The study was funded principally by the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory as an element of its broader wetland management initiative, and to satisfy a Government undertaking to develop comprehensive management strategies and programs for the Magpie Goose. The Australian Nature Conservation Agency and Northern Territory University also provided additional financial support that contributed significantly to achievement of its aims. Many individuals gave generously of their time and expertise. I thank them all for their support. Principal Supervisor Keith Christian provided important guidance and was always available to assist with problems. His comprehensive critical reading of various drafts of the thesis was invaluable. As external supervisor, Bill Freeland provided encouragement and support, in particular by promoting a corporate culture within the Parks and Wildlife Commission which properly recognised and valued the role of research in conservation management. He also undertook the unrewarding task of reading all parts of the thesis and provided much valuable input. Discussions with David Bowman, Bill Freeland and John Woinarski promoted the development of many of the ideas presented in the thesis, and improved their presentation. Various parts of the manuscript were also read by Phil Bell, David Bowman, Peter Dostine, Roger Jaensch, Tom Madsen and John Woinarksi, all of whom provided valuable comment. Tom Madsen shared important insights to the behaviour of "his" water pythons. Nick Nicholls advised on the use of the statistical package GLIM. The study would have been impossible without the active support of the Lower Mary River Landcare Group, which has endorsed the long-term maintenance of healthy Magpie Goose populations on the Mary River floodplains as one of its conservation objectives. In particular, the owners, managers and staff of Carmour Plains, Marrakai, and Opium Creek Stations provided unrestricted access to study sites and often supported the field work. Neville Walker promoted, and maintained his interest in the study from its inception. Robert and Bob Townsend, "Speed" Thompson and Clinton Walker helped in many ways, not least in keeping the indispensible airboats running. Kurt Tschimer, Irene Rainey, Donna Jackson, Oswald Tory, James McKinnon, Rick Hope, Ray Chatto, Dave Farlam, Carole Palmer, Tony Spring, Stephen Turner, and Adam, Kim, Jason and Vicki Whitehead assisted with collection of data and maintenance of associated databases. Greg Connors solved a range of computing and logistical problems. Chris Babcock advised on the design and construction of floating clam traps used at nests. Carole Palmer potted some of the more successful battery-powered transmitters. Leg-bands were provided by the Australian Nature Conservation Agency through the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme. In addition to observations taken in the course of the study, a number of the original analyses presented here also draw on data held in the Parks and Wildlife Commission's corporate databases. This information was collected by a number of staff and consultants, the most notable being Peter Bayliss and Kate Yeomans, Keith Saalfeld, Ray Chatto, Tony Spring, Bruce Wilson and Peter Brocklehurst. Raw climate data were provided by the Darwin office of the Bureau of Meteorology and the National Climate Centre. The Northern Territory Power and Water Authority provided data on guage heights and flows for relevant river systems. I am grateful to all of these individuals and organisations for generously making their data available for use in the analyses presented here.


Optimizing N-fertilization is important from both economical and environmental quality points of view. An experiment was conducted to evaluate celery (Apium graveolens L.) response to type, amount, and method of N-fertilizer application under drip irrigation. The study was conducted on San Emigdio sandy loam (coarse-loamy, mixed, thermic Typic Xerofluvent). Fertilizer types included ammonium sulphate (AS) and a slow release (SR) fertilizer applied to the soil before planting and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) applied with the irrigation water during the growing season. Ammonium sulphate and SR were applied at 314 kg N/ha and UAN was applied at 168, 336, and 504 kg N/ha. Two irrigation variables were 400 and 500 mm of water application. Celery production tended to be higher under higher water application when fertilized with UAN but lower under high water application for AS and SR fertilizers. There was little difference between 336- and 504-kg N/ha UAN treatments on most plant parameters throughout the growth period, but the 168-kg N/ha UAN treatment was significantly lower than the higher application rates. Higher yields were obtained with 336 kg N/ha UAN than comparable AS and SR treatments. During early stages of growth the AS treatment tended to give the highest yield and N content but by harvest gave the lowest response. Results are explained on the basis of N availability and leaching over time.


This paper reports on the latest developments of the European Reference Corpus EuReCo and the German Reference Corpus in relation to three of the most important CMLC topics: interoperability, collaboration on corpus infrastructure building, and legal issues. Concerning interoperability, we present new ways to access DeReKo via KorAP on the API and on the plugin level. In addition we report about advancements in the EuReCo- and ICC-initiatives with the provision of comparable corpora, and about recent problems with license acquisitions and our solution approaches using an indemnification clause and model licenses that include scientific exploitation.


Smart Grid promises to increase the reliability and efficiency of the current electricity grid through greater measurement and control. This project discusses the benefits of Smart Grid, and evaluates the performance of a Smart Grid in South East Queensland through the use of computer software simulations.

Smart Grid is not a specific technology, but rather a concept, which enhances current electricity grid infrastructure. It is typically described as a dynamic power
transmission and distribution network which is characterized by the use of two-way communications technologies. Much research has been performed regarding Smart Grid concepts in recent years, with significant implementation in some European countries and the United States. While some of these concepts apply to Australia,
there is a need for specific investigation to be carried out in order to achieve maximum effectiveness in integrating Smart Grid locally.

To build A Smart Grid model, first data regarding weather, electricity prices and electricity loads was gathered with the assistance of Energex, the Australian Energy
Market Operator (AEMO) and the Bureau of Meteorology. The analysis of this data provided information regarding electricity usage patterns, as well as system attributes
such as peak demands and load factors.

A South East residence was chosen for a case study and a Home Area Network (HAN) model was constructed which determined the operation as well as system components. On this basis, multiple simulations were performed using Matlab
software, to determine the effects of the Smart Grid.

The results demonstrate the economical benefits for residential customers. As well as this, comparison with current electrical load trends estimates the real benefits in terms of system performance and economy for the entire SE Queensland electricity grid when using Smart Grid. The results from this study show that using Smart Grid, and
particularly demand-side response in residential applications, will lower the peak demand of the overall electricity network and improve system load factors. This in
turn would create a more efficient and economically viable electricity network for the future.

The use of Smart Grid in Australia is inevitable, but it is vital that consideration be given to the protocols and designs used so that its application is most effective. It is hoped that the outcomes of this project will stimulate greater implementation of Smart Grid, and provide reference for future work in this area of study.


During induction of general anaesthesia, the act of laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation stimulates the sympathetic nervous system resulting in an increase in blood pressure and heart rate which may be harmful especially in elderly patients with pre-existing ischaemic heart disease. Several drugs have therefore been used to obtund this increase including esmolol, nicardipine, magnesium sulphate and lignocaine. This prospective, double blind randomised clinical trial compared the efficacy of magnesium sulphate and esmolol in attenuating haemodynamic responses to laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation. One hundred and twenty six ASA I-II patients scheduled for elective surgery requiring general anaesthesia with tracheal intubation were enrolled and randomised into two groups: Group 1 (n = 67) received MgSO4 40 mg/kg diluted in 100 ml normal saline administered over ten minutes, whereas Group 2 (n = 59) received a bolus of esmolol 1.0 mg/kg diluted to 10 ml. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures and heart rate were recorded every minute for subsequent 10 minutes following laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation. Attenuation of the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures following laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation was significantly larger in Group 2 compared to Group 1. Patients in Group 2 had significantly better suppression of heart rate response compared to Group 1 during the first four minutes after laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation (p<0.05). Attenuation of the haemodynamic response to laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation by esmolol 1.0 mg/kg was more pronounced compared to MgSO4 40 mg/kg in normotensive patients undergoing general anaesthesia for elective surgery.


Ground observations have been used to study the ionosphere by providing electron density profiles and TEC distribution. In this paper, the existing ground and space facilities related to constructing the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) Project are reviewed. We show that these observations can be employed to validate results derived from COSMIC satellites. In addition, the NCAR TIEGCM model is introduced to simulate ionosphere TEC during year of the solar minimum. The observations and simulations present a clear signature of the equatorial anomaly, in which the TEC shows a minimum on the magnetic equator and a maximum on each side. Meanwhile, it is interesting to see that the value of TEC in June (Day 170) becomes weaker with the crests moving toward the geomagnetic equator.


Evaluation of glycemia is used for the diagnosis and management of patients with diabetes. Glucose and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) provide complementary information and both are used to assess an individual's glycemic status. The concentration of glucose in the blood indicates the subject's glycemia at the time of blood sampling. However, blood glucose concentrations are modified by numerous factors, ranging from food ingestion and exercise to stress and medication (1). By contrast, the concentration of HbA1c in the blood reflects the average glucose over the preceding 8–12 weeks. Thus, HbA1c provides an additional criterion for assessing glucose control that is free of the wide diurnal fluctuations that occur with blood glucose. HbA1c has several additional attributes, which render it valuable in the setting of diabetes. These include, but are not limited to, the following: the subject does not need to be fasting, blood can be sampled any time of the day, the sample is stable, and there is very little biological variability (1). These factors, in conjunction with the documentation that HbA1c predicts the development of microvascular (2,3) and macrovascular (4) complications of diabetes, have led to the widespread adoption of HbA1c as integral to the management of patients with diabetes. Guidelines from several prominent clinical organizations recommend that HbA1c be measured at regular intervals in all patients with diabetes (5,6).

The quality of analytical methods for HbA1c initially lagged considerably behind the evidence of its clinical value. Early assays lacked standardization, substantially limiting the use of HbA1c in patient care. Considerable effort was invested to effect standardization, with schemes developed in the 1990s in Japan (7), Sweden (8), and the U.S. (9). All HbA1c results were reported as a percentage of hemoglobin. The subsequent …


Objective: To investigate the performance of low-dose, dual-source computed tomography (DSCT) coronary angiography in the step-and-shoot (SAS) mode for the diagnosis of significant coronary artery stenoses in comparison with conventional coronary angiography (CCA). Design, setting and patients: Prospective, single-centre study conducted in a referral centre enrolling 120 patients (71 men, mean (SD) age 68 (9) years, mean (SD) body mass index 26.2 (3.2) kg/m2). All study participants underwent DSCT in the SAS mode and CCA within 14 days. Twenty-seven patients were given intravenous β blockers for heart rate reduction before CT. Patients were excluded if a target heart rate ⩽70 bpm could not be achieved by β blockers or when the patients were in non-sinus rhythm. Two blinded readers independently evaluated coronary artery segments for assessability and for the presence of significant (>50%) stenoses. Sensitivity, specificity, negative (NPV) and positive predictive values (PPV) were determined, with CCA being the standard of reference. Radiation dose values were calculated. Results: DSCT coronary angiography in the SAS mode was successfully performed in all 120 patients. Mean (SD) heart rate during scanning was 59 (6) bpm (range 44–69). 1773/1803 coronary segments (98%) were depicted with a diagnostic image quality in 109/120 patients (91%). The overall patient-based sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for the diagnosis of significant stenoses were 100%, 93%, 94% and 100%, respectively. The mean (SD) effective dose of the CT protocol was 2.5 (0.8) mSv (range 1.2–4.4). Conclusions: DSCT coronary angiography in the SAS mode allows, in selected patients with a regular heart rate, the accurate diagnosis of significant coronary stenoses at a low radiation dose.


Car body deformation modeling plays a very important role in crash accident analyses, as well as in safe car body design. The determination of the energy absorbed by the deformation and the corresponding energy equivalent speed can be of key importance, however their precise determination is a very difficult task. Although, using the results of crash tests, intelligent and soft methods offer a way to model the crash process itself, as well as to determine the absorbed energy, the before-crash speed of the car, etc. In this paper a modeling technique and an intelligent expert system are introduced which together are able to follow the deformation process of car bodies in car crashes and to analyze the strength of the different parts, thus significantly can contribute to the improvement of the safety of car bodies.


Suicide terrorism is rising around the world, but the most common explanations do not help us understand why. Religious fanaticism does not explain why the world leader in suicide terrorism is the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, a group that adheres to a Marxist/Leninist ideology, while existing psychological explanations have been contradicted by the widening range of socio-economic backgrounds of suicide terrorists. To advance our understanding of this growing phenomenon, this study collects the universe of suicide terrorist attacks worldwide from 1980 to 2001, 188 in all. In contrast to the existing explanations, this study shows that suicide terrorism follows a strategic logic, one specifically designed to coerce modern liberal democracies to make significant territorial concessions. Moreover, over the past two decades, suicide terrorism has been rising largely because terrorists have learned that it pays. Suicide terrorists sought to compel American and French military forces to abandon Lebanon in 1983, Israeli forces to leave Lebanon in 1985, Israeli forces to quit the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in 1994 and 1995, the Sri Lankan government to create an independent Tamil state from 1990 on, and the Turkish government to grant autonomy to the Kurds in the late 1990s. In all but the case of Turkey, the terrorist political cause made more gains after the resort to suicide operations than it had before. Thus, Western democracies should pursue policies that teach terrorists that the lesson of the 1980s and 1990s no longer holds, policies which in practice may have more to do with improving homeland security than with offensive military action.I thank Robert Art, Mia Bloom, Steven Cícala, Alex Downs, Daniel Drezner, Adria Lawrence, Sean Lynn-Jones, John Mearsheimer, Michael O'Connor, Sebastian Rosato, Lisa Weeden, the anonymous reviewers, and the members of the program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago for their superb comments. I especially thank James K. Feldman and Chaim D. Kaufmann for their excellent comments on multiple drafts. I would also like to acknowledge encouragement from the committee for the Combating Political Violence paper competition sponsored by the Institute for War and Peace Studies at Columbia University, which selected an earlier version as a winning paper.


It appeared recently that user interests in a P2P system possess clustering properties that may be used to reduce significantly the amount of traffic of floodingbased search strategies. It was also observed that they possess scale-free properties that may be used for the design of efficient routing-based search strategies. In this paper, we show that the combination of these two properties make it possible to design an efficient and simple fully decentralized search strategy. Further, simulations processed on real-world traces show that other unidentified properties hidden in actual queries make our protocol even more efficient, performing searches in logarithmic expected number of steps.


The author takes a historical and ethnographic approach to the rise of Korean Protestantism and its relationship to Korean modernization and capitalist development. He argues that while theories of Asian capitalism have looked at the ways a Confucian work ethic has helped the development of Asian capitalist economies, this perspective ignores the overarching concern with regional identity. This approach has also tended to ignore the diversity of religious landscapes in East Asia. The author argues that the phenomenal rise of Protestantism in South Korea has to be located within the context of processes of modernization. Exploring ethnographically the nature of Korean Protestantism reveals a theological doctrine of Puritanism, which shares 'elective affinities' with the capitalist ethic. Adopting a Weberian approach the author undertakes a detailed analysis of the sermons and ritual life of one Korean church in Seoul and relates this to larger historical and economic processes in South Korea.


This paper offers some exploratory analysis of an extraordinarily rich data set of audit and appeals records, matched with tax returns and financial statements, of several thousand corporations. We find that corporate tax noncompliance, at least as measured by deficiencies proposed upon examination, amounts to approximately 13 percent of "true" tax liability. Second, noncompliance is a progressive phenomenon, meaning that noncompliance as a fraction of a scale measure increases with the size of the company. Other things equal, noncompliance is related to two measures of the presence of intangibles and with being a private company. We find some evidence that incentivized executive compensation schemes are associated with more tax noncompliance, but only with respect to bonuses and not for stock options and other equity-related incentive pay. We uncover no relation between a commonly-studied measure of the quality of corporate governance and the extent of proposed (scaled) tax deficiency. Finally, we find that there is no consistent simple or partial negative association between our measure of tax noncompliance and measures of the effective tax rate calculated from financial statements. These conclusions are preliminary because our central measure of tax noncompliance is the result of an imperfect and perhaps systematically detailed audit of a tax return declaration that may itself be the opening bid in what is expected, often correctly, to be an intense negotiation and formal appeals process. Second, the causal links among tax aggressiveness, executive compensation, and corporate governance are potentially complex, and the analysis presented here at best establishes statistical associations, but certainly does not establish causal relations.


The present study describes the assimilation of river water level observations and the resulting improvement in flood forecasting. The Kalman Filter algorithm was built on top of a one-dimensional hydraulic model which describes the Saint-Venant equations. The assimilation algorithm folds in two steps: the first one was based on the assumption that the upstream flow can be adjusted using a three-parameter correction; the second one consisted of directly correcting the hydraulic state. This procedure was applied using a four- day sliding window over the flood event. The background error covariances for water level and discharge were repre- sented with anisotropic correlation functions where the cor- relation length upstream of the observation points is larger than the correlation length downstream of the observation points. This approach was motivated by the implementation of a Kalman Filter algorithm on top of a diffusive flood wave propagation model. The study was carried out on the Adour and the Marne Vallage (France) catchments. The correction of the upstream flow as well as the control of the hydraulic state during the flood event leads to a significant improve- ment in the water level and discharge in both analysis and forecast modes.


Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease of adulthood that affects voluntary motricity and rapidly leads to full paralysis and death. ALS arises from the combined degeneration of motoneurons in the spinal cord and brain stem, responsible for muscle denervation, and corticospinal projection neurons (CSN), responsible for emergence of the upper motor neuron syndrome. Recent studies carried on ALS patients suggest that the disease may initiate in the motor cortex and spread to its projection targets. However, this "corticofugal hypothesis" of ALS has not yet been specifically challenged. Here, we provide a direct test of this hypothesis by genetically removing subcerebral projection neurons (SubCerPN), including CSN, in Sod1G86R mice, a mouse model of ALS. Ablation of the transcription factor Fezf2, leading to the complete absence of all SubCerPN, delays disease onset, reduces weight loss and motor impairment, and increases survival without modifying disease duration. Importantly absence of SubCerPN and CSN also limits pre-symptomatic hyperreflexia. Together, our results demonstrate that major corticofugal tracts are critical to ALS onset, and that SubCerPN and CSN in particular may carry detrimental signals to their downstream targets. In its whole, this study provides first experimental arguments in favour of the corticofugal hypothesis of ALS.


Abstract : The concept of net assessment has long been considered an important tool for American national security strategists, and the Pentagons Officeof Net Assessment is widely regarded as a key influence in security planning. However, despite calls by experts for the development of a similar net assessment office in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), only a few tentative efforts have been made to use the concepts and methodologies of net assessment for the problem of ensuring American homeland security. This article argues that a homeland security net assessment is even more necessary today, since debates over the state of the nations security involve discussions not only about the seriousness of the threat but also the legitimacy of the intelligence and other efforts employed to combat that threat. It proposes a new model for a homeland security net assessment process that should be undertaken by DHS and suggests that such an assessment would expand the discussion of homeland security threats beyond terrorism and would encourage greater focus on civil liberties and disaster preparedness.


This document provides an overview of environmental management priorities, achievements, and challenges in the Caribbean sub-region. It also provides some recommendations for sub-regional initiatives that could be pursued through the Dialogue. Throughout this paper, environmental management issues are divided into three categories: natural resources management, urban environmental management, and environment and competitiveness. This document was presented at the Environment Network of the Regional Policy Dialogue's 1st Hemispheric Meeting: Towards an Effective Environmental Management held on April 4th and 5th, 2002.


The present quantitative, descriptive and exploratory study investigates whether, and to what extent, Norwegian upper secondary EFL instruction prepares for the reading of English texts and textbooks in higher education. It uses questionnaires, and a combination of self-assessment items and an academic English reading test (IELTS) to measure English reading proficiency. The samples comprise student respondents from the university and college level as well as senior upper secondary level students from the General Studies branch. Test scores of the senior upper secondary school respondents from the General Studies branch revealed that two thirds would not manage the level required for admission to universities in English speaking countries. Likewise, test and selfassessment scores of university level respondents indicated that reading problems persisted in higher education, with between 30 and 40 percent of the respondents experiencing difficulties. A closer analysis revealed that the difficulties experienced by many respondents were due to poor language proficiency, exacerbated by a counterproductive tendency towards careful reading with excessive focus on ascertaining the meaning of unknown words. The respondents who indulged in the extracurricular reading of English or had had Content and Language Integrated Learning courses were among those with the highest scores. Rather unexpectedly, completing the upper secondary level Advanced English Course did not give an advantage. Nor did study experience. Though the findings in this descriptive and exploratory study need to be confirmed in follow-up studies, they clearly indicate the urgent need for changes in the syllabi and teaching of Norwegian EFL instruction.


Although the two-signal model for T cell activation states that a signal-1 through the TCR and a costimulatory signal-2 are required for optimal stimulation, it is now clear that the requirement for costimulation can be bypassed under certain conditions. We previously reported that this is the case for naive CD8+ T cells in vitro. In the present study we tested the effect of signal-2 when delivered after signal-1 has been disrupted. Naive CD8+ T cells from TCR transgenic mice were stimulated in vitro by using immobilized recombinant single-chain MHC molecules alone as signal-1. This signal was then stopped after different lengths of time, and anti-CD28 mAb as signal-2 was given either immediately or after a time lag. We found that signal-2 can potentiate a short signal-1 when added sequentially. Moreover, a time lag between the two signals does not abolish this potentiation. If the strength of signal-1, but not its duration, is increased, then the time lag between the delivery of signals 1 and 2 can be lengthen without loss of potentiation. Together, our results indicate that the two signals do not need to be delivered concomitantly to get optimal T cell activation. We suggest that the CD8+ T cells can reach a transient "excited" state after being stimulated with signal-1 alone, characterized by the cell's ability to respond to separate and delayed signal-2.


Social groups of interacting agents display an ability to coordinate in the absence of a central authority, a phenomenon that has been recently amplified by the widespread availability of social networking technologies. Models of opinion formation in a population of agents have proven a very useful tool to investigate these phenomena that arise independently of the heterogeneities across individuals and can be used to identify the factors that determine whether widespread consensus on an initial small majority is reached. Recently, we introduced a model in which individual agents can have conservative and partisan biases. Numerical simulations for finite populations showed that while the inclusion of conservative agents in a population enhances the population's efficiency in reaching consensus on the initial majority opinion, even a small fraction of partisans leads the population to converge on the opinion initially held by a minority. To further understand the mechanisms leading to our previous numerical results, we investigate analytically the noise driven transition from a regime in which the population reaches a majority consensus (efficient), to a regime in which the population settles in deadlock (non-efficient). We show that the mean-field solution captures what we observe in model simulations. Populations of agents with no opinion bias show a continuous transition to a deadlock regime, while populations with an opinion bias, show a discontinuous transition between efficient and partisan regimes. Furthermore, the analytical solution reveals that populations with an increasing fraction of conservative agents are more robust against noise than a population of naive agents because in the efficient regime there are relatively more conservative than naive agents holding the majority opinion. In contrast, populations with partisan agents are less robust to noise with an increasing fraction of partisans, because in the efficient regime there are relatively more naive agents than partisan agents holding the majority opinion.


The Swisswoodhouse concept was born out of the crossover of several lines of thought concerning issues of urban densification, flexibility of housing, adaptability of buildings and sustainable construction. The approach aims to provide an alternative to the suburban individual houses, via the integrated design of a sustainable building of 3-4 storeys high. This size is sufficient to contribute to the urban densification process, whilst to avoid the danger of anonymity present in large housing complexes. The building's concept is based on the aggregation of 22 m2 wooden prefab modules. An entire catalogue of options has been devised, allowing for multiple combinations of apartments. On a technical level, the concept devotes a great deal of attention to energy issues and thus complies with the requirements in the vision of the 2000-watt society. This high energy efficiency is achieved thanks to high compactness; an efficient building shell; the specific use of renewable energy (solar/thermal, solar panels, geothermal) and materials whose life cycle assessment is environmentally friendly (e.g. use of native wood).


Despite being a classic target for the gastrointestinal peptide hormone, cholecystokinin (CCK), the gallbladder CCK receptor is not well characterized. Pharmacological studies of small species suggest that CCK action can be mediated by direct myogenic or by both myogenic and neurogenic receptors. To prepare for the biochemical characterization of a gallbladder CCK receptor and to define the subtype of the receptor being studied, we have performed autoradiographic localization and pharmacological characterization of CCK receptors on bovine gallbladder. Autoradiography demonstrated high-affinity specific CCK-binding sites only on the muscularis. CCK-8 stimulated tonic contraction of longitudinal strips of gallbladder muscularis in a concentration-dependent manner, with an ED50 of 0.2 nM. Antagonism at the cholinergic receptor with 1 microM atropine or axonal transmission with 1 microM tetrodotoxin did not modify CCK-induced contraction, supporting a direct myogenic effect of this hormone. Optimal electrical field stimulation (10 V, 10 Hz, 500 microseconds) to elicit a neuronal response resulted in muscle strip relaxation, which was abolished with adrenergic blockade (1 microM phentolamine, 1 microM propranolol). Although acetylcholine administration stimulated contraction, electrical field stimulation did not, even in the presence of phentolamine, propranolol, and/or CCK. Thus, in bovine gallbladder muscularis, there is evidence for a functional CCK receptor only on smooth muscle cells. Demonstration of a single, high-affinity specific CCK-binding site on an enriched plasma membrane preparation of bovine gallbladder muscularis is consistent with this representing a myogenic CCK receptor.


Detrital aggregates episodically deposited on the seafloor represent an underestimated food source to deep‐sea communities. A 17‐yr time‐series study was conducted from 1990 to 2006 in the abyssal northeast Pacific (Sta. M, 4100 m in depth) to evaluate the importance of this food source and its temporal relationship to water column and surface ocean processes. Detrital aggregates appeared on the seafloor from June through December, with the highest peaks in 1990, 1994, 2001, and 2002 reaching a maximum density of 23 m−2 in fall 2001. A total of 15,816 aggregates were measured, most less than 20 cm2 in area and with a mode of 9 cm2. Density of detrital aggregates was highly correlated with particulate organic carbon (POC) flux at 600 and 50 m above the bottom (p < 0.001) with no time lag. Export flux of organic carbon from the euphotic zone was significantly correlated with aggregate density, lagged earlier by 1‐4 months (p ≤ 0.001). Zooplankton displacement volume was significantly correlated with POC flux (p = 0.023) and with detrital aggregate density (p = 0.028) on the seafloor when lagged earlier by ≤1 month. The Bakun upwelling index computed for the region around Sta. M was significantly correlated with detrital aggregate density when lagged earlier by 2‐5 months (p < 0.001). A strong correlation exists between surface ocean processes and abyssal food supply, including POC flux and detrital aggregates. This direct coupling through the entire water column must be considered in resolving the marine carbon cycle.


Advanced driving assistance systems that offer support by operating for example longitudinal control will have an effect on the transport system. Previous studies have also shown that drivers may be slower to respond in hazardous situations with systems like adaptive cruise control (ACC) engaged, if the system suddenly fails. Little understanding has, so far, emerged to explain why. In this thesis, a situated approach to cognition was used to explain how the drivers' goals and priorities might change with the opportunity of delegating control to a system. Additionally, drivers' tactical driving decisions were studied to determine how a system such as ACC is integrated into driving. Such changes could, possibly, impact measures like response times as well. The research focused on how drivers handle the addition of ACC to their drive, especially when managing traffic conflicts. Traffic conflicts are not rare events, but form part of everyday driving. Three methods were used: A questionnaire addressing drivers' understanding of system limitations, a simulator study on handling traffic conflicts when using ACC, and a database study of a field operational test comparing driver responses with and without ACC. The studies show that drivers do take system behaviour into account when handling traffic conflicts, sometimes allowing the system to act, sometimes by resuming manual control themselves. Previous experience with ACC was also found to affect not only drivers' knowledge of system limitations, but also their response time to unwanted system behaviour. Drivers were, as previously found, slower to respond with automation than without in simulated driving. In contrast, when studying driver response times in the field test, drivers were faster to respond to a cut-in situation with ACC active than without. The freedom of drivers to use the system as they wish may cause it to be used under different circumstances than in simulator studies, thus explaining the inconsistency with previous results. The results of this thesis indicate that tactical driving behaviour in common traffic situations is an important factor when discussing the effects of ACC and other advanced driver assistance systems. Thus, the cases in which driving is affected by the system are extended from system failures to a wide range of different situations. Merely using operational measures will miss this aspect, thus risking a depiction of driving with automation as more risky than it is. Rather, driving with automation needs to be studied from a tactical perspective, determining first how the systems are being used. Only then can the relevant operational measures be studied. (Less)


Urban coastal ecosystems are unique intersections of human development and biodiversity, and monitoring populations in these areas is critical to understanding ecosystem health and function. Three highly urbanized estuary systems, San Diego Bay, San Gabriel River, and Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge (all in California), are the northernmost foraging habitats for green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Eastern Pacific. Here, we report blood biochemistry and morphological parameters for these Southern California green sea turtle foraging aggregations to investigate the current health status of these animals and provide baseline values for future work. Morphometric and blood biochemistry parameters for green turtles captured in this study (n = 39) were clinically reasonable and were generally consistent with previously reported parameters for green turtles.


The global consumerism trend and the increase in worldwide population is increasing the need to improve the efficiency of marine container transportation. The high operating costs, pollution and noise of the diesel yard equipment is leading sea ports to move towards replacing diesel RTG cranes with electric Rubber Tyre Gantry (RTG) cranes which offer reduced environmental impact and higher energy efficiency. However, ports will require smarter solutions to meet the increased demand on the electrical distribution network due to the electrification of RTGs. This paper aims to highlight the peak demand problem in the two electrical cranes network and attempts to increase the energy saving at ports by using two different technologies: Energy Storage System (ESS) and Active Front End (AFE). This article introduces one of the first extensive investigations into different networks of RTG crane models and compares the benefits of using either AFE or ESS. The proposed RTG crane models and network parameters are validated using data collected at the Port of Felixstowe, UK. The results of the proposed RTG cranes network show a significant peak demand reduction and energy cost saving.


In this paper, a novel method for blocking effect reduction in DCT coded images is presented. A block image is first transformed into DCT domain, then some of the DCT coefficients are set to zero or multiplied by some weighting coefficients. Intensive simulations show a respectable performance for both one dimensional and two dimensional cases.


The tilted Wooley Creek batholith (Klamath Mountains, California, USA) consists of three main zones. Field and textural relationships in the older lower zone suggest batchwise emplacement. However, compositions of augite from individual samples plot along individually distinct fractionation trends, confi rming emplacement as magma batches that did not interact extensively. The younger upper zone is upwardly zoned from tonalite to granite. Major and trace element compositions of hornblende show similar variations from sample to sample, indicating growth from a single magma batch that was homogenized by convection and then evolved via upward percolation of interstitial melt. Highly porphyritic dacitic roof dikes, the hornblende compositions of which match those of upper zone rocks, demonstrate that the upper zone mush was eruptible. The central zone contains rocks of both lower and upper zone age, although in most samples hornblende compositions match those of the upper zone. The zone is rich in synplutonic dikes and mafi c magmatic enclaves. These features indicate that the central zone was a broad transition zone between upper and lower parts of the batholith and preserves part of the feeder system to the upper zone. Homogenization of the upper zone was probably triggered by the arrival of mafi c magma in the central zone. Continued emplacement of mafi c magmas may have provided heat that permitted differentiation of the upper zone magma by upward melt percolation. This study illustrates the potential for use of trace element compositions and variation in rock-forming minerals to identify individual magma batches, assess interactions between them, and characterize magmatic processes.


We address the problem of predicting the labeling of a graph in an online setting when the labeling is changing over time. We present an algorithm based on a specialist approach; we develop the machinery of cluster specialists which probabilistically exploits the cluster structure in the graph. Our algorithm has two variants, one of which surprisingly only requires $\mathcal{O}(\log n)$ time on any trial $t$ on an $n$-vertex graph, an exponential speed up over existing methods. We prove switching mistake-bound guarantees for both variants of our algorithm. Furthermore these mistake bounds smoothly vary with the magnitude of the change between successive labelings. We perform experiments on Chicago Divvy Bicycle Sharing data and show that our algorithms significantly outperform an existing algorithm (a kernelized Perceptron) as well as several natural benchmarks.


We have studied the interaction of the enzyme sphingomyelinase with sphingomyelin-containing supported membranes using quantitative applications of real-time epifluorescence microscopy and imaging optical ellipsometry. The enzymatic action converts sphingomyelin into ceramides by cleaving the phosphodiester bond. Our results confirm previous studies establishing a gross morphological transformation of lipid bilayers involving a multi-step process consisting of lag-burst type of enzyme activation and in-plane reorganization of membrane components attributed to the formation of ceramide-enriched domains. A unique finding of our study is the evidence for the existence of an additional out-of-plane deformation following lateral reorganization resulting in membrane voids disrupting the laterally contiguous bilayer. Taken together, the in-plane and out-of-plane deformations suggest a mechanistic picture in which lateral diffusional processes of translational mobility and phase separation couple with out-of-plane interactions across the membrane leaflet to induce irreversible membrane disruption in response to SMase action. Remarkably, lipid monolayers supported on hydrophobic substrates exhibit no such large-scale deformation despite ceramide generation by enzymatic activity of sphingomyelinase, possibly suggesting the importance of coupling across membrane leaflets in inducing out-of-plane deformations.


Methods for learning decision rules are being successfully applied to many problem domains, in particular when understanding and interpretation of the learned model is necessary. In many real life problems, we would like to predict multiple related (nominal or numeric) target attributes simultaneously. While several methods for learning rules that predict multiple targets at once exist, they are all based on the covering algorithm, which does not work well for regression problems. A better solution for regression is the rule ensemble approach that transcribes an ensemble of decision trees into a large collection of rules. An optimization procedure is then used to select the best (and much smaller) subset of these rules and to determine their respective weights.

We introduce the FIRE algorithm for solving multi-target regression problems, which employs the rule ensembles approach. We improve the accuracy of the algorithm by adding simple linear functions to the ensemble. We also extensively evaluate the algorithm with and without linear functions. The results show that the accuracy of multi-target regression rule ensembles is high. They are more accurate than, for instance, multi-target regression trees, but not quite as accurate as multi-target random forests. The rule ensembles are significantly more concise than random forests, and it is also possible to create compact rule sets that are smaller than a single regression tree but still comparable in accuracy.


Nano composites are produced by adding nano-particles to a material in order to improve the properties of material. Concrete is a material most widely used in construction industry. Concrete is a composite material made up of cement, sand, aggregate, water and mineral or chemical admixtures. The material such as nano metakaolin are being combined with cement. There are also a limited number of investigations dealing with the manufacture of nano-cement. The use of finer particles (higher surface area) has advantages in terms of filling the cement matrix, densifying the structure, resulting in higher strength and faster chemical reactions i.e. hydration reactions. Nano-Metakoline particles can accelerate cement hydration due to their high activity. Similarly, the incorporation of nano-particles can fill pores more effectively to enhance the overall strength and durability. Normally, the particle size ranges between 1nm to100nm, they are generally called as nano materials. The fineness can reach up to molecular level by special processing techniques. An experimental investigation has been carried out to determine the influence of concrete with nanocement particles under elevated temperature. M20, M30, M40 and M50 grades of concrete were cast. For each of grades of concrete, 10%, 20% and 30% of cement was replaced with nano-metakoline. The particle size of nano-cement was determined using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Impact strength of concrete with nano materials under various elevated temperature (250 C, 500 C, 750 C and 1000 C) were found by using Impact Testing Apparatus. Impact strength is found to be least for the concrete specimens with 30% replacement of nano-cement. It was also found that impact strength of M50 grade concrete specimens was low as compared to other grades of concrete (M20, M30 & M40).


Online newspapers and their audience are explored in this paper. Based upon an online questionnaire at four Swedish newspapers with a sample of more than 3800 answers collected, the paper presents some users' experiences of the online newspapers. The paper reports on the users regarding age, gender and location. Reading frequency and reading habits are explored as well. The findings show that almost two thirds of the respondents are men and almost 65% are in the ages between 21-40. Almost two thirds of the respondents do not read the online newspaper in any specific order, and more than 80% prefer the paper edition of the newspaper. Several findings regarding navigation purposes were found and the paper also discusses the navigation and search aspects of the news sites.


We investigate the old problem of the fast relaxation of collisionless N-body systems that are collapsing or perturbed, emphasizing the importance of (noncollisional) discreteness effects. We integrate orbit ensembles in fixed potentials, estimating the entropy to analyze the time evolution of the distribution function. These estimates capture the correct physical behavior expected from the second law of thermodynamics, without any spurious entropy production. For self-consistent (i.e., stationary) samples, the entropy is conserved, while for non-self-consistent samples, it increases within a few dynamical times, stabilizing at a maximum (even in integrable potentials). Our results make transparent that the main ingredient for this fast collisionless relaxation is the discreteness (finite N) of gravitational systems in any potential. Additionally, in nonintegrable potentials, the presence of chaotic orbits accelerates the entropy production. Contrary to the traditional violent relaxation scenario, our results indicate that a time-dependent potential is not necessary for this relaxation. For the first time, in connection with the Nyquist–Shannon theorem, we derive the typical timescale for this discreteness-driven relaxation, with slightly weaker N-dependencies for nonintegrable potentials with substantial fractions of chaotic orbits. This timescale is much smaller than the collisional relaxation time even for small-N systems such as open clusters and represents an upper limit for the relaxation time of real N-body collisionless systems. Additionally, our results reinforce the conclusion of Beraldo e Silva et al. that the Vlasov equation does not provide an adequate kinetic description of the fast relaxation of collapsing collisionless N-body systems.


Extracted from text ... Natalie Leon, Florence Bhunu and Chris Kenyon
Health Systems Trust
Voices of Facility Managers
Introduction
The experiences of facility managers illuminate some of the
enabling factors
as well as the
obstacles for a range of managers across the
country. They also
illustrate the
frustrations experienced by managers and how they are coping
with these. Perhaps the
most striking of the
findings is that some facility
managers, despite the
obstacles, managed to change their facility from a place
that felt like a 'Robben Island outcast colony', to a place that is productive
and ..


Mineral supplementation is very important in high producing farm animals. The estimation of exact mineral intake is very difficult in forage eating animals, like sheep. Accessing of long term mineral status seems to be possible using wool mineral analysis. However several factors can affect the results. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test the effect of breed and sampling location on the mineral content of sheep wool. 20 Dorper and 20 Tsigai sheep were chosen from the same farm. Samples were obtained from 3 locations (withers, side and quarter) and tested for 8 elements: Ca, Mg, Na, Co, Cu, P, S, Se , Zn. The samples were cleaned with ethyl alcohol from organic contamination, then after adding nitric acid were mineral analized using ultrasonic cleaning unit. The samples were analysed with ICP-OES (Perkin-Elmer, Optima 3300 DV). Statistical analyses were carried out by GLM procedure of SAS statistical analyses software. Differences between means were checked with Tukey-test. Significant breed differences were detected in the case of Mg, Na, S, Se in spite of the same feeding regime. The wool mineral content were within the reference range. The sampling location had no effect on the mineral content of wool.


The origin of sulfur and gold in Archean orogenic gold systems should provide significant
insights into the dynamics of fluid movement in the crust of the early Earth, but is poorly
constrained and highly debated. Our natural laboratory to address this knowledge gap is the
metal-endowed Yilgarn Craton (Western Australia), where we measured the multiple sulfur
isotope signatures of representative sulfide-bearing auriferous samples from 24 Archean
orogenic gold deposits varying in size and geological setting. Utilizing chemically conservative
mass-independent fractionated sulfur (MIF-S) isotope signatures, we fingerprinted a
major source of sulfur in these deposits. Contrary to previous studies, our data show that
they display MIF-S isotope anomalies, with Δ 33 S values ranging from –1.18‰ to +2.04‰;
most of the studied deposits show a sulfur signature that is consistent with a crustally derived
source. Unlike smaller deposits, which may form with sulfur derived from a single sedimentary
sulfur source, therefore providing a coherent Archean atmospheric signal in their Δ 33 S-Δ 36 S
slope (~0.9–1.5), the formation of giant deposits may require sourcing from a wider range
of sulfur reservoirs and using different processes, as reflected in their apparently random
Δ 33 S-Δ 36 S slopes.


Virtual-reality provides an immersive environment but can induce cybersickness due to the discrepancy between visual and vestibular cues. To avoid this problem, the movement of the virtual camera needs to match the motion of the user in the real world. Unfortunately, this is usually difficult due to the mismatch between the size of the virtual environments and the space available to the users in the physical domain. The resulting constraints on the camera movement significantly hamper the adoption of virtual-reality headsets in many scenarios and make the design of the virtual environments very challenging. In this work, we study how the characteristics of the virtual camera movement (e.g., translational acceleration and rotational velocity) and the composition of the virtual environment (e.g., scene depth) contribute to perceived discomfort. Based on the results from our user experiments, we devise a computational model for predicting the magnitude of the discomfort for a given scene and camera trajectory. We further apply our model to a new path planning method which optimizes the input motion trajectory to reduce perceptual sickness. We evaluate the effectiveness of our method in improving perceptual comfort in a series of user studies targeting different applications. The results indicate that our method can reduce the perceived discomfort while maintaining the fidelity of the original navigation, and perform better than simpler alternatives.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Although nonesterified fatty acids (NEFAs) are essential as energy substrate for the myocardium, an excess of circulating NEFAs can be harmful. This study aimed to assess plausible relationships between serum NEFA and mortality due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in individuals with CKD.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
This was a prospective cohort study from the third examination cycle of the Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men, a population-based survey of 1221 elderly men aged 70-71 years residing in Uppsala, Sweden. Data collection took place during 1991-1995. All participants had measures of kidney function; this study investigated 623 (51.7%) of these patients with manifest CKD (defined as either eGFR<60 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) or urine albumin excretion rate ≥20 µg/min). Follow-up for mortality was done from examination date until death or December 31, 2007. After a median follow-up of 14 years (interquartile range, 8-16.8), associations of NEFAs with mortality (related to all causes, CVD, ischemic heart disease [IHD], or acute myocardial infarction) were ascertained.

RESULTS
The median serum NEFA was 14.1 mg/dl (interquartile range, 11.3-17.8). No association was found with measures of kidney function. Diabetes and serum triglycerides were the only multivariate correlates of NEFA. During follow-up, 453 participants died, of which 209 deaths were due to CVD, including 88 IHD deaths, with 41 attributed to acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In fully adjusted covariates, serum NEFA was an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] per log2 increase, 1.22; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.00 to 1.48) and CVD-related death (HR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.15 to 1.99), including both IHD (HR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.00 to 2.32) and AMI mortality (HR, 2.08; 95% CI, 1.09 to 3.98).

CONCLUSIONS
Elevated serum NEFA associated with CVD mortality, and particularly with mortality due to AMI, in a homogeneous population of older men with moderate CKD.


The research documented in this paper seeks to advance the understanding of the unintentional insider threat (UIT) that results from phishing and other social engineering cases, specifically those involving malicious software (malware). The research team collected and analyzed publicly reported phishing cases and performed an initial analysis of the industry sectors impacted by this type of incident. This paper provides that analysis as well as case examples and potential recommendations for mitigating UITs stemming from phishing and other social engineering incidents. The paper also compares security offices' current practice of UIT monitoring in the current manufacturing and healthcare industries' practice of tracking near misses of adverse events.


Have the negotiating edge when getting your new business off the ground Written by Dermot Berkery, an internationally known venture capitalist with Delta Partners, this complete toolbook thoroughly details how venture capitalists arrange the financing for a company; what they look for in a business plan; how they value a business; and how they structure the terms of an agreement. Within its pages, you'll find everything you need to successfully raise new business capital with the most attractive terms possible. Using informative case studies, detailed charts, and term sheet exercises, Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur discusses the basic principles of the venture capital method, strategies for raising capital, methods of valuing the early-stage venture, and proven techniques for negotiating the deal. The author leads you step-by-step through: Developing a Financing Map Getting to the First Stepping Stone Understanding the Unique Cash Flow and Risk Dynamics of Early Stage Ventures Determining the Amount of Capital to Raise and What to Spend It on Learning How Venture Capital Firms Think Creating a Winning Business Plan Funding Early-Stage Companies Agreeing on a Term Sheet with a Venture Capitalist Setting Terms for Splitting the Rewards Allocating Control between Founders/Management and Investors Aligning the Interests of Founders/Management and Investors This invaluable guide also includes term sheet exercises that test your understanding of various financing situations facing companies. In addition, the book features three extensive case studies: the first covering a fictional start-up company used throughout the book, the second offering a stepping stone map, and the third presenting a term sheet used in practice by venture capitalists.


Semen quality is a measure of the ability of semen to accomplish fertilization. Semen quality could either be of good or poor quality. Poor semen quality is a major factor in male infertility. Semen analysis evaluates certain characteristics of the male's semen and spermatozoa contained therein; a procedure which has implication for posterity. Owing to the high variability of semen laboratory results as well as increase in cases of infertile couples as a result of the male factor; the importance of performing a comprehensive semen laboratory investigation for appropriate diagnosis and possible treatment of male infertility cannot be over-emphasized. Male infertility may be caused by pre-testicular causes, tobacco smoking, DNA damage, testicular factors, post-testicular causes and infectious disease causes; all have been implicated to affect semen quality negatively. 12.5% of couples experience infertility in their union elsewhere; in Nigeria, it is 25%. Various reports all over Nigeria implicated between 31.8-83.1% of male partners having poor semen qualities. The WHO guidelines for a comprehensive performance of seminal analysis either with the Manuel method or Computer – Assisted Semen Analysis technique using Sperm Quality Analyzer Visual (SQA-V) machine should be adhered to. As the characteristics of good quality semen are manifest; so are those with poor semen quality. Good quality semen enhances generational posterity. The effects of poor semen quality are enormous as it leads to infertility – generational discontinuity, a cut-down of the family tree. Infertility has been a source of pain, rejection, humiliation, sadness, anxiety and shame to a lot of infertile couples all over but especially in the African sub region. Although, infertility due to the male factor is here with us, observance of certain positive ways of life as well as seeking early medical attention by established infertile couples would bring smiles to many


Physokermes hellenicus Kozar & Gounari (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) is a new record for Turkish scale insect fauna. Studies on its biological cycle and natural enemies were made on Abies nordmanniana (Steven) (Pinaceae) in Ankara during 2014-2015. It was found that P. hellenicus hibernate as the third instar and has one generation in Ankara. The following natural enemies were found associated with P. hellenicus: Anthribus nebulosus Forster (Coleoptera: Antribidae), Chilocorus renipustulatus (Scriba) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), Atroctotomus spp. (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) and the parasitoid Aphycoides clavellatus (Dalman) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae). Among the natural enemies, A. clavellatus was the main cause of mortality of P. hellenicus populations in Ankara. The scale insect was determined on Abies cilicica (Antoine & Kotschy) Carriere in Kahramanmaras, Konya and on A. nordmanniana in Bolu, Eskisehir and Ankara, Turkey.


Over the past five years our research has focused on cognitive issues in simultaneous interpreting: the role of working memory, robustness of cognitive processes, simultaneity of language processes, and the emerging role of long-term working memory (LT-WM) in the development of expertise in interpreting. With new technologies playing an increasingly important role in the interpreter's work environment and with speaking speeds far exceeding the recommended 120 words per minute we need to ask ourselves just how adaptable an interpreter's cognitive functions are to what is widely perceived as "cognitive overload".This contribution will discuss several studies on various aspects of cognitive functioning in simultaneous interpreters and try to shed some light on the "plasticity" of the interpreter's "brain" and on how a professional interpreter who has achieved a high level of expertise can actually circumvent a number of common cognitive constraints. This contribution argues, however, that even at the highest level of skill constraints do operate and interfere with high-quality performance.


Against the backdrop of a Puritan theocracy threatened by change, in a population terrified not only of eternal damnation but of the earthly dangers of Indian massacres and recurrent smallpox epidemics, a small group of girls denounces a black slave and others as worshipers of Satan. Within two years, twenty men and women are hanged or pressed to death and over a hundred others imprisoned and impoverished. In The Salem Witch Trials Reader, Frances Hill provides and astutely comments upon the actual documents from the trial--examinations of suspected witches, eyewitness accounts of "Satanic influence," as well as the testimony of those who retained their reason and defied the madness. Always drawing on firsthand documents, she illustrates the historical background to the witchhunt and shows how the trials have been represented, and sometimes distorted, by historians--and how they have fired the imaginations of poets, playwrights, and novelists. For those fascinated by the Salem witch trials, this is compelling reading and the sourcebook.


In this article, we briefly summarise what information we have available about the distribution of authors by gender of articles contained within the international STudies of Astronomy education Research database (istardb.org). These articles represent a nearly, but not totally, complete population sample of published Astronomy Education Research. There are some indications, although lacking statistical power to decide if it is a true effect, that the top ten authors, first authors and authors by h-index have seen a slight increase in the proportion of women in the last 5 years compared to the all-time levels. Women have also submitted the majority of AER dissertations in the last 5 (~56%) and 10 (~52%) years compared to all time (~41%).


A general theory of nonlinear signal-noise interactions for wavelength division multiplexed fiber-optic coherent transmission systems is presented. This theory is based on the regular perturbation treatment of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation, which governs the wave propagation in the optical fiber, and is exact up to the first order in the fiber nonlinear coefficient. It takes into account all cross-channel nonlinear four-wave mixing contributions to the total variance of nonlinear distortions, dependency on modulation format, erbium-doped fiber and and backward Raman amplification schemes, heterogeneous spans, and chromatic dispersion to all orders; moreover, it is computationally efficient, being 2-3 orders of magnitude faster than the available alternative treatments in the literature. This theory is used to estimate the impact of signal-noise interaction on uncompensated, as well as on nonlinearity-compensated systems with ideal multi-channel digital-backpropagation.


Animals at the cell-aggregate body organization: porifera -humoral immunity, cellular immunity, conclusions diblastic animals - humoral immunity, cellular immunity, conclusions protostomes - annelida - the evolutionary significance of metamery and the coelom, the cells, the origin, humoral immunity, cellular immunity, conclusions arthropoda chelicerata - the cells and structures engaged in the immune reactions, humoral immunity, cellular immunity crustacea - humoral immunity, cellular immunity insecta - blood cells, haemopoietic structures and their possible relevance to immunity, humoral immunity, cellular immunity mollusca - the haemopoietic tissues and organs, the gastropods, the bivalves, the cephalopods, humoral immunity, cellular immunity, conclusions deuterostomes - echinodermata -the echinoderm coelomic derivatives and their possible role in immunity, the immune significance of coelomic tubular and perivisceral systems, humoral immunity, cellular immunity, conclusions chordates - urochordata - the anatomical features of ascidians in regard to their possible immune significance, the immune significance of the pharyngeal region, other structures engaged in the immunity, humoral immunity, cellular immunity, conclusions vertebrates - agnatha - origin, the immunocompetent tissues and organs, humoral immunity, cellular immunity chondrichthyes - origins, the immunocompetent tissues and organs of chondrichthyans, development of lymphohaemopoiesis in elasmobranchs, humoral immunity, cellular immunity, conclusions osteichthyes - origins, the immunocompetent tissues and organs of osteichthyans, cells, MHC antigens, nonspecific humoral immunity, nonspecific cellular immunity, cellular cooperation, conclusions general conclusions.


On successful completion of a conceptual design review by a funding agency or customer, there is a transition phase before construction contracts can be placed. The nature of this transition phase depends on the Project's approach to construction and the particular subsystem being considered. There are generically two approaches; project retention of design authority and issuance of build to print contracts, or issuance of subsystem performance specifications with controlled interfaces. This paper relates to the latter where a proof of concept (conceptual or reference design) is translated into performance based sub-system specifications for competitive tender. This translation is not a straightforward process and there are a number of different issues to consider in the process. This paper deals with primarily the Telescope mount and Enclosure subsystems. The main subjects considered in this paper are: • Typical status of design at Conceptual Design Review compared with the desired status of Specifications and Interface Control Documents at Request for Quotation. • Options for capture and tracking of system requirements flow down from science / operating requirements and sub-system requirements, and functional requirements derived from reference design. • Requirements that may come specifically from the contracting approach. • Methods for effective use of reference design work without compromising a performance based specification. • Management of project team's expectation relating to design. • Effects on cost estimates from reference design to actual. This paper is based on experience and lessons learned through this process on both the VISTA and the ATST projects.


The first part of the thesis explored the pattern of emotional reactivity amongst individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). A previous review (Rosenthal, Gratz, Kosson, Cheavens, Lejuez & Lynch, 2008) claimed that a discrepancy exists in the subjective versus objective patterns of responding to emotional stimuli in those with BPD. The present review assessed the reliability of such findings by reviewing a more homogenous sample of studies that had used similar methodological procedures, in addition to a range of subjective and objective measures. It also aimed to investigate psychophysiological factors associated with this proposed divergent pattern of responding. The methodological quality of all included studies was assessed. The evidence reviewed disputes claims that BPD individuals display diminished physiological reactivity, despite equal or higher self-reported emotional reactivity than controls. Instead, the present review found that individuals with BPD react more severely (both psychologically and physiologically) to experimental stimuli, than controls, particularly when the stimuli is personally-relevant. Disruption of specific brain structures involved in the regulation of emotion within the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) are implicated in this heightened profile of emotional reactivity. Furthermore, present state dissociation acts as a defence mechanism which appears to limit cognitive processing abilities such as problem-solving, attention and concentration in those with BPD. The second part of the thesis described a randomised controlled study investigating the effects of an attention training technique on pain tolerance. The Attention Training Technique (ATT; Wells, 1990) is a brief technique used in metacognitive therapy to modify attentional control. The effect of ATT versus Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR) on pain tolerance was examined in a sample of individuals who had experienced early childhood trauma (N=57). Participants were randomly assigned to either the ATT condition (N = 29) or the PMR condition (N = 28). A laboratory stressor was included: The Cold Pressor Task (CPT) as an objective measure of pain tolerance. Results supported the hypothesis that ATT modified performance on the CPT. Individuals assigned to the ATT condition were able to persist significantly longer with the CPT than those in the PMR condition. Theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are discussed. Results provide preliminary evidence for the possible benefits of ATT within medical settings.The third part of the thesis critically reflected on the methodological issues and dilemmas presented by the systematic review process, as well as the methodological and ethical issues raised by the research study.


The main problem investigated in this dissertation is as follows: Given are two samples of documents each from one of two disjoint collections of documents. The question is how to obtain a set of patterns of text features that make a document in the two samples (and other unclassified documents) to be classified correctly in one and only one document class. A sample of 2,897 documents from the TIPSTER collection was used to investigate this problem.
This problem was divided into the following four subproblems. The first subproblem consists of identifying the set keywords to describe the documents' content. Computational results of twenty experiments suggested that single-word keywords addressed the main problem effectively.
The second subproblem requires a methodology to construct classification rules to infer the class of unclassified documents. A logical analysis approach called the One Clause At a Time algorithm (OCAT) is used to address this problem. Its accuracy is compared to the one of the Vector Space Model (VSM), a benchmarking methodology in document classification processes. Under identical experimental conditions, some computational results suggests that the OCAT algorithm is more accurate than the VSM to solve the main problem.
The third subproblem consists of providing a methodology to construct better rules as more documents become available. This problem has been investigated using the OCAT algorithm under a guided and a random teaming approach. Computational results on three samples of 510 documents indicate that the guided teaming approach constructs more accurate rules.
In the fourth subproblem an incremental version of the OCAT algorithm is required. The algorithm is needed to speed up the construction of the classification rules. Computational results on three samples of 336 documents each show that: (i) the classification rules become accurate more rapidly, (ii) the CPU times are substantially reduced, and ( iii) the rules become more complex as more documents were added to the experiment.
In summary, the results of this research suggest with high confidence that the incremental OCAT algorithm can perform better than the VSM and that it can deliver better and faster results for the classification of large collections of documents.


A Bill proposing a number of changes to the current South Australian Graduated Licensing Scheme (GLS) was introduced into the South Australian Parliament in July 2013. One of its goals is to provide greater protection for young drivers in their first year of driving and thereby reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries to young road users on South Australian roads. Proposed initiatives include a passenger restriction and a night-time driving restriction for Provisional (P1) licence holders. An analysis was undertaken to determine how many crashes and resulting casualties involving young drivers/riders had the potential to be prevented if the two proposed initiatives had been implemented five years ago in 2008. This analysis examined individual casualty crashes of all P1 drivers/riders aged 16-24 that were involved in casualty crashes between 2008 and 2012. All casualty crashes that fell within the scope of the two proposed initiatives were considered. The ages of injured passengers were determined, where possible, and the time of the crash. The estimated casualties that resulted from these crashes were then calculated. From this analysis, it was found that overall the total number of casualties that potentially could have been prevented over the period 2008-2012 was: 22 fatalities (an average of 4 per year), 240 serious injuries (an average of 48 per year), 1397 minor injuries (an average of 279 per year). This analysis could be used to provide an understanding in terms of real lives that could potentially be affected as a way to communicate to the general community the safety benefits of the proposals.


In this paper we look at the air transportation system from a resource management perspective. In particular, we introduce the concept airport logistics, with the general focus of efficiently managing all the logistic activities and processes at, or nearby, an airport. One important goal is to utilize and process the available information for intelligent resource management. Some previous research in the air transportation system area is reviewed and classified into three categories; airline operations, airport operations and air traffic management. A conceptual framework of a decision support system is presented and motivated with a clear emphasis on the airport system.


An angular analysis of the $B^{0}\rightarrow K^{*0}(\rightarrow K^{+}\pi^{-})\mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ decay is presented. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of $3.0\,{\mbox{fb}^{-1}}$ of $pp$ collision data collected at the LHCb experiment. The complete angular information from the decay is used to determine $C\!P$-averaged observables and $C\!P$ asymmetries, taking account of possible contamination from decays with the $K^{+}\pi^{-}$ system in an S-wave configuration. The angular observables and their correlations are reported in bins of $q^2$, the invariant mass squared of the dimuon system. The observables are determined both from an unbinned maximum likelihood fit and by using the principal moments of the angular distribution. In addition, by fitting for $q^2$-dependent decay amplitudes in the region $1.1<q^{2}<6.0\mathrm{\,Ge\kern -0.1em V}^{2}/c^{4}$, the zero-crossing points of several angular observables are computed. A global fit is performed to the complete set of $C\!P$-averaged observables obtained from the maximum likelihood fit. This fit indicates differences with predictions based on the Standard Model at the level of 3.4 standard deviations. These differences could be explained by contributions from physics beyond the Standard Model, or by an unexpectedly large hadronic effect that is not accounted for in the Standard Model predictions.


Gyrodactyloides bychowskii has been recorded in Scottish waters for the first time. The parasite was found on the gills of Atlantic salmon reared in seawater. An integrated morphological and molecular examination of the parasite was carried out. Prevalence of the parasite was greatest in February and declined to 0 by June in 1999. During 2000, parasites were located in March and November. An overdispersion of parasites was recorded, with intensity of infection reaching over 200 parasites per gill arch in some fish. Parasitised gill tissue showed hyperplasia and hypertrophy but not always at the site of parasite attachment. The internal transcribed spacer of the ribosomal RNA gene array was amplified by PCR and sequenced. This sequence shared greatest similarity with the internal transcribed spacer of Gyrdicotylus gallieni, followed by Gyrodactylus species. This is the first molecular analysis of this parasite and provides sequence data that may be used in comparison of G. bychowskii from other locations or in phylogenetic analysis of this group of Monogenea.


Police brutality is at the center of a growing national conversation on state power, race, and our problematic law enforcement culture. Focus on police conduct, in particular when and whether it should be criminal, is on the minds of scholars and political actors like never before. Yet this new focus has brought up a host of undertheorized questions about how the police are treated when they become the subject of criminal prosecutions.This essay is part of a larger project wherein I examine the ways in which criminal procedure is different for the police than other suspects. Here, my focus is on the seemingly special precharge and preindictment process that police receive. Prosecutors have the discretion to investigate cases before charging and to present robust cases to grand juries for any suspect. Yet, most charging decisions are reflexive and uninvestigated. Similarly, most grand jury hearings are dominated entirely by prosecutors who present one-sided, highly curated versions of events. As we have seen repeatedly, however, when police liberty is on the line, these processes change: prosecutors conduct a thorough precharge investigation and they present a full account of an accusation, including exculpatory evidence, to grand juries.This extra criminal process for the police has led to what many see as a lack of criminal accountability. In response, scholars and politicians have called for prosecutors to treat the police more like other suspects: to strip the police of the precharge/preindictment process they receive. Here, I argue that the reverse solution is far more powerful: prosecutors should extend the precharge and preindictment process they give police to all criminal suspects. A host of reformative possibilities would flow from more careful investigation and evidence weighing before a criminal suspect is charged or indicted. Moreover, reallocating resources to this important moment in the criminal justice process could reduce the untenable costs of our overburdened system.


American students underachieve on local, state, national, and international assessments of science. Student performance on standardized assessments has driven numerous educational reforms including No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top with a resulting increased focus on student achievement. Local districts and schools struggle with how to improve student achievement in order to meet the requirements of state and federal legislation. International and national government officials extol1 the value of science in driving the economic prosperity of a nation adding increased pressure to improve science scores in the United States. Moreover, to be effective decision-makers personally and within a democracy, citizens must be scientifically literate. Read, Retrieve, Connect and Use (RRCU) is an instructional strategy that combined state biology content standards, with the new Common Core Standards for Literacy in Science through evidenced-based literacy strategies recommended by the National Reading Panel. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of an intervention, RRCU to improve science content knowledge and literacy skills in Biology and Language Arts. The findings identified reading skill, as measured by FCAT Reading as predictive of Biology test scores indicating a close relationship between reading comprehension and the ability to learn and be assessed on science content knowledge. The data did not indicate RRCU was an effective means of improving student science content knowledge or literacy skills. However, teachers responded positively to the strategy as a means to reinforce content knowledge and support literacy skills. Future recommendations include improving the study design and expanding the use of the strategy to middle school to build a foundation of effective literacy skills students can use to cope with the depth and complexity of science content at the high school level.


Many commentators have criticized the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 as evidence of the creeping federalization of corporate law. In this Article, I argue that a realistic threat of federalization is necessary to ensure the robust development of corporate law at the state level. Because Delaware enjoys a monopoly position in the market for out-of-state incorporations, there is little pressure on the state to shape its laws to increase protections for shareholders and other constituent groups. Only the federal government can credibly serve as a rival to Delaware. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act's impact on Delaware corporate law demonstrates the potential for a dynamic relationship between state and federal regulation of corporate conduct. Recent Delaware court decisions suggest that Delaware's judiciary has begun to respond to the preemptive threat through adjustments to its corporate law jurisprudence. The courts appear to be moving to more restrictive application of the business judgment rule and more vigorous enforcement of officers' and directors' fiduciary duties. This jurisprudential shift demonstrates that Congress can effectively influence state law through legislative measures that do not require complete preemption of state law.


To optimize the quantum efficiency (QE) and short-circuit current density (JSC) of silicon thin-film solar cells, one has to study the behavior of sunlight in these solar cells. Simulations are an adequate and economic method to analyze the optical properties of light caused by absorption and reflection. To this end a simulation tool is developed to take several demands into account. These include the analysis of perpendicular and oblique incident waves under E-, H- and circularly polarized light. Furthermore, the topology of the nanotextured interfaces influences the efficiency and therefore also the short-circuit current density. It is well known that a rough transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer increases the efficiency of solar cells. Therefore, it is indispensable that various roughness profiles at the interfaces of the solar cell layers can be modeled in such a way that atomic force microscope (AFM) scan data can be integrated. Numerical calculations of Maxwell's equations based on the finite integration technique (FIT) and Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method are necessary to incorporate all these requirements. The simulations are performed in parallel on high performance computers (HPC) to meet the large computational requirements.


The official school mathematics curriculum - textbooks, teacher's handbooks, and syllabus - has a powerful influence on classroom practice in a developing country like Ghana, where many teachers with low teaching qualifications hardly ever have access to other sources of information and activity for their teaching. The official mathematics curriculum for Ghanaian primary schools was originally written with the small intellectual elite, who will proceed to secondary and further education, in mind. Concerns have been raised internationally for countries still using such curricula to adjust them, but the Ghanaian official school mathematics curriculum has remained in use in the nation's schools since their introduction in
1975 with no significant revision.

The study, on the one hand, involved an investigation of the extent to which primary teachers in Ghana translate the contents of the official mathematics curriculum into classroom reality. On the other hand, it addressed issues related to the nature, and appropriateness, of the current official primary mathematics curriculum, which was an adaptation of the products of the `new-math' project
spearheaded by the West African Regional Mathematics Programme in the 1970s.

The study used a range of methods for data collection. These include an extensive content and curriculum analysis of the official primary mathematics curriculum materials, and a questionnaire survey of teachers' coverage of the
content and teaching methods prescribed by the official curriculum. The questionnaire survey of teachers' coverage of teaching methods involved the observation of teachers in classroom settings. Tape recordings of lessons and
instructions from teacher's handbooks were transcribed to provide both qualitative and quantitative data on classroom practice.

The analysis of the curriculum revealed several inefficiencies in the Ghanaian primary mathematics curriculum. Though there was rhetoric in the introduction of
the curriculum materials on the use of teaching skills that suggest discovery methods, the analysis indicated that learning/teaching activities that would encourage the use of such teaching skills in the materials were not included. It emerged from the findings that neither what the teachers really taught, nor what the official mathematics curriculum prescribed, was found to be adequate enough to meet the full mathematical needs of pupils. It was found that a very substantial part of the content of the curriculum was taught by the teachers, and both the official curriculum and the teachers, who implement it, emphasised expository teaching methods. It was argued in this light that the low pupils' attainment observed in the subject could not be seen simply as a reflection of the teachers' poor coverage of the curriculum, but as a reflection of inefficiencies within it.

The findings of this study corroborate what is known about curriculum adaptation in school mathematics. It showed that coverage of textbooks does influence the emphasis on topics presented by teachers in their instruction, and also
that topics in arithmetic are the most emphasised by both official mathematics curriculum materials and in teachers' actual classroom practice.


Complete solid-state cholesteric liquid crystal (CLCsolid) droplets are fabricated using microfluidics after UV curing and chiral-dopant extraction of monodispersed CLC droplets, which consist of a reactive nematic LC mesogen mixture and a nonreactive chiral dopant. The helical pitch of the CLCsolid droplets is reduced by removing the chiral dopant in proportion to the extracted volume. The CLCsolid droplets exhibit a coloured reflection spot at the centre, with cross-communication dots. These photonic colours indicate that the helical photonic CLC structure is well maintained even after UV curing and dopant extraction. The pitch of the well-defined helical photonic structure depends on the solvent quality, temperature, and humidity, giving rise to a reversible change in the reflection colour of the CLCsolid droplets upon exposure to external stimuli. The CLCsolid droplets are extremely stable for a long time, even in a good solvent. These smart solid-state molecular-spring photonic droplets eliminate the obstacles to CLC-droplet application caused by the fluidic LC state, and thus introduce a new avenue for CLC applications.


Abstract Gassendi holds both that we only have ideas of material things and that we know – by faith and, at least in later works, by reason as well – that the mind is immaterial. I examine the account of the mind provided in Gassendi's Objections to the Meditations and show how Gassendi's two theses can be rendered compatible. Indeed, the two theses, taken together, exemplify Gassendi's account of the scope and limits of human understanding.


The publication in 1989 of the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is not a narrow literary event. This short article, reprinted by permission from New Scientist of 29 July 1989, shows that, in its content as well as its production, the dictionary demonstrates how important a part of our culture science has become.


A series of thermally stable atropisomeric phencyclone ligands (ΔG > 35 kcal mol-1), bearing two chiral axes, has been successfully synthesized, taking into account the results of DFT calculations on model systems. The absolute configurations of the novel atropisomers have been assigned using TD-DFT simulation of ECD spectra. Atropisomeric phencyclones herein presented pave the way towards new ruthenium-based enantioselective hydrogenation catalysts.


Almost every year, widespread forest fires from western Sumatra and southern Kalimantan in Indonesia have caused a series of transboundary hazes that have enshrouded parts of Southeast Asia. This disaster has jeopardised health, the economy, agriculture and biodiversity. It has also worsened climate conditions due to its large addition of global greenhouse gases (GHG) to the atmosphere. As a result, Indonesia has received great criticism from its neighbours. This disaster is mainly caused by the slash-and-burn methods used to clear land, claimed by many to be a local indigenous farming practice. However, instead of blaming the Indonesian authorities for their inefficient actions, other countries that benefit from Indonesias resources should take responsibility and assist in addressing the issue by finding the root of the problem. A thorough understanding of this matter is necessary and must be initiated by revisiting and exploring local community welfare, culture, and traditional wisdom in order to address and prevent transboundary haze issues. This paper discusses the causes and results of transboundary haze and highlights the importance of traditional wisdom and Islamic teachings for the preservation of the environment (hifz al-biah) and achieving sustainable development goals. It concludes with several policy recommendations for policymakers to consider as a means of preventing this issue from recurring in the future.


Objective To determine the validity of assessing and recording the neurodevelopmental outcome of very preterm infants during routine clinical follow-up in England. Design Children born <30 weeks gestation, attending routine clinical follow-up at post-term ages 20–28 months, were recruited. Data on neurodevelopmental outcomes were recorded by the reviewing clinician in a standardised format in the child's electronic patient record, based on a set of key questions designed to be used without formal training or developmental testing. Using a predefined algorithm, each participant was classified as having 'no', 'mild/moderate' or 'severe' impairment in cognitive, communication and motor domains. All participants also received a research assessment by a single assessor using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, third edition (Bayley-III). The sensitivity and specificity of routine data in capturing impairment (any Bayley-III score <85) or severe impairment (any Bayley-III score <70) was calculated. Results 190 children participated. The validity of routine assessments in identifying children with no impairment and no severe impairment was high across all domains (specificities 83.9%–100.0% and 96.6%–100.0%, respectively). However, identification of impairments, particularly in the cognitive (sensitivity 69.7% (55.1%–84.3%)) and communication (sensitivity (53.2% (42.0%–64.5%)) domains, was poor. Conclusions Neurodevelopmental status determined during routine clinical assessment lacks adequate sensitivity in cognitive and communication domains. It is uncertain whether this reflects the assessment or/and the recording of findings. As early intervention may improve education and social outcomes, this is an important area for healthcare quality improvement research.


Reinforcement learning algorithms hold promise in many complex domains, such as resource management and planning under uncertainty. Most reinforcement learning algorithms are iterative—they successively approximate the solution based on a set of samples and features. Although these iterative algorithms can achieve impressive results in some domains, they are not sufficiently reliable for wide applicability; they often require extensive parameter tweaking to work well and provide only weak guarantees of solution quality.
Some of the most interesting reinforcement learning algorithms are based on approximate dynamic programming (ADP). ADP, also known as value function approximation, approximates the value of being in each state. This thesis presents new reliable algorithms for ADP that use optimization instead of iterative improvement. Because these optimization–based algorithms explicitly seek solutions with favorable properties, they are easy to analyze, offer much stronger guarantees than iterative algorithms, and have few or no parameters to tweak. In particular, we improve on approximate linear programming — an existing method — and derive approximate bilinear programming — a new robust approximate method.
The strong guarantees of optimization–based algorithms not only increase confidence in the solution quality, but also make it easier to combine the algorithms with other ADP components. The other components of ADP are samples and features used to approximate the value function. Relying on the simplified analysis of optimization–based methods, we derive new bounds on the error due to missing samples. These bounds are simpler, tighter, and more practical than the existing bounds for iterative algorithms and can be used to evaluate solution quality in practical settings. Finally, we propose homotopy methods that use the sampling bounds to automatically select good approximation features for optimization–based algorithms. Automatic feature selection significantly increases the flexibility and applicability of the proposed ADP methods.
The methods presented in this thesis can potentially be used in many practical applications in artificial intelligence, operations research, and engineering. Our experimental results show that optimization–based methods may perform well on resource-management problems and standard benchmark problems and therefore represent an attractive alternative to traditional iterative methods.


"HLA Evolved" is the code name for the new version of the High Level Architecture that is expected to be completed in late 2008. This version gives developers and users of distributed simulation a large number of new development, deployment and net centric capabilities. While the new HLA version contains hundreds of updates, this paper focuses on the major technical improvements. Some comments on migration are also given. This paper looks at the following topics: Modular federation object models (FOMs) and simulation object models (SOMs) make it possible to maintain HLA object models in a more flexible and scalable way, to separate local extensions from standardized models, to support partial federation agreements and even to gradually extend the object model of longrunning federations. Web Services support through the new Web Services Description Language application program interface (WSDL API) gives users of Web Services communication frameworks access to the full HLA functionality over wide area networks while providing features like authentication and encryption. It also provides support for a large number of programming languages. Fault tolerance support gives federations a well-defined semantics for handling unreliable or crashing federates and network links that go down. Smart update rate reduction makes it possible to subscribe to the same information with higher or lower update rates. This gives the ability to focus on certain entities or to reduce network traffic on wide area networks. Dynamic link compatibility makes it easier to switch between different runtime infrastructure (RTI) implementations without modifying, recompiling or re-linking federate code. Some discussion is also provided on other improvements such as flexible transportation types, standardized time representations, enumeration of federations, encoding helpers and Object Model Template (OMT) XML aspects. Most of the above updates are simply extensions to the existing IEEE 1516 functionality. The effort to migrate a federate mainly consists of migrating to the updated API and data types. However, to really take advantage of some new features, for example fault tolerance, some new behavior will need to be added to the federate code. Distribution Statement A Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited