs to be taken into consideration in the formulation of phonetic explanations of sound change.


The Internet has come to fill centrally important economic, social, political, and cultural functions during a period in which policy-making, too, has been undergoing significant change. The Internet "Requests for Comments" (RFC) process is both the venue technical decision-making and for the development of Internet governance procedures and institutions. Because this process casts decisions in technical terms, it has largely been without policy scrutiny. This paper offers a preliminary analysis of the RFC discourse for ways in its decision-making contributes to, operationalizes, influences, or conflicts with the laws of geopolitically recognized governments, and for ways in which the discourse itself serves as the means through which the more formal institutions and practices of Internet governance developed. The paper opens with a discussion of the gap between the technical and legal Internet discourse communities. Policy functions filled by Internet RFCs include explicit policy-making, explicit policy analysis, and implicit policy analysis (insights into policy issues that are not expressly discussed but that can be elicited from the texts through policy analysis). As a discourse matrix, the RFCs have several features that enable the conversation to fill additional policy-related functions that include defining the policy subject (the Internet), establishment of Internet design processes, policy implementation programs, conflict and conflict resolution, informal problem resolution, and political analysis.


In October 1993 the American Heart Association appointed the Task Force on Automatic External Defibrillation. The task force was charged with conducting a conference on automatic external defibrillation, evaluating research needed for broader community use of automatic external defibrillators, and overseeing evaluation of the feasibility and desirability of their use by healthcare professionals and the lay public. In December 1994 a conference on public access defibrillation was held in Washington, DC. More than 300 persons attended, representing science, industry, the healthcare professions, law, and the federal government. During the meeting the participants reached a consensus on the general proposition of greater public access to defibrillation and the need for broad-based clinical research, public and professional education, and legislative reform. Following the conference, members of the task force, with input from others in the field of emergency cardiac care, wrote this statement, which was approved by the AHA Board of Directors in June 1995. Early bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and rapid defibrillation are the two major contributors to survival of adult victims of sudden cardiac arrest. The AHA supports efforts to provide prompt defibrillation to victims of cardiac arrest. Automatic external defibrillation is one of the most promising methods for achieving rapid defibrillation. In public access defibrillation, the technology of defibrillation and training in its use are accessible to the community. The AHA believes that this is the next step in strengthening the chain of survival. Public access defibrillation will involve considerable societal change and will succeed only through the strong efforts of the AHA and others with a commitment to improving emergency cardiac care. Public access defibrillation will include: Performance of defibrillation by laypersons at home and by firefighters, police, security personnel, and nonphysician care providers in the community; Exploration of the use of bystander-initiated automatic external defibrillation in rural communities and congested urban areas where resuscitation strategies have had little success. The AHA can also play a major role by: Increasing public awareness that defibrillation improves the rate of survival from an often fatal condition that each day affects 1000 Americans; Ensuring that objective, current research data are used to guide implementation of these changes in performance and teaching of CPR; Working with medical manufacturers, legislators, and governmental agencies to promote safety and efficacy, reduce cost, and update training requirements to facilitate implementation of public access defibrillation. Broader use of automatic external defibrillators should also lead to readiness tests and features that deter both misuse and misapplication. Meaningful change will occur only with the broad public support that has traditionally characterized the AHA'S efforts in the fight against heart disease and stroke. Members of the task force include: Myron L. Weisfeldt, MD, Chairman; Richard E. Kerber, MD; R. Pat McGoldrick; Arthur J. Moss, MD; Graham Nichol, MD; Joseph P. Ornato, MD; David G. Palmer, Esq; Barbara Riegel, DNSc; and Sidney C. Smith, Jr, MD.


Dispersed pinealocytes have been used to study the role of adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) in the "turnoff" of N-acetyltransferace activity. Activity was first stimulated 100-fold by treating cells with 1-norepinephrine. 1-Propranolol acted stereospecifically to rapidly reverse this, resulting in a 70 percent loss of enzyme activity within 15 minutes. An even more rapid 1-propranolol-induced decreased in cyclic AMP also occurred. This together with the observation that the inhibitory effect of 1-propranolol on N-acetyltransferase was blocked by dibutyryl cyclic AMP and phosphodiesterase inhibitors indicate that an abrupt decrease in cyclic AMP may be the signal for the rapid decrease in pineal N-acetyltransferase activity.


The basic idea of Lucas and Kanade is to constrain the local motion measurement by assuming a constant velocity within a spatial neighborhood. We reformulate this spatial constraint in a probabilistic way assuming Gaussian distributed uncertainty in spatial identification of velocity measurements and extend this idea to scale and time dimensions. Thus, we are able to combine uncertain velocity measurements observed at different image scales and positions over time. We arrive at a new recurrent optical flow filter formulated in a dynamic Bayesian network applying suitable factorisation assumptions and approximate inference techniques. The introduction of spatial uncertainty allows for a dynamic and spatially adaptive tuning of the constraining neighborhood. Here, we realize this tuning dependent on the local structure tensor of the intensity patterns of the image sequence. We demonstrate that a probabilistic combination of spatiotemporal integration and modulation of a purely local integration area improves the Lucas and Kanade estimation.


Introduction: Studies have reported hyperlipidemia and its complications, such as diabetes, along with aging. Omentin-1, on the other hand, is a protein that is secreted in visceral adipose tissue and can increase insulin sensitivity. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of aerobic exercise on resting levels of omentin-1, C-reactive protein, and some metabolic parameters in middle-aged men. Methods: A total of 30 volunteers were enrolled in the study. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups and their blood samples were collected. Those in the experimental group participated in an eight-week aerobic program of running with 3540% of maximum heart rate for 10 minutes in the first week which augmented to 70% of maximum heart rate for 30 minutes in the eighth week. Blood samples were collected again from both groups (post-test) 48 hours after the eight weeks. Results: The results showed that aerobic exercise for eight weeks led to a significant increase in resting levels of omentin-1 and high density lipoprotein (P=0.001 and P=0.001, respectively). The exercise resulted also in a significant decrease in resting levels of C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein (P=0.001 and P=0.003, respectively), and non-significant decrease in total cholesterol in middle-aged men (P=0.082). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, middle-aged men can prevent complications arising from decreased omentin-1 and HDL and increased levels of CRP, LDL, and TC by enjoying from aerobic exercise.


ColdFusion has enjoyed widespread use among developers as a powerful, easy-to-learn platform for creating and deploying dynamic web applications. ColdFusion's simple, tag-based language makes it easy to handle basic tasks, like processing form data and querying databases, but the language is also powerful enough to deliver highly scalable, robust applications. And now that Macromedia has integrated ColdFusion into its MX family of technologies, ColdFusion is capable of interacting with Flash MX applications, which opens up even more possibilities. The first edition of this book has been praised as "the best reference book available on the subject." This new edition, Programming ColdFusion MX, 2nd Edition, goes even further, documenting new techniques for using ColdFusion MX 6.1 to develop and serve dynamic web page content. This exhaustive guide covers everything from the basics to advanced topics, with numerous examples that you can use for your own applications. Contents include: Sharing application data using the web application framework and shared scope variablesAccessing databases, maintaining database records, and advanced database techniques such as drill-down queries, query caching, and query of queriesIntegrating applications with ColdFusion MX's new security frameworkInteracting with other data sources, including LDAP directories, email servers, and other web serversExtending ColdFusion with user-defined functions (UDFs), custom tags, and ColdFusion Components (CFCs)Advanced topics such as working with XML, consuming and producing web services, and integrating ColdFusion with Flash via Flash RemotingReference material for all the tags and functions that comprise CFML, the ColdFusion Markup Language Programming ColdFusion MX, 2nd Edition, covers ColdFusion MX 6.1, the latest release of ColdFusion, and is packed with advanced strategies, insider hints, tips, and tricks for creating effective web applications. If you are a ColdFusion developer, you need this book to help you make the most out of ColdFusion MX.


Differentiated instruction encompasses a wide range of responsive pedagogies, including individualized types and levels of curricula, teaching methods, materials, and assessment strategies. It has at its roots the impetus for effective inclusive schooling, providing supports directly within general education classrooms for students with the full range of exceptionalities (both significant disabilities and giftedness) and other diverse educational characteristics such as cultural and linguistic background and socioeconomic status. To effectively include students with higher levels of need, comparable levels of supports follow the student from the special education setting to the general education classroom. This enriched level of support in the general education classroom benefits not only students with disabilities, but the class as a whole.
 The legal and ethical bases for inclusive schooling are connected with various civil rights movements (including race, disability, culture and language, gender); it can be viewed as a response to segregated schooling (and denial of schooling altogether). Schools frequently remove students when traditional educational programs fail, adding on separate programs rather than rectifying the existing system. Such special programs have been routinely promulgated without substantial evidence of their effectiveness over supportive general education classrooms (either for segregated students or for their unlabeled general education peers).
 Important aspects of differentiated instruction and inclusive schooling include multilevel instruction; authentic and culturally responsive curricula, methods, and assessment; universal design for learning; assistive and instructional technologies; positive behavioral supports; and a collaborative team approach to instructional decision-making and delivery.
 Differentiated instruction and effective inclusive schooling are vital for equitable access to educational opportunities, bringing more responsive curricula, methods, and perspectives to increasingly diverse classrooms and schools.


The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of single-crystal zinc germanium phosphide (ZGP), ZnGeP2, was increased to 2J/cm2 at 2.05μm and a 10 kHz pulse rate frequency (double the previously measured value of 1 J/cm2). This increased LIDT was achieved by improving the polishing of ZGP optical parametric oscillator crystals. Two different polishing techniques were evaluated. Surfaces were characterized using scanning white-light interferometry to determine rms surface roughness and sample flatness. The photon backscatter technique was used to determine the degree of surface and subsurface damage in the sample induced through the fabrication process. The effect of subsurface damage in the samples was studied by removing different amounts of material during polishing for otherwise identical samples. Statistical LIDT was measured using a high-average-power, repetitively Q-switched Tm,Ho:YLF 2.05μm pump laser. On average, lower surface roughness and photon backscatter measurements were a good indicator of ZGP samples exhibiting higher LIDT. The removal of more material during polishing significantly improved the LIDT of otherwise identical samples, indicating the importance of subsurface damage defects in the LIDT of ZGP.


Although scholars have shown longstanding interest in the boundaries of interpretation of the right not to be subjected to torture and other prohibited harm, the existing body of work does not sufficiently reflect the significance of the interpretive scope of degrading treatment. This book argues that the degrading treatment element of the right is a crucial site of analysis, in itself and for understanding the parameters of the right as a whole. It addresses how, methodologically, the scope of meaning and application of the right not to be subjected to degrading treatment should best be identified and considers the implications thereof. It systematically examines the diverse aspects of degrading treatment's scope, from foundations of legal interpretation to the drivers of humiliation. It draws on wide-ranging literature and extensive analysis of more than fifteen hundred judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, which has pioneered the right's interpretive growth. The book aims to explore how the interpretive possibilities, and limits, of the right not to be subjected to degrading treatment turn upon the axes of human dignity and state responsibility, and aims to show how this right's protection can be achieved as well as limited through processes of interpretation. Dignity, Degrading Treatment and Torture in Human Rights Law provides interpreters with analytical tools to advance the application of the right not to be subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in international, regional and domestic human rights law. It will appeal to all who have an interest in understanding the right's meaning, development, and potential scope of application, as well as those with an interest in methodologies of human rights interpretation.


Purpose : To compare, in a cross-sectional prospective study, the resilience to increased intraocular straylight (IOS) of four energy modulation stimuli designed to probe changes in spatial summation in glaucoma.

Methods : Threshold (ΔE) was measured at 18 visual field locations in one eye of three young, healthy, psychophysically-experienced observers with normal media [age: 25, 31, 33 years], using four different energy modulation stimuli, each under four different levels of IOS. Stimuli were: A - fixed contrast (ΔI: 0.5, starting within Ricco's area), varying in area; C1 - fixed area (0.02 deg2, within Ricco's area), varying in contrast; AC - varying in both area and contrast simultaneously (starting within Ricco's area); C2 - fixed area (0.15 deg2), equivalent to Goldmann III, varying in contrast. Step sizes (energy; luminance x area x duration) were equivalent for each stimulus. IOS was measured with an Oculus C-Quant (Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany) for each participant with each of three filters of increasing white opacity (filters 1, 3, and 5, LEE filters, Andover, UK), and with no filter (baseline), in a randomised order. Stimulus type and filters were randomised between all threshold tests. Mean visual field threshold was calculated for each participant and between participants, and plotted as a function of IOS.

Results : Mean IOS at baseline was 1.2 log(s). Filter 5 (greatest opacity) gave a mean IOS of 2.0 log(s). Simulated ages, calculated from normative IOS values (van den Berg et al, Am J Ophthalmol, 2007;144(3):358-63), are given in Fig.1. An increase in mean ΔE with increasing IOS was found for all stimuli, but was greatest for C1 and C2 stimuli, particularly with low/moderate levels of IOS (Fig.1). Mean ΔE for A and AC stimuli, were significantly lower than those for C1 and C2 stimuli with filters 1 and 3 (all p<0.05). The smallest increase in ΔE, and greatest resilience to moderate increases in IOS was found for stimuli in which area was modulated (A and AC). The overall effect persisted in individual participants' data.

Conclusions : Area-modulated perimetric stimuli showed greater resilience to increased IOS, compared to conventional perimetric stimuli of fixed area, modulating in contrast, at least over the normal range of IOS expected across the typical human lifespan.


A permutation $\tau$ in the symmetric group $S_j$ is minimally overlapping if any two consecutive occurrences of $\tau$ in a permutation $\sigma$ can share at most one element. B\'ona \cite{B} showed that the proportion of minimal overlapping patterns in $S_j$ is at least $3 -e$. Given a permutation $\sigma$, we let $\text{Des}(\sigma)$ denote the set of descents of $\sigma$. We study the class of permutations $\sigma \in S_{kn}$ whose descent set is contained in the set $\{k,2k, \ldots (n-1)k\}$. For example, up-down permutations in $S_{2n}$ are the set of permutations whose descent equal $\sigma$ such that $\text{Des}(\sigma) = \{2,4, \ldots, 2n-2\}$. There are natural analogues of the minimal overlapping permutations for such classes of permutations and we study the proportion of minimal overlapping patterns for each such class. We show that the proportion of minimal overlapping permutations in such classes approaches $1$ as $k$ goes to infinity. We also study the proportion of minimal overlapping patterns in standard Young tableaux of shape $(n^k)$.


Brian Bonhomme. Forests, Peasants, and Revolutionaries: Forest Conservation and Organization in Soviet Russia, 1917-1929. East European Monographs. Boulder, Colorado: Distributed by Columbia University Press, New York, 2005. 252 pp. $ 55.85, cloth.In his monograph, Forests, Peasants, and Revolutionaries: Forest Conservation and Organization in Soviet Russia, 1917-1929, Brian Bonhomme has made a vital contribution to the still sparse work available on the Russian forest, particularly from the historian's perspective. Together with Douglas Weiner's work on forests and conservation, these studies stand as the beginning of an incredibly important, fruitful, and expansive reserve for the historian. Research on the management, usage, conservation, and conflicts over the forest provides crucial insights into institutions, legislation, social history, environmental history, culture, and ecology.Bonhomme's title is especially revealing in that it prioritizes his subjects and his affections: forests first, peasants second, and revolutionaries last. His chief interest and focus is conservation and he clearly lays out his primary claims from the start. He argues that early Soviet forest conservation had its roots in pre-revolutionary forest conservation which has "hitherto been underrated or ignored." He challenges Weiner's claims on early Soviet conservation as being too narrowly focused on designated nature preserves (zapovedniki) which in turn created an overly optimistic portrait of conservation because of the degree to which these limited areas were protected. Bonhomme argues that Soviet conservation efforts should not be "judged 'cutting edge' (unless, of course, that term be taken quite literally!)." Bonhomme's third key claim is worth noting in its entirety:Third, and most important, Soviet efforts at forest protection during this period, it turns out, where significantly hampered-even undermined-not only by the inevitable contemporary changes of the Revolution and Civil War, but more fundamentally by the unfailing noncooperation of the Russian peasantry, the nation's majority population, for whom nature conservation and forest planning held little appeal and were instead constant sources of irritation and resentment. This conflict, aptly characterized by a Bolshevik observer in 1924 as 'the war between the population and the forest economy' is the dominant theme of much of this study (p. 5).Concentrating as he does on the early conservationists, Bonhomme lends to repeat their characterization of the peasantry as downright hostile to the forests without a thought for the future. However, it seems unfair to pass such a judgment on peasant consciousness given the circumstance and the time frame of a few years marked by extreme shortages and hardship. …


In a multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem, an online algorithm makes a sequence of choices. In each round it chooses from a time-invariant set of alternatives and receives the payoff associated with this alternative. While the case of small strategy sets is by now well-understood, a lot of recent work has focused on MAB problems with exponentially or infinitely large strategy sets, where one needs to assume extra structure in order to make the problem tractable. In particular, recent literature considered information on similarity between arms.

We consider similarity information in the setting of contextual bandits, a natural extension of the basic MAB problem where before each round an algorithm is given the context--a hint about the payoffs in this round. Contextual bandits are directly motivated by placing advertisements on web pages, one of the crucial problems in sponsored search. A particularly simple way to represent similarity information in the contextual bandit setting is via a similarity distance between the context-arm pairs which bounds from above the difference between the respective expected payoffs.

Prior work on contextual bandits with similarity uses "uniform" partitions of the similarity space, so that each context-arm pair is approximated by the closest pair in the partition. Algorithms based on "uniform" partitions disregard the structure of the payoffs and the context arrivals, which is potentially wasteful. We present algorithms that are based on adaptive partitions, and take advantage of "benign" payoffs and context arrivals without sacrificing the worst-case performance. The central idea is to maintain a finer partition in high-payoff regions of the similarity space and in popular regions of the context space. Our results apply to several other settings, e.g., MAB with constrained temporal change (Slivkins and Upfal, 2008) and sleeping bandits (Kleinberg et al., 2008a).


In an attempt to constrain the timing and mode of tectonic uplift of the classic Troodos ophiolite, colonial corals were collected from Quaternary littoral raised terraces in coastal southern Cyprus and dated using the uranium-series disequilibrium method. A total of 28 samples of Cladocora caespitosa were collected at five localities from the 8-11-m-high and <3-m-high marine terraces. The corals yield systematic ages of 185-192 ka (ka = 103 yr) and 116-130 ka for the 8-11 m and <3 m terraces, respectively. When correlated with the global oxygen isotope stages, the results suggest that southern Cyprus was uplifted by 18 m during the past 185-192 ka, as a single tectonic entity. Of this uplift, 13 m took place between 130 and 185 ka (at ∼24 cm/ka), and a maximum of 6 m of uplift (at 5 cm/ka) took place over the past 116 ka, but with some evidence of coastal subsidence in more recent time. An exception, the extreme southeast of Cyprus (Cape Greco), was perhaps uplifted faster during the past 141 ka, at a rate of 12 cm/ka.


This paper considers the effects of tariffication-conversion of a variable import levy, widely used in the European Community, into an equivalent ad valorem tariff on trade and welfare. While tough negotiations lie ahead over the exact rates of tariff reduction, contracting countries in principle agreed to tariffication proposed by the United States. If producers are risk neutral, tariffication has no effect on production and trade, and gains from a GATT agreement in the Uruguay Round depend on the extent of tariff reductions. If domestic producers are risk averse, however, tariffication reduces domestic production of the importable and thus has a trade expansion effect, which causes a shift in the import demand curve. This trade expansion effect may dominate the increased trade effect resulting from a negotiated tariff reduction, which causes a movement along the import demand curve. Consumers benefit from tariffication but domestic producers lose because of an increased risk premium.


Guided by Shulman's (1987) concept of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), this study investigates pre-service and new Chinese language teachers' instructional contexts, their PCK, and their challenges in teaching Chinese to students with disabilities in public K-12 schools in two Midwestern states in the United States. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from a survey. The study finds that Chinese language teachers are teaching in very complicated and difficult contexts for students with disabilities, and they are facing tremendous challenges, which may have contributed to their lack of PCK and seriously undermined their confidence and instruction as well. Therefore, more assistance and support are needed for public K-12 Chinese teachers in the U.S. inclusive classroom to promote more sustained development of Chinese education. Since there has been little research on this aspect of K-12 Chinese education in the United States, this study may help prompt more discussion on the topic in our field.